Women of Resistance: Helena Kuipers-Rietberg

A woman of great faith, Helena Theodora Kuipers-Rietberg, was born May 26, 1893 into a Dutch Reformed family. Her parents were successful grain merchants and millers who were somewhat progressive in their belief system in that they allowed Helena to attend secondary school (unusual for girls at the time). After graduation she went to work in the family business. In 1921, she married Pieter Heijo Kuipers whom she’d met in school. The two had plans to move to the Dutch East Indies where Pieter had secured a job, but Helena’s father convinced Pieter to buy into the grain company as a partner.

Life was good. The couple had five children, and Helena was active in several women’s organizations, many associated with the church. In 1932, she cofounded Gereformeerde Vrouwenbeweging, an organization of Dutch Reformed women, in 1937 she joined the board of the Bond van Gereformeerde Vrouwenvereenigingen in Nederland, an organization which united all Dutch Reformed women's organizations in the country.

Despite the Netherlands declaration of neutrality, Germany invaded on May 10, 1940. Almost immediately Helena began to speak out against the Nazis during meetings and social gatherings stating that Nazi philosophies threatened Christian standards and values. According to one source her first resistance activities was to prevent Dutch young men from enlisting in the NAD, a national socialist organization which provided six months training for the men ages 18-23 to work in Eastern Europe. To avoid enlistment the young men had to go into hiding, and Helena used her extensive contacts throughout the country to find places for them.

Helena and Pieter then got involved in helping downed Allied pilots and escaped POWs get out of the country. Additionally, they distributed illegal newspapers. By early 1942 persecution of Jewish individuals had escalated, and the Kuipers began helping them to go into hiding.

At some point in the autumn of 1942, Helena and Pieter met Pastor Frederick Slomp who also opposed

the Nazis and spoke against them in his sermons. In an interview well after the war, Slomp shared a conversation he had with Helena during which she said, “We should establish and organization so that we can provided hiding places. My idea now is that you should do this. You should cross the country in order to make people enthusiastic about it.” When Slomp spoke of the danger, Helena’s response was: “Would it be so bad if you were killed while thousands of boys were rescued?”

Helena again used her extensive network to co-found Landelijke Organisatie voor Hulp aan Onderduikers (National Organization for Aid to People in Hiding – LO). She coordinated the implementation of local cells that held meetings that were supposedly Bible study groups. When laws changed in 1943 mandating that ration cards had to be picked up personally, the LO held raids on distribution offices to obtain the cards. The National Aid Fund was created, to which she personally contributed and ensured money was distributed fairly. She was also responsible for managing “de Beurs,” a central hub for exchanging intelligence on available hiding addresses, host families, urgent relocations, and matching onderduikers with safe havens.

In May 1944, Helena and Pieter received word they were under suspicion, and their house was to be raided. The couple took their children and escaped, then went into hiding. However, Helena was anxious to get back to her activities and arranged for a false identity card. The courier was arrested on the way to meet her, and under torture gave up their location. She and Pieter were arrested August 18, 1944. Thinking she would get off easier as a woman, they decided she would take all the blame, claiming he knew nothing of the activities. He was released, and Helena was sent to Camp Vught, then later transported to Ravensbruck where she passed away on December 27, 1944.

Known as the Mother of the LO, in 1946 Helena was posthumously awarded the Verzetskruis (Resistance Cross), and in 1954 a monument was erected in her hometown of Winterswijk.

___________________

Linda Shenton Matchett writes happily-ever-after historical Christian fiction about second chances

and women who overcome life’s challenges to be better versions of themselves. A native of Baltimore, Maryland, she was born a stone’s throw from Fort McHenry (of Star-Spangled Banner fame) and has lived in historical places all her life. She is a volunteer docent and archivist at the Wright Museum of WWII. She now lives in central New Hampshire where she explores the history of this great state, immerses herself in the imaginary worlds created by other authors, and drinks copious amounts of tea.

Dutch Dawn

Will they survive the 500-mile journey to freedom?

Isak Westgard is only six missions short to be rotated stateside. Then the unthinkable happens, and he crashes in the occupied Netherlands where the chances of him making it back to England are slim to none. The beautiful and tough-as-nails resistance courier begs to differ and claims she hasn’t lost anyone yet. The problem is the longer they’re together, the less he wants to escape.

Annaliese Claase has escorted her fair share of refugees and downed Allied pilots to safety - too numerous to remember. Until now. There’s something different about the Norwegian-American lieutenant, and it’s more than his good looks. Can she get him out of the country before losing her heart?

 
Purchase Link: https://books2read.com/u/bMjoxV

 

___________________ 

Sources:
https://ww2gravestone.com/people/helena-theodora-kuipers-rietberg-resistance-name-aunt-riek/
https://www.tracesofwar.com/articles/2694/Helena-Kuipers-Rietberg.htm
https://www.annefrank.org/en/timeline/80/foundation-of-the-national-organisation-to-help-those-in-hiding/
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Helena_Kuipers-Rietberg
https://www.tracesofwar.com/sights/131995/Information-Panel-Resistance-Fighter-Helena-Theodora-Kuipers-Rietberg.htm
https://grokipedia.com/page/helena_kuipers_rietberg

Photo Credits:
Helena Kuipers-Rietberg: By Unknown photographer - NIOD, Public Domain. De Bovenweg 37 in Bennekom, where Helena was arrested: By Evert100 - Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Frederick Slomp: Beeldbank WO2

Ravensbruck: US Holocaust Museum

WWII Hawaii Overprint Money - In Case of Japanese Invasion After Pearl Harbor

By Mary Dodge Allen 

Have you ever seen a one dollar bill with the word HAWAII printed on it? It might be worth more than you think.

Hawaiian Overprint note (Smithsonian Institution)

Why Print Hawaiian Money?

The shocking attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese Imperial Army on December 7, 1941 propelled the United States into WWII. It also ignited fears that the Hawaiian Territory - essentially a group of isolated Pacific Islands - was in danger of a Japanese invasion.

Pearl Harbor Attack, December 7, 1941 (Public Domain)

Territorial Governor J. B. Poindexter (with the approval of President Franklin Roosevelt) placed Hawaii under martial law and ceded administrative control of the islands to the United States Army. Lt. General Delos C. Emmons was appointed military governor.

Lt. General Delos C. Emmons (Public Domain)

After the Pearl Harbor attack, people in Hawaii began hoarding money to be used as emergency funds in the event of a Japanese invasion. 

Lt. General Emmons realized that if the Japanese successfully invaded the islands, they could seize millions of dollars in U.S. currency from Hawaiian financial institutions. This, in turn, could be harmful to the larger American economy.

A new strict monetary policy was devised to prevent this from happening - the creation of Hawaii Overprint Notes. 

A New Monetary Policy

On January 9, 1942, Lt. General Emmons issued an order that made it illegal for individuals to hold more than $200 cash per month. Businesses could only hold up to $500 in cash. 

Any excess cash needed to be deposited in local banks immediately. (To help ensure compliance, the deadline was extended to August 1). Violators could be fined up to $5,000 or imprisoned.

BYU-Hawaii History Professor Isaiah Walker described the challenges his grandmother faced as she lived through this period of martial law: 

"She remembered the mandatory blackouts, people opening and reading your mail and listening in on your personal phone calls. The confiscation of currency was another adjustment that everyday people had to endure."

New Money For Hawaii

In early March 1942, a U.S. Treasury detail arrived in Hawaii with $20 million U.S. dollars specifically printed for circulation in the Hawaiian Territory, in exchange for $20 million in regular currency held by Hawaiian banks.

(Smithsonian Institution)

(Smithsonian Institution)

(Smithsonian Institution)

The new bills, in $1, $5, $10, and $20 denominations all had "HAWAII" printed in large letters on the back, and printed in small letters in two places on the front. These San Francisco Reserve notes also featured brown seals and serial numbers, for easy identification.

(Smithsonian Institution)

In the case of a Japanese invasion, this specially-marked currency would immediately be rendered useless.

The Hawaii Overprint notes went into circulation in June 1942 and were in use through October 1944. They were issued by the San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank - and were sometimes referred to as, "Emmons Notes."

They were initially intended for use only in the Hawaiian Islands, but these notes spread throughout the Pacific Theater of the war, partly because some U.S. troops received specimens with their pay packets.

The End of the Japanese Threat 

By mid-1944, a Japanese invasion was no longer considered a threat. On October 21, 1944, the U.S. Treasury Department announced the end of the Hawaii currency rules. And President Roosevelt followed up with Executive Order 9489, which ended martial law on the islands.

In total, the Treasury issued 65 million overprint notes, with a face value of 

$400 million.

During August and September 1945, following the end of the Pacific war, huge amounts of Hawaiian overprint currency notes were redeemed. An estimated $200 million in notes were subsequently burned at incinerators on the islands, including the Aiea Sugar Mill in Oahu.

Aiea Sugar Mill, Oahu (Public Domain)

One of the locations where the Hawaii Overprint notes were burned.

But many of these Hawaii Overprint notes survived, kept as souvenirs by servicemen. Some notes circulated on the U.S. Mainland through the 1940s and 1950s. The United States Navy even paid overseas vendors with these notes through the 1960s.

Collectors of these notes can be found at coin and currency auctions. I recently saw a Hawaii Overprint note for sale on eBay for over $200.00.

___________________

Mary Dodge Allen is currently finishing her sequel to Hunt for a Hometown Killer. She's won a Christian Indie Award, an Angel Book Award, and two Royal Palm Literary Awards (Florida Writer's Association). She and her husband live in Central Florida. She is a member of American Christian Fiction Writers and Faith Hope and Love Christian Writers. 

Website: www.marydodgeallen.com

Recent release, anthology devotional: El Jireh, The God Who Provides

Mary's story, entitled: A Mother's Desperate Prayer, describes her struggle with guilt and despair after her young son is badly burned in a kitchen accident. When we are at the end of all we have, El Jireh provides what we need. 

Click the link below to purchase on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.com/El-Jireh-God-Who-Provides/dp/1963611608

Mary's novel: Hunt for a Hometown Killer won the 2022 Christian Indie Award, First Place - Mystery/Suspense; and the 2022 Angel Book Award - Mystery/Suspense.

Click the link below to buy Hunt for a Hometown Killer at Amazon.com:

Hunt For A Hometown Killer: A Novel: Allen, Mary Dodge: 9781952369704: Amazon.com: Books

Link to Mary's Spotlight Interview:   Mary Dodge Allen Author Spotlight EA Book

How Leadville, Colorado's Story Reflects the Vainglorious Wins and Tragic Losses of Western Mining, Part 2

 By Donna Wichelman

The story of Western Mining in Colorado has all the makings of an epic movie, with its vainglorious wins and tragic losses. In the end, Georgetown's decline in 1878 would prove to demonstrate the vulnerability of the mining industry in the years to come in Part 2 of Leadville's rise to Silver Queen.

Overnight, the Victorian-era community of Leadville, Colorado, rose to become the world's mining mecca. It all began in 1878, when a “black sand” that miners had previously overlooked was discovered to contain high-grade, silver-rich cerussite ore, also known as lead carbonate. It had as much as 77% lead and sufficient silver to be easily extracted during smelting. Everyone knew they had hit something big. They never expected that down the road, the industry would suffer great loss.

People flocked to Leadville from every direction of the globe, building roads and railways over high-elevation mountain passes. They came in every mode of transportation available in the late 1800s—wagons, stages, buggies, carts, horses, wheelbarrows, burro trains, and railroads. Some even braved the sometimes-brutal weather, walking up steep mountain trails, all to make their fortune from gold, silver, and lead carbonate that the Rocky Mountains yielded at 10,152 feet above sea level.

"Burro pack train, on the way to Leadville, Col." The New York Public Library Digital Collections. 1850 - 1930. https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/0c740060-c536-012f-9033-58d385a7bc34

The population of Leadville grew from just a few hundred to ten thousand in a few months. At its zenith, Leadville’s population was officially counted at 14,820 in 1880, though contemporary figures suggest as much as 30,000 if one considers uncounted miners, transient laborers, and nearby settlements.

Leadville’s prosperity soared, as miners made $11 million in silver the first year and $14 million in 1880. The boom was on as Leadville became one of the richest mining districts in the world.

Very quickly, men like Horace Austin Warner Tabor (H. A. W. Tabor) rushed to establish their place among the wealthy. Most of his money came from his Matchless Mine, acclaimed to be one of the richest mines in Colorado, making him Leadville’s Silver King. Tabor incorporated his Mosquito Pass Wagon Road Company on October 8, 1878, “to promote” Colorado’s industrial interests. He also became infamous for his relationship with “Baby Doe” Tabor.

Born Elizabeth Bonduel McCourt on November 10, 1854 to a middle-class family in Oshkosh, Wisconsin, Baby Doe was twenty-four years Tabor’s junior. Though this raised eyebrows, the greater scandal revolved around their love affair while he was still married to his first wife, Augusta Tabor. Unfortunately, the public disgrace destroyed his reputation and prestige, but this didn’t deter Tabor from divorcing Augusta in 1881 and marrying Baby Doe in a “lavish ceremony” in Washington D.C., among the rich and powerful in 1883.

Tabor Opera House, Leadville, CO: Donna's Gallery, June 2025

Baby Doe has been considered a romantic heroine and a tragic figure, for while she led a life of great extravagance with her husband during the silver boom, when the value of silver crashed in 1893, the Tabors lost most of their fortune. At Tabor’s death in 1899, he pleaded with Baby Doe to hold onto the Matchless Mine, believing it would regain its value. It never did. Baby Doe lived in a small cabin near the Matchless Mine until 1935, enduring poverty, isolation, and harsh weather. She died of exposure at the age of 80. People have said of her that she had an “unwavering devotion” to a lost fortune. She’s buried in the Evergreen Cemetery in Leadville. (See November 4th, 2025 blog.)

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Baby_Doe_Tabor.jpg

Ironically, Augusta Tabor, who became a powerful figure for her courage, endurance, and business acumen, died a millionaire. The original Tabor Home was built in 1877 at 512 Harrison Avenue but moved to 116 East 5th Street in Leadville. The house, which looks eerily similar to the exterior of W. A. Hamill’s in Georgetown, Colorado, is now a museum and features original Victorian furnishings. https://leadville.com/explore-the-original-tabor-home/

Compared to the tragic end for Baby Doe, Margaret Tobin Brown (a.k.a. Molly Brown) grew up in Hannibal, Missouri in an Irish immigrant family of humble means. She moved to Leadville at 18, during the mining boom, hoping to make something of herself. She married mining engineer James Joseph Brown in 1886. Not long afterward, he discovered a lucrative gold vein at the Little Jonny Mine, and the Browns went from being a couple of modest means to achieving tremendous wealth.

Photo Display of Molly Brown at the Healy House, Leadville, CO: Donna's Gallery

From the beginning, Molly was heavily involved in charitable work in Leadville. So, it was only natural for her to help establish a soup kitchen for the miners’ families when the Panic of 1893 hit the nation and the value of silver fell to an all-time low. Molly continued her charity work after the Browns moved to Denver in 1894. There, she became a reform advocate and supported various causes, such as women’s suffrage, labor rights, and education. She ran for the U.S. Senate in 1909, long before women won the right to vote in 1920.

Molly rose to fame when she survived the sinking of the RMS Titanic on April 15, 1912, and true to form, she helped calm passengers and encouraged the crew to return for survivors. Afterward, she organized a fundraiser for the survivors.

Molly was also awarded the Legion of Honor by the French government for her humanitarian efforts during World War I. 

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Margaret_Brown,_3qtr_view,_with_chair.jpg

Molly Brown's life, like Augusta Tabor's, demonstrates a very different outcome from Baby Doe Tabor. Though the Browns had much wealth and endured the same economic conditions in 1893, both understood the principle one can find in Proverbs:

Know the state of your flocks,

and put your heart into caring for your herds,24

for riches don’t last forever,

and the crown might not be passed to the next generation.25

After the hay is harvested and the new crop appears

and the mountain grasses are gathered in,26

your sheep will provide wool for clothing,

and your goats will provide the price of a field.

~ Proverbs 27:23 - 26 (NLT)24

Though H. A. W. Tabor and Baby Doe lived a life of luxury, enjoying their riches while they lasted, they squandered their money, haughty in their wealth and status. In the end, it was their undoing. When silver was devalued during the Panic of 1893, they lost everything. But devoted to a pipe dream, Tabor begged Baby Doe to sit on the mountain and guard their mine, and she lived a life of hermitage and died alone.

Molly Brown came from poverty. But when the Browns made it rich in the mining industry, she used her wealth and status to benefit others throughout the rest of her life. Instead of guarding a mine, she opened a soup kitchen for the miners to help the families survive the crisis and went on to do many good works to benefit many. She died a woman of honorable and moral character. 

Do not let kindness and truth leave you;

Bind them around your neck,

Write them on the tablet of your heart.

So you will find favor and good repute

In the sight of God and man.

~Proverbs 3:3 - 4 (NASB 1995)

Donna is an Angel-award-winning author of Historical fiction for A Song of Deliverance. Book Two in the Silver Singing Mine series, Rhythms of the Heart, was released in November 2025. Weaving history and faith into stories of intrigue and redemption grew out of Donna's love of travel, history, and literature as a young adult while attending an international college in Wales, U.K. She enjoys developing plots that show how God's love abounds even in the profoundly difficult circumstances of our lives. Her stories reflect the hunger in all of us for love, belonging, and forgiveness.

Donna was a communications professional before becoming a full-time writer. Her short stories and articles have appeared in inspirational publications. She has two indie-published romantic suspense novels, Light Out of Darkness and Undaunted Valor, in her Waldensian Series. 

Donna and her husband of forty-one years participate in ministry at their local church in Colorado. They love spending time with their grandchildren and bike, kayak, and travel whenever possible.

Spotlight: Sherry Shindelar

I have been in love with stories since I was a child in Tennessee. I’d swing for hours on my swing set, pumping my legs back and forth, dreaming up stories in my head. Even then, I had a flair for romance: creating new love interests and episodes for Star Trek’s Captain Kirk, before moving on to plotting original romantic dramas and adventures in distant lands.

My favorite possession at age nine was a set of author playing cards (a matching game with photos of famous women authors). I wanted to be an author when I grew up and bring stories to life on the written page, stories that would impact my readers.

A visit to a historic home in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia, when my husband and I were newly married, spurred my love for history and planted the seed for the story of my heart. A few years later, I wrote the novel, then buried it in box in my closet. I returned to college to earn my degree in creative writing along with a minor in American History, a masters in English, and PhD in literature, wondering if I’d ever reconnect with the stories in my head, the ones buried deep in my heart.

Me in front of the house that inspired my story  

Then, in the summer of 2019, I fell in love with fiction writing again. It had been years since I’d worked on my story. I pulled the box out and unburied the past. I began to read it. And I fell in love with Daniel and Jenny and the Shenandoah Valley all over again. How could I forsake them? I jumped into their heads, and the story began to unfold, again. Except better, deeper, richer than I’d ever imagined.

And God had done so much in my life in those years in between, both joys and pains. He’d been chipping, molding, and shaping me. It was with a heart that is wizened, scarred, and strengthened that I returned to writing, with eyes that see what the nine or thirty-year-old me could have never seen.

I finished Shenandoah’s Daughter and then began a totally new book set in 1860 Texas, inspired by the true story of the most famous captive of the 19th century that had haunted my heart for two decades.

However, the doors to publication didn’t swing open with the writing of “The End” on either manuscript. I heard a lot of no’s from editors and agents, and I felt like my writing career was on the tortoise track.

One agent recommended that I put my two books aside and write a third book because, although she loved my writing, she felt it wasn’t the right time for a Civil War book and that my Indian story was too risky. She wasn’t the first one to give me such a recommendation.

But God kept whispering "Don't give up" and nudging me through my writing friends to pursue publication now. 

I sent proposals to two more traditional publishers. A month later, after decades of dreaming of being a published writer, I had a contract offer for a three-book series. God had finally said Yes! And in a big way, when I least expected it, and totally caught me off guard. 

Texas Forsaken, the first book in my Lone Star Redemption series, released in May 2024. Book Two, Texas Divided in March 2025, and Texas Reclaimed in February 2026. I’ve since received a contract for two more books in the series and a novella. The series is set in Texas in the 1860's and 1870's. The prequel novella is a part of the Freed by the Frontier collection and will release June 2026.

The Lord cleared the path for my writing dreams to come true, and for me to be able to share my faith and my love of romance and history with my readers. I especially enjoy writing about the Western frontier and the Civil War and Reconstruction eras. Texas Reclaimed also brings in the beginning years of the large cattle drives. My stories are filled with strong, determined heroines and war-scarred heroes willing to sacrifice for the woman they love.

Thank you for letting me share a little about myself and my writing journey. As I mentioned above, my favorite historical era is the mid-1800's, either on the Western frontier or during the Civil War/Reconstruction era. What is your favorite historical time period and setting?

Connect with Sherry: website, newsletter, Amazon, FB, Goodreads

Weird Inventions That Saved Lives: The Iron Lung

Blogger: Amber (Schamel) Lemus

Continuing our series of Weird Inventions That Saved Lives, we come to a more well-known device: the Iron Lung. Most of us know what it is or have heard of a family member or friend who was treated with one in the 50s and 60s. I was just talking to someone the other day whose uncle was confined to an Iron Lung during the Polio pandemic. But while most of us are familiar with the device, we may be less familiar with the history behind its invention. 

Boy being treated in an iron lung.
Photo:National Museum of  Health and Medicine,
CC BY 2.0

This device was used mainly during the Polio pandemics of the 1920s-1960s. To us, the device looks like something that would be used to torture someone, but in reality, it was this peculiar device that saved the lives of thousands. 

The invention of the iron lung began in 1670 when an English inventor by the name of John Mayow came up with the idea of negative pressure. "Negative pressure" is what our bodies use to breathe naturally, basically the vacuum effect that your diaphragm and other muscles create to pull air into your lungs. The idea of a "negative pressure" ventilator is to have an external vacuum or diaphragm that creates that same effect. Mayow built a small model demonstrating his theory with a bellows and bladder to push and expel air. 

Building on this foundational idea of negative pressure, British physician John Dalziel built the first negative pressure ventilator in 1832. Several other prototypes followed and were used successfully in Europe and South Africa. 

The greatest need for the negative pressure ventilators came during the Polio pandemics. The terrible disease of Polio would damage the muscles and patients would no longer be able to breath, since the muscles operating their lungs would cease to function. Therefore, the idea was that a device was needed to help these patients breathe in the same way their muscles should. 

In 1928 Phillip Drinker and Louis Shaw of the United States developed a machine to do just that. It was first known as the "Drinker Respirator" but later became widely used and known as The Iron Lung. The first clinical use of the machine was at the Boston Children's Hospital on October 12, 1928. A twelve-year-old girl was plagued by respiratory failure from Polio and was on the brink of death. Her recovery, within minutes of being placed inside the machine, was almost miraculous and made the device widely popular. 

An image made popular by the movies
depicts a ward of iron lung machines.
Photo: public domain. 

As strange and terrifying as the device looks to us now, many patients described an overwhelming feeling of relief when placed inside the machine as their bodies received the air they needed to live. When faced with the terrifying reality of suffocation, the daunting machine was seen as salvation, not a reason for fear. 

However, the iron lung wasn't perfect. Even with its use, the death rate for those with respiratory paralysis who were treated with the machine was still somewhere between 80-90%. This was due to complications such as drowning in their own saliva (because their swallowing muscles were paralyzed too) or succumbing to organ failure due to acidosis caused by clogged airways. These issues are what led to the development of the modern ventilators, which instead use positive pressure to help the patient breathe. 

Even with its shortcomings, the Iron Lung saved untold thousands of children's lives. Some were treated only for a few weeks during recovery, others required the use of the Iron Lung every day for years. In fact, as of 2026 there is still one known patient who continues to use the Iron Lung in the United States. This individual has used the device for upwards of seventy years. 

Do you know anyone who was treated with the Iron Lung? I'd love to hear about it in the comments. 

*****

Two-time winner of the Christian Indie Award for historical fiction, Amber Lemus inspires hearts through enthralling tales She has a passion for travel, history, books and her Savior. This combination results in what her readers call "historical fiction at its finest".  

She lives at the foot of the Rocky Mountains with her prince charming and two boys. Between enjoying life as a boy mom, and spinning stories out of soap bubbles, Amber loves to connect with readers and hang out on Goodreads with other bookish peoples.

Amber is a proud member of the American Christian Fiction Writers Association. Visit her online at http://www.amberlemus.com/  and download a FREE story by subscribing to her Newsletter!

Echoes of the Ancient New Testament Cities: Colossae

Matthew James Elliott

Welcome to Colossae

The first story I released, which began The World of Kedoshim, was Finding Philemon. There is a lot of history with that story; some of it good, some of it bad, but it became the foundation of everything I do in biblical fiction. The city of Colossae plays a major role in it, and it continues to be a place I return to in my other stories as well.

When I picked up with The Hope of Inheritance in 2025, I expected to revisit Colossae with familiarity. Instead, I found myself standing at the edge of its destruction. As I researched the city during 64 AD, I realized I was writing about its final days. I will never forget what it felt like to describe the devastation of the great earthquake. It felt as though a home had been taken from me simply because history had decided the city had lived its life.

But before I get too far into that, I have to take you back to the beginning.

If Ephesus fascinated me when I was growing up, Colossae wins the gold medal among the cities Paul wrote to. There is the letter to the Colossians, of course, but also the letter to Philemon that was sent along with it. Both have become two of my favorite books in the Bible. So naturally, I was going to research the city for my books. If I ever had the chance to live in an ancient biblical city, I would choose Colossae.

Bible Atlas Map of Location

Geographically, Colossae sat in a valley alongside Laodicea (more on that city next month) and Hierapolis. These three cities were surrounded by mountains, connected by trade routes, and fed by the waters of the Lycus River Valley. Colossae rested at the foot of Mount Cadmus, and as far as we know, it has only recently started being excavated. This only adds to its mystery.

Surveys of the area reveal the remains of the Colossian acropolis, a defensive wall around the outskirts of the ruins, and a theater on the eastern side. These discoveries point to a significant military presence and a thriving cultural life that lasted until the city’s destruction, which I believe occurred in 64 AD.

There is some debate about that date. Tacitus, a Roman historian, places the earthquake in 60–61 AD, while Eusebius, a church historian, dates it to 64 AD. For The Hope of Inheritance, I found the later date more believable because Paul’s first imprisonment in Rome (where he wrote the letters to the Colossians and to Philemon) is dated around 61 AD. If the earthquake had already happened, the city would have been gone.

Speaking of Paul, did you know he never actually visited Colossae before writing to them? I was stunned when I learned this. The founder of the church is usually attributed to Epaphras, a native who likely heard Paul preach while he was in Ephesus during the events of Acts 19. (I didn’t expect this article to connect to my newest episode of The Ephesus Pages, but here we are.)

While Epaphras founded the church, another man, Philemon, became the leader of the house church. In The Cyprus Journal, my 2024 release, I share my ideas about how he may have been converted. What matters most is that this Philemon is the man Paul wrote to about the runaway slave Onesimus. Onesimus fled after some unknown conflict, found Paul in Rome, and returned home carrying a letter about reconciliation. Because of that moment, Colossae became a place forever tied to forgiveness and restoration.

Painting of Archangel and Archippus

One of the more unexpected discoveries I made about this city was the evidence that locals blended Christianity with the worship of angels for protection from mountain spirits. It’s clear in Colossians 2:16–20 that this was a real struggle for the church. Later art even depicts the Archangel Michael opening a chasm to save the community from a flood after the city was rebuilt at Chonnae; an event connected to the prayers of Archippus, whom some believe was related to Philemon.

Researching the martyrdom of Philemon brought its own challenges. Tradition places his death near the end of Nero’s reign in 68 AD, but the evidence I found about the Colossian community suggests an earlier date. When Paul writes his charge to Archippus in Colossians 4:17, it hints at a leadership crisis—one that may indicate Philemon was no longer around. Other traditions say Philemon and his wife were martyred during a pagan festival. If the city fell in 64 AD, their deaths would have occurred before the earthquake.

All of this paints a picture of a community shaped by reconciliation, tested by disaster, and ultimately forced to relocate to survive. Their story is one of faith under pressure, the blending and unblending of beliefs, and the resilience of a remnant determined to endure.

History is never just a page in a book. It is the people behind the pages—their choices, their losses, their courage. Colossae reminds me of that every time I return to it.

How about you?

See you in the pages, 

M.J.E.

~ Biography ~

Matthew James Elliott (M.J. Elliott) is a passionate writer who loves to encourage and inspire others. He served in various ministry roles for over 15 years, which gave him a unique perspective on people and Biblical History. Matthew holds a degree in Biblical Studies from Oklahoma Wesleyan University, with a focus on Pastoral Care, Christian Education, and Worship.

Matthew is married and has three wonderful children who bring him immense joy and inspiration. One of his favorite things to do with them is to share stories they can someday learn from. When writing a story, he aspires to minister to others with love, equip them with encouragement, and use the gift God has given him as a writer to help readers experience God in a real and meaningful way.

Find Matthew on Amazon, Goodreads, Facebook, BookBub, and His Website. He has written Devotionals, An Episodic Series, Novellas, and even Commentaries for The Gospel Daily.

~ Highlighted Release ~

If you're curious about The Hope of Inheritance or any of my books. Right now, my followers on my REAMStories Author Page are being entered into a drawing for some fun gifts. To check it out, just follow me there. You can also read Mysteries in Ephesus, Season 2 of The Ephesus Pages, while you're at it.

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One Story Still Untold. Four Unlikely Authors.

Together, their Message will speak to Many.

The city of Rome was a vast and beautiful place-- on the surface. That is, until a great fire burned and destroyed most of it. Deep in a world hidden from those who would strike against them, four unlikely men work together to share a message of truth. This truth was spoken by those who were cut down because of the calling to go forth and preach. 

The message has always been clear: The hope of our inheritance is Christ living within each of us. In the echoes of persecution, sorrow, and even death, this message still reigns supreme, but will the people listen? Only time will tell, but before anything, these four men must come together and unite a church separated by fear and suffering.