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 November 30, 2025

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Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire, this, the lake of fire, is the second death. Rev 20:14.

           Death is a very ugly business. It would be enough if death simply lingered somewhere far in the future. But it finds ways to insert itself into the lives of the living.
           A chaplain arrived at the hospital one morning and found a note to call the “Psych Ward.” A doctor had left some information for him there, of all places. Was this some sort of joke?
           The chaplain called the Psych Ward and a cheerful voice chirped, “One East.” After identifying himself to the woman, he heard, “Oh, are you the chaplain who got bitten last week?”
           “Yes, this is me.” (It was a long story, not worth explaining to a stranger)
           “OK, the doctor said to tell you that the guy who bit you last week was HIV. . . (he heard the shuffling of papers as she searched for the document). . . ummm. . . HIV. . . (the chaplain listened in frozen silence). . . negative!” she finally blurted out.
           With pounding heart the chaplain gently reprimanded her “bedside manner” and hung up the phone.¹
           A woman in her late 40s refuses to let her 88-year old mother die. Her mom came into the hospital for a new heart valve, but ended up on a respirator, and wanted to be taken off the respirator. The daughter thinks she doesn’t really want to die. But doctors are required to honor the mother’s wishes. The daughter, however, says plaintively, “I’m not ready for my mom to die.”
           My mom is 91-years old as I write. She is strong and still well able to take care of herself most of the time. But every so often she gets frustrated by her limitations of sight, hearing and movement.
           “I want to make it to January 15, some checks are coming in then, after that, I just want to die and get it over with.”
           “You’ve probably got ten years left in you, Mom,” I say hopefully.
           “Why would I want to live that long?” she asks (she did die on September 1).
           Death and everything that leads up to it is a genuinely ugly business. The Book of Revelation certainly doesn’t sugar coat the problem. But it confronts the problem with good news. Death is not a permanent fixture of reality. Death is not natural to the universe. Death itself will one day die! That’s why Jesus died, so that one day He might destroy death itself. I’m looking forward to that day, aren’t you?

           Lord, thank You for the promise of a life that transcends death. May the reality of eternal life transform the way I look at death.

¹ Email from Dan Millen, October 24, 2002.