Podcasts about English

On Tuesday's Mark Levin Show, Chief Justice Roberts improperly relied on English common law as a basis for birthright citizenship, despite the framers using it only as a guide and rejecting elements that conflicted with the U.S. system. The 14th Amendment and the preceding Civil Rights Act of 1866 were narrowly intended to grant full citizenship rights to freed Black slaves and their children amid post-Civil War resistance—not to address immigration or confer citizenship on children of illegal aliens. The opinion wrongly equates "jurisdiction" with mere physical presence, leading to illogical results like automatic citizenship for babies of illegal immigrants (who retain foreign allegiance) while creating unaddressed exceptions for diplomats, revealing a result-oriented, activist approach that rewrites history. Roberts and his Majority twisted the history of the 14th amendment and just constitutionalized birthright citizenship, knowing full well that our nation, like Europe, is facing a grave threat from within as a result, in part, of the intentional refusal of our government, when the Democrats are in power, to enforce immigration laws and, oppositely, facilitating the importation of aliens from all over the world without proper vetting. Also, the constitutional amendment process is rarely used. It requires two-thirds approval in both houses of Congress to propose language, followed by ratification by three-fourths (38) of the states—neither of which is feasible for issues like changing birthright citizenship. The Supreme Court has constitutionalized elements not originally in the Constitution, making reversal through amendments impractical. Instead, the effective path is filling Court vacancies with constitutionalists, as achieved in overturning Roe, without resorting to court packing. Later, Hans von Spakovsky calls in and explains that Roberts' opinion was appalling and a complete rewrite of American history, particularly regarding the 14th Amendment. He notes that Justices Alito and Thomas eviscerated it in separate dissents, highlighting that Roberts' historical account was inaccurate. He criticized Roberts' selective and distorting use of sources like Thomas Paine and Frederick Douglass, pointing out Thomas's observation that Douglass viewed Black Americans as citizens due to their equal allegiance to the U.S., unlike illegal aliens who owe allegiance to their native countries. Finally, Thomas Jefferson and James Madison favored limited central government, while Alexander Hamilton preferred a powerful, activist federal government with implied powers. Modern nationalist populists share this Hamilton big-government outlook with the left, which lacks clear constitutional principles and risks abuse, in contrast to true constitutional conservatism. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

When the supernatural seeps into our world, it doesn't just leave behind fear—it can also leave sickness. From shadowy visitors to ominous dreams, some eerie paranormal encounters suggest that the price of witnessing the unknown may be paid in flesh and blood.EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources): https://weirddarkness.com/SupernaturalSicknessREAD or DOWNLOAD the full transcript of this episode: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/hp3ua63cFEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: When the supernatural intrudes into our lives, it's not just our minds that are affected. We'll delve into a few bizarre cases where individuals fell gravely ill after brushes with the paranormal. Is it coincidence? Or something more sinister? And could these illnesses be due to the paranormal literally draining us of life? (Supernaturally Sick, Paranormally Poisoned) *** Helen Duncan made a living from conducting séances—until her uncanny knowledge of classified World War II tragedies spooked British authorities. (Britain's Last Witch) *** Jeremy Bentham was a philosopher whose ideas about mortality and utility extended beyond death. Bentham's wish for his body to be preserved and displayed as an "auto-icon" – so it could be seen publicly by all. And while his wishes were granted, it came with a few hiccups along the way… mostly with his poor head. (The Strange Story of Mr. Bentham's Corpse) *** Annie Dorman was discovered lifeless with a gunshot wound, sending shockwaves through her tight-knit community. Suicide seemed improbable, leaving detectives baffled and family perplexed. Was it a crime of passion, an accident, murder… or truly suicide? In a similar case, just a few years later, in the serene countryside of Greenwich, New York, the lifeless form of Maggie Hourigan is found, floating in a tranquil pool, speculation runs rampant. Were these cases suicide, as hastily concluded, horrible accidents… or sinister murders? (The Mysterious Deaths of Annie Dorman and Maggie Hourigan) *** AND MORE!CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = The Foreboding00:02:11.442 = Show Open00:04:40.830 = Supernaturally Sick, Paranormally Poisoned00:21:39.741 = The Mysterious Deaths of Annie Dorman and Maggie Hourigan ***00:34:55.265 = Britain's Last Witch ***00:43:19.651 = The Strange Story of Mr. Bentham's Corpse00:54:21.727 = Eccentric Habits of History's Elite ***01:04:25.454 = Show Close*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad breakLISTEN ON PODCAST APPS: Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*SOURCES and RESOURCES:“Supernaturally Sick, Paranormally Poisoned” by Nick Redfern for Mysterious Universe:https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/6bu93dju“The Mysterious Deaths of Annie Dorman and Maggie Hourigan” by Robert Wilhelm for Murder By Gaslight:https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/meu37k4m; https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/4y9mn9a4“The Strange Story of Mr. Bentham's Corpse” by Melissa Sartore for Weird History: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/yt6uetju“Britain's Last Witch” by Parissa Djangi for National Geographic: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p8by87t“Eccentric Habits of History's Elite” by John Munoz for ListVerse: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/bdh2dw3x(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.Originally aired: April 17, 2024Weird Darkness gathers five accounts in this episode: people who fell gravely ill within days of a paranormal encounter, two unsolved deaths of young women in the late nineteenth century, a wartime medium jailed for witchcraft, a philosopher who arranged to have his own corpse put on permanent display, and the private oddities of history's most famous figures.It opens with the argument that anemia and anorexia-like wasting can follow a paranormal encounter within hours or days. The Franciscan monk Joseph McCabe, who died in 1955, catalogued dozens of people who developed anemia soon after nighttime visits he blamed on the Mesopotamian demons Lilu and Lilitu. Albert Bender, the Bridgeport, Connecticut man who launched the Men in Black mystery in the early 1950s, endured migraines, stomach pain, memory lapses, and sharp weight loss after three phantom figures ordered him to drop his UFO research, then recovered, married, and lived to 94. In 1982, a fourteen-year-old named Robbie watched a flat black shadow crawl across his bedroom ceiling in Beckenham, Kent, was hospitalized with meningitis, and months later collapsed from acute anemia. Jim Harpur opened his door to two black-eyed children outside Orlando, Florida in March 2008 and was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes three weeks afterward. In Nova Scotia, Michelle came down with severe ulcerative colitis two days after a vivid Slenderman dream in January 2017. The longest case belongs to Alison, a seventeen-year-old in Texas who shed roughly twenty pounds in six weeks in 1998 while a tall, pale Woman in Black appeared at her bedside each night, starting days after she and two friends used a Ouija board; sea salt and sage spread through the house ended the visits, and she recovered.From there, the episode turns to two deaths that juries could not explain. Maggie Hourigan, a 19-year-old servant in Greenwich, New York, was found floating face-down in a roadside pool on October 20, 1889; a first autopsy by Dr. S. Walter Scott ruled drowning and suicide, but a second team found a head wound inflicted before she entered the water, and Dr. Scott later sued the New York Sun for libel over its coverage and won a $6,000 settlement. Eight years later and a state away, 18-year-old Annie Dorman was found shot dead in her half-brother John Dorman's farmhouse near Cobb's Creek, Philadelphia, on September 1, 1897; the rusty pistol that killed her sat unused on a high shelf the five-foot-tall victim could not reach without standing on furniture that had not been moved, it had been fired five times, and the coroner ruled she was shot by a person unknown.Next comes Helen Duncan, the Scottish medium nicknamed Hellish Nell, who produced ectoplasm and channeled spirit guides named Peggy and Albert at séances across wartime Britain. In May 1941 she announced the loss of the H.M.S. Hood before the public knew, and that November she described the sinking of the H.M.S. Barham, which the government withheld until January 1942. Authorities arrested her at a Portsmouth sitting and tried her at London's Old Bailey beginning March 23, 1944 under the 1735 Witchcraft Act; a jury convicted her on April 3, and she became the last person imprisoned under that law, serving her sentence at Holloway Prison while Winston Churchill dismissed the case as obsolete tomfoolery.After that, the episode examines Jeremy Bentham, the English philosopher born in 1748 who asked that his body be dissected, preserved, and displayed as what he called an auto-icon. Dr. Thomas Southwood Smith carried out the dissection three days after Bentham died on June 6, 1832, but his attempt to preserve the head with sulfuric acid and an air pump left it leathery and discolored, so a wax replacement by the French artist Jacques Talrich was fitted to the seated skeleton. The figure went on display at University College London, where students stole the real, shriveled head in 1975 and returned it after the university paid £10 against their £100 charity demand; the head later served as a soccer ball before being moved to a climate-controlled storeroom in 2002.The episode closes with ten eccentric routines of the wealthy and famous. Howard Hughes wore tissue boxes over his feet and wrote a manual instructing employees how to prepare and serve a can of peaches; Nikola Tesla fed pigeons in New York parks and called one white pigeon his muse; Salvador Dalí napped in a chair holding a key over a metal plate so its clatter would wake him; Marlon Brando dropped ice into hot coffee to drink it at once; Queen Elizabeth I whitened her skin with a mix of white lead and vinegar; Andy Warhol ate McDonald's nearly every day for two decades; Benjamin Franklin sat naked by open windows for what he called air baths; Michael Jackson traveled with a pet elephant named Gypsy on his Bad tour; Charles Dickens walked miles through London at night to feed his writing; and Albert Einstein gave up socks because his shoes already covered his feet.

How far away is the sun? English astronomer Edmond Halley suggested that tracking the transit of Venus across the sun would be the key to finding the answer. This set in motion a huge international collaborative scientific endeavour and one of the most comically cursed voyages, by the magnificently named Frenchman, Guillaume Joseph Hyacinthe Jean-Baptiste Le Gentil de la Galaisière!This is a comedy/history podcast, the report begins at approximately 05:25 (though as always, we go off on tangents throughout the report).For all our important links: https://linktr.ee/dogoonpod Check out our other podcasts:Book Cheat: https://play.acast.com/s/book-cheatPrime Mates: https://play.acast.com/s/prime-mates/Listen Now: https://play.acast.com/s/listen-now/Who Knew It with Matt Stewart: https://play.acast.com/s/who-knew-it-with-matt-stewart/Jess Writes A Rom-Com: https://shows.acast.com/jess-writes-a-rom-comOur awesome theme song by Evan Munro-Smith and logo by Peader ThomasDo Go On acknowledges the traditional owners of the land we record on, the Wurundjeri people, in the Kulin nation. We pay our respects to elders, past and present. REFERENCES AND FURTHER READING:http://www.astronomy.ohio-state.edu/~pogge/Ast161/Unit4/venussun.htmlChasing Venus: The Race to Measure the Heavens by Andrea Wulfhttps://theconversation.com/transit-of-venus-a-tale-of-two-expeditions-7246https://www.iflscience.com/in-1761-and-1769-intrepid-voyagers-had-a-once-in-a-century-chance-to-measure-the-solar-system-83712A Short History of Nearly Everything by Bill Brysonhttps://airandspace.si.edu/stories/editorial/why-should-you-care-about-transit-venushttp://www.skyandtelescope.com/astronomy-news/observing-news/transits-of-venus-in-history-1761/ https://www.nytimes.com/2000/02/13/books/the-war-to-begin-all-wars.html#:~:text=Winston%20S.,Africa%2C%20India%20and%20the%20Philippines. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Want to know your English level? Take our free English-level quiz here to find out what your current English level is.  Do you love All Ears English?  Try our other podcasts here: Business English Podcast: Improve your Business English with 3 episodes per week, featuring Lindsay, Michelle, and Aubrey IELTS Energy Podcast: Learn IELTS from a former Examiner and achieve your Band 7 or higher, featuring Lindsay McMahon and Aubrey Carter with Jessica Beck in previous episodes Visit our website here or https://lnk.to/website-sn If you love this podcast, hit the follow button now so that you don't miss five fresh and fun episodes every single week.  Don't forget to leave us a review wherever you listen to the show. Send your English question or episode topic idea to support@allearsenglish.com Shopify: Stop waiting for permission to build something. Your next revenue stream starts free at shopify.com/aee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for July 1, 2026 is: nabob • NAY-bahb • noun A nabob is a very rich or important person. // The upscale hotel downtown is a popular meeting spot for the city's corporate nabobs. See the entry > Examples: “NBA nabobs were dismayed by the player empowerment era, where players dictated trades or abandoned teams via free agency.” — Christopher L. Gasper, The Boston Globe, 26 Jan. 2025 Did you know? In India's Mogul Empire, founded in the 16th century, provincial governors carried the Urdu title of nawāb. In 1612, Captain Robert Coverte published a report of his “discovery” of “the Great Mogoll, a prince not till now knowne to our English nation.” The Captain informed the English-speaking world that “An earle is called a Nawbob,” thereby introducing the English version of the word. Nabob, as it later came to be spelled, gained its extended sense of “a prominent person” in the 18th century, when it was applied sarcastically to British officials of the East India Company returning home after amassing great wealth in Asia. But the word was most famously used by Vice President Spiro Agnew, in a 1970 speech written by William Safire, when he referred to critical members of the news media as “nattering nabobs of negativism.”

During the decade of the 1640s, England was divided by Civil War. At the same time, the sound of letter of U was also experiencing its own division, ultimately resulting in two distinct ‘long’ sounds and two distinct ‘short’ sounds. In this episode, we explore those developments and examine how the English Civil War shaped the English language.

Refaat Alathamna nació en la Franja de Gaza a finales de los 70, cuando Israel aún ejercía el control desde dentro. En ese entonces, no era tan extraño irse a estudiar al extranjero y Refaat decidió marcharse muy lejos, a un país del que nunca había oído hablar. Décadas más tarde, lo que aprendió en ese país terminaría salvándole la vida. En nuestro sitio web puedes encontrar una transcripción del episodio. Or you can also check this English translation. ♥ Si valoras nuestro trabajo, únete a Deambulantes, nuestro programa de membresías. ★ Si no quieres perderte ningún episodio, suscríbete a nuestro boletín y recibe todos los martes un correo. Además, los viernes te enviaremos cinco recomendaciones inspiradoras del equipo para el fin de semana. ✓ ¿Nos escuchas para mejorar tu español? Tenemos algo extra para ti: prueba nuestra app Jiveworld, diseñada para estudiantes intermedios de la lengua que quieren aprender con nuestros episodios. Este podcast es propiedad de Radio Ambulante Studios. Cualquier copia, distribución o adaptación está expresamente prohibida sin previa autorización. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Want to know your English level? Take our free English-level quiz here to find out what your current English level is.  Do you love All Ears English?  Try our other podcasts here: Business English Podcast: Improve your Business English with 3 episodes per week, featuring Lindsay, Michelle, and Aubrey IELTS Energy Podcast: Learn IELTS from a former Examiner and achieve your Band 7 or higher, featuring Lindsay McMahon and Aubrey Carter with Jessica Beck in previous episodes Visit our website here or https://lnk.to/website-sn If you love this podcast, hit the follow button now so that you don't miss five fresh and fun episodes every single week.  Don't forget to leave us a review wherever you listen to the show. Send your English question or episode topic idea to support@allearsenglish.com Shopify: Stop waiting for permission to build something. Your next revenue stream starts free at shopify.com/aee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In Part Two of our series on the dark history of Wharton County, we examine three more haunting cases that continue to leave families searching for answers.The episode begins in Ganado, Texas, with the unsolved 1999 murder of beloved English teacher Jean Schoeneberg. A respected educator known for her high standards and daily morning walks, Jean was found brutally murdered along a quiet rural road near her home. Despite decades of investigation, DNA testing, and renewed leads, her killer has never been identified.Next, we explore the 2014 disappearance of Mitchelle Deborah Hicks, a 25-year-old mother of two who vanished after leaving a residence in Wharton. Investigators believe she may have been taken against her will, but more than a decade later, few details have been released publicly, and her family is still waiting for answers.Finally, we follow the remarkable identification of Wharton County Jane Doe, whose skeletal remains were discovered in a remote field in 2021. For four years she had no name, until advances in forensic genetic genealogy revealed she was sixteen-year-old Yeimy Maciela Beltrand. Her identification led investigators to name a suspect in her murder, but he fled before he could be arrested and remains a fugitive.These cases span more than twenty-five years, yet they share the same painful reality: families whose lives were forever changed, investigations that remain incomplete, and the enduring hope that someone, somewhere, still knows the truth.If you have any information about the murder of Jean Schoeneberg or the whereabouts of Luis Omar Beltran-Mendoza, suspected in the murder of Yeimy Maciela Beltrand, please contact the Wharton County Sheriff's Office at (979) 532-1550.If you have any information about the disappearance of Mitchelle Deborah Hicks, please call the Wharton Police Department at (979) 532-3131.You can support gone cold and listen to the show ad-free at https://patreon.com/gonecoldpodcastFind us at https://www.gonecold.comFor Gone Cold merch, visit https://gonecold.dashery.comFollow gone cold on Facebook, Instagram, Threads, TikTok, YouTube, and X. Search @gonecoldpodcast at all or just click https://linknbio.com/gonecoldpodcast#JusticeForJeanSchoeneberg #JusticeForYeimyBeltrand #WhereIsMitchelleHicks #WhartonCoTX #Texas #TX #TexasTrueCrime #DarkHistory #ColdCase #TrueCrimePodcast #Podcast #Unsolved #MissingPerson #Missing #Disappeared #Disappearance #Vanished #Murder #UnsolvedMurder #UnsolvedMysteries #Homicide #CrimeStories #PodcastRecommendations #CrimeJunkie #MysteryPodcastBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/gone-cold-texas-true-crime--3203003/support.

Trevor and Joe can't agree on English striker Harry Kane, the GOAT debate, or how the offside rule is ruining football. In this week's World Cup bonus episode, the football frenemies clash over Kane's place among the game's greats, debate whether FIFA favors Ronaldo or Messi, and who truly deserves football's GOAT crown, and unpack the dramatic aftermath of South Africa's elimination. They also dive into the struggles of midfield stars like Vitinha and Pedri before giving us  their complete Round of 32 predictions. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 30, 2026 is: bereft • bih-REFT • adjective To be bereft is to be deprived or robbed of something, or to lack something that you need, want, or expect. Bereft is also used as a synonym of bereaved. // They appear to be completely bereft of new ideas. See the entry > Examples: "... this morning when I was going out to play in the gardens, I went to put on my favorite baseball cap since the sun was hot and, being bereft of my own natural covering, I wished to avoid a sun-scorched scalp." — Dick Brooks, The Daily Gazette (Schenectady, New York), 7 May 2026 Did you know? In Old English, the verb berēafian meant "to deprive of something." The modern equivalent (and descendant) of berēafian is bereave, a verb used to say that one has deprived or stripped someone of something, often suddenly and unexpectedly, and sometimes by force. Bereft comes from the past participle of bereave; Shakespeare uses the participle in The Merchant of Venice, when Bassanio tells Portia, "Madam, you have bereft me of all words." But by Shakespeare's day bereft was also being used as an adjective. The Bard uses it in The Taming of the Shrew, as a newly obedient and docile Katharina declares, "A woman mov'd is like a fountain troubled—muddy, … thick, bereft of beauty."

A skeptical reporter is sent to debunk England's most famous UFO hotspot — but the more nights he spends on Star Hill, the harder it becomes to dismiss what he sees, and the woman who keeps appearing there may be asking him to believe in far more than he ever bargained for.Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/OTRCHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = Show Open00:01:30.028 = CBS Radio Mystery Theater, “A Message From Space” (February 28, 1978) ***WD00:46:14.309 = The Sealed Book, “Death Spins a Web” (April 01, 1945) ***WD01:15:36.156 = The Shadow, “The Ghost Walks Again” (March 16, 1941) ***WD01:40:19.756 = Sleep No More, “To Build a Fire” and “Three Skeleton Key” (February 20, 1957) ***WD02:09:17.703 = BBC Radio 4 Spine Chillers, “Doppelganger” (January 01, 1977)02:34:22.138 = Strange, “Greenwood Acres” (October 10, 1955) ***WD02:46:54.981 = Suspense, “Defense Rests” (March 09, 1944) ***WD03:16:42.462 = Tales of the Frightened, “Mirror of Death” (November 27, 1957)03:21:37.453 = The Creaking Door, “Cards” (1964-1965) ***WD03:49:11.172 = The Saint, “Mr. Important” (October 15, 1947) ***WD04:17:00.318 = Theater 1030, “Trespassers Will be Experimented Upon” (1968-1971) ***WD04:45:47.834 = Tales From The Tomb, “Hooked” (1960s)04:50:01.149 = Show Close(ADU) = Air Date Unknown(LQ) = Low Quality***WD = Remastered, edited, or cleaned up by Weird Darkness to make the episode more listenable. Audio may not be pristine, but it will be better than the original file which may have been unusable or more difficult to hear without editing.CUSTOM WEBPAGE: https://weirddarkness.com/WDRR0701Tonight's #RetroRadio — Old Time Radio in the Dark brings together a full night of vintage horror, mystery, and supernatural suspense, from a UFO sighting on an English hillside to a steel hook left dangling from a car door.The CBS Radio Mystery Theater opens the night with "A Message From Space," written by Ian Martin and starring Tony Roberts, in which a skeptical American feature writer named Pete Heron is sent by his editor uncle to debunk the wave of UFO sightings around Warminster, England — an ancient stretch of Wiltshire ringed by 45,000-year-old burial mounds, or barrows, and crossed by invisible electromagnetic ley lines. Guided by a strange radio man called Bryce Bond up to Star Hill, Pete watches a glowing craft settle into a wheat field and leave behind a scorched, counterclockwise depression no wind could explain. But it's the violet-eyed woman named Maru who keeps appearing there — claiming to be a reporter, smelling of roses and lily of the valley, and seeming, somehow, entirely out of this world — who tests everything Pete thought he knew.From The Sealed Book comes "Death Spins a Web," a tale narrated from the pages of the keeper's ponderous volume about the dying Mrs. Oliver Drake, who summons her three worthless grandchildren — Blanche, Vivian, and the charming polo-playing scoundrel Chris — to her mansion and announces that her entire fortune will go to just one of them. As Chris courts both beautiful cousins at once to hedge his bets, a canoe trip across a deserted lake sets a deadly scheme in motion, and the old woman proves to be playing a far stranger game than anyone suspects.The Shadow presents "The Ghost Walks Again," with Lamont Cranston and Margot Lane traveling to a small New England town terrified by the apparition of Sir Roger Mathis, the village's stern Puritan founder, dead more than two hundred years. Townsfolk who favor opening the ancient meeting hall to the public keep turning up dead inside its torture stocks and presses, each victim clutching a death warrant signed in Sir Roger's own hand, and Cranston must determine whether a real ghost or a very human killer haunts the old colonial hall.Sleep No More, hosted by Nelson Olmstead with Ben Grauer, offers two literary terrors. First is Jack London's "To Build a Fire," the unforgettable Yukon tale of a confident, imaginationless newcomer — a chechaquo — who sets out alone across the frozen trail at seventy-five below zero with only a husky for company, ignoring an old-timer's warning never to travel alone in such cold. Second is George G. Toudouze's "Three Skeleton Key," the story of a lighthouse keeper stationed on a tiny rock twenty miles off the coast of Guiana, who watches a derelict three-master sail straight toward the light carrying a writhing, starving army of ship's rats that soon lay siege to the tower with three men trapped inside.BBC Radio 4's Spine Chillers delivers "Doppelganger," a modern psychological horror about Noah, a frazzled young assistant who keeps waking at exactly 3:44 a.m., drowning in FOMO and social-media envy as she frantically tries to be everywhere at once — her mother's birthday dinner, a girls' trip, an exclusive private members' club. When her doorbell camera records her leaving the apartment one night but never coming back, and a voice on the phone that sounds exactly like her own begins narrating her every move, the question becomes whether she's sleepwalking or being replaced.Strange, hosted by author and supernatural expert Walter Gibson, presents "Greenwood Acres," the account of Army Lieutenant Seth Proctor, who, on leave in a small backwater Georgia town in 1952, goes fishing among the water lilies and discovers a gleaming white plantation house that his landlady insists has been a crumbling ruin since a Civil War tragedy in 1865. There he meets a beautiful blonde woman named Laura swimming in the river, who somehow already knows his name — and whose own story is bound up with a jealous uncle named Cassius and a renegade Northern soldier.Suspense brings "Defense Rests," starring Alan Ladd as Robert Tasker, a young ex-convict and aspiring writer paroled into the law office of Max Krager, the only friend he's ever had, played by John McIntyre. When Krager's partner Arthur Hines — the very district attorney who once sent Tasker to San Quentin — turns up dead in his own office with Tasker's fingerprints on the paperweight beside him, the case looks open and shut, until a missing $50,000 and a switchboard girl named Peggy complicate everything.Tales of the Frightened tells "Mirror of Death," the brief, eerie story of Celeste Collins, a pretty Irish girl of twenty-one whose hand mirror shatters on the floor on the morning of her birthday — and who, despite dismissing the broken-mirror superstition as nonsense, receives a tall, gift-wrapped delivery that evening with a reflection waiting inside it.The Creaking Door, sponsored by State Express 555 cigarettes, presents "Cards," set at a charming English village fete where a devout vicar reluctantly agrees to have his fortune told with a pack of tarot cards by Mrs. Heyman. When she falls into a trance and warns him to fear death by fire, fear that which flies in the air but is not a bird, and fear the things of night — the bat, the wolf, and the leopard — the vicar plans to fly to Tanzania anyway to tour the mission stations funded by the fabulous Shelby Diamond fortune.The Saint stars Vincent Price as Simon Templar, the Robin Hood of Modern Crime, who refuses a five-thousand-dollar bribe to leave a corrupt town and instead hunts the unknown crime boss who gunned down his childhood friend, Treasury agent John Daniels. Following a trail of frightened informants — undertakers, a doomed dame named Rose Taylor, a bookkeeper named Al Boston, and a terrifying insect-obsessed killer called the Professor — Templar closes in on the one man whose name nobody dares speak.Theater 1030, a CBC Toronto production, offers "Trespassers Will Be Experimented Upon," a darkly comic supernatural tale by Anthony Lee Flanders about Nigel Hurdstrom, a winner of five Nobel Prizes, who drives his glamorous wife Vanessa across the Saskatchewan prairie toward a long-dreaded reunion. A storm strands them at the misty castle of the wicked Baron von Schenck — the mysterious figure who once taught a lonely farm boy everything the wind had to teach — and the pupil has come back to challenge his master, with a monstrous transplant machine waiting in the dungeon.Tales From The Tomb closes the night with "Hooked," the classic campfire legend of Ronnie and Cindy, two Jefferson High teenagers parked on a deserted road by the woods, who hear a radio bulletin about an escaped killer with a steel hook for a right hand just moments before a loud thud strikes the passenger side of the truck.

Leigh Batnick Plessner is the chief creative officer of Catbird. Before landing at Catbird, Plessner graduated from Georgetown University with a degree in English literature and anthropology, and she worked at various DC coffee shops and as a cocktail waitress before landing a job in the children's room at renowned DC bookstore Politics and Prose. At the bookstore, she was eventually promoted to sidelines buyer, selecting everything for the store other than books. While in this position, she had the opportunity to go to various stationery shows, which prompted her to start a stationery brand of her own called Jezebel. In 2005, she met the founder of jewelry brand Catbird, Rony Vardi, at a stationery trade show. Soon after, she started working at the brand's storefront in New York. Eventually she transitioned out of running her stationery brand and into working full-time for Catbird. She grew with the company and now holds the role of chief creative officer, where she's responsible for the visual identity of the brand, including Catbird's partnerships with talent like Clairo and Phoebe Bridgers.

I'm a word person. (Occupational hazard of spending years as an English teacher, I suppose.) I notice when words shift — when something that used to feel simple and clear starts carrying extra weight, or gets claimed by one group of people until the rest of us feel uncertain about whether we're still allowed to use it the way we always meant to. That's what's happened, at least in my experience, to the word "patriotic." And more than my own discomfort, I started to feel genuinely unsure how to teach my kids how to be patriotic in a country that often feels so divided by partisan politics. That question is exactly what brought Sharon McMahon back to 3 in 30. Sharon is known as America's Government Teacher and is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of The Small and the Mighty and her new children's book, We Are Mighty. This conversation will give you language and a framework for the patriotism conversations you've been wanting to have with your kids, but haven't quite known how to start.

In this week's story time, Summer tells the story of the ancient mystics that chose to brick themselves in cells, until death do they part from their bricks. The most famous anchoress, Julian of Norwich, is widely considered the first published female author in the English language. She may also have been the first feminist cat lady. Tune in! The post Medieval Mystics Behind Bricks appeared first on Sheologians.

Gossip goes by many names: the poop, the scoop, the lowdown, the dope, the scuttlebutt, the 411, the grapes, the gore, and hot tea. Plus, John Donne's love poems are among the greatest in the English language, even as they're famously difficult to unravel. A new biography hails the genius of the man who penned the phrases no man is an island and for whom the bell tolls. And Murphy's Law states that anything that can go wrong, will go wrong. But what about Muphry's Law? Also: how to organize your bookshelves, rizz, potch in tuchis, conkerbell, pronouncing help like hope, spermologer, sweet tea vs. unsweet tea, work brickle, collywobbles, and a puzzle that will test your wits — and patience. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want to know your English level? Take our free English-level quiz here to find out what your current English level is.  Do you love All Ears English?  Try our other podcasts here: Business English Podcast: Improve your Business English with 3 episodes per week, featuring Lindsay, Michelle, and Aubrey IELTS Energy Podcast: Learn IELTS from a former Examiner and achieve your Band 7 or higher, featuring Lindsay McMahon and Aubrey Carter with Jessica Beck in previous episodes Visit our website here or https://lnk.to/website-sn If you love this podcast, hit the follow button now so that you don't miss five fresh and fun episodes every single week.  Don't forget to leave us a review wherever you listen to the show. Send your English question or episode topic idea to support@allearsenglish.com Shopify: Stop waiting for permission to build something. Your next revenue stream starts free at shopify.com/aee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Upon her death, French novelist George Sand (1804-1876) was widely recognized as one of the most popular and acclaimed writers in Europe. And yet, even then, the legend of the cigar-smoking, cross-dressing, promiscuous writer threatened to overshadow her literary accomplishments. Fast forward to the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, and the English-speaking world has all but forgotten Sand the novelist, instead recalling her as a side character in a suit, a wannabe artist who hitched her wagon to greater geniuses like Chopin and Flaubert. In this episode, Jacke talks to award-winning poet and biographer Fiona Sampson about her book Becoming George, which examines Sand's iconoclasm and rehabilitates her as an intellectual and artistic giant. PLUS Kathleen Antonioli (Colette: A Critical Life) stops by to tell Jacke about her choice for the last book she will ever read. On Sale Now! For more information and to order ⁠Great Detective! An Adventure for Two People [2-Book Boxed Set]⁠ by Jacke Wilson, visit ⁠press.historyofliterature.com⁠. The music in this episode is by Gabriel Ruiz-Bernal. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠gabrielruizbernal.com⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Help support the show at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠patreon.com/literature⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ or ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠historyofliterature.com/donate⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. The History of Literature Podcast is a member of Lit Hub Radio and the Podglomerate Network. Learn more at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠thepodglomerate.com/historyofliterature⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 29, 2026 is: umami • oo-MAH-mee • noun Umami refers to the taste sensation that is produced by several amino acids and nucleotides and that has a rich or meaty flavor characteristic of cheese, cooked meat, mushrooms, soy, and ripe tomatoes. // The chef's secret ingredient added the perfect burst of umami to the signature dish. See the entry > Examples: "This recipe uses a classic marble cake technique to swirl rich layers of cinnamon into a fluffy olive oil-scented loaf cake. It's topped with a malted milk glaze for a punch of umami, but you can skip it entirely or substitute a simple vanilla glaze." — Tanya Bush, Will This Make You Happy: Stories & Recipes from a Year of Baking, 2026 Did you know? Japanese scientist Kikunae Ikeda is credited with identifying as a distinct taste the savory flavor of the amino acid glutamic acid, which he first noticed in soup stocks made with seaweed. This fifth basic taste—alongside sweet, sour, salty, and bitter—was named umami, meaning "savoriness" in Japanese. Umami can be experienced in foods such as mushrooms, anchovies, and mature cheeses, as well as in foods enhanced with monosodium glutamate, or MSG, a sodium salt derived from glutamic acid.

A drifter set to die in the gas chamber for a murder he didn't commit offers one last gift to the man who framed him — never imagining what that gift might carry.Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/OTRCHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = Show Open00:01:30.028 = CBS Radio Mystery Theater, “Second Sight” (February 27, 1978) ***WD00:46:14.838 = Origin of Superstition, “Three On A Match” (December 16, 1932) ***WD01:00:44.894 = Pat Novak For Hire, “Don't Tell Hilda” (February 27, 1949)01:29:14.739 = Peril, “Darkness Within” (1953) ***WD (LQ)01:58:15.099 = Mystery Playhouse, “Death is a Joker” (May 25, 1941) ***WD02:28:27.475 = Price of Fear, “Meeting In Athens” (July 07, 1973) ***WD02:55:48.036 = Ellery Queen, “Number Thirty-One” (September 07, 1947) ***WD03:24:14.186 = Quiet Please, “If I Should Die Before I Wake” (February 27, 1949)03:53:27.551 = Radio City Playhouse, “The Wind” (October 30, 1949) ***WD04:22:21.175 = Sam Spade, “Death of Dr. Denhoff Caper” (August 09, 1946) ***WD04:51:19.818 = Show Close(ADU) = Air Date Unknown(LQ) = Low Quality***WD = Remastered, edited, or cleaned up by Weird Darkness to make the episode more listenable. Audio may not be pristine, but it will be better than the original file which may have been unusable or more difficult to hear without editing.This episode of #RetroRadio — Old Time Radio in the Dark, hosted by Darren Marlar at WeirdDarkness.com, runs ten classic mystery, crime, and horror broadcasts back to back, from a condemned man who donates his eyes to the very person who framed him to Ray Bradbury's tale of a living, intelligent wind that hunts a man across the globe.CBS Radio Mystery Theater opens the night with "Second Sight," a February 27, 1978 drama hosted by E.G. Marshall in which drifter Larry Millard, condemned to die in the gas chamber for the shotgun murder of farmer Jason Hadley, volunteers his own eyes for an anonymous corneal transplant — handing his sight to Glen Plaxton, the businessman who actually pulled the trigger and framed him to protect a secret reservoir land-grab. After the surgery, Plaxton and his partner Tip Foster begin to suspect that the dead man's eyes may have carried more than vision.Next, Origin of Superstition traces the famous taboo against lighting three cigarettes from a single flame in "Three On A Match," a December 16, 1932 sketch that carries listeners back to 1899 and the Boer War in South Africa, where British officer Captain Frank Mattox laughs off the fire-reading warning of a Zulu medicine man named Grumbo, who reads ruin in the ashes and cautions of "danger in three."In "Don't Tell Hilda," the hard-boiled Pat Novak For Hire (February 27, 1949, starring Jack Webb) finds the San Francisco waterfront boat-for-hire man tangled in murder when a beautiful blonde claiming amnesia collapses dead in a coffee joint after a fatal dose of sleeping pills. Hounded by Inspector Hellman and helped by boozy ex-doctor Jocko Madigan, Novak traces her to a long-vanished heiress named Marcia Halpern and a fortune up on Pacific Heights.Peril offers the 1953 psychological case "Darkness Within," where Mrs. Diana Carson walks into the office of psychiatrist Dr. James Bancroft insisting that her mild-mannered stockbroker husband, Lionel Carson, seized the fireplace tongs and tried to murder her — then woke with no memory of the attack, much like the family cat she found poisoned in the basement. Bancroft must decide whether Lionel suffers a blackout-driven split personality or something far more deliberate.Mystery Playhouse, hosted by Peter Lorre, stages "Death is a Joker" (May 25, 1941), the courtroom confession of Charles Luther, a homely stage comedian on trial for his life who recounts strangling his friend Robert Langwell in a fit of jealousy over the beautiful Julie Wenthoff — and then, hour by terrible hour, is forced to think and act like the cunning criminal he never meant to become.The Price of Fear sends Vincent Price into the August heat of Athens for "Meeting In Athens," a July 7, 1973 chiller in which he befriends young English couple Mark Haxton and Gillian Gilroy on the Acropolis. When Mark vanishes after a late-night seaside villa party arranged by a heavyset stranger named Yannis, Price and Greek police officer Costas Polides uncover a black-market horror in which a man's rarest possession — his AB Rhesus-negative blood, recorded in the diary he kept on everything — can be worth killing for.Ellery Queen investigates "Number Thirty-One" (September 7, 1947), in which suspected international diamond smuggler George Arcaris always books Cabin 31 aboard the steamship Aegea, and a Park Avenue butler from Harlem named Arthur Prine — who liked to play the number 31 in the numbers game — turns up dead in the East River. Ellery and Inspector Queen connect the recurring number to a smuggling ring involving wealthy socialites Pip Istram and Susu Mounting, with guest armchair detective Kent Smith invited to solve it first.Quiet Please turns apocalyptic with "If I Should Wake Before I Die" (February 27, 1949), Wyllis Cooper's parable of Dr. Anderson, a coldly rational scientist who cares only for pure knowledge and never for its uses — even after his own brother Edward dies alone in an orbiting satellite rocket, and even as Project Phaeton, an atomic-fission projectile fired at the moon, sets loose consequences no equation predicted.Radio City Playhouse adapts Ray Bradbury's "The Wind" (October 30, 1949), in which Allen Henderson telephones his friend Herb Thompson again and again, convinced that a living, intelligent wind — one that has stalked him from a crash in the Himalayas across every typhoon and hurricane he survived — has finally surrounded his lonely stone house to claim him, while Herb's wife Jane dismisses the whole thing as madness.Sam Spade closes the night with the "Death of Dr. Denhoff Caper" (August 9, 1946), as Howard Duff's wisecracking detective is hired by psychoanalyst Dr. Gregory Denhoff to fend off a blackmailer named Nicolaitis — only for Denhoff to plunge from his penthouse window, the police to rule it suicide, and a stolen, microfilmed case history on actress Constance Brent to throw suspicion across the grieving widow, a Vienna-trained rival named Dr. Zoya, and Brent's hot-tempered husband.CUSTOM WEBPAGE: https://weirddarkness.com/WDRR0700

Rage on Moorea and Farewell to Mai. Guest Author: Hampton Sides. Tensions escalated on the island of Mooreaduring the "Goat Incident," where the theft of a pregnant nanny goat triggered a "scorched earth" campaign from Cook. He destroyed huts and canoes in a disproportionate rage that shocked his officers. Sides suggests this was a desperate attempt to protect Mai's future property by making an example of theft. After dropping Mai off at Huahine in a bittersweet farewell, the ships turned toward Alaska. Mai eventually died of disease a few years later, failing to reclaim his ancestral lands despite his English weapons. Cook, meanwhile, was increasingly seen by his men as a "darker" version of his former self as he pushed north. 51899 FIJI

Episode 4162 │ June 28, 2026 Paine arrived broke and nearly dead. He wrote the pamphlet that made independence inevitable. Six people attended his funeral. History owes him more. WHAT THIS EPISODE COVERS  Scott Kesterson and Rochelle Porto deliver the full Thomas Paine episode — tracing the arc from a destitute English stay-maker's son beaten up by wealthy children in Thetford, through bankruptcy, a dead wife and child, a chance meeting with Benjamin Franklin, a near-fatal nine-week sea crossing, and a recovery in a Philadelphia doctor's quarters, to the January 1776 publication of Common Sense — a 47-page pamphlet that reached 40% of the colonial population, shifted the psychological default from reconciliation to independence before Congress had the courage to declare it, prompted North Carolina to become the first colony to authorize its delegates to vote for independence, and was ordered read aloud to Continental Army troops before the crossing of the Delaware. Rochelle traces Paine's documented record — the first anti-slavery essay in American history, the Pennsylvania Abolition Act of 1780 drafted in part by Paine, his $500 personal contribution to a collapsing Continental Army, the diplomatic mission to France that secured 2.5 million livres in silver — against the arc of a man whose bones are now lost, whose burial was refused by the Quakers, whose funeral drew six people, and who was denied the right to vote in the country he helped create. The episode closes with a reading of 1 Samuel 8 — the passage at the theological root of Common Sense's argument against kings — as both historical anchor and present-day mirror. KEY QUESTIONS ADDRESSED  What made Common Sense the proportionally most widely read political document in American history — and how did a 47-page pamphlet written by a man with no official standing shift the entire colonial psychological default from reconciliation to independence in less than four months? Why did Theodore Roosevelt call Paine "the little atheist" — and what does Paine's actual engagement with Psalm 19, the book of Job, and 1 Samuel 8 reveal about where he actually stood on God, monarchy, and the republic? What is the 1 Samuel 8 passage at the theological root of Common Sense — and why does the warning God gave Israel about kings read today like a precise description of the permission structure being built around us? ABOUT BARDSFM BardsFM is a daily independent podcast covering faith, liberty, history, and information warfare. Hosted by Scott Kesterson — combat veteran, documentary filmmaker, and rancher. Over 4,100 episodes and 50 million lifetime downloads. New episodes every weekday. bards.fm This episode was researched and produced under the Sentinel Framework v3 — the analytical methodology built by Scott Kesterson — with AI-assisted research synthesis at a 70/30 human/AI authorship ratio, fully disclosed. All analysis, conclusions, and editorial judgments are those of Scott Kesterson. AFFILIATE LINKS Bards Nation Health Store: www.bardsnationhealth.com MYPillow promo code: BARDS >> Go to https://www.mypillow.com/bards and use the promo code BARDS or... Call 1-800-975-2939.  EMPShield protect your vehicles and home. Promo code BARDS: Click here Treadlite Broadforks...best garden tool EVER. Promo code BARDS26: TreadliteBroadforks.com EnviroKlenz Air Purification, promo code BARDS to save 10%: www.enviroklenz.com Morning Intro Music Provided by Brian Kahanek: www.briankahanek.com Founders Bible 20% discount code: BARDS >>> TheFoundersBible.com Windblown Media 20% Discount with promo code BARDS: windblownmedia.com White Oak Pastures Grassfed Meats, Get $20 off any order $150 or more. Promo Code BARDS: www.whiteoakpastures.com/BARDS Mission Darkness Faraday Bags and RF Shielding. Promo code BARDS: Click here DONATIONS: If you wish to support this podcast directly you can donate here... DONATE: Click here MAILING ADDRESS: Xpedition Cafe, LLC Attn. Scott Kesterson 591 E Central Ave, #740 Sutherlin, OR  97479

In this bonus episode, Andrew shares a few quick updates from behind the scenes at Culips and tells a story about following the World Cup as a fan with more than one team to cheer for. Listen along to learn some vocabulary that will help make your English more natural and improve your listening fluency. Culips Meetup in Seoul! If you are in Korea, come and meet us in person at the Culips Meetup in Seoul on July 19. RSVP here. Free study guide: This episode comes with a free study guide for everyone. Download it to review the vocabulary, follow along with the episode, and practice using the new expressions. Resources mentioned in this episode: RSVP for the Culips meetup in Seoul Become a Culips member Join the Culips Discord server

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 28, 2026 is: gainsay • gayn-SAY • verb To gainsay something is to deny or disagree with it, or to show or say that it is not true. Gainsay is a formal word usually used in negative statements. // Although the defendant initially denied involvement in the incident, there was no gainsaying the evidence that the prosecutor presented at the trial. See the entry > Examples: “Whatever you think of it, there's no gainsaying the fact that ‘The Sound of Music' is a remarkably durable vehicle. It's frequently produced, and suffered no lasting damage to its reputation from a live NBC performance in 2013 ...” — Don Aucoin, The Boston Globe, 9 Jan. 2026 Did you know? You might have trouble figuring out the meaning of gainsay if you're thinking of our modern word gain plus say. It should help to know that the gain part comes to us from the Old English word gēan-, meaning “against” or “in opposition to.” (The familiar verb gain comes from Anglo-French and is unrelated.) In Middle English, gēan- was joined to seyen (“to say”) to form gein-seyen, which led to the modern word gainsay. So when you see gainsay, think “to say against”—that is, “to deny” or “to contradict.”

A great burger looks simple—but barbecue experts know there is a surprising amount of science and technique behind getting it just right. From choosing the meat to handling the patties to what happens on the grill, a few small mistakes can mean the difference between a memorable burger and a disappointing one. Source: Steve Raichlen, author of The Barbecue Bible (https://amzn.to/4bgBEcM) Life has a way of speeding up. One day you're making plans for someday, and before you know it, months or years have gone by. That's why so many people eventually find themselves wondering: Did I spend my time on the things that really mattered? According to Jodi Wellman, avoiding regret isn't about quitting your job, moving to a tropical island, or making dramatic life changes. Instead, it comes from being intentional about how you spend your days and paying attention to the experiences, relationships, and opportunities that give life meaning. In this conversation, she shares a refreshing perspective on how to stop living on autopilot, make the most of the time you have, and create a life you'll look back on with satisfaction rather than regret. Jodi is a former corporate executive, executive coach, and author of You Only Die Once: How to Make It to the End with No Regrets (https://amzn.to/3KUdQ3Z). Learn more at https://fourthousandmondays.com/ Swear words are among the most powerful words in any language. They can shock, offend, amuse, bond people together, relieve pain, and communicate emotion in ways ordinary words often can't. But where do these words come from? Why are some words considered offensive while others are perfectly acceptable? And why does every generation seem to have a different idea about what language is inappropriate? Writer and language expert Jess Zafarris takes us on a fascinating journey through the history of profanity, insults, taboo language, and the darker corners of English vocabulary. She is author of Words from Hell: Unearthing the Darkest Secrets of English Etymology (https://amzn.to/4cafvyc). Grandma's health advice was often well-intentioned—but not always correct. Some of the most common health "facts" people still repeat today have been thoroughly debunked by modern science. Yet these myths continue to survive because they sound so believable. https://www.webmd.com/balance/ss/slideshow-10-health-myths-debunked PLEASE SUPPORT OUR SPONSORS POCKET HOSE: For a limited time, when you purchase a new Pocket Hose Ballistic, you'll get a FREE 360 degree rotating pocket pivot and a FREE thumb drive nozzle! Just text SYSK to 64000 AIR DOCTOR: Head to ⁠⁠https://AirDoctorPro.com⁠⁠ and use promo code SYSK to get $250 off select AirDoctor air purifiers, including the 3500, 4000, and 5500 models. Plus, you'll receive a free 3year warranty!  RULA: Thousands of people are already using Rula to get affordable, high-quality therapy that's actually covered by insurance. Visit ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Rula.com/sysk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ to get started. QUINCE: Elevate your summer wardrobe. Go to ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Quince.com/sysk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ for free shipping on your order and 365-day returns. Now available in Canada, too! SHOPIFY: It's time to turn those "what ifs" into CHA CHING with Shopify Today! Sign up for your $1 per month trail and start selling today at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠https://Shopify.com/sysk⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Want to know your English level? Take our free English-level quiz here to find out what your current English level is.  Do you love All Ears English?  Try our other podcasts here: Business English Podcast: Improve your Business English with 3 episodes per week, featuring Lindsay, Michelle, and Aubrey IELTS Energy Podcast: Learn IELTS from a former Examiner and achieve your Band 7 or higher, featuring Lindsay McMahon and Aubrey Carter with Jessica Beck in previous episodes Visit our website here or https://lnk.to/website-sn If you love this podcast, hit the follow button now so that you don't miss five fresh and fun episodes every single week.  Don't forget to leave us a review wherever you listen to the show. Send your English question or episode topic idea to support@allearsenglish.com Shopify: Stop waiting for permission to build something. Your next revenue stream starts free at shopify.com/aee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 27, 2026 is: oracular • aw-RAK-yuh-ler • adjective Oracular is a formal word that can describe something used to forecast or prophesize, or something that resembles or relates to something used for such purposes. Oracular can also describe something that resembles an oracle—a person (such as a priestess of ancient Greece) through whom a deity is believed to speak; in this sense, an oracular statement, voice, etc. conveys wisdom or solemnity. // A few recordings of the famous speaker still exist, and though his language is formal to the point of sounding almost foreign to the modern listener, the oracular quality of his speech remains effective. See the entry > Examples: "The conversation that unfolds is some of [writer Ben] Lerner's most brilliant and daring writing to date, a mad, oracular burst of speech—about technology, parenthood, and dreaming—that flits effortlessly between prose and poetry." — Kevin Lozano, Vulture, 3 Apr. 2026 Did you know? When the ancient Greeks had questions or problems, they would turn to the gods for answers by consulting an oracle, a person through whom the gods communicated, usually in the form of cryptic verse. Oracle also referred to the god's answer or to the shrine that worshippers approached when seeking advice; the word's root is the Latin verb orare, which means "to speak." English speakers today can use oracle to simply refer to an authoritative pronouncement or to a person who makes such pronouncements—for example, "a designer who is an oracle of fashion." And the related adjective oracular is used in similar contexts: "a designer who is an oracular voice of fashion."

Today's episode is an original story written for you by Michael Low. Remi and June find a magical key in their grandparent's attic. Listen to find out what they discover when they unlock a tree! Draw us a picture of what you think any of the characters in this story look like, and then tag us in it on instagram @storiespodcast! We'd love to see your artwork and share it on our feed!! If you would like to support Stories Podcast, you can subscribe and give us a five star review on iTunes, check out our merch at storiespodcast.com/shop, follow us on Instagram @storiespodcast, or just tell your friends about us! Check out our new YouTube channel at youtube.com/storiespodcast. If you've ever wanted to read along with our stories, now you can! These read-along versions of our stories are great for early readers trying to improve their skills or even adults learning English for the first time. Check it out.

“It's about seeing, through reading, whether where you are going has been or is now or will be written, or not.” This deliciously twisty line is from Kimberly Campanello's ongoing versioning of Dante's Inferno, and as in that sentence, she is translating and reconfiguring the 700-year-old work of poetry to reflect her life, her family's lives, your life, our life, and, indeed, our lives today. We are delighted to bring you this exhilarating conversation — part one of two — between Kimberly and Pádraig Ó Tuama that was recorded over Zoom in 2025. In addition to reading excerpts from her redone Dante, she and Pádraig talk about the English teacher who made an indelible impression on her, the roles of love and time in the Inferno, and how an early-onset Parkinson's diagnosis has shaped her thinking and writing.   We invite you to subscribe to Pádraig's weekly Poetry Unbound Substack, read the Poetry Unbound books and his newest work, Kitchen Hymns, or listen to all our Poetry Unbound episodes.  Kimberly Campanello's recent projects are the poetry collection An Interesting Detail, the novel Use the Words You Have, and MOTHERBABYHOME. She is Professor of Poetry at the University of Leeds.  Find the transcript for this show at onbeing.org. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 26, 2026 is: symbiosis • sim-bee-OH-sis • noun Symbiosis is a formal word that refers to a relationship between two people or groups that work with and depend on each other. In biology, symbiosis refers to the relationship between two different kinds of living things that live together and depend on each other. // The new playground is the result of symbiosis between multiple stakeholders, including residents, donors, and town officials. // The bacteria exist in symbiosis with the plant's roots. See the entry > Examples: “In the old days, which weren't that long ago ... there was that ritual moment when a rock ‘n' roll idol, in the midst of delivering a classic anthem, would point the mic away from himself and into the arena, indicating that it was time for the audience to take over and sing the lines. It might be Springsteen doing ‘Thunder Road,' or Madonna doing ‘Holiday.' ... The loving symbiosis of pop star and pop audience doesn't get much more reverent than that.” — Owen Gleiberman, Variety, 7 May 2026 Did you know? Symbiosis was adopted by the scientific community in the late 1800s, coming ultimately (via German) from the Greek symbíōsis, meaning “living together, companionship.” Of course, there are a lot of ways to live together and, accordingly, several flavors of symbiosis. When a biological symbiosis between two organisms is mutually beneficial, it is termed mutualism. For example, oxpeckers are birds so named because they “peck” ticks off of infested cattle and wild mammals, a likely satisfying arrangement for both parties, and textbook mutualism. When one organism lives off another at the other's expense, however (as, for one icky instance, head lice do), it's called parasitism. If only parents of elementary school students could call upon an equivalent of oxpeckers to engage in mutualistic symbiosis when the need arose, but alas.

❖ Follow along with today's reading: www.esv.org/2Kings18;Psalm145;Revelation7–9 ❖ The English Standard Version (ESV) is an 'essentially literal' translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors, the ESV Bible emphasizes 'word-for-word' accuracy, literary excellence, and depth of meaning. ❖ To learn more about the ESV and other audio resources, please visit www.ESV.org

RHLSTP Book Club #185 - Death by Noir - Rich meets Britain's favourite wine expert (possibly) Olly Smith to talk about his Wine Crime Book, Death by Noir. They talk about how he isn't just another celebrity cashing in with murder mystery books, as he was already an award winning writer, how he became a wine expert, whether there are any good non-alcoholic or English wines, why he wanted to write about a wine drinking amateur detective, being mistaken for a popular kids TV character, how the book is a love letter to not just wine and the process of making it, but the town of Lewes and the eccentric people who live there, doing a podcast with P!nk, the bits of England that remain very much themselves, whether anyone can really tell what wine smells of and the exciting possibility of turning the book into a TV show or film and what it's like finally working with his brother Will Smith (not that one)Buy the book here - https://uk.bookshop.org/p/books/death-by-noir-olly-smith/7973486SUPPORT THE SHOW!See details of the RHLSTP LIVE DATES Watch our TWITCH CHANNELBecome a badger and see extra content at our WEBSITE Buy DVDs and books from GO FASTER STRIPEAudio mix by Ben Evans (NTO)Thanks to Chris Evans (NTO)Recorded at the Podcast Room Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

After the Norman Conquest, many Anglo-Saxon nobles, clergy, and warriors refused to submit and instead chose exile, fleeing not just to Scotland and Scandinavia, but all the way to Constantinople and the Eastern Roman Empire. The episode explores the remarkable tradition of around 10,000 English exiles traveling by ship, receiving lands from the emperor, and helping form English communities far from home, even in places remembered as a kind of early “New England” on the Black Sea. Steve Guerra and Patrick Young also trace how these exiles entered imperial service through the Varangian Guard, showing that the fall of Anglo-Saxon England did not mean the end of its people, identity, or Christian inheritance. Subscribe to Forgotten Christianity on Substack: https://forgottenchristianity.substack.com/ #HistoryOfThePapacy #ForgottenChristianity #NormanConquest #AngloSaxonEngland #ChurchHistory #MedievalHistory #ByzantineHistory #VarangianGuard #Constantinople #ChristianHistory Let us know what you think about this episode in the comments section below! Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on the links below and on YouTube!Support the show and listen: Patreon: http://patreon.com/historyofthepapacyBuy me a coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/historyofthepapacyBuy me a book: http://bit.ly/40ckJ8E YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thehistoryofthepapacyEmail Us: steve@atozhistorypage.comHow to listen: https://www.atozhistorypage.com/podcastListen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7DelfggbL0Au4e3aUyWDaS Music Provided by:"Sonatina in C Minor" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"Funeral March for Brass" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"Crusade Heavy Perfect Loop" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)Agnus Dei X - Bitter Suite Kevin MacLeaod (incomptech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Episode 254In this episode, we sit down with kindergarten teacher Anjanette McNeely to take a close look at one powerful instructional routine: word chaining.Anjanette walks us through exactly what word chaining looks like in her classroom, from the materials she uses to the language she says, and explains why this routine is such an effective way to build both phonemic awareness and phonics at the same time.We also explore how word chaining supports orthographic mapping, why connecting sounds to print matters, and how small instructional shifts, like continuous blending and interleaving, can have a big impact on student learning.Whether you're new to word chaining or looking to refine your practice, this episode offers practical ideas you can try right away.ResourcesWord Chaining: An Efficient and Effective Alternative to Oral Phonemic Awareness by Anjanette McNeely: Blog post about word chaining and a video of Anjanette's classroom in action Word Chaining: A Simple Routine for Reading and Spelling (printable) You can see a picture of Anjanette's word chaining tray hereWord Chains for Decoding and Encoding Practice: An overview on how to make and use word chains to teach decoding and encoding (from UFLI) 44 Phonemes (video): Learn how to pronounce the 44 phonemes in the English alphabet (from Rollins Center for Language and Literacy)Looking for more literacy support and resources? Explore all of our podcast episodes, free listening guides, and classroom tools at literacypodcast.com.Interested in bringing Melissa & Lori Love Literacy to your school or event? Email us at literacypodcast@greatminds.org.

Enjoy a classic story in English, and learn 13 uses of 'cross'. FIND BBC LEARNING ENGLISH HERE: Visit our website ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish Follow us https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/followus SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER: ✔️ https://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglish/newsletters LIKE PODCASTS? Try some of our other popular podcasts including: ✔️ 6 Minute English ✔️ Learning English from the News ✔️ Learning English Conversations They're all available by searching in your podcast app

In this episode of The Reformed Brotherhood, Tony Arsenal walks through Jonah 1–2, focusing on the remarkable prayer Jonah offers from the belly of the great fish. Far from a simple morality tale, the Book of Jonah presents a complex, deeply theological portrait of a disobedient prophet who nonetheless clings to the Lord in his darkest moment. Tony explores the Hebrew literary features that shape how we read Jonah's prayer, the doctrine of divine sovereignty as it operates through human agency, and the rich typological connections between Jonah and the death and resurrection of Christ. Most importantly, the episode grounds Jonah's experience in the Westminster Confession's teaching on sanctification — offering genuine hope to believers who feel buried under besetting sin, assuring them that salvation, from beginning to end, belongs entirely to the Lord. Key Takeaways Jonah is not the hero of his own story — he functions more as an anti-hero whose failures actually make him a more useful and relatable example for ordinary believers. Divine sovereignty operates through, not apart from, human agency — the sailors freely threw Jonah overboard, and yet Jonah rightly says God cast him into the deep; both are simultaneously true. The sequence debate in Jonah 2 matters theologically — whether Jonah prayed before or after being swallowed affects how we read the book; reading it as a strict cause-and-effect sequence risks turning the gospel into a quid pro quo transaction with God. Jonah's "yet I will see your holy temple" is a confession of eschatological faith — in the midst of near-certain death, Jonah expresses confidence not merely in earthly rescue, but in his ultimate destiny as one of God's people. The deep is a Genesis image — Jonah's descent into the primordial waters deliberately echoes the formless void of Genesis 1 and the undoing of creation in the flood, placing his experience within the grand arc of biblical cosmology. Jonah is a prophetic type of Christ's death and resurrection — his three days in the belly of the fish, his descent into the pit, and his emergence onto dry land anticipate and foreshadow the resurrection, as Jesus himself confirms in Matthew 12. Sanctification is real but imperfect — drawing from Westminster Confession Chapter 13, Tony argues that the up-and-down nature of Jonah's spiritual life is not an aberration but a description of the normal Christian life, in which the flesh and spirit remain in perpetual war until glory. Key Concepts Eschatological Faith in the Pit One of the most striking moments in Jonah's prayer is his declaration in 2:4 — "Yet I shall again look upon your holy temple." Tony argues that this is not merely a hope of physical rescue and a return to Jerusalem. Jonah believed he was dying. The waters had closed in to take his life; he was being dragged into underwater trenches that the ancient Semitic mind associated with the very gates of Sheol. In this context, Jonah's declaration is better understood as eschatological faith — a confession that even if God takes his life in judgment, he will still see the Lord face to face in the heavenly temple. It mirrors Job's cry, "Yet in my flesh I shall see God," and anticipates the kind of faith that says, with the father in Mark 9, "Lord, I believe; help my unbelief." Sovereignty and Human Agency Working Together Tony uses Jonah's descent as a teaching moment on the Reformed doctrine of concurrence — the truth that God's sovereign decree and human free will are not in competition but operate simultaneously on different levels. The sailors made a free, agonized decision to throw Jonah overboard; and yet Jonah rightly attributes his casting into the sea to God himself. Tony draws the parallel to Joseph's words to his brothers in Genesis 50: "You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good." This is not a philosophical sleight of hand. It is the consistent testimony of Scripture that God governs all things — including the underwater currents that dragged Jonah to the ocean floor — without reducing human beings to puppets or eliminating their moral responsibility. Sanctification Is Real, Imperfect, and Guaranteed Perhaps the most pastorally significant thread of the episode is Tony's application of Westminster Confession Chapter 13 to Jonah's experience. Jonah makes genuine progress in faith — his prayer is theologically rich and demonstrates real trust in God — and yet he almost immediately slips back behind the curve, making vows the sailors had already made before him, and later in chapter 4, sulking over a dead plant. Tony refuses to read this as a failure of the text. Instead, it is the text faithfully portraying the reality of sanctification: real throughout the whole person, yet imperfect in this life, with an irreconcilable war between flesh and spirit. The hope is not that we will finally overcome that war on our own, but that through the continual supply of the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, the regenerate part will overcome. Salvation — including sanctification — belongs entirely to the Lord. Memorable Quotes Jonah is constantly behind the curve, but for this little moment, for this glimpse in the very center of the book, the pinnacle of the book is Jonah finally catching up to the sailors. All outside visible indicators said he was going to die and he was going to hell. Yet he trusted in the Lord that he would see his holy temple again. God redeems our life from the pit. From the very depths of hell itself, he snatched us like brands from the fire. Full Transcript [00:00:08] Tony Arsenal: Now the word of the Lord came to Jonah the son of Amittai, saying, "Arise, go to Nineveh, that great city, and call out against it. For their evil has come up before me." But Jonah rose to flee to Tarshish from the presence of the Lord. He went down to Joppa and found a ship going to Tarshish. So he paid the fare and went down into it, to go with them to Tarshish, away from the presence of the Lord.  [00:01:24] Storm and Sailors [00:01:24] Tony Arsenal: But the Lord hurled a great wind upon the sea, and there was a mighty tempest on the sea, so that the ship threatened to break up. Then the mariners were afraid, and each cried out to his god. And they hurled the cargo that was in the ship into the sea to lighten it for them. But Jonah had gone down into the inner part of the ship and had lain down and was fast asleep. So the captain came to him and said, "What do you mean, you sleeper? Arise, call out to your god. Perhaps the god will give us a thought that we may not perish." And they said to one another, "Come, let us cast lots, that we may know on whose account this evil has come upon us." So they cast lots, and the lot fell on Jonah. Then they said to him, "Tell us on whose account this evil has come upon us. What is your occupation, and where do you come from? What is your country, and of what people are you?" And he said to them, "I am a Hebrew, and I fear the Lord, the God of heaven, who made the sea and the dry land." Then the men were exceedingly afraid and said to him, "What is this that you have done?" For the men knew that he was fleeing from the presence of the Lord, because he had told them. Then they said to him, "What shall we do to you that the sea may quiet down for us?" For the sea grew more and more tempestuous. [00:02:36] Cast Into Sea [00:02:36] Tony Arsenal: He said to them, "Pick me up and hurl me into the sea. Then the sea will quiet down for you. For I know it is because of me that this great tempest has come upon you." Nevertheless, the men rowed hard to get back to the dry land, but they could not, for the sea grew more and more tempestuous against them. Therefore they called out to the Lord, "O Lord, let us not perish for this man's life, and lay not on us innocent blood. For you, O Lord, has done as it pleased you." So they picked up Jonah and hurled him into the sea. And the sea ceased from its raging. Then the men feared the Lord exceedingly, and they offered a sacrifice to the Lord and made vows. [00:03:15] Fish and Prayer [00:03:15] Tony Arsenal: And the Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish, saying, "I called out to the Lord out of my distress, and he answered me. Out of the belly of Sheol I cried, and you heard my voice. For you cast me into the dep-- into the deep, into the heart of the seas, and the flood surrounded me. All your waves and billows passed over me." Then he said, "I am driven away from your sight. Yet I shall look again upon your holy temple. The waters closed in over me to take my life. The deep surrounded me. Weeds were wrapped around my head." At the root of the mountain I went to the land, whose bars closed upon me forever. Yet you brought my life up from the pit, O Lord my God. When I-- when my life was fainting away, I remembered the Lord, and my prayer came to you into your holy temple. Those who pay regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I, with a voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord.  [00:04:23] Jonah Not the Hero [00:04:23] Tony Arsenal: And the Lord spoke to the fish, and it vomited Jonah out upon the dry land Jonah is an interesting book because, as I commented a year ago, Jonah is not necessarily the hero of the story. Uh, if anything, he is kind of the villain in, in some senses. But nevertheless, I think as we'll see today, Jonah still gives us a good example to follow in a sense, and that I think is really the centerpiece of this prayer, is that even as Jonah's going through all of this, his prayer is still remarkably filled with faithful sayings and trust in the Lord. We learned early on in Jonah that Jonah was a prophet during the time of the kings. Uh, he, uh, he seemed to have been a sort of a court temple. He was in the presence of the kings in Jerusalem itself, and he received a calling from the word of the Lord, and this phrase, "the word of the Lord," seems to imply a pre-incarnate, uh, visible manifestation of the second person of the Trinity. So we're not just talking about a, a disembodied voice. We're not just talking about some sort of sense or impression, but the word of the Lord itself, himself, came to give Jonah this mission, to give Jonah this task, to commission him as a prophet to Nineveh. And Jonah gets up and says, "No, thank you," and he goes the opposite direction. We see in that first section there the repeated phrase, "He goes to Tarshish. He boards a ship in Tarshish." The author here, who we, we think is Jonah, is hammering that he did not go where he was supposed to. He went the opposite direction. He went to Tarshish instead of Nineveh, which is 180 degrees the other direction from, uh, from Nineveh on the map. And he boards the, he boards the ship in order to flee the presence of the Lord. He pays, probably buys out the entire ship itself. He pays the fare for the whole ship, and the Lord hurls a great wave, uses the language of weapons. He hurls this storm like a spear. He weaponizes nature itself to correct and chastise and judge Jonah for his disobedience We get to verses seven through 17, and everyone on the boat is crying out to their chosen deity except Jonah. Jonah is asleep in the hold of the ship, oblivious to everything, totally dead to the world and dead to his Lord. The sailors begin to seek divine li- divine wisdom after they wake Jonah. He comes to the deck of the ship, and they cast lots to identify by divine, uh, revelation, sort of a strange practice in the Old Testament or the old, uh, world. Divine revelation that shows them Jonah is the source of this wickedness that is being wrought upon them, at least their impression of it. So they ask Jonah, "Who are you? Tell us who it is that has caused this great calamity." And he says emphatically, "A Hebrew am I." He identifies himself with God's people, and he says, "The Lord is my God, and he made the heaven and the earth and the sea." There's no small amount of irony, and it explains why the sailors are so afraid when he says that God created the heavens where the storm was. He created the sea where they were about to die, and he created the dry land where they were trying to get to. And so this one phrase that Jonah uses almost casually demonstrates that the Lord has total and utter sovereignty over what is going on, which is a theme that we'll see come back again and again through the book The sailors say, "Well, what do we do about this?" And Jonah says, "Throw me into the ocean, because I know that if you do so, then the storm will calm down and you will be saved." Whether he knew this because he's a prophet and it had been revealed to him, or whether he just was surmising that this was the case, we don't know. But the, uh, sailors are hesitant to do so, and we talked about how it was a little bit strange that these, uh, pagan sailors from cultures that d- had no qualms about human sacrifice were suddenly, uh, unwilling to throw Jonah over the sea a- as a, an appeasement offering to this Lord. And we came to the conclusion that they had been regenerated. They had come to faith in this God who created the heavens and the sea and the dry ground. And so they knew intrinsically that this was wrong, that there was a moral imperative not to do this. So they tried to row back to the land. They jettisoned all of their, uh, all of their goods, all of their cargo. They were making for land as best they could, and when it finally became clear that they couldn't do this, they sought the Lord's mercy in saying, essentially, "We don't understand how this is, but please don't put this man's blood on us, because you, Lord, have done as you please," right? The sovereignty of the Lord again comes to the forefront. They finally cast Jonah into the sea, and this is, this is important. They cast Jonah into the sea, and then they worship, they vow vows, and they vow to sacrifice. They offer sacrifices. They seek the Lord, they acknowledge his s- his sovereignty, and they worship him with what they have left. And then rounding out the chapter, the Lord appoints a great fish to come and swallow up Jonah. And we talked about how this, this swallowing of Jonah, although our popular children's books and VeggieTales and other stories we might read to our kids paints the fish often as the vehicle of judgment, it's actually a vehicle of deliverance for Jonah. There's this interesting grammatical feature that happens where in 1:17 the fish is masculine. The, the, the gender of the word is masculine, and then when we get to 2:1 it switches over to the feminine, almost as if to indicate that the whale was pregnant with Jonah, that Jonah was in the whale and was about to be reborn into the world in a new way And that brings us to our passage here today.  [00:10:21] Sequence Debate [00:10:21] Tony Arsenal: I'm gonna read, uh, 1:17 even though that's a little bit outside of our scope. I'm gonna read it along with 2:1 to, to make the point here. It says, "The Lord appointed a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the whale, of the fish three days and three nights. Then Jonah prayed to the Lord his God from the belly of the fish." When you look at the Hebrew text, 1:17 is actually verse 2:1 and 2:1 is then 2:2 and so on and so forth. In the original Hebrew mindset of how this book goes together, these two things were linked together, him being swallowed by the whale and being in the belly of the fish and then him praying was linked together in this sequence. There's a feature in the Hebrew that's called a vav consecutive. You don't need to remember that. Nobody is gonna care about that. But it's, it's a little grammatical feature where it adds this little character to the front of the verb and it indicates a sequence. It's the narrative storytelling. When you look at Genesis 1 it's, "And then God said, 'Let there be light,' and then there was light." It tells you the sequence of events. Sometimes it indicates that it is a strict sequence of events. This happened and then that finished and then the next thing happened and then that finished. And many of the commentators use this passage to justify a perspective of Jonah where Jonah is this rebellious, stubborn prophet who holds out his stubbornness until the very last minute. He's swallowed by the whale, he's getting digested by stomach acid and he sort of finally relents to the Lord and cries out for deliverance and the Lord acquiesces in response to his prayer. That's certainly a possible interpretation. There's lots of good reasons in the, the text here to think Jonah was kind of a chucklehead and was not paying too much attention to what the Lord had for him The other option is to see this as a way for the author of the text to situate this prayer in contrast to other prayers that are not necessarily talked about directly in this text. And I'm gonna take that later view here, and I think it's important. This makes good sense of the text, and we'll explain exactly why that is when we get to the next little section here. But it also protects us theologically if we understand it this way. Jonah is already a book, uh, as I've alluded to, that tends towards a sort of crass moralism or fabulism. We tend to read it as sort of an allegory of if you do the wrong thing, God punishes you, and when you finally do the right thing, He blesses you. And there's a certain level of common grace wisdom to that approach, right? The whole book of Proverbs is-- are these proverbial sayings that if you do this, then the God-- then God will do this. If you raise up your children in the way they will go, they will not depart when they are older. But we also learn in the Book of Job and the Book of Ecclesiastes that those proverbial sayings, although generally true, it's not a magic formula. And so we have this tendency to read Old Testament literature as though it was this sort of like equation, that God punishes us when we're bad. He, uh, He relents from His punishment when we say we're sorry, and we have to be careful about that. If we understand what I'm about to teach from the next section here, that this is not a strict sequence of events, that Jonah began praying before he was swallowed by the whale, and this is simply recording the prayer that was actually within the whale. It helps protect us from seeing Jonah in this sort of quid pro quo, this for that kind of thing. I think we should simply understand this as saying Jonah was in the water, he got swallowed by the whale, and then when he was in the whale, he prayed. It doesn't say anything about whether he was overly stubborn or whether his stubbornness held out. It simply tells us that he was in the pray-- in the whale when this prayer occurred [00:14:23] Sheol and Descent [00:14:23] Tony Arsenal: He says in verse two, he calls out to the Lord out of his distress. He, and God answers him. Out of the belly of Sheol, Jonah cries, and God hears his voice This here tells us that he began praying, right? He was in the water, he was in the deep. All of this descriptive language we're gonna see later on about how deep he was, how quickly the current took him. He was wrapped up in seaweed, his life was fading from him. It was in the midst of all of that that he cries out in his distress. It's a pretty distressing situation. And Jonah, like all of us would, like even most atheists would, cries out to the Lord, even just out of instinct. I think it's kind of crazy for us to think that this man who's now been cast overboard and is being swept to the bottom of the ocean is sure he's gonna die. Somehow, he overrides all of his instinct and his entire life teaching and refuses to pray to the Lord. It just doesn't make sense, and it doesn't make sense of what the text presents here Jonah was in the belly of Sheol. He was in the very, the very womb of Sheol. And there is this interesting contrast that he goes from the belly of Sheol into the belly of the whale. This phrase, the belly of Sheol, is probably roughly equivalent to our phrase about being at death's door, right? It, it may or may not come from some sort of Mesopotamian, um, mythology. It may be a phrase of sort of co-opted into Hebrew, kinda like our phrase at death's door is actually co-opted in from Greek mythology, where there were actually literal doors to the underworld, and people would go there and when they were about to die. Jonah's point is that this was not a small thing. When we watch VeggieTales, he gets thrown in the water, and, like, 13 seconds later, the, the whale comes up and takes him. Jonah was swept down into the water almost supernaturally quick. He was drawn down to the very bottom of the ocean. We talk about the miracle of him surviving in the whale, and it was miraculous for sure, but the miracle of him being swept to the bottom of the ocean and not being crushed by the weight of the water, by the pressure, is equally miraculous. It's no more difficult for God to do that than it is for Him to preserve him in the whale or to raise Jesus from the dead or to create everything from nothing He finally starts to catch up with the pagan sailors. A theme in Jonah is that everyone around Jonah who shouldn't know any better somehow gets to the right conclusion before he does, right? The sailors begin to worship the Lord. They recognize this is divine wrath while Jonah is still asleep in the hold. Later, we'll see that, uh, the, the Ninevites recognize God's mercy and grace and thank Him for it, and Jonah is still mad because the plant he was sitting on d- uh, dies, right? Jonah is constantly behind the curve, but for this little moment, for this glimpse in the very center of the book, the pinnacle of the book is Jonah finally catching up to the sailors. [00:17:34] Sovereignty Explained [00:17:34] Tony Arsenal: He recognizes that it was God who cast him into the depths. This teaches us something about the doctrine of sovereignty and how it relates to human freedom, right? We, we often ask the question, what, what causes rain? Well, you can answer that by saying tiny particles of dust collect water in the air, and once they have enough weight, they fall out of the sky 'cause the air can't hold them up anymore. That's true, and it's good, and that's what nature teaches us. It's also equally true that God causes the rain to fall on the just and the unjust alike, and those two things are not contradictory. So when Jonah says, "You cast me into the sea," he's recognizing, like Joseph does in the Book of Genesis, that what the sailors in this case meant for good but what the brothers meant for evil, God purposed and caused for good. What the sailors did by their own volition, their own free will, they exercised their own, uh, autonomy in the, the horizontal sense to cast Jonah into the sea, God also cast him into the sea As I said, the text here uses language that we may not catch in our English translations to indicate that it's not just the sea here that's the problem. God's sovereignty continues to affect and act on Jonah. The word that we read here as the, the water or the flood, other places refers to the current of a river. The, um, the Euphrates itself is sometimes referred to this, the large- sort of the largest river apart from the Nile that the Egyptian or the, um, Israelite mind would have is the Euphrates, right? This underwater river, this underwater current, the undertow sucks him to the bottom of the ocean. It's like if you're swimming at the beach at the ocean and you get caught in the undercurrent. There's not a lot you can do about it. Y- sometimes even the strongest swimmers can't overcome this, and Jonah in all of his Middle Eastern robes, all of this stuff, probably with all of his baggage, his, his own equipment, things he had on him, is caught in this undercurrent that sucks him to the bottom of the ocean. And it's not just below the surface of the water. He's dropped down into the heart of the sea, the very core. We're seeing this language of him being pulled to the depths. In, in chapter one he goes down, down, down, and now he's being drawn into the belly of the ocean, into the pit of Sheol, into the heart of the waters The picture here is that Jonah doesn't just get thrown in the water and sink. He is actively pulled down to the bottom. This is not just a judgment where perhaps he can swim to the top. Just as the mariners hopelessly tried to reach land, Jonah would've been hopelessly trying to swim against this. We don't actually have any indication he tried, but had he tried, there would've been no chance He goes on to say that the God's breakers and his waves roll him. This is the picture we see if you ever watch surfing competitions on the ocean, where a surfer will get hit by the wave and he just gets rolled over and rolled over and rolled over, and it can be incredibly dangerous. That's why they have like the little lifeguards on the jet skis that zip out there to get them. Because when you get caught in that breaker, you just get rolled over and rolled over and rolled over, and soon you lose track of which direction is up, and even if you did, you couldn't get out This process is not just the forces of nature doing what they do. This is, again, the Lord weaponizing the forces of nature to execute judgment on Jonah This tumultuous and supernatural rapid descent showed Jonah that this is not only the moment in which God wanted to take his life, but was actively casting him away from the g- from the presence of the Lord [00:21:47] Yet I Will See [00:21:47] Tony Arsenal: It says here, um, in verse four, Jonah says, "I am driven away from your sight If you do a word study on this, you start to see that Jonah is pulling language from the creation account. He's pulling language from the fall. He's pulling a lot of language from Genesis itself. He's also pulling from the Psalms, which are pulling from the Genesis account. This word driven away could also be tran- translated as banished. He's cast out of the presence of the Lord. Just as in Genesis 3, we read, "God drove the man out at the east of the Garden of Eden. He placed cherubim and flaming swords." He drove the man out. Genesis 4:14, Cain says, "You have driven me away from the ground." And in Jonah 1:3, we see that Jonah was trying to get away from the presence of the Lord. And I wonder if there was this moment where he goes, "Ooh, I guess I got what I was looking for." Now, the second half of Jonah f- 2:4 here does something a little bit weird, and it's hard to translate. I think we should be honest at times. Hebrew is a language that in some senses is mysterious to us at times. There are still parts of the Hebrew Bible that we're not always 100% sure of. This verse here could be translated... In, in Hebrew it's just a statement. It's, "I, um, I shall again see the holy temple, or your holy temple." How that fits into the text itself is tricky. Some read it as, uh, as a question. "How shall I see your holy temple?" It's actually a statement kind of reaffirming the doubt and the fear and the idea that God was banishing him Most translations translate it as sort of a contrast. He says, "I was driven away from your sight, yet I shall again look on your holy temple." The force of this is even though you're driving me away, even though you're casting me out of your presence, I have faith, I have confidence that I will again see your holy temple The question here, and this is where I think Jonah becomes our example It's certainly possible that Jonah was asserting his belief that he would be rescued from this calamity and he would make his way back to Jerusalem and he would return to the holy temple. I think that what he says in the rest of this, he's recounting what he was praying. What he was praying in this context is not that he would return to the temple. He was confident God was taking his life. He says in verse five, "The waters closed in over me to take my life. The deep surrounded me. Weeds were wrapped around my head." The other way that the phrase holy temple is used in the Old Testament is to refer to the place that God lives in heaven. Jonah was asserting faith that even though he was being cast out of the presence of the Lord in this life, even though he was being justly punished for his sin, even though he was about to enter the belly of Sheol and to enter the pit, the very abyss, that he would see God again in His holy temple. This is a statement of Jonah's belief in his own destiny as one of God's people, destined to be saved by faith in God. In this moment, Jonah trusts the Lord despite all of the appearances that God was out to get him It's not all that different than when we read in Mark chapter 9, where this father brings his, uh, demon-possessed child to Jesus, and Jesus says, "I can heal him." And he says, "If you can do anything, Lord," I'm paraphrasing here. He says, "If you can do it, please, Lord." And he says, "If? All things are possible for me." And the father desperately cries out, "Lord, I believe. Help my unbelief." It's this raw, unfiltered statement of just the human condition on this side of glory, right? I believe in the Lord, but there's always that little part in the back of my head that isn't sure, because we're never going to be perfect. Now, I've said before, and, and this is becoming my new catchphrase, I think, I'm not here to rob you of your assurance of faith. Our, our confession, the Bible, this church, our Reform, broader Reform tradition, the assurance of faith of the Christian is the rightful possession inheritance of every person in this room who trusts the Lord. But it is a reality that at times that assurance is shaken. And if there's ever a time for your assurance to be shaken, it's when you're being dragged to the bottom of the ocean, right? One of the words in here, I don't have it-- I don't actually have it in my notes for some reason, but one of the note, words here, uh, s- about the roots of the mountain, I believe, in the next verse. It's not just that he was dragged to the bottom of the ocean. This word root of the mountain is like the word that's used to cut. He's not just being dragged to the bottom of the sea, he's being dragged to the bottom of a deep sea crevasse. He's literally being pulled into the pit, right? Many, uh, in the ancient Semitic world would have seen these underwater pits. They would have theorized or thought about these underwater crevasses as the actual entry into Sheol. And Jonah sees himself being drawn down into these things. Yet, he believes he will see the good presence of the Lord We read a similar statement, I won't, uh, I won't make us go there for time. We read a similar statement in Job. Job goes through this long speech about all the things that God has done to him, and at the very end of it, he says, "Yet I will see the Lord with my eyes, and he will stand up next to me on, on the earth." Right? Even though Job was going through this unimaginable grief, and we know that Job didn't deserve it in the strict sense, he still was saying, "I'm gonna be destroyed. God is shooting arrows at me," right? "His sword is in my side. He's targeting me. He's sending hornets after me." All of these terrible, vibrant images that he's using to show what God is doing to him, and yet he still trusts. I would say that he trusts that he would see the Lord in the flesh. This is not only Jonah's faith, it's a-- or Job's faith, it's a prophecy of Christ This is alien to our modern mindset. We've been talking about this in the Psalms. Weston's been leading us through the, the lament Psalms We often think that suffering and trials and difficulties are the opposite of blessing and favor. And we might recognize that in some sort of way that in God's economy, one thing leads to another. And again, there's an element of truth to that. James says, "Count it all joy when you face trials of every kind." He's not saying that the trials you're facing are in themselves joyful. You don't have to love when you get sick. You don't have to, you don't have to man up and put a smile on or s- pull yourself up by your bootstraps or whatever analogy you wanna use. It's okay to be sad when bad things happen. It's actually good, right? If we're to weep with those who weep, there's an element of sadness that must come with that, not to mention the one who's weeping is not chastised. But the idea that that only leads to this, that that's just one step in the chain, that's not really the mindset the Bible has. All across the Psalms, in the lament Psalms, all across the prophetic literature, the Book of Lamentations, Habakkuk has this long prayer at the end that's very similar, the entire Book of Job, suffering and sanctification, trials and joy and restoration, they're all sandwiched right there, and there is usually this statement in the middle of it that God will do what is right This is Jonah's example for us, and what an example it is. We'll talk in a little bit about all the ways that this whole scenario is typological of Christ. We'll, we'll get to that. But just for a minute in the middle of this book, Jonah is not such a bad guy. And it's because he still has all his faults that he can be this example for us [00:30:26] Genesis Deep Imagery [00:30:26] Tony Arsenal: As though it wasn't clear enough, Jonah in verse five says that the purpose of the waters closing over him was explicitly to take his life. He's now in the belly of the sea. He's being dragged down to the very roots of the mountain, to the very core of the earth in his mind. He, he thinks he's going to hell in the, the Hebrew mind. There's both this idea that God is dragging him to hell in a very real sense. The Hebrew mind, Sheol was a physical place that people went to, and we learn more about it and that becomes clarified as revelation is progressive, not contradictory, but as, as it's clarified But he uses this word deep, and this is where he's drawing again from Genesis. Genesis 1:2, he says, "The earth was without form and void. The darkness was over the face of the deep." The deep is this sort of like unformed chaotic water. It's what exists before God makes everything orderly and good. And in the fall, and especially in the flood in chapter seven, uh, chapter seven verse 11, the f- the flood itself is a sort of undoing of the order. God opens the floods from beneath, from the bottom of the earth, from the wellspring of the deep, as well as the chaotic waters from outside the firmament, and it all pours back in together and the entire world becomes again this deep, primordial, chaotic water And just as in Genesis God separates the land, in, in Genesis 7 or in Genesis 8, he separates out the land by drying it up, drying up the water. We also see that Jonah has this trust that he will return to the dry land. Again, he's the God of heaven and sea and dry earth. We could even read this phrase, depending on the context, as the abyss, which is this, a- again, is some borrowed language from Greek here that the Hebrews use. But it's this deep, watery, murky place th- full of shadows and darkness. Sounds familiar, I think, right? Christ says that those who are apart from him who refuse to obey will be cast into the outer darkness. This is the imagery that Jonah is seeing. All outside visible indicators was that he was gonna die and he was going to hell. Yet he trusted in the Lord that he would see his holy temple again Apart from God's gracious intervention, Jonah was right. So although God is the one that's bringing him to the depth, bringing him to the pit, dragging him down, using the very currents of the sea, weaponizing these underwater currents that only thousands of years later do we understand, and even then only this much, he also graciously rescues him from this by miraculously appointing a whale or a great fish who comes and swallows Jonah, takes him whole, and keeps him there in his own belly, keeps him there in her own womb when we get to chapter 2. In chapter six, or in verse six, Jonah makes this pivot. Again, he says he's brought to the very bottom of the sea, to the roots of the mountain, which is these deep underwater trenches. He conceptualizes himself now in this locked city behind bars. Again, this jail imagery, this pit imagery, it's all meant to evoke this idea of the final punishment of the wicked. This place of murky, gross water, this place of darkness and, uh, limitations of freedom, he's being taken there. This is the section here where people would actually argue that Jonah dies. He actually dies and is resurrected when he's swallowed by the whale. This comes from language where it says God does not prevent him from going to the pit. God actually draws him to the pit and then raises his life up from the pit. Now, I'm not convinced, um, that we should think that Jonah actually died. I don't, I don't think that the text fully supports that. But it certainly is using this imagery [00:34:45] Christ Typology [00:34:45] Tony Arsenal: This is where we get to some typology about Christ. This is where Jonah really shines as a prophet. Sometimes people wonder why the Book of Jonah is considered a prophetic book, and this along with it is part of that. Jonah, although the sign of Jonah in Matthew and in the other Gospels refers to the belly of the whale, that just as Jonah was in the belly of the whale for three days and three nights, so also Christ will be in the heart of the earth, the pit, for three days and three nights. When we're talking about typology, we can't get too tripped up on the details. We're not talking about strict allegory where this figure is that person and this signpost represents that thing. This isn't Pilgrim's Progress or Chronicles of Narnia, which is not allegory, but it's similar. Topology functions often on sort of these big picture concepts, right? Although there are some typological references that are super detailed, there are also some that are just sort of evocative The idea that Jonah died and was raised to life and sort of incubated in the earth, in- incubated in the whale and sort of reborn into the world, that certainly sounds a lot like a picture of the resurrection And I think we should see it that way. When Christ says that the sign of Jonah is roughly His resurrection, He is tying it to the three days and three nights, but He's not limiting to that Jonah comes to this pivot, and now he starts to reflect on the context of his deliverance. This whole s- this whole prayer should be seen sort of in the light of the thanksgiving psalms. There's a situation in which Jonah is in, and then God rescues him, and he begins to praise him for it. There's elements of lament, but it's really a thanksgiving psalm that he's drawing on here or that he's, he's writing In 2:7, Jonah is either dead or he's actively dying. I don't know about you, but if you've ever, uh, dove into a pool and got a little deeper than you thought you were, and you-- there's that, like, two seconds before you get to the top where you're sure the lights are going out and you've really only been underwater for, like, 45 seconds, but everything in you tells you if you don't get there, you're gonna die. Every instinct you have is to scramble for the surface. Think about how long it took Jonah to be dragged to the bottom of the ocean. Even at this accelerated pace, we're talking about a long time. And we have no reason to believe, and lots of reasons to think otherwise, Jonah was not preserved from the pain and the terror and the difficulty of feeling like you're drowning because he was drowning. He was without oxygen. His life was fading away. And it is in this context of him being on the brink of death, at death's door, in the belly of Sheol, being drawn into the very pit itself, that his prayer reaches the Lord in His holy temple. Right? This gives further evidence to the thought that Jonah is not talking about the temple in Jerusalem. There was, there was theology, and I, I think it's fine theology, that God lived in the temple in a special way. This is the reason that Daniel faces Jerusalem when he prays. There is a sense in the Old Testament that God's special place of presence is the temple in Jerusalem, and that the prayers of the people physically go to that place to be received by God. But Jonah doesn't know which direction the temple is. He's underwater. He's been tossed around by breakers. He has no sense of geography at this point He knows that his prayers are reaching the Lord in his heavenly temple. And they reach him in his heavenly temple just as his life is being lost in the pit. And it is from this moment that God raises him to life, or preserves his life, depending how you read it, and appoints the well to come reach him And some read this next verse as a little bit of a step back for Jonah, and it may be.  [00:39:02] Vows and Idols [00:39:02] Tony Arsenal: He reads, "Those who pay vain regard to i- regard to vain idols forsake their hope of steadfast love. But I, with the voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. And what I have vowed I will pay. Salvation belongs to the Lord." Jonah didn't see the sailors on the ship vow their vows and offer their sacrifices. That happened after they threw him into the pit and the current sucked him under So we may read this with a little bit of a, "Thank God I'm not like that tax collector," kind of a lens. And there's probably some wisdom for us in that, to recognize that Jonah still hasn't quite gotten there. But it's also very common in the Old Testament to recognize that God treats His people differently because they are different. God brings people to a place of sanctification, and through that process of sanctification, they cease to worship vain idols. And it is absolutely true that those who worship vain idols forfeit their hope of steadfast love from the Lord. That's straight out of the Ten Commandments, right? He visits the iniquity of, specifically of idolatry. He visits the iniquity unto the children to the third and fourth generation. But for those who love the Lord, He loves them with a steadfast love unto thousands We can recognize in Jonah that although he had made great progress in faith, that he still wasn't there yet. And we can recognize that in him because we can recognize that in ourselves. Jonah is the example in this because he is not perfect, because he has not arrived, 'cause he doesn't do a 180 about-face and get everything right going forward We can read this in light of Jonah in chapter four, where he takes big steps back Or we can read this as the regular up and down progress of sanctification in the life of all believers everywhere It is also ironic again, we're back now to Jonah being a little bit behind the curve. He was sent to Nineveh to evangelize the heathens, some of the worst enemies that Israel was going to face, and he ignores that call. And he, instead of going to Nineveh, he goes to Tarshish. He goes the opposite direction, and he does something that would be unthinkable to most Israelites. He goes out on the open ocean. That's just insanity to someone living in the ancient world He should have recognized that the sailors were fearing the Lord when they refused to throw him overboard. I think we all have a sort of innate sense when someone's behavior suddenly changes, and I think most of us, and not in some sort of strange, kooky, charismatic sense, but I think most of us can sort of go, "I think I know why that is." Right, when you, when you see someone at work that suddenly stops lying about everything and stops backbiting and stops taking credit for other people's work, and then you find out a little while linger- longer that they've come to faith in Christ, if we're being honest, we're not all that surprised. But Jonah doesn't get it. Jonah here promises the same things that the sailors already did, so now we're again back behind the curve [00:42:37] Sanctification Confession [00:42:37] Tony Arsenal: To wrap this out, I, I wanna, um, I wanna ground this in something that I think is really vital for us to understand. As I said, Jonah is an example to us because he demonstrates the limited nature of sanctification, but he also demonstrates in a certain sense the fact that sanctification is real and has real effects. So this is a little out of the ordinary, but grab your Trinity Hymnal from the pew in front of you. If you happen to have a copy of the Confession, you could use that if you'd prefer. But open with me to page 927 I have, um, I've been, uh, broadly Reformed most of my Christian life and didn't realize it until I got to seminary. And since I discovered the Westminster Confession of Faith a decade ago, it's not new, uh, not new to me, um, I realized how valuable this resource was. This is essentially a search engine without the internet. And so I wanna just read a little bit out of chapter 13 here, which is our Confessions chapter on sanctification. I'm not gonna read the whole thing, but the, the first, uh, the first section here essentially says that sanctification is real, and it happens throughout the whole person. We talk about total depravity, and there is a sense in which the Christian remains totally depraved after regeneration, in that there still is, there still is corruption within our entire being, uh, that is depraved. There's also an equal sense in which we can say we are totally sanctified in Christ because sanctification is throughout the whole man in which we are renewed after the image of God. So that's section one. And then section two says, "This sanctification is throughout," again, throughout the whole man, "in the whole man, yet imperfect in this life. There abiding still some remnant of corruption in every part, whence ariseth a continual and irre- irreconcilable war, the flesh left lusting after the spirit, and the spirit lusting after the flesh." Now, that may feel like just a crushing burden if you stop reading there, but it lines up with our experience, right? This is Paul in Romans 7, "The good things I wanna do, I do not, and the bad things that I, I kn- I do not want to do, I somehow do. The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." We shouldn't read that as though somehow our spirits are purified entirely and our bodies are what's really causing us to sin. This is a picture of the spirit being, uh, our, our spiritual part of us. The part of us that's regenerated is willing, but the part of us that remains corrupt is our flesh And our confession goes on to say, "In which war, although the remaining corruption for a time may much prevail, yet through the continual supply of strength from the sanctification- sanctifying spirit of Christ, the regenerate part doth overcome." And so the saints grow in grace, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. This is revolutionary in our broader evangelical world. The storybook Bible, Jonah did a bad thing and he gets punished, and he did a good thing and so he gets better, cannot understand this concept. This is why I think we have to be so careful when we choose what books to give to our little ones, right? I, I make jokes about VeggieTales. I loved VeggieTales when I was in VeggieTales age range. I probably would sit down and watch VeggieTales with Augie when he gets old enough. But we have to be so careful not to let those messages come to our children, or to ourselves for that matter, uninterpreted by the scriptures first and foremost, and our Reformed tradition that we all believe. Amen.  [00:46:49] Assurance in the Pit [00:46:49] Tony Arsenal: This is vital for us When all is said and done, salvation, whether we're talking about justification, sanctification, glorification, resurrection, all of the different stages and phases of our salvation, it is entirely of the Lord. And it's for this reason that Jonah says, "I, with a voice of thanksgiving, will sacrifice to you. What I have vowed I will pay." Salvation belongs to the Lord So this is the application of the sermon, loved ones. No matter how close to or actually into the pit itself we have fallen The, the chapter on assurance of faith, I won't go there, but the chapter in our confession on assurance of faith is very honest with us that our assurance will be shaken, and at times we may not feel as though we have any assurance at all But even when we have fallen that deep into the pit of despair, even when we feel as though we are in the very depths of hell No matter how much our spiritual or physical life is fainting away as we starve for spiritual breath, as we feel that impulse in us that recognizes we're moments away from losing the faith entirely. No matter how much the remnants of corruption in every part swirl around our heads like seaweed, how often do we feel wrapped up in sin? Whatever it is, I don't need to get specific 'cause I'm sure all of you are thinking of something in your head right now that has been swirling around you for years. Maybe it's months, maybe it's years. Maybe you've never felt, since coming to Christ, you've never felt like it wasn't wrapped up around you like seaweed. Besetting sin is something that we need to be serious about, and it's a good cause for us to think hard and deep about our status as Christians, and to go to our pastor and seek the elders' assistance in this. But besetting sin is not, is not a mark that excludes you from, from Christianity. Right? We're justified by faith alone, in Christ alone, by His grace alone. Not because we've overcome our besetting sin alone, right? That's not one of the five solas God redeems our life from the pit. From the very depths of hell itself, he snatched us like brands from the fire And though it is the case that we often are shaken, and at times God, just as he let Jonah, he let Jonah go to Tarshish. God had every ability to stop him from doing a stupid thing, and sometimes he does that, right? I'm sure there's plenty of times we can think about in our lives where we were heading towards sin and God just pulled a U-turn on us, and we are thankful for that. But there are times that he does not, and he lets us, he lets us do that. He lets us suffer the consequences, and he does that to chastise us and bring us back to him And even in the context of that, it is through this continual supply of the sanctifying Spirit of Christ, right?  [00:50:19] God Beautifies His Bride [00:50:19] Tony Arsenal: Christ was anointed by the Holy Spirit from the womb beyond measure. That's in the Book of John. There was never a time where Christ did not have the totality of the infinite sanctifying Spirit of the God, of God. We do not have the totality of the sanctifying Spirit of God. Now, we can get into a discussion after the service about divine simplicity and all the complexity of that, but the reality is that God sanctifies us more and more and more, and He does it by giving us the Spirit more and more. Might be more accurate to say He gives more of us to the Spirit. He gives us to the Spirit more and more. He gives us to Jesus more and more. We are Christ's inheritance. We are His bride. And just as the bride, as they're approaching the wedding, is made more and more beautiful, they start their, their beauty treatments weeks and months ahead of time, right? They're already making their hair appointments. They're already doing what they need to do to feel as beautiful as they can and to be as beautiful as they can on their wedding day. If that's the way we treat human weddings; guys do it too, just not as much. If that's the way we treat human weddings, how much more does God treat the heavenly wedding of His Son to His beloved bride? He's beautifying us, Church. Doesn't always feel like it. Doesn't always look like it, but He is. 

❖ Follow along with today's reading: www.esv.org/2Kings13:1–14:29;2Chronicles25:1–28 ❖ The English Standard Version (ESV) is an 'essentially literal' translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors, the ESV Bible emphasizes 'word-for-word' accuracy, literary excellence, and depth of meaning. ❖ To learn more about the ESV and other audio resources, please visit www.ESV.org

Varsha Gohil's 23 year case against her ex-husband changed the law for anyone whose spouse hides their wealth in divorce proceedings. It is thought to be the one of the longest-running financial disputes in English family law. Varsha tells Anita Rani about a two-decade battle that included gaining a law degree and representing herself in court. For three decades, the singer-songwriter, Beth Orton has remained one of the most distinctive voices in contemporary music. She's developed a devoted audience, winning a BRIT Award and Mercury Prize nominations for albums such as Trailer Park and Central Reservation. She has collaborated with artists such as The Chemical Brothers, Andrew Weatherall and Nick Cave, and she's performed at venues including the Royal Albert Hall, Sydney Opera House, Glastonbury Festival and Carnegie Hall. Her 2022 album, Weather Alive, became a major critical breakthrough. Her first self-produced album, it earned widespread acclaim, with The New York Times praising its “modal vocal phrases". Beth joins Anita to discuss her new album The Ground Above, and to perform live.DJ Smokin Jo has been a trailblazer in an industry largely dominated by men. A resident at the legendary Trade parties in London in the early 90s she was soon playing the world's biggest clubs and was the first - and still only - woman to be named DJ Magazine's DJ of the year. Jo joins Anita to discuss her memoir which details the highs and lows of her career, from finding her community on the dancefloor to rehab, misogyny and what has and hasn't changed for women in dance music. Presenter: Anita Rani Producer: Simon Richardson

❖ Follow along with today's reading: www.esv.org/Deuteronomy31;Psalm119:97–120;Isaiah58;Matthew6 ❖ The English Standard Version (ESV) is an 'essentially literal' translation of the Bible in contemporary English. Created by a team of more than 100 leading evangelical scholars and pastors, the ESV Bible emphasizes 'word-for-word' accuracy, literary excellence, and depth of meaning. ❖ To learn more about the ESV and other audio resources, please visit www.ESV.org

This week we are continuing the story of Anne of Green Gables, written by L. M. Montgomery. Enjoy this classic with us every week on Thursday, with your favorite story reader, Amanda Weldin! Draw us a picture of what you think any of the characters in this story look like, and then tag us in it on instagram @storiespodcast! We'd love to see your artwork and share it on our feed!! If you would like to support Stories Podcast, you can subscribe and give us a five star review on iTunes, check out our merch at storiespodcast.com/shop, follow us on Instagram @storiespodcast, or just tell your friends about us! Check out our new YouTube channel at youtube.com/storiespodcast. If you've ever wanted to read along with our stories, now you can! These read-along versions of our stories are great for early readers trying to improve their skills or even adults learning English for the first time. Check it out.

YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/KDcbOcLToMIALL EPISODES/SHOW NOTESfollowHIM website: https://www.followHIM.coFREE PDF DOWNLOADS OF followHIM QUOTE BOOKSNew Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastNTBookOld Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastOTBookBook of Mormon: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastBMBook  WEEKLY NEWSLETTER https://tinyurl.com/followHIMnewsletter  SOCIAL MEDIA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/followHIMpodcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Cofounder, Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsAmelia Kabwika: Portuguese TranscriptsHeather Barlow: Communications DirectorSydney Smith: Social Media, Graphic Design "Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Uncle Si insists his childhood slingshot skills were so powerful that he could launch a rock into the next town, but the boys aren't even close to buying it. Martin attempts to broker a showdown against PGA golfer Scottie Scheffler based on Si's wild athletic claims. Jay Stone reveals that it was Phil who gave Terry Bradshaw his famous “Blind Bomber” nickname, and John-David takes issue with English soccer fans' music choices when riding mechanical bulls in Texas. Duck Call Room episode #564 is sponsored by: Get bugs out of your house with Pestie. Go to https://pestie.com/DUCK for 10% off your order. https://shopify.com/duck — Sign up for your $1 per-month trial today! https://stopboxusa.com/duckcall — Get firearm security redesigned and save 10% when you use code DUCKCALL at checkout! - Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

At the Hay Festival, Misha Glenny and guests discuss the impact of the Norman invasion on the people and land of Wales and across the modern border with England in what became known as The Welsh Marches, march being a term for a militarized borderland. Hay was one of the first Marcher lordships. Even before 1066, William the Conqueror knew that he would have to subdue the Welsh if he were to control the English and he allowed more and more Norman warlords to establish virtually their own private kingdoms in these Marches. Later some of the Lords were to use these bases to invade Ireland rather than conquer the rest of Wales. Marcher Lords built numerous castles such as the one at Hay and many new towns would then grow up alongside these where there was one law for the English and another for the Welsh and, though the Acts of Union under the Tudors brought an end to much of the Marcher Lords' powers, the distinct identity of these Welsh Marches continued.With Rhun Emlyn Lecturer in the Department of History and Welsh History at Aberystwyth UniversityHelen Fulton Professor of Medieval Literature at the University of BristolAnd Huw Pryce Emeritus Professor of Welsh History at Bangor UniversityProducer: Simon TillotsonReading list:R. R. Davies, The Age of Conquest: Wales 1063-1415 (Oxford University Press, 2001)R.R. Davies, Lordship and Society in the March of Wales 1282-1400 (Oxford University Press, 1978)John Fleming, The Welsh Marcher Lordships II: South-West (Logaston Press, 2023)Ben Giles, The Welsh Marches: 40 Town and Country Walks (Pocket Mountains, 2012)Philip Hume, The Welsh Marcher Lordships I: Central & North (Logaston Press, 2021)Max Lieberman, The March of Wales, 1067–1300: A Borderland of Medieval Britain (University of Wales Press, 2018)Max Lieberman, The Medieval March of Wales: The Creation and Perception of a Frontier, 1066-1283 (Cambridge University Press, 2010)D. Huw Owen, The Lordship of Denbigh 1282-1543 (University of Wales Press, 2024)Mike Parker, All the Wide Border: Wales, England and the Places Between (HarperNorth, 2024)Dewi Roberts, Both Sides of the Border: An Anthology of Writing on the Welsh Border Region (Gwasg Carreg Gwalch/Eagle Rock Press, 1998)Christopher Somerville, The Welsh Borders (Philips, 1991)David Stephenson, Patronage and Power in the Medieval Welsh March: One Family's Story (University of Wales Press, 2021)David Walker, Medieval Wales (Cambridge University Press, 2008)In Our Time is a BBC Studios ProductionSpanning history, religion, culture, science and philosophy, In Our Time from BBC Radio 4 is essential listening for the intellectually curious. In each episode, host Misha Glenny and expert guests explore the characters, events and discoveries that have shaped our world.

“How much can a priest change in the Mass?” This question opens a discussion on the boundaries of liturgical modifications, alongside inquiries about the sacrilege of receiving communion in the hand, the optional nature of certain prayers during the Communion rite, and the significance of the priest’s gestures before the Gospel reading. Join the Catholic Answers Live Club Newsletter Invite our apologists to speak at your parish! Visit Catholicanswersspeakers.com Questions Covered: 02:40 – How much is the priest allowed to change things in the mass? 10:40 – How do we answer sedevacantist who say that prior popes made it a sacrilege to receive communion in the hand? 13:00 – In the Communion rite, in the preparation, sometimes there is a prayer the priest says and sometimes there is not — is it optional? 21:35 – i finally have made the decision to come to the Catholic church. Getting to talk to Tom last week about hyperdulia really helped. I was hoping for a book suggestion for Catholic basics. 23:20 – At what point during the Mass does the bread and wine become Jesus? 31:05 – what is the difference between infallibility & indefectability? The English translation for indefectability seems to indicate the Church is without error, but how if Clergy are sinners? 33:00 – When the priest is about to read the gospel, he makes the sign of the cross on his forehead, lips, and heart. What is the significance of that? Are there words that accompany that? 34:38 – I'm in the Reformed tradition. I was taught that Catholic Mass was like sacrificing Jesus over and over again, but I've never actually asked a Catholic their view of that. What is the Catholic view of that? 46:54 – If you go to a SSPX Mass after the upcoming illicit consecrations is it a mortal sin? 50:55 – What should an extraordinary minister of holy communion do when people come up with hands crossed for a blessing?

Want to know your English level? Take our free English-level quiz here to find out what your current English level is.  Do you love All Ears English?  Try our other podcasts here: Business English Podcast: Improve your Business English with 3 episodes per week, featuring Lindsay, Michelle, and Aubrey IELTS Energy Podcast: Learn IELTS from a former Examiner and achieve your Band 7 or higher, featuring Lindsay McMahon and Aubrey Carter with Jessica Beck in previous episodes Visit our website here or https://lnk.to/website-sn If you love this podcast, hit the follow button now so that you don't miss five fresh and fun episodes every single week.  Don't forget to leave us a review wherever you listen to the show. Send your English question or episode topic idea to support@allearsenglish.com Shopify: Stop waiting for permission to build something. Your next revenue stream starts free at shopify.com/aee Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Have you ever asked the internet about a health problem before asking a doctor? In this episode, Andrew and Anna talk about using AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini for health advice, and whether you can really trust them. Andrew shares a small health problem of his own and the answer he got from AI, and together they work out when a chatbot is actually helpful and when it is time to see a real doctor. Along the way they get into how confident these tools sound, who should be responsible when the advice is wrong, and what a visit to the doctor might look like in the future. Culips Meetup in Seoul! If you are in Korea, come and meet us in person at the Culips Meetup in Seoul on July 19, from 2 to 4 PM. RSVP here. To build your fluency, try listening to the episode more than once and saying the new expressions out loud until you feel comfortable using them yourself. The Best Way to Learn with This Episode: Culips members get an interactive transcript, a helpful study guide, and ad-free audio for this episode. Take your English to the next level by becoming a Culips member. Become a Culips member now: Click here Members can access the ad-free version: Click here. Join our Discord community to connect with other learners and get more English practice. Click here to join. Keep an ear out for these phrases during the episode: To get something checked out First port of call To take something with a grain of salt Off you trot Hypochondriac To go through the roof

Merriam-Webster's Word of the Day for June 25, 2026 is: jaundiced • JAWN-dist • adjective Jaundiced means “showing or influenced by feelings of distrust, distaste, or hostility.” Someone described as jaundiced, or as possessing jaundiced opinions or views, is typically understood to feel that way because of negative past experiences. // She developed a jaundiced view of politics after years of chairing her local school board committee and witnessing all kinds of petty shenanigans. See the entry > Examples: “Now, I'm not accusing the mayor of anything. I'm saying that all of these actions were highly inappropriate for an elected official. I voted for her, but will forevermore look at her actions with a jaundiced eye.” — Eric Rinehimer, The Retrospect (Collingswood, New Jersey), 23 Jan. 2026 Did you know? Cast not a jaundiced eye on the word jaundiced—and by that we mean this: don't dislike or distrust jaundiced because of past experiences with the word or with others like it. Jaundiced is handy for describing the grumps among us who tend toward envy, aversion, or hostility, and who doesn't know a few of those? This useful 17th century adjective comes from an also-useful 14th century noun jaundice that still refers to a medical condition in which excess bile pigments in the bloodstream and body tissues cause a person's skin to turn yellow. The connection between the physical condition and the bad attitude lies in the physiological theory of the bodily humors, which holds that a hostile, irritable temperament is caused by excess yellow bile in one's body.

Today we're doing a throwback episode to one of our favorites from the early days of Stories Podcast. A Wolf in Sheep's Clothing! A hungry wolf tries to use a disguise to finally get to eat some dinner, but will all the other sheep notice the predator in their midst? Tune in to find out! Check out Stories RPG our new show where we play games like Starsworn with all your Max Goodname friends, and Gigacity Guardians featuring the brilliant firefly! https://link.chtbl.com/gigacity Draw us a picture of what you think any of the characters in this story look like, and then tag us in it on instagram @storiespodcast! We'd love to see your artwork and share it on our feed!! If you would like to support Stories Podcast, you can subscribe and give us a five star review on iTunes, check out our merch at storiespodcast.com/shop, follow us on Instagram @storiespodcast, or just tell your friends about us! Check out our new YouTube channel at youtube.com/storiespodcast. If you've ever wanted to read along with our stories, now you can! These read-along versions of our stories are great for early readers trying to improve their skills or even adults learning English for the first time. Check it out.

Is modern culture actually paganism with better marketing? Dr. Lili de Hoyos Anderson explores how the worship of ancient gods of appetite never truly vanished–and why the keys Elijah restored are the hinge on which the salvation of Jesus Christ turns for the living and the dead.YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/zygaJqBXhPkFREE PDF DOWNLOADS OF followHIM QUOTE BOOKSNew Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastNTBookOld Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastOTBookBook of Mormon: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastBMBook WEEKLY NEWSLETTERhttps://tinyurl.com/followHIMnewsletter SOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followHIMpodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastTIMECODE0:00 - Part 1 - Dr. Lili de Hoyos Anderson1:22 Dr. Anderson bio and gratitude for her late husband1:46 Overview of paganism, ancient and modern4:04 Bio and her book The Non-Victim Christian 08:37 The divided kingdom and context for Elijah's ministry09:51 Elijah's ministry and keys11:44 Joseph Smith and Elijah14:15 Joshua to David to Solomon, Northern vs. Southern Kingdom25:51 Ahab and Jezebel and pagan gods28:57 The body is the test32:34 Paganism defined, dopamine culture and moral relativism41:00 Ancient paganism mirrors modern society47:52 Pornography and pastoral care for those struggling52:30 Christ's mercy, shame vs. guilt57:30 Ahab and Jezebel institutionalize idolatry; Obadiah hides the priests1:00:28 The widow of Zarapeth1:03:55 Elijah raises a child1:05:44 End of Part 1 - Dr. Lili de Hoyos AndersonThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Cofounder, Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsAmelia Kabwika: Portuguese TranscriptsHeather Barlow: Communications DirectorSydney Smith: Social Media, Graphic Design "Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com

Dr. Lili de Hoyos Anderson continues her deep dive into the ministry of Elijah from the spectacular fire of Mount Carmel to the still small voice that followed, revealing how God meets his servants at their breaking points, why the sealing power Elijah holds is the foundation of every family's eternal hope, and what it means to exercise righteous power in a world that has demonized it.YOUTUBE: https://youtu.be/452lhpFd7CgFREE PDF DOWNLOADS OF followHIM QUOTE BOOKSNew Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastNTBookOld Testament: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastOTBookBook of Mormon: https://tinyurl.com/PodcastBMBook WEEKLY NEWSLETTERhttps://tinyurl.com/followHIMnewsletter SOCIAL MEDIAInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/followHIMpodcastFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/followhimpodcastTIMECODE0:00 - Part 2 - Dr. Lili de Hoyos Anderson2:44  Where do you stand?4:19 The Mt. Carmel contest7:17 Fire falls and fasting as spiritual weight room11:33 Bridling passions and Jezebel's threats15:46 Elijah on Mt. Horeb and the still, small, voice22:42 Will you stand forever?27:22 Attachment injuries and attachment to God30:27 Dr. Anderson's tribute to her husband Chris35:37 God can bridge any gap38:25 The sealing power worth the Restoration's talk41:18 The gospel is about uniting46:24 God's generosity with sealings49:47 Israel granted superpower status through obedience 52:07 Jesus Christ's meekness55:55 Elijah's power and meekness58:18 Addiction recovery and identifying as child of God1:01:40 The lie that sin makes you free1:03:40 The roles of Christ made possible by His Power1:07:46 End of Part 2 - Dr. Lili de Hoyos AndersonThanks to the followHIM team:Steve & Shannon Sorensen: Cofounder, Executive Producer, SponsorDavid & Verla Sorensen: SponsorsDr. Hank Smith: Co-hostJohn Bytheway: Co-hostDavid Perry: ProducerKyle Nelson: Marketing, SponsorLisa Spice: Client Relations, Editor, Show NotesWill Stoughton: Video EditorKrystal Roberts: Translation Team, English & French Transcripts, WebsiteAriel Cuadra: Spanish TranscriptsAmelia Kabwika: Portuguese TranscriptsHeather Barlow: Communications DirectorSydney Smith: Social Media, Graphic Design "Let Zion in Her Beauty Rise" by Marshall McDonaldhttps://www.marshallmcdonaldmusic.com