The birth of Jesus Christ is a true story with all of the elements of an epic classic. It contains scandal and cataclysmic proportions full of ancient prophesies finally fulfilled, but it’s also a tale of deep political intrigue. When the King of the Jews was born on Christmas morning, another king reigned over Judea and saw Jesus as a threat to his rule. This was the same king who resurrected the physical temple of the ancient capital city of Jerusalem: Herod the Tetrarch.

At the turn of the 20th Century, we were engaged in what was known as the “War on Christmas.” This was when many people tried to secularize the holiday by removing any mention of Christ. The term “Xmas” was well known at this time, and many believed it to be a part of that secularization effort. However, the term carries a deep historical meaning that revolves around the survival and flourishing of the early church. It is not a secular softening of the word “Christmas.” In some ways, it is actually the opposite.

At the turn of the first century A.D., the Roman Empire was making a comeback following several decades of relative chaos. Five rulers that came to be known as the “Five Good Emperors” brought back stability and order to the Empire while also expanding its reach. The second of these was a man who would rule for nearly 20 years. He was hand-picked by his elderly predecessor to take the throne. This was the 13th Emperor of Rome and the first to rule in the second century: Trajan.

Every first Tuesday of November, the United States holds its governmental elections. Depending on the year, there may be lower elections in cities or townships or votes with national implications that shape the future of our country. But every four years, the most important and impactful election takes place: the presidential election. Let’s jump back to answer how the American Election Day came to be.

In the early 16th Century, the Christian church was in turmoil. Despite growing to be the dominant force in Europe, it was rife with numerous theological errors. The doctrine of indulgence sales was particularly erroneous and proved to be the main catalyst for Martin Luther to present the 95 Theses. The main propagator of indulgence sales was one of the most infamous villains in the history of the church. He was a Dominican friar and church charlatan known as Johann Tetzel.

Church historians tend to split the 2,000 years of Christian history into three categories: ancient, medieval, and modern. For many Protestants, we tend to celebrate heroes of the ancient church such as the apostles, Augustan, or Athanasius. And we also jump to modern heroes like John Bunyan, Charles Spurgeon, and C. S. Lewis. We often erroneously skip over the Medieval Church, which existed during a dark period of church history. The light of the Gospel thankfully broke through with the Reformation of the 16th Century, but there were still titans during the down period, and one of them was a 13th Century Italian Dominican friar who would be remembered as the preeminent Christian thinker of the Dark Ages: St. Thomas Aquinas.

• In world history, there are few characters that are so sinister that their name literally denotes a specific type of sin or vice. In this case, the vice is greed and the sin is betrayal. The man was one of the closest friends the Lord Jesus Christ had on Earth, but he is remembered throughout history as a vile wretch who sold his Lord to be executed for a mere 30 pieces of silver. Despite the years that he walked with Jesus, learned from Jesus, and witnessed the miracles of Jesus, Judas Iscariot still betrayed Jesus in the end.

hroughout the course of the American Revolution, the United States Army tended to suffer defeat after defeat. But one of the brilliant aspects of Commander-in-Chief George Washington was his ability to take punches and keep on moving. While the Brits continually battered the American army year after year, they could never deal a knockout blow. One of the especially brutal skirmishes came in the Fall of 1777 in the fields of Southeastern Pennsylvania, in what would be known as the Battle of the Brandywine.

In the Old Testament, the people of God would mark holy days with remembrance and feasts. One of these days would be rightly described as the “most holy” of such days – for it was when the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies and stand before God to make payment for the sins of the people. This once-a-year sacrifice would be a foreshadowing of the long-foretold sacrifice of the Messiah. But long before He came, the people of God observed this day known as the Day of Atonement.

The year 2009 was pivotal in American history. The nation was in the midst of a disastrous economic recession and looking to rebound just as the age of technology was taking off with the rise of the smartphone. Concurrently, a historic figure entered the White House, and he brought with him no small amount of controversy. He swung the balance of power back toward the left, and perhaps farther to the left than the country ever had been before. He would also become the first African-American President of the United States. He was the 44th Commander-in-Chief, Barack Obama.