I am part of the Homeschool Review Crew. All opinions are my own.
For the past month, we've had the pleasure of taking a closer look at the places the Bible mentions from Acts to Revelation. In a fun series called Drive Thru History® “Acts to Revelation”, you follow Dave Stotts as he uses the Bible as a road map. In this series, he starts in the book of Acts and takes you to the places mentioned in the Bible, including the Island of Cyprus. Drive Thru History® also has the Gospel series which is a prelude to this one so that would be a fun watch as well!
The first episode starts you in Jerusalem right in the book of Acts. You get to see the place where the Holy Spirit came onto the new believers, the church that Stephen was buried at, and many other amazing places that are mentioned in the Bible. It's wonderful to put a picture with a name, especially if you're a visual learner.
For our family, we all sat down together to watch the episodes together. We also had a study guide that had corresponding questions for each episode that we would answer afterwards.
Inside the study guide, the questions would make sure you understood what you had watched and it also gave you reading in the Bible as well.
The entire set included 3 DVD's and 18 episodes:
Episode 1: The Gospel shared at Pentecost
Episode 2: The Church grows at Jerusalem
Episode 3: The Gospel Spreads to the Gentiles
Episode 4: Saul of Tarsus & the Road to Damascus
Episode 5: Paul’s first Missionary Journey: The island of Cyprus
Episode 6: The Journey Continues: Pamphylia, Glatia & Asia Minor
Episode 7: The Jerusalem Council & Paul’s Second Missionary Journey
Episode 8: The Second Journey Continues: Philippi and Thessalonica
Episode 9: A Road Trip to Athens
Episode 10: Ancient Corinth
Episode 11: Paul’s Third Missionary Journey: Ephesus
Episode 12: Paul’s Final Trip to Trip to Jerusalem & Caesarea
Episode 13: Jesus Arrives in Jerusalem
Episode 14: A Final Journey to Rome
Episode 15: The Martyrdom of Paul & Peter
Episode 16: John and the Island of Patmos
Episode 17: The Seven Churches of Revelation
Episode 18: The Book Closes on the New Testament Period
Now I do have to say that since our family is Messianic Jewish and not Christian, we did have some theological differences with certain episodes. One thing is particular was that they do show a lot of Catholic type artwork throughout the episodes which we feel could have been left out. We also don't believe in a pre-tribulation rapture so the interpretations of Revelation might not agree with everyone. Honestly a lot of people have their own opinions and interpretations on the book of Revelation but this series seems to come from a pre-tribulation rapture point of view.
Also I do know that the episodes mention that this was the beginning of the Christian church but it actually was the beginning of the Messianic Jewish church. The gospel was being preached to Jews who then started to believe in Jesus as the Messiah so that is actually Messianic Jewish, not Christian. Jews that started to believe in Jesus as the Messiah wouldn't have just forgotten their Jewish heritage; they would have still obeyed Torah which Christian's don't do. They follow the Ten Commandments but not Torah, like with eating pork. A Jewish person who just came to believe that Jesus was the Messiah would have never just started eating pork because it's commanded not to in Torah. And Jesus even said himself that He didn't come to abolish the law, but to fulfill it. So we know Jesus didn't eat pork either or else He would have been breaking a law of Torah.
Even though we had differences with the series, your family might not. As Messianic Jews, we take the Bible as its literal meanings so it depends on how your family studies the Bible.
Overall the series was neat to see all the places mentioned in the Bible and it gave an in depth look at a Bible study for homeschool.
If you want to see what other crew members thought of the series, check out the picture below!
CONVERSATION