Could a Roman Catholic pope have declared An infallible Catholic dogma based upon a blatant translation error? Examining the supposed Immaculate Conception of Mary, Tom of excatholic4christ explains how a 19th Century pope used a mistranslation of Genesis 3:15 to validate this unbiblical doctrine. His post reminds us that we need to use accurate Bible translations. And that we mustn’t accept any teaching, no matter who gives it, without measuring it against God’s Word.

I should write A Letter to My Old Self similar to the one Blake Long published in Theology & Life. It’s a brilliant dramatization of Romans 7, coming from an attitude of resolve and victory. Once Jesus gets hold of us, we don’t really want to go back to who we were.

We all know that Jesus was The Baby Who Turned the World Upside-Down, so we might be tempted to skip Cindy Matson’s post in The Bible Study Nerd. Resist that temptation! Cindy does a brilliant job of looking at ways in which Mary’s declaration that the Lord has toppled kingdoms and fed the hungry have already been realized in Christ.

Life gets prickly, as Leslie A of Growing 4 Life reminds us. Yet she encourages us to keep Looking for the Blooms in places where we don’t really expect to find anything with color or beauty. This simple little devotional brings a lovely sense of optimism that will lighten your heart.

Elizabeth Prata is used to pushback for her essays exposing false teachers in The End Time. But she finds that The most anger now comes from a surprising quarter. I didn’t expect this particular source of opposition, though I should have. I’m proud of Elizabeth for standing up for Biblical truth, especially when so many people clamor for compromise.

In his post for Knowable Word, Peter Krol teaches us to Know Your Literary Devices in interpreting Scripture. He walks us through some of the main interpretative devices, showing how they make a passage clearer without having to rely on commentaries. As you begin your 2023 reading plan, his tips might help you understand God’s Word better than ever.