Bible Voyagers: Disciple's Journey

Absolute power begins to corrupt Saul absolutely, and he starts a downward spiral into disobedience, corruption and hysteria. 

In his first test as king, Saul leads his troops into battle against the Ammonites who have threatened the cities of Israel. 

God selects a young farmer out of relative obscurity to become the first king of Israel...and inaugurates a brand-new age for God's chosen people. 

Following centuries of turmoil under the leadership of the Judges, the Israelites cry out to God for a king. 

The Philistines - Israel's most lethal enemy during the early Iron Age - decimate the Israelite army and steal their most precious religious artifact, the Ark of the Covenant. 

The Israelites finally hit rock-bottom: Following a string of failed leaders, savage military defeats and extensive religious corruption, God raises up the last judge of Israel who will completely transform his society and usher-in the greatest era of peace and prosperity the Israelites have ever seen. 

At the dawn of the Iron Age, in time when God's chosen people were corrupt and divided, the last judge of Israel was born to a faithful yet barren woman who cried out to God to give her a son. 

On the third day after his brutal execution, Jesus miraculously takes his first breaths and rises from death with a new immortal body. He spends the next several weeks appearing to his disciples and proving he was the man they knew as Jesus of Nazareth. His resurrection set the stage for the most rapid growth of any religion the world has ever seen. 

Jesus is tried before Pontius Pilate on the charge of treason and sentenced to death by crucifixion. 

Jesus was thoroughly non-violent: he never raised an army, he never wielded a weapon, and he never struck another human being. He healed the sick, cared for the poor, and encouraged the weakest members of society. Yet many people were extremely threatened by Jesus' message, including the religious elite, the morally bankrupt, and haters of God's word. To them, Jesus represented a clear and present danger: not to their physical security but to their personal beliefs and their corrupt lifestyles. As their hatred peaked -- and Jesus' popularity soared -- they decided to act: In the middle of the night, in a quiet garden hidden away from Jesus' strongest supporters, the religious leaders arrested Jesus and subjected him to a completely illegal midnight trial with the goal of executing him before the day was finished.