Hello! I am Jon Paulien and I’m glad you came to this page to check out my work. I am a New Testament scholar and Professor of Religion at Loma Linda University. On this website you will find a collection of my articles, commentary on Revelation, and links to my blog, videos, and other resources. Make sure you check the articles link above regularly to see the latest postings. In my hand above is an exact replica of p52, the earliest extant New Testament manuscript fragment, containing portions of John, chapter 18. Centered above my head is a replica of ancient Greek pottery. At either end above are two sets of books from, and about, my favorite spiritual author, Ellen G. White. I hope you enjoy the site.

Daily Devotional For May 4, 2026

View in the Daily Devotional Index

And when he opened the second seal, I heard the second living creature saying, “Come!” And another horse, a fiery red one, went out, and the one sitting on it was given to take peace from the earth, in order that they might slaughter one another, and a great sword was given to him. Rev 6:3-4.

           The image of war is often glorified by those who have never known war first hand. Those who have experienced war, on the other hand, tend to view it more realistically. The fear, the pain, the separation, the carnage, the loss of life; there is nothing pretty about it, except perhaps in the minds of arm-chair generals. In the words of General Robert E. Lee, “It is good that war is so terrible, or we might grow fond of it.”
           War is not far from any of us today. Even without the use of weapons of mass destruction, terrorism has found ways to multiply suffering and garner world-wide attention.
           And while international terrorism is an ongoing threat, domestic terrorism cannot be ignored. Timothy McVeigh’s truck bomb killed 168 people in Oklahoma City and he was not an isolated activist. He took the script for the bombing from the novel The Turner Diaries, which has sold 200,000 copies.
           It is hard to use the word “civilization” in the phrase “twentieth-century civilization.” That century witnessed the Nazi holocaust against the Jews, the genocides in Cambodia and Rwanda, the ethnic cleansing of Armenians and Greeks from Turkey, Croats and Muslims from parts of Bosnia, and Serbs from Croatia. Less known is the “rape of Nanking,” where, after the city’s surrender, women were gang-raped and men were butchered for bayonet practice. And we do not have space to talk about the millions destroyed by Mao, Stalin and World War I.
           In 1905 the United States approved Japan’s annexation of Korea; this was viewed as Korea’s first subjugation in 5000 years of recorded history. During World War II about 200,000 Korean women were abducted for daily rape by the occupying soldiers; after virgins became rare married women were taken. These women were abused from twenty to seventy times a day, and when the war was over, they were left to die in desolate areas or exterminated to conceal evidence of these war crimes. War brings out the worst in people of every ethnic group.
           If John had received his visions in our time, the terrifying symbols might have been different, but the essential message would be largely the same. Humanity has not been evolving morally through the centuries, we have simply developed more efficient means of killing one another. In a world filled with terror and chaos, nothing is certain except that God is the one who is in ultimate control of history. The only solid ground we have to stand on is to trust in Him.¹

           Lord, I choose to trust in You, no matter what I see on today‘s news.

¹ Based on Keener, 208-211.