Podcasts about Confluence

Philippe Deslandes, in his third year building the Snowcastle that appears on Yellowknife Bay each March, talks us through what changes when it's a February as bleakly cold as this one.Also on the show: Brett Hansen and Mallory Chipman tell Jasmine Nasogaluak about their NACC show Confluence, and former journalist Amanda Lindhout – held captive in Somalia for more than a year – talks to Emily Blake about the lessons she's bringing to Yellowknife from that ordeal.

"Jeûner, on sait “comment”.Mais la vraie question qui peut transformer ton Ramadan, c'est : pour qui je jeûne, en vrai ?Dans cet Épisode 1 de la série Ramadan – Boussole, on sort du jeûne automatique (habitude, tradition, pression, regard des autres) pour revenir au cœur : l'intention (niyya), la sincérité, et la direction intérieure.À travers l'histoire de Yassine, tu vas te reconnaître : jeûner “comme tout le monde”… puis te prendre une question simple en pleine face : “Et toi, personnellement, tu le fais pourquoi ?”On explore ensuite les sagesses du jeûne à la lumière du Traité du Ramadan (Said Nursi), on se recentre avec le Jawshan (armure spirituelle), et on relie psychologie + spiritualité avec Confluence sur la force de l'intention.✅ Dans cette vidéo, tu vas découvrir • Pourquoi on peut jeûner… tout en restant déconnecté d'Allah • Comment reconnaître le mélange : habitude / ego / regard des autres • La question qui nettoie l'intention : “Si personne ne me voyait…” • Comment passer d'un jeûne “qui tient” à un jeûne qui répond à Allah • Un exercice simple pour réaligner ton intention dès ce soir⸻

Et si le meilleur “plat” de ton Ramadan n'était ni un dessert, ni une brick… mais un simple morceau de pain et un verre d'eau ?On vit entourés de bienfaits : robinet, frigo, livraison… et à force, tout devient normal. Et quand tout est “normal”, plus rien n'est un cadeau.Dans cet Épisode 2 de la série Ramadan – Boussole, on retrouve Sara : elle sait qu'elle “doit” être reconnaissante… mais elle ne ressent plus la gratitude. Jusqu'au jour où Ramadan lui fait redécouvrir l'essentiel : la faim comme pédagogie divine et le jeûne comme école de shukr (gratitude).On éclaire ce chemin avec : • le Traité du Ramadan (Said Nursi) : le jeûne comme clé qui ouvre la gratitude • le Jawshan : les Noms d'Allah qui nourrissent, protègent et comblent • Confluence : la datte comme signe simple, riche de sens (science + foi)✅ Dans cette vidéo, tu vas découvrir • Pourquoi l'abondance peut endormir le cœur • Comment Ramadan te réapprend à goûter l'eau et le pain • Comment transformer l'iftar en moment de contemplation • Un exercice simple pour dire Alhamdoulillah “comme la première fois” • Comment la gratitude devient un réflexe intérieur⸻

Et si la faim de Ramadan n'était pas là seulement pour ton ventre… mais pour ton cœur ?On voit la pauvreté partout : vidéos, témoignages, sans-abri dans la rue… puis la vie continue. Pas parce qu'on est insensible. Mais parce qu'on vit dans une bulle, à pleine vitesse.Dans cet Épisode 3 de la série Ramadan – Boussole, on découvre comment le jeûne peut devenir une école d'empathie sociale : un pont intérieur vers ceux qui ont faim sans savoir quand viendra leur “iftar”.À travers l'histoire de Yassine, tu vas voir comment une journée de fatigue, une rencontre dans la rue, et un passage du Traité du Ramadan (Said Nursi) peuvent transformer le jeûne :➡️ de “je tiens” à “je ressens”➡️ de “je regarde” à “je m'implique”➡️ de la compassion théorique à la rahma vivanteOn s'ancre aussi dans le Jawshan (les Noms d'Allah : Celui qui nourrit, protège, voit et répond), et on relie le tout à un témoignage fort de Confluence sur l'expérience de la précarité et du sans-abrisme.⸻✅ Dans cette vidéo, tu vas découvrir • Pourquoi on peut “savoir” que des gens souffrent… sans le ressentir • Comment Ramadan casse la bulle du confort sans te culpabiliser • Comment transformer ta faim en dou'a et en action concrète • Le déclic : quand ta faim devient un miroir de la faim des autres • Un exercice simple pour vivre un Ramadan plus utile et plus humain⸻

Dans ce nouvel épisode de Sortez ! sur Radio Campus Tours (99.5), Nous avons reçu Ambre et Catherine, représentantes de l'association des étudiants MJPM (Mandataires Judiciaires à la Protection des Majeurs), pour une immersion dans l’univers de la protection juridique. Entre administratif et terrain, le MJPM veille à la protection des biens et surtout de la personne. Comment concilier […] L'article SORTEZ! – Formation Mandataire judiciaire à la protection des majeurs + Association Confluence est apparu en premier sur Radio Campus Tours - 99.5 FM.

Hand aufs Herz: Würde dein Team weinen, wenn die Retrospektive morgen ausfällt – oder heimlich Champagner aufmachen? In dieser Episode spreche ich darüber, warum so viele Retros wirkungslos sind, weshalb sie trotzdem der wichtigste Termin im agilen Arbeiten bleiben und wie du sie wieder zu einem echten Hebel für Veränderung machst. Darum geht es in der Folge Warum Retrospektiven oft als Pflichttermin ohne Mehrwert wahrgenommen werden Weshalb unscharfe Maßnahmen der häufigste Killer guter Retros sind Warum Dokumentation (z. B. in Confluence) keine Verbesserung erzeugt Wie Zombie-Retros und Maßnahmen-Friedhöfe entstehen Warum psychologische Sicherheit die Grundlage jeder guten Retro ist Wieso jede Retro auf der vorherigen aufbauen muss (keine „Grüne-Wiese-Retros“) Wie Hypothesen helfen, echte Wirkung statt Symptombekämpfung zu erzielen Was eine Arbeitsretrospektive ist – und warum sie Umsetzung beschleunigt Der Retro-Bullshit-Check Deine Retro ist sehr wahrscheinlich wirkungslos, wenn … viel diskutiert wird, aber keine klaren Ergebnisse entstehen Maßnahmen regelmäßig definiert, aber nie umgesetzt werden nur Symptome behandelt werden, keine Ursachen im Team spürbare Retro-Müdigkeit herrscht kritische Themen aus Harmoniebedürfnis vermieden werden Zentrale Learnings Lieber eine gute, umsetzbare Maßnahme als fünf, um die sich niemand kümmert Maßnahmen müssen SMART sein Wirkung entsteht nur durch Umsetzung, nicht durch Protokolle Retros sind der wichtigste Feedback-Loop im agilen Arbeiten Wer liefern will, muss auch in der Retro liefern Empfehlung & Gewinnspiel

In this episode, Confluence reviews the Asset Allocation rebalance for the first quarter of 2026, featuring a brief economic analysis and insights on asset class and security selection for the firm's Asset Allocation portfolios. Joining the podcast to recap the rationale for this quarter's changes is Kaisa Stucke, analyst and chair of the Asset Allocation Committee's quarterly investment meetings.

LIVESTREAMING tonight at 7:00pm EST... Join us as we welcome Paul Abbott back to the show for a follow-up conversation about events surrounding the basement shooting of LHO. Book link below... Tune in for a good one!Book Link - https://a.co/d/0djhNiRnPaul's Articles - https://pabbott.substack.com/Paul's Podcast - https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/death-to-justice-the-shooting-of-lee-harvey-oswald/id1835192062Silk CIty Hot Sauce - https://www.silkcityhotsauce.com Use our code GUNMAN for 20% off entire order at checkout! The COLDEST Cup - https://snwbl.io/TLG10 Follow our link to save $10 on every cup ordered!Music By - Lee Harold OswaldA Loose Moose ProductionBBB&JOEBBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/the-lone-gunman-podcast-jfk-assassination--1181353/support.

In this episode, Todd Reed speaks with Kassy Slaughter about the current state of the construction industry, focusing on labor shortages, the impact of technology, and the importance of company culture. They discuss the challenges faced by the industry, including misconceptions about construction careers, the need for a cultural shift, and the role of data and AI in improving workforce engagement. Kassy emphasizes the importance of creating a supportive work environment and the need for actionable steps to attract and retain talent in the construction sector. Kassy shares about one of her favorite restaurants, Iron Bay in Marquette, MI and talks about her favorite pastime, kayaking. Thank you for listening and please take a moment to subscribe, rate, and review the show on your favorite app.Here's where I ask a huge favor from you, I'm creating a newsletter as a way for you to share your thoughts on the episodes, share guest ideas and for me to give you insight into future episodes, and of course share great restaurants with you, please subscribe at  https://www.graybar.com/podcast#subscribe.Iron Bay Restaurant in Marquette: https://ironbaymqt.com/ To reach Kassy Slaughter on LinkedIn:  https://www.linkedin.com/in/kassy-slaughter-morris-59164020/Learn more about Procore: https://www.procore.com/ On YouTube: https://youtu.be/KJT9ftw3K8I

Confluence's first Mailbag Podcast episode of the year is a wide-ranging conversation on geopolitics and evolving market trends. Bill O'Grady and Mark Keller explore whether Latin America could emerge as a key low-cost producer in a deglobalizing world and the resulting investment opportunities. The discussion also covers current US dollar policy and the challenges of currency forecasting, signs of a meaningful market rotation following years of US large cap growth dominance, limitations of LLMs within the broader AI boom, the forces driving the surge in precious metals, and implications of Canada's new trade deal with China.

Manuela Barcenas breaks down how marketing work has flipped from “writer + editor” to “manager of agents.” She shares two concrete workflows: (1) using Claude Projects to reposition and modernize 100 legacy blog posts in a week (including updated product messaging, AI-forward advice, and internal links), and (2) using Fellow's “Ask Fellow” to mine anonymized customer-call transcripts for original quotes and pain points—then turning those insights into publish-ready integration/use-case articles in hours, not weeks. The throughline: output is easy now; taste, judgment, and review are the differentiators.Timestamps0:00–0:00 - Intro1:18–2:54 Early Fellow days: one blog/week, months-long ebooks, craftsmanship vs scale3:06–3:26 Scale expectations now: Amazon's ebook upload limit anecdote (3/day)3:40–4:30 Fellow previously managing an “army of writers” → now mostly AI/agents4:36–5:00 “Taste” as the differentiator: what good content is + standing out5:53–7:12 The 100-post update explained: not link swaps—full repositioning + modernized advice7:25–9:36 Switching from ChatGPT to Claude; LinkedIn poll results + “context retention” theme9:48–10:21 Claude Projects setup: separate projects to maintain context and instructions14:43–15:29 Prompt versioning: internal links, new features, and repeated refinement cycles18:55–19:20 Demo: paste URL → Claude fetches page → follows checklist automatically19:26–20:24 Manuela's QA: she reads/edits everything; “taste” = final layer (like editing writers)21:38–23:17 Claude Skills discussion: turning repeated workflows into reusable MD “skills” (personal vs company-wide)25:42–26:26 SEO myth: focus isn't “AI penalty,” it's originality and substance (quotes, stats, real insight)26:38–28:39 Original content engine: Ask Fellow pulls anonymized customer-call insights by feature/integration28:39–31:21 Building documents from transcripts (pain points, best practices, FAQs, quotes) → export to Doc/PDF31:21–33:29 Feed exported insights into Claude Project to draft a tight article rich with customer quotes33:29–36:06 Why it works: management loop (outcomes → constraints → review → feedback) at faster cadence36:18–37:30 What's next: Claude Code / Claude “co-work”; projects as “mini employees”37:02–38:06 Personal brand workflow: Claude analyzes best LinkedIn posts → style guide + voice-based drafting (Whisper Flow)38:28–39:12 Wrap: AI speed is real; staying current requires constant learningTools & technologies mentioned (with brief descriptions)Claude (Anthropic) — LLM used for higher-quality long-context writing, structured rewrites, and content systems.Claude Projects — Workspace feature to keep persistent instructions/context per workflow (e.g., content optimization agent).Claude Skills — Reusable capabilities packaged as uploaded markdown files (personal or org-wide) to standardize output.Claude Code / Claude “co-work” — Anthropic workflows/webinars referenced for deeper automation beyond writing (emerging).ChatGPT — Baseline comparison model; Manuela notes switching due to Claude's perceived context + output quality.Excel + Claude — Mentioned via finance demo: using Claude in Excel to build financial models.Fellow.ai — AI meeting assistant used for transcripts, summaries, action items, and cross-tool integrations.Ask Fellow — Fellow feature that queries meeting knowledge (calls/transcripts) to generate anonymized insight docs.Anonymization (in Fellow) — Removes identifying customer details while preserving job titles/quotes for safe content use.Integrations (examples named) — Slack, Asana, HubSpot, Salesforce, Linear, Jira, Confluence (tools Fellow connects with).Whisper Flow — Voice-to-text capture tool used to speak ideas, then convert into styled writing (e.g., LinkedIn drafts).Subscribe at⁠ thisnewway.com⁠ to get the step-by-step playbooks, tools, and workflows.

We return to a place we haven't seen since Episode 1, back when I had no idea what I was doing, in order to do Northumberland and Sunbury the right way.  Northumberland and Sunbury are getting the full treatment they deserve, over three years after I first stumbled through them. History, geography, and of course, a look at some of the more interesting and fun spots in both towns, including Pineknotter Brewing, a pinball bar, and the Squeeze-In, a narrow hot dog joint that's been serving up dogs five seats at a time since 1945 [correction to the podcast, BTW: the Squeeze-In is not 12 feet wide, it's only eight feet wide!].  I interviewed Curt and Thad Benner, 4th generation Sunbury natives and brothers, who opened Eclipse Craft Brewing 7 years ago. Curt makes great beer, Thad makes great pizza, and they also have teaberry vodka. Can't beat it!  What I'm Drinking Today is a 16 year old Tomintoul single malt, and it was wonderfully relaxing. The Smack Dab In The Centre segment is a reminder to grab yourself a new Central PA Tasting Trail passport, and start getting your ticket punched for tasty drinks and great discounts.  Your Uncle Lew also has a little 'love connection' advice about Valentine's Day. No, really, I do!  Next episode should be a chat with Elk Creek chef Jon Forshey about making stews, and there's a lot more to it than I realized.   See you in two weeks! Until then? TELL YOUR FRIENDS ABOUT THE PODCAST! Seen Through A Glass is sponsored by the Happy Valley Adventure Bureau. Come visit Centre County!   This episode uses these sounds under the following license: Creative Commons CC BY 4.0   https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ "Champ de tournesol" by Komiku at https://www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ arrow-impact-87260 Sound Effect found on Pixabay (https://pixabay.com) "Glow" by Scott Buckley | www.scottbuckley.com.au  Music promoted by https: //www.chosic.com/free-music/all/ All sounds sourced by STAG Music Librarian Nora Bryson, with our thanks.

Something I've been mulling over a lot the past couple months is this last point - what do we do if we can't relate to each other? What if our information systems are fundamentally different on a person to person basis? What do we do without a shared set of facts and sense of reality by which to agree upon and then work to address any issue or challenge of concern? To help me better explore this is today's guest, Miah Hammond-Errey. Miah is an expert in national security, emerging technology and leadership and has built a career to date in the investigation of how intelligence is collected, made sense of and used in decision making in high stakes environments.I wanted to chat with Miah to understand how the best in business do this and how that applies to me and the Finding Nature community to help us all chart a course through mis and disinformation, an overwhelming information and data system, and what do we all need to do more of to focus on the signal and shut out the noise. Miah's work is not only vital but accessible for the lay person like me, and her podcast, the Technology and Security Podcast is a fantastic examination of how a world that most of relate to through pop culture like movies and books operates on a day to day basis. Bringing fact to dispel the myths helped me appreciate again the necessity for how we can all do a better job of taking the time to remember that all of us are essentially allies on the same team, that being in right relationship is a fundamental necessity to maintain a stable society, and the consequences of what happens when we don't invest in taking the time and putting in the effort to be curious, open and non-judgemental in trying to appreciate and understand the views and opinions of others - especially those we don't agree with.We cover plenty in this chat, so settle in and prepare to be further educated on how intelligence agencies and systems apply age-old principles of sense making, how new technology is changing the intelligence game, the already present and future threats to nation states and individuals in this new digital age, and what we can and probably must do to play an active role in shaping the information, privacy and digital landscapes we are all participants in.Support for the show comes from:Reposit Power - get $500 off your installationAltiorem - get 25% off your annual subscription with code findingnature25Jamberoo Mountain Farm Tiny Home - get Hot Tub Sunset Package for free when you add Finding Nature to booking comments.For everything Finding Nature, head to our website. Get in contact via info@findingnature.com.auSend me a messageThanks for listening. Follow Finding Nature on Instagram

This week the TJL crew welcome Paulo Ramalho, Atlassian Community Champion from Norway and Senior Atlassian Consultant. Watch as Paulo explains how Assets, as a platform app, can now establish governance of your Jira and Confluence items.The Jira Life=====================================Having trouble keeping up with when we are live? Sign up for our Atlassian Community Group!https://ace.atlassian.com/the-jira-life/Or Follow us on LinkedIn!  / the-jira-life  Become a member on YouTube to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/@thejiralife/...Hosts:Alex "Dr. Jira" Ortiz ⁠  / alexortiz89  ⁠⁠   / @apetechtechtutorials  ⁠Rodney "The Jira Guy" Nissen ⁠  / rgnissen  ⁠⁠https://thejiraguy.com⁠Sarah Wright ⁠  / satwright  ⁠ Producer:"King Bob" Robert Wen ⁠  / robert-wen-csm-spc6-a552051  Executive Producer: Lina OrtizMusic provided by Monstercat:=====================================Intro: Nitro Fun - Cheat Codes   / monstercat  Outro: Fractal - Atrium   / monstercatinstinct  

**The Doomsday Clock: A History of Existential Threat**At the start of 2026, the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists has set its famous Doomsday Clock to 85 seconds to midnight—the closest it has ever been to the hypothetical hour of global doom.This measurement concept originated after World War Two and the atomic bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945, events which caused terrible destruction and the loss of hundreds of thousands of lives. Following continued bomb testing, including the American H-bomb test in 1952 and tests by other nations, the concerned atomic scientists resolved to provide an annual indication of how close the world, due primarily to nuclear weapons, was to self-destruction.A significant retreat occurred at the end of the Cold War, when the clock was set back to 17 minutes to midnight, reflecting a widespread hope for peace. However, this optimism was short-lived. The clock's hands soon began moving forward again, tumbling almost as fast as they had receded, reaching 89 seconds to midnight last year.**2026: A Confluence of Global Dangers**In their most recent report, the scientists foresee a year of severe conflicts ahead. Key factors prompting the move to 85 seconds include:* Russia's continued war in Ukraine.* The effects of United States and Israeli bombing campaigns in Iran.* The ongoing border clashes between India and Pakistan.* China's tangible threats towards Taiwan.* Rising tensions across the Western Hemisphere following the return of Donald Trump to the US presidency.* The expiry of the last remaining nuclear arms pact between the United States and Russia—the Strategic Arms Reduction Treaty (START). With this treaty lapsed, testing and development of nuclear weapons are advancing once more with fewer restraints.The report also highlights the unregulated rise of artificial intelligence as a major hazard. While AI holds potential for good, the lack of global regulation means it could equally be harnessed for terrible destruction, including the advancement of nuclear weapons and other “apocalyptic dangers.”**New Era of Weaponry: From Testing to Deployment**The world now faces weapons of mass destruction on an unprecedented scale, capable of destroying the world many times over. Russia, in particular, has not stood still. It is bringing new systems to full production, including the Poseidon, an incredibly fast, nuclear-powered underwater cruise missile, and the Oreshnik hypersonic ballistic missile.The Oreshnik, which Vladimir Putin boasts can overcome all current air defence systems, has been used twice in Ukraine. Its recent use on Lviv involved a MIRV (Multiple Independently-targetable Re-entry Vehicle) system, which Putin described as “like raining meteors from the sky”—a reference to multiple warheads, each potentially nuclear-tipped, striking from a single missile. These weapons are now being stationed in Belarus, further escalating tensions in Europe.**The Quest for Peace and the Biblical Prophecy**Amidst this, efforts for peace continue. Donald Trump has moved to establish a “board of peace,” with documentation underway and some countries showing interest, particularly following perceived headway in Gaza-Israel relations. However, the question remains: can such a board truly bring about lasting peace?The Bible speaks plainly to this in 1 Thessalonians chapter five, stating that when mankind says “Peace and safety,” then sudden destruction will come upon them. This is a prophecy for the time of the end, associated with the literal return of the Lord Jesus Christ to the earth—an event we as Christadelphians expect very soon.**Conclusion: A Time for Watchfulness**The advancing Doomsday Clock underscores the profound troubles facing our world, perfectly aligning with the biblical description of the end times.

“When I tell you a story about my body, I cannot separate it from a story about water. And a story about water is also a story about family. And a story about family is rooted in the earth…,” opens Sangamithra Iyer’s Governing Bodies. What does it mean for a memoir to assume the elusive, ever-changing shape of water, to be the story of family but where the notion of family crosses the boundaries of blood, culture, nation and even species? Governing Bodies, as the Whiting judges said in their citation, is “a subtle, meditative exploration on grief and nonviolence, an international and intergenerational voyage through shared histories and a consideration of what we owe to each other and the natural world.” For the bonus audio archive, Sangu contributes a reading of her remarkable essay “Are You Willing?” which originally appeared in the anthology Writing for Animals: New Perspectives for Writers & Instructors to Educate & Inspire. This joins an ever-growing archive of contributions from past guests—from Richard Powers to adrienne maree brown, Forrest Gander to Arthur Sze, Natalie Diaz to Ada Limón. You can find out how to access the bonus audio and about the many other potential benefits and rewards to choose from, when you join the Between the Covers community as a listener-supporter, at the show’s Patreon page. Finally, here is today’s BookShop.

durée : 00:52:35 - Le Cours de l'histoire - par : Xavier Mauduit, Anaïs Kien - Pris en tenaille entre les empires mongol et ottoman, l'Iran médiéval apparaît comme un territoire culturellement, politiquement et spatialement située à la croisée des peuples voire à la croisée des mondes. - réalisation : Milena Aellig, Peire Legras - invités : Ève Feuillebois-Pierunek Maître de conférence habilitée à diriger des recherches à la Sorbonne nouvelle – Paris 3, spécialiste de la littérature mystique persane du Xe au XVIe siècle; Kadhim Jihad Hassan Traducteur, critique littéraire, professeur, poète. ; Camille Rhoné-Quer ATER en histoire du monde arabo-musulman et langue arabe à l'Université d'Aix-Marseille 1

In this episode of The Jira Life, we sit down with Robert Hean of Hean Tech to explore how Confluence documentation is evolving in the age of Rovo and Atlassian Intelligence.As AI teammates like Rovo become part of everyday work, the quality of your documentation matters more than ever. We discuss what “good documentation” really means today, common mistakes teams make in Confluence, and how to structure content so Rovo can deliver accurate, helpful answers instead of amplifying documentation chaos.Robert shares practical strategies for creating AI-ready Confluence spaces, improving knowledge discoverability, and aligning documentation practices with modern Jira and Jira Service Management workflows. Whether you are an Atlassian admin, documentation owner, or team lead preparing for AI-powered collaboration, this conversation will help you future-proof your knowledge base.The Jira Life=====================================Having trouble keeping up with when we are live? Sign up for our Atlassian Community Group!https://ace.atlassian.com/the-jira-life/Or Follow us on LinkedIn!https://www.linkedin.com/company/the-jira-life/Become a member on YouTube to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/@thejiralife/joinHosts:- Alex "Dr. Jira" Ortiz https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexortiz89/ https://www.youtube.com/@ApetechTechTutorials- Rodney "The Jira Guy" Nissen https://www.linkedin.com/in/rgnissen/ https://thejiraguy.com- Sarah Wright https://www.linkedin.com/in/satwright/ Producer:- "King Bob" Robert Wen https://www.linkedin.com/in/robert-wen-csm-spc6-a552051/Executive Producer: - Lina OrtizMusic provided by Monstercat:=====================================Intro: Nitro Fun - Cheat Codeshttps://www.youtube.com/c/monstercatOutro: Fractal - Atriumhttps://www.youtube.com/c/monstercatinstinct

In this inspiring episode, Paul Ward sits down with regenerative farmer, chef, entrepreneur, and author Mollie Engelhart. Mollie shares her journey from running vegan restaurants in Los Angeles to building Sovereignty Ranch in Texas, where she's pioneering regenerative farming, hosting events, and building a community rooted in faith, food, and family. They dive deep into:

A bad beat. In Pittsburgh. And a new head coach after 18 years followed this recap of a long, battered season for Baltimore Ravens fans as well as the team. Leonard Raskin and Nestor discuss the bitter end of a dreadful Ravens season at The Confluence and all of the change ahead. The post Leonard Raskin and Nestor discuss the bitter end of a dreadful Ravens season in Pittsburgh first appeared on Baltimore Positive WNST.

Lamar Jackson will play on Sunday night in Pittsburgh but will that be the difference in a playoff berth for the Baltimore Ravens? Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the long, mediocre roads that lead the two franchises toward a massive game that will define more than who gets to play a home next weekend as the AFC North champs. The post Luke Jones and Nestor discuss the Baltimore and Pittsburgh collision course at The Confluence and fear of fallout first appeared on Baltimore Positive WNST.

Former Steelers QB Charlie Batch returns in advance of the Ravens return to Pittsburgh in a battle for the AFC North crown to give Nestor insights on the final stand of Aaron Rodgers, the Lamar Jackson injury and ways that the favored Ravens can come to The Confluence and eliminate Mike Tomlin with Derrick Henry pounding the ball and Snoop Huntley playing the quiet reserve role that he once made famous in the Steel City. The post Former Steelers QB Charlie Batch gives Nestor insights on Rodgers, Lamar and Ravens knockout match up on Sunday in Pittsburgh first appeared on Baltimore Positive WNST.

The plot for the battle for the AFC North title at The Confluence on Sunday night thickens with daily reports about the health of Lamar Jackson and T.J. Watt – and the pending doom for the losing franchise, coach and quarterback. Will Graves of The Associated Press in Pittsburgh returns as the defending champion of Steelers knowledge and brings the full color of the Ravens and black and gold drama into focus with Nestor. The post Will Graves of Associated Press in Pittsburgh brings Ravens and Steelers drama into focus with Nestor first appeared on Baltimore Positive WNST.

Bill O'Grady and Mark Keller close out the final episode of the year by examining some key factors shaping markets heading into 2026 — from China's growing gold purchases and efforts to build an alternative to the dollar system, to what a more dovish Fed could mean for the dollar and bonds. They discuss the risk of earnings disappointment next year, the importance of maintaining investment discipline amid market temptations, and their outlook for hard assets in a world shifting toward a multipolar global order.To have your question answered in a future episode, email: mailbag@confluenceim.com.

Episode web page: https://bit.ly/3MWTjzQ Episode description:  In this forward-looking episode of Insights Unlocked, Mike McDowell returns to the mic to share what's ahead for UserTesting in 2026—and it's all about speed, scale, and smarter insights. Mike and host Nathan Isaacs dive into the latest developments in AI-powered research, from automated test creation and participant feedback to enhanced report generation and seamless integrations with tools like Figma. As always, Mike brings a ton of energy and clarity to what these innovations mean not just for researchers, but for anyone trying to get closer to their customers. Whether you're a product manager, designer, or marketer, this episode will leave you inspired by what's possible when AI meets human insight. Key takeaways AI-enhanced test creation: Just type what you want to learn, and AI builds the test plan for you—making customer feedback more accessible to non-researchers than ever. New Figma plug-in: Beta users can now launch usability tests directly from Figma, without leaving the design environment. Automated insight generation: From smart analysis to video summaries and report creation, AI is speeding up the time from question to answer. Smarter screener tools: AI-powered fraud detection and screener guidance ensure better participant quality and more reliable feedback. Customer empathy at scale: Mike emphasizes the power of embedding customer videos in tools like Jira, Confluence, and Figma to build buy-in and challenge internal assumptions. Resources & links Mike on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/mmcdowell1/) Nathan Isaacs on LinkedIn (https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanisaacs/) Learn more about Insights Unlocked: https://www.usertesting.com/podcast

What a wild holiday weekend and big finish ahead for the AFC North crown! Luke Jones and Nestor discuss all of the trappings of a Ravens at Steelers game on Sunday night at The Confluence with the loser going home and the winner hosting a playoff game. The post Luke Jones and Nestor discuss all of the trappings of a Ravens at Pittsburgh game with AFC North at stake first appeared on Baltimore Positive WNST.

Tweet of the Week: https://x.com/LATechFB/status/2000616676702966002 Follow us on the social media platform formerly known as Twitter @gotechplsdntdie. Or check out our blog and shop at https://gtpdd.dog

The Baltimore Ravens have their hands full with the New England Patriots here this week and the Green Bay Packers awaiting on the frozen tundra next Saturday night after Santa arrives. But, will the Pittsburgh Steelers play the Grinch once again? Luke Jones and Nestor discuss all eyes on the NFL holiday slate as the rematch awaits on January 4th at The Confluence. The post Luke Jones and Nestor discuss Steelers role in Ravens fate as Patriots await in Baltimore first appeared on Baltimore Positive WNST.

Host: Wendy Videlock Guest: Carrie Kellerby Air date: Dec 17, 2025

In this episode, members of the Confluence Macroeconomic Team sit down with Phil Adler to assess the geopolitical outlook for 2026. Six big picture trends that are guideposts for Confluence's investment recommendations are discussed including stablecoins, spheres of influence, and data centers. 

So, what does Marketing ops actually look like? Atlassian's Head of Lifecycle Marketing Ops Kelly Jo Horton joins Daniel to break down what ops actually is, why it's so complex, and how high-performing teams are evolving the function for 2026 and beyond. She explains why MOPS isn't “just sending an email,” why process is everything, and why marketers need to stop treating ops like a drive-thru and start treating it like a Michelin-star kitchen. She also reveals how Atlassian structures its ops organization and why she believes the MQL is officially dead. You'll also learn: >  What modern Marketing Ops actually does and why it varies by company > How AI can automate repetitive ops tasks (like list cleaning and lead investigations) > How Atlassian uses Jira, Confluence, Slack bots, and Loom to run ops like engineering This is for anyone in Marketing, rev ops, or GTM who wants to build a scalable system…and for every Marketer who's ever said “it's just an email.” Easily record and share AI-powered video messages with your teammates and customers to supercharge productivity at https://www.loom.com/ Follow Kelly Jo: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kellyjohorton/ Follow Daniel: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-murray-marketing/ Sign up for The Marketing Millennials newsletter: https://themarketingmillennials.com/ Daniel is a Workweek friend, working to produce amazing podcasts. To find out more, visit: https://workweek.com/

Confluence's official 2026 Outlook anticipates a reacceleration of the economy next year and a low risk of recession. Three of the co-authors of the report, Chief Market Strategist Patrick Fearon-Hernandez, Advisory Director - Market Strategy Bill O'Grady, and Associate Market Strategist Thomas Wash, join the podcast to examine the main themes of Confluence's expectations and discuss how investors can utilize an outlook piece such as this to review the big picture: where they've been, what the new year has in store, and how they might prepare for it.

Host Maxwell Porter is joined by two experts to explore the geological and tectonic evolution of the iconic Laramide Porphyry Copper Province, focusing on its complex geodynamic history and the key exploration criteria that define this world-class copper belt. Our guests share complementary academic and industry perspectives, offering insights drawn from decades of research and field experience.The Geological Framework and Exploration vectors in the Globe-Miami DistrictOur first guest is Dr. Robert Lee. Robert earned his PhD at Oregon State University studying the El Salvador porphyry copper deposit in Chile. He then joined Freeport-McMoRan as a greenfields exploration geologist working across North America, the Philippines, and Europe. In 2014, he moved to UBC's MDRU, leading and contributing to research projects on tools to vector towards economic ore deposits, across the Western Tethyan Belt to the Andes and British Columbia. Since 2022, Robert has been a Principal Geoscientist with BHP's Generative Porphyry Copper team. His expertise centers on porphyry copper formation, mineral chemistry, and innovative tools for exploration, including zircon as a vector to ore.Tectonic controls on porphyry deposit formation in ArizonaOur second guest is Professor Thomas Lamont. Thomas is a structural geologist and petrologist whose work links tectonics, crustal evolution, and the formation of major ore systems. His research combines field mapping with advanced analytical tools, from EPMA and thermobarometry to isotopic and geochronological techniques. He completed his DPhil at the University of Oxford, investigating how the Cycladic Islands in Greece evolved from a compressional to an extensional tectonic regime. In a later postdoctoral role, he focused on the Laramide porphyry province of the southwestern United States, showing how flat-slab subduction drove water-fluxed melting and porphyry copper formation. Thomas now leads research into how subduction geometry shapes the thermal and mechanical state of the lithosphere and its mineral endowment in addition to other topics, as an assistant professor of Structural Geology and Tectonics at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.Many thanks to VRIFY for sponsoring Season 5 of Discovery to Recovery.Theme music is  Confluence by Eastwindseastwindsmusic.com 

Sometimes our greatest battles aren't lost in defeat—but in hesitation. Don't stop short of what God has called you to finish.

Why are we more eager to share new shoes or favorite shows than the life-changing truth of Jesus, and what happens when we finally embrace the divine power we've already been given?

Episode Summary (for marketing + platforms):In this episode of The Social Impact Podcast, host Bree Jensen sits down with Jace Newton, Director of Impact at Liquid I.V., to explore how a simple hydration product has grown into a global force for good.From his early days teaching in Morocco to leading impact initiatives at USAID and Liquid I.V., Jace shares how purpose, travel, and listening to communities shaped his career in humanitarian relief. Together, Bree and Jace dive into Liquid I.V.'s mission to provide clean water access for 2 million people by 2026, their groundbreaking Confluence program funding 16 U.S. water organizations, and their role in disaster relief—from wildfires in California to communities around the world.Listeners will learn what it takes to build community-first impact, the importance of knowing your role during crises, and how corporations can lead through sustainable purpose.

Jason discussed the introduction of 50-year mortgages in the United States and their potential impact on real estate affordability and demand, while highlighting favorable market conditions including sliding interest rates and the end of quantitative tightening. He explained how extended mortgage terms can be financially beneficial through inflation-induced debt destruction and tax deductions, contrasting common misconceptions about mortgages as liabilities. Jason emphasized the importance of understanding current market trends and encouraged listeners to explore his AI chatbot and past content for insights, while also promoting his upcoming monthly masterclasses and the Empowered Investor Pro community. Jason then welcomes Jeff Deist, in-house counsel for Monetary Metals, to discuss the impact of dollar debasement and inflation on the economy. They explore how the U.S. has been in a slow-motion economic decline since 1971 and examine the evolving nature of money, including the role of gold and digital assets in the modern financial system. The conversation concludes with a discussion on the use of physical gold to generate income through leasing arrangements and the benefits and risks of gold investments, including its cultural significance and untapped potential as a financial asset. Check out our FREE Ai tool- JasonHartman.com/Ai Join our PRO community at EmpoweredInvestor.com Key Takeaways: Jason's editorial 1:32 I'm having a party! 9:54 Mortgage Amortization Calculator 14:44 Check out our FREE Ai tool- JasonHartman.com/Ai 15:55 Confluence of factors 17:00 Join our FREE Masterclass at  JasonHartman.com/Wednesday   Jeff Deist interview 18:44 A defense against the debasement of the US dollar 23:52 Tether no more 35:07 Gold and governments 38:08 Making precious metals productive 42:35 Benefits and risks 47:23 Gold has a role to play Follow Jason on TWITTER, INSTAGRAM & LINKEDIN Twitter.com/JasonHartmanROI Instagram.com/jasonhartman1/ Linkedin.com/in/jasonhartmaninvestor/ Call our Investment Counselors at: 1-800-HARTMAN (US) or visit: https://www.jasonhartman.com/ Free Class:  Easily get up to $250,000 in funding for real estate, business or anything else: http://JasonHartman.com/Fund CYA Protect Your Assets, Save Taxes & Estate Planning: http://JasonHartman.com/Protect Get wholesale real estate deals for investment or build a great business – Free Course: https://www.jasonhartman.com/deals Special Offer from Ron LeGrand: https://JasonHartman.com/Ron Free Mini-Book on Pandemic Investing: https://www.PandemicInvesting.com  

Tyler Martin, Senior Director of Enterprise Security Engineering & Operations at FanDuel, reflects on revolutionizing security operations by replacing traditional analyst tiers with security engineers supported by custom AI agents. Tyler shares the architecture behind SAGE, FanDuel's phishing automation system, and explains how his team progressed from human-in-the-loop validation to fully autonomous triage through bronze-silver-gold maturity stages.  The conversation explores practical challenges like context enrichment, implementing user personas connected to IDP and HRIS systems, and choosing between RAG versus CAG models for knowledge augmentation. Tyler also discusses shifts in detection strategy, arguing for leaner detection catalogs with just-in-time, query-based rules over maintaining point-in-time codified detections that no longer address active risks. Topics discussed: Restructuring security operations teams to include only security engineers while AI agents handle traditional level 1-3 triage work. Building Security Analysis and Guided Escalation, an AI-powered phishing automation system that reduced manual ticket volume. Implementing bronze-silver-gold maturity stages for AI triage: manual validation, automated closures with oversight, and full autonomous operations. Enriching AI agents with organizational context through connections to IDP systems, HRIS platforms, and user behavior analytics. Creating user personas that encode access patterns, permissions, security groups, and typical behaviors to improve AI decision-making accuracy. Designing incident response automation that spins up Slack channels, Zoom bridges, recordings, and comprehensive documentation through simple commands. Eliminating 90% of missing PIR action items through automated documentation capture and stakeholder tagging in Confluence. Shifting detection strategy from maintaining large MITRE-mapped catalogs to just-in-time query-based rules written by AI agents. Balancing signal volume and enrichment data against inference costs while avoiding context rot that degrades LLM performance. Evaluating RAG versus CAG models for knowledge augmentation and exploring multi-agent architectures with supervisory oversight layers.  Listen to more episodes:  Apple  Spotify  YouTube Website

Prophecy isn't about predicting the future — it's about hearing God's heart in the present and speaking life to others.

This week on Truth to Power, we bring you a vital community conversation with Chief Glenna J. Wallace of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma and Jordan Lubetkin of the National Wildlife Federation on the importance of indigenous perspectives to the restoration of the Ohio River Basin. Glenna Wallace was elected to the office of the Chief of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma in 2006. She is the first woman ever elected to this office. From 1968 to 2006, Chief Glenna worked at Crowder College in a variety of roles and received numerous honors and awards. Throughout the years Chief Glenna has been active in numerous organizations and boards in the community and for the tribe. As Senior Director of Ohio River Restoration at the National Wildlife Federation and Ohio River Basin Alliance Board of Trustees member, Jordan Lubetkin, has decades of experience in communications, public policy, and coordinating geographic restoration initiatives. Having worked on the Healing Our Waters: Great Lakes Coalition, he is very familiar with the success of sustained federal funding to improve water quality, restore ecosystem health, and support local economies through boosting recreation potential and maintaining commerce. In this conversation, Jordan explores the work that's been done by Ohio River watershed stakeholders and partners, including the drafting and release of the Ohio River Basin Restoration and Protection Report by the Ohio River Basin Alliance, the National Wildlife Federation, and the University of Louisville's Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute. This report, for which Jordan organized and facilitated 31 community listening sessions across the basin and worked with regional tribal chapters to recognize Indigenous stewardship, reaffirm Tribal rights, and forge authentic partnerships to advance Indigenous policy and conservation, makes a case statement to support the need for federal funding in the basin. Chief Glenna J. Wallace, the chief of the Eastern Shawnee Tribe of Oklahoma, will join Jordan to discuss their shared goals and the importance of collaboration with Indigenous groups in restoration. This work will help ensure that future investments in the Ohio River basin are guided by community knowledge to address the threats and challenges most important to constituents. After their conversation, the floor was opened for Q&A. This conversation took place on October 18, 2025 at the Ohio River Confluence (https://www.ohioriverway.org/2025-ohio-river-basin-confluence). For the first time, the Ohio River Basin Alliance, Kentucky Waterways Alliance, and the Ohio River Way held a special joint summit in place of their individual annual conferences. This event was co-hosted by the University of Louisville Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, and Thomas More University. The Ohio River Basin Confluence Summit took place October 16-18, 2025, at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville. The Summit brought together advocates, professionals, and water leaders of all kinds to learn, plan, and build a diverse identity across our important river basin. On Truth to Power each week, we gather people from around the community to discuss the state of the world, the nation, the state, and the city! It's a community conversation like you won't hear anywhere else! Truth to Power airs every Friday at 9pm, Saturday at 11am, and Sunday at 4pm on Louisville's grassroots, community radio station, Forward Radio 106.5fm WFMP and live streams at https://forwardradio.org

In this episode, Bill O'Grady and Mark Keller unpack the concept of escalation dominance in the US-China relationship and how societies endure pain. They consider the likelihood and potential depth of recession, examining the trade-offs that arise when the Fed and other policymakers intervene to prevent downturns and identifying areas of malinvestment in today's markets. Additional topics include the forthcoming Supreme Court ruling on tariff legality and their outlook for gold.Submit your question for a future episode to: mailbag@confluenceim.com.

In this episode, Confluence reviews the Asset Allocation rebalance for the fourth quarter of 2025, featuring a brief economic analysis and insights on asset class and security selection for the firm's Asset Allocation portfolios. Joining the podcast to recap the rationale for this quarter's changes is Kaisa Stucke, analyst and chair of the Asset Allocation Committee's quarterly investment meetings.

Earnest ‘EJ' Christian discusses the possibility of playing music again, the NY Giants 2025 season at the half, his early NFL Week 9 Observations, and the Los Angeles Dodgers winning back to back World Series titles.

Sometimes, it is downright amazing how various events just seem to "come together." Whether it is an accident, or by design, is another issue, however. Still, this coming weekend is a prime example; we're there. First the 'high Satanic holy day' dedicated to pagan sacrifice, and those who are duped into letting children participate. But that is followed up immediately by the "EBT riots" so carefully engineered by the Far Left, who may talk about "the poor" but are more than anxious to hang them out to dry die. And they are just plain jonesin' for the riots that have been so carefully orchestrated. And, ironically, even the idiocy of "Daylight Savings Time" goes off this weekend, and it amounts to an extra Bonus Riot Hour on Sunday evening, and every night thereafter, so that it will be dark just that much earlier. "CONFLUENCE..."

This week on Truth to Power, we bring you a vital community conversation with Louisville's U.S. Representative, Morgan McGarvey (D-KY-03) about The Ohio River Restoration Program Act. Representative McGarvey is one of the co-chairs of the Ohio River Basin Congressional Caucus and is dedicated to Ohio River Basin Restoration through bi-partisan collaboration. In this session, Rep. McGarvey discussed the Ohio River Restoration Program Act with Michael Washburn, Executive Director of the Kentucky Waterways alliance. They discuss shared goals and challenges, and the next steps for this process, before opening the floor for Q&A. This conversation took place on October 18, 2025 at the Ohio River Confluence (https://www.ohioriverway.org/2025-ohio-river-basin-confluence). For the first time, the Ohio River Basin Alliance, Kentucky Waterways Alliance, and the Ohio River Way held a special joint summit in place of their individual annual conferences. This event was co-hosted by the University of Louisville Christina Lee Brown Envirome Institute, and Thomas More University. The Ohio River Basin Confluence Summit took place October 16-18, 2025, at the Kentucky International Convention Center in Louisville. The Summit brought together advocates, professionals, and water leaders of all kinds to learn, plan, and build a diverse identity across our important river basin. On Truth to Power each week, we gather people from around the community to discuss the state of the world, the nation, the state, and the city! It's a community conversation like you won't hear anywhere else! Truth to Power airs every Friday at 9pm, Saturday at 11am, and Sunday at 4pm on Louisville's grassroots, community radio station, Forward Radio 106.5fm WFMP and live streams at https://forwardradio.org

In this profound episode of the Reformed Brotherhood, Tony Arsenal and Jesse Schwamb delve deeply into the Parable of the Tares (Matthew 13:24-30), exploring its implications for Christian assurance. Building on their previous discussion, they examine how this parable speaks to the mixed nature of the visible church, the sovereignty of Christ over His kingdom, and most significantly, the doctrine of assurance. Through careful theological reflection, the hosts unpack how true believers can find solid ground for assurance not in their own works or fruit-checking, but in the promises of Christ and the testimony of the Holy Spirit. This episode offers both encouragement for those struggling with doubts and a sobering challenge to those resting in false assurance. Key Takeaways The Parable of the Tares teaches that the visible church will be mixed until the final judgment, containing both true believers (wheat) and false professors (tares) who may appear outwardly similar. True assurance is not based primarily on good works but on the promises of Christ, the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit, and the evidences of grace in our lives. False assurance is a real danger, as many who think they belong to Christ will discover at the final judgment that they never truly knew Him. The Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 18) provides a helpful framework for understanding biblical assurance as the proper possession of every Christian. Christ's role as the divine Master of the house (the world) and Lord of the angels is subtly yet powerfully affirmed in this parable, grounding our assurance in His sovereignty. Good works are the fruit of assurance, not its cause—when we are secure in our salvation, we are freed to serve Christ joyfully rather than anxiously trying to earn assurance. The final judgment will bring perfect clarity, revealing what was hidden and separating the wheat from the tares with divine precision that humans cannot achieve now. The Doctrine of Assurance: Reformed Understanding The Reformed tradition has always emphasized that believers can and should have assurance of their salvation—a conviction recovered during the Reformation in contrast to Rome's teaching. As Tony noted when reading from the Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 18), this assurance is "not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope, but an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation." This assurance rests on three pillars: the promises of God in Scripture, the inward evidence of grace, and the testimony of the Holy Spirit witnessing with our spirit. What makes this understanding particularly comforting is that it shifts the foundation of assurance away from our performance to God's faithfulness. While self-examination has its place, the Reformed understanding recognizes that looking too intensely at our own hearts and works can lead either to despair or to false confidence. Instead, we're directed to look primarily to Christ and His finished work, finding in Him the anchor for our souls. The Problem of False Assurance One of the most sobering aspects of the Parable of the Tares is its implicit warning about false assurance. Just as the tares resemble wheat until maturity reveals their true nature, many professing Christians may outwardly appear to belong to Christ while inwardly remaining unregenerate. As Jesse observed, "The tares typically live under false assurance. They may attend church, confess belief, appear righteous, yet their hearts are unregenerate. Their faith is maybe historical, it's not saving, it could be intellectual, but it's not spiritual." This echoes Jesus' warning in Matthew 7 that many will say to Him, "Lord, Lord," but will hear the devastating response, "I never knew you." The parable teaches us that this self-deception is not always conscious hypocrisy but often the result of spiritual blindness. As Jesse noted, referencing Romans 1, Ephesians 4, and 1 Corinthians 2, the unregenerate are "not merely ignorant, they're blinded... to the spiritual truth by nature and by Satan." This understanding should prompt humble self-examination while simultaneously driving us to depend not on our own discernment but on Christ's perfect knowledge and saving work. Memorable Quotes "Assurance is the believer's arc where he sits Noah alike quiets and still in the midst of all distractions and destructions, commotions and confusions." - Thomas Brooks, quoted by Jesse Schwamb "When we are confessing, repenting, seeking like our status in Christ because of Christ, then we have confidence that we are in fact part of the children of God. When everything is stripped away from us and all we're crying out is only and completely and solely and unequivocally Jesus Christ, then I think we have great reason to understand that we should be confident in our assurance." - Jesse Schwamb "The sacrifice and the service that a husband performs for his wife, whom he loves and trusts and is committed to and knows that she's faithful and committed to him, that is not causing that faithfulness. It's not causing that trust and that love. It is the outcome and the outflow of it." - Tony Arsenal on how good works flow from assurance rather than cause it Resources Mentioned Scripture: Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 7:21-23, Romans 1, Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 2, 2 Timothy 3:5 Westminster Confession of Faith: Chapter 18 "Of Assurance of Grace and Salvation" Thomas Brooks: "Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices" YouTube Channel: My Wild Backyard Khan Academy: Educational resource recommended during "Affirmations and Denials" segment Full Transcript Jesse Schwamb: Welcome to episode 466 of the Reform the Brotherhood. I'm Jesse. Tony Arsenal: And I'm Tony. And this is the podcast with ears to hear. Hey brother. Jesse Schwamb: Hey brother. We're going back to the farm again. Can't stop. Won't stop. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. I'm stoked. [00:01:02] Discussion on the Parable of the Tears Tony Arsenal: The last week's discussion was interesting and I think, um, it's gonna be nice to sort of round it out and talk about some things you might not think about, uh, when you first read this parable. So I'm, I'm pretty excited. Jesse Schwamb: Oh, what a tease that is. So if you're wondering what Tony's talking about, we're hanging out. In Matthew 13, we are just really enjoying these teachings of Jesus. And they are shocking and they're challenging, and they're encouraging, and they're awesome, of course. And so we're gonna be finishing out the Parable of the Tears and you need to go back and listen to the previous conversation. This, this is all set up because we have some unfinished business. We didn't talk about the eschatological implications. We have this really big this, this matza ball hanging over us. So to speak, which was the, do the TAs in this parable even know that they are tarry, that they are the TAs? And so in this parable, the disciples learn that the kingdom itself, God's kingdom, the kingdom that Jesus is enumerating and explaining and bringing into being, they are learning that it's gonna be mixed in character. So that's correcting this expectation that the kingdom would be perfectly pure and would have, would evolve righteous rule over all of the unrighteous world. And so it's a little bit shocking that Jesus says, listen, they're gonna be. Tears within the wheats that is in the world, the seed that God himself, the sun has planted and that they're gonna exist side by side for a long time. And so we, they have to wait patiently and give ourselves to building up the wheats as the sons of the kingdom and be careful in their judgment, not to harm those who are believers. We covered a lot of that last week, but left so much unsaid we couldn't even fit it in. This is gonna be jam packed, so I'm gonna stop giving the tees instead start moving us into affirmations and denials. [00:02:45] Affirmations and Denials Jesse Schwamb: It's of course that time in our conversation where we either affirm with something really like or we think is undervalued or we deny against something that we don't really like or is a little overvalued. So as I usually say to you, Tony, what have you got for us? [00:03:00] YouTube Channel Recommendation: My Wild Backyard Tony Arsenal: I am affirming a YouTube channel. Um, I, I think the algorithm goes through these cycles where it wants me to learn about bugs and things because I get Okay, like videos about bugs. And so I'm, I'm interested. There's been this, uh, channel that's been coming up on my algorithm lately called My Wild Backyard, and it, it's a guy, he's like an entomologist. He seems like a, a like a legit academic, but what he does is he basically goes through and he talks about different bugs, creepy crawlies, looks at like snakes, all that kinds of stuff. It seems like his wheelhouse is the stuff that can kill you or hurt you pretty bad. Nice. But, um, it's interesting and it's. It's good educational content. It's, you know, it's not sensationalized, it's not, uh, it's not dramatized. Um, it's very real. There's occasionally an instance where he, he's not, sometimes he will intentionally get bit or stung by an, uh, by an animal to show you what it does. So he can experience and explain what he's experiencing. And sometimes he just accidentally gets bit or stung. And so those are some of the most interesting ones. So like, for example, just looking at his, his channel, his most recent, um, his most recent video is called The most venomous Desert Creatures in the US ranked the one previous was. The world's most terrifying arachni isn't a spider. And then previous to that was what happens if a giant centipede bites you? So it's interesting stuff. If you are one of those people that likes bugs and likes creepy crawlies and things, um, this is definitely the channel for you if you're not one of those people. I actually think this probably is the channel for you too. 'cause it kind of demystifies a lot of this stuff. Um. You know, for example, he, he will commonly point out that, um, spiders don't wanna bite you and they just wanna leave you alone. And, and as long as you leave them alone, even, even something like a black widow, which people are terrified of, and I think, right, rightfully so. I mean, they can be scary. Those can be scary bites. He'll, he'll handle those, no problem. And as long as he's not like putting downward pressure on them, uh, they have no interest in biting, they really just want to get away. So even seeing that kind of stuff, I think can help demystify and, and sort of, uh, make it a little bit easier. So my Wild Backyard, he can find it on YouTube. Um, he's safe for kids. He's not, he's not cussing even. I mean, I think occasionally when he gets bit on accident, you might, you know, you might have a beep here or there, but, um, he's not, he's not regularly swearing or things like that. And he does a pretty good job of adding that stuff out. Jesse Schwamb: What a great title for that, isn't it? This, yeah. Confluence of your backyard. That space that seems domesticated is also stealing its own. Right. Wild. And there's a be Yeah. Both those things coming together. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. It, it's interesting stuff and it's really good. I mean, it's really compelling videography. He does a good job of taking good photos. You'll see insects that you usually won't see, or spiders you usually won't see. Um, so yeah, it's cool. Check it out. [00:05:51] Discussion on Spiders and Creepy Crawlies Jesse Schwamb: What are you, uh, yeah, I myself would like to become more comfortable with the arachni variety. If only be, I mean, I don't know. It's, it's a weird creature, so my instinct is to be like, kill them all. And then if I can't find them and I know they're around, then we just burn everything that we own. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Jesse Schwamb: They just can't sink into the ground fast enough. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. There's something about the way they move, like their, their bodies don't move the way you would anticipate them to. Right. And it freaks, it just weirds out human sensibilities, so. Right. Jesse Schwamb: They're also like, I find them to be very surprising. Often. It's not kind of a, a very like, kind of measured welcome into your life. It's like you just go to get in the shower and there's a giant spider. Yeah. Oh yeah. Although I guess that spider, he's, he or she's probably like, whoa, where'd you come from? You know, like, yeah. He's like, I was just taking a Tony Arsenal: shower. You know what's interesting? Um, I saw another video was on a different channel, um, like common jumping spiders. Yeah. Which there are like hundreds of species of common jumping spiders. Jesse Schwamb: True. Tony Arsenal: Um, but spiders and jumping spiders specifically, actually you can form almost like a pet bond with, so like the, that jumping spider that like lives in your house and sees you every day. He, he probably knows who you are and is like, comfortable with you. And they've done studies that like you can actually domesticate jumping spiders, so they're not as foreign and alien as you might think. Although they certainly do look a little bit strange and weird. And the way their bodies move is almost designed to weird out people like it just the skinness, like the way their legs skitter and move it, it just is, it's, it triggers something very primal in us to That's wild. Be weirded out by it. Yeah. Jesse Schwamb: It's wild. I love it. That's a good, a affirmation. I'm definitely gonna check that out. I, any, anything? I really want to know what the, what like the terrifying arachni is. That's not a spider. Tony Arsenal: It's a, well, it's called a camel spider, but it's not really a spider. Oh, Jesse Schwamb: I know what you're talking about. That is kind of terrifying. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. They, they actually don't have any venom. Um, yeah. Check out the video. I mean, it, it was a good video. Um, but yeah, they're freaky looking and, um, but even that, like he was handling it No problem. Yeah. Like it wasn't, it wasn't aggressive with him once Wow. Once it figured out it wasn't, he wasn't trying to hurt him and, and that it couldn't eat him. Um, it, it just sort of like hung out until he let it go. So Jesse Schwamb: yeah, just be careful if you watch it one before bed or while in bed. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Probably not right before bed. Yeah. You'll, you'll get the creepy crawlies all night. Jesse Schwamb: I love it. But there's something somewhat. Like invigorating about that isn't there? Like it's, it's kind of a natural, just like kind of holy respect for the world that God has created, that they're these features that are so different, so wild, so interesting and a little bit frightening, but in the sense that we just draw off from them because they're so different than what we are. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Jesse Schwamb: And you know, again, there's places you would be happy to see them, but maybe your bathtub or like shooting out, like, you know, like where you live, the jumping spiders are legit and they will just pop out on you, you know? Yeah. You're just doing your own thing and then all of a sudden they're popping out. I think part of that is just that what, what gets me is like them just, you know, like I remember in my basement here, once one popped out from a rafter and then I was holding, happened to be holding up broom. My instinct just naturally was to hit it. I hit it with the broom and it went across the room and fell on an empty box and sounded like a silver dollar had hit the box. Like it was just a massive, I mean, again, like, it's like fish stories, like it's a massive spider. It was a big spider. Yeah. But you just don't expect to, to see that kind of thing. Or maybe, maybe I should, but anything that moves in that way, and again, like centipedes, man, forget it. We have those too, like in our basement. Like the long ones. Oh yeah. Yeah. That thing will come like squiggling down the wall at you, like eye level and you just wanna run up the stairs screaming like a little girl. Tony Arsenal: Yeah, you do run up the stairs screaming like a little girl. It's not that you want to, it's that usually you do. I don't mean like you specifically, although probably you specifically. Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. There's, yeah, you just react. Well, j Jesse enough freaking out. I mean, we're getting close to Halloween, so I suppose it's appropriate, but, uh, enough of that. What are you affirming or denying today? Jesse Schwamb: Once again, without like any coordination, mine is not unlike yours. I know you and I, we talk about the world in which we live, which God has created, and this lovely command, this ammunition to take dominion over that. And one of the things I appreciate about our conversations is I think you and I often have maybe not like a novel. Kinda perspective on that, but one that I don't hear talked about often and that is this idea of taking dominion over what it is possible to know and to appropriate, and then to apply onto wisdom. [00:10:27] Affirmation: Khan Academy Jesse Schwamb: And so my information is in that realm. It's another form of taking ownership of what's in the wild of knowledge that you can possess. And again, equal parts. What an amazing time to be alive. So I'm affirming with the website, Khan Academy, which I'm sure many are familiar with. And this website offers like. Thousands of hours. Uh, and materials of free instructional videos, practice exercises, quizzes, all these like really bespoke, personalized learning modules you can create for topics like math, science, computing, economics, history, art. I think it goes like even starting at like. Elementary age all the way up into like early college can help you study for things like the SAT, the LSAT AP courses, and I was revisiting it. I have an open account with them that I keep in love and I go back to it from time to time. And I was working on some stuff where I wanted to rehearse some knowledge in like the calculus space, do some things by hand, which I haven't done. And I was just like, I'm blown away at how good this stuff is. And it's all for free. I mean, you should donate if you. You get something from this because it's a nonprofit, but the fact that there are these amazing instructional videos out there that can help us get a better understanding of either things we already know and we can rehearse the knowledge or to learn something brand new essentially for free. But somebody's done all the hard work to curate a pedagogy for you. Honestly, this is incredible. So if you haven't looked at that website in a long time or maybe ever, and you might be thinking, what, what do I really wanna learn? Lemme tell you. There's a lot of interesting stuff there and it's so approachable and it's such a good website for teaching. And if you have children in particular, even if you're looking for help, either helping them with their own coursework or maybe to have like kind of a tutor on the side, this is so good. So I can't say enough good things recently about Khan Academy 'cause it's been so helpful to me and super fun to like just sit and have your own paced study and in the private and comfort of your own home or your desk at work or wherever it is that you need to learn it. To be able to have somebody teach you some things, to do a little practice exercises, and then to go on to the world and to apply the things you've learned. Ah, it's so good. Tony Arsenal: Nice. Yeah, I've, I've never done anything with Khan Academy. I'll have to check it out. There's, um, there's some skills of needing to brush up on, uh, at work that I am probably not gonna be able to find in my normal channels, so I'll have to see if there is anything going on there. Um, but yeah, that's, that's good stuff. And it's free. Love freestyle. It's, and of course, like Jesse Schwamb: things like this are legion. So whatever it is, whatever your discipline or your field of study or work is, there's probably something out there and, uh, might, I humbly maybe encourage you to, if you use something like that and it's funded by donations, it's worth giving, I think, because again, it's just an amazing opportunity to take dominion over the knowledge that God has placed into the world and then to use it for something. I mean, I suppose even if all it is is you just wanna learn more about, like for me, I, I find like the subjects of, of math and science, like just endlessly fascinating and like the computing section I was looking at, I, I don't know much about like programming per se, but there is such a beauty. Like these underlying principles, like the, the organization of the world and the first level principles of like physics for instance, are just like baffling in the most glorious kind of way. How they all come together. So having somebody like teach you at a very like simplistic level, but allow you to grasp those concepts makes you just appreciate it leads me to doxology a lot when I see these things. So in a weird way, it ends up becoming maybe not a weird way and the right way. It becomes worship as often as I'm sitting at my desk and working through like a practice problem on like, you know, partial differential equation or, or derivatives is what I was working on today. And ah, it's just so good. I don't know, maybe I'm the only one. I, it's not be super nerdy, but you, are you ever like at your desk studying something? And it might not be like theological per se, but you just have a moment where you're overcome with some kind of worship. Do you know what I'm talking about? Tony Arsenal: Yeah, I, um, this we're the nerdiest people on the planet, but let's Jesse Schwamb: do it. Um, Tony Arsenal: when I find a really fun, interesting. Uh, Excel formula and I can get it to work right. Uh, and it, and then it just like everything unlocks. Like, I feel like I've unlocked all the knowledge in the universe. Um, but yeah, I hear you like the, the Excel thing is, is interesting to me because, like, math is just the description. Like it's just the fabric of reality is just the way we describe reality. But the fact that we can do basically just take math and do all these amazing things with it, uh, in a spreadsheet is really, uh, drives me to praise. Like I said, that's super nerdy, but it is. Oh, you're speaking my language. Jesse Schwamb: I, we have never understood each other better than just this moment right now. We, we had some real talk and, uh, a real moment. Tony Arsenal: Yes. Welcome to the Reformed math cast. Jesse Schwamb: We're so glad that you're here. Tony Arsenal: Yes. We're not gonna do any one plus one plus one equals one kinds of heretical math in, up in here. Jesse Schwamb: No. Tony Arsenal: Well, Jesse, I have a feeling that, excuse me. Wow. Jesse Schwamb: We don't edit anything out. Listen, I'm choked up too. It's it, listen, love ones just so emotional. The moment Tony and I are having it. We're gonna try our best right now to pivot to go into this text, but it's, it's tough because we were just really having something, something special. You got, you got to see there. But thank you for trying to Tony Arsenal: cover for me for that big cough. Jesse Schwamb: This is like presuppositional editing. You know, we don't actually do anything in post. It's not ex anti editing. It's, it's literally presuppositional. [00:15:52] Theological Discussion on Assurance Jesse Schwamb: But to that end, we are in Matthew 13. This is the main course. This is the reason why we're here. There's lots of reasons to worship, and one of them is to come before and admire and love our God who has given us his specific revelation and this incredible teaching of his son. And that's why we're hanging out in Matthew 13. So let me read, because we have just a couple of really sentences here, this really short parable and that way it'll catch us up and then we can just launch right back into we're, we're basically like, we're already in the rocket. Like we're in the stratosphere. We're, we're taking it all the way now. So this is Matthew chapter 13. Come hang out here. It's in the 24th verse. And this is what we find written for us. This is the word of the Lord. He put another parable before them saying. The Kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the weeds and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also, and the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds? He said to them, an enemy has done this. So the servant said to him, then, do you want us to go and gather them? But he said, no less than gathering the weeds, you root up the weed along with them. Let both grow until the harvest. And at harvest time, I will tell the reapers, gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but to gather the wheat into my barn. Tony Arsenal: That's good stuff. That's good stuff. Um, you know, we, we covered most of. I don't know, what do you wanna call it? The first order reading of the parable last week. Jesse Schwamb: Right. Tony Arsenal: On one level, the parable, uh, as Christ explains it, uh, a little bit down further in the chapter is extremely straightforward. It's almost out, it's almost an allegory. Each, each element of the parable has a, a, a figure that it's representing. And the main purpose of the story is that the world and specifically the church, um, is going to be a mixed body until the last days, until the end of time. And so there's, there's the Sons of God or the Sons of the Kingdom, uh, and then there's the sons of the evil one. And we talked a lot about how. These two figures in the parable, the, the, the weeds or the tears? Um, tears is a better word because it's a specific kind of, uh, specific kind of weed that looks very much like wheat at its immature stages. Right. And you can't actually discern the difference readily, uh, until the weed and the wheat has grown up next to each other. Um, and so, so part of the parable is that. The, the sons of the kingdom and the sons of the enemy, or the sons of the evil one, they don't look all that different in their early stages. And it's not until the sort of end culmination of their lives and the end culmination of things that they're able to be discerned and then therefore, um, the, the sons of the devil are, are reaped and they go off to their eternal judgment and the sons of the kingdom are, uh, are harvested and they go off to their eternal reward. What we wanted to talk about, and part of the reason that we split this into two episodes. Is that we sort of found ourselves spiraling or spiraling around a question about, uh, sort of about assurance, right? And false assurance, true assurance. And there is an eschatological element to this parable that I, I think we probably should at least touch on as we we go through it. Um, but I wanted to just read, um, it's been a little while since we've read the Westminster Confession on the show. So I wanted to read a little bit from the Westminster Confession. Um, this is from chapter 18, which is called of assurance of grace and salvation. This is sort of the answer to Jesse's question. Do the, do the tears know their tears or, or could they possibly think that their wheat? So this is, uh, section one of chapter eight. It says, although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presuppositions or presumptions of being in favor with God in the state of salvation. Which hope of their shall perish yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus and love him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him may in this life be certainly assured that they are in a state of grace and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed. And so we, in the reform tradition at least, which is where we find ourselves in the reform tradition, um, we would affirm that people can. Deceive themselves into believing that they're in proper relation with God. Jesse Schwamb: Right? Tony Arsenal: And so it's not the case that, uh, that the weeds always know they're weeds or think they're weeds. It's not even the case. And this was part of the parable. It's not even the case that the weeds can be easily distinguished even by themselves from, uh, from the weeds. So there is this call, uh, and this is a biblical call. There's a call to seek out assurance and to lay claim to it. That I think is, is worth talking about. But it's not as straightforward as simple proposition as like, yeah, I'm confident. Like it's not just like, right, it's not just mustering up confidence. There's more to it than that. So that's what I wanted to start with, with this parable is just maybe talking through that assurance. 'cause I, I would hate for us to go through this parable. And sort of leave people with maybe you're a weed and you don't know it. 'cause that's not right. That's not the biblical picture of assurance. Um, that's the, that's the Roman Catholic picture of assurance that like, yeah, there's no such thing as assurance and people might not realize, but assurance of salvation is actually one of the, one of the primary things that was recovered particularly by the Reformed in the Reformation. Um, and so I think we, we often sort of overlook it as maybe a secondary thing. Um, but it really is a significant doctrine, a significant feature of reformed theology. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. I'm glad you said that because it is a, is a clear reminder. It's a clearing call as the performers put forth that it is. Under like the purview of the Christian to be able to claim the assurance by the blood of Christ in the application of the Holy Spirit in a way that's like fully orbed and fully stopped. So you can contrast that with, and really what was coming outta Catholicism or Rome at the time. And I was just speaking with a dear brother this past week who. Grew up in the Catholic church and he was recounting how his entire religious experience, even his entire relationship, if we can call it that in a kind of colloquial sense with God, was built around this sense of deep-seated guilt and lack of true performance, such that like assurance always seemed like this really vague concept that was never really fully manifested in anything that he did. Even while the church was saying, if you do these things, if you perform this way, if you ensure that you're taking care of your immortal sins and that you're seeking confession for all the venial stuff as well, that somehow you'll be made right, or sufficiently right. But if not, don't worry about it. There's always purgatory, but there'd be some earning that you'd have to accomplish there. Everywhere along the way. He just felt beaten down. So contrasting that with what we have here. I don't believe, as you're saying, Tony, that's Jesus' intention here to somehow beat up the sheep. I, I think it is, to correct something of what's being said about the world in which we live, but it's at the same time to say that there are some that are the TAs is to say there are some that are the children of God, right? That there are some that are fully crisply, clearly identified and securely resting in that identity without any kind of nervous or anxious energy that it might fall out of that state with God that, that in fact their identity is secure. And as I've been thinking about this this week, I, I'm totally with you because I think part of this just falls, the warning here is there's a little bit of the adventures in Romans one here that's waiting for us, that I like what you said about this idea of, of self deception and maybe like a. Subpart to this question would be, are the, are the terrors always nefarious in their lack of understanding? So we might say there's some that are purposely disruptive, that the enemy himself is, is promulgating or trying to bring forward his destruction, his chaos by way of these tears. But are, are there even a subgroup or another group, uh, co-terminus group or, you know, one in the same hierarchy where there's just a lot of self deception? I, I think that's probably where I fall in terms of just trying to explain that. Yes, I think it was present here is a real quantity, a real identity where they're self-deceived. Imagining themselves to be part of God's people, yet lacking that true saving faith. And this just, I'm gonna go in a couple places where I think everybody would expect in the scriptures, if we go to like Ephesians four, they're darkened and they're understanding alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. And one Corinthians, when Paul writes, the natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God, and he's not able to understand them because they're spiritually discerned. And then the book that follows the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers. And of course then like everything in Romans one, so I bring all that up because E, even at the end, we're gonna get there, the Es, this eschatological reality when you know God is separating out the sheep and the goats. Still, we find this kind of same trope happening there. But the unregenerate, what I'm reading from this. Importantly is that the unregenerate, they're not merely ignorant, they're blinded, as we all were on point to the spiritual truth. Yeah. By nature and by Satan. That that is also his jam. He loves to blind, to lie, to kill, steal, and destroy. So thus, even if they're outwardly belonging to the church, they're outwardly belonging to the world. They're outwardly belonging to some kind of profession. They cannot perceive the reality of their lost condition apart from divine illumination. Who can, that might be stating the obvious, but I think that's like what we're getting after here. I I, I don't know if there's like any kind of like conspiracy here. It's simply that that is the natural state of affairs. So why wouldn't we expect that to be reflected again in the world and that side by side, we're gonna find that shoulder to shoulder. We are, there are the children of God, and there are those that remain blind and ignorant to the truth. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And, and you know, it, again, I, I, um, I don't know why I'm surprised. Uh, I certainly shouldn't be surprised. Um. But Matthew is like a masterful storyteller Yeah. Here, right. He's a masterful, um, editor and narrator. Um, and he's, he's put together here, of course, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Um, and, and there's some good reason to think in the text we're not gonna get too, in the nitty gritty here, there's some good reason to think in the text that Christ actually delivered these parables as a set as well. So it's not just, it's not just Matthew coating these, although it could be. Um, but it, it seems like these were all delivered probably as like a common set of parables. And the reason I say that is because when we start to look at this parable and the one we previously went through, the parable of the soils, um, or the parable of the sower. Um, what we see is the answer to your question of why do some people, you know, why are some people deceived? Well, yes, there is secondary causation. The devil deceives them. They blind themselves. They, you know, suppress the, the, the truth and right unrighteousness. But on a, on a primary causation level, um, God is the one who is identi, is, is identifying who will be the sons of the, you know, devil and the sons of the kingdom. Mm-hmm. This is another, and yet another example of election is that the, the good sower sowed good seed, and the good seed was the elect and the enemy. Although in God's sovereignty, God is the one who determines this. The enemy is the one who sows the reprobate. Right? So all, all men. Star, and this is, I, I guess I didn't really intend to go here, but this is good evidence in my mind for, um, infra laps, Arianism versus super laps. Arianism, right infra laps, arianism or sub lapse. Arianism would say that God decrees, uh, to permit the fall and then he decrees to redeem some out of the fall, right? Logically speaking, not temporally speaking. Super laps. Arianism, which is the minority. It's the smaller portion of, of the historic tradition, although modern times, I think it's a little bit louder and a little bit more vocal, but super relapses. Arianism would argue that God, um, decrees. Sort of the, the decree of election and reprobation is logically prior to the decree of the fall. And so in, in that former or in the super laps area model, the fall becomes a means by which the reprobate are justly condemned. Not, um, not the cause of their condemnation, but a way to sort of justify the fact that they will be separated from God, right? Because of their reprobate. [00:28:36] Exploring the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares Tony Arsenal: I know that there's, there's probably some super lab streams that would nuance that differently and some that are probably just screaming straw man, uh, in a coffee shop somewhere and, and people are thinking you're crazy. Um, but by and large, that's actually a rel, a relatively accepted, um, explanation of it. There are certainly potential problems with, uh, sub, sub lapse agonism as well. But in this, in this parable, what we see is the people who are, um, who are elect, are sowed into the field and the people who are reprobate are also sowed into the field. And so God saves the people who are sewed into the field that are, they elect, he saves them out of this now mixed world by waiting and allowing them to grow up next to the reprobate, um, in sort of this mixed world setting. And then he redeems them out of that. Um, and, and, and so we have to sort of remember. Although it is a pretty strict, sort of allegorical type of parable, it's still a parable. So we shouldn't, we shouldn't always draw like direct one-to-one comparisons here. It's making a theological point, but, um, but it's important for us to re remember that, that it is ultimately, it is God who determines who is the elected and who is not. But it's, it's our sin. It's the devil deceiving us. It's the secondary causes that are responsible for the sons of the devil, right? It, the, the men come to the, to the sower and say, who is done this? He says it was an enemy. Jesse Schwamb: Right? Right. Tony Arsenal: He doesn't say like, well, actually I put the seed there and so, you know, I'm, I, it's not an equal distribution. He's not sowing good seed and bad seed. He sows the good seed and the devil sows the bad seed. [00:30:24] Theological Implications and Assurance Tony Arsenal: Um, and, and that's a, I think that's an important theological point to make. And as far as assurance goes. We, we can't depend on our ability to perceive or sort of like discern election in a raw sense, right? We have to observe certain kinds of realities around us. Um, and, and primarily we have to depend on the mercy and, and saving faith that God gives us. That's right. Um, you know, our, our assurance of faith does not primarily come from fruit checking. Um, we have to do that. It's important, we're commanded to do it, and it serves as an important secondary evidence. But a, a, a person who wants to find assurance. Of salvation should first and foremost look to the promises of Christ and then depend on them. Um, and, and so that's, I think all of that's kind of wrapped up into this parable. It's, it's, it's amazing to me that we're only like two parables in, and we're already, you know, we're already talking about super lapse arianism and sub lapse arianism, and it's, it's amazing. I, I love this. I'm loving this series so far, and we're barely scratching the surface. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, it's all there. I think you're right to call that out. It strikes me, like, as you were speaking, it really just hit me higher that I think you're right. Really the foundation on this, like the hidden foundation is assurance and it's that assurance which splits the groups, or at least divides them, or it gives us, again, like the distinct, kind, discrete compartments or components of each of them. So. Again, I think it's help saying, 'cause we wanna be encouraging. That's, that's our whole point here is when the Apostle Peter says, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing of you. That herein we have the scripture saying to us, time and time again, be sure of what God has done in your life. Be confident in that very thing. And so if assurance is, as we're saying, that's the argument hypothesis we're making. That's the critical thing here. [00:32:11] False Assurance and True Faith Jesse Schwamb: Then the division between the children of God and the children of the devil is false versus true assurance. So the tears, I think what we're saying here, basically they typically live under false asserts. They may attend church, confess, belief, appear righteous, yet their hearts are unregenerate. Their faith is maybe historical. It's not saving, it could be intellectual, but it's not spiritual. And of course, like just a few chapters before this, we hope those famous verses where Jesus himself drops the bomb and says, listen, many of you, he's talking to the people, the, the disciples around him, the crowds that we're gathering and thronging all about. He says, many of you're gonna say to me, Lord, Lord, do we not prophesy your name? Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Jesse Schwamb: And then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me. These are not people who knew they were false, they thought they belonged to Christ. Their shock on judgment day is gonna reveal this profound self-deception. And that self-deception is wrapped up in a false type of assurance, a false righteousness. So I think one of the things that we can really come to terms with and grab a hold of is the fact that when we are. Confessing, repenting seeking like our status in Christ because of Christ. Then we have confidence that we are in fact part of the children of God. When everything is stripped away from us and all we're crying out is only and completely and solely and unequivocally, Jesus Christ, then I think we have great reason to understand that we should be confident in our assurance. [00:33:38] Historical Perspectives on Assurance Jesse Schwamb: You know, I was reading this week from Thomas Brooks and did incidentally come across this, a quote, an assurance and reminded me of this passage, and here's what he writes. You know, of course he's writing in like 16 hundreds, like mid 16 hundreds. It's wild, of course, but we shouldn't be surprised that what you're about to hear sounds like it could have been written today for us. In this conversation, but, uh, he writes, assurance is the believer's arc where he sits Noah alike quiets and still in the midst of all distractions and destructions, commotions and confusions. However, most Christians live between fears and hopes and hang, as it were, between heaven and hell. Sometimes they hope that their state is good. At other times they fear that their state is bad. Now they hope that all is well and that it shall go well. Well with them forever. Then they fear that they shall perish by the hand of such corruption or by the prevalency of such and such temptation. They're like a ship and a storm tossed here and there, and. I think that he's right about that. And I think the challenge there is to get away from that. I love where it starts, where he says, what wonderful turn of phrase assurance is the believer's arc or Noah, like, you know, we're sitting and the commotion, the destructions, the commotion, the confusions of all the world. That's why to get this right, to be encouraged by this passage, to be challenged by it is so critical because we're all looking for that arc. We all want to know that God has in fact arrested us so completely that no matter what befalls us, that everything, as we talked about before, all of our, all of the world, in fact is subservient to our salvation. But that's a real thing that cannot be snatched away from us because God has ordained it and intended it, built it, created it, and brought it to pass. And so I think that's all like in this passage, it's all the thing that's being called us to. So. I, I don't want us to get like too hung up. It's a good question, I think to ask and answer like we were trying to talk about here, but you're right. If we focus too much just on the like, let's gaff for these tears. Who are they? Like let's people's, like Readers Digest in People's magazine these tears. Like who are they? Do we have a list of them? Who do we think they are? How could it be me? Is it really me? Am I, am I anxious about that? Really what we should be saying is following what Peter calls us to do that is to be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and his choosing. So even there like our emphasis and focus, isn't it like you're saying Tony about like, let me do some fruit inventory. I got like a lot of good bananas. I got a lot of ripe pears. Like, look at the tree. This, this is good. Even there, the emphasis is to turn our eyes on Jesus, as it were, and to make certain about his work, his calling and his choosing of us. And I think when we do that, we're falling down in worship and in yielding and submission to him, rightfully acknowledging that the righteousness of Christ is the one that is always in every way alien to us and imputed. And that is what makes us sons and daughters of God, that good seed sown by Jesus himself. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. I just wanna read, I wanna um, round out a few more paragraphs here out of the Westminster confession because I do think, you know, when we even talk about assurance, we're not even always all saying the exact same thing. And I think that's important because when we talk about assurance of faith, we need to be understanding that this is the rightful, not only the rightful possession of all Christians, but it's the rightful responsibility of all Christians to seek it. So here's, here's section two of that same chapter. It says, this certainty referring to assurance. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a, a fallible hope, but an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation, the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made, the testimony of the spirit of adoption, witnessing with our hearts that we are the children of God, which spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption. So. One of the, the things that I think is, is important here is people read this and say the inward evidences of those graces unto which these promises are made. They read that and they think that it's referring to like good work and like spiritual renewal, but it's, it's not, it's the inward evidence of those graces unto which of the promises are made. So it's this inner, inner renewal. It's the spirit testifying to our spirit. And then, um, chapter, uh, section three here, it says. This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long and conflict with many difficulties before he be partaker of it, yet being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given of God. He may without extraordinary revelation there, right there is response to Roman Catholicism in the right use of ordinary means at attain there unto. And therefore, it is the duty of everyone to give all diligence, to make his calling and election. Sure. And thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and in joy in the Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience. The proper fruits of this assurance so far is it from inclining men to looseness? Right. [00:38:53] The Role of Good Works in Assurance Tony Arsenal: So we often hear and and I, I think there are good, um, there are good reformed Christians that put. The emphasis of assurance on, or they, they put an overemphasis, in my opinion, on how good works function within our assurance. Right. They, they often will ask us to look to our good fruit as sort of, not the grounding, but as a strong evidence. But at least in terms of the confession here, the cheerfulness in the duties of obedience is the fruit of assurance. Jesse Schwamb: That's right. Not Tony Arsenal: the cause or grounding of assurance. So rather than, this is what this last line says. It says so far, is it from inclining? Mental looseness assurance should drive us to obedience and fruitfulness in Christ. And so yes, it is in a certain sense an evidence because if that fruitfulness and obedience is absent from our lives, there's a good reason for us to question whether this infallible assurance is present in our lives. But the assurance is what drives us to this obedience. Um. You know, like, I think you could use the analogy of like a married couple. A married couple who is very secure in their relationship and in their, uh, love for one another and their faithfulness to each other is more likely to cheerfully serve and submit to each other and to respect each other and to sacrifice for each other than a couple that's maybe not so sure that the other person has their best interest in mind. That's or maybe isn't so sure that this thing is gonna work out. I think that's the same thing, like the sacrifice and the service that a husband, uh, performs for his wife, whom he loves and trusts and is committed to and knows that she's faithful and committed to him. That is not causing that faithfulness. It's not causing that trust and that love. It is the outcome and the outflow of it. It's good evidence that that love exists, but it's not caused by it. And assurance here is the same kind of dynamic assurance is not. We can't assure ourselves of our salvation by doing good works. No matter how many good works you do, there are lots and lots of people who are not saved and who will not be saved, who do perfectly good works in appearance. Right. They have the, the outward appearance of godliness, but lack its power. Right, right. Out of right outta Paul, writing to Timothy there. Yes. So that's, that's important for us as we continue to parse all this out, is yes, the fruit is present. Yes. The wheat is to, is discernible from the tears by its final, fruitful status. Right? It grows up to be grain, which is fruitful rather than weeds and tears, which are only good to be burned, but it is not the fruit that causes it to be wheat. It's wheat that causes the fruit to grow. If, if it wasn't wheat, it wouldn't grow fruit, not because the fruit makes it grain, but because it is in fact wheat to start with. Jesse Schwamb: Right. Yeah, that's right on. So I think like by summation we're kind of saying. At least the answer to this question. You know, do the tears know that they're tears? Yes and no. Some do, some don't. I think, yes, there are some that are gonna be consciously hypocritical, willfully rejecting Christ while pretending for worldly gain. I think that's, that's certainly plain to see. And at the same time, do the tears know the tears? Sometimes? No. There's self deceived under spiritual blindness and they have some kind of false assurance. And this idea of, again, coming in repentance before God and seeking humbly to submit to him is I think one of those signs of that kind of true assurance, not a false assurance. And you already stole where I was thinking of Tony by going to Second Timothy again. Thomas Brooks in precious remedies against Saint's device is one of like the best. Books ever. I know that he's really outspoken. He loves to harp on the fact that one of Satan's most effective snares is to make men and women content with a form of godliness without its power. Yeah. And that's often what we're talking about here, I think, is that Satan loves to fish in the shallow waters a profession. And really that can happen in any kind of church or religious culture, that there is this shallowness where that loves religious appearance, prayer, knowledge fellowship, but not the Christ behind them. And so whether we're looking to somebody like Brooks or Jonathan Edwards and we're trying to parse out what are our true affections, not in a way again, that somehow leans well, I feel enough, then somehow that justifies, not inwardly, but again, definitely trying to understand our conviction for conversion tears. For repentance that. Really what we're after is not like just the blessings of Christ, but Christ himself, which I think really leads us to this eschatological perspective then to round all everything out because you know, we talked about before, there's an old phrase, it's like everywhere. A lot of people talk in heaven. Not everybody's going there. And so this idea of like, people will talk about be so great to be there and it's sometimes this, the heaven that they speak of is like absent Christ, you know, as if like, if Christ wasn't there, at least in their perspective, it still wouldn't be half bad. And so I think that does lead us to understand what is this in gathering? What is this? You know, bringing everything into the barn and burning everything else up. And like you just said, if at the beginning you cannot tell the injurious weed aside from that beautiful kernel of wheat that's coming up, but if in the end you can see what's happening in the end, then that brings us all to consummation. What does it mean in this parable? Tony Arsenal: Yeah. [00:44:19] Eschatological Judgment and Assurance Tony Arsenal: And, and I think this actually sort of forces us to grapple a little bit with, with another sort of persnickety feature of this parable that, that I think, I think personally sometimes gets overlooked is we are very quick to talk about this parable to be about the church. And it is. Right. And, and there's reasons to talk like that. But when Christ explains the parable, he doesn't say the field is the church. He says the field is the world. Right. And so we have to, we have to, we have to do a little bit of, um. We have to do a little bit of hermeneutics to understand that this is also speaking of the church, right? It's not as though the church is some hermetically sealed off body that the dynamics of the world and the, the weed and the tears like that, that doesn't happen in the church. But when we talk about the end of the age here, he says the son of man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom. All causes of sin in all lawbreakers. Right? So, so the, the final eschatological judgment, it's all encompassing. And I dunno, maybe I'm, maybe I'm becoming a little bit post mill with this, um, the, the world is already the Kingdom of Christ. Right? Right. That's right. It, it's not, it's not just the church on earth that is the kingdom of Christ. And so when we talk about this eschatological reaping, um, what we see is, is very straightforward. There are those who are, uh, who belong to Christ, who were sown by him into the world, who were, uh, were tended by him, who were protected by him, who he intended to harvest from the very beginning, right? The good sower sows good seed into the field, and that good seed is and necessarily will be wheat. It's not as though, um, it's not as though, and again, this is one of those ways where like the parables sometimes, uh, are telling a little bit of a different story. Even though they're sharing some themes in the first parable, in the parable of the sower, he sows the same seed into the world. But the seed in that first parable is not the, is not the person receiving the seed. The seed is the one is the word of God. Yes. And so the word of God is sewn promiscuously, even to those who will be hard soil and who will be rocky soil and have thorns. The word of God is, is sewn to all of those people. Across the whole world in this parable. The seed that is the good seed that is sown is and always was going to be weed that was, or wheat, which was going to grow into fruitfulness and be gathered into the barn. Right? That was a foregone conclusion. The, the, when the sower decided to sow seed, all of that said he is the one who did that. He's the one that chose that. He's the one that will bring us to completion, right? And then also the ones that are not of his kingdom, the sons of the devil, they will also be reaped at the end. Actually we'll be reaped before the, you know, they'll be reaped and gathered and, and tossed into the furnace before the sons of the kingdom are gathered together. Jesse Schwamb: Right. Tony Arsenal: So it, again, this is a parable and even though this is Christ's explanation of the parable, I don't think that Christ was intending to give us like a strict timeline. Right. I don't think he was encouraging us to draw a chart and try to map out where this all happens in order. Um, I do think it's relevant that, that, at least in the explanation of this parable, I mentioned it last week, that, that the rap, the rapture is actually the wicked being raptured. They're the ones that are gathered and taken out of the world and cast into the fiery furnace before the, before the righteous are gathered together and, and brought into Christ Barn. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, there's a great unmasking that's happening here in this final stage. I mean, that's critically the point. I think there's a lot of stuff we could talk about open handedly and kind of hypothesize or theorize what it means. But what is plain, I think, is that there's this unmasking, this unveiling of the reality of the light of Christ's perfect judgment. But that judgment is for both parties Here it is coming and what was hidden beneath outward religion or more, a facade is gonna be revealed with eternal clarity. That's just the reality. It is coming. So in some ways it pairs. I think at least well in this, well purposely of course in this teaching because Jesus is saying, hold on, like we talked about last time. Do this is not for you to judge. You are ill-equipped. You are not skilled enough to discern this. And therefore though, you wanna go in hot and get spicy and try to throw out all the weeds. Wait for the right time. Wait for the one like you're saying, Tony has from all of eternity past intended for it to be this way. Super intending his will over all things in the casting of the seed. And as we say, Philippians, of course, finishing that good work, which was started, he will finish. It is God's two finish again. And so he says, listen, that day is coming. There's gonna be a great unmasking. Uh, get ready for it. And the scriptures bear witness to that in so many other ways. So. There's such a journey in these like handful of verses, isn't there? I mean, it's really wild. The things that not like we come up with or we read into the text, but as we sit in it a little bit, as we just spend even a cursory amount of time letting it pour over us, that we find there's like a conviction in a weight in these things that are beyond just the story and beyond just even like the illustrations themselves. What we find is, again, it's as if Jesus himself in his brilliance, of course, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is illuminating the mind in the spirit to open up our conception, understanding of the kingdom of God by bringing it to us through his perspective in our own terms, of course, which is both our language and like the context of the world in which we live, and that simple example of farming and seed. And again, even just that there are these interest weeds that look like wheat. I went on this like rabbit hole this week and did a lot of research on like tears and Yeah, like especially people in like the Midwest United States who like know a lot more about agriculture than I do have a lot to say about this. It's not just like we shouldn't be surprised like. Isn't it incredible that like there are actually weeds out there that look like, yeah, it's a brilliance of just knowing that this teaching is so finely tuned. Like we can even just talk about that. Like the world is finely tuned. This teaching is so finely tuned to these grant theological principles that we can at one point be children and appropriate them enough and assume them into our own intellectual capacity so that we can trust in them. And yet even as like adults with like, let's say like the greatest gift of intellectual capacity, still find that we cannot get to the bottom of them because they're so deep. They draw us into these really, really grand vistas or really like extremely deep cold theological waters. And I just find. That I am in awe then of what Jesus is saying here because there's a truth for us in assurance that we ought to clinging to. And there's also like stuff that we should come back to. We shouldn't just stop it here and put it out of our minds until the next time we, we want to just be stimulated by something that's interesting or that we want to just grab somebody and shake them cage style, cage two style and say like, look at this great thing that I just learned about this, this particular parable. But instead, there's so much here for us to meditate on. And in that, I think rather than the Christian finding fear in this parable, what they should find is great comfort. We should be Noah alike sitting in the ark saying, it is well with my soul. And our reason for that is because we know God has cast a seed through his son Jesus Christ. And to be a child, a child of God is the greatest thing in all the universe. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. And I, I think that, um, transitions nicely to, uh, I'll make this point quick because we're coming up on time here. Um. [00:52:04] Christ's Divinity and Sovereignty Tony Arsenal: The other little subtle thing that Christ does here in this parable is he, he absolutely asserts his divinity and sovereignty overall creation. Jesse Schwamb: That's right. Yep. Tony Arsenal: Right. It, it's almost like a throw. There's a couple little like lines that are almost throwaway lines, right in the, the first, the beginning of the parable here. Um, the parable itself, uh, he says, um, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed into a field. And then he says, um, the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, right? And then when he interprets the parable, he says, well, the, the servants are, the field is the world, right? So he's the master of the world, and the servants are the angels. So he's the master of the angels. And then if, if there was any doubt left in your mind. Says in verse 41, the son of man will send his angels. That's right. And they will gather out of his kingdom, which is the world, all the causes of sin and all lawbreakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. Right? So we have this, this robust picture that there is election. The the good sower sows good seed into the world, and the good seed will necessarily grow into wheat and will be preserved and protected and ultimately harvest Well, why can we have assurance that that will be the case? Well, because the master of the house is the son of man who is the Lord of the universe and the creator of all things. And his angels do his will. That's right. So, so the whole thing is all wrapped up. Why can we have assurance? Because God is a good God and Christ is a good savior, and the savior of the world is the creator of the universe, right? If any of those facts were not true. Then we couldn't have assurance. If God wasn't good, then maybe he's lying. If Christ wasn't the savior of the world or the God of the universe, the creator of the universe, then he wasn't worthy to be the one who saves. All of this is wrapped up in the parables, and this is what's so exciting about the parables. In most of the instances that we look up, especially of the sort of longer parables, these kinds of dynamics are there where it's not just a simple story making a simple point, it is making one primary point. Usually there's one primary point that a, that a parable is making. But in order to make that primary point, there's all these supporting points and supporting things that have to be the case. If the, if the good sower was not the master of the house and a, a competent, uh, a competent landowner who knew the difference between wheat and weeds, even at the early stage, right? His, his servants go and go, what happened? What's with all of these weeds? They can tell the difference somehow, Jesse Schwamb: right? Tony Arsenal: He's immediately able to go, well, this was an enemy. Jesse Schwamb: That's right. Tony Arsenal: And while they're bumbling around going, should we go rip it all up and start over? He is like, no, no, no, no. Just wait until, wait until it all grows up together. And when that happens, the Reapers will come and they'll take care of it and they'll do it in my direction, right? Because he's competent, he's the savior, he's the creator, he's the good master, he is the good sower. Um, we can be confi

OpenAI debuted the future of ChatGPT with Agents and Apps. How will that impact work?

Mike Cannon-Brookes is the Co-Founder and Co-CEO of Atlassian, the $50BN software giant behind products like Jira, Confluence, and Trello. Since founding the company in 2002, he has scaled it to over 300,000 customers globally, generating more than $5BN in annual revenue. Atlassian now employs over 10,000 people across 13 countries and is one of the most successful bootstrapped-to-IPO stories in tech history. Mike is also a leading climate investor and co-owner of several major sports teams. AGENDA:  00:00 Why Unreasonable Men Win in Startups 07:22 How to Make Co-CEOs Work  13:22 Are We in an AI Bubble? Is Everything Overvalued? 26:46 The Future of Software Development: More or Less Devs 32:53 Do Margins Matter in a World of AI 34:02 The Future of Vibe Coding… 36:35 Does Defensibility Exist in a World of AI 42:09 Is Per Seat Pricing Dead in a World of AI 49:01 The Founder Journey and Leadership 54:28 Quick Fire Round: Parenting Advice, Relationship to Money  

Santa Rosa Murders  //////  A Confluence of Killers  Part 4 of 4  www.TrueCrimeCrime.comThe Santa Rosa Hitchhiker Murders is a series of unsolved homicides of young women that took place in the early 1970s. Many of the victims were confirmed or believed to have been hitchhiking in or around the Santa Rosa, California area. High School girls and College students were not safe. Often times the women and girls were not found until several days later. Many discovered in rural areas. If you have any information regarding these cases please submit a tip at sheriff-coldcase@sonoma-county.org or please call the Sonoma County Sheriff's cold case unit at 1-707-565-2727  Beer of the Week - Juice Drop Hazy IPA by Breckenridge BreweryGarage Grade 4 and a half bottle caps out of 5  For everything Garage True Crime go to www.TrueCrimeGarage.com We have an insider show that can be found on Patreon and Apple subscriptions. The show is called "Off The Record.” Join us if you are NASTY! There you will get dozens of episodes of Off The Record plus a couple of Bonus episodes and our first 50 shows.  True Crime Garage merchandise is available on our website's store page.  Plus get True Crime Garage Pod art that you can post on your socials on our Media page.  Follow the show on X and Insta @TrueCrimeGarage / Follow Nic on X @TCGNIC / Follow The Captain on X @TCGCaptain  Thanks for listening and thanks for telling a friend.  Be good, be kind, and don't litter!  Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.