Podcasts about Asherah

In this extended episode of Hidden Wisdom, Meghan Farner offers a courageous and deeply grounded exploration of what it truly means to call the Bible “the Word of God.” Drawing from history, theology, mysticism, and personal discernment, Meghan invites listeners to approach scripture—especially the Old Testament—not as an inerrant divine transcript, but as a profoundly human record of humanity wrestling with God.This episode examines biblical authorship, political and cultural influences, polytheism in ancient Israel, the suppression of the divine feminine, and the role of ego, power, and hierarchy in shaping scripture. Meghan introduces the four levels of Hebrew interpretation, demonstrates how symbolic and mystical readings restore depth and coherence, and reframes troubling biblical narratives as invitations to inner transformation rather than external obedience.Ultimately, this episode is a call to spiritual maturity: to trust Christ, cultivate discernment, and allow God—not institutions—to be your primary tutor. For anyone studying the Bible this year, navigating faith transitions, or seeking a lived experience of the Divine beyond fear, this conversation offers clarity, permission, and profound hope.00:00 – 02:40 | Introduction and why this topic matters now02:40 – 04:00 | Why the Old Testament creates tension and confusion04:00 – 06:45 | Personal discernment and direct relationship with God06:45 – 09:45 | Projection, ego, and humans creating God in their image09:45 – 12:45 | The Bible as a human record—not divine dictation12:45 – 15:30 | Violence, fear, and misattributed divine commands15:30 – 18:15 | Ancient Israel's polytheism and the divine council18:15 – 21:40 | Spiritual evolution and changing views of God21:40 – 24:45 | Political power, Rome, and biblical curation24:45 – 27:30 | Loss of feminine wisdom and oral tradition27:30 – 30:45 | Asherah, goddess suppression, and missing feminine imagery30:45 – 34:15 | Excluded texts and erased mystical traditions34:15 – 37:00 | Four levels of Hebrew interpretation37:00 – 40:15 | Symbolism as the language of scripture40:15 – 43:00 | Cain and Abel as inner allegory43:00 – 46:30 | Discernment, humility, and spiritual maturity46:30 – 50:45 | Translation bias and priesthood hierarchy50:45 – 55:30 | Christ revealing the true character of God Thank you for listening to Hidden Wisdom! For free resources, courses, programs, and upcoming events, visit meghanfarner.com. ✨ Register for our FREE Intention Workshop - January 5th, 7pm MT If this episode brought value to your life, please consider: Donating through Venmo: @Meghan-Farner Subscribing to stay updated Sharing it with someone who would love it Leaving a comment or review to help others find the show Connecting and exploring more resources at meghanfarner.com Thank you for being a part of the Hidden Wisdom community!

Resources: https://www.slideshare.net/slideshow/source-criticism-jedp-l/17771754 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VKqo6EtbBqM https://www.thetorah.com/article/encountering-the-documentary-hypothesis-in-the-joseph-story https://paradigmone.wordpress.com/2015/09/23/what-kind-of-truth-is-the-bible/ https://biblearchaeology.org/research/topics/biblical-criticism-and-the-documentary-hypothesis/2328-the-documentary-hypothesis https://jwa.org/encyclopedia/article/asherahasherim-bible https://theologicalstudies.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/08/48.2.6.pdf https://creationconcept.wordpress.com/2011/01/20/on-the-chiastic-structure-of-revelation/ https://alittleperspective.com/genesis-371-36-triennial-vayeshev-and-he-dwelt-outline/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Documentary_hypothesis https://www.gotquestions.org/JEDP-theory.html https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/blogs/justin-taylor/the-yawn-of-jedp/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_Wellhausen https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3_83ac29uLs

This week in the Biblical Time Machine, Helen and Lloyd travel back to a time when God had a wife named Asherah... or did he? To help them answer decipher the ancient goddess, our co-hosts enlist the help of Dr Steve Wiggins, a world-leading expert on Asherah. Together, they explore how Asherah came to be associated with the God of Israel, discuss inscriptions and figurines associated with the goddess, and consider why the question of God once having a 'wife' remains so controversial today. Steve Wiggins earned his PhD at the University of Edinburgh in 1992 and taught Hebrew Bible at Nashotah House Episcopal Seminary from 1992-2004. His revised dissertation, A Reassessment of Asherah: With Further Considerations of the Goddess, was expanded in 2007 and came out as a paperback version in 2025. It is the only full-length treatment of the Ugaritic source material on Asherah, and combines that with comprehensive examination of textual sources from the Hebrew Bible, ancient Mesopotamia, Epigraphic South Arabian sources, Hittite sources, as well as Hebrew inscriptions that may mention the goddess. SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINEIf you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription.DOWNLOAD OUR STUDY GUIDE: MARK AS ANCIENT BIOGRAPHYCheck out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." While you're there, get yourself a Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle.Support the showTheme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 produced by John Nelson.

What if ancient Israel didn't start out believing in one God? In this groundbreaking episode, Oxford Professor Emeritus Dr. John Day reveals how archaeological evidence and biblical texts themselves show that early Israelites worshipped multiple deities from the Canaanite pantheon. With over 40 years of scholarship and doctorates from both Cambridge and Oxford, Dr. Day takes us on a fascinating journey through the religious landscape of ancient Canaan, where Yahweh was originally just one god among many, including El, Baal, and even goddesses like Asherah who was worshipped alongside Yahweh in the Jerusalem temple.Dr. Day traces the revolutionary transformation from polytheism to monotheism, showing how Yahweh absorbed attributes from other gods like El (becoming equated with him) while rejecting others like Baal. We explore how mythological creatures like Leviathan were borrowed from Canaanite sources, why "Israel" contains the name El rather than Yahweh, and how true monotheism didn't emerge until the Babylonian exile with Second Isaiah's radical declaration: "I am Yahweh, and there is no other." This conversation will challenge and deepen your understanding of how the biblical faith developed over centuries.In this episode you will learn:Why Deuteronomy 32:8-9 suggests Yahweh received Israel as his portion among 70 godsHow El and Yahweh were originally separate deities who later merged into oneThe shocking evidence that some Israelites worshipped Asherah as Yahweh's wifeWhy Baal was rejected while El was embraced in Israelite religionHow the seven-headed Leviathan from Canaanite mythology became part of Yahweh's identityThe difference between monolatry ("worship only one god") and monotheism ("only one god exists")King Josiah's radical 621 BC reformation that centralized worship in JerusalemWhy the Babylonian exile was the catalyst for absolute monotheismHow these Canaanite connections appear in the New Testament (Beelzebub, Revelation's seven-headed dragon)Why understanding this evolution enriches rather than threatens faithGuest's Work: Get Dr. Day's groundbreaking book "Yahweh and the Gods and Goddesses of Canaan": https://a.co/d/h6gCyuGAlso check out his extensive work on Genesis: "From Creation to Babel" and "From Creation to Abraham"Stay Connected with The Dig In Podcast: Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@thejohnnyova Follow all things Johnny Ova: https://linktr.ee/johnnyova Get Johnny's book "The Revelation Reset": https://a.co/d/hiUkW8H#BiblicalArchaeology #AncientNearEast #Monotheism #Canaanite #Yahweh #BiblicalStudies #ChristianHistory #OldTestament #HebrewBible #AncientIsrael #BiblicalScholarship #ChurchHistory #Theology #ReligiousStudies #DigInPodcastSupport the show

Past, Present & Future Louie Marsh, 12-28-2025 Verse: 17  O God, from my youth you have taught me, and I still proclaim your wondrous deeds. 18  So even to old age and gray hairs, O God, do not forsake me, until I proclaim your might to another generation, your power to all those to come. Psalm 71:17-18 (ESV)   THE PAST – A Great Place to Visit but don't LIVE THERE!   16  Thus says the LORD: "Stand by the roads, and look, and ask for the ancient paths, where the good way is; and walk in it, and find rest for your souls. But they said, 'We will not walk in it.' Jeremiah 6:16 (ESV)   History is a great teacher, ·  LEARN from others mistakes · REFERENCE it to stay on course.   But A BAD Master!   62  Jesus said to him, "No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for the kingdom of God." Luke 9:62 (ESV)   26  But Lot's wife, behind him, looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. Genesis 19:26 (ESV)   THE PRESENT – The Place Where…   · I can LIVE OUT my faith.   34  "Therefore do not be anxious about tomorrow, for tomorrow will be anxious for itself. Sufficient for the day is its own trouble. Matthew 6:34 (ESV   Even though I am free of the demands and expectations of everyone, I have voluntarily become a servant to any and all in order to reach a wide range of people: religious, nonreligious, meticulous moralists, loose-living immoralists, the defeated, the demoralized—whoever. I didn't take on their way of life. I kept my bearings in Christ—but I entered their world and tried to experience things from their point of view. I've become just about every sort of servant there is in my attempts to lead those I meet into a God-saved life. I did all this because of the Message. I didn't just want to talk about it; I wanted to be in on it!  1 Cor. 9:19-23 (Mes)   ·  My FUTURE is born.   13  Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, 14  I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. Philippians 3:13-14 (ESV)   Example – Hezekiah.   · He started WELL!   2  He was twenty-five years old when he began to reign, and he reigned twenty-nine years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Abi the daughter of Zechariah. 3  And he did what was right in the eyes of the LORD, according to all that David his father had done. 4  He removed the high places and broke the pillars and cut down the Asherah. And he broke in pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had made, for until those days the people of Israel had made offerings to it (it was called Nehushtan). 5  He trusted in the LORD, the God of Israel, so that there was none like him among all the kings of Judah after him, nor among those who were before him. 2 Kings 18:2-5 (ESV)   1  In those days Hezekiah became sick and was at the point of death. And Isaiah the prophet the son of Amoz came to him, and said to him, "Thus says the LORD: Set your house in order, for you shall die, you shall not recover." 2  Then Hezekiah turned his face to the wall and prayed to the LORD, 3  and said, "Please, O LORD, remember how I have walked before you in faithfulness and with a whole heart, and have done what is good in your sight." And Hezekiah wept bitterly. Isaiah 38:1-3 (ESV)   · But he finished WEAK.   The time will surely come when everything in your palace, and all that your fathers have stored up until this day, will be carried off to Babylon. Nothing will be left, says the Lord…."The word of the Lord you have spoken is good," Hezekiah replied. For he thought, "There will be peace and security in my lifetime."   Isaiah 39:6,8   THE FUTURE – WHERE WE FINISH   17  "'And in the last days it shall be, God declares, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh, and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, and your young men shall see visions, and your old men shall dream dreams; Acts 2:17 (ESV)   How Can I Finish Strong?   1.  Keep my Eyes on GOD's WORD 2. Have a Healthy RELATIONSHIP  with the past. 3. Make Christ the unchallenged CENTER of my life! 4. Commit to die FACING the future.  

Preached on Sunday the 28th of Sunday, 2025.‭‭2 Kings‬ ‭17‬:‭1‬-‭23‬ ‭“In the twelfth year of Ahaz king of Judah, Hoshea the son of Elah began to reign in Samaria over Israel, and he reigned nine years. And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, yet not as the kings of Israel who were before him. Against him came up Shalmaneser king of Assyria. And Hoshea became his vassal and paid him tribute. But the king of Assyria found treachery in Hoshea, for he had sent messengers to So, king of Egypt, and offered no tribute to the king of Assyria, as he had done year by year. Therefore the king of Assyria shut him up and bound him in prison. Then the king of Assyria invaded all the land and came to Samaria, and for three years he besieged it. In the ninth year of Hoshea, the king of Assyria captured Samaria, and he carried the Israelites away to Assyria and placed them in Halah, and on the Habor, the river of Gozan, and in the cities of the Medes. And this occurred because the people of Israel had sinned against the Lord their God, who had brought them up out of the land of Egypt from under the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt, and had feared other gods and walked in the customs of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel, and in the customs that the kings of Israel had practiced. And the people of Israel did secretly against the Lord their God things that were not right. They built for themselves high places in all their towns, from watchtower to fortified city. They set up for themselves pillars and Asherim on every high hill and under every green tree, and there they made offerings on all the high places, as the nations did whom the Lord carried away before them. And they did wicked things, provoking the Lord to anger, and they served idols, of which the Lord had said to them, “You shall not do this.” Yet the Lord warned Israel and Judah by every prophet and every seer, saying, “Turn from your evil ways and keep my commandments and my statutes, in accordance with all the Law that I commanded your fathers, and that I sent to you by my servants the prophets.” But they would not listen, but were stubborn, as their fathers had been, who did not believe in the Lord their God. They despised his statutes and his covenant that he made with their fathers and the warnings that he gave them. They went after false idols and became false, and they followed the nations that were around them, concerning whom the Lord had commanded them that they should not do like them. And they abandoned all the commandments of the Lord their God, and made for themselves metal images of two calves; and they made an Asherah and worshiped all the host of heaven and served Baal. And they burned their sons and their daughters as offerings and used divination and omens and sold themselves to do evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. Therefore the Lord was very angry with Israel and removed them out of his sight. None was left but the tribe of Judah only. Judah also did not keep the commandments of the Lord their God, but walked in the customs that Israel had introduced. And the Lord rejected all the descendants of Israel and afflicted them and gave them into the hand of plunderers, until he had cast them out of his sight. When he had torn Israel from the Intro Music by Julius H. from Pixabay Outro Music by PianoAmor from Pixabay

2 Kings 23 records King Josiah's sweeping reforms after the rediscovery of the Book of the Law. Josiah renews the covenant before the Lord and aggressively purges Judah of idolatry, destroying pagan altars, removing false priests, defiling high places, and eradicating worship of Baal, Asherah, and other foreign gods—even extending reforms into former northern territories like Bethel. He also restores the Passover, celebrating it more faithfully than at any time since the judges. Despite Josiah's unmatched devotion and obedience, the chapter ends soberly: God's judgment on Judah is not revoked because of long-standing sins under earlier kings. Josiah later dies in battle against Pharaoh Necho, and the nation moves closer to exile—highlighting that reform delayed judgment but could not erase generations of rebellion. Hashtags: #2Kings23 #KingJosiah #BiblicalReform #CovenantRenewal #DestroyingIdols #PassoverRestored #ObedienceToGod #JudgmentAndMercy #OldTestamentTruth #ScriptureReflectionBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sendme-radio--732966/support.“Thank you for listening to SendMe Radio — where we share the Gospel, inspire faith, and keep you connected with powerful stories and updates from around the world. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe so you never miss a message.And remember — you can listen to SendMe Radio streaming 24/7 at www.sendmeradio.net or simply say: ‘Hey Alexa, play SendMe Radio.'

A Sermon for the Fourth Sunday in Advent Philippians 4:4-7 & St. John 1:19-28 by William Klock For the last few months I've been reading Tom Holland's book Dominion.  (That's Tom Holland the historian, not the actor.  Until recently I didn't even know there was an actor because, I guess, I'm a history nerd.)  Anyway, I've been reading a chapter here and a chapter there in between reading other more important things and it's been worthwhile.  Holland isn't a Christian, but this rather large book is nevertheless about the influence that the Gospel, the good news about Jesus, has had in shaping Western Civilisation.  One of the points he stresses is just how brutal and barbaric the ancient world was.  Greeks and Romans knew little of mercy and grace.  Theirs was a dog-eat-dog world.  It was cruel.  The weak were something to be exploited and if they couldn't be exploited, they were a liability and left to fend for themselves.  Nearly a third of the people of the Roman empire were slaves.  Infants were routinely left to die of exposure.  Sexual immorality was everywhere and was a central part of the worship of many gods.  Marital fidelity, especially amongst the wealthy and powerful was uncommon.  Think of the pagan gods of Greece and Rome we learned about in school: petty, capricious, fickle, unloyal, angry, and constantly fighting amongst themselves.  These were the gods the Greeks and the Romans created in their own image.  Whatever problems we see in our world—and it's getting worse the deeper we drift from the Gospel and return to paganism—but however bad you think our world is, theirs was worse.  Brother and Sisters, the gospel has had a profound impact on our world.  And even as gospel virtues go to seed in the secular world and we have distorted and perverted version of love and mercy and justice thrown at us, the very fact that anyone at all in our society cares about things like justice, is because of the powerful impact of the gospel. It's appropriate that Advent comes to us at the darkest time of the year, because it reminds us of the darkness of the world into which Jesus was born.  Surrounded by those pagans, Israel had the light of God's law, but even then, Israel lived in darkness.  They'd returned from their Babylonian exile five hundred years before, but the Lord had never returned to his temple.  The priests kept the lamp lit in the temple—the lamp symbolic of the Lord's presence with his people, but behind the great and heavy curtain, the holy of holies was empty.  And Israel was ruled by a series of pagan empires: the Persians, the Greeks, and then the Romans.  But Israel had her story.  They were the people whom the Lord had delivered from slavery in Egypt.  They knew his character and they knew his faithfulness.  And they knew his promises.  They had faith.  And so they lived in hope and expectant longing.  One day the words of Isaiah—the ones we read in our Old Testament lesson—“Comfort, comfort my people, says your God. Speak tenderly to Jerusalem, and cry to her that her warfare is ended, that her iniquity is pardoned, that she has received from the Lord's hand double for all her sins.”  One day those words would be fulfilled.  And, most people were pretty sure, that day was coming soon.  That's the setting for today's Gospel, which begins at John 1:19. This is the testimony John [the Baptist] gave when the Jews sent priests and Levites from Jerusalem to ask him, “Who are you?”  He confessed, and did not deny, but confessed, “I am not the Messiah.”  “What then?” they asked him, “Are you Elijah?” “I am not,” he replied.  “Are you the Prophet?” And he answered, “No.”  “Well, then who are you?” they said.  “We've got to take an answer back to those who sent us.  Who do you claim to be?”  He said, “I am ‘a voice calling in the wilderness, Make straight the way of the Lord,' just as the prophet Isaiah said.”  (John 1:19-28) So the priests were the spiritual gatekeepers of Israel and when they heard of this prophet, John, preaching and baptising, they sent their people to ask him what he was about—to see if he was legit.  People were talking about John like he was the Messiah—as if he were the one come to fulfil the prophecies of deliverance and salvation.  Was John the one? So they ask, “Who are you?  Who do you claim to be? Elijah?”  Remember that the Prophet Elijah had never died; he was swept up into have by a fiery chariot.  And Malachi had prophesied that “before the great and awesome day of the Lord comes” the Lord would send Elijah back.  Like King Arthur returning to Britain in its hour of greatest need. But John says, “No.  I'm not Elijah.”  He hadn't come to earth in a fiery chariot.  He was the son of Zechariah the priest and his wife, Elizabeth. “Are you the prophet?” they asked.  In Deuteronomy 18 the Lord had promised that he would one day raise up a prophet like Moses, who would declare his words.  Many people thought this prophet would be the Messiah.  But again John answers, “Nope, I'm not the prophet either.”  We get a sense of just how great the longing of these people was.  Like a kid getting up every morning of December and asking his parents if it's Christmas yet, the people of Israel longed for the Messiah to come and set the world to rights, to end the darkness, to once again fill the temple with the glory of the Lord. John was as eager as anyone, but he tells them “No, I'm not the Prophet.”  In fact, John was fulfilling those prophecies—Matthew and Mark tell us as much.   But I think John denied it because he knew people associated the prophecies of Elijah and the Prophet with the Messiah.  John knew he wasn't the Messiah; he was the Messiah's herald.  And so when the priests finally let him speak for himself, he quotes Isaiah 40:3, and says, “I am ‘a voice calling in the wilderness, make straight the way of the Lord.'”  In other words, John was indeed fulfilling prophecy—not as the Messiah, but as the one sent to prepare Israel to receive the Messiah. And that surprised those priests.  People in the past had claimed to be the Messiah.  No one claimed to be his herald.  That was weird.  So they dig deeper.  Look at verses 25-27: They continued to question him, “So why are you baptising, if you aren't the Messiah, or Elijah, or the Prophet?” John answered them, “I'm baptising with water, but there is one standing among you whom you do not know—someone who is to come after me.  I'm not worthy to untie his sandal straps.” For the Jews, baptism was a symbol of cleansing and of ritual purity.  It was a ritual washing.  At this point the other gospel-writers are helpful as they expand on John's answer.  Mark tells us that John's baptism was a baptism of repentance—it was a preparatory act in light of the coming judgement the Messiah would bring.  And Matthew and Luke also report John going on about this one who will come, this one greater than him: “He will baptise you with the Holy Spirit and with fire” (Matthew 3:11, Luke 3:16).  In other words, John is calling Israel to repentance in anticipation of the Messiah, who will fulfil the Lord's promises to set Israel to rights by filling his people with his own Spirit.  The law written on stone tablets would be inscribed on the hearts of God's people so that they could finally fulfil his law of love.  But the Messiah was also coming in judgement.  He would baptise the repentant with God's own Spirit, but he would baptise unrepentant Israel with fire. These are the two sides of the gospel coin.  You can't have one without the other.  Jesus' advent, on the one hand, brought mercy to the repentant, but on the other it also brought judgement on the unrepentant of Israel.  What's important for us here, Brothers and Sisters, is that this exchange between John and the priests reminds us of the Messiah's place in Israel's story and of the faithfulness of God to his promises.  It is this manifestation of the Lord's faithfulness (and of his goodness, mercy, grace, and wisdom) to Israel—something we see brought to its climax in the birth, the death, the resurrection, and the ascension of Jesus, that has drawn us—you and I—to the God of Israel and that, by faith, has incorporated us into the people of God.  Through our union with Jesus, through our incorporation into this people, through our being made adopted sons and daughters of Abraham, you and I have come to know God's mercy and the life of the Spirit, too.  Because of the faithfulness of God, revealed in Jesus and in the power of the gospel, the darkness that Israel knew; that deep, deep darkness full of false gods and wicked kings and evil principalities and powers has been driven away by the light.  The light has come into the darkness, his gospel has thrown those powers down and lit up the world.  And you and I have seen—we live in—the glory of that light.  And knowing that takes us from our Gospel passage today into our Epistle.  Paul writes those wonderful and challenging words in Philippians 4:4: Rejoice in the Lord always; I say again, rejoice. Paul spoke these words to a people surrounded by the dark.  “Rejoice in the Lord always!”  Because being surrounded by the dark, it's awfully easy to forget the light of the gospel.  Just before he wrote this, Paul exhorted two women in the Philippian church, Euodia and Syntyche, to “agree in the Lord”.  These two sisters in the Messiah, once close, once working together in gospel life had some kind of falling out.  We don't know the details, but it was something important enough to prompt Paul to address them publicly.  They'd let the darkness extinguish their light.  Instead of standing as a witness to the victory of Jesus over the principalities and powers of the present wicked age, the local church was letting those powers have their way in their midst.  Brothers and Sisters, don't let that happen.  Paul exhorts them (and us) instead: Let everyone know how gentle and gracious you are.  (Philippians 4:5a) Gentle and gracious.  Paul uses the same description in 2 Corinthians 10 to describe the meekness of Jesus as a model for Christians.  This is gospel light lived out.  What Paul's getting at is that Jesus is the King, but in him we see this amazing display of gracious gentleness.  This is the gentleness we see revealed as Jesus, the one to whom heaven and earth belong, humbled himself to be born one of us, to die on the cross, and to show mercy to his enemies.  And in that, Jesus defeated the powers that held the world in darkness and sin and now, we his people, are called to live that victory out amongst ourselves as witnesses to Jesus' victory and the inauguration of God's kingdom.  This is our Advent stewardship. So consider, Brothers and Sisters, when we demand our rights, when we grasp for power, when we nurse grudges, we undermine our gospel witness—we put on display the very darkness from which we've been delivered by the one who is light.  In contrast Paul calls us to rejoice in the Lord and to manifest Jesus-like gentleness in our relationships.  Jesus' gracious gentleness has forgiven and restored us and that same gracious gentleness ought to shine through us and through the life of the church.  Consider that every time we hold a grudge, allow a relationship to break down, or follow the world's advice to cut those problem or negative people out of our lives, we undermine the Church's witness to the world.  But that's not all. Paul goes on: The Lord is near.  Do not be anxious about anything.  Rather in everything let your requests be made known to God, by prayer, supplication, and with thanksgiving.   There's our Advent theme again: Jesus has given us a job to do.  He's given us a gospel treasure to steward in his absence.  In the meantime, rather than being anxious—and anxiousness is so often the thing that evil uses to manipulate us—instead of being anxious we should take our needs to God.  Jesus made the same point in the Sermon on the Mount.  The pagans worry about what they'll eat, what they'll wear, and where they'll sleep.  God's people should know better than to worry unduly about these things.  The God who fed Israel with manna in the wilderness will provide.  He is faithful to his promises.  The story of his dealings with Israel is the proof and even more so, so is his gift of Jesus, who died and rose again to set us free from sin and death.  So go to the Lord with your needs and ask.  And while you're at it, give thanks, because you know his faithfulness and his love. This is part of the witness of the people of God—it's how we are light in the darkness—and it ties back into rejoicing.  When Paul talks about rejoicing, at least part of what he's got in mind is a public display or a public witness.  The pagan Greeks in Philippi regularly held public celebrations to honour their gods.  And yet the pagans, as Jesus said, were always anxious.  Because their gods never delivered.  Pagan religion was a non-stop game of trial and error, trying to guess what the gods wanted, trying to guess what you may have done wrong to offend them, and then guessing at what you might offer to appease their anger or to ingratiate them to you in order to get what you needed or wanted.  The pagan gods were silent and they were notoriously capricious and unreliable.  And in this context Paul exhorts the Philippian Christians: Rejoice yourselves.  Let the pagans see you celebrating the fact that the Creator of the universe has, through Jesus, made you his own and lives in your midst by his own Holy Spirit.  Let the pagans, who know only mean and capricious gods and who live in a dog-eat-dog world, let them see the gracious gentleness of God in you.  Live in such a way that they see in you the God who humbles himself to die for the sake of his enemies.  And let the pagans see you living in faith, praying in confident thankfulness to the God whose story reveals an unfailing pattern of promise and fulfilment.  Shine the light of Jesus into the darkness of the world.  And if you'll do that, he says in verse 7: The peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in King Jesus.   I think we tend to look at Paul's exhortation here as something we should do in order to experience the peace of God ourselves, but given the context in Philippians, I think Paul's point is actually more about our witness.  If we truly live as stewards of the good news about Jesus, if we truly live as people who know the faithfulness of God revealed in Jesus and particularly in his death and resurrection, if we truly know the life of the Spirit, the peace of God—instead of the strife and anxiety of the world—will guard our hearts and minds in a way that will astound the unbelievers around us. I like to say that Jesus calls us—his church—to be a pocket of new creation in the middle of the old—to be heaven-on-earth people, living Gods' future in the hic et nunc, in the here and now.  Brothers and Sisters, this is how we do that.  And this makes us the John the Baptists of our own place and age as we proclaim the good news about Jesus—how we proclaim and show the world that Jesus has triumphed over the principalities and powers just as he has over sin and death.  And as the world took notice of those tiny and seemingly insignificant Christian communities popping up around the Roman empire, so it will take not of us.  And some will give glory to God as they see his faithfulness, they will come in faith to Jesus and his cross.  But it will also threaten those who are invested in the present age, its pagan gods and sinful systems.  And they will fight back. So we need to ask: Does the world see our joy?  Are we the voice crying in the wilderness?  Are we the royal heralds the Lord has called us to be, summoning the word to let go of its false gods and to come to the Lord Jesus, calling the world away from sin and self and to come to the cross?  And we need to ask how the world is responding to us.  If we're faithfully proclaiming the good news about Jesus, if we're faithfully calling people to repent and to believe, if we're faithfully proclaiming that Jesus is Lord and that his kingdom has come—well—people will respond in one of two ways.  Either they'll believe or they'll get angry—as Herod got angry with John.  There's some of both out there in the world, but overwhelmingly, when I look at how people respond to or think of the church these days in our part of the world, it's often just indifference.  Why? Because we have not been the witnesses God calls us to be.  We are afraid to confront the world with the good news about Jesus and we are half-hearted in our allegiance to his kingdom.  Like old Israel, we pray to God, but we've failed to tear down the old altars to Baal and Asherah—or money, sex, and power.  We name Jesus, but we deal dishonestly in business, we sell our souls to the commercialism that surrounds us, we look to politics or to science as our saviours, and we dabble in the sexual immorality of the age.  We've failed to proclaim the gospel and we justify it, saying that we'll preach it with our lives.  But if we stop to ask what the world sees in our lives, is it really very different?  Does the world see us rejoicing in the Lord?  Does the world see us manifesting the gracious gentleness of Jesus?  Does the world see us living in faithful prayer and trusting in God, or does it see people just as anxious as everyone else?  Does it see enmity and strife and broken relationships or does it see a gospel people living out the healing and reconciling love of Jesus in loving unity?  Does the world see the peace of God ruling our hearts and minds?  Does the world see us, holding high the gospel, as a challenge to its gods and its kings and its sins?  It should.  But sadly, I think that for the Western Church at large, the answer is often “no”. And, all too often, when we do proclaim the gospel, we do so without power or authority.  Think of John boldly declaring the coming judgement and calling Israel to repentance.  It was urgent and powerful.  In contrast we tend to hold the gospel out as good advice, rather than as the good news that it is.  Friends, the gospel is the royal summons to come in faith to Jesus, the world's true Lord—the Lord who has come with mercy so that the repentant will escape when he comes one day in judgement.  This was the power behind John the Baptist' preaching.  But all too often we present the gospel as just another option on the religious smorgasbord—something you might want to try. See if you like it.  See if it works for you.  If not…oh well.  Brothers and Sisters, that's not the gospel.  The gospel is life! The gospel is good news to the people living in the midst of darkness and death: the king who will set the world to rights has come.  And that means the gospel, when preached as it should be, will challenge and upset the Herods and Caesars of our age and all those invested in the false gods of the world. The Advent message is to be prepared.  Jesus has given us a gospel mission to take the good news of his death, his resurrection, and his lordship into the world.  Brothers and Sisters, pray that we will be faithful to our mission—faithful enough to provoke opposition, because that's the kind of faithfulness that also reaps a harvest for the kingdom.  Pray for the holy boldness of John the Baptist and the gracious gentleness of Jesus.  Pray that we will be the salt of the earth and the light of the world.  Pray that the joy of the Lord will overcome us.  Brothers and Sisters, Rejoice!  Rejoice in the Lord always.  Again, I say rejoice. Let's pray: O Lord, come among us, we pray, with your power and strengthen us with your great might; that whereas, through our sins and wickedness we are grievously hindered in running the race that is set before us, your bountiful grace and mercy may speedily help and deliver us; through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, to whom with you and the Holy Spirit, be honour and glory, now and for ever.  Amen.

Heather and Jonathan have a conversation about Baal and Asherah. Who were they in ancient Israel and how can we best understand them in light of the Biblical story? Join us at www.firstcenturyyouthministry.comBecome part of our growing Facebook community Join our "closed" group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/firstcenturyouthministryLike our fan page! https://www.facebook.com/FirstCenturyYouthMin

Today we come to one of the most fascinating times in the history of the kingdom of Judah, an amazing king who does amazing things by the power of an amazing God. But first we take a look at King Ahaz who ruled from 731-715 BC. In 2 Kings 16:2-3 we read that Ahaz did not do what was right in the eyes of the Lord. He followed the ways of other kings, even sacrificing his son in the fire. King Ahaz     ⁃    Finds himself under attack by Pekah and Rezin     ⁃    Discovers there is a price to pay when you turn your back on the Living God     ⁃    Seeks help from the Assyrians - Assyria was a massive growing super power.     ⁃    Then God brings a rebuke through the prophet Isaiah (a most effective and influential prophet) but Ahaz refuses to listen.     ⁃    Ahaz continues to turn away from God and desecrated the Temple of God as he continues to rebel against God.     ⁃    His rebellion brings sadness and tragedy and he continues to suffer military attacks. During Ahaz's reign in Judah, we read in 2 Kings 17:5-6 that Israel is defeated by the Assyrians after a 3 year siege. At the end of Ahaz's reign we see that in spite of the faithlessness of God's people, God remains faithful.  The next king of Judah is one of the best. King Hezekiah is Ahaz's son and Hezakiah rules 715-686 BC. King Hezekiah did what was right in the eyes of the Lord. 2 Kings 18:3.   King Hezekiah     ⁃    In the first month of the first year of his reign he had the Temple cleansed. 2 Chronicles 29:3-5     ⁃    Then Hezekiah holds a national Passover celebration inviting all of Israel and Judah. They had a 2 week Passover celebration. 2 Chronicles 30:1.     ⁃    Hezekiah destroys the sacred stones, high places and Asherah poles and also brakes into pieces the bronze serpent that Moses had used to God's glory but that had become an idol of the Israelites who had been burning incense to it. 2 Kings 18:4      ⁃    Hezekiah is facing the enemy of Assyria as they are coming to conquer Jerusalem and so in 2 Kings 20:20 we read that he built a tunnel and a pool. In the 1880's the Siloam Inscription was discovered. It tells the story of the building of the tunnel. Hezekiah built this tunnel to ensure there would be water when under siege by the Assyrian army by diverting the Gehon spring into Jerusalem leaving no fresh water available to the Assyrian army.      ⁃    Then the siege begins against Jerusalem. 2 Kings 18:28-29 the king's commander, speaking in Hebrew, calls out that the king of Assyria says that Hezekiah has deceived you because he will not be able to deliver you from me and my army. The king of Assyria is trying to get the people in Jerusalem to just give up.     ⁃    Then Hezekiah prays a beautiful prayer - 2 Kings 19:15-16 and God listens and the King of Assyria is defeated by God Himself. 2 Kings 19:35-36. The Assyrians withdraw and return to Nineveh and the siege is ended.     ⁃    Then Hezekiah becomes very ill to the point of death. Isaiah comes to Hezekiah to tell him to put his house in order. Hezekiah weeps and prays and God sees Hezekiah's tears and hears his prayer and God heals him. 2 Kings 20:1-5      ⁃    Hezekiah is visited by the Babylonians, a rising power that will ultimately defeat the Assyrians. 2 Kings 20:13 we read of Hezekiah being tempted by pride. The prophet Isaiah then brings a word to Hezekiah telling him that everything you just showed off to the Babylonians will be taken by Babylonians. Hezekiah repents.     ⁃    The prophets Micah and Isaiah were very active during Hezekiah's reign.     ⁃    Hezekiah was one of the greatest kings the nation had ever known. 2 Kings 18:5-6 tells us that Hezekiah trusted the Lord, that there was no one like him among all the kings of Judah, both before and after him, that Hezekiah held fast to the Lord and did not stop following God and that he kept the commands of the Lord. Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE. View live or on demand: https://www.awakeusnow.com/tuesday-bible-class Join us Sundays  https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service Watch via our app. Text HELLO to 888-364-4483 to download our app.

Prepare to have your eyes opened to the profound truths hidden within the very first pages of the Bible.In the BeginningThe singular God most of us were taught simply does not exist — at least, not as we've been led to believe.What exists is Elohim — a plural divine family, a council of powers — and humanity was always meant to be part of that family.Before monotheism, ancient worship looked very different. It included a divine mother.Before Israel took shape, people honored El, the father of the gods, and Asherah, the mother — the “creatress of the gods,” a symbol of life, fertility, and sacred trees.When early Israel emerged, it inherited this divine structure. Archaeologists have found inscriptions reading “Yahweh and his Asherah,” suggesting the earliest Israelites still honored a heavenly pair.Even the language remembers it. The Hebrew word Elohim — the most common name for God — is plural. Genesis 1:26 says, “Let us make man in our image.” The grammar itself hints at a divine union.The Erasure of the MotherEverything changed during King Josiah's reforms in the 7th century BCE. He ordered Asherah's symbols destroyed and redefined Israel's story around one male deity. This is when monotheism truly began.But the mother was never completely erased. The plural names, the feminine imagery, and traces in Psalms and prophetic writings still whisper what was once known — that creation came through two, not one.The very first line of Genesis reads, “In the beginning, the gods (Elohim) created the heavens and the earth.” It's not one voice speaking to itself — it's a divine conversation.The Hebrew Bible reflects a world where many divine beings were acknowledged, yet one was lifted above the rest. Jealousy among gods, rivalries, and divine councils only make sense in that context.What “God” Really Means“God” is not a personal name — it's a title. It means “ruler” or “judge.”Calling out to “God” is like walking into a room full of kings and shouting, “Your Majesty!”Any one of them could answer — and that's why so many prayers feel scattered or uncertain.The original picture is Father plus Mother.Even the Holy Spirit is grammatically and conceptually feminine in Hebrew, and the Firstborn Son stands as the eldest of this divine family.When he said, “You are gods,” he wasn't speaking poetically. He was reminding us who we actually are — divine children who have forgotten their lineage.Remember Who You AreIf you want real clarity and power in prayer, stop speaking to a vague concept of “God.”Get specific.Need comfort, nurturing, or rebirth? Speak to the Mother.Need guidance or brotherhood? Speak to the Yeshua, your Brother.Need direction, identity, or purpose? Speak to the Father.The moment you remember who you're addressing — and that you already belong at that table — everything shifts.That's the unlock.Love, KassandraReference: https://publicsquaremag.org/faith/gospel-fare/elohim-meaning-divine-family/https://www.youtube.com/@caveofmystery/videos This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thelightbetween.substack.com/subscribe

Pastor Michael Kisaka warns that Israel's downfall began when leaders like Solomon, Jeroboam, Jehu, and Amaziah tolerated “high places,” letting idols capture their hearts and lead the people astray. He urges us to examine our own lives for anything elevated above God.

Some people insist that in our post-modern (or even meta-modern) age, we only believe in science, not metaphysics. That's not quite true. At the heart of the transgender movement, people believe they are what they claim to be regardless of biological evidence. None of this is new. Something similar happened in the ancient worship of Asherah. Let's examine it more carefully.I. The Practice of Debased Idolatry (Jeremiah 7)(Three Notable Characteristics)II. The Proclamation of Divine Wrath (Romans 1)(Three Notable Reasons)Talk with God: Ask the Lord to give you His heart for the lost, confused, and hurting people in your family, community, and city.Talk with others: Ask your Connect Group or believing family and friends how you can support them in boldly and lovingly sharing the hope of Jesus with someone this week.Talk with kids: Pick up some poster board from Calvary Kids and create a banner to share what you're thankful for as a family at our Thanksgiving Banner Service this Wednesday.

Daily Anglican prayer - Monday morning – 24th November 2025. Readings NRSV: Psalm 56; 57; 2 Kings 23.4-15; Mark 1.29-39. Led by Felicity Scott, an Anglican prayer minister in Queensland, Australia. The full prayer transcript is available by going to this episode on the Podcast website. https://dailyprayeranglicanprayerbookforaustralia.podbean.com Welcome to Monday Morning prayer. We proclaim the Good News of our Lord Jesus Christ: GOD in his infinite mercy, forgives all sins, and through our baptism in the name of our Saviour, Jesus Christ, we are given a rebirth into new life, free from the burden of all sin. ALLELUIA With faithfulness we respond to the good news: We acknowledge Christ our Saviour and accept with gratitude, that we are forgiven for all wrong doings, past and present. To honour the gift of forgiveness, we release our burden of guilt and rise up to live in the glory of God forever more. Blessed be God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit, Blessed be God forever. Let us Pray.   1 God's love has been poured into our hearts, through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.  Romans 5.5   Glory to God; Father, Son and Holy Spirit:  as in the beginning, so now, and for ever. Amen.    2 The Opening Canticle, A Song of God's Marvellous Acts I will sing a new hymn to my God:  O Lord you are great and marvellous,  you are marvellous in your strength, invincible.  Let the whole creation serve you:  for you spoke and all things came to be;  You sent out your Spirit and it formed them:  no one can resist your voice.  Mountains and seas are stirred to their depths:  rocks melt like wax at your presence;  But to those who revere you:  you still show mercy.  Judith 16.13–15   3 The Opening Prayer The night has passed, and the day lies open before us;  let us pray with one heart and mind.    Silence may be kept. As we rejoice in the gift of this new day,  so may the light of your presence, O God,  set our hearts on fire with love for you;  now and for ever.  Amen.   4 The Psalms as appointed. A pause is observed after each. Psalm 5 At the end of the (last) pause there may follow Creator Spirit, Advocate promised by our Lord Jesus: increase our faith and help us to walk in the light of your presence, to the glory of God the Father; through Jesus Christ our Lord.  Amen.   6 One or two Readings from the Bible as appointed.   1st Reading Kings 23. 4-15; 4 The king commanded the high priest Hilkiah, the priests of the second order, and the guardians of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven; he burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5He deposed the idolatrous priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem, those also who made offerings to Baal, to the sun, the moon, the constellations, and all the host of the heavens. 6He brought out the image of Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the Wadi Kidron, burned it at the Wadi Kidron, beat it to dust, and threw the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. 7He broke down the houses of the illicit priests who were in the house of the Lord, where the women did weaving for Asherah. 8He brought all the priests out of the towns of Judah and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from Geba to Beer-sheba; he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on the left at the gate of the city. 9The priests of the high places, however, did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem but ate unleavened bread among their kindred. 10He defiled Topheth, which is in the valley of Ben-hinnom, so that no one would make a son or a daughter pass through fire as an offering to Molech. 11He removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of the eunuch Nathan-melech, which was in the precincts; then he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12The altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz that the kings of Judah had made and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord he pulled down from there and broke in pieces and threw the rubble into the Wadi Kidron. 13The king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the Mount of Destruction, which King Solomon of Israel had built for Astarte the abomination of the Sidonians, for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 14He broke the pillars in pieces, cut down the sacred poles, and covered the sites with human bones. 15 Moreover, the altar at Bethel, the high place erected by Jeroboam son of Nebat, who caused Israel to sin—he pulled down that altar along with the high place. He burned the high place, crushing it to dust; he also burned the sacred pole.   Hear the word of the Lord. Thanks be to God. 2nd Reading Mark 1.29-39 Jesus Heals Many at Simon's House 29 As soon as they left the synagogue, they entered the house of Simon and Andrew, with James and John. 30Now Simon's mother-in-law was in bed with a fever, and they told him about her at once. 31He came and took her by the hand and lifted her up. Then the fever left her, and she began to serve them. 32 That evening, at sunset, they brought to him all who were sick or possessed by demons. 33And the whole city was gathered around the door. 34And he cured many who were sick with various diseases and cast out many demons, and he would not permit the demons to speak, because they knew him. A Preaching Tour in Galilee 35 In the morning, while it was still very dark, he got up and went out to a deserted place, and there he prayed. 36And Simon and his companions hunted for him. 37When they found him, they said to him, “Everyone is searching for you.” 38He answered, “Let us go on to the neighboring towns, so that I may proclaim the message there also, for that is what I came out to do.” 39And he went throughout all Galilee, proclaiming the message in their synagogues and casting out demons.   Hear the message of Christ. Thanks be to God.   7 The Canticle, A Song of Isaiah ‘Behold, God is my salvation:  I will trust and will not be afraid;  ‘For the Lord God is my strength and my song:  and has become my salvation.'  With joy you will draw water:  from the wells of salvation.  On that day you will say:  ‘Give thanks to the Lord, call upon his name;  ‘Make known his deeds among the nations:  proclaim that his name is exalted.  ‘Sing God's praises, who has triumphed gloriously:  let this be known in all the world.  ‘Shout and sing for joy, you that dwell in Zion:  for great in your midst is the Holy One of Israel.'  Isaiah 12.2–6   8 The belief and principle is said I believe in God, creator of heaven and earth, whose love and merciful forgiveness endures everlasting. I believe in Christ the saviour, whose example of love and compassion, taught us a restored way to live, in collaborative unity with all people. I believe in the Holy Spirit, whose divine guidance brings us together to be one with the Holy Trinity.   9 The Prayers Lord have mercy.  Christ have mercy.  God have mercy.    10 The Lord's Prayer   Our Father in heaven,  hallowed be your name,  your kingdom come,  your will be done,  on earth as in heaven.  Give us today our daily bread.  Forgive us our sins  as we forgive those who sin against us.  Save us from the time of trial  and deliver us from evil.  For the kingdom, the power, and the glory are yours  now and for ever. Amen.    Prayer of the Week following the last Sunday after pentecost Christ the King / The Reign of Christ Stir up,we pray you, O Lord, the wills of your faithful people, that they, plenteously bringing forth the fruit of good works, may by you be plenteously rewarded; through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.       11 Intercessions and Thanksgivings may be made according to local custom and need.   Let us Pray Let us pray for the world and for the church. God, how great your majesty abounds before us. We thank you for all your generosity. May the peace and blessings of our Lord Jesus Christ be abundant across all nations and countries forever more. Humbly we Pray – LORD hear our prayer   Holy God divine and merciful, your blessing on the people is loved by all, for which our gratitude knows no end. Grant, we pray, your saving blessing on all those experiencing times of trouble or strife, that they may receive the guidance of wisdom to lead them to a path of safety. Humbly we Pray – LORD hear our prayer   Almighty God, hear our prayer to bring about a change throughout the people, we ask for your grace to relay the wisdom to each man and each woman how to co-exist in peace and the will to do so, to continue to respect one another and teach their offspring to do so also. Humbly we Pray – LORD hear our prayer   Blessed God, we ask your blessing for those listed on the Anglican cycle of prayer: Monday 24 November The Diocese of Riverina – The Anglican Church of Australia The Diocese of The Murray: The Parish of Aspley-Albany Creek: Anglicare SQ Meilene Court Retirement Village (Bundaberg) Anglican Schools Australia Management Committee and Member Schools All Prison and hospital ministry chaplaincy teams All people joining in this prayer offering. Humbly we Pray – LORD hear our prayer   12 The Morning Collect Eternal God and Father,  by whose power we are created  and by whose love we are redeemed:  guide and strengthen us by your Spirit,  that we may give ourselves to your service,  and live this day in love to one another and to you;  through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.   13 The Lord be with you. And also with you.  Let us praise the Lord.  Thanks be to God.    God did not give us a spirit of cowardice  but a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.  May we rekindle the gift of God within us.  Amen. see 2 Timothy 1.6–7   Music by John Keys – Anglican Chant Canticle organ accompaniments. Song name, Sing my soul, His wondrous love by Ned Rorem – Choir of St John's college, Cambridge & Andrew Nethsingha. A reminder disclaimer to the listener. The readings in the podcast may include ancient and old-fashioned sayings and instructions that we do not in any way condone as in use or to be used in today's modern world. The readings have not been modernised to reflect todays thinking, instead the readings remain from the old version of the NRSV bible. The podcast owners explicitly declare that each listener is responsible for their own actions in response to the bible readings and the podcast owners bare no responsibility in this sense.

If you think the Sexual Revolution began in 1960s America, think again. It's been going on since ancient times. Today we look at three texts which outline God's standard for human sexuality and how a competing system, the worship of Asherah, blurred the lines of gender and sex. The worship of this ancient demon tampered with three distinct areas.I. Identity (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:18-25)II. Clarity (Deuteronomy 22:5)III. Intimacy (Leviticus 18:19-23)Talk with God: Ask the Lord for clarity as you root your identity in Him and walk in the path He's prepared for you (see Ephesians 2:10).Talk with others: Talk about what it looks like to honor your God-given sex in today's world with your Connect Group or believing friends.Talk with kids: How does God see people differently than we see them?

This sermon centers on King Josiah's profound spiritual renewal and national reformation following the discovery of the Book of the Law, illustrating a rare moment of corporate repentance and covenantal commitment in Israel's history. Josiah, moved by the prophetic judgment pronounced against Judah, leads the entire populace—priests, prophets, nobles, and commoners—in a solemn renewal of the covenant, pledging to walk in God's commandments with all their heart and soul. His zealous reforms involve the complete dismantling of idolatrous worship, including the destruction of altars, Asherah poles, and child sacrifice sites like Topheth, and the restoration of true worship through the observance of the Passover—a practice absent for centuries. The sermon emphasizes that genuine revival is not merely the removal of false worship but the active return to God's revealed Word, reflecting a deep theological conviction that true faith is marked by obedience, reverence, and a heart fully devoted to the Lord. Though Josiah's efforts are commendable and divinely honored, the sermon acknowledges that his reforms could not avert the coming judgment, underscoring the tension between human repentance and divine sovereignty, ultimately pointing forward to Christ as the perfect and eternal purifier of God's people.

Sunday, November 2, 2025Judge #1: OthnielJudges 3:7-11 (NLT) The Israelites did evil in the LORD's sight. They forgot about the LORD their God, and they served the images of Baal and the Asherah poles. Then the LORD burned with anger against Israel, and he turned them over to King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram-naharaim. And the Israelites served Cushan-rishathaim for eight years. But when the people of Israel cried out to the LORD for help, the LORD raised up a rescuer to save them. His name was Othniel, the son of Caleb's younger brother, Kenaz. The Spirit of the LORD came upon him, and he became Israel's judge. He went to war against King Cushan-rishathaim of Aram, and the LORD gave Othniel victory over him. So there was peace in the land for forty years. Then Othniel son of Kenaz died.LESSON: It's not enough to be gifted and obedient; we must depend on the Spirit's power in everything we do.Judge #2: EhudJudges 3:12-7 (NLT) Once again the Israelites did evil in the LORD's sight, and the LORD gave King Eglon of Moab control over Israel because of their evil. Eglon enlisted the Ammonites and Amalekites as allies, and then he went out and defeated Israel, taking possession of Jericho, the city of palms. And the Israelites served Eglon of Moab for eighteen years. But when the people of Israel cried out to the LORD for help, the LORD again raised up a rescuer to save them. His name was Ehud son of Gera, a left-handed man of the tribe of Benjamin. The Israelites sent Ehud to deliver their tribute money to King Eglon of Moab. So Ehud made a double-edged dagger that was about a foot long, and he strapped it to his right thigh, keeping it hidden under his clothing. He brought the tribute money to Eglon, who was very fat.LESSON: Be fully available to God—even when you feel limited or less than capable.Judge #3: ShamgarJudges 3:31 (NLT) After Ehud, Shamgar son of Anath rescued Israel. He once killed 600 Philistines with an ox goad.LESSON: Stand strong and give what you have, even if there are limited resources.NEXT STEPSDepend Daily - Begin each day this week with a simple prayer: “Holy Spirit, I depend on You today. Lead me, empower me, and help me not to rely on myself.”Be Available - Ask God to show you one area where you've been holding back because you felt inadequate and say yes to His leading.Use What You Have - Identify one resource, relationship, or skill you already have that could serve God or someone in need this week and act on it.

Your Source for Everything Goblin-town!Discord (“We stop airing new episodes and Monster Right starts speciating.”): https://discord.gg/Y5Uw6sdmU2Email: findingmonsterright@gmail.comBluesky: @monsterrightpod.bsky.socialDISCLAIMER: By listening to this podcast episode, the listener forfeits all right to their immortal soul (hereafter referred to as "the asset") and transfers ownership of said asset to Allison Alžbeta Asherah, the Dark and the Demonsbane. The asset can be recovered by the listener if and only if IT'S ALIVE! IT'S ALIVE! IN THE NAME OF PODCASTING, NOW I KNOW WHAT IT FEELS LIKE TO BE PODCASTING!

Ancient Israel archaeology with UCLA's Prof. Aaron Burke: origins of the Israelites, the Merneptah Stele (1207 BCE), Exodus debates, when the Hebrew Bible becomes history, Canaanite roots, Asherah worship, idols & child-sacrifice polemics, Judges → monarchy, King David & Solomon, and how archaeology is weaponized in today's Zionism vs. anti-Zionism discourse. Clear, evidence-based, and faith-sensitive.What you'll learn:• Earliest “Israel” in the record (Merneptah Stele)• Cultural memory vs. history in Torah/Nevi'im• Israelite identity emerging from Canaanite society• Household religion (Asherah figurines), reforms of Hezekiah/Josiah• Did David & Solomon exist? What the data say• Why archaeology matters in modern politics and the Israeli/Palestinian conflictWatch, subscribe, and share if you love Hebrew Bible, Near Eastern history, and real archaeology.#AncientIsrael #Archaeology #HebrewBible #MerneptahStele #Exodus #Canaanite #Asherah #KingDavid #Solomon #Zionism #AntiZionism #UCLA #AaronBurke #BiblicalStudiesJewish History, Politics, Israel, Antisemitism, and Zionism - I cover it all.Politics:    • Should Jews Abandon the Democratic Party? ...  Jewish History:    • Law, Revolution, and the Messiah w/ Zevi S...  Antisemitism:    • To Be a Pro-Israel Student Leader — A Conv...  Facebook:   / daniel.levine.31  Instagram:   / rabbidaniellevine  #Israel #Rabbi #Jewish #WhatisZionism #DoJews?

En Ivoox puedes encontrar sólo algunos de los audios de Mindalia. Para escuchar las 4 grabaciones diarias que publicamos entra en https://www.mindaliatelevision.com. Si deseas ver el vídeo perteneciente a este audio, pincha aquí: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8j9ECuWVak En este encuentro, Asherah nos cuenta cómo las energías negativas afectan nuestra Salud y Prosperidad. Descubre cómo actúan las energias en lo que atraemos a nuestra vida, qué tipos de energía afectan al campo espiritual y cómo protegerte. Asherah Espiritualista. Realiza Terapias, consulta con Lectura de Aura y Tratamientos Energéticos. https://www.clarividenteasherah.com/ / clarividenteasherah / clarividenteasherah Más información en: https://www.mindaliatelevision.com PARTICIPA CON TUS COMENTARIOS EN ESTE VÍDEO. ------------INFORMACIÓN SOBRE MINDALIA----------DPM Mindalia.com es una ONG internacional, sin ánimo de lucro, que difunde universalmente contenidos sobre espiritualidad y bienestar para la mejora de la consciencia del mundo. Apóyanos con tu donación en: https://www.mindalia.com/donar/ Suscríbete, comenta positivamente y comparte nuestros vídeos para difundir este conocimiento a miles de personas. Nuestro sitio web: https://www.mindalia.com SÍGUENOS TAMBIÉN EN NUESTRAS PLATAFORMAS Facebook: / mindalia.ayuda Instagram: / mindalia_com Twitch: / mindaliacom Odysee: https://odysee.com/@Mindalia.com *Mindalia.com no se hace responsable de las opiniones vertidas en este vídeo, ni necesariamente participa de ellas.

The Real Reason America Is Turning from God with Pastor Lucas MilesEpisode Description:In this powerful continuation of The Pagan Threat series, Pastor Lucas Miles unpacks how the Hegelian dialectic—thesis, antithesis, and synthesis—has become the engine driving America's moral and cultural drift.From the shift away from a constitutional republic to the erosion of biblical values, Lucas exposes how conflict is strategically manufactured to advance ideological change. He explains how this same dialectic now shapes conversations around marriage, gender, government, and even the church itself.Lucas confronts the rise of modern paganism and goddess worship, showing how ancient spirits of rebellion—Asherah, Diana, and Gaia—have reemerged in pop culture and progressive spirituality. Drawing from Scripture and history, he traces the spiritual roots of feminism, socialism, and radical environmentalism, connecting them to a single global agenda: to replace God with man-made utopia.You'll also hear Lucas explain the “master-slave dialectic” and how it fuels identity politics, feminism, and digital idolatry—from the sexual revolution to the rise of OnlyFans. His message is clear: every attempt to find identity apart from Christ leads to bondage.

The Real Reason America Is Turning from God with Pastor Lucas MilesEpisode Description:In this powerful continuation of The Pagan Threat series, Pastor Lucas Miles unpacks how the Hegelian dialectic—thesis, antithesis, and synthesis—has become the engine driving America's moral and cultural drift.From the shift away from a constitutional republic to the erosion of biblical values, Lucas exposes how conflict is strategically manufactured to advance ideological change. He explains how this same dialectic now shapes conversations around marriage, gender, government, and even the church itself.Lucas confronts the rise of modern paganism and goddess worship, showing how ancient spirits of rebellion—Asherah, Diana, and Gaia—have reemerged in pop culture and progressive spirituality. Drawing from Scripture and history, he traces the spiritual roots of feminism, socialism, and radical environmentalism, connecting them to a single global agenda: to replace God with man-made utopia.You'll also hear Lucas explain the “master-slave dialectic” and how it fuels identity politics, feminism, and digital idolatry—from the sexual revolution to the rise of OnlyFans. His message is clear: every attempt to find identity apart from Christ leads to bondage.

Feminist scholar and artist Max Dashu joins hostess Sara Jolena Wolcott to delve into matriarchal societies and the rich breadth and depth of histories of the divine feminine and various forms of female leadership. Max shares how to navigate colonial and patriarchal narratives in your own cultural lineage as part of uncovering the rich heritage of women's leadership, spiritual power, and cultural contributions that have been systematically erased or minimized. Don't miss Max's 56 years of research into suppressed women's histories!Key Topics DiscussedDecolonizing Historical Narratives [04:21 - 12:26]How mainstream history gatekeeps women's storiesThe bias of written records from "elite men of dominant societies"Why we must look beyond Western Civilization narrativesThe Archaeological Evidence [08:08 - 15:12]Ancient female figurines across continentsHow women's representation changes from Paleolithic/Neolithic to later periodsThe contrast between female self-representation and the male gazeWomen as Inventors and Culture Creators [10:16 - 13:09]"Mother tech" - women's innovations in agriculture, tool-making, and languageWomen's role in creating the "life support matrix for humanity"Grinding stones, basket weaving, and the origins of agricultureMatriarchal Societies and Mother Law [26:02 - 36:38]Characteristics of matriarchal/egalitarian societies: matrilineal descent, matrilocal residence, social motherhoodNon-aggression codes and communitarian ethosWomen's public spiritual leadership across culturesGlobal Examples of Women's PowerAfrica [19:02 - 26:02]The Saharan rock art and the "Lady of Aouanrhet"Rain goddesses and rainbow beings in African traditionsPre-dynastic Egyptian ceremonial practicesAncient Near East [16:48 - 19:02]Asherah in Hebrew tradition - the suppressed goddess who stood in the Jerusalem templeMother of the Gods figures across Mesopotamian culturesLinguistic connections between Asherah, Athirat, and AshtorethWest Africa [36:38 - 38:42]Market women's economic powerYorùbá priestessesSouth African isangoma (diviners/medicine women)The Complexity of Patriarchalization [45:14 - 53:31]Patriarchy as historical process, not inevitable human conditionThe case of India: layers of patriarchy from Indo-European invasion to colonizationGoddess Traditions in Patriarchal Societies [48:59 - 55:31]Why India maintains goddess worship despite extreme patriarchySanskritization and cultural appropriation of indigenous goddessesReclaiming European Ancestral Practices [56:14 - 01:04:08]Pattern recognition vs. cultural appropriationSpinning, weaving, and the distaff as women's spiritual powerSacred TechnologiesSpinning and weaving as spiritual practiceThe distaff and drop spindle across culturesSongs and chants that accompanied women's workMedicine for Our Times [01:03:01 - 01:10:42]The power of lamentation as ritual and political practiceWhy we need to grieve collectively for current atrocitiesSend us a messageSupport the showLearn more about Sara Jolena Wolcott and Sequoia SamanvayaMusic Title: Both of Us Music by: madiRFAN Don't forget to "like" and share this episode!

In this episode, we explore the chilling rise of King Ahab as recorded in 1 Kings 16:29–34, where he is introduced as the most wicked king in Israel's history up to that point. Ahab doesn't just walk in the sins of Jeroboam—he escalates them by marrying Jezebel, the Sidonian princess, and bringing full-blown Baal worship into the heart of Israel. His 22-year reign becomes a long, tragic demonstration of God's extraordinary patience in the face of deep national and spiritual compromise.We trace how Ahab's marriage to Jezebel essentially turns Israel into a colony of Sidon—not by war, but by religious infiltration. Ahab becomes a vice-regent of Baal in Samaria, building a temple for Baal and erecting an Asherah pole for his wife Jezebel. But even in this dark moment, God does not abandon His people.From there, we turn to John 4:19–26, where Jesus meets a Samaritan woman at the well. In a region shaped by the legacy of Ahab's idolatry, Jesus' prophetic yet compassionate interaction with the woman mirrors Elijah's call to the northern kingdom—and even more, reveals the heart of God: patient, personal, and persistent. Rather than condemn her, Jesus draws her back to the true King of Israel—Himself.This episode ends with a challenge: if God could show such patience with Ahab, and if Christ could show such grace to a Samaritan woman steeped in spiritual confusion, how much more should we model that patience in our relationships today? Key Passages: 1 Kings 16:19-34John 4:19-26⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Explainer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Video⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on how to use ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.biblehub.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.blueletterbible.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Leave us a question or comment at our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website podcast page⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

This class will focus on Rehoboam the king of Judah, the southern kingdom, and  his son Abijah as found in 1 Kings 14-15 and 2 Chronicles 11-13. They reigned 931-910 BC. In 2 Chronicles 12:1-5 we read that 5 years into Rehoboam's reign that he and his kingdom have abandoned the law of the Lord. Rehoboam rules from Jerusalem and is attacked by the king of Egypt who has a huge army and captures the cities along the way to Jerusalem. Then the prophet Shemaiah comes and tells Rehoboam, “This is what the Lord says, ‘You have abandoned me; therefore I now abandon you to Shishak (Egyptian king).'” In verse 6 we read that after hearing the prophets words, Rehoboam humbled himself and his people humbled themselves and they understand that the Lord is just. Their humility is an example for us today. We too must be humble before God. Verse 7, we see that when they humbled themselves the mercy of God was displayed as He says that He will not destroy them but will give them deliverance and will not pour out His wrath on Jerusalem through the Egyptian king, Shishak. But that there would still be a consequence to having abandoned God's law. Rehoboam reigned 17 years and what we learn is: There is nothing more important than knowing the living God and walking with Him. Rehoboam's son Abijah succeeds him as king and reigns 3 years. The war between Jeroboam (Northern kingdom) and Rehoboam continues while Abijah is king as well. In 2 Chronicle 13:3 we see Abijah battling with 400,000 and that Jeroboam had a troop total of 800,000.  Abijah announces to Jeroboam and his men, “God is with us; he is our leader. The priests with their trumpets will sound the battle cry against you. People of Israel, do not fight against the Lord, the God of your ancestors, for you will not succeed.” Abijah recognizes it's important to follow God and at the sound of Judah's priests' trumpets the men of Judah raised the battle cry and God gave them victory over Jeroboam and his men. Though Abijah and his men were outnumbered 2 to 1, we read in verse 18 that the people of Judah were victorious because they relied on the Lord. This is a truth not just for back then, but it is a truth for us today. This story is a reminder to rely on the Lord no matter how bleak the outlook appears, no matter how difficult things look, we can rely on the Lord! Abijah's son, Asa, succeeded Abijah. Asa does rule for 40 years, ruling Judah from 910-870 BC. His story is found in 1 Kings 15 and 2 Chronicles 14-16.   In 2 Chronicles 14:2 we read that Asa did what was good and right in the eyes of the Lord.  Asa was the 1st of 8 “good” kings of Judah. Judah had 19 kings, 8 were “good.” Israel also had 19 kings - none of them are described as “good”. While Asa ruled, he removed the foreign altars, cut down the Asherah poles and commanded Judah to seek the Lord and to obey the Lord's laws and commands. The kingdom was at peace under him. He got rid of the false worship, wanting His “people to worship God alone.” Near the end of Asa's reign they are under several major attacks. Asa calls on the Lord to help them and outnumbered they win because they relied on the Lord.  Azariah, the prophet, then speaks to Asa, 2 Chronicles 15:1-2, and tells Asa that the Lord is with you when you are with Him. And revival brakes out across Judah. They turned their hearts back to God. May we too seek the Lord, humble ourselves and turn our hearts to Him, for in God alone is Salvation, in God alone is strength and in God alone is victory! Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE. View live or on demand: https://www.awakeusnow.com/tuesday-bible-class Join us Sundays  https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service Watch via our app. Text HELLO to 888-364-4483 to download our app.

SHOW NOTES   In Podcast Episode 343, “What Idols Do You Need to Completely Erase?” Kim discusses the dangers of partial obedience. King Uzziah, as well as a few of his ancestors, are described as doing what was pleasing in the Lord's sight, but they did not destroy the pagan shrines. First, this was in direct disobedience to God's instructions to the Israelites when they came into the promised land. Additionally, even if these were not places of temptation for these kings, they were places of temptation for others and needed to be completely eradicated. Now, how can this be applied to our lives today?   Our focal passage for this episode is 2 Kings 15:1-4, with 3-4 as the focal verse:   3 He did what was pleasing in the Lord's sight, just as his father, Amaziah, had done. 4 But he did not destroy the pagan shrines, and the people still offered sacrifices and burned incense there.     WEEKLY ENGAGEMENT FEATURE:   What places of idolatry do you need to destroy in your own life?   Additional Resources and Scriptures:   2 “When you drive out the nations that live there, you must destroy all the places where they worship their gods—high on the mountains, up on the hills, and under every green tree. 3 Break down their altars and smash their sacred pillars. Burn their Asherah poles and cut down their carved idols. Completely erase the names of their gods! 4 “Do not worship the Lord your God in the way these pagan peoples worship their gods. 5 Rather, you must seek the Lord your God at the place of worship he himself will choose from among all the tribes—the place where his name will be honored. (Deut. 12:2-5) 2 Kings 17:7–12; Jeremiah 17:2–3; Hosea 10:8 EMAIL — encouragingothersinlovingjesus@gmail.com X - https://x.com/eoinlovingjesus?s=21&t=YcRjZQUpvP7FrJmm7Pe1hg INSTAGRAM -  https://www.instagram.com/encouragingothersinlovingjesus/ “Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus” YouTube Channel: Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/@EncouragingOthersInLovingJesus     I WANT TO BEGIN A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST.   RESOURCES USED FOR BOOK OF 1 & 2 Kings PODCASTS: “The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete Old Testament OT in One Volume” “Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Kings” by Tony Merida “The Tony Evans Bible Commentary: Advancing God's Kingdom Agenda” “Life Application Study Bible” “The Swindoll Study Bible: NLT” by Charles R. Swindoll Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary “The Baker Illustrated Bible Background Commentary” by J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays (Editors) Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): Old Testament, 2004, by Kenneth L. Barker, John R. Kohlenberger, III.     "Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus" Facebook Group:   Our Facebook Group is devoted to providing a place for us to encourage each other through all the seasons of life. Follow the provided link to request admittance into “Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus”—https://www.facebook.com/groups/encouragingothersinlovingjesus/ Feel free to invite others who will be good encouragers and/or need encouragement to follow Jesus.   This podcast is hosted by Kim Smith, a small town Country Girl who left her comfort zone to follow Jesus in a big City World. Now, she wants to use God's Word and lessons from her faith journey to encourage others in loving Jesus.   In each episode, Kim will share insights regarding a portion of God's Word and challenge listeners to apply the lessons to their daily lives.   If you want to grow in your faith and learn how to encourage others in loving Jesus, subscribe and commit to prayerfully listening each week.   Remember, “It's Always a Trust & Obey Kinda Day!”   If you have questions or comments or would like to learn more about how to follow Jesus, please email Kim at EncouragingOthersinLovingJesus@gmail.com.     National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline   988   https://988lifeline.org/   Reference: Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Wheaton, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004.   Podcast recorded through Cleanfeed and edited through GarageBand. The soundtrack, entitled “Outlaw John McShane” was obtained from Pixabay.     The HIDDEN Episodes:  If you can't access episodes 1-50 on your podcast app (the podcast was then entitled "A Country Girl in a City World - Loving Jesus"), you can get all the content at my Podbean site at https://acountrygirlinacityworldlovingjesus.podbean.com/  

Welcome to The Daily, where we study the Bible verse by verse, chapter by chapter, every day. Get behind our through the Bible project. Read more here Project23. Our text today is Judges 6:25–32. That night the LORD said to him, “Take your father's bull, and the second bull seven years old, and pull down the altar of Baal that your father has, and cut down the Asherah that is beside it and build an altar to the LORD your God on the top of the stronghold here, with stones laid in due order. Then take the second bull and offer it as a burnt offering with the wood of the Asherah that you shall cut down.” So Gideon took ten men of his servants and did as the LORD had told him. But because he was too afraid of his family and the men of the town to do it by day, he did it by night. When the men of the town rose early in the morning, behold, the altar of Baal was broken down, and the Asherah beside it was cut down, and the second bull was offered on the altar that had been built. And they said to one another, “Who has done this thing?” And after they had searched and inquired, they said, “Gideon the son of Joash has done this thing.” Then the men of the town said to Joash, “Bring out your son, that he may die, for he has broken down the altar of Baal and cut down the Asherah beside it.” But Joash said to all who stood against him, “Will you contend for Baal? Or will you save him? Whoever contends for him shall be put to death by morning. If he is a god, let him contend for himself, because his altar has been broken down.” Therefore on that day Gideon was called Jerubbaal, that is to say, “Let Baal contend against him,” because he broke down his altar. — Judges 6:25-32 Fresh from building an altar to the LORD, Gideon's first assignment isn't charging Midian's army — it's tearing down his father's altar to Baal and cutting down the Asherah pole beside it. It's risky. This is personal. This is his family's idol and his community's false god. Gideon obeys — but he does it at night, still afraid of the backlash. By morning, the whole town knows. They demand his death, but Gideon's father unexpectedly defends him: “If Baal is a god, let him contend for himself.” That day, Gideon gets a new name: Jerubbaal — “Let Baal contend against him.” Before God sends you to confront the enemy “out there,” He will ask you to confront the compromise “in here.” For Gideon, the victory over Midian had to start with victory over idolatry in his own home. It's the same for us — the battles that matter most often begin in the places closest to us: The habits no one else sees. The values we've tolerated. The cultural idols we've quietly accepted. This is why worship must be followed by obedience. The altar of peace fuels the courage to pull down the altars that compete with God. And sometimes that means tough, awkward, costly steps before you ever face the “big” enemy. If you skip this step, you might fight in public while losing in private. But if you obey here, you'll be ready for whatever comes next. So what do you need to tear down today? Write it in your journal. Share it in the comments. And tear it down, regardless of what others say. ASK THIS: What “altars” — habits, compromises, or idols — has God been asking you to tear down? How has fear kept you from confronting them? Who in your life might be impacted if you took that stand? Are you willing to start your battle where God says, not where you'd prefer? DO THIS: Write down one personal or family “altar” that needs to go — a practice, influence, or mindset that pulls you away from God. Take one concrete step this week to remove it. PRAY THIS: Lord, give me the courage to start the fight where You tell me, even if it's close to home and costs me something. Let my obedience to You be the loudest message I send to the watching world. Amen. PLAY THIS: "Christ Be Magnified."

Leviticus 18 continues the “holiness code,” talking about sexual immorality. The holiness code is a series of chapters in Leviticus (chapters 17-26) that call the Israelites to be holy and set apart for the Lord. In verse 3, God calls the Israelites not to be like the Egyptians (where they had been) and not to be like the people in the land they are going to (the Canaanites). The Israelites are not to engage in unlawful sexual relations, and included in that discussion, Dave talks about what the Bible has to say about Polygamy, child sacrifice, abortion, and homosexuality. The application for the Israelites in Moses' day was that they were to be set apart for the Lord; our application today is the same. We can not be perfect, but based on being perfectly forgiven in Christ, we ought to aim for living Holy lives, not allowing anything that will derail or lead us astray in our lives.Outline:00:24 - heavy subjects to be covered today. You must read the Bible for yourself and come to your own conclusions. If you are upset by what is shared, ask the question, am I upset at this teaching or am I upset by what the Bible says? When we find ourselves in contradiction to the Bible, we can either change and follow God's direction or we can rebel and go our own way.02:13 - using AI to study the Bible. Artificial intelligence is a great resource for doing research to see what the Bible says. 04:43 - reading all of Leviticus 1809:26 - Leviticus 18.1-5 & 24-30 - Sets up the rest of the Holiness Code. The Israelites were to be set apart.10:56 - Leviticus 18.3 - You must not do as they do in Egypt. What do they do in Egypt? Bible verses cited: Ex chapters 7-12; Ex 12.12; Ex 32 and Lev 17.7. You must not do as they do in the land of Canaan. What was the sin of the Canaanites? False worship & Idolatry (Baal, Asherah, & Molek) as well as child sacrifices, occult practices, witchcraft, and divination. Bible verses cited: Deut 18.9–12, Lev 18.26-27, Gen 15.16, Exo 3.8; 3.17; 33.2; 34.11; Deut, Joshua, Judges, etc). Joshua 1-12 God uses the Israelites to judge the Canaanites.What right does God have to judge the Canaanites, or any people group? Just wait until we talk about child sacrifice. God does judge the wicked for their acts: 2 Peter 2.4-10, 2 Peter 3.9-1823:25 - Leviticus 18.6-23 - Unlawful Sexual Relations23:59 - Why does Leviticus 18 not outlaw having sex with your children?24:45 - Leviticus 18.18 - Polygamy - Does the Bible condone polygamy? Does the Bible outlaw polygamy? Bible verses cited: Gen ch 16 as well as chs 29-30. 1 Kngs 11.3; Gen 2.24; Ex 21.10; Deut 21.15-17; Lev 18.18; Mat 19.1-9; Eph 5.25-33; 1 Tim 3.2; Tit 1.6, and 1 Cor 7.2/34:56 - Leviticus 18.19 - “uncleanness of her monthly period.” Leviticus 15.19-2437:55 - Leviticus 18.21 - Child Sacrifice. Bible verses cited: Lev 18.21; Deut 12.31; Deut 18.10; Lev 20.2-5; 2 Kngs 16.3; 2 Kngs 21.6; Jer 32.35, and Jer 7.31.Abortion statistics: Article: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/abortion45:17 - Leviticus 18.22 - Homosexuality - “that is detestable.” What does the Bible say about homosexuality? Bible verses cited: Lev 18.22; Lev 20.13; Gen 19; 1 Tim 1.9-10; Rom 1.18-32; and 1 Cor 6.9-20. Additional Bible verses on sexual immorality: Gen 2.2; Pro 6.27-32; Gal 5.19-21; Eph 5.3-5; Heb 13.4; 1 Thes 4.3-5; Mat 5.28; and 1 Cor 6.18-201:01:25 - Leviticus 18.30 (and v2, 4, 5, 6, & 21) - I am the Lord your God. Israel was to be set apart. So are we. Bible verses cited: Matt 5.13-16, Jam 4.7, and Rom 12.1-2.Support Iron Sheep Ministries: https://Ironsheep.org/donateListen to the podcast: https://anchor.fm/ironsheepContact Dave & the ISM team: info@ironsheep.orgJoin the email list: http://eepurl.com/g-2zAD

SHOW NOTES   In Podcast Episode 340, “Don't Just Nod at God,” Kim discusses the difference between a life in which one only nods in God's direction and one wholly committed to the Lord and His purposes. King Jehoahaz looked to God only because the conditions were beyond his control, and he sought God's help. Just imagine the kingdom impact he could have had if he had wholly surrendered to the Lord instead of just nodding in His direction.   Our focal passage for this episode is 2 Kings 13:1-9, with 4-6 as the focal verses:   4 Then Jehoahaz prayed for the Lord's help, and the Lord heard his prayer, for he could see how severely the king of Aram was oppressing Israel. 5 So the Lord provided someone to rescue the Israelites from the tyranny of the Arameans. Then Israel lived in safety again as they had in former days. 6 But they continued to sin, following the evil example of Jeroboam. They also allowed the Asherah pole in Samaria to remain standing.      WEEKLY ENGAGEMENT FEATURE:   Consider the impact of a life lived for God versus one who only nodded at God.   Additional Resources and Scriptures:   "Jesus defeated death so that you can live.” (Charlie Kirk) “Charlie Kirk answered 'How do you want to be remembered' less than 3 months before killing” by Bonny Chu on Fox News EMAIL — encouragingothersinlovingjesus@gmail.com X - https://x.com/eoinlovingjesus?s=21&t=YcRjZQUpvP7FrJmm7Pe1hg INSTAGRAM -  https://www.instagram.com/encouragingothersinlovingjesus/ “Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus” YouTube Channel: Check it out at https://www.youtube.com/@EncouragingOthersInLovingJesus   I WANT TO BEGIN A PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH JESUS CHRIST.   RESOURCES USED FOR BOOK OF 1 & 2 Kings PODCASTS: “The Wiersbe Bible Commentary: The Complete Old Testament OT in One Volume” “Christ-Centered Exposition: Exalting Jesus in 1 & 2 Kings” by Tony Merida “The Tony Evans Bible Commentary: Advancing God's Kingdom Agenda” “Life Application Study Bible” “The Swindoll Study Bible: NLT” by Charles R. Swindoll Holman Illustrated Bible Dictionary “The Baker Illustrated Bible Background Commentary” by J. Scott Duvall and J. Daniel Hays (Editors) Expositor's Bible Commentary (Abridged Edition): Old Testament, 2004, by Kenneth L. Barker, John R. Kohlenberger, III.     "Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus" Facebook Group:   Our Facebook Group is devoted to providing a place for us to encourage each other through all the seasons of life. Follow the provided link to request admittance into “Encouraging Others in Loving Jesus”—https://www.facebook.com/groups/encouragingothersinlovingjesus/ Feel free to invite others who will be good encouragers and/or need encouragement to follow Jesus.   This podcast is hosted by Kim Smith, a small town Country Girl who left her comfort zone to follow Jesus in a big City World. Now, she wants to use God's Word and lessons from her faith journey to encourage others in loving Jesus.   In each episode, Kim will share insights regarding a portion of God's Word and challenge listeners to apply the lessons to their daily lives.   If you want to grow in your faith and learn how to encourage others in loving Jesus, subscribe and commit to prayerfully listening each week.   Remember, “It's Always a Trust & Obey Kinda Day!”   If you have questions or comments or would like to learn more about how to follow Jesus, please email Kim at EncouragingOthersinLovingJesus@gmail.com.     National Suicide & Crisis Lifeline   988   https://988lifeline.org/   Reference: Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are taken from the Tyndale House Publishers. Holy Bible: New Living Translation. Wheaton, Ill: Tyndale House Publishers, 2004.   Podcast recorded through Cleanfeed and edited through GarageBand. The soundtrack, entitled “Outlaw John McShane” was obtained from Pixabay.     The HIDDEN Episodes:  If you can't access episodes 1-50 on your podcast app (the podcast was then entitled "A Country Girl in a City World - Loving Jesus"), you can get all the content at my Podbean site at https://acountrygirlinacityworldlovingjesus.podbean.com/  

The Horse That Would Not LeaveThe Solar Horse That Wouldn't Let Me GoSome ideas arrive like strangers. Others show up like old friends you had forgotten, standing at the edge of memory, waiting. The Solar Horse came to me like that. I was reading along, tracing through the histories and mythologies of the Levant, when I found a reference to horses dedicated to the sun in ancient Judah. That was it. No explanation. No story. Just a brief note that they were there and then, later, they were gone. The more I searched, the thinner the record became, until there was almost nothing at all. And yet I couldn't let it go. Recognition hit me first, and obsession followed. It felt like remembering one of my childhood companions, one of those “imaginary” friends who was never entirely imaginary.The truth is: we don't know much. We have a few scattered pieces. The book of Kings tells us that Josiah tore down the stables near the temple where horses and chariots were kept for the sun. Archaeologists have uncovered small figurines of horses with sun disks pressed between their ears. A cult stand from Tanakh shows layers of sacred imagery, possibly Asherah at the base, guardians in the middle, and at the very top, a horse carrying the sun on its back. That's all. We can guess. We can imagine. But we can't reconstruct what was actually done, what prayers were said, or how those who made those offerings understood them. The fragments end exactly where the mystery begins.Still, that was enough. I wasn't frustrated by the gaps. I was fascinated. Awe and wonder rose up, along with a strange sense of homecoming. This was not just curiosity. It felt like invitation. The Solar Horse began showing up in my dreams. It walked with me in meditation. It carried vitality like sunlight into places that had felt dim and tired. Companion. Messenger. That is how I came to know it.Horses at the GatePart of what makes this image so striking is its place in the story of the temple. Picture yourself approaching Jerusalem's great sanctuary in the days before Josiah's reforms. Before you ever reached the outer courtyard, you would pass the stables. Horses and chariots stood there, dedicated to the sun. For many people, depending on their gender and social standing, that courtyard might have been as far as they could go. The stables themselves marked a threshold: animals and vehicles made holy, waiting at the edge of divine space.Josiah's purge is how we know this devotion existed at all. His campaign to centralize power into one temple, one priesthood, one story required tearing down the rest. The stables were destroyed. The horses were led away. The practice was erased from official memory. The king who claimed divine sanction for his rule rewrote the faith to fit his vision of empire. And the irony is that his rashness also led to Judah's downfall. His defeat on the battlefield opened the door to the exile. I admit I have little patience for Josiah. The texts celebrate him, but the story behind the story is harder to ignore. Propaganda always is. It is easier to blame exile on sin than to admit a king picked the wrong fight. But tucked inside that propaganda is a memory of the horses. Fragments and OfferingsThose votive figurines tell us something important: people loved this image. They shaped clay horses with sun-disks between their ears and left them at shrines. They carried them as offerings. They prayed through them. We may never know exactly what they asked for, but the practice was common enough that archaeologists find these figures again and again. That persistence says something. Symbols that matter endure.We see echoes elsewhere too. Across the region, sun gods were imagined as riders or charioteers. Shamash drove his team across the heavens. In other traditions, the sun itself mounted a horse. Mythology is not a single stream but a braided river, carrying many currents. The Solar Horse was one of them, important enough to leave marks in both text and artifact, even if its full story was never written down.That is where my research stalled. I could compare, speculate, draw parallels, but no complete account survives. And still, the image pressed in. Sometimes all scholarship can do is show the edges of the mystery. Beyond that, something else takes over.Dreams and VisitationsThe Solar Horse did not remain in my study notes. It came with me into sleep. It showed up in dreams. It walked through my inner grove in meditation. I began to feel its presence not as a historical curiosity but as a living archetype. Not a relic of the past, but a companion and a messenger in the present. It bore vitality. It carried messages. It insisted on relationship.This is where honesty matters. I cannot claim to be reconstructing an ancient devotion. I am not. What I have is an image, a handful of fragments, and a series of encounters that belong to the realm of unverified personal gnosis. Dreams. Meditations. Symbols that keep knocking until you answer. What I can do is name the difference. This is not history. This is mysticism. And still, it is real.Parallels and ResonancesOther traditions helped me make sense of the experience. In Tibetan and Mongolian practice, the Wind Horse carries the wish-fulfilling jewel, galloping across the sky. If you've ever seen a set of prayer flags, you've likely seen it printed there. In druid teaching, Nwyfre is the name given to the bright current of life-force that runs through everything. Scripture itself says of God:“He makes the clouds his chariot. He walks on the wings of the wind.”(Psalm 104:3, WEB)These resonances do not mean the Solar Horse is secretly the Wind Horse, or that the psalmist was sneaking in a horse reference. They mean that certain images rise again and again when people try to describe vitality, balance, and the presence of the Holy. They emerge not from theft but from convergence. The cosmos calls, and we answer in the languages we know.For me, the Solar Horse braided those threads together. My lunar practices taught me to listen. My earth-rooted practices taught me to stay. Through this image I learned something I had always lacked: how to move with solar energy, how to let vitality flow outward without burning myself or others. That is what the Horse began to teach me.Balance and the EquinoxThe more I sat with this image, the more I felt its call to balance. In many myths the sun's horse carried messages between realms, bearing souls from the land of the living to the land of the dead, and back again. That threshold role matters. As the Autumnal Equinox approaches, equal day and equal night, I cannot help but see the Horse holding the sun steady in its stride, refusing to collapse light into darkness or darkness into light. Balance is not compromise. It is courage: the willingness to walk with both radiance and shadow without making either an enemy.That is what the Solar Horse began to embody for me. A living archetype that refuses the binaries empire prefers: all light or all dark, all power or all surrender, all purity or all exile. Instead it moves between, carrying vitality where it is needed, guiding us to walk steady where extremes would tear us apart.Invocation and ReflectionThis is not about reviving a forgotten Judahite cult. It is about listening when a symbol knocks, when dreams return, when an image refuses to let you go. For me, that image has become prayer:Great Horse of the Sun, bearer of bright life, carry to us the strength we need for the work ahead. Lend courage to our words and compassion to our deeds. Bear our prayers across the wind to those who need them most. Return with the truths we avoid and the hope we have forgotten. Teach us to ride in balance, equal day and equal night, so the world may be healed by our passing.Recognition is not superstition. Sometimes it is grace returning in a form our lives can finally bear. I do not know who first pressed a sun-disk between a horse's ears and called it holy. I only know that when the image came, I felt at home, as if something old had found me again. When such a visitor arrives, do not rush to explain it away. Turn toward it. Test it. Walk with it for a season. Let it teach you courage. Let it show you balance. That is enough to begin.Thanks for reading! This post is public so feel free to share it.Thank you for Tips / Donations: * https://ko-fi.com/cedorsett * https://patreon.com/cedorsett * https://cash.app/$CreationsPaths* Substack: https://www.creationspaths.com/New to The Seraphic Grove learn more For Educational Resource: https://wisdomscry.com Social Connections: * BlueSky https://bsky.app/profile/creationspaths.com * Threads https://www.threads.net/@creationspaths * Instagram https://www.instagram.com/creationspaths/#Christopagan #CreationSpirituality #ChristianWitch #Paganism #Esoteric #Magic #Druidry #Mysticism #Spirituality #Occult #WitchCraft #Wicca #IrishPaganism #CelticPaganism #Magick #Polytheism #Enchantment Chapters:00:00 Introduction to Alban Eilir00:15 Personal Connection to the Holiday01:12 Welsh Pronunciation Challenges02:20 Understanding the Spring Equinox05:23 The Significance of Angus and Songbirds09:25 Dreams, Transformation, and Ceridwen16:38 Eclipses and Liminal Spaces21:01 Hope and Resilience in Nature23:10 Celebrating the Equinox25:09 Closing Thoughts and Blessings Get full access to Creation's Paths at www.creationspaths.com/subscribe

Exodus 20:3 “You must not have any other god but me.”Matthew 22:37 Jesus replied: Love the Lord your God with all you heart and with all your soul and with all your mind.idols made of gold and clay and silverAn IDOL is anything YOU VALUE more than God.IDOL: anything you seek to GIVE YOU what only God can.Colossians 3:5 So put to death the sinful, earthly things lurking within you. Have nothing to do with sexual immorality, impurity, lust, and evil desires. Don't be greedy, for a greedy person is an idolater, worshiping the things of this world. Idols are not always BAD THINGS.Idols are often GOOD THINGS we put in GOD'S PLACE.Satan will do EVERYTHING to get you to put ANYTHING in God's place. False gods always PROMISE what only the true God can PROVIDE.It's time to STOP WAVERING!I Kings 18:17-20 When he (Ahab) saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?” “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the LORD's commands and have followed Baals. Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table.” So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel.ONE is always a MAJORITY with God. I Kings 18:21a Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you WAVER between two opinions?”When you RIDE THE FENCE with God, all you end up with is a SPLINTERED LIFE.I Kings 18:21b “If the LORD is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”“If you're going to be saved, be saved all the way!”—Charles SpurgeonI Kings 18:21c But the people said nothing.I Kings 18:24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”I Kings 18:24b Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”I Kings 18:26-29 So they took the bull given them and prepared it. Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made. At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed. Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice.  But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.I Kings 18:36-38 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.” Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench. I Kings 18:39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”It's time to STOP WAVERING!

In this episode, we explore the fall of Rehoboam as recorded in 1 Kings 14:21–31 and the unique way the writer of Kings presents God's response to the Southern Kingdom of Judah. While Northern Israel's rebellion often led to swift judgment, Judah's kings were disciplined differently—not because they were better, but because of the Davidic covenant. God had pledged that every person sitting on the throne in Jerusalem would be a descendant of David. That promise shaped how He dealt with David's line: not with ultimate destruction, but with fatherly discipline.We unpack why Rehoboam's reign—though under David's shadow—was deeply compromised. The writer twice mentions Rehoboam's mother as an Ammonitess, likely highlighting the spiritual influence of Molech/Milcom, the Ammonite god on his life and leadership. The text also points to Judah's descent into worshiping Asherah, a deity known for gender confusion and even called the “walker on water.” This religious influence may trace back to Solomon's alliance with Hiram of Tyre, whose Phoenician religous culture likely shaped Israel during the Temple's construction.We examine how this spiritual corruption showed up: idolatry, sexual perversion, and idolatrous worship on high places—all of which distorted Israel's calling to be a light to the nations. Instead of standing apart, they became just like the peoples around them—part of the problem instead of the solution.But then, we pivot to Mark 6:45–46, where Jesus, Israel's true King, retreats to a high place—not for idolatry, but to pray. From there, He walks on water—not as a divine stunt, but as a fulfillment of Israel's longings. Where Israel's kings failed, Jesus succeeds. Where Asherah was wrongly worshiped as a "god who walks on water," Jesus actually does—revealing not a false god, but the true Son of God, come to complete the journey Israel had left undone.This episode offers a striking contrast between Rehoboam's failure and Jesus' faithful kingship, inviting us to see God's light breaking into Israel's darkness—a thread of hope woven towards the end of the most tragic chapters of the Old Testament.Key Passages: 1 Kings 14:21-31Mark 6:45-46Entry for Asherah in Dictionary of Deities and DemonsExplainer⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Video⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ on how to use ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.biblehub.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ and ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠www.blueletterbible.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Leave us a question or comment at our ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠website podcast page⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.* Intro Music: "Admirable" Carlos Herrera Music

Psalm 150 (ESV)Andrew, Isack, and Edwin talk about the obvious point which we often gloss over because it is just so obvious in the psalms. We are supposed to praise the Lord. That is, the object of our praise must be the Lord.Read the written devo that goes along with this episode by clicking here.    Let us know what you are learning or any questions you have. Email us at TextTalk@ChristiansMeetHere.org.    Join the Facebook community and join the conversation by clicking here. We'd love to meet you. Be a guest among the Christians who meet on Livingston Avenue. Click here to find out more. Michael Eldridge sang all four parts of our theme song. Find more from him by clicking here.   Thanks for talking about the text with us today.________________________________________________If the hyperlinks do not work, copy the following addresses and paste them into the URL bar of your web browser: Daily Written Devo: https://readthebiblemakedisciples.wordpress.com/?p=22912The Christians Who Meet on Livingston Avenue: http://www.christiansmeethere.org/Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/TalkAboutTheTextFacebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/texttalkMichael Eldridge: https://acapeldridge.com/ 

1 Kings 18:16-4016 So Obadiah went to meet Ahab and told him, and Ahab went to meet Elijah. 17 When he saw Elijah, he said to him, “Is that you, you troubler of Israel?”18 “I have not made trouble for Israel,” Elijah replied. “But you and your father's family have. You have abandoned the Lord's commands and have followed the Baals. 19 Now summon the people from all over Israel to meet me on Mount Carmel. And bring the four hundred and fifty prophets of Baal and the four hundred prophets of Asherah, who eat at Jezebel's table.”20 So Ahab sent word throughout all Israel and assembled the prophets on Mount Carmel. 21 Elijah went before the people and said, “How long will you waver between two opinions? If the Lord is God, follow him; but if Baal is God, follow him.”But the people said nothing.22 Then Elijah said to them, “I am the only one of the Lord's prophets left, but Baal has four hundred and fifty prophets. 23 Get two bulls for us. Let Baal's prophets choose one for themselves, and let them cut it into pieces and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. I will prepare the other bull and put it on the wood but not set fire to it. 24 Then you call on the name of your god, and I will call on the name of the Lord. The god who answers by fire—he is God.”Then all the people said, “What you say is good.”25 Elijah said to the prophets of Baal, “Choose one of the bulls and prepare it first, since there are so many of you. Call on the name of your god, but do not light the fire.” 26 So they took the bull given them and prepared it.Then they called on the name of Baal from morning till noon. “Baal, answer us!” they shouted. But there was no response; no one answered. And they danced around the altar they had made.27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. “Shout louder!” he said. “Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened.” 28 So they shouted louder and slashed themselves with swords and spears, as was their custom, until their blood flowed.29 Midday passed, and they continued their frantic prophesying until the time for the evening sacrifice. But there was no response, no one answered, no one paid attention.30 Then Elijah said to all the people, “Come here to me.” They came to him, and he repaired the altar of the Lord, which had been torn down. 31 Elijah took twelve stones, one for each of the tribes descended from Jacob, to whom the word of the Lord had come, saying, “Your name shall be Israel.” 32 With the stones he built an altar in the name of the Lord, and he dug a trench around it large enough to hold two seahs of seed. 33 He arranged the wood, cut the bull into pieces and laid it on the wood. Then he said to them, “Fill four large jars with water and pour it on the offering and on the wood.”34 “Do it again,” he said, and they did it again.“Do it a third time,” he ordered, and they did it the third time. 35 The water ran down around the altar and even filled the trench.36 At the time of sacrifice, the prophet Elijah stepped forward and prayed: “Lord, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, let it be known today that you are God in Israel and that I am your servant and have done all these things at your command. 37 Answer me, Lord, answer me, so these people will know that you, Lord, are God, and that you are turning their hearts back again.”38 Then the fire of the Lord fell and burned up the sacrifice, the wood, the stones and the soil, and also licked up the water in the trench.39 When all the people saw this, they fell prostrate and cried, “The Lord—he is God! The Lord—he is God!”40 Then Elijah commanded them, “Seize the prophets of Baal. Don't let anyone get away!” They seized them, and Elijah had them brought down to the Kishon Valley and slaughtered there.

What's the difference between Israel and Judah? What are Asherah poles? Do you worship God, or your idea of God? In today's episode, Patrick shares how 1 Kings 14:21-31 reminds us of God's faithfulness amid a faithless culture. If you're listening on Spotify, tell us about yourself and where you're listening from! Read the Bible with us in 2025! This year, we're exploring the Historical Books—Joshua, Judges, 1 & 2 Samuel, and 1 & 2 Kings. Download your reading plan now. Your support makes TMBT possible. Ten Minute Bible Talks is a crowd-funded project. Join the TMBTeam to reach more people with the Bible. Give now. Like this content? Make sure to leave us a rating and share it so that others can find it, too. Use #asktmbt to connect with us, ask questions, and suggest topics. We'd love to hear from you! To learn more, visit our website and follow us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter @TenMinuteBibleTalks. Don't forget to subscribe to the TMBT Newsletter here. Passages: 1 Kings 14:21-31

Friday Bible Study (8/1/25) // 2 Kings 23:1-20 // Website: https://mbchicago.org FOLLOW US Facebook:   / mbc.chicago   Instagram:   / mbc.chicago   TikTok:   / mbc.chicago   Podcasts: Listen on Apple, Spotify & others TO SUPPORT US Zelle to: info@mbchicago.org Website: https://mbchicago.org/give Venmo: https://venmo.com/mbchurch DAF Donations: https://every.org/mbc.chicago PayPal: https://paypal.com/donate/?hosted_but... 2 Kings 23:1-20 (ESV)Josiah's Reforms23 Then the king sent, and all the elders of Judah and Jerusalem were gathered to him. 2 And the king went up to the house of the Lord, and with him all the men of Judah and all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and the priests and the prophets, all the people, both small and great. And he read in their hearing all the words of the Book of the Covenant that had been found in the house of the Lord. 3 And the king stood by the pillar and made a covenant before the Lord, to walk after the Lord and to keep his commandments and his testimonies and his statutes with all his heart and all his soul, to perform the words of this covenant that were written in this book. And all the people joined in the covenant.4 And the king commanded Hilkiah the high priest and the priests of the second order and the keepers of the threshold to bring out of the temple of the Lord all the vessels made for Baal, for Asherah, and for all the host of heaven. He burned them outside Jerusalem in the fields of the Kidron and carried their ashes to Bethel. 5 And he deposed the priests whom the kings of Judah had ordained to make offerings in the high places at the cities of Judah and around Jerusalem; those also who burned incense to Baal, to the sun and the moon and the constellations and all the host of the heavens. 6 And he brought out the Asherah from the house of the Lord, outside Jerusalem, to the brook Kidron, and burned it at the brook Kidron and beat it to dust and cast the dust of it upon the graves of the common people. 7 And he broke down the houses of the male cult prostitutes who were in the house of the Lord, where the women wove hangings for the Asherah. 8 And he brought all the priests out of the cities of Judah, and defiled the high places where the priests had made offerings, from Geba to Beersheba. And he broke down the high places of the gates that were at the entrance of the gate of Joshua the governor of the city, which were on one's left at the gate of the city. 9 However, the priests of the high places did not come up to the altar of the Lord in Jerusalem, but they ate unleavened bread among their brothers. 10 And he defiled Topheth, which is in the Valley of the Son of Hinnom, that no one might burn his son or his daughter as an offering to Molech.[a] 11 And he removed the horses that the kings of Judah had dedicated to the sun, at the entrance to the house of the Lord, by the chamber of Nathan-melech the chamberlain, which was in the precincts.[b] And he burned the chariots of the sun with fire. 12 And the altars on the roof of the upper chamber of Ahaz, which the kings of Judah had made, and the altars that Manasseh had made in the two courts of the house of the Lord, he pulled down and broke in pieces[c] and cast the dust of them into the brook Kidron. 13 And the king defiled the high places that were east of Jerusalem, to the south of the mount of corruption, which Solomon the king of Israel had built for Ashtoreth the abomination of the Sidonians, and for Chemosh the abomination of Moab, and for Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. 14 And he broke in pieces the pillars and cut down the Asherim and filled their places with the bones of men.#mbchicago #2kings #BibleStudy #DanielBatarseh #mbchicago #mbcchicago #Bible #livechurch #churchlive #chicagochurch #chicagochurches #versebyverse #church #chicago #sermon #bibleexplained #bibleproject #bibleverse #bookbybook #oldtestament #explained

Like Father, Like Son 1 Kings 15 Chew the Bible Season 31 Kings 15 recounts the reigns of Abijam (Abijah) and Asa, kings of Judah, and briefly covers the kings of Israel during their times.​ Abijam ruled Judah for 3 years. He continued in the sins of his father Rehoboam and did not follow God wholeheartedly. But for the sake of David, God allowed Abijam's line to continue. There was constant war between Judah and Israel during his reign.​ Asa, Abijam's son, ruled Judah for 41 years and did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, unlike many kings before him. He removed idols, expelled male shrine prostitutes, and even removed his grandmother Maacah from being queen because she had made an obscene Asherah pole. However, he didn't remove all the high places.​ Asa also fought with Baasha, king of Israel. Baasha tried to block Judah, so Asa made an alliance with Ben-Hadad, king of Aram (Syria), by sending him treasures from the temple and palace. Ben-Hadad attacked Israel's cities, forcing Baasha to retreat.​ Meanwhile, in Israel, Nadab, the son of Jeroboam, ruled for 2 years but continued in his father's evil ways. He was assassinated by Baasha, who wiped out Jeroboam's entire family, just as the Lord had prophesied through Ahijah because of Jeroboam's sins.⸻Your words were found and I ate them

A daf of 4 mishnayot! (1) 3 different kinds of trees and how they might have been used for idolatrous purposes, and whether they are permitted afterwards. (2) What is an "asherah"? Different views. (3) On using the shade from the idolatrous tree. (4) Planting vegetables under the asherah tree - in the winter or summer, when is it permitted or prohibited?

A Sermon for the Seventh Sunday after Trinity Hosea 14:1-9 & Romans 6:19-23 by William Klock I've been reading a great book by an Oxford classicist named Teresa Morgan.  It's a study of the Greek and Latin words for faith and what they meant in the culture of the Greeks and Romans, the Jews, and in the early Church.  It's a fascinating read and as we were getting ready to go camping last Sunday afternoon I tossed it in my bag.  But then I stopped for a second, I panned across a wall of bookshelves, and my eyes settled on a copy of Ernest Cline's Ready Player One, which is—as far as I'm concerned—the ultimate novel written for Gen-X nerds who were born in the early Seventies and came of age in the Eighties.  It's a sci-fi novel built around references to things like the Atari 2600, Dungeons & Dragons, Zork, and Pac-Man.  I read it about ten years ago, but I decided to read it again this week with apologies to Dr. Morgan and her study of pistis and fides.  And I enjoyed it the second time as much as the first.  In the back of my mind, however, I was mulling over our Epistle from Romans 6 and how St. Paul writes about being slaves.  That meant that one particular part of the book kind of jumped out at me.  In the story there's an evil mega-corporation out to conquer and corrupt the virtual reality paradise where everyone in the future spends all their time.  And this evil corporation has its fingers in everything, which means it's easy to end up owing it money.  And when that happens, you're arrested and transported to headquarters where you become an indentured servant, slaving away at some menial and demeaning job until you die—because there's no way out. Between late fees, interest payments, charges for room and board and healthcare, your debt only grows, it never gets any smaller.  And Cline does a pretty good job of making it sound utterly miserable—at least to me—because it reminded me of my days as a Mac tech when I had to do phone support, which is an utterly miserable job.  But this book makes it ever more miserable: these indentured servants—slaves—did the phone support.  The description hits close to home in a lot of ways and it makes you—or at least me—want to shout out, “Let my people go!” But like I said, I also had Romans 6 percolating away in the back of my brain too and I was asking myself: Would I rather be a slave like the Israelites in Egypt, breaking my back to make bricks without straw under the hot Mediterranean sun or having my brain turn to mush doing non-stop tech support for Innovative Online Industries?  I don't know.  What I do know is that being delivered from either one of those slaveries would completely change my outlook on life, the universe, and everything. And that's just how it was for Israel.  The beginning of the Book of Exodus paints a bleak and desperate picture of Israel's turn of fortune—or, I should say, “providence” because, we learn as the story unfolds, the Lord was in control of the narrative all along.  Jacob and his family went down to Egypt as honoured guests of Pharaoh, but four hundred years later a new Pharaoh turned them into slaves, making bricks for his grand building projects.  Mixing mud and straw, filling moulds, baking them in the sun, then carrying those heavy loads of bricks to wherever they were needed.  All the time baking themselves in that hot sun, day in and day out.  Day in and day out with no rest.  Eating out of fleshpots—which sounds pretty awful all by itself. Put yourself in that place.  (Or doing phone support as a slave if that seems worse to you.)  And then imagine how you would feel after the Lord came and delivered you from that slavery.  And not just a simple jailbreak.  Consider how the Lord came first to Moses and his people and reminded them that he was their God, the one who had made promises to their fathers and who had been sovereign over all of this all along.  And the Lord then goes, through Moses, to Pharaoh.  Again, this isn't a secret jailbreak in the dead of night.  The Lord announced to the king, before his whole court, that Israel belonged to him, that Israel was his beloved son, and demanded Israel's release.  And then the showdown began.  The Lord sent ten plagues that exposed Pharaoh and his gods for the powerless frauds they really were.  Defeated, Pharaoh finally let them go, but that wasn't the end of it.  In one last ditch effort to recover his slaves and his dignity, Pharaoh went after the Israelites with his army and cornered them at the Red Sea.  Israel had escaped the frying pan only to land in the fire.  And then the Lord acted again.  He bared his mighty arm and parted the waters of the sea so that his people could pass through on dry land.  And when the Egyptian army tried to follow, the Lord drowned them all and left “mighty” Pharaoh, the greatest king on earth, powerless and pounding sand on the opposite shore. Again, it wasn't just a simple jailbreak under cover of darkness: You know, the Lord rescuing his people but with as little effort as possible.  To the contrary, he showed his faithfulness and his love towards his people, but he also showed his glory.  He brought the prison walls tumbling down in broad daylight for everyone to see.  He humbled the greatest king and the most powerful gods in the known world.  And he wasn't done.  That was just the first act.  From the Red Sea he led Isreal into the wilderness and fed her miraculously on manna and quail and water he caused to flow from a rock.  He met her at Mount Sinai and there he made a formal covenant with her.  “I will be your God and you will be my people.”  And he gave them his law, a new way of life that would separate them from all the other peoples of the earth.  They wouldn't just be the Lord's people.  The law would allow them to be the people who lived with the Lord in their midst.  A holy people, set apart.  And so they built a tabernacle as a place of meeting with him and the Lord's glory descended like a cloud to fill it.  And for a third act, the Lord led them into the land of Canaan and conquered it for them.  The Lord gave them cities they hadn't built; wells they hadn't dug; and fields and vineyards they hadn't planted.  All to show them his faithfulness, his love, his grace, and most of all his glory. The Lord made them the rescued-from-slavery people and every year they celebrated that identity and the great show of glory and faithfulness the Lord had made to make them that people.  Each year they gathered as families and ate the Passover and as they did that they remembered who they were and what the Lord had done for them.  And they were grateful.  They loved the Lord with all their heart and soul and mind and strength.  They loved their neighbours the way the Lord had loved them.  They were righteous—meaning that they love and obeyed his law.  His heart was their heart.  They worshipped him and him alone.  And, forget horses and chariots!  They trusted in the Lord who had shown the power of his mighty arm when he delivered them from slavery. Or so you might expect. But then you read the history of Israel and it's mostly the opposite.  They neglected the Passover and, not surprisingly, they forgot what the Lord had done for them.  They forgot his faithfulness.  They forgot his love.  They forgot his grace.  They forgot his glory.  They neglected his covenant and his law.  They worshipped other gods—the very gods defeated when the Lord conquered Canaan for them.  And instead of trusting in the Lord and his mighty arm, they trusted in horses and chariots and politics and intrigue and money. And that's where our Old Testament lessons comes into this.  The Lord sent the Prophet Hosea to the king and to the people of Israel with a message.  At this point the kingdom had split: Judah in the south and Israel in the north.  Judah was bad, but Israel was so bad they made Judah look like a goody-two-shoes.  And Hosea's ministry began with an acted-out prophecy.  The Lord told him to take a prostitute as his wife.  Hosea obeyed.  He married Gomer, a prostitute, probably from one of the pagan temples.  And he loved her and cared for her and he had children with her.  But repeatedly she left Hosea and returned to her life of prostitution.  And each time, his heart broken, Hosea would go out and find her and bring her back to his home and love her. Through the prophet the Lord was saying to his people: I am Hosea.  You're the prostitute.  I loved you.  I delivered you from Egypt.  I gave you a land that was not your own and I caused you to prosper in it.  I repeatedly defeated your enemies so that you could live at peace.  But over and over you've prostituted yourselves to foreign gods and foreign kings who have done nothing for you other than to lead you away from me, your true love.  Through the prophet the Lord stressed his faithfulness over against Israel's unfaithfulness. And so the Lord called to his people: Return, O Israel, to the Lord your God, for you have stumbled because of your iniquity. Take with you words and return to the Lord; say to him, “Take away all iniquity; accept what is good, and we will pay with bulls the vows of our lips. Assyria shall not save us; we will not ride on horses; and we will say no more, ‘Our God,' to the work of our hands. In you the orphan finds mercy.”   And the Lord promised: If they would do this.  If they would repent and return to him: I will heal their apostasy; I will love them freely, for my anger has turned from them. I will be like the dew to Israel; he shall blossom like the lily; he shall take root like the trees of Lebanon; his shoots shall spread out; his beauty shall be like the olive, and his fragrance like Lebanon. They shall return and dwell beneath my shadow; they shall flourish like the grain; they shall blossom like the vine; their fame shall be like the wine of Lebanon. But Israel had to leave off her idolatry.  It was not Baal or Asherah who delivered them from Egypt and caused them to prosper in the land.  It was the Lord. O Ephraim, what have I to do with idols? It is I who answer and look after you. I am like an evergreen cypress; from me comes your fruit. Whoever is wise, let him understand these things; whoever is discerning, let him know them; for the ways of the Lord are right, and the upright walk in them, but transgressors stumble in them. One way or another the Lord would heal their apostasy.  One way or another the people he had chosen as his own would reveal his glory before the watching nations.  Either they would be faithful to him and he would prosper them beyond measure or he would punish their unfaithfulness and let the nations destroy them. And if you've read the books of Kings and Chronicles and the Prophets you know that the latter is what happened.  Israel continued in her idolatry and was destroyed by the Assyrians, the tribes scattered and lost forever.  About a hundred years later the same thing happened to Judah, but it was Babylon that defeated the people and destroyed Jerusalem and the temple.  But in Judah's case, even though the people were exiled from the land, they kept their identity and were eventually allowed to return.  They rebuilt Jerusalem and the temple.  And, so far as the worship of pagan gods went, they'd learned their lesson.  Never again was that kind of raw idolatry a problem for the people of Judah.  And yet we've seen in some of our recent Gospel lessons that the people still failed to be faithful to the Lord.  Last Sunday we heard Jesus condemn the Pharisees—the most righteous, the most covenantally faithful people around.  Even they weren't as faithful and as righteous as they thought. Enter Jesus.  God himself, incarnate, became the faithful Israelite.  He perfectly submitted himself to the God of Israel, to his will, to his heart, to his law.  His righteousness—which, if you remember from last Sunday, means his faithfulness to God's covenant, was perfect.  And his fellow Jews killed him for it.  They got the Romans to crucify him on their behalf.  And that means that in Jesus, the son of God wasn't just incarnate as an Israelite, wasn't just the perfect Israelite in his covenant faithfulness, he even died the very death that the Israelites would face when the judgement he announced came to them a generation later.  He very literally died the death that their unfaithfulness deserved.  And just like Israel in Egypt, the fate of the son of God in Israel was all guided by providence.  The Lord knew what he was doing.  And in that, Jesus became a sacrifice for the sins of his people.  If they trusted in him as the Messiah he claimed to be, they found forgiveness of their sins. But that's not all.  The Lord also knew what he was doing in allowing sin and evil to concentrate themselves all in one place so that they could rise up and do their worst to Jesus.  It was Pharaoh and the gods of Egypt all over again.  If you know the story, you recognise that this how the Lord works.  In the same way he allowed Israel to become enslaved to the most powerful king in the world who had the most powerful gods in the world, so the Lord allowed Jesus to go to the cross where the most powerful forces in creation would kill him.  And he did it so that he could, once again, bare his mighty arm and raise Jesus back to life.  In doing that he not only overturned the false verdict against him in his sham trial, but more importantly, he defeated sin and death the same way he defeated Pharaoh and his gods. Jesus was leading his people in an exodus—the exodus—the exodus that the old one, the one that shaped them as a people, the one they remembered every year at Passover, was but a foretaste.  The old exodus happened so that the Lord could set a pattern and teach his people his loving and faithful character—so that he could prepare them for a future rescue, not just from a pagan king and his fake gods, but so that he could rescue them from sin and death.  Not to lead them into a land of milk and honey, but to lead them into his new creation—into a world finally set to rights, a world where they could live forever in his presence.  And as he did in that first exodus, so in the second, the Lord displayed his glory not just to his own people, but to the watching world.  And so Jesus didn't just make a new way of covenant faithfulness for his own people, he made it for everyone who would see the glory of the God of Israel at the cross and at the empty tomb.  For anyone who will trust that Jesus is Lord, who will trust that in his death and resurrection he has defeated sin and death, and who will pass through the waters of baptism to life with God—a life infused by God's own Spirit—on the other side.  A life of righteousness, of covenant faithfulness that exceeds that of the scribes and Pharisees. Brothers and Sisters, that glory displayed at the cross and the empty tomb is what has drawn each of us.  It's faith in that glory and in the promise offered in our baptism that has taken us through those waters.  And yet, like Israel of old, that vision of God's glory and of his loving faithfulness somehow fades from our vision.  That vision of glory that once caused us, like the Israelites singing the Lord's praise on the shore of the Red Sea, to sing his praises ourselves, to joyfully proclaim the good news to the world, that motivated us covenant faithfulness—to a life of holiness—somehow it fades or maybe we just take our eyes off of it in the midst of our various trials and tribulations.  And we lose our passion for the Lord, for holiness, for proclaiming his gospel.  St. Paul saw it happening in the Roman church.  The old divisions between Jew and Gentile were creeping back in.  They were no longer pursuing holiness and gospel life the way they once had.  And so he reminds them in Romans 6: “But now you have been set free from sin and enslaved to God, you have fruit for holiness.  Its destination is the life of the age to come.  The wages of sin, you see, are death; but God's free gift is the life of the age to come, in the Messiah, Jesus our Lord.”   Brothers and Sisters, we need to be reminded of the glorious thing that God has done for us in Jesus.  We were slaves to sin and death.  We had no hope.  But then we heard the story—the good news—about the mighty and glorious God of Israel, how he gave his son to die to redeem his people from their sins, how he raised him from death, and how his new creation has begun in this new people.  How he's poured out his Spirit on them and made them a temple and a foretaste of the life and the world to come.  A free gift.  God's amazing gracious grace.  And we believed and with joy we jumped into the waters of baptism.  We left Pharaoh—we left sin and death—pounding sand over another escapee—and we met Jesus on the other side.  And he filled us with his Spirit.  And we set out with him to the promised land, to the New Jerusalem, to the life of the age to come.  But somewhere along the way the joy and enthusiasm faded.  We began to trade holiness for sin.  We began to lag behind Jesus along the way, and began to look longingly at our old gods.  We became apathetic about the gospel, about the good news that had once so captivated us. Brothers and Sisters, come to the Lord's Table this morning and be renewed.  This is our Passover meal in which we recall the mighty saving deeds of our faithful, loving, gracious and glorious God.  This is the meal that reminds us we were once hopelessly enslaved to sin and death, but that the God of all creation loves us so much that he gave his own and only son to die on our behalf.  Remember that in him our sins have been forgiven.  And remember that this meal is also God's future, pulled into the present.  It's a reminder that death no longer has a hold on us, because in rising from the grave, Jesus defeated death as thoroughly as he defeated sin.  The bread and wine here at the Table are a reminder of what God has done for us in Jesus and they are a reminder of the hope—the new world and the new life—that lies before us because we have trusted him. Let's pray: Lord of all power and might, the author and giver of all good things:  Graft in our hearts the love of your Name; increase in us true religion; nourish us with all goodness; and bring forth in us the fruit of good works; through Jesus Christ our Lord, who lives and reigns with you and the Holy Spirit, one God, for ever and ever.  Amen.

2 Kings 13 (NASB) 1 In the twenty-third year of Joash the son of Ahaziah, king of Judah, Jehoahaz the son of Jehu became king over Israel at Samaria, and he reigned for seventeen years. 2 He did evil in the sight of the Lord, and followed the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, into which he misled Israel; he did not turn from them. 3 So the anger of the Lord was kindled against Israel, and He continually handed them over to Hazael king of Aram, and to Ben-hadad, the son of Hazael. 4 Then Jehoahaz appeased the Lord, and the Lord listened to him; for He saw the oppression of Israel, how the king of Aram oppressed them. 5 And the Lord gave Israel a savior, so that they escaped from under the hand of the Arameans; and the sons of Israel lived in their tents as previously. 6 Nevertheless they did not abandon the sins of the house of Jeroboam, into which he misled Israel; rather, they walked in them; and the Asherah also remained standing in Samaria. 7 For he left to Jehoahaz no more of the army than fifty horsemen, ten chariots, and ten thousand infantry, because the king of Aram had eliminated them and made them like the dust at threshing. 8 Now as for the rest of the acts of Jehoahaz, and all that he did and his might, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 9 And Jehoahaz lay down with his fathers, and they buried him in Samaria; and his son Joash became king in his place. 10 In the thirty-seventh year of Joash king of Judah, Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz became king over Israel in Samaria, and he reigned for sixteen years. 11 He did evil in the sight of the Lord; he did not turn away from all the sins of Jeroboam the son of Nebat, into which he misled Israel; rather, he walked in them. 12 Now as for the rest of the acts of Joash and all that he did, and his might with which he fought against Amaziah king of Judah, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Israel? 13 So Joash lay down with his fathers, and Jeroboam sat on his throne; and Joash was buried in Samaria with the kings of Israel. 14 When Elisha became sick with the illness of which he was to die, Joash the king of Israel came down to him, and wept over him and said, “My father, my father, the chariots of Israel and its horsemen!” 15 And Elisha said to him, “Take a bow and arrows.” So he took a bow and arrows. 16 Then Elisha said to the king of Israel, “Lay your hand on the bow.” And he laid his hand on it, then Elisha put his hands on the king's hands. 17 And he said, “Open the window toward the east,” and he opened it. Then Elisha said, “Shoot!” So he shot. And he said, “The Lord's arrow of victory, and the arrow of victory over Aram; for you will defeat the Arameans at Aphek until you have put an end to them.” 18 Then he said, “Take the arrows,” and he took them. And he said to the king of Israel, “Strike the ground,” and he struck it three times and stopped. 19 Then the man of God became angry at him and said, “You should have struck five or six times, then you would have struck Aram until you put an end to it. But now you shall strike Aram only three times.” 20 And Elisha died, and they buried him. Now the marauding bands of the Moabites would invade the land in the spring of the year. 21 And as they were burying a man, behold, they saw a marauding band; and they threw the man into the grave of Elisha. And when the man touched the bones of Elisha he revived and stood up on his feet. 22 Now Hazael king of Aram had oppressed Israel all the days of Jehoahaz. 23 But the Lord was gracious to them and had compassion on them and turned to them because of His covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and He was unwilling to eliminate them or cast them away from His presence until now. 24 When Hazael king of Aram died, his son Ben-hadad became king in his place. 25 Then Jehoash the son of Jehoahaz again took from the hand of Ben-hadad the son of Hazael the cities which he had taken in war from the hand of his fath...

Are Satan, the Devil, and Lucifer the same being? Who is Lucifer, really, and what does the Bible have to say about him? Join us tonight as Liz discusses the Evil One, his attempts at identity theft, the Asherah connection, and his (forbidden) fruitiness.Follow our new Bible Study Channel - No Wrong Questions on YouTube!https://www.youtube.com/@NoWrongQuestionsSupport the show, access all of our episodes ad free, and get bonus OVERDOSE episodes on LOCALS - https://alternatively.locals.comMERCH - https://conspiracypilled.com/collections/all Join the DISCORD - https://discord.gg/c8Acuz7vC9 Give this podcast a 5 Star Review - https://ratethispodcast.com/conspiracypilled Middleborne Arms – https://middlebornearms.comBecause swords are awesome!North Arrow Coffee- https://northarrowcoffee.co Use code CONSPIRACY10 to get 10% off your order! The Show — @_Alternatively on XAbby — @abbythelibb_ on X and InstagramLiz — @adelethelaptop on XJon — @Kn0tfersail on X#Devil #Lucifer #Asherah #Satan #Trans #LilithBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/alternatively-formerly-conspiracy-pilled--6248227/support.

And you shall overthrow their altars, and break their stone idols, and burn their idol poles with fire; and you shall hew down the graven images of their gods, and destroy the names of them out of that place. You shall not do so unto the LORD your God. But unto the place which the LORD your God shall choose out of all your tribes to put his name there, even unto his dwelling place shall you seek, and there you shall come.Destroy completely all the places on the high mountains, on the hills and under every spreading tree, where the nations you are dispossessing worship their gods. Break down their altars, smash their sacred stones and burn their Asherah poles in the fire; cut down the idols of their gods and wipe out their names from those places. You must not worship the Lord your God in their way. But you are to seek the place the Lord your God will choose from among all your tribes to put his Name there for his dwelling.Deuteronomy 12:2-5Hello everyone and welcome to the Christian Educational Ministries Weekend Bible Study. It is good to be with you and we thank you for being there and allowing us to make this weekly service possible.Tonight we are pleased to bring you the teachings of Ronald L. Dart and part six of his thoughtfully detailed study on the book of Deuteronomy, which teaches us to know God, love God and obey God.

Join us tonight as Liz discusses some topics covered in Neal Stephenson's sci-fi novel, Snow Crash, including ancient Sumerian, the Tower of Babel, Glossolalia, STDs, and the cult of Asherah. The article we referenced: http://orthodoxinfo.com/inquirers/on-the-gift-of-speaking-in-tongues.aspx Follow our new Bible Study Channel - No Wrong Questions on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKcJ8tSzhySkA-QndkmyFPw Support the show, access all of our episodes ad free, and get bonus OVERDOSE episodes on LOCALS - https://alternatively.locals.comMERCH - https://conspiracypilled.com/collections/all Join the DISCORD - https://discord.gg/c8Acuz7vC9 Give this podcast a 5 Star Review - https://ratethispodcast.com/conspiracypilled NORTH ARROW COFFEE - https://northarrowcoffee.co Use code CONSPIRACY10 to get 10% off your order! The Show — @_Alternatively on XAbby — @abbythelibb_ on X and InstagramLiz — @adelethelaptop on XJon — @Kn0tfersail on XBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/alternatively-formerly-conspiracy-pilled--6248227/support.

In this heart-opening and futuristic episode, Reuben Langdon reconnects with soul alchemists Heather and Ben D'Amico to explore the emerging renaissance of sound healing technology—blending ancient Lemurian wisdom with modern crystalline alchemy.✨ Topics explored include:

In this Bible Story, Elijah puts the God of the universe on display against the false Gods of Baal. 450 prophets of Baal and King Ahab gathered to challenge Elijah and the One True God. In front of the whole nation, God sent fire and rain down from the skies to prove his power and might. The blighted and unfertile land finally received rain. This story is inspired by 1 Kings 18. Go to BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is 1 Kings 18:39 from the King James Version.Episode 123: For three years the famine in Israel continued and King Ahab was desperate to find Elijah. One day, when his servant Obediah was out searching for water, Elijah appeared to him. Elijah tells him to send for the king and challenges king Ahab to bring all of his “prophets” of Baal and Asherah for a showdown on Mount Carmel.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the Pray.com app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd HaberkornSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Friday Bible Study (6/13/25) // 2 Kings 21 // Visit our website: https://mbchicago.org Follow us to remain connected: Facebook:   / mbc.chicago   Instagram:   / mbc.chicago   TikTok:   / mbc.chicago   Podcasts: Listen on Apple, Spotify & others To support this ministry, you can donate via: Zelle to: info@mbchicago.org Website: https://mbchicago.org/give Venmo: https://venmo.com/mbchurch DAF Donations: https://every.org/mbc.chicago PayPal: https://paypal.com/donate/?hosted_but... 2 Kings 21 (ESV)Manasseh Reigns in Judah21 Manasseh was twelve years old when he began to reign, and he reigned fifty-five years in Jerusalem. His mother's name was Hephzibah. 2 And he did what was evil in the sight of the Lord, according to the despicable practices of the nations whom the Lord drove out before the people of Israel. 3 For he rebuilt the high places that Hezekiah his father had destroyed, and he erected altars for Baal and made an Asherah, as Ahab king of Israel had done, and worshiped all the host of heaven and served them. 4 And he built altars in the house of the Lord, of which the Lord had said, “In Jerusalem will I put my name.” 5 And he built altars for all the host of heaven in the two courts of the house of the Lord. 6 And he burned his son as an offering[a] and used fortune-telling and omens and dealt with mediums and with necromancers. He did much evil in the sight of the Lord, provoking him to anger. 7 And the carved image of Asherah that he had made he set in the house of which the Lord said to David and to Solomon his son, “In this house, and in Jerusalem, which I have chosen out of all the tribes of Israel, I will put my name forever. 8 And I will not cause the feet of Israel to wander anymore out of the land that I gave to their fathers, if only they will be careful to do according to all that I have commanded them, and according to all the Law that my servant Moses commanded them.” 9 But they did not listen, and Manasseh led them astray to do more evil than the nations had done whom the Lord destroyed before the people of Israel.Manasseh's Idolatry Denounced10 And the Lord said by his servants the prophets, 11 “Because Manasseh king of Judah has committed these abominations and has done things more evil than all that the Amorites did, who were before him, and has made Judah also to sin with his idols, 12 therefore thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: Behold, I am bringing upon Jerusalem and Judah such disaster[b] that the ears of everyone who hears of it will tingle. 13 And I will stretch over Jerusalem the measuring line of Samaria, and the plumb line of the house of Ahab, and I will wipe Jerusalem as one wipes a dish, wiping it and turning it upside down. 14 And I will forsake the remnant of my heritage and give them into the hand of their enemies, and they shall become a prey and a spoil to all their enemies, 15 because they have done what is evil in my sight and have provoked me to anger, since the day their fathers came out of Egypt, even to this day.”16 Moreover, Manasseh shed very much innocent blood, till he had filled Jerusalem from one end to another, besides the sin that he made Judah to sin so that they did what was evil in the sight of the Lord.17 Now the rest of the acts of Manasseh and all that he did, and the sin that he committed, are they not written in the Book of the Chronicles of the Kings of Judah? 18 And Manasseh slept with his fathers and was buried in the garden of his house, in the garden of Uzza, and Amon his son reigned in his place.Footnotesa. 2 Kings 21:6 Hebrew made his son pass through the fireb. 2 Kings 21:12 Or evil#mbchicago #2kings #BibleStudy #DanielBatarseh #mbchicago #mbcchicago #Bible #livechurch #churchlive #chicagochurch #chicagochurches #versebyverse #church #chicago #sermon #bibleexplained #bibleproject #bibleverse #bookbybook #oldtestament #explained

MOST OF THE kings of Judah, and all of those who ruled the northern kingdom of Israel, “did evil in the sight of the LORD.”  One notable exception was Asa, king of Judah between about 910 and 873 BC, whose “heart was wholly true all his days.” He got rid of the idols erected by his father, Abijah, and banished male cult prostitutes from the land. The account of his reign in 2 Chronicles further records the religious reforms instituted by Asa, who even removed his mother (or grandmother) Maacah from her position as queen mother because she'd erected an Asherah pole. Sharon's niece, Sarah Sachleben, was recently diagnosed with stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah. Our new book The Gates of Hell is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! Derek's new book Destination: Earth, co-authored with Donna Howell and Allie Anderson, is now available in paperback, Kindle, and as an audiobook at Audible! If you are looking for a text of the Book of 1 Enoch to follow our monthly study, you can try these sources: Parallel translations by R. H. Charles (1917) and Richard Laurence (1821) Modern English translation by George W. E. Nickelsburg and James VanderKam (link to book at Amazon)Book of 1 Enoch - Standard English Version by Dr. Jay Winter (link opens free PDF)Book of 1 Enoch - R. H. Charles translation (link opens free PDF) The SkyWatchTV store has a special offer on Dr. Michael Heiser's two-volume set A Companion to the Book of Enoch. Get both books, the R. H. Charles translation of 1 Enoch, and a DVD interview with Mike and Steven Bancarz for a donation of $35 plus shipping and handling. Link: https://bit.ly/heiser-enoch Follow us! • X: @gilberthouse_tv | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert• Telegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunker• YouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelation• Facebook.com/GilbertHouseFellowship JOIN US AND SPECIAL GUEST CARL TEICHRIB IN ISRAEL! Our next tour of Israel is October 19–30, 2025 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information and to reserve your place, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel. Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! We truly appreciate your support. If you are so led, you can help out at GilbertHouse.org/donate. Get our free app! It connects you to these studies plus our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker, and the podcast that started this journey in 2005, P.I.D. Radio. Best of all, it bypasses the gatekeepers of Big Tech! The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at www.gilberthouse.org/app/. Video on demand of our best teachings! Stream presentations and teachings based on our research at our new video on demand site! Gilbert House T-shirts and mugs! New to our store is a line of GHTV and Redwing Saga merch! Check it out at GilbertHouse.org/store! Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store. Our favorite Bible study tools! Check the links in the right-hand column at www.GilbertHouse.org.

Our reading today begins by wrapping up the account of Deborah and Barak after Sisera's defeat. It's not long, however, before Israel turns, once again, to worship idols. The false gods of Baal and Asherah were meant to bring fertile crops and prosperity, but they only bring despair and a fractured relationship with the One True God. During a period of oppression by the Midianites, the Lord speaks to a young man named Gideon and calls upon him to destroy his father's idolatrous altars. Later, the spirit of the Lord envelops Gideon as he gathers troops for battle. The Lord then reduces the number of men who will go to battle to just 300 so that Israel will not forget the power of God and His merciful deliverance.Judges 5 – 1:13 . Judges 6 – 7:22 . Judges 7 – 16:49 . Psalm 72 – 23:15 .  :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by Bobby Brown, Katelyn Pridgen, Eric Williamson & the Christian Standard Biblefacebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org

Franklin begins taking things apart when he is just three months old. It is easy to find interesting objects to deconstruct at the landfill where he lives with his family. But Franklin tires of being known as the odd cat with a strange hobby. He decides to make his home in the country, where he might find some peace and quiet, and keep his unusual hobby to himself. But things do not go quite as planned. If you LOVE THIS EPISODE, PLEASE SHARE IT! Thank you to MURPHY for the super important reminder message at the beginning! Thank you to the many premium subscribers who supplied sound effects used in this story: HENRY, HOLDEN, AURORA, JJ, DAVIS, HAZEL, ASHERAH, BELLA ROSE, LINNEA, BEATRIX, RILEY, KEON, AVA, and ISABEL! Get more of the stories you love, ad-free listening, and access Little Stories for Sleep--a bedtime podcast featuring brand new sleep stories--with Little Stories Premium! Join or GIFT a subscription at http://www.littlestoriespremium.com