THE NEWSLETTER OF IBTM
with Douglas Jacoby
.
30 Sept 2026
Hello from ATL (Atlanta, our local airport). Today I’m heading to Europe for our 31st Biblical Study Tour! The group is composed of Britons, Chinese, Filipinos, Jamaicans, and a good number of Americans. In biblical Greece and Turkey we’ll visit the places where the apostles ministered, many of them familiar from our personal Bible reading or lessons at church, but still waiting for us to explore—to tread where men and women of faith trod in the first century.
If you’re intrigued by the thought of personally visiting the biblical world—of which Turkey is the most important part, second only to Israel—you might be interested in the first offering below: the Global Smyrna Meeting. Shoot me an email if you’d like to join next year.
In today’s bulletin:
- Visit biblical Turkey in 2027!
- Recent messages from San Francisco: “Informed: Doctrine is not what you think”;
“Paradise, heaven, and hell,” and “Walking with God.” - Interview with Jon Sherwood on his new book The Unarmed Truth: Following the Prince of Peace in a World of Violence.
- New iFaith talks: “Unhealthy alliances” (Ezra) and “Don’t believe the critics” (Nehemiah).
- NT scholar and friend Mark Wilson brings us “Dateline Damascus” and “Roman Roads.”
- And finally, an appeal to support (financially) our new Spanish language podcast.
RECENT MESSAGES (VIDEO)
This month I’ve been speaking in California (to a cluster of house churches in the Bay area) and North Carolina (the North American Teachers Conference in Raleigh). Today I’d like to provide the links to my main messages in Berkeley.”
HEAVEN & HELL (a class containing several surprises for those holding to traditional views of the afterlife).
INFORMED (a “new” take on “doctrine”—which I have been teaching since 2015—and a closer look at the unhealthy doctrinal systems of “Clergy & Laity,” “Health & Wealth,” and “Gospel plus.” The talks were based on the little book Joey Harris and I published in 2019, Informed.)
WALKING WITH GOD (a Sunday sermon, based on Micah 6:8 and the inspiration of Skye Jethani’s book With).
INTERVIEW
The Unarmed Truth: Following the Prince of Peace in a World of Violence (Herald Press, 2026) is a truly excellent read. Last week I had the privilege of interviewing the author, Jon Sherwood (Asheville, NC).
For those, like Sherwood, who love Jesus yet have rarely heard nonviolence named as a central tenet of discipleship, The Unarmed Truth offers a Scripture-rooted invitation to examine our faith, culture, and inherited assumptions. In these pages readers will discover how Jesus confronted violence—not by wielding coercive power, but by laying down his life.
Through self-giving love of his enemies, Jesus waged war on war itself and inaugurated a radically different way of peace. Discover the power of a faith that refuses violence and thus changes everything. Order the book by clicking on the book image (L).
Click HERE to watch our Zoom interview (34 mins).
FRESH iFAITH MESSAGES
The first message, recorded in Ponte Vedra (the area of my hometown, Jacksonville, Florida), takes aim at the temptation for God’s people to form unhealthy alliances. CLICK HERE TO WATCH
The second, recorded farther south in coastal Florida, targets the temptation to believe our critics (that is, when the critics are trying to pull us away from the Lord. CLICK HERE TO WATCH
In every bulletin—at least well into the new year—fresh iFaith messages will be presented. I am recording several each month. (Later this week, in Athens, I will be speaking on Proverbs; in Corinth or Cenchrea, on Ecclesiastes.)
DATELINE DAMASCUS
by Mark Wilson
Eating a light breakfast of yogurt, cheese, and local black coffee, I opened an email announcing the summer issue of Biblical Archaeology Review. One story caught my eye: Susan Schram’s article about the lost cities of Syria. What a coincidence: this morning I was sitting in Damascus! Syria had long been on my “to visit” list of Bible lands. Before the civil war, travel for Americans was difficult. It was necessary to apply for a visa in person at the Syrian embassy in Washington, DC. However, this was never convenient for me. Another possibility was to wait for hours at the border crossing east of Antakya, Turkey, hoping for entry, something else I never chose to do. Then the civil war erupted in 2011, making any thought of travel there impossible. KEEP READING.
PAUL & ROMAN ROADS
by Mark Wilson
In the 1979 British comedic cult film, “Monty Python’s Life of Brian”, a leader of an insurgent group called the “People’s Front of Judea” repeatedly asks: “What have the Romans ever done for us?” Reluctantly, his followers begin to answer: aqueducts, sanitation, canals, baths, circus, even roads. This famous scene humorously illustrates the fact that even Rome’s opponents, nevertheless, had to acknowledge the empire’s notable achievements… Aelius Aristides also praised how easy travel was throughout the empire from Arabia and Egypt… By the first century AD the Mediterranean Sea was rightly called the Mare Nostrum, “Our sea”. For it was encircled by a system of roads estimated to run around 300,000 kilometers. KEEP READING
¡AHORA—DOUGLAS JACOBY PÓDCAST EN ESPAÑOL¡
Un pódcast dedicado a compartir los archivos de audio del Ministerio Internacional de Enseñanza de Douglas Jacoby. Nuestro objetivo es ayudar a las personas a "reflexionar sobre la fe."
There are significant financial costs entailed in converting 1000 podcasts into Spanish. Please let me know if you would like to fund this project!
THANK YOU!
Your prayers, moral support, trust, fellowship, and donations mean a lot. If you believe in the mission of the International Bible Teaching Ministry, please give generously.
God bless! I’ll probably send the next bulletin from Istanbul. Remember us in prayer!
—Douglas
For all bulletins 2004-2026 (100s of pages of biblical material), click here. Access the website here. New material every week—typically, every day! Become a website member ($1/week, paid annually) here. Your membership is a tremendous boost to this ministry. To donate, click here.
