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“True beauty is rare, and seldom recognized by the one who possesses it.”
“You gave me your tunic,” the woman said, and Hadassah knew who she was.
“God will return in his own good time, Hadassah. He told the disciples he would come like a thief in the night. For that reason, I don’t think he’ll be expected. We only know he will come. It’s not for us to know when.”
God didn’t always intervene. Throughout Scripture he had used pagan nations to bring Israel to her knees.
“Why is it only in darkness that we remember what sustained us even in the light?
wish Drusus were my father. Octavia can do anything she pleases.” “Sometimes that kind of freedom doesn’t come from love, my lady, but lack of care.”
“A young girl with any common sense realizes that character and intelligence far outlast charm and handsome features or build.”
He knew that beauty faded quickly when embodied by selfishness, and Julia’s charm was a tool of manipulation.
She could soothe her. She could serve her. She could love her. But she could not fill that emptiness.
It seemed the more successful he was, the more complicated his life became.
“Passion lasts but a moment, compassion a lifetime,”
Rome tolerated every excess, accepted every philosophy, encouraged every abomination.
These Roman women came to the ludus disdainful of men, then strove to become one.
These conquerors of the world are slaves to their passions, and someday their passions will bring them down.”
“She needs direction, not vengeance for a wrong never committed against her.”
Each person answers for their own actions, and even then, it is God who decides.”
“We’re each single threads woven together in a tapestry God has created. Only he sees the full picture, but not even a sparrow falls without his knowing.”
She had hated him, hated him enough to wish him dead. It was an appalling realization that the child he had created and loved so much held in contempt both him and all he held sacred.
It’s neither your fault, nor mine, nor theirs. It’s the world they live in.”
They want complete control over their lives. They want to be free of the old standards. Whatever feels good is right. Whoever stands in the way of their pleasures, they want destroyed. They demand the moral chains be removed, never understanding that it’s moral restraint that keeps man civilized.”
What happens to a society when all restraints are removed? I see our children consumed with watching blood be spilled in the arena. I see them seeking an unending diet of sensual
pleasure. Where does it all lead? How can intemperate minds be free when they’re slaves to their own passions?”
The more our children have, the more they want, and the less conscience they hav...
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Rome tolerated every abominable practice, embraced every foul idea in the name of freedom and the rights of the common man. Citizens no longer carried on deviant behavior in private, but pridefully displayed it in public. It was those with moral values who could no longer freely walk in a public park without having to witness a revolting display.
Did freedom have to mean abolishing common decency? Did freedom mean anyone could do anything they wanted anytime they wanted, without consequences?
How can we be witnesses of the one true God if we hold the truth as our own possession? God meant his truth for the world.”
Bithia didn’t know God; Enoch didn’t know his Messiah. And why? Because her fear of rejection and persecution kept the truth locked in her heart.
I’m afraid to speak out and say they are wrong and I’m right.
“You walk blithely along the path you’ve chosen, pulling Julia along with you, and you don’t see what’s ahead. You only see the pleasure of the moment, not the future pain.”
Decimus leaned back, amazed. That a slave with a few coins would give it all to an enemy of her people was inconceivable to him.
“May the Lord raise you up in heaven to sing with angels . . .” She didn’t go back to the house.
“Are you Romans so foolish you have no fear? God knows when a sparrow falls to earth. Do you think God doesn’t know what you do? Do you care so much for shallow pleasures that you would kill your own children to have them?”
Do you believe because you don’t want something, it’s your right to destroy it? Is human life so cheap to you?
“Can you see air you breathe? Can you see the force that moves the tides or changes the seasons or sends the birds to a winter haven?” Her eyes welled. “Can Rome with all its knowledge be so foolish? Oh, Marcus, you can’t carve God in stone. You can’t limit him to a temple. You can’t imprison him on a mountaintop. Heaven is his throne; earth, his footstool. Everything you see is his. Empires will rise and empires will fall. Only God prevails.”
“Your words have encouraged me in a time of doubting.” His eyes were full of tears. “God answers our needs in all things.”
Calamity is blessing when it brings one to God.”
“Ours is a struggle to live a godly life in a fleshly world. We must remember we are not called upon by God to make society a better place to live. We are not called upon to gain political influence, nor to preserve the Roman way of life. God has called us to a higher mission, that of bringing to all mankind the Good News that our Redeemer has come . . .”
“Is Rome so afraid of truth she must destroy it?”
“God cares about everyone. All men are his creation, but those who choose to believe become his children and share in the inheritance of his Son.”
don’t take from others to serve yourself.”
“God will give you courage when you need it.”
God chose men like these; Hadassah found hope in that. Jesus hadn’t chosen men the world would have chosen. He had picked ordinary men, with obvious faults, and made them into something extraordinary through the indwelling of his Holy Spirit.
“God spoke in a gentle whisper, Marcus. A still, small voice. A voice in the wind . . .” Marcus felt a strange tingling sensation down his spine. Defensive, his mouth curled. “A wind.” “Yes,” she said softly.
“You have whatever strength God has given you, and it will be enough to carry out his good purpose. Trust in him.”
Love Julia despite what she does, that through you she might come to know Christ’s surpassing grace and mercy.
Our struggle isn’t against flesh and blood, but against the powers of darkness.”
“I can’t fight Satan, John. My faith isn’t strong enough.” “You don’t fight him. Resist evil and be strong in the Lord, Hadassah, and in the strength of God’s might. He’s given you armor for the battle. Truth, his righteousness, the gospel of peace. Faith is your shield, the Word your sword. Pray with perseverance in the Spirit of the Lord. Then stand firm, that the Lord might go out before you.”
“Unless we have something worth dying for, Atretes, we’ve nothing worth living for.”
“I gave up what I can’t keep for something I can never lose.”
And then a man is there, holding out both hands to me. His palms are bleeding.”
