Beyond The Walls

William Patrick, owner of Science Based Gains LLC joins Beyond the Walls for a conversation with Ben about an evidenced based approach to fitness and nutrition... if you are interested in maximizing your time in the gym and the principles behind research backed exercise, this is the episode for you. You also need to check him out on Instagram @williampatrickfit and on his website www.bio.site/williampatrick YOU NEED TO CHECK THIS STUFF OUT!!! If you are interested in a fresh, quality cup of coffee each and every time, check out all the products they have to offer at www.goosebridlecoffee.com Check us out on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram by searching for "Beyond The Walls.' This episode is brought to you, in part by Goose Bridle Coffee Roasters. Also by Josh Holyfield PD, check out what Josh as to offer at www.joshholyfield.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ben-james/message --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ben-james/message

Abi Vanorny, owner of BeBetter Wellness LLC joins Beyond the Walls for a conversation with Ben about nutrition and overall wellness... ever wondered how the food we eat impacts our overall health??? If so, this is the episode for you. You can find Abi on Instagram @lyfstyl_abiv and on her website www.b-betterwellness.com YOU NEED TO CHECK HER STUFF OUT!!! If you are interested in a fresh, quality cup of coffee each and every time, check out all the products they have to offer at www.goosebridlecoffee.com Check us out on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram by searching for "Beyond The Walls.' This episode is brought to you, in part by Goose Bridle Coffee Roasters. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ben-james/message

Will Steven joins Beyond the Walls for a conversation with Ben on coffee... need we say anything more? If you are interested in a fresh, quality cup of coffee each and every time, check out all the products they have to offer at www.goosebridlecoffee.com Check us out on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram by searching for "Beyond The Walls.' This episode is brought to you, in part by Goose Bridle Coffee Roasters. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ben-james/message

Josh Holyfield joins Beyond the Walls for a conversation with Ben on exercise, mental, physical and lifestyle well being. Check out ALL that Josh offers at www.joshholyfield.com Check us out on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram by searching for "Beyond The Walls.' This episode is brought to you, in part by Goose Bridle Coffee Roasters. If you are interested in a fresh, quality cup of coffee each and every time, check out all the products they have to offer at www.goosebridlecoffee.com --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/ben-james/message

In this episode Pastors Josh & Ben discuss pitfalls, habits, tendencies and lack of priorities that need to be corrected/balanced/established to make sure we are not raising our children to hate the church or view the church as a barrier to the familial relationships. Based on a Christianity Today article which can be viewed here: https://www.christianitytoday.com/edstetzer/2014/january/5-ways-to-teach-your-children-to-hate-ministry.html

In this episode Pastors Josh and Ben discuss the importance of congregational songs being sound in their theology.

In this episode, Pastor Josh and Pastor Ben discuss the importance of churches staying true to their mission. Email us at: twopreacherstalking@gmail.com Find us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram by searching "Two Preachers Podcast." Music by: Zac Nelson

In this episode, Pastor Josh and Pastor Ben discuss the challenges of reopening our churches. Email us at: twopreacherstalking@gmail.com Find us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram by searching "Two Preachers Podcast." Music by: Zac Nelson

Today, Josh and Ben take a Biblical look at what unity among believers looks like, and how that applies to the times we are facing today. Connect with us: Email: twopreacherstalking@gmail.com Facebook: twopreachers Twitter: @PreachersTwo Instagram: twopreacherspodcast

**Recorded Before COVID-19/CORONAVIRUS regulations In this episode, Pastor Josh and Pastor Ben discuss Making Ministry Mission Minded. What does scripture show us about how the role of missions in the local church? How can we approach leading the body of Christ, and our churches in this are? Whether it be local, regional, international, or right next door, we find that scripture has a lot to say, and a lot of expectations for us in this area. Join us as we talk about the Why's and How's of Making Ministry Mission Minded.  Email us at: twopreacherstalking@gmail.com Find us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram by searching "Two Preachers Podcast." Music by: Zac Nelson

In this episode, Pastor Josh and Pastor Ben discuss Leading Through Change. What does scripture show us about how we are to lead through times of change? How can we approach leading the body of Christ, and our churches in this process? Whether it be change that we are presenting or change that is forced upon us, we find that there are several approaches we can take to lead, in healthy ways, through times of change.  Email us at: twopreacherstalking@gmail.com Find us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram by searching "Two Preachers Podcast." Music by: Zac Nelson

In this episode, Pastor Josh and Pastor Ben discuss the challenges of Balancing Life & Ministry. What does scripture show us about finding this balance? How can we be better at leading the body of Christ, and our families by finding more balance? And, again... just who in the world are these guys anyhow?? Email us at: twopreacherstalking@gmail.com Find us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram by searching "Two Preachers Podcast." Music by: Zac Nelson

In this first episode, Pastor Josh and Pastor Ben discuss the Biblical principle of leading with a servants heart. How do we learn this concept from the life of Jesus? How can we be better at leading the body of Christ by our service? And, just who in the world are these guys anyhow?? Email us at: twopreacherstalking@gmail.com Find us on Facebook, Twitter & Instagram by searching "Two Preachers Podcast."

After two once in a lifetime kind of wars that changed the landscape of the world in the span of 30 years, it was not just the soldiers that wanted the fighting to stop. Outlooks, beliefs, practices, faith, loyalty, and security, just to name a few of the things that had been changed as a result of these conflicts.  And this wasn’t just in the general population, this was a time when the world saw a changing of the guard so to speak in the way of diplomacy. Foreign relations and overall trust also changed; to the point that the allied countries in WW2 were at a preverbal global risk board in a dimly lit corner of the room long before the war had even ended. This was a time that, even as world leaders were meeting with each other as allies speaking strategy out of one side of their mouth, they were, on the other side making “backroom” deals and maneuvers to make sure that they came out on top not only of the ones they were fighting against, but also the ones they were fighting alongside. There maybe no better example of this than the positioning plays that were done at the Yalta conference where the big 3 met to decide on the reorganization of Europe after the war concluded.  Josef Stalin, the Russian president, had always feared that the other countries aligned themselves with Russia as a result of the concept of the enemy of my enemy is my friend. And, in reality, this really wasn’t that much of a stretch. After all, the allied coalition was made up of countries that the only thing they opposed more staunchly than Soviet communism was German fascism and what Hitler represented. As it turns out, Stalin’s paranoia wasn’t completely unfounded.  Also, if we want to look at the polarity of the situation, the natural enemy to communism was capitalism of any kind, whether it be the Democratic Capitalism that America represented or the Imperial Capitalism that was in operation in Europe. The constant looking over of every shoulder in this time period was not only warranted, but also a necessity.   Links to research aides: https://www.iwm.org.uk/history/the-end-of-the-british-empire-after-the-second-world-war http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/british/modern/endofempire_overview_01.shtml https://www.politico.com/magazine/story/2014/08/the-sad-end-of-the-british-empire-110362  

The what, why, when are all questions that can be debated about the beginning of the Cold War. In this episode we take a look at what, we believe, to be one of the critical launching points of this "not hot, but warm" conflict as we consider what might be the first arms race of this era. In this introduction, we present to you 10 of the most influential technological advancements that WW1 brought to the world stage. This list is by no means exhaustive, and you will probably have points where you disagree with this, but that's okay. After all, the WW1 era may have possibly been the era where technology was making one of its biggest steps forward. Our main research source for this series is the book, "The Cold War: A New History" by John Lewis Gaddis. Purchase his book from Amazon from the link on the books title. For additional resource reference sites, please email us at beyondthewallspodcast@gmail.com  Follow us on Twitter @walls_beyond, on Facebook & Instagram by searching "Beyond The Walls Podcast."

At the height of the Cuban Missile Crisis, Soviet submarine commander Vasili Arkhipov had the power to decide whether or not World War III would begin. With the United States and the Soviet Union on the brink of nuclear war, the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis was one of the tensest moments in modern history.  But at the peak of the crisis, one Soviet naval officer managed to keep a cool head and avert nuclear devastation. After weeks of U.S. intelligence gathering that pointed toward a Soviet arms buildup in Cuba, the inciting incident came on Oct. 14 when an American spy plane flying over the island photographed missile sites under construction.  With Cuba a mere 90 miles from the U.S. mainland, missiles launched from there would be able to strike most of the eastern United States within a matter of minutes. The Soviets and their fellow communist allies in Cuba had secretly reached a deal to place those missiles on the island in July. The Soviets wanted to shore up their nuclear strike capabilities against the U.S. (which had recently placed missiles in Turkey, bordering the Soviet Union, as well as Italy) and the Cubans wanted to prevent the Americans from attempting another invasion of the island like the unsuccessful one they’d launched in April 1961. Through a series of tense negotiations over the coming days, the Americans and the Soviets worked out a deal to end the conflict. By Oct. 28, the Americans had agreed to remove their missiles from Turkey and the Soviets had agreed to remove their missiles from Cuba. But while the two countries’ leaders were handling the negotiations, they were largely unaware of a much more precarious situation that was going on below the surface in the Caribbean. Research Sources:  https://www.theguardian.com/science/2017/oct/27/vasili-arkhipov-soviet-submarine-captain-who-averted-nuclear-war-awarded-future-of-life-prize http://www.garyslaughter.com/ Find us on Social Media Twitter: @Walls_Beyond Facebook & Instagram: @beyondthewallspodcast Email: beyondthewallspodcast@gmail.com 

Early in 1939, the world's scientific community discovered that German physicists had learned the secrets of splitting a uranium atom. Fears soon spread over the possibility of Nazi scientists utilizing that energy to produce a bomb capable of unspeakable destruction. Scientists ALBERT EINSTEIN, who fled Nazi persecution, and ENRICO FERMI, who escaped Fascist Italy, were now living in the United States. They agreed that the President must be informed of the dangers of atomic technology in the hands of the Axis powers. Fermi traveled to Washington in March to express his concerns to government officials. But few shared his uneasiness. Leaving nothing to chance, Los Alamos atomic scientists conducted a pre-test test in May 1945 to check the monitoring instruments. A 100-ton bomb was exploded some 800 yards from the Trinity site where Gadget would be detonated a few weeks later. Einstein penned a letter to President Roosevelt urging the development of an atomic research program later that year. Roosevelt saw neither the necessity nor the utility for such a project, but agreed to proceed slowly. In late 1941, the American effort to design and build an ATOMIC BOMB received its code name — the MANHATTAN PROJECT. At first the research was based at only a few universities — Columbia University, the University of Chicago and the University of California at Berkeley. A breakthrough occurred in December 1942 when Fermi led a group of physicists to produce the first controlled NUCLEAR CHAIN REACTION under the grandstands of STAGG FIELD at the University of Chicago. Enrico Fermi, a physicist who left fascist Italy for America, encouraged the U.S. to begin atomic research. The result was the top-secret "Manhattan Project." After this milestone, funds were allocated more freely, and the project advanced at breakneck speed. Nuclear facilities were built at Oak Ridge, Tennessee and Hanford, Washington. The main assembly plant was built at LOS ALAMOS, NEW MEXICO. ROBERT OPPENHEIMER was put in charge of putting the pieces together at Los Alamos. After the final bill was tallied, nearly $2 billion had been spent on research and development of the atomic bomb. The Manhattan Project employed over 120,000 Americans. Secrecy was paramount. Neither the Germans nor the Japanese could learn of the project. Roosevelt and Churchill also agreed that Stalin would be kept in the dark. Consequently, there was no public awareness or debate. Keeping 120,000 people quiet would be impossible; therefore only a small privileged cadre of inner scientists and officials knew about the atomic bomb's development. In fact, Vice-President Truman had never heard of the Manhattan Project until he became President Truman. Although the Axis powers remained unaware of the efforts at Los Alamos, American leaders later learned that a Soviet spy named KLAUS FUCHS had penetrated the inner circle of scientists. This crater in the Nevada desert was created by a 104 kiloton nuclear bomb buried 635 feet beneath the surface. It is the result of a 1962 test investigating whether nuclear weapons could be used to excavate canals and harbors. By the summer of 1945, Oppenheimer was ready to test the first bomb. On July 16, 1945, at TRINITY SITE near ALAMOGORDO, NEW MEXICO, scientists of the Manhattan Project readied themselves to watch the detonation of the world's first atomic bomb. The device was affixed to a 100-foot tower and discharged just before dawn. No one was properly prepared for the result. A blinding flash visible for 200 miles lit up the morning sky. A mushroom cloud reached 40,000 feet, blowing out windows of civilian homes up to 100 miles away. When the cloud returned to earth it created a half-mile wide crater metamorphosing sand into glass. A bogus cover-up story was quickly released, explaining that a huge ammunition dump had just exploded in the desert. Soon word reached President Truman in Potsdam, Germany that the project was successful. The world had entered the nuclear age.

Nowadays, browsing the aisles of candy corn and plastic bats, it’s hard to imagine that Halloween was ever an article of controversy. But the history of Halloween in America was surprisingly contentious. It took a long time to become established as a mainstream holiday and was resisted, perhaps not so surprisingly, by religious authorities. Halloween has its origins in the Celtic holiday of Samhain. It was a druidic festival held between the evening of October 31 and sunset of the following day. The ancient Druids believed that during this night, the separation between the worlds of the living and the dead softened. Ghosts, they believed, roamed the countryside, damaging crops and meddling in human affairs. And it was also a time when divination was thought to be more powerful. After the Celts were conquered by the Romans, Samhain underwent a series of revisions. Over the course of the four-hundred-year Roman governorship, Samhain blended with two similar Roman holidays – Feralia, a day to honor the dead, and a holiday to celebrate Pomona, the Roman goddess of trees and fruit. Samhain was later suppressed by the Roman Church and replaced with All Souls’ Day, which incorporated many of the Samhain traditions such as costume-wearing and bonfires. All Souls’ Day, alternatively called All Hallow’s Eve and eventually Halloween, had trouble establishing itself as a mainstream holiday in America. It was vigorously resisted by the Puritans in the New England colonies, but had an easier time winning hearts and minds in Maryland and other southern states. It wasn’t until the huge influx of Irish and Scottish immigrants in the later part of the 19th Century that Halloween in America became nationally popular. It was then that Halloween really started to take shape into the form that’s most familiar to us. Celebrants would dress in costumes and go from door to door asking for money or food, the origin of the modern trick-or-treat. People also told ghost stories, played pranks, and raised hell.The holiday’s raucous character elicited pushback from some concerned parties, who moved to domesticate the holiday into something more focused on community than the occult. Newspapers and community figureheads discouraged parents from including anything phantasmagorical from their parties and instead focus on games and food. By the early 20th Century, Halloween had been largely gutted of its death and mayhem overtones. Halloween, though sanitized, still carried (and carries) with it an attendant spike in property destruction. And religious groups continued (and continue) to protest the holiday’s aesthetics and Pagan origins. Many Christians consider the holiday a benign occasion, or even a religiously relevant one, considering Halloween’s close historical ties with the faith. Others, though, denounce loudly. It had a rocky first few centuries, but Halloween is now entrenched as one of the most popular holidays in the country. Halloween in America has undergone many transformations, but as it stands now, it is an almost entirely secular affair, split evenly between children playing dress-up and adult revelers.

Samhain being the feast of fire, has also held a place in some minds as the feast of the dead as well. With some holding that it is seen as incorporating the cult of Donn (Lord of the Dead we referenced in Part 1) into its celebrations but whether this is accurate, or how they did so remains uncertain. The idea that Samhain is a juncture between the two halves of the year placed it in the unusual realm of being suspended in time - it did not belong to the old year not the new. We view the year in modern times as being comprised of four parts, Spring, Summer, Autumn & Winter. While, for the ancient Celts, it was primarily viewed as two seasons; winter and summer. So, the night of Samhain held a weird place of not being part of summer…. But, it had yet to become winter. Many believed that It could be said that time stood still on this night and the implications of this could be, and were in some cases, terrifying. During this night and the limbo that it was believed to represent, the natural order of life, nature, time and the spiritual realm was thrown into chaos and the earthly world of the living (not only humans, but livestock, plants, nature itself was all dangerously threatened by “death” moving its way into their reality during this day). To put it simply it was believed that the world of everything living, became hopelessly entangled with the world of the dead.

As millions of children and adults participate in the fun of Halloween on the night of October 31st, few will be aware of its ancient Celtic roots in the Samhain festival. In Celtic Ireland about 2,000 years ago, Samhain was the division of the year between the lighter half (summer) and the darker half (winter). At Samhain the division between this world and the otherworld was at its thinnest, allowing spirits to pass through. The family's ancestors were honored and invited home whilst harmful spirits were warded off. People wore costumes and masks to disguise themselves as harmful spirits and thus avoid harm. Bonfires and food played a large part in the festivities. The bones of slaughtered livestock were cast into a communal fire, household fires were extinguished and started again from the bonfire. Food was prepared for the living and the dead, food for the ancestors who were in no position it eat it, was ritually shared with the less well off. Christianity incorporated the honoring of the dead into the Christian calendar with All Saints (All Hallows) on November 1st, followed by All Souls on November 2nd. The wearing of costumes and masks to ward off harmful spirits survived as Halloween customs. The Irish emigrated to America in great numbers during the 19th century especially around the time of famine in Ireland during the 1840's. The Irish carried their Halloween traditions to America, where today it is one of the major holidays of the year. Through time other traditions have blended into Halloween, for example the American harvest time tradition of carving pumpkins.

The Letters of Hus have long been recognised by the best judges as one of the world’s spiritual treasures. The discovery of Hus, if we may so express it, forms more than once a landmark in the spiritual development of Luther. ‘When I was a tyro at Erfurt,’ we read, ‘I found in the library of the convent a volume of The Sermons of John Hus. When I read the title I had a great curiosity to know what doctrines that heresiarch had propagated, since a volume like this in a public library had been saved from the fire. On reading I was overwhelmed with astonishment. I could not understand for what cause they had burnt so great a man, who explained the Scriptures with so much gravity and skill. But as the very name of Hus was held in so great abomination that I imagined the sky would fall and the sun be darkened if I made honourable mention of him, I shut the book and went away with no little indignation. This, however, was my comfort, that perhaps Hus had written these things before he fell into heresy. For as yet I knew not what was done at the Council of Constance’ (Mon. Hus. vol. i. Preface). Some years later, in February 1529, after pondering the matter over with Melancthon, Luther was driven to write to Spalatin: ‘I have hitherto taught [2] and held all the opinions of Hus without knowing it. With a like unconsciousness has Staupitz taught them. We are all of us Hussites without knowing it. I do not know what to think for amazement.’ In this letter Luther was probably referring to his reading of the controversial works of Hus, especially his De Ecclesia. Shortly afterwards, however, he came across a copy of the Letters. At once he perceived their value, not merely in their bearing on the expected Council convoked for Mantua, which subsequently met at Trent in 1542, but for the larger outlook of spiritual life. He took immediate steps for bringing them before the German public. In 1536 and 1537 no less than three different editions in Latin and three editions in German, each of them with a preface by Luther, issued from the presses of Wittenberg and Leipzig. The most important of these editions is that entitled Epistolæ Quædam Piissimæ et Eruditissimæ, printed at Wittenberg by John Lufft in 1537, an edition which now forms the sole extant source of many of the letters of Hus. In his preface to this volume Luther is not backward in his praises of the Letters. ‘Observe,’ he writes, ‘how firmly Hus clung in his writings and words to the doctrines of Christ; with what courage he struggled against the agonies of death; with what patience and humility he suffered every indignity, and with what greatness of soul he at last confronted a cruel death in defence of the truth; doing all these things alone before an imposing assembly of the great ones of the earth, like a lamb in the midst of lions and wolves. If such a man is to be regarded as a heretic, no person under the sun can be looked [3] on as a true Christian. By what fruits then shall we recognise the truth, if it is not manifest by those with which John Hus was so richly adorned?’ Luther is not alone in his judgment. The Letters of Hus, in the verdict of Bishop Creighton, “give us a touching picture of simple, earnest piety rooted on a deep consciousness of God’s abiding presence. These letters show us neither a fanatic nor a passionate party leader, but a man of childlike spirit, whose one desire was to discharge faithfully his pastoral duties, and to do all things as in the sight of God and not of man.”1 Other testimonies to the value of this series of letters could easily be adduced, but would add nothing to the decision of the great Reformer and the modern Historian. We may safely assert that in the years to come The Letters of Hus will form the only part of his voluminous writings that will be read even by students. For the works of Hus, as Loserth has shown, are for the most part mere copies of Wyclif, oftentimes whole sections of the great Englishman’s writings transferred bodily, without alteration or acknowledgment. The very titles are not original; their parade of learning, which deceived Luther, is completely borrowed, when not from Wyclif, from Gratian and other recognised mediæval handbooks. The Englishman Stokes was right when at Constance he bluntly asked: ‘Why do you glory in these writings, falsely labelling them your own, since after all they belong not to you but Wyclif, in whose steps you are following?’ To the same end was the taunt of his former friend, Andrew Brod: [4] ‘Was Wyclif crucified for us? were we baptised in his name?’ The case is otherwise with Hus’s Letters, eighty-two1 of which have escaped the ravages of Time. For if the controversial works of Hus have contributed little to the intellectual heritage of mankind, his Letters have enriched for ever our moral outlook. The preservation of these letters we owe for the most part to the care of Peter Mladenowic, the secretary of John of Chlum. They form a priceless memorial of one of the truest hearted of the sons of God. His later correspondence especially, his letters from exile and prison, show John Hus to be one of the chosen few who exalt humanity. Though undoubtedly the last letters are the most interesting, inasmuch as in them the personal note reaches its highest, yet in the whole series there is nothing that is unworthy, little that is tedious. Bishop Creighton is correct in his judgment: “Everything Hus writes is the result of his own soul’s experience, is penetrated with a deep moral earnestness, illuminated with a boldness and a self-forgetfulness that breathes the spirit of the cry, ‘Let God be true and every man a liar.’ ” In the belief that a wider acquaintance with The Letters of Hus will lead to a general endorsement of this verdict, we have translated into English these priceless human documents. Visit our sponsors: McFarland-Murray Chevrolet The Commercial Bank of Grayson

Written in Central Europe at the end of the 15th or during the 16th century, the origin, language, and date of the Voynich Manuscript—named after the Polish-American antiquarian bookseller, Wilfrid M. Voynich, who acquired it in 1912—are still being debated as vigorously as its puzzling drawings and undeciphered text. Described as a magical or scientific text, nearly every page contains botanical, figurative, and scientific drawings of a provincial but lively character, drawn in ink with vibrant washes in various shades of green, brown, yellow, blue, and red. Based on the subject matter of the drawings, the contents of the manuscript falls into six sections: 1) botanicals containing drawings of 113 unidentified plant species; 2) astronomical and astrological drawings including astral charts with radiating circles, suns and moons, Zodiac symbols such as fish (Pisces), a bull (Taurus), and an archer (Sagittarius), nude females emerging from pipes or chimneys, and courtly figures; 3) a biological section containing a myriad of drawings of miniature female nudes, most with swelled abdomens, immersed or wading in fluids and oddly interacting with interconnecting tubes and capsules; 4) an elaborate array of nine cosmological medallions, many drawn across several folded folios and depicting possible geographical forms; 5) pharmaceutical drawings of over 100 different species of medicinal herbs and roots portrayed with jars or vessels in red, blue, or green, and 6) continuous pages of text, possibly recipes, with star-like flowers marking each entry in the margins. Theories Resources: James "Big Jim" Finn - Ancient Hebrew warning of end times apocalypse Richard Rogers - claims that the VMs is an ultra-terse Renaissance drawing language, to describe (presumably) heretical symbols without actually drawing them. Leo Levitov - Cathar Theory (as summarized & criticized by Dennis Stallings) Visit our sponsors: McFarland-Murray Chevrolet The Commercial Bank of Grayson

We are joined by Pastor Beau Adams of Community Bible Church in the Atlanta, GA area. Beau has authored two books which you can find on the links below... Stones of Gratitude & Seven Stupid Things If you are near the Atlanta, GA area, we at BTW highly recommend you connect with the folks of Community Bible Church     Please take a moment and visit our sponsors: The Commercial Bank of Grayson McFarland Murray Chevrolet 

Naked women in pools of green liquid, strange looking plants, and text written in an unknown alphabet; they can all be found on the delicate parchment pages of a mysterious manuscript from the 15th century. And nobody knows what any of it means. Frayed, browned and in fragile condition, the Voynich manuscript currently resides deep in a basement at Yale University's Beinecke Rare Book & Manuscript Library but digitized copies of it are available for free online. (Find a pdf copy in its entirety and all the pics that were promised here) Since it came to light over 100 years ago, many have tried and failed to decode the text -- from US Army cryptographers to ordinary citizens postulating theories in the deepest corners of Reddit. Its author and original title are unknown, and it is named for the collector and bookseller Wilfrid Voynich, who purchased it in 1912... Welcome to "The Voynich Manuscript." Please take some time and visit our sponsors: The Commercial Bank of Grayson McFarland Murray Chevrolet

Whether code breaker or spiritualist or amateur historian, the Voynich speculators are linked by their common interest in the past, in this quasi-occult mystery, and the insoluble problems of authenticity.  It has been said that it is “for a mysterious but learned reference to past mysteries that somehow hold important meaning for the present.” We will probably never stop forming communities based on the manuscript’s secrets.  We are fond of weaving narratives like doilies around gaping holes, so that the holes won’t scare them. And objects from premodern history—like medieval manuscripts—are the perfect canvas on which to project our worries about the difficult, the frightening and the arcane, because these objects come from a time outside culture as we conceive of it. This single, original manuscript encourages us to sit with the concept of truth and to remember that there are mysteries at the bottom of things whose meanings we will never know.

Taylor Scott has brilliantly packaged a way forward for Millennials and leaders of Millennials to not only coexist in Corporate America, but to also transform menial jobs into meaningful work. If you loved playing sports as a kid or even as an adult, but find yourself stuck in a career hamster wheel, this book is for you. Prepare to reignite the child-like faith you had back then, realizing actionable steps toward new realms of happiness and success today." - Eric Chester - Bestselling Author of On Fire At Work: How Great Companies Ignite Passion in Their People Without Burning Them Out, Award Winning Keynote Speaker, and the Founder of the Center for Work Ethic Development. The Problem: Millennials and those leading Millennials as today’s front-line employees, entry-level managers, middle managers, and even some executives, are caught in the proverbial hamster-in-a-wheel that is Corporate America. A lack of inspiration and motivation looms over people who spend their days, trudging through life as real life ‘Eyeores’. Many are okay with the sea of mediocrity that is their daily routines, but others, in fact, the majority, have a desire for more; for better days and a more enjoyable, meaningful, fulfilling, and a more productive life – at work and at home. Yet, beautiful, smart, intelligent, creative, and really great people are simply stuck, dead in their tracks. The Millennial generation gets frustrated, fed up, and all too often they’re quick to shut down communication with peers and leaders. This prevents those very peers and leaders from seeing their full talent, potential, and beauty. Furthermore, and possibly even scarier, today’s leaders of the Millennial generation get fed up with their teams and individuals they lead. They mistake their attitudes and uncomfortable, social awkwardness for disinterest, lack of urgency and focus. So we're left with a general lack of connection and engagement among teams all throughout Corporate America. Leaders push rather than pull. They manage through fear as opposed to leading with love. They dictate orders, aiming to break people down as opposed to coaching, building them up. In Ballgames to Boardrooms: Lessons From Our Coaches We Never Knew We Needed, Taylor Scott resurfaces what many have forgotten from those simple, yet profound lessons we learned playing sports at a younger age. Our Little League, High School, and College coaches taught us lessons, values, winning principles, and dropped pearl after pearl of wisdom we never knew we needed back then. Taylor is bringing them back to the forefront, and inspiring anyone and everyone who wants a change in their day-to-day grind. The lessons we learned playing sports when we were younger can be applied today, in the midst of our busy, frustrating, often demoralizing, and stressful corporate climb. Why can’t we get up and go to work every day to have fun, put our talents to good use, be a part of a winning team, and achieve meaning and fulfillment NOW, just like we did when we played Little League?! This book reminds readers how to do just that, and may very well be the encouragement you didn't know you needed to break through the demoralizing Corporate Corporateness of your daily grind.   Order It Now here Listen here

Mo Isom is the New York Times bestselling author of Wreck My Life. She maintains a thriving, nationwide speaking ministry and facilitates a faith-centered blog (moisom.com) that has garnered millions of views to date. Isom is a former All-American goalkeeper for the Louisiana State University soccer team and holds the LSU all-time goalkeeper record, as well as the #3 SEC all-time shutout record. She trained with the US Women's National program, was honored as National Player of the Week, has been featured in Sports Illustrated, and has appeared on ESPN SportsCenter Top-10 Plays, Ellen, ESPN, CBS, The 700 Club, and countless other platforms. She, her husband, Jeremiah Aiken, and their two children live in Atlanta, Georgia. Sex. In a world overwhelmingly obsessed with it, why is the church so silent about it? With her new book Sex, Jesus, and the Conversations the Church Forgot, New York Times bestselling author and speaker Mo Isom aims to break the silence. With raw vulnerability and a bold spirit, she shares her own sexual testimony, opening up the conversation about misguided rule-following, virginity, temptation, porn, promiscuity, false sexpectations and more, calling readers back to God’s original design for sex—a way to worship and glorify him. From the young person tangled up in an addiction to pornography or feeling pressured to go further in a relationship, to the person who saved themselves for marriage only to be confused and disappointed after their big day, or one of the many people who casually watches sex play out on TV and wonders why they’re dissatisfied with the real thing, and for every confused or hurting person in-between, Isom shows a better way to talk about sex. “Our immeasurable worth as image-bearing creations of God and our sexual identity have been unified since the beginning of creation,” writes Isom. “And if we learn about one but not the other, or value one above the other, we unwind two truths about our very nature that were never meant to know divide.” Buy Mo's Books!! "Wreck My Life" "Sex, Jesus and the Conversations The Church Forgot" Watch her Convocation Message at Liberty University Follow her on Social Media: Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, YouTube

John Huss (also known as Jan Hus) was born about 1369-1372 in Husinec ("Goose Town"), Bohemia, which town gave him his surname (Hus means "Goose"). In 1394, Anne of Bohemia, the wife of King Richard II of England returned to Prague after her husband's death. She and her attendants had been influenced by John Wycliffe's beginning the Reformation in England. Huss, in his early twenties, read Wycliffe's works, caught the vision and decided to reform the church in Bohemia. He became a scholar, receiving a master's degree in 1396. He was ordained to the priesthood, and became rector of the Bethlehem Chapel in 1402. There he began teaching his ideas to reform the Catholic Church to follow the Bible. He wrote a tractate called "Six Errors" and tacked it to the church door of the Bethlehem Chapel.   Connect with us: Email, Twitter, Facebook,  Support our sponsor: McFarland Murray Chevrolet

First part in a two episode look at the "popular culture" theories as to the location/destination of the Ark.  In this episode we discuss Egypt and are quickly on our way to discussing multiple places it could be... until, we run into the Knights Templar and Oak Island and we completely derail! We have titled this episode 3 in our Ark series, but, it could just as easily be titled "History of Knights Templar", or "Oak Island."  

Communication Device: Some firmly believe that the Ark of the Covenant was a device for communicating with peoples unknown, although to the Israelites on their exodus, it was a means to communicate with God. While these theories are speculative at best, they are reasonably well–thought out, based on writings and accounts in various ancient texts, including the Bible. When active, it was said that the image of God would appear in between the two cherubs that reside on top of the Ark, known as the Mercy Seat. There are several takes on what this may have been in reality. Some argue that the appearances of God in the Bible, for example, are often depicted as flames or smoke or bright lights. Given that many believe the Ark to have been some kind of electrical device (which we will look at later), it is possible that when it was “activated,” there would have been sparks and flashes that some may have taken as a sign of God. A somewhat more extreme theory is that the Ark was literally a communication device that created a hologram of the person on the other end. To those who were not at all familiar with such technologies, the suggestion that this was, in fact, God would have made perfect sense to them.   Manna Machine: According to legend and ancient writings, during their 40-year exodus, the Israelites survived by obtaining sustenance from something called manna. This manna would fall from the sky, apparently on “the command” of the Ark itself. According to authors Rodney Dale and George Sassoon, the Ark was a working machine that produced this manna. It was essentially, as the title of their book suggests, a manna machine. The authors, using the Kabbalah as their source, claimed that the Ark housed a machine that was nuclear-powered and would produce manna on a daily basis, very similar to modern projects looking to supply algae as food. They even went as far as to say that this is where the origins of the seventh day being a day of rest stem from, as after running for six consecutive days, the machine would have to be taken apart and cleaned so that it remained in good working order.   Electrical Capacitor: When modern scientists and electrical engineers study the dimensions and materials of the Ark as dictated in the Bible, most agree that in reality, it resembles very much some kind of electrical capacitor. The Ark was made from wood and then completely covered in gold, inside and out. The wood could have essentially acted as an insulator between the positive charge (the outer plating) and the negative charge (the inner plating). The cherubs were placed on top of the lid of the Ark, itself also plated in gold on both sides. The positive cherub would be attached to the outer plating, while under the negative cherub would be another layer of wood to act as an insulator, with a rod connecting the negative cherub to the inner plating. If this were true, it would perhaps explain why there are so many stories of people dying when coming into contact with the Ark. For example, the story of Moses’s brother, Aaron, whose two sons were “burned from the inside” when a lightning bolt shot from the Ark and into their nose, would perhaps be explained by the fact that the Ark was electrically charged and volatile.   A Weapon: There are many deaths associated with the Ark. For example, only those with the correct breastplate and gown could approach it safely. From a modern perspective, the plate and gown might have been protective clothing from radiation. It is claimed in writings that such areas as the head, lungs, and genitals all had to be covered when approaching the Ark. The story of the Walls of Jericho is seen as perhaps the best example of the alleged power of the Ark and how it was utilized as a weapon. The Israelites were instructed to march around the walls of the city, carrying the Ark with them as they did so. On the seventh day of doing this, following the sounding of their horns, the walls tumbled to the ground. While no one knows for sure if the walls did literally fall to the ground, many people believe that if they did, then it is likely that the Ark utilized some kind of pulse or sonar technology. As far-fetched as it sounds, there are “weapons” in development today that work in similar ways to how the Ark is theorized to have.

The greatest and most sought after treasure of all time is what we are tackling in this episode of beyond the walls... Join us as we take a Biblical look at the Ark of the Covenant as well as theories as to it disappearance from searching the scripture.

In this episode we are interviewing Laura Jones regarding how her faith both aided her, and has been challenged, since she has been introduced to a greater amount of influence, critique & spotlight in her journey as Miss Kentucky competing for Miss America. Show notes can be found on our website: beyondthewallspodcast.com

We are privileged to be joined by writer, speaker & author Tammy Nischan on this episode. Tammy talks to us about her journey, and how her faith met an adversary in the form of loss.