Knowledge is meant for a select few usually the elite.  Traditions hold more authority than God, We give adoration to people and things that impress us (sports figures, actors, political personalities), The occult and divination is gain popularity.

She was risking her faith being discovered. Her father’s political nemesis would have destroyed her family, financially, socially, and physically. The wealth of any enemy of Rome was subject to confiscation and whoever was responsible for the arrest was awarded a share of the seized wealth.

His family disowned him.

The costs for her family and her marriage were too much.

Portia could have lost everything, her business, her family, her life.

Moses, Esther, David, Isaiah, (all the prophets), the apostles.

As Portia pointed out Sabina was the only person in a position to help. The challenge of being a pagan magistrate’s daughter was also the key to accessing the magisterial “ear.”  Apollos would surely have died. Valerius would have distributed the counterfeit letter causing potential chaos within the nascent church. For believing Christians, God’s will supersedes man’s schemes, and Sabina answering God’s call was the story.

Theologians believe people rarely grow stronger in times of prosperity and peace. Like a muscle strengthening with resistance, character and faith is built by adversity. We can’t discover God’s life changing power until he acts on our challenges. Sabina can look back on what appeared to be a no-win scenario, and finds her prayers answered.

At this point in her life solving a murder is a one-time event. She is lamenting Marcus sailing away. When Sabina is drawn into the next murder mystery. She will have to look more seriously at God’s plans for her future.

Offering a sacrifice to the emperor “god”, Domitian would be a declaration to the world that you did not believe in the Christian God and your allegiance and devotion belonged to Domitian.

Her beliefs didn’t affect him.

When our faith begins to affect their lives, either for the positive or like Davos, bringing negative consequences.

Sabina’s strengths are also her weaknesses. Her independent spirit, her willingness to go against authority, led to Apollos’s freedom, but her self-doubt and low self-esteem resulted in an unwise marriage.

He was speaking to her through the reading of his word, the Apostle John and his followers including her Bishop Apollos. Her Godly friend, Portia, counseled her by using scripture. Sabina prayed for guidance, but didn’t always follow it.

• Worshipping Jesus wasn’t the crime. The issue was not worshipping the emperor and other local gods. You were considered an atheist if you did not worship the Roman gods who protected the empire. These peculiar Christians and Jews didn’t believe in the pantheon of gods, and they forbade their members from worshipping any god but the “One True God.” Christians didn’t join in the pagan festivals and sacrifices, thereby neglecting the worship of the Roman gods who would then vent their outrage and anger on the locals with famines, plagues, floods, etc.

• The Christian prohibition of longstanding Roman conduct such as infanticide, suicide, and child and temple prostitutes, would have baffled and perhaps enraged a traditional Roman.

• The civic offence was nighttime meetings, which Rome outlawed to limit rebellion and secret plots. Because the Christians had weekly meetings that needed to be kept out of public view, their night gatherings were breaking the law.

According to David B. Barrett and Todd M. Johnson, two of the world’s leading religious demographers. “More Christians were martyred in the 20th century than in all previous centuries combined, The trend has not abated in this century. Though the statistics are uncertain and highly dependent on counting methodologies, the number of Christians killed for their faith every year almost certainly lies in the thousands and possibly tens of thousands. According to the International Society for Human Rights, Christians are estimated to make up 80 percent of those who are persecuted for their religion.”