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 August 3, 2026

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And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony, and they did not love their lives unto death. Rev 12:11.

           There is no aspect of human experience that arouses our energies faster than the prospect of immediate death. The drowning man struggles desperately to keep his head above water. A woman who falls off a cliff clings desperately to the branch of a bush growing out of the rock near the top. The dying patient searches the Internet for some hope of a cure. Impending death sets the full powers of our being into action. Yet our best efforts are not good enough. While death can sometimes be postponed, the ultimate sentence will only be cancelled in earth’s final generation. Our only hope in the face of death is to trust completely in God’s power to save us even beyond death.
           This text, therefore, implies that those who overcome do so on the basis of complete trust in God. They place their lives in His hands, do whatever He says, and rely on His power to do those things that seem impossible in their own strength. A modern-day example of overcoming is found in the beginnings of the “twelve-step” movement in the 1930s.
           Bill Wilson was a stockbroker who lived in Brooklyn, NY and had a serious problem with alcohol. On a business trip to Akron, Ohio (May, 1935) he found himself outside a bar, tempted and desperate. In the past he had fought the urge by talking to other alcoholics, who truly understood his struggle. He left the vicinity of the bar, looking for a church. Through a local church group, he found surgeon Robert Holbrook Smith.
           Dr. Bob and Bill W., as Alcoholics Anonymous members know them, promised to keep each other sober, following Bill’s strategy; a simple set of principles later refined into twelve steps. Alcoholics, Bill said, must admit they are powerless over their addiction. They must fearlessly inventory the defects and weaknesses in their character. They must make amends to everyone they have harmed. And above all else, they must submit to God, however they understand Him, to provide the power that they do not have on their own.
           The advice did not take immediately. Dr. Bob went to Atlantic City, New Jersey for a convention. Several days later he showed up at the Akron train station, totally soused. On June 10, 1935, the dried-out but still jittery doctor was due in surgery. That morning Bill W gave Dr. Bob a bottle of beer to steady his scalpel hand during the surgery. The beer was Dr. Bob’s last. The two men pledged that day to bring Bill W’s principles to other alcoholics, one day at a time.¹

           Lord, I admit that I am powerless in the face of (alcohol, food, sex, drugs, anger, overwork, laziness). I place my life under Your control today. I need the power only You can give.

¹ James Poniewozik, “AA Takes Its First Steps” Time, March 31, 2003, p16.