Major river in Western Asia
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Angel Talk with Jim Young and Sandy Young Topic: Wonder Working Power If you are truly a Christian, then certainly you have read at least parts of the Bible which is God's law. When we think of heaven, or the Christ our Divine Savior and God, we need to realize all that he endured to ensure that those of us who are willing to do the same would earn a place with him. Join us for another exciting Angel Talk radio show sponsored by The Living Light Center a Church of Faith and Healing. Wonder-Working Power: Preparing the Soul for the Signs of the Last Days Summary A Call to Spiritual Readiness Reverend Sandy and Reverend Jim open with a message about what they call wonder-working power: the divine capacity to transform life through faith, prayer, gratitude, and service. They urge listeners to accept Christ, include God in daily decisions, watch the energy of their words, and develop a consistent spiritual practice. The hosts frame the episode as a loving warning rather than an attempt to create fear, emphasizing personal responsibility and preparation. Signs, Prophecy, and the Latter Days The hosts interpret current disasters, wars, emotional unrest, unusual weather, and perceived changes in the Earth and sky as signs connected to biblical prophecy. They discuss the Book of Daniel, the Book of Revelation, the seven-year tribulation, and the phrase "time, times, and half a time." Throughout this section, these interpretations are presented as the hosts' spiritual understanding and prophetic belief. Faith Demonstrated Through Action A central theme is that professed belief should be demonstrated through conduct. Jim and Sandy repeatedly encourage feeding families, collecting food and clothing, helping strangers, comforting people in distress, teaching children, and speaking openly about faith. They use the Good Shepherd, the lost sheep, and the parable of entrusted talents to argue that spiritual gifts and material resources should be actively used in service to others. The Antichrist, the Mark, and Armageddon The conversation turns to the Antichrist, the false prophet, the mark of the beast, and the battle of Armageddon. The hosts read or paraphrase biblical passages, describe a future system in which buying and selling may be restricted, and warn that Christians may face persecution or martyrdom. They also discuss the Euphrates River, armies gathering around Israel, the return of Christ, and the ultimate defeat of evil as they understand these prophecies. Judgment, Words, and Spiritual Accountability The hosts devote substantial attention to the Great White Throne, the Book of Life, judgment according to works, and the lasting consequences of speech and behavior. They argue that words can wound or heal, that concealed actions will eventually be revealed, and that salvation should produce an ongoing life of repentance and service. Personal examples involving fraud, vandalism, ministry work, charitable giving, and difficult tests are used to illustrate their message. Prayer, Higher States, and the Final Appeal Near the end, Sandy and Jim describe prayer, sacred names, praise, music, Scripture, kindness, and blessing nature as ways to raise spiritual energy and regain peace. They also discuss their beliefs about dimensional shifts, changing perceptions of time, the Earth's inner core, and future planetary transformation. The program closes by asking listeners to prepare now, seek forgiveness, accept Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and live in a way that reflects divine love.
An in-depth study of the 4 angels chained in the Euphrates River referenced in Rev. 9:14, produced by my friend Nikki from Montana. Hear the shocking information discoveries made relating to this Biblical passage. What was the shocking warning found in the cave under the Euphrates? Just how close ARE we to the end of everything? Illustration: by matejerry647 on Pixabay, used with permission.
It's PID Radio's Throwback Thursday. Nearly 20 years ago, the Middle East—specifically Iran and Iraq—were at the center of the news cycle. Some things never change. Originally released February 25, 2007 WE'RE back with our first blather in weeks and it felt good to run through an hour of news analysis again! First things first: P.I.D. Radio will be here next week and for the foreseeable future. Thank you to everyone sent notes of support. It's truly humbling to know that this little homegrown show has reached around the world. We hope you had a chance to see The State Within on BBC America Saturday. The miniseries was a well-written and tightly directed political thriller that offers a glimpse into what might happen inside the halls of power in Washington, D.C. Wars are basically marketing ploys to drum up business for the military industrial complex back here at home. Meanwhile, it's back to blather on the news of the day. A remarkable development that has been little noticed by the major media: A group of American generals has apparently let it be known that they will quit if President Bush orders an attack on Iran. In addition, the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Peter Pace, has said there is “no chance” of the U.S. going to war with Iran. In addition, a story that's set to break next week at the Intelligence Summit in Tampa reveals that Saddam had an active nuke program in 2002 and 2003. During the last six months of 2002, Saddam apparently built four very expensive nuclear storage and production facilities underneath the Euphrates River. Let's see how this is played in the media. Topics: BBC America's The State WithinKelly's death not suicide, MP saysCheney jet leaves Singapore after repairsU.S. generals may quit if Bush orders attack on IranIran: A Bridge Too Far? Article outlining the threat from Iran's Sunburn anti-ship missileIntelligence Summit promises big storiesSyria denies Israeli report that its army is advancingMore on arms seized near Mexican border“Move Along, Nothing to See Here” by Derek Gilbert U.S. media ignoring the birth of the North American UnionJames Cameron: I've found the tomb of Jesus Sharon's niece, Sarah Sachleben, is fighting stage 4 bowel cancer, and the medical bills are piling up. If you are led to help, please go to GilbertHouse.org/hopeforsarah. Follow us! X (formerly Twitter): @pidradio | @sharonkgilbert | @derekgilbert | @gilberthouse_tvTelegram: t.me/gilberthouse | t.me/sharonsroom | t.me/viewfromthebunkerSubstack: gilberthouse.substack.comYouTube: @GilbertHouse | @UnravelingRevelationFacebook.com/pidradio JOIN US IN ISRAEL (NOTE NEW DATES)! We will tour the Holy Land October 25–November 6, 2027 with an optional three-day extension to Jordan. For more information, log on to GilbertHouse.org/travel. Thank you for making our Build Barn Better project a reality! Our 1,200 square foot pole barn has a new HVAC system, epoxy floor, 100-amp electric service, new windows, insulation, lights, and ceiling fans! If you are so led, you can help out by clicking here: gilberthouse.org/donate. Get our free app! It connects you to this podcast, our weekly Bible studies, and our weekly video programs Unraveling Revelation and A View from the Bunker. The app is available for iOS, Android, Roku, and Apple TV. Links to the app stores are at pidradio.com/app. Think better, feel better! Our partners at Simply Clean Foods offer freeze-dried, 100% GMO-free food and delicious, vacuum-packed fair trade coffee from Honduras. Find out more at GilbertHouse.org/store/.
Text: 2 Samuel chapters 10-14 Supplemental Text: The Fourth Thousand Years chapter 6 BYU Lecture 30 - Now that Israel is united and has conquered the lands as prophesied, spread from the Euphrates River to the Egyptian border, King David spends his time putting down skirmishes from the neighboring Ammonites and Syrians. While resting in Jerusalem, King David takes a stroll and looks upon Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of his royal guard. David is struck by her beauty and invites her to the palace while her husband was away on the battlefield. They become romantically involved and commit adultery, in which Bathsheba becomes pregnant. To cover his sin, David concocts a plan to send Uriah to the battlefront in hopes he is killed, which he was. David and Bathsheba are quickly married, but the Lord wasn't going to let this behavior stay a secret. The prophet Nathan was sent to David and revealed Davd's secret to him and prophecies that David's house will be afflicted by the sword, that evil will dwell within his household and he will lose his wives to others. Bathsheba has her baby and it dies. From this time forward, David writes his mournful psalms. Evil prevails within David's household, as his son Amnon rapes his own sister Tamar. Amnon's brother Absalom is so enraged he murders Amnon and prepares to take the throne of his father David.
God already gave you the land. The catch? You still have to walk on it. Joshua 1 on comfort, courage, and the cost of staying put. Click here to read the sermon A New Dawn, A New Day Joshua 1:1–9 Heavenly Father, Jesus, we come before you this Sunday morning, and we lift up your holy name. Jesus, we invite your presence, your Holy Spirit power, into this moment and into this place and into our lives and our hearts and our minds. Jesus, we pray prayers of gratitude for our children who came back from camp this week. We pray prayers of protection and grace over our youth who are headed off this week. We pray a prayer of clarity for Yates Baptist Church. Jesus, we ask in your holy name that you would give us clarity over confusion, that you would cast vision for the future of your church, and that that vision would lead us where division stirs. And finally, Jesus, we declare boldly this morning that whatever you may have in store for the future of Yates Baptist Church, we know that the very best days of the kingdom of Jesus Christ are still to come. The best is yet to come. And so, Jesus, we come before you this morning, and we give you the honor and the glory and the praise that is rightly due to your name. Jesus, we pray. Amen. Well, it is such a treat to be with you today, Yates Baptist Church. I want you to know the last time I was in this building was a few years ago, when I had the opportunity, as the head of the communications team for the Tri-West Baptist Network, to come in here. You hosted our annual meeting, and I got to give a report. So it is a very different experience being here preaching rather than giving a business meeting report. This is far more enjoyable, and I'm so glad to be with you today. Knowing that I'm going to be with you for the next three weeks helps me, because it allows me to preach a sermon series rather than try to squeeze everything together into one message. So we're going to get you to that meeting and that lunch earlier than you had hoped. That's the plan. So we're starting a series today called Onward. Onward. This series is going to be all about — and you can go ahead and throw that up on the screen, there we go — moving toward the uncharted. Moving toward the uncharted. We're going to be looking at the book of Joshua, and Joshua felt like an important book for where you are right now in the life of Yates Baptist Church. So before we jump into the first chapter of Joshua today, I wanted to start by looking back at the end of the Mosaic books. Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy — those are the five books we call the Law, or the Pentateuch. These are the first five books of the Bible, and they are written by Moses. When we get to the end of Deuteronomy, Moses, after forty years leading the people through the wilderness, has died — before he was ever able to cross the Jordan River into the promised land. There's something powerful about that, because Moses was a good and faithful leader for the people of Israel, but Moses was not able to experience where the people of Israel were headed. Moses died before the people had stepped into all that God had for them. One of the things that is true in the life of every church is that there are changes, there are shifts that happen in churches. Any church older than seven years has probably had more than one pastor — it's just the nature of how that works. A church has a vision that is bigger than any one person. The church has a vision that is bigger than any one generation, because the church of Jesus Christ is multigenerational. It continues, and you and I are standing on the shoulders of the giants who have come before us, generations and generations and generations, and we get the opportunity to be the people the next generation stands on the shoulders of, to go even further. I'm so grateful for that. I'm so grateful that the kingdom of God never stops with a person or with a generation. For the people of Israel, they had been in the wilderness for forty years, and Moses had been leading them faithfully. When Moses dies, there is a moment of utter chaos and confusion for the people of Israel. Suddenly they find themselves in a spot where they don't know what to do, they don't know what's next, they don't know who to listen to, they don't know who to follow. And that's where we find ourselves at the beginning of Joshua chapter one. Today we're going to read Joshua chapter one, verses one through nine. If you have your Bibles with you, I want to encourage you to pull them out. If someone wants to give one to Keith, I know he didn't have his up here, but I want to make sure everyone has their Bible. I do want to say what a treat it is to be here with Keith. When I first moved to Durham, I moved here to pastor Durham Memorial Baptist Church on the east side of town, and for the three years I was there, I had the wonderful privilege of spending every Sunday with Keith's lovely wife, Kathy. That was an incredible joy to me, and I love, Keith, that you're still here — it's so, so meaningful to me. So let's go ahead and open up your Bibles. Joshua chapter one, verses one through nine — I'm going to be reading out of the Holman Christian Standard Bible, but whatever translation you're reading out of is just fine. After the death of Moses the Lord's servant, the Lord spoke to Joshua son of Nun, who had served Moses: "Moses My servant is dead. Now you and all the people prepare to cross over the Jordan to the land I am giving the Israelites. I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses. Your territory will be from the wilderness and Lebanon to the great Euphrates River — all the land of the Hittites — and west to the Mediterranean Sea. No one will be able to stand against you as long as you live. I will be with you, just as I was with Moses. I will not leave you or forsake you. "Be strong and courageous, for you will distribute the land I swore to their fathers to give them as an inheritance. Above all, be strong and very courageous to carefully observe the whole instruction My servant Moses commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right or the left, so that you will have success wherever you go. This book of instruction must not depart from your mouth; you are to recite it day and night so that you may carefully observe everything written in it. For then you will prosper and succeed in whatever you do. Haven't I commanded you: be strong and courageous? Do not be afraid or discouraged, for the Lord your God is with you wherever you go." (Josh 1:1–9, HCSB) That's nine verses to start off the book of Joshua, and three times in nine verses we get the instruction from the Lord to be strong and courageous. [Addressing the person running the slides.] We're not ready for that yet, but you can come on back — thank you. Be strong and courageous. Hey, I do want to take a second — can we give it up for the AV volunteers in the back, for how they've had to handle everything today? Thank you so much. Yeah, we're not ready for that slide yet, but I appreciate it. So, Joshua chapter one, we get this important message: be strong, be courageous. Be strong, be courageous. Be strong, be courageous. And I'm wondering why it is that God would have to tell Joshua, this leader who's about to take over for Moses — why he would have to be told to be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous, be strong and courageous. And I want to just say, I think it is because to lead is hard. To lead into uncharted territory is impossible without God. And I wonder today — I wonder today, as you are preparing for an important meeting today and an important business meeting next week, as you prepare for today — are we a people who are afraid? Are we fearful? Are we full of doubt about what could be, about what might happen? Or are we a people who are strong and courageous? Are we a people who are ready to say there is more to do, there is more to come? The battle is not over yet, and it is time to be strong and courageous, because as long as the Lord has given breath in your lungs, you and I have work to do. The story's not over, and it's going to require that we are strong and courageous. Now, that is what I have always taken out of Joshua 1:1–9. If you've ever been involved in a church youth group, or you've ever been to a Bible study, or — strangely enough — if you've ever been a member of a sports team, Joshua 1:1–9 is not an unfamiliar passage of Scripture. And one of the things that can happen as we spend time with Scripture we're familiar with is that our familiarity can sometimes lead us to miss something that's right there on the page. Maybe this has been your experience — you've read over a passage of Scripture time and time again in your life, and something happens, whether you were at the right moment or it spoke into the right instance in your life, but something happens. You go back to that Scripture you maybe even know by heart, and suddenly something jumps out at you that never has before. And so, in this sermon that I have titled "A New Dawn, A New Day," I want to talk about what we see by looking at a principle and a promise. What we see by looking at a principle and a promise. Now see, there is a promise from God in Joshua chapter 1. In fact, there are a few promises. God is reasserting the promises he made to Moses, and he is letting Joshua know: the promises I made to Moses, those promises are true for you too, Joshua. These promises are not just for Moses. These promises are for you. But they're not just a promise — there's also a principle at play, and a principle is a foundational truth. A principle is a foundational truth. Maybe to put it a different way: a principle is a promise that is dependent on the user. A principle is a promise that is dependent on the user, meaning a principle is a truth that requires your obedience. And because of that, a principle can be a blessing or a curse. If you receive the promise, and the promise leads you to step out in obedience, then that promise has been a blessing. But if you receive the promise and do nothing with it, then the principle there is — man, that's kind of become a curse to you. So here's what I want to do this morning. I need three volunteers, and I'm going to go ahead and say this now, please take it in the loving way it's meant: I need three spry volunteers. I need three spry people. Come on up — who's ready? I need three people. If you make me start pointing at people, it's not going to go well. So, my friend right here in gray and black, I'm going to have you come on up. My friend over here in the blue shirt with the white stripe, come on up — I've got to have you come on up. And then, hey, my friend Matt Griffin is here — I'm going to have Matt come up. Come on, y'all. Oh, sir, I apologize, I'm sorry — all right, I'm going to have you stay there. I need one more volunteer who's ready to raise a hand. There we go, thank you, my friend, you can come on. Actually, you guys come on up on stage. Hey, I'm Rob. What's your name? Jeff — so good to have you come on up. And you are? Watson. Love that. And Matt, it's so good to see you — as I knock over this microphone stand. I'm going to have all three of you guys come over here. So — Matt, Jeff, Watson — Matt, Jeff, and Watson. Now, I want to take you back to the Scripture — in reading this passage recently, this is what jumped off the page to me. This is verse three: "I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses" (Josh 1:3, HCSB). I have given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses. So, Watson, you get to go first. I've given you — I've given you every place where the sole of your foot treads. What's your first response? I've given you every place where the sole of your foot treads. Okay, wonderful — are you staying right there? Okay, well, let's see it, come on. You've been given — Jeff, what about you? I've given you every place where the sole of your foot treads. You're going to get moving. Matt, I've given you every place where the sole of your foot treads. Where are you going? Come on. Now, thank you, thank you. By the way, give these guys a round of applause. [Congregation applauds.] Thank you so much. Okay, let's be honest here for a minute — can we be honest? How many of us have received this promise from the Lord, and we are the blessed, frozen, chosen? I've given you every place where the sole of your foot treads. "God, thank you for this, that's so awesome. I'm so grateful, God, thank you that you've given me every —" but, man, I'm comfortable right here. Oh, man, I'm comfortable. I mean, there's air — come on, y'all, there's air conditioning. There's air conditioning, and it is too hot. Oh, man, and you know, I've got this thing in my back. Oh, all right. I've given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, and we are good right here. So let me tell you the principle. Let me tell you the principle here: "I've given you every place where the sole of your foot treads, just as I promised Moses" (Josh 1:3, HCSB). It's a promise, but it's not just a promise — it's a principle. Because if we are the frozen chosen, that's it. This is what we get. God's made a promise. God said, come on, I've given it to you, let's go. Thanks, God, doing great right here. And we get to the end of our lives, and despite the faithful promise of our God, we look around at what we've done for the kingdom, and we go, yep, I had it — God gave me all of this right here. It was a promise, but the promise turned into a curse, because we didn't do anything with it. Watson, I loved your reaction: "I've given you every place where the sole of your foot treads" — well, let's dance in time then, come on, let's go. "I've given you every place where the sole of your foot treads" — well, then there is no way you are stopping me from taking ground. "I've given you every place where the sole of your foot treads" — so get moving. Because I don't want us to come to the end of our lives and go, I could have gone so much further, I could have gone so much further, but the more comfortable I got, the easier it was to go, man, I'm going to take those steps tomorrow. I'm going to take that ground tomorrow. I'm going to have that conversation tomorrow. I'm going to invite that friend to church tomorrow. And tomorrow turns into tomorrow turns into tomorrow. I know I'm not the only procrastinator in the room, right? Come on, someone else there with me — you know what it's like to see your days turn into tomorrow and tomorrow and tomorrow. And you get to the end of a week, or a month, or a year, or a life, and this is all we've got. And the truth is: if God has promised Joshua to give him every place where the sole of his foot treads, just as he promised Moses (cf. Josh 1:3, HCSB), and Joshua were to stay still on the east side of the river, it's not just Joshua missing the opportunity. It's Joshua looking back at Moses's faithfulness and saying it didn't matter — because for all the steps you took, I'm not taking any. And that's the reality of the church. And by the way, this isn't unique to us. This has been the reality of every single generation of the church. Every single generation in the history of the church is constantly fighting against our human nature for safety and security and comfort. But God hasn't called you to that. He hasn't called us to that. God has called us out into the great wide open. God has called you to go further and do more and reach more people. Generation after generation of faithful believers who have gone before us have taken steps so that we could be right here in church. I say to you today, let's not come all this way just to stop. Let's not have come all this way just to make it this far. God has more for us. God has more for you. God has a bright future ahead — but the bright future ahead will not be easy, and it will not be safe, and it will not be comfortable. It will involve taking steps. And here's the truth — I did not do this for the sake of today's message. I went with a men's group Friday and Saturday up to Galax, Virginia, for a little two-day camping trip with some guys I know from another church. And yesterday morning, we decided, hey, let's go for a hike. I don't know if you can tell by looking at me, but I don't go on a lot of hikes. It's five and a half miles, and there's a significant amount of elevation change, but we're not running, right? It's not a race. So I'm like, yeah, we'll just take the whole morning and we'll do it. But every step was harder, and then it got to the point where all the muscles in the backs of my legs started clenching up. And the muscles are like, no, we're done. And you're like, well, we're not back to the car yet — so you're kind of grabbing your legs along the way, you're like, come on, we've got to go. And I wonder today how many of us, in our faith, need to just grab our legs — even though it's hard, even though it's not comfortable, even though it's pushing us further than we thought we could go — and just say, nope, God has given me every step, so I'm not stopping. Because here's the principle for Joshua: Joshua will only inherit what he inhabits. Joshua will only inherit what he inhabits. Let me put it to you another way — Joshua will only receive what he steps into. Right now, Durham, North Carolina, and the greater Triangle remains one of the fastest-growing areas in the country — second in the Southeast in growth behind the suburbs of Atlanta.1 But what makes this place unique, among all the other places you could be living, is a set of universities — regardless of which color blue you may wear — a collection of research and tech companies based here that is pulling in people from all around the world. Right now, there are more people coming from places in the world where Christianity is illegal, and those young adults are coming here to attend school or to work jobs. You are right now living in one of the few places on earth where, without leaving your zip code, you can impact the whole world. There's a student right now at Duke University who doesn't know Jesus, comes from a family that doesn't know Jesus, and comes from a country where people don't talk about Jesus — and God brought them to your doorstep. He brought them to you. Right now, there are teenagers in the vicinity of this church who are part of not just the least Christian, but the least faith-based generation in American history. In the history of the United States, "no religious affiliation" — the "nones," as we call them — has never been the predominant group within a generation, until my kids' generation. The largest and most rapidly growing religious affiliation in the United States among my children's generation is "none."2 And they're right here. They're right here. They live next door and across the street, and some of them are children in the developmental center. And they're part of families that don't know Jesus, that haven't heard the engaging and compelling story of what Christ has come to do for you and for me. You are right now in one of the most unique positions that any group of Christians has ever been in, in human history. The question is: are we going to stand right here and be comfortable, and watch the opportunity pass by? Are we going to find ourselves at the end of our lives with the Savior saying, "I brought them to you," and we say, "Yeah, but we were really comfortable"? God has given you a promise. I have already given it to you. I've already given you the land. I've already given you every step that you will take. Over the next two weeks, we're going to be hearing more about Joshua leading the people of Israel across the Jordan River and into the promised land. But for right now, at the end of Joshua chapter one, the people have not yet made that step. They have not yet stepped across the river. They have not yet crossed their lines of comfort and safety in order to follow God's vision and mission for their lives. What better place to end today's message than to leave us with this question? Just like Joshua and the people of Israel, we are standing on the shore of a river. We are standing on the border of where we have been and where we are going. Church — has God brought you this far just to come this far? Or is there a step to take? Is there a step to take that is worthy of the sacrifice of the generations behind us? Is there a step for us to take that says, it's not going to end here, but we are moving forward — even when it's not comfortable, even when there's no safety and security in it? Are we willing to be the kind of people who have enough faith to say, just like Joshua, we will only inherit what we inhabit? We will only receive what we live into. Church, how is God calling you to be obedient today? And are we taking those steps of obedience? Are we taking those steps like our lives depend on it? Are we taking those steps like our legacies depend on it? Are we taking those steps like the kingdom of heaven is in the balance? Because everything that we're about to read in the rest of the book of Joshua is incredible — beautiful stories of God's faithfulness. But here's what was true for Joshua, and here's what's true for you today: if Joshua didn't cross the river, he never would have seen any of it. We woke up this morning with breath in our lungs, which means God has purpose and mission for us. And I don't want you to miss it. I don't want you to miss it, because the best is yet to come. Let me pray for us. Heavenly Father, Jesus, we are so grateful for the power of your gospel. We are compelled by your Holy Spirit to take faithful steps of obedience, even when it's hard, even when it makes us uncomfortable, God. We are willing to take steps of obedience. So, God, when everything in us wants to pursue comfort, safety, security, God, will you give us the boldness to believe that the best is yet to come? Would we not make choices from a scarcity mindset, God? Would you give us an abundance mindset? Would we be a people who believe that you have placed us here and now to make a difference in the whole world? God, what could be more deserving of the name Yates than that we would go — that we would cross borders and lines of comfort and safety and security, that we might see those who are far from Christ become sons and daughters of the King? Jesus, we pray this in your name. Amen. Endnotes 1 The greater Research Triangle region (Raleigh–Durham–Chapel Hill) is widely recognized as one of the nation's fastest-growing metropolitan economies. The UNC Kenan Institute's "American Growth Project" ranks the Triangle's economy third-fastest-growing among the fifty largest U.S. metros and fourth-fastest among 150 extended metropolitan areas, while also noting that the Triangle is North Carolina's second-largest regional economy by GDP, behind Charlotte. Census-based analyses of metro population growth similarly place Raleigh–Cary in the national top tier — roughly tenth-fastest in recent rankings — and highlight that many of the country's fastest-growing metros are in the Southeast. These data support the general description of the Triangle as a leading growth center in the Southeast, though the sermon's specific claim that it is "second in the Southeast behind the suburbs of Atlanta" generalizes across the precision of the available rankings. 2 Recent survey data show that today's youngest adult cohort is the most religiously unaffiliated in recorded U.S. polling. The 2024 PRRI Census of American Religion reports that about 38–39 percent of Americans ages 18–29 identify as religiously unaffiliated ("nones"), a substantially higher share than among older generations. PRRI's breakdowns by age and gender likewise show that young adults — especially young women — have become significantly more likely to claim no religious affiliation over the past decade, rising from 32 percent in 2013 to 38 percent in 2024. The Pew Research Center's Religious Landscape Study finds that roughly 44 percent of 18- to 29-year-olds now identify as religiously unaffiliated, making the "nones" the single largest religious category in that age group and larger than any individual Christian tradition — a pattern not seen in older cohorts in prior survey waves. Works Cited Baptist News Global. "PRRI: Growth of the Religiously Unaffiliated Is Slowing." May 15, 2025. Accessed July 12, 2026. https://baptistnews.com/article/prri-growth-of-the-religiously-unaffiliated-is-slowing/. The Holy Bible, Holman Christian Standard Bible. 2004. Nashville: Holman Bible Publishers. "Markets with the Most Population Growth in 2025." RealPage Analytics, April 1, 2026. Accessed July 12, 2026. https://www.realpage.com/analytics/population-growth-markets-2025/. Pew Research Center. "Religious 'Nones' in America: Who They Are and What They Believe." January 23, 2024. Accessed July 12, 2026. https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2024/01/24/religious-nones-in-america-who-they-are-and-what-they-believe/. Public Religion Research Institute. "2024 PRRI Census of American Religion." PRRI, April 14, 2026. Accessed July 12, 2026. https://www.prri.org/spotlight/2024-prri-census-of-american-religion/. Public Religion Research Institute. "Gen Z, Gender, and Religion." PRRI, March 4, 2025. Accessed July 12, 2026. https://www.prri.org/spotlight/gen-z-gender-and-religion/. "Southeast Metros Lead US Population Growth as National Gains Slow." Becker's Hospital Review, March 26, 2026. Accessed July 12, 2026. https://www.beckershospitalreview.com/strategy/southeast-metros-lead-us-population-growth-as-national-gains-slow/. UNC Kenan Institute of Private Enterprise. "From Tobacco to High Tech: Manufacturing in the Piedmont Triad and the Research Triangle." March 18, 2025. Accessed July 12, 2026. https://kenaninstitute.unc.edu/commentary/from-tobacco-to-high-tech-manufacturing-in-the-piedmont-triad-and-the-research-triangle/. © 2026 Rob Stone. All rights reserved.
Welcome back to Gnostic Insights and to the Gnostic Reformation on Substack. Dr. Cyd Ropp and Bishop Nathan Wilson Today's episode is the last installment of my interview with Bishop Nathan Wilson of The Gnostic Union. Brother Nathan continues with his illustration of how correct translation of the original Koine Greek of the New Testament changes the way we may interpret Biblical scripture more precisely. The translations he shares come from his freely available Gnostic Christian Truth Bible that you can find online in PDF form, with side by side comparisons of the original Koine with English. I'm including the link here in the transcript of the episode, so if you are listening to this in podcast form, you may wish to go to Gnostic Insights dot com to read the transcript. His Bible and other Gnostic scriptures could use another round of editorial polishing, in my opinion, to insert an indexed table of contents, so it may be a bit difficult to make your way through it. And in next week’s episode, I’ll take a long look at what we’ve been hearing for the last four weeks. If you have anything you would like me to discuss or any questions coming off of Bishop Wilson’s discussion, bring them up and we can talk about them on next week's episode. I know I’m going to want to talk about the role of Sophia and the Divine Feminine and the concept of gender on the ethereal plane. I would also like to talk to you about how the study of history and philology differs from theology and philosophy and how they are not necessarily gnosis. And here at Gnostic Insights, of course, and on the Gnostic Reformation, I avoid talking about gnosis and only share gnosis itself. So I’d like to explain that to you about that as well. So please drop me some comments here at the end of this episode and I can address them in next week’s episode. Bishop Nathan Wilson: So Mark 8:17. All right. So this would be Jesus here. “And having gnosis, he said to them, why reason because you have no bread or do you not understand that the heart of you has been hardened?” So this is among disciples arguing that they have no bread. Jesus having spiritual gnosis, understanding what’s going on, says, “What are you arguing about?” Which is kind of interesting that he mentioned, but I’ll mention something that’s a real kick in the can. So this is in Mark 15:42. And this is a text that no theology want to give you because it would make them feel uncomfortable. And it’s regarding Pontius Pilate having gnosis regarding Jesus crucifixion. So this is a note they definitely do not want. I was kind of thinking about what does this mean? And I figured out what it’s regarding to. Mark 15:45. Okay, so this is Pontius Pilate. I’ll read 15:44 first. “But Pilate wondered if he had already died, having called to him the centurion and questioned him if he had already died. And with gnosis from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.” AI generated image of Pilate questioning the Centurian. The three crucified men were inserted by the AI to symbolically represent the crucifixition of Jesus and the two thieves. Golgotha is actually not that close to the palace window. So that meaning inside knowledge from the centurion has been given to him about Jesus. So that could imply that he was still alive and that Pontius might have been involved in this plot. That’s what that text would imply; it doesn’t necessarily have to mean that. It can just mean that within a knowledge he’s been told by the centurion Jesus is dead, so it can apply that too. So however you want to read that text is up to you. But I found that quite fascinating and I had to really look at that. I’m like, well, I'm sorry, we can’t have that in there. That’s why that’s been censored. But that’s fascinating. So we even have Jesus having a gnosis and leaving an area and that’s in Matthew 12:15. I’ll jump into that too. So there’s a couple of scenes that Jesus has gnosis. There’s even times he has gnosis in regarding what other people were thinking. So having to understand them mentally. So that’s cool. So gnosis appears quite often. It’s just it doesn’t appear in the English text. But in the Old Testament it’s even more. Cyd:That's interesting. Bishop Nathan Wilson:Yes, it is. Very. Okay. So “withdrew from the area” Matthew 12:15 I want. Right. “And Jesus having gnosis, withdrew from there and many great multitudes followed him and he healed them.” Or it can translate to took care of them or cured them all. So that word here we have can be for a therapeia or a therapeo. And this word meaning to heal someone or to spend time with them, to heal them with God’s word or with medicine, to heal them with medical substance, so narcotics. It can be just simply curing them or just spending time with someone so say talking to someone, healing them and their emotions. So healing their emotions. So that’s beautiful. Not just simply Jesus hocus pocus and and leaving. It’s he’s spending time with people. And this word has been used in ancient Greek medical texts for implying medical substances or therapy. So the word therapeia is where our word therapy comes from. So this can be Jesus the therapist. So that’s beautiful. Absolutely fantastic. I like that. So it gives more power to the text. Shows that one person can make a difference. So any one of us can do this and heal multitudes through spiritual touch, through spiritual messaging, through the simple act of love. So that’s powerful. That’s useful. Cyd:And this is something that only people can do. Well, no, actually dogs are very good therapists as well. But I wouldn’t think that an AI therapist or an AI Jesus has any gnosis truly. Bishop Nathan Wilson:I’m not really one big for AI because I think AI is basically just all secondhand information. It’s just built from all our information that we’ve already got. So we have here something else. This is something pretty interesting too. Matthew 16:8. And it’s Jesus having gnosis: “Why do you argue amongst yourselves? You of little faith because you have no bread” [or meaning food.] But say, regarding to the word for artos being bread. So when you have the Jesus prayer, Give us this daily bread, this could translate to give us our daily necessaries of life. That’s much more. So daily maintenance, so being maintained spiritually, being maintained by God, for God giving us the means to live spiritually as well as physically. So it’s much more powerful than just simple, just bread and food. So Jesus speaking a lot of times symbolically. So the symbolic teachings are meant to be useful to all of us. So something that we can practically take on, not simply does something that’s outside of ourselves. So that’s within ourselves that we can actually use. So gnosis. And I’ll go into Matthew 22:18. And that’s with Jesus about having gnosis on the wickedness of the Pharisees. So this doesn’t mean that all Pharisees are bad though. Jesus had Pharisees that followed him. This just means a select few of them. So basically the rich corrupted ones of them. So he was also against the Sadducees too. Mostly Sadducees probably because they were the richer lots. But he was not really a friend to those who were corrupt and using the money that they were given to further subject the people to more condemnation, which Jesus was very much pro-life, was equality where the Pharisees and Sadducees in large numbers were not. Which is a shame. Okay, so 22, I think it was I’m looking for. Matthew 22:18. Okay. Cyd:You know that Old Testament God of the Sadducees and Pharisees doesn’t have love. So they are not getting any gnosis from that Jehovah level. Bishop Nathan Wilson:No. And it goes back to where it’s first worshipped. The first to worship this God, Yahweh, were very violent. They were the Shasu. They were known to force marry the Egyptian and Ethiopian young girls they raided. So when we look at the depictions of the Shasu, they are mixed in colour—they're black, they’re white, they’re copper skinned. They didn’t care what colour you were, they just took. They were looking for sex slaves, basically wives. So what’s interesting is the same river that they used, the Euphrates River, not all of them were river-based pirates. Some were just tent dwelling nomads. But some of them did have the funds or means to use ships. So we certainly had sea people. So some of those sea people were Canaanite raiders. So they’ll use the Euphrates River to go out raiding, to go out to the main street or elsewhere to raid outside of their own lands. Muslim pirates would use the same river to do the same thing. So that’s interesting.[Editor’s note: The speaker appears to be connecting several groups—nomadic Shasu, Sea Peoples, and later Muslim-era raiders. While the Euphrates served as an important transportation corridor, the specific claim that the Shasu or Sea Peoples used it as river-pirates is not clear from the sources consulted by the CoPilot AI and may reflect an interpretation rather than an established historical consensus. Of course, the AIs are relaying to us approved, conventional data, so their data bases would not contain the types of stories Bishop Wilson speaks of.]All in the name of this Jehovah, in the name of Yahweh, in the name of the demiurge, this evil gets done. And it’s always the poor that suffer, the poor and women. And who are the ones that Jesus is speaking to? The poor and to women. So it’s shocking. So most Christians don’t look at this either. A lot of Muslims don’t either, because they will be following Jesus [Isa]. So who they call Isa, they clearly don’t. So the message contradicts. So Muhammad called himself a man of war. Moses as well. But it depends on what version of Moses you’re looking at as well. So during the time of Jesus, as I mentioned, there were different versions of Judaism. There were different Torahs and different Jewish Bibles. So some believed in a peaceful Moses and even a peaceful Abraham. Others believed in Abraham the Pirat. So Abraham the Pirate. And some didn’t take this view. So others believed in Abraham ready to sacrifice his son. And others believed that he was hearing a fallen angel, mistook it for God, and God had to intervene. And we see this sort of in the Essene story somewhat. So that’s more of a Gnostic take. Some Essenes view, because they’re Dead Sea Scrolls, which is a Qumran Essene sect, they believe that it was Belial that was behind the scenes doing this. And God was basically aware that Belial was doing it and would interfere. So he would do this in order for Belial to expose himself and then be shamed. So a very different story. So the story of Job we read is the Pharisee story, which is Satan being in the angelic courts. So being asked by God, so not acting outside of God. So he was only there to test human beings. So Satan’s not the bad guy in that story. It’s Yahweh. But when we look at other stories, it’s different. Even the Ethiopian version is different. They have two stories. One with Belial and the other one with a figure called Mastema, who is the opponent against God trying to cause the sacrifice of Abraham’s son. So, trippy. So this is regarding to the Pharisees as well. “So Jesus, having gnosis of the wickedness of them, said, Why do you test me, you hypocrites?” So this is in reference to the coin, when he showed them the icon. So what’s interesting about that scene is Judas, who was a Zealot, basically, I think it was Judas of Galilee, who rebelled against Rome, he also said the same thing. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.”[Matthew 22:21] So when Jesus is speaking in the scene, he doesn’t touch the coin. The icon on there in question is the emperor who is stating, you know, son of Caesar, son of God. Jesus is saying, no, basically give this back to Caesar and give to Israel, God, what is God’s, which is the land. So Israel. But I don’t think it’s more from the land—I think that’s a zealot opinion. I think when he’s talking about this, when he says Israel, I’m thinking he’s looking at the word context and he’s meaning El preserved so those who belong to El. So when he says those who belong to Israel, he’s not saying just anything, he’s talking about the lost sheep of El Elyon. So those were in other lands, lead them back here. So ones who have gone astray, which is interesting. So ones who are worshipping pagan gods or worshipping Yahweh. So he’s saying, bring them back to El, bring them back to God, repentance. This is why the Pharisees and Sadducees disliked him. He had a different God. Some that liked him as well, but they had trouble understanding it. Cyd:Right. Well, and that is still the case. Hey, we’re going to have to wrap this up in just a few minutes. So is there any scripture you would like to make sure that you share before we wrap it up? Bishop Nathan Wilson:Okay. Well, if you like, I can share either the temple scene, which is a Matthew 21:12, or I can share the little, the short scene of the Pharisees being condemned by Jesus for basically dressing up like prostitutes. You might have a, you might have a lot of that. Cyd:Yeah. Okay. That, that looks to be the one you want to share the most. Papyrus Oxyconocus 840 Bishop Nathan Wilson:So I’ll share that one. It’s very short. So this is the text in general. Just this little bit. Okay. The Greek side is on here. [Nathan displays his fragment facsimile.] So I have the Greek side by side. So this is side one and side two. So side two is even shorter. “So before committing injustice, he carefully plans it all.” So this is Jesus speaking about the evil. “Be on guard, lest you suffer the same things as they.” So this is the Pharisees and Sadducees he’s talking about. “For the evil doers among people do not receive punishment only in this life, but also suffer judgment and great torment. And having received them, he brought them into the purification area. And as he was walking in the temple, a certain Pharisee, a high priest named Soreb [conventional translation is Levi; editorial note],” Which is kind of interesting. That word Zoar/Tzoar [uncertain], is Tsa'ar, [uncertain] which is a city condemned by God [but ultimately spared by God; editorial note]. So this is kind of like a pun on the Pharisee leader being punished by God. So like, possibly, maybe a Pharisee Messiah figure. So meaning they’re rejecting Jesus because they already have their Messiah they believe. So that’s something to be taken into a note. So this Soreb [Levi ?] approaches, met them and said, “Zoar, who gave you permission to walk in the purification area and to look upon these holy vessels, not having washed, nor your disciples having their feet baptized, but having being unclean, you have trampled upon this holy place, which is pure, which no one may enter unless you have bathed and changed into the garments of those baptized. Nor does anyone dare to touch these holy vessels.” So they’re in the temple right now in the inner sanctuary, touching the holy relics and not wearing the same baptism clothing as them. They’re not liking this. So this is what Jesus says. “The Savior answered and said to him, Woe to you blind ones who do not see. You wash in these poured out waters in which dogs and pigs have been thrown into day and night. And after washing your outer skin, you wipe it. And just like the prostitutes and flute players anoint themselves and wash and wipe and adorn themselves to cause the desires of men. But from within, they are full of scorpions and all evil. But I and my disciples who you say are not baptized have been baptized in the waters of eternal Zoe. That has come from God. But woe to those…” And the ending is missing. That’s why side two has not been given. [referring to side two of the fragment which is partially destroyed and not in the public domain] Cyd:Right. Now that’s a fragment. Where was that fragment found? Bishop Nathan Wilson:I forgot. The fragment is called Papyrus Oxyconocus 840. But you can just type in P. Oxy 840. I would say that was probably if I’d gone by memory, that might have been discovered maybe in Alexandria, if not maybe in Thrace, but I believe it was Alexandria, Egypt that might have been discovered. There was one, I believe, that was discovered in the Middle East, maybe Jerusalem. But I believe that one there was discovered in Alexandria. I might be wrong about that. I have to relook where that was discovered. But it is important. So a text that has not been given to public domain yet, which is quite a shame. Cyd:Yeah. Well, it’s been delightful talking to you. And you certainly have an encyclopedic knowledge of these ancient texts. It’s very beautiful. It’s very nice being around you. You have the good vibe. Bishop Nathan Wilson:It’s been a pleasure speaking to you as well, Dr. Cyd Ropp. It’s been an absolute pleasure. So I’m stoked. So sorry if I get excited and all that sort of stuff as well. I love meeting new people, especially fellow spiritual people. Always lovely to see, especially Gnostics. Cyd:Yeah. Well, I recommend The Gnostic Union. Go check out the Facebook site. That’s where all the action is, right? It’s the Facebook site. Bishop Nathan Wilson:And on the YouTube, yeah. We can all get together. Cyd:On the YouTube. Bishop Nathan Wilson:I’ve got a few old videos as well. So you can see the difference in my theology, how it’s changed. My whole belief system changed when I start translating, so I found out I was wrong about a couple of other things. So I still keep some old videos because some people might want to hang on to some of those beliefs as well. I have no problems with that. I’m very open-minded and whichever people want to believe, they can believe, as long as we’re loving to each other and kind. It’s all that matters. Being good humans. Cyd:Right. Well, since we’re going to be putting this on your site as well as mine, let me tell people that I have a Substack called The Gnostic Reformation. And my homepage is GnosticInsights.com. Well, it’s just been a blessing. Thank you very much. Bishop Nathan Wilson:You’re welcome. And feel free to share your stuff on The Gnostic Union Facebook page too. If you ever want to share stuff, feel free to. We accept other people’s work too. So feel free to share it. Cyd:How often? I mean, I post weekly. You don’t want me cross-posting weekly. Bishop Nathan Wilson:Oh, that’s fine. We don’t mind. You can post there weekly. We won’t mind. Anything that’s Gnostic, we’ll gladly accept. So we want to encourage all Gnostic schools of thought and everyone that wants to seek it, we want to encourage that. Cyd:Oh that’s excellent. Okay. Well, thank you so much for being with me today, Bishop Nathan Wilson. God bless us all. Bishop Nathan Wilson:God bless as well. Thank you for having me. Cyd:Okay. Bye-bye. Thank you. Well, that’s the conclusion of that long interview with Bishop Nathan Wilson of The Gnostic Union. These episodes have been running long, a half hour and more, so I think we’ll keep this one short, and give you a break. Until then, drop some comments and questions that I can address in next week's episode.This interview was recorded via Zoom, and so I have the video of the interview as well as these audios, and I’ve left it as one long video to post to YouTube. So I’m putting it up on YouTube now that we’re done with the audio podcast versions, and you can go to YouTube if you’d like to watch Brother Nathan talking about these things. He does have a few visual aids. His papyrus facsimiles and whatnot are pretty cool to look at. So I encourage you to go to my YouTube channel, Cyd Ropp, and it’s under the Gnostic Insights playlist, and leave a thumbs up. I’m going to try to grow the Gnostic Insights presence there on YouTube. It’s going to take a lot of effort and a lot of support on your part. So please give me a hand here, and let’s kick it off with this Bishop Wilson. The other YouTube video that’s already there is that animated version of my children’s book, Children of the Fullness: A Gnostic Myth. So if you haven’t watched that yet, you could catch it as well. Until then, God bless us all, and Onward and Upward. Until then, drop some comments and questions I can address in next week's episode. God bless us all and onward and upward. Children of the Fullness: A Gnostic Myth is the first gnostic book written for young children. Click here to go to amazon.com
Welcome back to Gnostic Insights and to the Gnostic Reformation on Substack. Dr. Cyd Ropp and Bishop Nathan Wilson Today's episode is the last installment of my interview with Bishop Nathan Wilson of The Gnostic Union. Brother Nathan continues with his illustration of how correct translation of the original Koine Greek of the New Testament changes the way we may interpret Biblical scripture more precisely. The translations he shares come from his freely available Gnostic Christian Truth Bible that you can find online in PDF form, with side by side comparisons of the original Koine with English. I'm including the link here in the transcript of the episode, so if you are listening to this in podcast form, you may wish to go to Gnostic Insights dot com to read the transcript. His Bible and other Gnostic scriptures could use another round of editorial polishing, in my opinion, to insert an indexed table of contents, so it may be a bit difficult to make your way through it. And in next week’s episode, I’ll take a long look at what we’ve been hearing for the last four weeks. If you have anything you would like me to discuss or any questions coming off of Bishop Wilson’s discussion, bring them up and we can talk about them on next week's episode. I know I’m going to want to talk about the role of Sophia and the Divine Feminine and the concept of gender on the ethereal plane. I would also like to talk to you about how the study of history and philology differs from theology and philosophy and how they are not necessarily gnosis. And here at Gnostic Insights, of course, and on the Gnostic Reformation, I avoid talking about gnosis and only share gnosis itself. So I’d like to explain that to you about that as well. So please drop me some comments here at the end of this episode and I can address them in next week’s episode. Bishop Nathan Wilson: So Mark 8:17. All right. So this would be Jesus here. “And having gnosis, he said to them, why reason because you have no bread or do you not understand that the heart of you has been hardened?” So this is among disciples arguing that they have no bread. Jesus having spiritual gnosis, understanding what’s going on, says, “What are you arguing about?” Which is kind of interesting that he mentioned, but I’ll mention something that’s a real kick in the can. So this is in Mark 15:42. And this is a text that no theology want to give you because it would make them feel uncomfortable. And it’s regarding Pontius Pilate having gnosis regarding Jesus crucifixion. So this is a note they definitely do not want. I was kind of thinking about what does this mean? And I figured out what it’s regarding to. Mark 15:45. Okay, so this is Pontius Pilate. I’ll read 15:44 first. “But Pilate wondered if he had already died, having called to him the centurion and questioned him if he had already died. And with gnosis from the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph.” AI generated image of Pilate questioning the Centurian. The three crucified men were inserted by the AI to symbolically represent the crucifixition of Jesus and the two thieves. Golgotha is actually not that close to the palace window. So that meaning inside knowledge from the centurion has been given to him about Jesus. So that could imply that he was still alive and that Pontius might have been involved in this plot. That’s what that text would imply; it doesn’t necessarily have to mean that. It can just mean that within a knowledge he’s been told by the centurion Jesus is dead, so it can apply that too. So however you want to read that text is up to you. But I found that quite fascinating and I had to really look at that. I’m like, well, I'm sorry, we can’t have that in there. That’s why that’s been censored. But that’s fascinating. So we even have Jesus having a gnosis and leaving an area and that’s in Matthew 12:15. I’ll jump into that too. So there’s a couple of scenes that Jesus has gnosis. There’s even times he has gnosis in regarding what other people were thinking. So having to understand them mentally. So that’s cool. So gnosis appears quite often. It’s just it doesn’t appear in the English text. But in the Old Testament it’s even more. Cyd:That's interesting. Bishop Nathan Wilson:Yes, it is. Very. Okay. So “withdrew from the area” Matthew 12:15 I want. Right. “And Jesus having gnosis, withdrew from there and many great multitudes followed him and he healed them.” Or it can translate to took care of them or cured them all. So that word here we have can be for a therapeia or a therapeo. And this word meaning to heal someone or to spend time with them, to heal them with God’s word or with medicine, to heal them with medical substance, so narcotics. It can be just simply curing them or just spending time with someone so say talking to someone, healing them and their emotions. So healing their emotions. So that’s beautiful. Not just simply Jesus hocus pocus and and leaving. It’s he’s spending time with people. And this word has been used in ancient Greek medical texts for implying medical substances or therapy. So the word therapeia is where our word therapy comes from. So this can be Jesus the therapist. So that’s beautiful. Absolutely fantastic. I like that. So it gives more power to the text. Shows that one person can make a difference. So any one of us can do this and heal multitudes through spiritual touch, through spiritual messaging, through the simple act of love. So that’s powerful. That’s useful. Cyd:And this is something that only people can do. Well, no, actually dogs are very good therapists as well. But I wouldn’t think that an AI therapist or an AI Jesus has any gnosis truly. Bishop Nathan Wilson:I’m not really one big for AI because I think AI is basically just all secondhand information. It’s just built from all our information that we’ve already got. So we have here something else. This is something pretty interesting too. Matthew 16:8. And it’s Jesus having gnosis: “Why do you argue amongst yourselves? You of little faith because you have no bread” [or meaning food.] But say, regarding to the word for artos being bread. So when you have the Jesus prayer, Give us this daily bread, this could translate to give us our daily necessaries of life. That’s much more. So daily maintenance, so being maintained spiritually, being maintained by God, for God giving us the means to live spiritually as well as physically. So it’s much more powerful than just simple, just bread and food. So Jesus speaking a lot of times symbolically. So the symbolic teachings are meant to be useful to all of us. So something that we can practically take on, not simply does something that’s outside of ourselves. So that’s within ourselves that we can actually use. So gnosis. And I’ll go into Matthew 22:18. And that’s with Jesus about having gnosis on the wickedness of the Pharisees. So this doesn’t mean that all Pharisees are bad though. Jesus had Pharisees that followed him. This just means a select few of them. So basically the rich corrupted ones of them. So he was also against the Sadducees too. Mostly Sadducees probably because they were the richer lots. But he was not really a friend to those who were corrupt and using the money that they were given to further subject the people to more condemnation, which Jesus was very much pro-life, was equality where the Pharisees and Sadducees in large numbers were not. Which is a shame. Okay, so 22, I think it was I’m looking for. Matthew 22:18. Okay. Cyd:You know that Old Testament God of the Sadducees and Pharisees doesn’t have love. So they are not getting any gnosis from that Jehovah level. Bishop Nathan Wilson:No. And it goes back to where it’s first worshipped. The first to worship this God, Yahweh, were very violent. They were the Shasu. They were known to force marry the Egyptian and Ethiopian young girls they raided. So when we look at the depictions of the Shasu, they are mixed in colour—they're black, they’re white, they’re copper skinned. They didn’t care what colour you were, they just took. They were looking for sex slaves, basically wives. So what’s interesting is the same river that they used, the Euphrates River, not all of them were river-based pirates. Some were just tent dwelling nomads. But some of them did have the funds or means to use ships. So we certainly had sea people. So some of those sea people were Canaanite raiders. So they’ll use the Euphrates River to go out raiding, to go out to the main street or elsewhere to raid outside of their own lands. Muslim pirates would use the same river to do the same thing. So that’s interesting.[Editor’s note: The speaker appears to be connecting several groups—nomadic Shasu, Sea Peoples, and later Muslim-era raiders. While the Euphrates served as an important transportation corridor, the specific claim that the Shasu or Sea Peoples used it as river-pirates is not clear from the sources consulted by the CoPilot AI and may reflect an interpretation rather than an established historical consensus. Of course, the AIs are relaying to us approved, conventional data, so their data bases would not contain the types of stories Bishop Wilson speaks of.]All in the name of this Jehovah, in the name of Yahweh, in the name of the demiurge, this evil gets done. And it’s always the poor that suffer, the poor and women. And who are the ones that Jesus is speaking to? The poor and to women. So it’s shocking. So most Christians don’t look at this either. A lot of Muslims don’t either, because they will be following Jesus [Isa]. So who they call Isa, they clearly don’t. So the message contradicts. So Muhammad called himself a man of war. Moses as well. But it depends on what version of Moses you’re looking at as well. So during the time of Jesus, as I mentioned, there were different versions of Judaism. There were different Torahs and different Jewish Bibles. So some believed in a peaceful Moses and even a peaceful Abraham. Others believed in Abraham the Pirat. So Abraham the Pirate. And some didn’t take this view. So others believed in Abraham ready to sacrifice his son. And others believed that he was hearing a fallen angel, mistook it for God, and God had to intervene. And we see this sort of in the Essene story somewhat. So that’s more of a Gnostic take. Some Essenes view, because they’re Dead Sea Scrolls, which is a Qumran Essene sect, they believe that it was Belial that was behind the scenes doing this. And God was basically aware that Belial was doing it and would interfere. So he would do this in order for Belial to expose himself and then be shamed. So a very different story. So the story of Job we read is the Pharisee story, which is Satan being in the angelic courts. So being asked by God, so not acting outside of God. So he was only there to test human beings. So Satan’s not the bad guy in that story. It’s Yahweh. But when we look at other stories, it’s different. Even the Ethiopian version is different. They have two stories. One with Belial and the other one with a figure called Mastema, who is the opponent against God trying to cause the sacrifice of Abraham’s son. So, trippy. So this is regarding to the Pharisees as well. “So Jesus, having gnosis of the wickedness of them, said, Why do you test me, you hypocrites?” So this is in reference to the coin, when he showed them the icon. So what’s interesting about that scene is Judas, who was a Zealot, basically, I think it was Judas of Galilee, who rebelled against Rome, he also said the same thing. “Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s and give to God what is God’s.”[Matthew 22:21] So when Jesus is speaking in the scene, he doesn’t touch the coin. The icon on there in question is the emperor who is stating, you know, son of Caesar, son of God. Jesus is saying, no, basically give this back to Caesar and give to Israel, God, what is God’s, which is the land. So Israel. But I don’t think it’s more from the land—I think that’s a zealot opinion. I think when he’s talking about this, when he says Israel, I’m thinking he’s looking at the word context and he’s meaning El preserved so those who belong to El. So when he says those who belong to Israel, he’s not saying just anything, he’s talking about the lost sheep of El Elyon. So those were in other lands, lead them back here. So ones who have gone astray, which is interesting. So ones who are worshipping pagan gods or worshipping Yahweh. So he’s saying, bring them back to El, bring them back to God, repentance. This is why the Pharisees and Sadducees disliked him. He had a different God. Some that liked him as well, but they had trouble understanding it. Cyd:Right. Well, and that is still the case. Hey, we’re going to have to wrap this up in just a few minutes. So is there any scripture you would like to make sure that you share before we wrap it up? Bishop Nathan Wilson:Okay. Well, if you like, I can share either the temple scene, which is a Matthew 21:12, or I can share the little, the short scene of the Pharisees being condemned by Jesus for basically dressing up like prostitutes. You might have a, you might have a lot of that. Cyd:Yeah. Okay. That, that looks to be the one you want to share the most. Papyrus Oxyconocus 840 Bishop Nathan Wilson:So I’ll share that one. It’s very short. So this is the text in general. Just this little bit. Okay. The Greek side is on here. [Nathan displays his fragment facsimile.] So I have the Greek side by side. So this is side one and side two. So side two is even shorter. “So before committing injustice, he carefully plans it all.” So this is Jesus speaking about the evil. “Be on guard, lest you suffer the same things as they.” So this is the Pharisees and Sadducees he’s talking about. “For the evil doers among people do not receive punishment only in this life, but also suffer judgment and great torment. And having received them, he brought them into the purification area. And as he was walking in the temple, a certain Pharisee, a high priest named Soreb [conventional translation is Levi; editorial note],” Which is kind of interesting. That word Zoar/Tzoar [uncertain], is Tsa'ar, [uncertain] which is a city condemned by God [but ultimately spared by God; editorial note]. So this is kind of like a pun on the Pharisee leader being punished by God. So like, possibly, maybe a Pharisee Messiah figure. So meaning they’re rejecting Jesus because they already have their Messiah they believe. So that’s something to be taken into a note. So this Soreb [Levi ?] approaches, met them and said, “Zoar, who gave you permission to walk in the purification area and to look upon these holy vessels, not having washed, nor your disciples having their feet baptized, but having being unclean, you have trampled upon this holy place, which is pure, which no one may enter unless you have bathed and changed into the garments of those baptized. Nor does anyone dare to touch these holy vessels.” So they’re in the temple right now in the inner sanctuary, touching the holy relics and not wearing the same baptism clothing as them. They’re not liking this. So this is what Jesus says. “The Savior answered and said to him, Woe to you blind ones who do not see. You wash in these poured out waters in which dogs and pigs have been thrown into day and night. And after washing your outer skin, you wipe it. And just like the prostitutes and flute players anoint themselves and wash and wipe and adorn themselves to cause the desires of men. But from within, they are full of scorpions and all evil. But I and my disciples who you say are not baptized have been baptized in the waters of eternal Zoe. That has come from God. But woe to those…” And the ending is missing. That’s why side two has not been given. [referring to side two of the fragment which is partially destroyed and not in the public domain] Cyd:Right. Now that’s a fragment. Where was that fragment found? Bishop Nathan Wilson:I forgot. The fragment is called Papyrus Oxyconocus 840. But you can just type in P. Oxy 840. I would say that was probably if I’d gone by memory, that might have been discovered maybe in Alexandria, if not maybe in Thrace, but I believe it was Alexandria, Egypt that might have been discovered. There was one, I believe, that was discovered in the Middle East, maybe Jerusalem. But I believe that one there was discovered in Alexandria. I might be wrong about that. I have to relook where that was discovered. But it is important. So a text that has not been given to public domain yet, which is quite a shame. Cyd:Yeah. Well, it’s been delightful talking to you. And you certainly have an encyclopedic knowledge of these ancient texts. It’s very beautiful. It’s very nice being around you. You have the good vibe. Bishop Nathan Wilson:It’s been a pleasure speaking to you as well, Dr. Cyd Ropp. It’s been an absolute pleasure. So I’m stoked. So sorry if I get excited and all that sort of stuff as well. I love meeting new people, especially fellow spiritual people. Always lovely to see, especially Gnostics. Cyd:Yeah. Well, I recommend The Gnostic Union. Go check out the Facebook site. That’s where all the action is, right? It’s the Facebook site. Bishop Nathan Wilson:And on the YouTube, yeah. We can all get together. Cyd:On the YouTube. Bishop Nathan Wilson:I’ve got a few old videos as well. So you can see the difference in my theology, how it’s changed. My whole belief system changed when I start translating, so I found out I was wrong about a couple of other things. So I still keep some old videos because some people might want to hang on to some of those beliefs as well. I have no problems with that. I’m very open-minded and whichever people want to believe, they can believe, as long as we’re loving to each other and kind. It’s all that matters. Being good humans. Cyd:Right. Well, since we’re going to be putting this on your site as well as mine, let me tell people that I have a Substack called The Gnostic Reformation. And my homepage is GnosticInsights.com. Well, it’s just been a blessing. Thank you very much. Bishop Nathan Wilson:You’re welcome. And feel free to share your stuff on The Gnostic Union Facebook page too. If you ever want to share stuff, feel free to. We accept other people’s work too. So feel free to share it. Cyd:How often? I mean, I post weekly. You don’t want me cross-posting weekly. Bishop Nathan Wilson:Oh, that’s fine. We don’t mind. You can post there weekly. We won’t mind. Anything that’s Gnostic, we’ll gladly accept. So we want to encourage all Gnostic schools of thought and everyone that wants to seek it, we want to encourage that. Cyd:Oh that’s excellent. Okay. Well, thank you so much for being with me today, Bishop Nathan Wilson. God bless us all. Bishop Nathan Wilson:God bless as well. Thank you for having me. Cyd:Okay. Bye-bye. Thank you. Well, that’s the conclusion of that long interview with Bishop Nathan Wilson of The Gnostic Union. These episodes have been running long, a half hour and more, so I think we’ll keep this one short, and give you a break. Until then, drop some comments and questions that I can address in next week's episode.This interview was recorded via Zoom, and so I have the video of the interview as well as these audios, and I’ve left it as one long video to post to YouTube. So I’m putting it up on YouTube now that we’re done with the audio podcast versions, and you can go to YouTube if you’d like to watch Brother Nathan talking about these things. He does have a few visual aids. His papyrus facsimiles and whatnot are pretty cool to look at. So I encourage you to go to my YouTube channel, Cyd Ropp, and it’s under the Gnostic Insights playlist, and leave a thumbs up. I’m going to try to grow the Gnostic Insights presence there on YouTube. It’s going to take a lot of effort and a lot of support on your part. So please give me a hand here, and let’s kick it off with this Bishop Wilson. The other YouTube video that’s already there is that animated version of my children’s book, Children of the Fullness: A Gnostic Myth. So if you haven’t watched that yet, you could catch it as well. Until then, God bless us all, and Onward and Upward. Until then, drop some comments and questions I can address in next week's episode. God bless us all and onward and upward. Children of the Fullness: A Gnostic Myth is the first gnostic book written for young children. Click here to go to amazon.com
In this preach, Dion van Breda reminds us that our lives leave a legacy for those who follow after us. Preaching from Joshua, we see that Joshua wanted the people to remember all that God had done for them, so that they would continue to follow Him faithfully even after Joshua was gone.Joshua 24: 1 - 18 (NIV)Then Joshua assembled all the tribes of Israel at Shechem. He summoned the elders, leaders, judges and officials of Israel, and they presented themselves before God.2 Joshua said to all the people, “This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says: ‘Long ago your ancestors, including Terah the father of Abraham and Nahor, lived beyond the Euphrates River and worshiped other gods. 3 But I took your father Abraham from the land beyond the Euphrates and led him throughout Canaan and gave him many descendants. I gave him Isaac, 4 and to Isaac I gave Jacob and Esau. I assigned the hill country of Seir to Esau, but Jacob and his family went down to Egypt.5 “‘Then I sent Moses and Aaron, and I afflicted the Egyptians by what I did there, and I brought you out. 6 When I brought your people out of Egypt, you came to the sea, and the Egyptians pursued them with chariots and horsemen as far as the Red Sea. 7 But they cried to the Lord for help, and he put darkness between you and the Egyptians; he brought the sea over them and covered them. You saw with your own eyes what I did to the Egyptians. Then you lived in the wilderness for a long time.8 “‘I brought you to the land of the Amorites who lived east of the Jordan. They fought against you, but I gave them into your hands. I destroyed them from before you, and you took possession of their land. 9 When Balak son of Zippor, the king of Moab, prepared to fight against Israel, he sent for Balaam son of Beor to put a curse on you. 10 But I would not listen to Balaam, so he blessed you again and again, and I delivered you out of his hand.11 “‘Then you crossed the Jordan and came to Jericho. The citizens of Jericho fought against you, as did also the Amorites, Perizzites, Canaanites, Hittites, Girgashites, Hivites and Jebusites, but I gave them into your hands. 12 I sent the hornet ahead of you, which drove them out before you—also the two Amorite kings. You did not do it with your own sword and bow. 13 So I gave you a land on which you did not toil and cities you did not build; and you live in them and eat from vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant.'14 “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! 17 It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18 And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”
Sermon Outline: "You Can Get There from Here" I. Introduction: The Divine Waymaker Overcoming the World's Directions: In the natural world, when asking for directions, people might discouragingly tell you, "You can't get there from here." However, God specializes in impossible routes. No matter your starting point or how dead-end your situation seems, God can get you to your divine destination. The Invisible Path: Reading from Psalm 77:19, Pastor Rhonda highlights that God's road often leads straight through the sea and mighty waters—paths that no one even knew existed, leaving no human footsteps behind. The God of Action: Citing Psalm 77:13-14, we serve a great God who actively makes things happen and pulls His people out of the worst kind of trouble. II. Point 1: Start Right Here (The Beauty of the Sanctuary) Choosing a New Path: In Psalm 84, the sons of Korah write about longing for the courts of the Lord. This is significant because their ancestor, Korah, rebelled and was destroyed. Yet, his descendants chose a different path. You may come from generations of brokenness, but you can choose today to serve the Lord. Proximity Over Position: The house of God is beautiful not because of its physical architecture or staging, but because it is where God's people gather to corporately meet with Him. A Day in His Courts: According to the Psalmist, a single day in God's courts is better than a thousand days spent anywhere else. Proximity to God trumps any secular privilege—even a debt-free million-dollar resort or a palace. Strength to Strength: In the sanctuary, believers draw dynamic strength from one another's testimonies—seeing brothers and sisters who have conquered cancer, beaten addictions, and defied medical odds. Together, they pass through the Valley of Baca (weeping) and turn it into a place of fresh, living springs. III. Point 2: Remember God's Track Record The Roundabout Way: When God delivered Israel out of Egypt (Exodus 14), He intentionally did not lead them along the shortest route through Philistine territory. God stated His strategy: He knew that if they faced an immediate battle, they would get discouraged and turn back. Strategic Position vs. Apparent Mistake: God purposefully led them on a roundabout way through the wilderness to camp at a perceived dead end at Baal Zephon. To Pharaoh and the enemy, it looked like they were wandering aimlessly and trapped by the wilderness. The Enemy's Trap: What the world or the enemy labels as a disastrous mistake is actually God's hidden strategy. God didn't build a dead end to trap His people; He built a trap to eliminate their enemy. IV. Point 3: Trust the God Who Takes You Through the Obstacle Through, Not Around: When the crisis hit at the Red Sea, God did not build a bridge over it, send boats to carry them, or take them around it. He took them straight through it. The obstacle itself became the road. Night Season Operations: God blew back the waters all through the night season. When you are in your own dark night season and cannot see a way forward, that is precisely when God is operating behind the scenes to clear your pathway. The Mystery of the Dolphin Skins: In Exodus 26:11, God instructs Moses to cover the ceiling of the Tabernacle's tent of meeting with dolphin skins. While finding sea creatures in the middle of a dry wilderness seems impossible, Jewish history and various scholars suggest a powerful reason: As the Israelites crossed the Red Sea with walls of water stacked high on either side, they could see the marine life. They carried those skins into the wilderness as a permanent structural reminder in their ceiling to look up and remember: “We did not get here by ourselves; it was the Lord who redeemed us.” The Right to Cross Over: Because the blood of Jesus has purchased you, you are legally classified as the redeemed of the Lord, giving you an absolute right to cross over your barriers. V. Point 4: Trust the Process from the Manger to the Throne God's Unconventional Pathways: Throughout history, God has continuously built unexpected avenues of deliverance using unlikely people: He anointed a heathen king named Cyrus to march through the Euphrates River at night to overthrow Babylon and deliver His weeping people. He anointed a simple cupbearer named Nehemiah to stand before King Artaxerxes to secure the rebuilding of Jerusalem's ruined walls. Shouting to the Mountain: When holy projects stop halfway and leave you in disappointment, we must speak the prophetic words of Zechariah 4:7: Cry "Grace, grace" to the mountain, and it shall be leveled into a plain. The Humble Arrival: When the King of Kings arrived, He bypassed the expected pathways of Middle Eastern royalty—the velvet tapestries, marble floors, and royal heralds. Instead, He started in a dusty, earthy manger filled with straw and the smell of livestock. Palace Transmutations: God took a route no human saw coming. If God can navigate a path from a low, dirty manger straight to the right hand of the Throne, He can take the "manger" situations of your life and turn them into a palace. VI. Conclusion: No Throne Without the Cross The Strategic Weapon: The cross was naturally a site of execution, sin, deep shame, and public humiliation. The religious elite and demonic principalities assumed Jesus could never reach the throne from such a low place of defeat. Returning to the Feet of the Cross: The cross is not just the entry point of your salvation; it is your ongoing structural weapon against the enemy. When you are bullied by fear, intrusive thoughts, or defeat, return to the feet of the cross where the veil was torn, sin was destroyed, and shame was paid back. The Third Day Resurrection: The apparent defeat of the cross was turned around on the third day when Jesus was triumphantly resurrected from the tomb. Because of that structural victory, God has highly exalted Him and given Him a name that reigns supreme over cancer, sickness, debt, and every dead-end trap of the enemy. Scripture Index Here are the primary scriptures read, cited, or expounded upon during the service: Psalm 77:19 > "Thy way is in the sea, and thy path in the great waters, and thy footsteps are not known." Psalm 77:13-14 > "Thy way, O God, is in the sanctuary: who is so great a God as our God? Thou art the God that doest wonders: thou hast declared thy strength among the people." Psalm 84:1-2 > "How amiable [lovely] are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! My soul longeth, yea, even fainteth for the courts of the Lord: my heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God." Psalm 84:6-7 (Referenced) – Passing through the Valley of Baca [weeping] and making it a well, as they go from strength to strength. Psalm 84:10 > "For a day in thy courts is better than a thousand. I had rather be a doorkeeper in the house of my God, than to dwell in the tents of wickedness." Exodus 14 (Referenced) – The account of God leading Israel the roundabout way through the wilderness to camp at Baal Zephon, and Pharaoh assuming they were trapped. Isaiah 51:9-10 (Paraphrased) – Awaking the arm of the Lord to put on strength as in ancient generations, drying up the great deep to make a road for the redeemed to cross over. Exodus 26:11 / Exodus 36:19 (Referenced) – The structural command to cover the tent of the Tabernacle with a covering of dolphin skins [badger/sea-cow skins in some translations]. Zechariah 4:7 > "Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it." Isaiah 51:11 (Referenced) – The redeemed of the Lord returning and coming with singing unto Zion, with everlasting joy upon their heads. Numbers 6:24-26 (The Benediction) > "The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face shine on you and be gracious to you; the Lord turn his face toward you and give you peace." "Thanks for listening! For more information, visit churchoftheharvest.com. Don't forget to follow us on Facebook and YouTube @cothcleveland.
Jenn Donahue PhD is an entrepreneur, civil engineer, author, and retired US Navy Captain whose company JL Donahue Engineering works on large scale, high profile geotechnical projects for clients ranging from PG&E and Duke Energy to the Tennessee Valley Authority and Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART). Over her military career, Jenn has built a bridge across the Euphrates River in the midst of the Iraq war, commanded an 800-personnel Battalion in Afghanistan, and constructed combat outposts in the middle of deserts filled with insurgents. Jenn has designed the seismic plans for a bridge over the Panama Canal and built roads by drilling and blasting in Ketchikan. She's the author of The Warrior Framework and the founder of Dare to Rise.
Daily Dose of Hope June 4, 2026 Scripture: 1 Kings 4 Prayer: Almighty God, As we move into our Thursday, we pray that today will be a day that we see glimpses of your glory. We need you, we yearn for you. Lord, help us set aside our distractions and settle our scattered thoughts so we can focus on you and you alone. In the next few moments of silence, Lord, hear our prayers... In Your Name, Amen. Welcome to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope Daily Bible reading plan. This summer, we are digging into 1 and 2 Kings. One thing I haven't mentioned yet is that, throughout these readings, we will be joined by Emmy Roberts, our youth lead. Every Friday (that's tomorrow), she will join me for additional discussion. I'm really looking forward to this and think it will offer us new insights and depth. Today's reading is 1 Kings 4. The events of this chapter take place in the early to middle years of Solomon's reign (he reigned a total of forty years). Solomon was king over a huge amount of territory, from the Euphrates River to the north to the border of Egypt on the south, and there was a large population for him to oversee. The first section of the chapter lists Solomon's religious and civic leaders. I always find it interesting when specific names are mentioned in lists throughout Scripture. These were real people. They had jobs, families, and a place in their community. If you get a chance, go back and look at some of the names. The names may sound unusual to us, but try to imagine what it might be like for these individuals to live during the reign of King Solomon and be in service to him. The second part of the chapter focuses more on Solomon's wealth and wisdom, particularly in regard to the prosperity of the nation. The prosperity of the nation was completely connected to God's blessing. As long as Solomon and Israel were in obedience to the law, the blessing would continue. This was a time of unparalleled peace for the Hebrews as well. They were well-fed and they weren't fighting anyone. Many scholars say this time in Israel's history is actually a foretaste of the happiness and peace we will experience in heaven. Kind of an interesting thing to think about. This chapter also mentions the Proverbs that Solomon wrote. This book of wisdom literature make it clear their purpose – to help people walk in wisdom or one might say to live well. And the main ingredient in doing so is right relationship with God: "The fear of the LORD is the beginning of wisdom" (Proverbs 1:7; 9:10; 15:33). But as we read the proverbs, we will begin to see how these "wise words" are really intended to build good character, to foster traits like honesty, integrity, hard work, and self-control. They address basic areas of human life. They might not be super interesting reading but they do make sense to people. If you have some extra time today, be sure to read through some of the Proverbs. Blessings, Pastor Vicki
In today's episode of Trending Middle East, Kuwait said its air defences responded to missile and drone attacks on Thursday morning. It came after US forces carried out new strikes on Iranian drones. The Israeli military ordered the mass displacement of all of southern Lebanon, telling residents to move north of the Zahrani River. Iraqi cleric Moqtada Al Sadr said his armed faction, Saraya Al Salam, would integrate into state forces, while Baghdad faces growing pressure to bring other armed groups into its ranks. Authorities in Syria and Iraq have issued evacuation orders along the Euphrates River amid fears of major flooding. And the UAE dirham symbol is currently under review to be added to computer and smartphone keyboards. Trending Middle East is AI-assisted, using original reporting published in The National and curated and edited by humans.
Do you think everyone is overhyping the River Euphrates or is the Book of Revelation right and we are in the End Times?#euphratesriver #endtimes #angels
Sam, Dylan, and Darksmith are back to break down: Sam gifting Ryan a wildly suspicious self-published manifesto titled "Why Nukes Aren't Real" by Tamra Shavel that appears to have been sold off the Santa Monica Pier, the show climbing to #4 most hyped on YouTube while still unable to dethrone the two bald hiking Jews at the top, MrBeast getting hit by the new algorithm and dropping from 500 million to 50 million views, the Euphrates River drying up exactly on schedule for Revelations 16's sixth bowl to prepare the way for the kings of the East, Dylan's running theory that all biblical prophecy is just well-documented schizophrenia, Turkey damming the Tigris and Euphrates and accidentally activating the apocalypse like a Zelda puzzle box, Iran shooting down a US-Israel weather weapon and the drought ending three days later, the absolutely cooked roster of CEOs Trump dragged to China including Jensen Huang, Tim Cook, Larry Fink, Stephen Schwarzman, and Elon yonked on ketamine while worth more than the country he's negotiating with, Hasan Piker calmly defending China's 1.2 million Tibetan death tally and the Hundred Days of Flowers 55 million famine deaths while condemning Israel, the LA segregation map of Trader Joe's locations, the Mehdi Hasan interview where the "Worst Adventure" Oklahoma Jennifer publicly atones for not knowing enough about Palestine while admitting she has zero Muslims in her town, the empathy study revealing women feel equal sympathy for cheating men and cheating women (which kind of explains Hillary, Thatcher, Merkel, and the entire blood-drinking queen aesthetic), the 1.5 million white Christians getting fed into the Ukraine meat grinder that no progressive will post about, Netanyahu's trial judge dying in a motorcycle crash because nothing is ever an accident, and OpenAI acquiring TBPN for $100 million while their videos pull 500 views. Subscribe and give us that sweet brown hype. Grab Tickets To Sam Tripoli's Live Shows At SamTripoli.com: Costa Mesa, Ca: 5/28 Austin, TX: 5/22 (Live Taping Of Sam Tripoli's Comedy Special) Albuquerque, NM: 6/12-6/13 Austin, TX: 6/18 Miami, Fl: 7/31-8/1 Lawerence, KS: 9/17-9/19 Tulsa, OK: 10/9-10/10 Austin, TX: Dec 11th-13th: Buy Our Merch or Sam Will Fight You: https://conspiracy-social-club-aka-deep-waters.myshopify.com/ Subscribe to the Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/AkaDeepWaters Check out Dylan's instagram - @dylanpetewrenn Check out Deep Waters Instagram: @akadeepwaters Check out Bad Tv podcast: https://bit.ly/3RYuTG0 THANK YOU TO OUR SPONSORS: LUCY NICOTINE POUCHES Go to LUCY.CO/CSC and use CODE "CSC" for 20% OFF your first online order TASKRABBIT USE Code "CSC" and get $15 OFF your first task BLUECHEW GOLD Go to BlueChew.com and use promo code "DEEP" to get your 3rd month free
In this next installment of Heaven Shaking the Persian Bear, we'll take a closer look at the dawn demise of the bear in the River Euphrates per John's account in Revelation and the first Exodus as well as take a look at a pattern in the feasts that call the righteous out of Babylon before the opening/closing of the Euphrates River event.
Help Persecuted Christians TODAY: https://csi-usa.org/quickstart/ Christian Solidarity International On today's Quick Start podcast: NEWS: Donald Trump arrives in China for high-stakes talks with Xi Jinping as tensions over trade, AI, Taiwan, fentanyl trafficking, and Iran dominate the agenda. Plus, Hannah Harper turns the American Idol finale into a worship moment after boldly glorifying God on national TV. FOCUS STORY: New findings from Giving USA reveal troubling trends in charitable giving and what it could mean for churches and ministries across America. MAIN THING: Is biblical prophecy unfolding in real time? Iraqi officials warn the Euphrates River could run dry by 2040, sparking renewed discussion around Book of Revelation 16:12. Raj Nair and Billy Hallowell break it down. LAST THING: Proverbs 3:9 “Honor the Lord with your wealth, with the firstfruits of all your crops.” SHOW LINKS Radical Revelations with Raj Nair https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/radical-revelations/id1888511250 Faith in Culture: https://cbn.com/news/faith-culture Heaven Meets Earth PODCAST: https://cbn.com/lp/heaven-meets-earth NEWSMAKERS POD: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/newsmakers/id1724061454
In this Bible Prophecy Update, Christine Darg discusses the prophetic significance of current events, from the drying Euphrates River to the rise of UFO sightings and their biblical identity. Throughout Christine emphasizes the necessity of comprehending God's eternal, unilateral covenants with Israel, offering an accurate assessment of the geopolitical landscape.
Ark Of Grace with Amanda Grace UFO Files Released: The Hidden Spiritual Warfare They Don't Want You to See Join Amanda Grace for a powerful biblical deep dive as she examines the latest release of the UFO files and what they may reveal about spiritual deception, end times signs, and hidden spiritual warfare operating behind global events. Music Copyright References: -131615741-Awards Inspirational Cinematic Music (Short 3) [Upbeat Nomination Epic Orchestra] Stock Media provided by JadSound / Pond5 -21981893-Corporate And Inspirational Cinematic Background Music (1.00 Minutes Version) Stock Media provided by StockAudios / Pond5 -151471022-Uplifting Inspirational Corporate Stock Media provided by Patrick_Schlebes / Pond5 -154756307-Magic Fireflies Loop Version2(Modern And Relaxing Background) Stock Media provided by Lesya_NZ / Pond5 -123859534-Successful Product Presentation 60S - P5 Stock Media provided by Wolfgangwoehrle / Pond5 105166597-Believe in You (Inspirational And Uplifting) P5 Stock Media provided by DivaProductionMusic / Pond5 Music License: https://www.pond5.com/legal/license/2... Purchase ID/Date: 7365245 / 9-29-2023 Website: https://arkofgrace.org Prayer Requests: https://arkofgrace.org/prayer-requests Donate: https://arkofgrace.org/donate Partners: https://arkofgrace.org/ministry-partners In this broadcast of Ark of Grace, Amanda Grace provides a profound spiritual analysis of the Pentagon's recent declassification of UFO files. She argues that these phenomena are not extraterrestrial in origin but are interdimensional manifestations of fallen spiritual hierarchies, signaling a return to the "Days of Noah" as prophesied in scripture. The Pentagon Release and the Enochian Framework The Pentagon's release of declassified files on Unidentified Anomalous Phenomena (UAPs), dating back to the 1940s, is viewed as a significant prophetic marker. Amanda Grace connects the timing of these sightings to the 1948 rebirth of Israel, suggesting that as the prophetic clock accelerated, so did spiritual activity in the natural realm. Rather than being biological life from other planets, these entities are identified as interdimensional beings—specifically fallen angels, the "Watchers" described in the Book of Enoch, and disembodied spirits resulting from the Nephilim. The release of these files is interpreted as a government-led effort toward "transparency" that actually masks a deeper spiritual reality involving entities that have influenced human technology and culture for millennia. Technological Deception and the "Days of Noah" The discussion highlights a "sophisticated argument in high places" where the kingdom of darkness utilizes advanced technology to deceive humanity. This includes the reverse-engineering of heavenly knowledge by fallen hosts to create crafts that defy natural laws. Guest Clay Clark joins the conversation to emphasize the convergence of AI and spiritual "summoning," noting that tech leaders like Elon Musk and Bill Gates have described AI in terms reminiscent of the Tower of Babel or demonic interaction. The overarching goal of this deception is to dilute the "Image of God" in man by suggesting that extraterrestrial creators or superior consciousnesses exist, thereby leading humanity into "doctrines of demons" and false covenants. Geopolitical Convergence and Cultural Influence The spiritual war extends into the geopolitical and cultural spheres, with references to the "Marine Kingdom" and its influence on global brands and media. Amanda points to the Starbucks siren and Disney's imagery as examples of desensitizing the public to these spiritual entities. Furthermore, current events—such as the drying of the Euphrates River, the alliance between Russia and China, and the "Hanta" (interpreted as "scam" in Hebrew) virus—are framed as the fulfillment of Revelation 16 and 18. The narrative suggests that certain factions within the federal government are in active covenant with these interdimensional forces, receiving forbidden knowledge to control and manipulate the masses. The release of UFO files is not a matter of science fiction but a call to spiritual vigilance. By understanding the hierarchy of the kingdom of darkness and the "devices" of the enemy, believers are encouraged to "armor up" and remain rooted in the unadulterated truth of the Word of God to avoid the coming deceptions.
What is the truth behind the Battle of Armageddon? In this powerful message, Pastor Daniel Batarseh explores Revelation 16: 10-16, revealing how God orchestrates the final face-off between good and evil. Learn how to stay spiritually prepared in an age of deception and discover the hope found in Christ's ultimate victory.*About This Message:* As the world enters humanity's last chapter, Pastor Daniel explains the transition from God's judgment of the natural world to the dismantling of global power structures. This study covers the 5th and 6th Bowls of Wrath, the significance of the Euphrates River, and the "Unholy Trinity's" attempt to assemble the nations for war against the Lamb.*Key topics include:*- The literal darkness on the throne of the Beast.- Why the human heart remains hardened even under divine judgment.- The reality of demonically inspired propaganda and how to discern truth.- The biblical significance of Megiddo (Armageddon) and God's promises to Israel.*Chapters:*00:00 - Introduction: The End of the World vs. Scriptural Reality 05:20 - The 5th Bowl: Darkness on the Throne of the Beast 10:30 - The Last Mention of Repentance in the Bible 12:28 - The 6th Bowl: Drying up the Great River Euphrates 17:30 - The Global Confederacy: War Against the Lamb 19:10 - The Unholy Trinity & Demonic Propaganda (Frogs) 24:45 - Discerning Truth by Soaking in the Bible 30:40 - Ancient Prophecies of Jerusalem (Joel & Zechariah) 36:00 - Jesus' Warning: "Behold, I am coming like a thief" 42:30 - The Invitation: How to Receive Jesus Christ*Full Series Playlist:* Watch the entire Revelation study here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLZLapfsgGtr8iDd6-vjEo_-tLWt9wf4lkSunday Service (4/26/26) // Revelation 16:10-16 (ESV) // 10 The fifth angel poured out his bowl on the throne of the beast, and its kingdom was plunged into darkness. People gnawed their tongues in anguish 11 and cursed the God of heaven for their pain and sores. They did not repent of their deeds.12 The sixth angel poured out his bowl on the great river Euphrates, and its water was dried up, to prepare the way for the kings from the east. 13 And I saw, coming out of the mouth of the dragon and out of the mouth of the beast and out of the mouth of the false prophet, three unclean spirits like frogs. 14 For they are demonic spirits, performing signs, who go abroad to the kings of the whole world, to assemble them for battle on the great day of God the Almighty. 15 (“Behold, I am coming like a thief! Blessed is the one who stays awake, keeping his garments on, that he may not go about naked and be seen exposed!”) 16 And they assembled them at the place that in Hebrew is called Armageddon.#Revelation #BookofRevelation #BibleStudy #BibleExplained #BiblicalStudies #BibleTeacher #WordOfGod #BiblicalLessons #BibleJournal #BibleReading #BibleStudyCommunity #BibleVerse #prophecy #prophetic #jerusalemWebsite: https://mbchicago.org FOLLOW US Facebook: / mbc.chicago Instagram: / mbc.chicago TikTok: / mbc.chicago Podcasts: Listen on Apple, Spotify & others TO SUPPORT USZelle to: info@mbchicago.orgWebsite: https://mbchicago.org/give Venmo: https://venmo.com/mbchurch DAF Donations: https://every.org/mbc.chicago PayPal: https://paypal.com/donate/?hosted_but...
This powerful exploration of Revelation 16 takes us deep into the final judgments of God, revealing both His righteousness and His persistent call for humanity to turn toward Him. We witness the sixth and seventh bowl judgments—the drying of the Euphrates River and the ultimate earthquake that reshapes the world. What's striking is how these catastrophic events aren't random acts of divine anger, but purposeful demonstrations of God's holiness confronting persistent rebellion. The imagery of the Euphrates drying up connects us to ancient biblical geography where evil has always congregated—from the Garden of Eden to the Tower of Babel. This reminds us that spiritual warfare has geographic and historical dimensions we often overlook. The demonic spirits appearing as frogs seduce the kings of the earth toward the Battle of Armageddon, showing us how deception works through signs and wonders rather than truth. Perhaps most compelling is the sudden warning in verse 15: 'Behold, I am coming as a thief.' Right in the middle of describing end-times judgment, we receive a personal call to watchfulness and purity. This isn't just about future events—it's about our spiritual readiness today. The imagery of keeping our garments clean connects back to Genesis, where God clothed Adam and Eve after their fall, foreshadowing how Christ clothes us in righteousness. We're challenged to examine whether our spiritual garments remain pure or have become stained by compromise with the world.
In this episode of The Impostor Syndrome Files, we talk about harnessing your inner strength to overcome self-doubt. My guest this week is Dr. Jenn Donahue, an engineer, retired U.S. Navy officer and author of the book, Becoming the Warrior: Harnessing Your Inner Strength to Silence Self-Doubt. Jenn's journey spans ocean engineering, seismic design and military leadership across some of the most high-pressure environments in the world, including Iraq and Afghanistan. But her most powerful transformation has been personal: learning to quiet the voice of self-doubt and lead with authenticity, even in the most high-stakes arenas.Jenn shares how her early confidence gave way to self-doubt as she pursued advanced degrees and navigated toxic workplace cultures. We explore what it feels like to be the only woman in the room, the cost of trying to lead like someone you're not and how finding the right mentor helped Jenn embrace a leadership style grounded in empathy and trust.She also introduces her warrior framework, a science-backed, practical system built from her military and engineering experience to help others reframe their inner dialogue and lead with greater confidence.About My GuestJenn Donahue, PhD, PE is an international keynote speaker, retired U.S. Navy captain, business coach, and one of America's leading experts on leadership and personal growth. Her mission is to walk alongside leaders, quiet the voices holding them back, and show them how to become the leaders they were meant to be. Because leadership isn't about the spotlight—it's about service, courage, and building others up.Over her twenty-seven-year military career, Jenn built a bridge across the Euphrates River during the Iraq War, commanded an eight-hundred-personnel battalion in Afghanistan, and led the construction of combat outposts in hostile desert terrain.In her inspiring debut book, “Becoming the Warrior: Harnessing Your Inner Strength to Silence Self-Doubt,” Jenn draws from her experiences on the battlefield to build a framework that helps readers combat their inner critics, achieve their goals, and uncover the warrior within them.~Connect with Jenn:Website: www.warriorframework.com~Connect with Kim and The Impostor Syndrome Files:Join the free Impostor Syndrome Challenge:https://www.kimmeninger.com/challengeLearn more about the Leading Humans discussion group:https://www.kimmeninger.com/leadinghumansgroupJoin the Slack channel to learn from, connect with and support other professionals: https://forms.gle/Ts4Vg4Nx4HDnTVUC6Join the Facebook group:https://www.facebook.com/groups/leadinghumansSchedule time to speak with Kim Meninger directly about your questions/challenges: https://bookme.name/ExecCareer/strategy-sessionConnect on LinkedIn:https://www.linkedin.com/in/kimmeninger/Website:https://kimmeninger.com
When the 4 angels were released at the Euphrates River, a hellish horde burst upon the world. They brought judgment by way of fire, smoke, and brimstone to the wicked. The Euphrates holds deep history in that sin began at its headwaters when the first humans disobeyed God. The Euphrates reveals that man has not merely neglected his Maker, but devoted himself to demon worship. The Euphrates demands a decision: turn from sin and be saved, or remain under judgment. Those affected by the affliction from the Euphrates refused to repent. What will you decide?
When the 4 angels were released at the Euphrates River, a hellish horde burst upon the world. They brought judgment by way of fire, smoke, and brimstone to the wicked. The Euphrates holds deep history in that sin began at its headwaters when the first humans disobeyed God. The Euphrates reveals that man has not merely neglected his Maker, but devoted himself to demon worship. The Euphrates demands a decision: turn from sin and be saved, or remain under judgment. Those affected by the affliction from the Euphrates refused to repent. What will you decide?
[Nehemiah 2:1-4] Early the following spring, in the month of Nisan, during the twentieth year of King Artaxerxes' reign, I was serving the king his wine. I had never before appeared sad in his presence. [2] So the king asked me, “Why are you looking so sad? You don't look sick to me. You must be deeply troubled.” Then I was terrified, [3] but I replied, “Long live the king! How can I not be sad? For the city where my ancestors are buried is in ruins, and the gates have been destroyed by fire.” [4] The king asked, “Well, how can I help you?” With a prayer to the God of heaven, Don't get discouraged when things don't happen on our __________________. All you need is 20 seconds of ____________ ____________. [Nehemiah 2:5-8] I replied, “If it please the king, and if you are pleased with me, your servant, send me to Judah to rebuild the city where my ancestors are buried.” [6] The king, with the queen sitting beside him, asked, “How long will you be gone? When will you return?” After I told him how long I would be gone, the king agreed to my request. [7] I also said to the king, “If it please the king, let me have letters addressed to the governors of the province west of the Euphrates River, instructing them to let me travel safely through their territories on my way to Judah. [8] And please give me a letter addressed to Asaph, the manager of the king's forest, instructing him to give me timber. I will need it to make beams for the gates of the Temple fortress, for the city walls, and for a house for myself.” And the king granted these requests, because the gracious hand of God was on me. [Proverbs 21:5] Good planning and hard work lead to prosperity, but hasty shortcuts lead to poverty. You can accomplish great things when your _____________ is greater than your _____________. [Matthew 17:20] “You don't have enough faith,” Jesus told them. “I tell you the truth, if you had faith even as small as a mustard seed, you could say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,' and it would move. Nothing would be impossible.” God opened the door and Nehemiah had the ____________ to step through it. [Isaiah 40:31] But those who wait for the LORD's help find renewed strength; they rise up as if they had eagles' wings, they run without growing weary, they walk without getting tired. Pray and plan while you __________________ ___________ on God.
In this episode of Gangland Wire, I sit down with retired FBI agent Geoff Kelly, a specialist in art theft investigations who inherited one of the most notorious unsolved cases in American history—the 1990 robbery at the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum. He recently wrote a book about this theft titled 13 Perfect Fugitives: The True Story of Mob, Murder, and the World’s Largest Art Heist. Kelly's law enforcement career began as a New York City transit police officer before transitioning to the FBI. Like many agents, he initially sought violent crime work. Instead, he was assigned to economic crimes before eventually transferring to a violent crime squad. It was there that he encountered the Gardner case—a cold case largely untouched by senior agents at the time. The robbery itself remains extraordinary: two men posing as police officers gained entry to the museum and stole 13 works of art, including masterpieces by Rembrandt. More than three decades later, none of the works have been recovered. Inside the Gardner Heist Geoff explains how art theft is often misunderstood. Popular culture portrays refined, sophisticated criminals orchestrating elaborate capers. The reality, he says, is usually more opportunistic and frequently violent. Art theft often intersects with organized crime, drug trafficking, and even homicide. Massachusetts has a documented history of art-related crimes, and several individuals connected to the Gardner investigation met violent ends. The criminal underworld surrounding stolen art is less about wealthy collectors hiding paintings in private vaults and more about leverage—using artwork as collateral in criminal negotiations. The FBI's Art Crime Evolution Following the 2003 looting of Iraq's National Museum during the Baghdad invasion, the FBI formalized its Art Crime Team. Kelly discusses how intelligence gathering, informants, and international cooperation became central tools in recovering stolen artifacts. He emphasizes that solving art crimes often depends less on forensic breakthroughs and more on human intelligence. Informants remain essential, especially in cases where organized crime overlaps with high-value theft. Kelly also discusses his upcoming book, 13 Perfect Fugitives, which explores the intersections of mobsters, murder, and the illicit art market. Organized Crime and the Reality of Stolen Art Drawing on my own experience working organized crime in Kansas City, I found clear parallels between traditional mob rackets and art theft networks. The same structures—intimidation, secrecy, and violence—apply. Once a painting disappears into criminal circulation, it becomes a liability as much as an asset. Kelly challenges the myth that thieves profit easily from masterpieces. High-profile works are difficult to sell. The black-market art world is volatile and dangerous. In many cases, the artwork becomes bargaining collateral rather than a cash windfall. A Case Still Waiting for Closure More than 30 years later, the Gardner Museum still displays empty frames where the paintings once hung. Kelly remains committed to the idea that public awareness may eventually generate new leads. The Gardner heist stands as both a cultural tragedy and a criminal mystery—one that continues to intersect with organized crime, violence, and international intrigue. Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” Subscribe to the website for weekly notifications about updates and other Mob information. To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent ‘Brothers against Brothers’ or ‘Gangland Wire,’ the documentaries click here. To purchase one of my books, click here. Transcript [0:00] Hey, you guys, Gary Jenkins back here in studio Gangland Wire. Y’all know me. I’m a retired Kansas City Police Intelligence Unit detective and now podcaster and documentary filmmaker. I have in the studio today… Jeff Kelly, he’s a now-retired FBI agent. He was an expert in recovering stolen artifacts and art pieces. He was involved. He wasn’t involved in the original theft of the Boston art theft, the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum, but he ended up inheriting that case. So welcome, Jeff. Hi. Thanks, Gary. Nice to be here. And guys, I need to mention this right off the bat. Jeff has a book, 13 Perfect Fugitives, The True Story of the Mob, Murder, and the World’s Largest Art Heist. Be out on Amazon. I’ll have links down below in the show notes if you want to get that book. I think it would be pretty interesting. I was telling Jeff, I just interviewed Joe Ford, the million-dollar detective, the guy that goes after classic cars, and I read that book. I love these kind of caper kind of books and caper crimes. Those are the ones I like the best is the caper crimes. And Jeff is an expert at working caper crimes. And that’s what these are, capers. So Jeff, how did you get into this? Now you came on the FBI. You were a policeman before, I believe. So tell the guys a little bit about yourself and your FBI career. Yeah, I started out with the Metropolitan Transportation Authority Police in New York City. It was a transit cop. I did that for three years. And then I got into the FBI in October of 95. [1:30] And my goal was always, I wanted to work violent crime. That’s what drew me to law enforcement in the first place, working bank robberies and kidnappings and fugitives. I had to do my five years on working economic crime, telemarketing fraud. It was interesting, but not all that exciting. And finally in 2000, I got my transfer to the violent crime squad. And I loved working it. And I did it for my entire career from then on, right up until my retirement in 2024. But back then, art theft was considered a major theft violation, [2:01] and it was worked by the Violent Crime Squad. And so in 2002… My supervisor dumped this old moribund cold case in my lap. It was the Isabella Stewart Gardner Museum heist. [2:15] Nobody wanted it on the squad, so they figured, let’s give it to the new guy. I was ecstatic to get it because I’d heard about it. I went to school in Boston. I went to Boston University and graduated the year before it happened, but I knew about it. [2:28] That’s how I started working this case, this particular case, and then the following year during the U.S., there was a, the U.S. And coalition forces invaded Baghdad in Iraq. And during a 36-hour period, more than 15,000 objects of very, very important cultural history were looted from the National Museum of Iraq. And it’s really one of the most important museums in the world in terms of our shared history. Kind of the cradle of civilization over there in the Tigers and Euphrates River. Yeah, and that was the time when the FBI kind of belatedly realized that there was no art crime team to investigate this. And of course, FBI agents have been working art theft like any other property crime since the beginning of the FBI’s existence, but there was no codified team. So they did a canvas for the team in 2004 and I applied for it because at this point I’d been working the Gardner case for a couple of years and really was fascinated by it and made the team. And so then over the next 20 years, we continued to expand the team both in size and in scope and in our intelligence base and knowledge base. And when I left the Bureau in 2024, it was and still is a tremendous team with a lot of very dedicated and professional agents and professional support. [3:51] Now, guys, if you don’t know about the Isabella Stewart Gardner case, there was a Netflix documentary on it a few years ago. It was an art museum in Boston. [4:01] Two guys showed up. They had Boston police uniforms on, and they got in. They basically, it was an armed robbery, and they took control of the museum. The guards were in there late at night and took these really valuable paintings out. I believe you told me earlier they were Remington paintings. We’ll get into that. And it was a violent crime. It was an armed robbery of paintings, and you told me about other armed robberies of paintings. I think you got into some other armed robberies of paintings. You always think of, as you mentioned before, the Thomas Crown Affair character that goes out and does these sophisticated art thefts. That’s not always true, is it? It’s never that way, but it doesn’t matter. Don’t let the facts get in the way of a good story. Everybody wants to believe that art thefts are pulled off by the Thomas Crown Affairs and these gentlemen thieves repel in through skylights and do all that fancy stuff, put it in their underground lair. That’s just not the way it works. But if you look to art theft. [4:55] Massachusetts really is a cradle of art theft in this country, and it’s very unique. The first armed robbery of a museum occurred in Boston in 1972. It was committed by a guy named Al Monday, who was a prolific art thief. And they stole four pieces from the Worcester Art Museum in central Massachusetts with a gun. They ended up shooting the guard. And one of the pieces that they stole was a Rembrandt called St. Bartholomew. [5:26] And in keeping with the milieu of true art thieves, the paintings were stored on a pig farm just over the state line in Rhode Island. And when this Connecticut safecracker by the name of Chucky Carlo, who was looking at some serious time in prison for some of the crimes that he committed, when he found out that Al Monday had these paintings, he just simply kidnapped Al Monday and stuck a gun in his ribs and said he would kill him if he didn’t give him the paintings. which is no honor among thieves. And Al turned over the paintings, Chucky returned them, and he got a very significant break on his pending jail sentence. Right here in 1972, Boston thieves see Rembrandt as a valuable get-out-of-jail-free card. [6:09] And then if we jump forward three years to 1975, there was a very skilled art thief, really a master thief by the name of Miles Conner. I interviewed Miles for my book. It was very gracious of him to sit down with me for it. And he had robbed or committed a burglary of the Woolworth estate up in Maine, the family, the five and dime family magnets. And he got caught for it because he tried to sell those paintings to an undercover FBI agent. And so he was looking at 12 years in prison for it. And he was out on bail. And he reached out to a family friend who was a state trooper. And he asked him, how can I get away with this one? How can I get out of this? Because he was in serious trouble. The trooper’s response was meant to be hyperbolic. The trooper said, Miles, it’s going to take you a Rembrandt to get out of this one. [6:57] And so Miles said, okay, I’ll go get a Rembrandt. And he got a crew together and they did a daylight smash and grab at the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, just across the street from the Gardner. And they stole Rembrandt, the girl in a gold-trimmed cloak. [7:12] And he was able to return that painting. Instead of doing 12 years, he did 28 months. And he even managed to, he told me he even managed to get the $10,000 reward in the process. So you have this atmosphere in Massachusetts that Rembrandts are a valuable commodity, right? They can help you out in a jam. And so I think it’s no coincidence that in 1990, when the Gardner Museum heist came down, the Gardner Museum had this array of motion sensors all throughout the museum. It would alert to wherever you went, every gallery, hallway, whatever. [7:49] And we know from these motion sensors that after, as you said, the two guys went in disguised as cops and bluffed their way into the museum, they made a beeline for the Dutch room, which is the room of all things Rembrandt. They stole three Rembrandts. They stole a fourth piece called Landscape with an Obelisk, which was actually by Govard Flink, but it had been misattributed to Rembrandt until the mid 80s. And then they took a large Rembrandt oil-on-panel off the wall and it was recovered the next morning leaning against a piece of furniture. We believe they just overlooked it in the dark. So out of the 13 pieces taken, three were Rembrandt, a fourth was misattributed to Rembrandt, and there was going to be a 14th piece taken, which was also Rembrandt. It definitely falls into that theory that this was going to be a hold-on to these pieces for a while and see if you can use them for a break. [8:48] Interesting. Now, back in the 70s, for example, when somebody would work in an art robbery like that or an art theft, you got your tried and true ways of working a crime. You got to have sources, you got to have witnesses, and hopefully you can get a crime like this. You can get a source that says, hey, this guy, we had a guy in Kansas City that he was a fence for these kinds of guys. He had an antique auction and he took all this stuff and got it somewhere else. So at the time, just use your regular police methods. And what changed over the years as you’ve done this? Yeah, certainly we’ve become much more sophisticated with the techniques that we use. But at the end of the day, it’s always still going to be intelligence. But I found from working my entire career in violent crime, virtually my whole career in violent crime, the sources are crucial. Having a good informant can make and break a case. And working art theft investigations, you’re certainly going to have the same types of fences of informants, fences for stolen property and what they’re hearing about what organized crime guys are doing and what drug guys are doing. But it also opened up a whole new avenue of sources for me as working in art investigations, because now you’ve got pawn shops and gallery owners and auction houses, and they’re in a position to know when not only when stolen artwork is coming in, but also fakes and forgeries. We spoke about this, that. [10:16] Somebody comes in with one valuable piece that would be very difficult for somebody in his or her position to come across one piece like this, let alone a dozen of them. That really points to probably a fake. And so that’s really the key to solving these things is just having a good intelligence base who’s going to let us know about when something comes up that’s either stolen or it’s been forged. [10:43] Brings up a question. In my mind, did you ever work a gallery owner or a gallery [10:48] that then would filter in, knowingly filter in some fakes every once in a while? They couldn’t do it 100% of the time, but you could certainly make some extra money by filtering fakes out of it because many people would get it and they’d never know. Nobody would ever know. Listen, it is a really difficult thing when you’re working these types of crimes because unlike bank robber, you go into a bank and you stick them up with a gun and take them on. It’s not up to the government to be able to prove at trial that you knew that the bank was insured by the FDIC. You went in and you robbed it, you committed the offense. When you’re talking about interstate transportation of stolen property or possession of stolen property, there are what’s called specific intent crimes, meaning you have to prove the element of knowledge. You have to be able to prove that the person knew that that item was stolen. Not that it said it was stolen. and you had to show that they knew it. And that’s a really high hurdle to overcome. And typically what we do to try and prove that specific intent is we’re going to go through. [11:53] Recorded statements made to a source or to an undercover or emails or texts or something that we can show that this person knew that item was stolen. And so we would see that a lot in auction houses and galleries. There’s a lot of willful blindness where a lot of gallery owners and auction houses, they’re going to look the other way because it’s too lucrative to pass up. And in fact, in 2015, the art crime team, once we received information that ISIL or ISIS was using looted cultural property from Syria and Iraq as a form, a viable form of terrorism financing. And we put auction houses and gallery owners on notice in 2015, and we basically told them that if you’re selling objects of cultural patrimony or cultural heritage with a dubious provenance, like a wink and a nod, you may be unwittingly or wittingly funding terrorism. While we never charged anybody with it, hopefully it was an eye-opener that when you’re getting into this world, it’s not a victimless crime. There are very real victims involved. [13:07] And that’s one of the things that really is interesting about working our crime investigations. And I used to get ribbed by my friends who were not on the art crime team about [13:18] where like the wine and cheese squad were raised and everything. But our subjects are far from it. We’re dealing with organized crime, gangs, terrorists. This is no joke. These are serious individuals and the stakes are high. And in the Gardner case, three or four people that we believe were involved in the heist were murdered a year after the Gardner case crime occurred. Yeah, I was just going to go back to that a little bit, as we said before, a little bit like the Lufthansa case. All of a sudden, everybody that was involved in the theft. Started dropping like flies. So tell the guys about that. That is really interesting. [14:00] Yeah. So the two individuals that we believe went into the museum dressed as cops, just a week shy of the one-year anniversary, one of the guys was found dead in his apartment of an acute overdose of cocaine, intravenous. And his family admitted that he used Coke, but they said he was terrified of needles. He was scared of needles. So it really looked to be like a hotshot, an intentional overdose of cocaine. Two weeks later, the other guy who we believe went into the museum with him, his wife reported him missing. And a couple of weeks later, his bullet riddled body was recovered in the trunk of his car out by Logan Airport in East Boston. There was another member of that crew. These were all part of the same crew. This Carmelo Merlino, who was a Boston mobster, had an auto shop down in the Dorchester section of Boston. Another member of his crew, a guy named Bobby, six weeks after the heist, he brought in, he visited a jeweler in the downtown crossing jewelry district in Boston. He came in with this object and he unwrapped it. It was an eagle. [15:03] It was the finial from the Napoleonic flag that was stolen in the Gardner heist. And he asked the jeweler, how much is this thing worth? And the jeweler looked at it and he said, it’s worth nothing. Because he immediately recognized it as one of the people that had been stolen six weeks earlier from the Gardner heist. And then a few months later, Bobby was stabbed to death and nearly decapitated on the front porch of his house. And the responding police saw that his house had been broken into and ransacked like his killers had been looking for something. There was a fourth guy, Jimmy, who bragged to his girlfriend a few months after the heist that he had a couple of pieces from the Gardner Museum hidden in his attic. [15:47] And in February of 1990, 11 months after the heist, he was executed on his front porch in what the local police called a mob hit. So, yeah, these are the types of crimes that have a tendency to have a chilling effect on anybody who harbors any aspirations to come forward with information. Yeah, and we talked earlier a little bit about, like, the crime itself, and the statute of limitations is up on that, what you said, and the crime itself, but how we talked a little bit and explained to them about how this could be part of a RICO case. And you’ve got the murders and you’ve got the actual theft and whatever they did with the paintings, then maybe you could get over after a Bob boss as a Rico case. Tell the guys a little bit about doing that. Yeah. [16:32] I’ve heard it so many times in more than two decades that I worked the case and people would say, geez, why don’t people come forward? They’re just paintings. There are so many times they’re just paintings. They’re like, yeah, they are, but there’s two things about that. Number one, there’s some dead bodies on these paintings, three or four, and that there’s no statute of limitations for murder. And so if you implicate yourself in the theft or you implicate yourself in possessing or transporting these paintings at any time, the fear is that you’re then implicating yourself in a homicide. And the other aspect of this, which I think has a chilling effect, is the fact that transportation of stolen property is one of the predicate acts for RICO, racketeering influence corrupt organization case. And RICO is basically, Gary, is basically an entire organization is corrupt. Yeah. There’s no legitimate purpose. It’s what we think about the mob and the [17:27] FBI has taken down the mob in the past. So if you implicate yourself in stolen property and you’re part of organized crime, that’s one of the predicate acts for a RICO. And that’s basically life sentences. And so one of my goals in the years and years that I worked in this case was to try and convince people that you could come forward with information and the U S attorney’s offices, whether it’s up in Boston or new Haven or Philadelphia. [17:58] Would be willing to figure out a way to get the paintings back with immunity from prosecution for a RICO case. Look, that’s a high hurdle. That’s a high hurdle to convince somebody that if you come forward, you’re not going to get charged and you’re eligible for millions of dollars in reward. That’s a tough bill to swallow, but it’s the truth. I’m retired from the FBI now. I can tell you that it was, it’s a, it was, and still is a bona fide offer. And that’s one of the goals that I’ve always tried to impress on anyone is the opportunity to become a millionaire without going to jail. There you go, Jeff. Can you, now you’re not with the Bureau anymore. Can you go out, if you could go out and find them and bring them in, could you collect that reward? I would certainly hope so. [18:48] I can’t tell you how many of my friends thought that I had some of these paintings stashed in my basement. Waiting for retirement to go turn them in the next day. I think half the guys I worked with were expecting to see me pull into the parking lot of the FBI. [19:01] Big package, but no. But yeah, I suppose I could. By this point, I can tell you the amount of my very being that I put into this case over two days. Yeah. I just would love to see these paintings go back just because they need to be back at the museum. That’s where they belong. Now, these crimes, they seem, You said there’s a lot of murders attached to this. They seem a little boring. Did you have any exciting moments trying to pop anybody or do any surveillances? I know we did a big surveillance of a bunch of junkies that were going around stealing from small museums around the Midwest. And we follow them here in Kansas City. And they would have been pretty exciting had we had a confrontation with them. Did you have any exciting moments in this? It actually was a fascinating case. And for the first, there’s the really boring aspects of this job and tedious aspects. And I would say that in my, two decades working this case, I probably did, I don’t know, 50, 60, 70 consent searches, searching in attics and basements and crawling through crawl spaces and just getting sweaty and covered in cobwebs. But the break in the case for me came in 2009 when one of the guys who was part of Merlino’s crew who was deceased, his niece came forward to me and told me that the paintings. Some of them had been hidden up in this guy’s hide at his house up in Maine. I went up to Maine with Anthony Amore, who’s the director of security for the Gardner Museum. We worked on this case together for years. [20:29] And then we found that hide. And then we interviewed, right from there, we went and interviewed Guarenti. That’s the guy, Bobby Guarenti. We interviewed his widow and she broke down and admitted that he once showed her the paintings and she gave them to a guy down in Connecticut. And we identified that guy and we interviewed him. My name is Bobby Gentile. He’s a made member of the Philly Mob. He got straightened out with his crew back in the late 90s. [20:54] And he refused to cooperate. And then that’s where we really just started getting, using a lot of ingenuity to try and break it. And an agent down in the New Haven office, a guy by the name of Jamie Lawton, he joined our team and we started working this case. And he had a source who knew Gentile, Bobby Gentile, and the source started buying drugs from Gentile. Ah, there we go. We ended up arresting Gentile and we did a search warrant at his house. And it was crazy. Like we recovered, I want to say seven handguns, loaded handguns lying all over the place. He had a pump action shotgun hanging by the front door. He had high explosives. We had to evacuate the house and call him the bomb squad. But the interesting thing was he had the March 19th, 1990 edition of the Boston Herald with headlines about the Gardner heist and tucked inside that newspaper was a handwritten list of all the stolen items. With what looked like their black market values. This is in the house of a guy who swore up and down that he’d never heard of the Gardner Museum. And we were able to figure out who wrote the list. It was written by none other than Al Monday, who’s the guy that did the first armed robbery of a museum, of a Rembrandt. And we interviewed him and he told us that he wrote that list for Bobby Gentile and his buddy up in Maine, Bobby Garanti, because they had a buyer for the paintings and they wanted to know what they were worth. [22:24] So yeah, and then Gentile took 30 months. [22:28] He wouldn’t cooperate. And while he was incarcerated, we turned two of his closest friends to becoming sources. And so when he got out of prison in February or April of 2014, they started talking to him and talked about the gardener and they said they might know somebody who’d want to buy him. That’s how we then introduced an undercover agent. Gentile was introduced to Tony, this undercover FBI agent. Over six months, they had long talks about selling the paintings. Unfortunately, before Gentile would sell the paintings, he wanted to do a drug deal first, which we couldn’t allow to happen. We can’t let drugs walk on the street. So we had to take it down. And although we’d seized all these guns from Gentile back in 2012, he told the sources the FBI didn’t get all of his guns. Because of that disturbing comment, one of the sources asked Gentile if he could buy a gun for him. And Gentile sold him a loaded 38. So we arrested him again. And he still refused to cooperate. I don’t respect what he did for a living or a lot of the things that he did, but you do have to respect his adherence to his values. However, misguided they may have been, he took the code of omerta, the code of silence to heart, and he took it to his grave. He died, I think, in 2021 after going to prison a second time. [23:50] While we never got any paintings back, it was a tremendous ride, and I’m confident they will come back. It’s just going to be a question of when. Yeah, that kind of brings up the question that you hear people speculate. Did you ever run across this? Is there actually any rich old guys or an Arab sheik or somebody that buys stuff like this and then really keeps it and never shows it to anybody? Does that unicorn really exist? everybody wants that to be true i know virtually it’s not yeah there’s there’s never been a case of some wealthy what we call the doctor no theory some some reclusive billionaire with his underground lair filled with all the illicit stolen treasures of the world yeah that’s it’s never happened yeah i guess you never say never but but no look the majority statistically about three-quarters of everyone that collects art in this country does it for, and I assume it’s probably worldwide, does it for the investment potential. There’s a lot of money to be made in collecting art. It rarely, if ever, drops in value. So that’s why people collect art. If there’s somebody who has a particular piece that they want so badly that they’re going to commission its theft, it’s more the stuff of Hollywood. It could happen, but we’ve never seen that happen yet. Interesting. [25:14] We did have one case here where we had a medical doctor and he had it on the wall of his house. And it was, I believe it was a Western artist named Remington that these junkies stole out of Omaha. But it was such a minor piece that he could show it to anybody and they wouldn’t. They would say, oh, that’s cool. You got a Remington. [25:30] There’s plenty of those around. And he could afford a real deal Remington anyhow. So it wasn’t that big a deal. And that’s really what it comes down to is that art, high-end art does get stolen. It gets stolen quite often. The art market is about $60 billion, and the FBI, we estimated about $6 to $8 billion of that is illicit, whether it’s theft or fakes and forgeries. It’s a tremendous market, but it’s mostly second and third tier items. [26:02] Really valuable, well-known pieces. They do get stolen, but that’s the easy part. The easy part is stealing it. The hard part is monetizing it. That’s why you very rarely see recidivism among art thieves, high-end art thieves, because you do it once, and now you’re stuck with the thing. It’s easier to steal something else. You got to go out and boost fur coats and stuff to make a living. Exactly. Do a jewelry store robbery down there and make a living. And that’s exactly the point. That’s why you’re seeing a sea change in terms of art thefts, museum thefts. The Louvre was a great example of that. Dresden green vault robbery where 100 million euros in gems were stolen back in 2019 yeah. [26:45] Gems and jewelry, it can be broken down. It’s going to greatly diminish their value, but you can recut a gem. You can melt down the setting. You can monetize it for a greatly diminished value, but at least you can monetize it. You can’t cut up a Rembrandt into smaller pieces. [27:02] It’s only valuable as a whole complete piece. Yeah. I’m just thinking about that. We got a couple of guys, Jerry Scalise and Art Rachel in Chicago, flew to London, robbed a really valuable piece, the Lady Churchill’s diamond or something, I don’t remember, but really valuable piece and mailed it to somebody on their way to the airport and then got caught when they got back to Chicago and brought back to London and did 14 years in England and they never gave up that piece and nobody could, it never appeared anywhere, but it was just cut up and they didn’t make hardly any money off of it. Yeah. Look, there’s a, there’s much more profitable ways to. Yeah. To make an illicit living than stealing high-end artwork, but it does still get stolen. And that’s one of the cruel ironies when you’re talking about art theft is if somebody has a $20,000 piece of jewelry or a very expensive watch, they’re most likely going to lock it up in a safe in their bedroom or something. But you have a $10 million piece of artwork, you probably got it on the mantle. You’ve got it over the fireplace or in the front foyer of your house and probably doesn’t have a passive alarm system protecting it or security screws to keep it from being taken off the wall because people want to show it off. Yeah. It’s way too enticing. [28:24] Really? So, yes, you need to keep the word out there and keep this in people’s minds. And I’m sure the museum tries to do this in some ways in order, hopefully, that maybe somebody will say, oh. Yeah. [28:38] I think I saw that somewhere in this news program or on this podcast. [28:42] I’ll put some pictures on the podcast when I end up editing this. No, please do, Kerry. And that’s the thing. That’s the basis for the title of my book is it really is a fugitive investigation. And that’s how I work this case is fugitives and perfect fugitives because they’re not like their human counterparts. They’re not going to get tripped up on the silly things that we need to do as human beings, getting a driver’s license or whatnot. Yeah. [29:09] And so that’s how I worked the case. The FBI was really, I was always impressed with the FBI’s support that they gave me on this investigation. We did billboard campaigns and social media and a lot of things to get these images out there to the public, hoping it might resonate with somebody. And that’s really my goal for this book. I felt it should be written. I felt it’s an important case. Certainly, it’s something that I wanted to write about. It’s something that’s very important to me. [29:42] But it’s yet another attempt to apprehend these fugitives. And I’m hopeful that somebody, it might resonate with somebody. Somebody’s going to see something. And there’s so much disinformation and misinformation that’s out there in the media about this case. People are endlessly, all these armchair detectives, and I don’t say it in a deprecating way. Good for them. Work as hard as you can. But if you want to work this case from your armchair, great. but you should be going off accurate information because there’s a lot of bad information that’s out there on the internet. And if you want to help out, if you want to collect that $10 million reward, great, but you should be going off the most accurate factual information that’s available. Yeah. And you probably ought to go down to the deep seamy underbelly of Philadelphia or Boston or somewhere and get involved with a mob and then work your way up and make different cocaine deals and everything. And eventually you might be trusted enough that some might say, oh yeah, I’ve got those in this basement. I would suggest there’s better hobbies. [30:47] That could be hazardous to your health. I wouldn’t recommend it. Yes, it could. All right. Jeffrey Kelly, the book is 13 Perfect Tuesdays. Those are the paintings that were stolen that you’ll see on the podcast on the YouTube channel. The true story of the mob, murder, and the world’s largest art heist. Jeffrey, thanks so much for coming on to tell us about this. Thanks, Gary. Thanks for having me.
Having gotten Israel united, David proceeded to subdue the surrounding nations. At his height David's realm extended from the Brook of Egypt to the Euphrates River. With the exceptions of the Philistine enclave on the southern coast and Phoenicians in Tyre and Sidon Israel held sway over the entire extent of God's promise to Abraham.
We're so glad you are here! Thanks for checking out Sunday's message!-- SUNDAY'S NOTES --Our Father in heaven, honored be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10 CSB! He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. Colossians 1:13 ESV Fear the LORD and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD alone. But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:14-15 NLT A decision to live in the Kingdom of God is a decision to reject the kingdom of this world.Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world, wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important, has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out, but whoever does what God says is set for eternity. 1 John 2:15-17 MSGDarkness, more than immoral behavior, is living under the influence of the wrong king, culture, and kingdom.Jesus used this illustration: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the leaven a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.” Matthew 13:33 NLT`Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Luke 12:3 ESVAs it relates to which kingdom we're living in and are influenced by, small choices make a huge impact.Rebellion always starts with seemingly insignificant compromise!You were running well. Who prevented you from being persuaded regarding the truth? This persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough. Galatians 5:7-9 CSBCompromise has a compounding negative impact on our spiritual well-being and destinyGod's remedy for rebellion is repentance which then leads to redemption and restoration! I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. - All glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Ephesians 3:16-17 & 20 NLTOur amazing Messiah came to multiply every obedient choice we make for our good and His glory.Surrender your life, including your time, talent and treasure wholeheartedly to the God one choice at a time. The Kingdom of Heaven is like the leaven a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.” Matthew 13:33 NLTThe impact of living in God's Kingdom will permeate everything about who we are and how we live. -------------------------------------------------Download the 828 Church app!To view our latest e-newsletter, the Midweek Momentum, and subscribe to our weekly updates, go here! https://linktr.ee/828church
We're so glad you are here! Thanks for checking out Sunday's message!-- SUNDAY'S NOTES --Our Father in heaven, honored be your name. Your kingdom come, your will be done, on earth as it is in heaven. Matthew 6:9-10 CSB! He has delivered us from the domain of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son. Colossians 1:13 ESV Fear the LORD and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the LORD alone. But if you refuse to serve the LORD, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the LORD.” Joshua 24:14-15 NLT A decision to live in the Kingdom of God is a decision to reject the kingdom of this world.Don't love the world's ways. Don't love the world's goods. Love of the world squeezes out love for the Father. Practically everything that goes on in the world, wanting your own way, wanting everything for yourself, wanting to appear important, has nothing to do with the Father. It just isolates you from him. The world and all its wanting, wanting, wanting is on the way out, but whoever does what God says is set for eternity. 1 John 2:15-17 MSGDarkness, more than immoral behavior, is living under the influence of the wrong king, culture, and kingdom.Jesus used this illustration: “The Kingdom of Heaven is like the leaven a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.” Matthew 13:33 NLT`Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees. Luke 12:3 ESVAs it relates to which kingdom we're living in and are influenced by, small choices make a huge impact.Rebellion always starts with seemingly insignificant compromise!You were running well. Who prevented you from being persuaded regarding the truth? This persuasion does not come from the one who calls you. A little leaven leavens the whole batch of dough. Galatians 5:7-9 CSBCompromise has a compounding negative impact on our spiritual well-being and destinyGod's remedy for rebellion is repentance which then leads to redemption and restoration! I pray that from his glorious, unlimited resources he will empower you with inner strength through his Spirit. Then Christ will make his home in your hearts as you trust in him. Your roots will grow down into God's love and keep you strong. - All glory to God, who is able, through his mighty power at work within us, to accomplish infinitely more than we might ask or think. Ephesians 3:16-17 & 20 NLTOur amazing Messiah came to multiply every obedient choice we make for our good and His glory.Surrender your life, including your time, talent and treasure wholeheartedly to the God one choice at a time. The Kingdom of Heaven is like the leaven a woman used in making bread. Even though she put only a little yeast in three measures of flour, it permeated every part of the dough.” Matthew 13:33 NLTThe impact of living in God's Kingdom will permeate everything about who we are and how we live. -------------------------------------------------Download the 828 Church app!To view our latest e-newsletter, the Midweek Momentum, and subscribe to our weekly updates, go here! https://linktr.ee/828church
Dan Solo Show, I hope you like pipelines Producers for MMO #208 Fiat Fun Coupon Producers Eli the Coffee Guy Trashman Tom in WY Naillord of Gaylord Praetor Wiirdo of the not so flat lands Booster Producers ericpp | 3,333 | BAG DADDY BOOSTER! boolysteedfountain.fm | 2,222 fairvoltyfountain.fm | 208 NostrGangfountain.fm | 111 NostrGangfountain.fm | 111 Creative Producers: Episode Artwork Grok and Nam Follow Us: X/Twitter MMO Show John Dan Youtube (while it lasts) MMO Show Livestream Rumble MMO Show Livestream Twitch MMO Show Livestream Shownotes: Dan's Sources Rob Jetten claims 'historic' win in Dutch election after exit poll shows slight lead Germany's Merz hails China ties as he seeks reset with Beijing | REUTERS DRUZHBA UNDER FIRE: Kyiv Targets Key Russia's Druzhba Oil Hub, EU Energy War Explodes | World News What next for Mexico after killing of notorious cartel leader 'El Mencho'? Iranian students renew anti-government protests in Tehran amid a US military buildup EU accuses Hungary of disloyalty for vetoing €90 billion loan to Ukraine Hungary vows to block EU cash for Ukraine, Russia sanctions • FRANCE 24 English “Ukraine Is Harming Slovakia’s Interests” – PM Fico Orders Halt to Emergency Power for Ukraine |AC1N El Mencho killed: US tourists take shelter as Mexico erupts in chaos Rob Jetten claims 'historic' win in Dutch election after exit poll shows slight lead Germany's Merz hails China ties as he seeks reset with Beijing | REUTERS John's Shownotes Iran Iran Latest CBS Limited or Large Scale? --- Gerald Ford Toilets Problems Israel >Carlson & Huckabee *Huckabee supports ethnic zionism; says if neighbors “lose right to exist under international law” he would support expansion of the state of Israel to Biblically proscribed borders Article: Israeli Opposition Supports Expansion “Huckabee was asked by interviewer Tucker Carlson to clarify his stance on the iblical promise of the land spanning between the Euphrates River in Iraq and the Nile River in Egypt to the descendants of Abraham, and if the modern Israeli state has the right to claim that lineage. “It would be fine if they took it all,” Huckabee responded. Such territory would encompass modern-day Lebanon, Syria, Jordan, and parts of Saudi Arabia. Wider Balochistan Pakistan Strikes Afghanistan Saudis Mediate Paki Soldier Release from Afghanis Mexico ABC Cartel War Report 2nd in Command Killed? Colonel Claude Anthropic refuses to remove restrictions on targeting and surveillance; Hegseth threatens Defense Production Act which would designate Anthropic a supply chain risk – same as Huawei France Activist Killed, Diplo Spat
The area around the Euphrates River holds something unique and special in God's program. This is where the Garden of Eden was located, where the first murder was committed, where the first war was fought, where the Flood began, where the Tower of Babel was built, where Israel went into Babylonian captivity. It's also where Satan will fight his last stand. Come visit the region—but don't plan to stay.
Jenn Donahue is a warrior. On the battlefield, in business, and in the fight against self-doubt. A retired U.S. Navy Commodore, she commanded thousands of troops across multiple deployments, including overseeing the construction of a bridge across the Euphrates River during the Iraq War and leading an 800-person battalion in Afghanistan. We discuss 'Becoming the Warrior', her book on learning to overcome the internal roadblocks that impede our success and how we can harness inner strength, silence our self-doubt, and live with and/or silence our internal voices. After decades of commanding teams and making high-stakes decisions, she brings fascinating insights to this conversation. LINKS Jenn's website www.jenndonahue.com Book on Amazon Becoming the Warrior: Harnessing Your Inner Strength to Silence Self-Doubt (2026) The Mojo Sessions website www.themojosessions.com The Mojo Sessions on Patreon www.patreon.com/TheMojoSessions Full transcripts of the show (plus time codes) are available on Patreon. The Mojo Sessions on Facebook www.facebook.com/TheMojoSessions Gary on LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/in/gary-bertwistle Gary on Twitter : www.twitter.com/GaryBertwistle The Mojo Sessions on Instagram www.instagram.com/themojosessions If you like what you hear, we'd be grateful for a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify. Happy listening! © 2026 Gary Bertwistle. All Rights Reserved.
What is the significance of the Euphrates River in the Bible? What important events in the Bible occurred at the Euphrates River?
Reach Out: Please include your email and I will get back to you. Thanks!Revelation 16 A loud voice from the temple commands the seven angels to pour out the seven bowls of God's wrath on the earth. The first bowl causes painful sores on those who worship the beast. The second turns the sea into blood, killing all sea life. The third affects rivers and springs, also turning them into blood. The fourth bowl scorches people with fire from the sun, yet they do not repent. The fifth brings darkness to the beast's kingdom. The sixth dries up the Euphrates River and prepares the way for kings from the east. Unclean spirits gather the kings of the earth for battle at Armageddon. The seventh bowl brings lightning, earthquakes, and hail. Babylon is remembered before God and receives the full measure of His wrath. This chapter emphasizes the severity of God's judgment and the danger of hardened hearts. Even as the bowls of wrath are poured out, many still refuse to repent or give God glory. We must pay attention to the warnings in these events. God is patient, but He is also just, and He will not allow evil to go unpunished forever. We are called to live with humility and repentance, recognizing that now is the time to turn to God. His justice is perfect, and His timing is certain. As believers, we must remain alert, be prepared, and live in a manner that honors Him, trusting that His ultimate victory will be complete. All who blaspheme His name will be destroyed. Avenging God, You are righteous in all Your judgments, and Your justice is holy and true. You see every act of rebellion, and You will not let evil go unpunished. Though many refuse to repent, we humble ourselves before You, seeking mercy and strength to remain faithful. Help us live with clean hearts and a spirit of reverence. Keep us from pride, unbelief, and compromise. Teach us to trust Your timing and repent of our sins. You alone are worthy of our faithfulness. May our lives reflect Your light in a dark world as we await Your final judgment day. Thought Questions: Why did some people still refuse to repent even as God's judgments became more severe and unmistakable? What do you learn from that? God ultimately dismantled the evil empire and relieved His people. Is God still active in that way, and how does that impact your faith? How do you stay spiritually awake and active when the world around you seems to grow darker and more resistant to the light of Christ?
This is the final week in our study of 400 years of Kings and Prophets from Solomon to Jeremiah. King Josiah • Young King seeks God • Spiritual cleansing of Jerusalem • Book of the Law discovered • Reform beyond Judah • Passover observance - King Josiah gives an order to all people to observe God's Passover. This had not been celebrated according to what was written, not even in the days of the judges, nor in the days of any of the kings of Israel and Judah. Josiah made sure the celebration was carried out according to what was written in the Book of the Covenant. He, like David, was a man after God's own heart. He reads the scriptures and applies them and a time of revival begins. We read in 2 Kings 23:25 "Neither before nor after Josiah was there a king like him who turned to the LORD as he did - with all his heart and with all his soul and with all his strength, in accordance with all the Law of Moses." • Death at Megiddo - A prophetic word comes from Huldah telling Josiah of the judgment that is coming from God against the people, but that because Josiah's heart was repentant he would not see the judgment that would come. During this time there was great international upheaval between Egypt, Assyria, and Babylon. 2 Kings 23:29 "While Josiah was king, Pharaoh Necho king of Egypt went up to the Euphrates River to help the king of Assyria. King Josiah marched out to meet him in battle, but Necho faced him and killed him at Megiddo." Jeremiah and the nation were devastated by the loss of king Josiah. Then Josiah's 3 sons reign. None were the king that their father was. They returned to the old ways for faithlessness to God. Josiah's 3 Sons • Jehoahaz - 2 Kings 23:31-33; 2 Chronicles 36:1-3 - reigned 3 month doing evil in the eyes of the Lord. He was imprisoned by Pharaoh Necho of Egypt, who was the one who had killed his father. Jehoahaz dies in Egypt. • Jehoiakim - 2 Kings 23:34 - 24:7; 2 Chronicles 36:4-8 - reigned 11 years and did evil in the eyes of the Lord. He was an evil and inefficient ruler. Constructed a new palace and Jeremiah denounces him for ignoring the people and ignoring God. Jehoiakim rejects Jeremiah and even burns the first copy of the book of Jeremiah. (Jeremiah 36:23) The city of Jerusalem is overtaken in 605 BC by Nebuchadnezzar king of Babylon and many of the people are deported to Babylon. (Daniel was one that was taken - Daniel 1:1-2). When Jehoiakim dies he is given the "burial of a donkey." Jeremiah 22:13-19. Johoiachin, his son reigns for 3 months doing evil like his father and was taken captive by Babylon - 2 Kings 24:8-16; 2 Chronicles 36:9-10 • Zedekiah - 2 Kings 24:17 - 25:21; 2 Chronicles 36:11-21; Jeremiah 39:1-10 - reigns for 11 years and he did evil in the eyes of the Lord. Zedekiah breaks the treaty with Babylon (Ezekiel 17:18). He looks to Egypt for deliverance but didn't receive any. The false prophets encouraged him in his evil ways. Jeremiah warns Zedekiah of coming suffering and prophecies. But Zedekiah does not change his way and Jerusalem falls to the Babylonians and Zedekiah dies in a tragic way. Jeremiah 39:6-7. And so ends our study with the nation, the city of Jerusalem a the Temple destroyed in 586 B.C. Interestingly enough the Temple would once again be destroyed by the Romans in 70 A.D. in the same month, on the same day. This was a day Jesus predicted because they did not recognize Him and had rejected Him. Now What? Learn about God at https://www.awakeusnow.com EVERYTHING we offer is FREE. View live or on demand: https://www.awakeusnow.com/tuesday-bible-class Join us Sundays https://www.awakeusnow.com/sunday-service Watch via our app. Text HELLO to 888-364-4483 to download our app.
Do You Live In The Land Of Self Or Spirit? You Have A Choice, What Stance Do You Take? Joshua 24:14-15 14“Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”
Have you had a dream that stayed with you — one that felt larger than your own life?This is an invitation to join Jungian analysts Cécile Buckenmeyer and Jakob Lusensky in the experiment of shaping a holding space for collective dreams. A new podcast series devoted to those big dreams that C.G. Jung described as “the common property of mankind” (CW 10 §33), the deep streams of the delta that is the unconscious.By gathering these dreams, we may glimpse what our culture is dreaming beneath the surface, the myths that are forming us, and the ones asking to be born.Co-create our new podcast series by submitting your dream before December 31st.Credits:---Artwork: Iraq (Babylonia). Euphrates River, fisherman throwing net, sunset scene Music: It was just a dream by Rafael KruxLiterature: The Third Reich of Dreams by Charlotte Beradt
P.O.G. Daily Pause2025-11-21 Friday - Joshua 24:14-1814 Joshua said, “Now fear the Lord and serve him with all faithfulness. Throw away the gods your ancestors worshiped beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt, and serve the Lord. 15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! 17 It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, and performed those great signs before our eyes. He protected us on our entire journey and among all the nations through which we traveled. 18 And the Lord drove out before us all the nations, including the Amorites, who lived in the land. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”15 But if serving the Lord seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, ….. But as for me and my household, we will serve the Lord.”16 Then the people answered, “Far be it from us to forsake the Lord to serve other gods! 17 It was the Lord our God himself who brought us and our parents up out of Egypt, from that land of slavery, ….. We too will serve the Lord, because he is our God.”
Official Emailtalkinwithtopher@gmail.comThe Mail Box Guys(facebook) https://www.facebook.com/share/1C6cbtm8eA/(instagram) https://www.instagram.com/the_mailbox_guys/?hl=enCryptid and Kin(instagram) https://www.instagram.com/cryptidandkin/?hl=en=(YouTube) www.youtube.com/@CryptidAndKinTopher's Social Media(linktr.ee) https://linktr.ee/talkinwithtopher(instagram) https://www.instagram.com/talkinwithtopher/?hl=en(twitter) https://twitter.com/_conderman(snap chat) https://www.snapchat.com/add/cconderman?share_id=HiV14moKPns&locale=en-US(tik tok) https://www.tiktok.com/@talkinwithtopher?lang=en(Facebook) https://www.facebook.com/christopher.condermanTime Stamps(00:00:00) Start(00:01:55) Today is Insane(00:02:36) Nasa's Soft Launch of the Firmament(00:09:39) We are too sanitized today(00:17:28) 3I/ATLAS(00:21:37) Amelia Earhart's plane might be found(00:29:47) Inhaler sprays causing more Co2 than 500,000 cars(00:32:22) Ellen is hiding something dark(00:34:59) Talmud is pretty dark(00:41:38) More Dark verses from the Talmud(00:44:33) Judaism is Witch Craft(00:45:38) Ben Franklin warned us in 1787(00:48:23) Are all Jews Gay(00:53:57) The Catholic Church is the Illuminati(01:02:47) Catholics invented Islam(01:07:01) Islam is taking over the USA(01:10:19) Fallen angles lock up under the Euphrates River(01:16:49) Pilar of Salt in Israel(01:20:03) Chat talks to ChatEpisode Linkshttps://www.instagram.com/reel/DOZlN2MDM58/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==https://www.africaninspace.com/science/nasa-confirms-a-giant-dam-shifted-earths-axis-and-made-days-shorter-49214/https://www.boston25news.com/news/local/advice-feed-babies-peanuts-early-often-helped-60000-kids-avoid-allergies-study-finds/TKZQ5HQFMBBKBBEJ6AUPLVQJGY/https://x.com/UAPWatchers/status/1980765776006013243https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amelia-earhart-plane-likely-located-taraia-object-nikumaroro-researchers/https://www.facebook.com/share/r/16ZorsBfrD/https://x.com/JeffreyxEpstein/status/1981389456813801608https://x.com/JOKAQARMY1/status/1975208295565775067https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPDD9s0iT37/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==https://x.com/HistoricalWWII/status/1975647108121162123https://www.instagram.com/reel/DM_Qvc0vgYX/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==https://www.instagram.com/reel/DMYOASExv17/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=NTc4MTIwNjQ2YQ==https://www.facebook.com/share/v/17bvZtR7AQ/https://youtube.com/shorts/z5Gg8zWJmyw?si=lBnd9xkEld1IcZgNhttps://www.facebook.com/share/r/17HZuBcmw1/https://www.instagram.com/reel/DPfVCvZDEBD/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_linkhttps://www.instagram.com/reel/DOrQNGyjBl9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
התוכן ארץ ישראל צריכה גשמים מיד אחר חג הסוכות, ומ"מ מתחילים לשאול גשמים שם רק מז' מרחשון, ט"ו יום אחר החג, "כדי שיגיע האחרון שבישראל שעלה לרגל, לביתו לנהר פרת, שהוא מקום ישוב היותר רחוק מירושלים, ולא יעצרנו הגשם" [אדה"ז בשו"ע]. ובזה מודגשת הענין דאחדות ישראל: שאלת גשמים מיד אחרי החג היא צורך חיוני ביותר לקיומו של האדם, ולאידך, טובתו של "אחרון שבישראל" שלא ירדו גשמים עד שיגיע לביתו "שלא יעצרנו הגשם" אינו אלא ענין של נוחיות בלבד, ואעפ"כ מתאחדים כל בנ"י בא"י ומאחרים את שאלת הגשמים ט"ו יום כדי שה"אחרון שבישראל" יוכל להגיע לביתו בנוחיות! אע"פ שמצות עשה מן התורה לבקש צרכיו מה', וכמו"כ "אין לאדם רשות על גופו כלל . . לצערו בשום צער", כי "אין נפשו של אדם קנינו אלא קנין הקב"ה"! [המשך יבוא]ב' חלקים משיחת אור ליום ג' פ' לך לך, ז' מרחשון ה'תשמ"ו ל"הנחה פרטית" או התרגום ללה"ק של השיחה: https://thedailysicha.com/?date=28-10-2025 Synopsis Although Eretz Yisroel needs rain immediately after Sukkos, the inhabitants of the land do not begin asking for rain until 7 Marcheshvan – fifteen days after Sukkos ends, “so that the last of the Jews who made their way up [to Yerushalayim] for the pilgrimage could return to their homes on the Euphrates River – the most distant settlement from Yerushalayim – without being impeded by rain” (Alter Rebbe's Shulchan Aruch). This emphasizes Jewish unity, because although asking rain is a vital necessity, whereas the concern of “the last of the Jews” being impeded by rain is merely a matter of convenience, nevertheless, all the Jews in Eretz Yisroel unite in delaying their request for rain by fifteen days, so that the last of the Jews could reach his home with ease. And this is despite the fact that it is a positive mitzvah of the Torah to request one's needs from Hashem, and moreover, “A person has no authority over his body at all…to cause it any pain,” because “a person's soul is not his own possession but the possession of the Holy One, blessed be He.” (To be continued.)2 excerpts from sichah of Monday night, parashas Lech Lecha, 7 Marcheshvan 5746 For a transcript in English of the Sicha: https://thedailysicha.com/?date=28-10-2025 לזכות ר' לוי הלוי בן לאה שי' לרפואה שלימהנדבת משפחתו שי'
The prophecy against Babylon continues from our last episode today as we read the rest of chapter 51. In it, the Lord calls upon several nations to wage war against Babylon, bringing devastation and destruction. When that time of judgment comes, the Lord calls his people out of Babylon, telling them not to be fearful. When the prophecy concludes, Jeremiah instructs Seraiah to go to Babylon, declare the prophecy, then tie the scroll to a rock and throw into the Euphrates River, thus symbolizing that Babylon will sink and never rise again. After the words of Jeremiah are concluded, the book ends with historic accounts very similar to those found in 2 Kings 24-25.Jeremiah 51:24-64 - 1:09 . Jeremiah 52 - 11:45 . Proverbs 17 - 18:44 . :::Christian Standard Bible translation.All music written and produced by John Burgess Ross.Co-produced by the Christian Standard Bible.facebook.com/commuterbibleinstagram.com/commuter_bibletwitter.com/CommuterPodpatreon.com/commuterbibleadmin@commuterbible.org
Woe to me! For I amLike harvests of summer fruit, like gleanings of grapes.There is not a cluster of grapes left to eat,Nor an early fig, which [a]I crave.2The [b]godly person has perished from the land,And there is no upright person among mankind.All of them lie in wait for bloodshed;Each of them hunts the other with a net.3As for evil, both hands do it well.The leader asks for a bribe, also the judge,And the great one speaks the capricious desire of his soul;So they plot it together.4The best of them is like a thorn bush,The most upright like a thorn hedge.The day [c]when you post your watchmen,Your punishment is coming.Then their confusion will occur.5Do not trust in a neighbor;Do not have confidence in a close friend.Guard [d]your lipsFrom her who lies [e]in your arms.6For son disavows father,Daughter rises up against her mother,Daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law;A person's enemies are the people of his own household.God Is the Source of Salvation and Light7But as for me, I will be on the watch for the LORD;I will wait for the God of my salvation.My God will hear me.8Do not rejoice over me, enemy of mine.Though I fall I will rise;Though I live in darkness, the LORD is a light for me.9I will endure the rage of the LORDBecause I have sinned against Him,Until He pleads my case and executes justice for me.He will bring me out to the light,And I will look at His [f]righteousness.10Then my enemy will see,And shame will cover her who said to me,“Where is the LORD your God?”My eyes will look at her;[g]At that time she will [h]be trampled downLike mud of the streets.11It will be a day for building your walls.On that day your boundary will be extended.12It will be a day when [i]they will come to youFrom Assyria and the cities of Egypt,From Egypt even to the Euphrates River,Even from sea to sea and mountain to mountain.13And the earth will become a wasteland because of her inhabitants,On account of the fruit of their deeds.14Shepherd Your people with Your scepter,The flock of Your [j]possessionWhich lives by itself in the woodland,In the midst of [k]a fruitful field.Let them feed in Bashan and GileadAs in the days of old.15“As in the days when you went out from the land of Egypt,I will show [l]you miracles.”16Nations will see and be ashamedOf all their might.They will put their hand on their mouth,Their ears will be deaf.17They will lick up dust like a snake,Like [m]reptiles of the earth.They will come trembling out of their [n]fortresses;To the LORD our God they will come in trepidation,And they will be afraid of You.18Who is a God like You, who pardons wrongdoingAnd passes over a rebellious act of the remnant of His [o]possession?He does not retain His anger forever,Because He delights in mercy.19He will again take pity on us;He will trample on our wrongdoings.Yes, You will cast all [p]their sinsInto the depths of the sea.20You will give [q]truth to JacobAnd favor to Abraham,Which You swore to our forefathersFrom the days of old.FEAR IS A SIN! Let's move our lives into God and receive His rest and peace on all sides no matter how much of a drama queen the Enemy is. DOWNLOAD THE APP!fringeradionetwork.com DON BASHAM MINISTRIES 1,000,000,000 GIVE SEND GO:https://www.givesendgo.com/bashamPAYPAL:spiritforce01@gmail.comBITCOIN:3H4Z2X22DuVUjWPsXKPEsWZmT9c4hDmYvyVENMO:@faithbucksCASHAPP:$spiritforcebucksZelle:faithbucks@proton.mePATREON:Michael BashamHOME BASE SITE:faithbucks.com
In 2 Samuel chapter 8, the Bible records a season of great military success for King David and the strengthening of his kingdom. After consolidating his rule over all Israel, David goes to war against surrounding nations and secures victory after victory, fulfilling God's promise to give him rest from his enemies. Summary David defeats the Philistines, Moabites, Zobah, Arameans (Syrians), Edomites, and others, expanding Israel's borders and establishing dominance from the Euphrates River to the border of Egypt. He takes valuable spoils of war—gold, silver, and bronze—and dedicates them to the Lord. The chapter emphasizes that “the Lord gave David victory wherever he went” (2 Samuel 8:6, 14). This phrase underlines that David's triumphs were not just military achievements but divine favor and fulfillment of God's covenant promises. David sets up garrisons in conquered territories to maintain peace and order, establishing political stability. He also appoints a structured leadership over Israel — including Joab as commander of the army, Jehoshaphat as recorder, Zadok and Ahimelech as priests, Seraiah as secretary, and Benaiah over the Kerethites and Pelethites (David's royal guard). Themes and Lessons •Divine Favor: David's success was due to God's presence, not merely human strategy. •Faithfulness: David honored God by dedicating the plunder to Him. •Order and Leadership: A strong kingdom requires godly structure and trusted officials. •Fulfillment of Promise: God's word to Abraham and to David about establishing Israel's dominion was being realized. Hashtags: #2Samuel8 #David #Victory #BibleStudy #FaithfulGod #DivineFavor #SendMeRadio #BibleTeaching #GodsPromisesBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/sendme-radio--732966/support.“Thank you for listening to SendMe Radio — where we share the Gospel, inspire faith, and keep you connected with powerful stories and updates from around the world. Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe so you never miss a message.And remember — you can listen to SendMe Radio streaming 24/7 at www.sendmeradio.net or simply say: ‘Hey Alexa, play SendMe Radio.'
Are You Ready for the Marriage Feast? (audio) David Eells – 10/12/25 “Hurry” Repent, Bride Escapes V. W. - 3/11/19 (David's notes red) I had a dream which I think is an encouraging exhortation. It was daytime, and I was standing in a tunnel that was made to walk through. The ground was covered with sand, and the light was coming in from the outside, so I could see. This was a short tunnel, and it somehow led into a longer tunnel. I was alone in this tunnel. After I woke up, I asked the Lord what this tunnel represented, and I believe he showed me that it meant death to self to rise on the other side. (like a baptism) And I asked for a scripture about the tunnel, and received by faith, at random, 2Ki.20:5 Turn back, and say to Hezekiah the prince of my people, Thus saith the Lord, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will heal thee; on the third day thou shalt go up unto the house of the Lord. (The third day is resurrection of the Man-child Jesus, and Hezekiah represents the end time Man-child who is caught up to the throne of God on the third day. V.W. here represents the Bride.) While I was standing there, I heard a man just outside the tunnel. There was a lot of brush and some small trees outside where he was. He was advertising his product, which was shoes (or something to spray on your shoes). The advantage of the shoes was for the protection of the person wearing them, “that fire would not hurt them and that smoke from fire could not be smelled on them”. (The shoes represent the walk of repentance and faith) (Dan.3:27 The satraps, the prefects, the governors and the king's high officials gathered around and saw in regard to these men that the fire had no effect on the bodies of these men nor was the hair of their head singed, nor were their trousers damaged, nor had the smell of fire even come upon them.) (What these 3 lost in the fire was their bonds, which represent the flesh.) He had a loud voice as he proclaimed this and it seemed he really wanted whoever heard him to wear the shoes, and he was urgent about it. But I did not see anyone out there because it was a rural area. (Mat.3:3 For this is he that was spoken of through Isaiah the prophet, saying, The voice of one crying in the wilderness, Make ready the way of the Lord, Make His paths straight!) (The repentance spirit in the John the Baptist ministry is crying loudly urgently to those in the wilderness or rural areas to prepare them for the coming of the Lord. It is urgent that we hear and repent quickly before He comes in the Man-child ministry. It will be too late to be in the Bride body once the Man-child ministry starts. Jesus chose the Bride then. John said, “He that hath the Bride is the Bride Groom”) Then I realized I had those shoes on, and they were white dressy sandals. (Eph.6:14-16 Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, and, 15 having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 withal taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one.) After a while, I saw he had a torch that was a large stick. And he started lighting the brush and small trees on fire. He was still proclaiming these shoes, and I thought he was demonstrating how the fire could not hurt the shoes or the smoke from it be smelled. So I took off my right sandal to see if he was right. I smelled it and there was no smell of smoke, and I put it back on. (Fire, representing judgment, will come before Jesus manifests in the Man-child ministry body. Therefore we must be ready to walk through it without being burned. Isa.62:11 Behold, Jehovah hath proclaimed unto the end of the earth, Say ye to the daughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his recompense before him. Mat.3:10 And even now the axe lieth at the root of the trees: every tree therefore that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Mat.3:12 whose fan is in his hand, and he will thoroughly cleanse his threshing-floor; and he will gather his wheat into the garner, but the chaff he will burn up with unquenchable fire. Mat.5:22 but I say unto you, that every one who is angry with his brother shall be in danger of the judgment; and whosoever shall say to his brother, Raca, shall be in danger of the council; and whosoever shall say, Thou fool, shall be in danger of the hell of fire. I had been standing there this whole time listening to this man. Then he came into the tunnel with the torch and with urgency and in a loud voice was saying to me, “Hurry up, Hurry up”. (He meant to hurry and run through the tunnels.) “I am right behind you with this torch.” (Hurry, saints, repent and believe so the fire doesn't catch you). After I woke up, I asked the Lord what I was supposed to do quickly and received by faith at random, Luk.22:54. And they seized him, and led him away, and brought him into the high priest's house. So I think the Lord is telling me to hurry up with denying myself and dying with Christ. I started to run and felt like he was getting closer. I asked for a word about my running in this tunnel and received by faith at random, Rom.4:16 For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace: to the end that the promise may be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all. (Repentance must come before faith, with which we are accounted as righteous and are given grace as power to obey.) At first it seemed like I was climbing, and I had to use my hands also. I knew I could not look back and I was not afraid, but knew I had to hurry to get to the end of the tunnels. Php.3:13 Brethren, I count not myself yet to have laid hold: but one thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward to the things which are before. 14 I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. 15 Let us therefore, as many as are perfect, be thus minded: and if in anything ye are otherwise minded, this also shall God reveal unto you: I did not think of him as an enemy, but someone who was admonishing me to run faster. As I was running, I could hear from outside the tunnel other brethren cheering me on. Heb.12:1,2 Therefore let us also, seeing we are compassed about with so great a cloud of witnesses, lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us, looking unto Jesus the author and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising shame, and hath sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Even though he was behind me with the torch and I thought he was getting closer to me, I did not feel the fire. I got through the first tunnel and into the 2nd longer tunnel. On the path where I was running, I saw broken glass on the right side. (Representing the pain of walking with our cross of death to self. The nail in the feet of Christ represents this.) I didn't like running on the glass and it made it harder to keep running, but I did not trip. I asked the Lord for a word by faith at random about this glass and received Lev.19:37 And you shall observe all my statutes, and all mine ordinances, and do them: I am the Lord. I found these verses about not stumbling. Psa.119:165 Great peace have they that love your law; And they have no occasion of stumbling. 1Jn.2:10 He that loves his brother abides in the light, and there is no occasion of stumbling in him. Jude 24 Now unto him that is able to guard you from stumbling, and to set you before the presence of his glory without blemish in exceeding joy. The glass in the path made me think of going to the left side where the ground was clear and smooth, but I didn't have time. (We must endure the pain of walking contrary to the world). I know I got through the 2nd tunnel because I came out on the other side and saw some of the brethren, and we were standing on a large rock that was up high. After I woke up, I was hearing the song in my head, “We want to see Jesus lifted high”. (Psa.61:2 From the end of the earth will I call unto thee, when my heart is overwhelmed: Lead me to the rock that is higher than I.) So I did most of what I needed to do today. I believe that something is going to happen very soon where the extra food, water and gas is going to be necessary. I've never had dreams like this that the Lord impressed me to hurry and get something done. I also had a dream about the Man-child and Bride coming right after this dream to get supplies. I believe from this that the anointing of the Man-child and choosing of the Bride are not far behind the preparations. Exhortation to the Bride-to-Be T. C. - 02/26/2013 (David's notes in red) I had this dream on Monday night after the prayer meeting. I was going to grab a pair of everyday shoes (because in the dream I did not realize that we were preparing for a wedding), when the mother (or woman in charge) set out the proper pair of pointed-toe formal dress shoes in pearl white satin material. (This wedding is to the King. The Bride will have the most elegant and pure shoes, representing her walk with Him, so watch your step, saints.) The shoes were set on a counter and I only saw the front of the shoes. I thought, oh, this is really going to be dressy! Then I looked across the room and got a quick glance of the white wedding dress; it was elegant and brilliant, unlike anything I had ever seen -- something royalty would wear. I then saw the husband/groom; he had a serious look on his face. I knew in the dream that the Groom and bride had already been married, and that is why I saw him as the husband. (The serious look represents his authority over the betrothed woman. In the Biblical Jewish marriage betrothal, or erusin, the woman was legally married but she remained in her father's house. She could not be with another man unless she got divorced from her betrothed. The wedding, or nissuin, meant only that the betrothed woman, accompanied by the virgins, friends of the groom, etc., were taken from her father's house to the house of her husband and the marriage consummated.) I only saw the dress and the shoes, not the bride. That is when the mother/woman in charge explained to me that the bride had died. (The Bride is dead to self; she is dead to her natural father's house, which will be represented in her works.) However, by having the wedding it would bring her back to life. (She will be given resurrection life through the filling with the Holy Spirit.) I knew in the dream the bride's wedding gown was going down the aisle by itself, and if the people at the wedding would believe, that is when they would see her body appear in the gown. (We should believe in order to fill that gown.) Then the scene changed. I saw myself standing in a white slip and I could see that I was pregnant. My husband was in the room talking with me. (The Bride will be spiritually very pregnant with the life of the seed of Christ's Word or she will not be in the Bride company.) There was an excitement about being together for the celebration after the wedding. (This is the seven-day wedding feast, representing the seven year tribulation where all feed on the bread and wine of the Word and nature of Jesus.) In the dream, I had a vision and saw myself walking down the aisle in a wedding dress, which showed me pregnant but not full-term. (The full maturing of the Bride will come when she walks with the Man-child, just as it was with Jesus when John said, “He that hath the bride is the Bridegroom”.) At this point, I knew I needed to take a shower to get ready. (Hurry, brethren! Time is running out to get cleaned up in our walk and works.) When I turned on the shower, I reached in with my right hand and felt the water. The temperature was just lukewarm. (The lukewarm will not be in the Bride.) I knew I needed to wait for the hot water tank to heat up the water before I could get in the shower and get dressed for the wedding. Then I woke up. I wanted to go back to sleep so I could finish the dream. When I was writing down the dream, I was getting very excited thinking about it. I asked for a word and the Lord gave me 2 Kings 6:7. My finger went down on the word “put” but I felt led to read 1-7. (2Ki.6:1) And the sons of the prophets said unto Elisha, Behold now, the place where we dwell before thee is too strait for us. (2) Let us go, we pray thee, unto the Jordan, and take thence every man a beam, and let us make us a place there, where we may dwell. And he answered, Go ye. (3) And one said, Be pleased, I pray thee, to go with thy servants. And he answered, I will go. (4) So he went with them. And when they came to the Jordan, they cut down wood. (5) But as one was felling a beam, the axe-head fell into the water; and he cried, and said, Alas, my master! for it was borrowed. (6) And the man of God said, Where fell it? And he showed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in thither, and made the iron to swim. (7) And he said, Take it up to thee. So he put out his hand, and took it. (Going to the Jordan means going to the wilderness and, in this case, it is to build a house. So will the Bride. Also, the axe head floated supernaturally in the water, just like we have been given supernatural gifts in the water of the Word. But the text given is an exhortation to put out our hand and take the supernatural gifts of God, like righteousness, holiness, purity of walk and works, for the Lord said, “Take it up to thee.” So he put out his hand and took it.) After typing out the dream, I asked for another word and got Colossians 3:6 and felt led to read 1-6. (Col.3:1) If then ye were raised together with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is, seated on the right hand of God. (2) Set your mind on the things that are above (So, seek ye first the Kingdom; there is no time left for distractions.), not on the things that are upon the earth. (3) For ye died, and your life is hid with Christ in God. (4) When Christ, who is our life, shall be manifested (when the baby, “Christ in you”, is at full maturity), then shall ye also with him be manifested in glory (He will be born for the world to see). (5) Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry; (6) for which things' sake cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience. Too Late for the Wedding Feast B. A. - 05/03/2014 (David's notes in red) Concerning the title, Too Late for the Wedding Feast, this is also Too Late for the Bride because she is the Bride before the Wedding Feast starts and she is on time. See Supernatural Warnings to Prepare for the Bride. I dreamed I was walking around Israel. (“Walking around” means worldwide and “Israel” represents the Church) I was in sackcloth and ashes. (A symbol of grief at the apostasy of the Church -- worldwide and local.) I was praying in the Spirit for mercy for the “rebellious” house. (The rebellious house represents the group below who has rebelled against UBM and this is also happening worldwide. The Church is not the Bride and is often opposed to her, as we see in the Song of Solomon.) Then, suddenly, I was shown a banquet room (the Wedding Feast/Tribulation) with a very long table, and a group of people standing by the table waiting to be seated. One by one, each person was led to their seat. I watched as everyone was seated. I saw that there was a smaller group sitting on the right of the table with a very large gap separating them from the group on the left of the table. The Lord was showing me that there was a large gap representing a “wide” spiritual difference between these two groups. (The long table represents the spiritual food with the true sheep on the right side of this feast and the goats to the left of it. Below we discover that both of these groups represent the factious people who were taken into captivity but one-third of them on the right repented before the Wedding Feast and two-thirds did not and fell away to go into Tribulation bondage to the beast.) At this particular point in the dream, I woke up and I looked over at the clock and it read 4:43 or one minute before 4:44 or tribulation. (This is the second revelation of one minute left. Two other times, we also received 11:59 in dreams or one minute to midnight when Israel left Egypt for the wilderness tribulation. In the last two days before this revelation was given, I had looked at the clock at 11:59 two times. When the Trib starts, so does the 7-day/year Wedding Feast and the Bride is chosen before then so that she can be honored in the feast. There are two groups who need to be on time for the feast: the invited guests and the Bride. If anyone is late, they cannot be in the Bride.) As I fell back to sleep, I watched as the people seated on the far right of the table were being served broccoli (symbolizing trees with life. [This is food recognized to be healthy; in this case, spiritual health food. The first-fruits of our broccoli crop was harvested today.]) This was served with white sauce (the pure Word). At that point, I became very jubilant as I saw that this group had repented and were eating pure, nourishing food again! Praise the Lord! (This could be the part of the factious who repent before the Marriage Feast, as B.A. believes.) However, I noticed that the group seated at the far left of the table had not been served. They were not ready for this feast. (They have refused the healthy food from Heaven, the Word, which causes one to mature and be healthy, like the Bride.) And, as I was considering this group, I saw a large axe come down over the gap that separated the two groups of people at the table and cut the table in half. (This is like the bridge that fell in B.A.'s dream between the factious and righteous. This is also the dream we had of the house divided by a crack between the tall, righteous and glorious people on the right and the short, stunted, angry, factious people on the left who were prevented from attacking the righteous by a wall with no knob on the door in the wall. When the crack broke, there was no foundation under the factious side of the house as it fell away.) I watched as the group of people on the left fell away. (In Jesus' parable of those invited to the marriage feast, He threw out the one who had not on a wedding garment [meaning they were not dressed up with the works of Christ], for many are called but few are chosen. Mat.22:1 And Jesus answered and spake again in parables unto them, saying, 2 The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain king, who made a marriage feast for his son, 3 and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the marriage feast: and they would not come. 4 Again he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them that are bidden, Behold, I have made ready my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come to the marriage feast. 5 But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise; 6 and the rest laid hold on his servants, and treated them shamefully, and killed them. The factious assassinate the character of those who call the Church to the feast. 7 But the king was wroth; and he sent his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. Just like what happened physically in 70 AD, the Lord sent a spiritual Beast army to destroy apostate Jerusalem, the false Bride, and her people.) 8 Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they that were bidden were not worthy. 9 Go ye therefore unto the partings of the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage feast. 10 And those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good (from among the saved and unsaved): and the wedding was filled with guests. 11 But when the king came in to behold the guests, he saw there a man who had not on a wedding-garment.... Representing the works of Jesus: Rom.13:13 Let us walk becomingly, as in the day; not in reveling and drunkenness, not in chambering and wantonness, not in strife and jealousy. 14 But put ye on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to [fulfil] the lusts [thereof]. Rev.19:8 And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright [and] pure: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. Back to our text in Mat.22:12 and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding-garment? And he was speechless (we call this clueless). 13 Then the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him out into the outer darkness; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. 14 For many are called, but few chosen. Notice the cutting off of those on the left and the cutting off of the bridge of those on the left below. Meaning they will not have an invitation or be in the Bride, for they have not put on the works of Jesus.) Just then, I woke up again and the clock read 5:13, or grace had been given to the rebellious house that had repented. (The one-third on the right.) I asked B. A., “Could you tell what percentage the people on the right were?” She said about one-third on the right repented and returned. She said, “From what the Lord showed me, some will not make it back in time for the Bride company (which is finished before the Marriage Feast). About the same time this revelation came to us, in our morning prayer meeting, we received a text from the Lord by faith: Dan.5:5 In the same hour came forth the fingers of a man's hand, and wrote over against the candlestick upon the plaster of the wall of the king's palace: and the king saw the part of the hand that wrote. 6 Then the king's countenance was changed in him, and his thoughts troubled him; and the joints of his loins were loosed, and his knees smote one against another. Belshazzar, the Babylonian king, was celebrating the conquering of God's people by drinking wine (blood) from the gold and silver vessels (God's people) which were taken from the Temple in Jerusalem during the falling away (1-5). Daniel, the Man-child, interpreted the Father's writing of judgment on the wall, and the king was slain by the Medio-Persian Empire, headed by Cyrus. It was his decree in Ezra 1 that the first-fruits from among God's people in the Babylonian captivity return to build the Temple in Jerusalem. In effect this is being accomplished by President Trump. And also his plundering of Babylon paid for this. It was said of Cyrus, Isa.44:26 that confirmeth the word of his servant, and performeth the counsel of his messengers; that saith of Jerusalem, She shall be inhabited; and of the cities of Judah, They shall be built, and I will raise up the waste places thereof; 27 that saith to the deep, Be dry, and I will dry up thy rivers (He diverted the Euphrates River to conquer Babylon); 28 That saith of Cyrus, [He is] my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure, even saying of Jerusalem, She shall be built; and of the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid. 45:1 Thus saith Jehovah to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut: 2 I will go before thee, and make the rough places smooth; I will break in pieces the doors of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron. (The army went under the bars across the lowered Euphrates and the gates along the Euphrates into the center of the city were unlocked. They invaded and conquered because of God and so shall we. On 6/01/14, Jim Tofflemire wrote: “I saw a D-Day Normandy invasion movie recently and I felt the Lord told me the revival and Trib would be a grand production of God like that, and we need a lot of preparation” (to set the captives free by a war with the principalities and powers and rulers of this darkness through prayer and faith). 11 Thus saith Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker: Ask me of the things that are to come; concerning my sons, and concerning the work of my hands, command ye me. 12 I have made the earth, and created man upon it: I, even my hands, have stretched out the heavens; and all their host have I commanded. 13 I have raised him up in righteousness (Christ, hidden in the type of Cyrus), and I will make straight all his ways: he shall build my city, and he shall let my exiles go free, not for price nor reward, saith Jehovah of hosts. ... 15 Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour. This conquering of the Northern army brings to mind another text the Lord has given us many times. At a time when the Northern army was invading Israel and Judah, which Joel likened to an army of locusts for multitude, there came up a cry for mercy from the inhabitants of Zion, the Bride, just like Esther did and everything was turned around for those who escaped captivity. Joe.2:12 Yet even now, saith Jehovah, turn ye unto me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13 and rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto Jehovah your God; for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, and repenteth him of the evil. 14 Who knoweth whether he will not turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him, even a meal-offering and a drink-offering unto Jehovah your God? 15 Blow the trumpet in Zion, sanctify a fast, call a solemn assembly; 16 gather the people, sanctify the assembly, assemble the old men, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts; let the bridegroom go forth from his chamber, and the bride out of her closet. 17 Let the priests, the ministers of Jehovah, weep between the porch and the altar, and let them say, Spare thy people, O Jehovah, and give not thy heritage to reproach, that the nations should rule over them: wherefore should they say among the peoples, Where is their God? 18 Then was Jehovah jealous for his land, and had pity on his people. Notice a cry for mercy from the Bride turned the Beast captivity around and brought the great revival of the Latter Rain. Remember that Babylon left Jeremiah, to prophecy to the people of the Promised Land, while the rest had been taken to captivity. Let us cry for those in captivity with fasting and prayer. Last Supper Before the Feast B. A. - 10/12/2012 (David's notes in red) Before sharing this word with the broadcast audience, I asked the Lord to give me a Word concerning this and another revelation. With eyes closed, I flipped my Bible open and put my finger down on (Jer.26:2) Thus saith Jehovah: Stand in the court of Jehovah's house, and speak unto all the cities of Judah, which come to worship in Jehovah's house, all the words that I command thee to speak unto them; diminish not a word. I had a short dream last week where I was in a large house (the UBM house). I heard noise coming from the kitchen, so I went to the kitchen to see what was going on. I saw David Eells at the stove, cooking a meal. (David here represents the end-time David ministry preparing a spiritual meal.) I asked David if I could be of help and he replied, “Sure. Go through the entire house and tell everybody the meal is ready, and it's important to be on time”. (This is the Last Supper, which was a parable to prophesy the crucifixion of the body and blood of Christ for the Church to eat or partake of. The Church was told: (Joh.6:53) Jesus therefore said unto them, Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves. (54) He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood hath eternal life: and I will raise him up at the last day. (55) For my flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed. (56) He that eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood abideth in me, and I in him. So I went through the house and spread the word that dinner was ready and everyone needed to be on time at the dinner table. Soon, everyone took their seat at the dinner table. David then brought the food to the table and told everyone, “I'm glad you all made it to the table on time, as this is the last regular meal before the feast”. We were all very joyful and sang praises to the Lord. (All of the disciples or witnesses of the Man-child were at the table to partake of the bread and wine, representing the future sacrifice of the body and blood of Jesus. Notice that this was a “regular meal before the feast”. It was a spiritual type of what was to happen in the Marriage Feast of seven days of tribulation. (Mat.26:26) And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, and blessed, and brake it; and he gave to the disciples, and said, Take, eat; this is my body. (27) And he took a cup, and gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, Drink ye all of it; (28) for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many unto remission of sins. So we see, the Last Supper or type of the Marriage Feast came first; then the crucifixion; and then they partook of that sacrifice of the body (Word) and blood (nature) of Jesus through repentance and faith. This latter is the manifestation of the Marriage Feast and will go on for the seven years of tribulation. In this way, we can understand David's command to gather the guests as Jesus' command to gather the guests. “Go through the entire house and tell everybody the meal is ready, and it's important to be on time”. (22:4) Again he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them that are bidden, Behold, I have made ready my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come to the marriage feast. We have seen in revelations from God that the Davids are going through crucifixion, death and resurrection to be prepared to receive the anointing to lead the flock through tribulation wilderness. It was so with Moses, Joseph, David, etc., before they reigned. In crucifying these Davids, the apostates are crucifying Jesus again, just as their forefathers did. (25:40) And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, [even] these least, ye did it unto me. However, the benefits of this sin will raise up the body of Christ through the anointed Davids in whom Jesus will live through the Word and crucifixion. Marriage Supper M. L. - 03/20/2014 (David's notes in red) A dream of standing near the beginning of many, many small round tables as far as the eye could see in any direction. The tables were covered with white tablecloths and four chairs per table. It was my job to see that a small two-tiered wedding cake was exactly centered on each of the tables. This cake was to be divided equally among the four people who would be seated there. (Those who are invited to the Marriage Supper.) Knowing that these cakes were the exact likeness of a larger one that was at the table of honor. (This is the table of the Groom and His Bride.) The tables did not yet have their place settings or name cards, but knowing that that would take place soon. (The trials and testing to come in the tribulation marriage feast will prove who it is who is invited to the Marriage Supper in Heaven. The foolish virgins do not bear fruit and will not be invited.) (Rev.19:7) Let us rejoice and be glad and give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come and His bride has made herself ready. 8 It was given to her to clothe herself in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. 9 Then he said to me, Write, Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he said to me, These are true words of God. (Mat.25:1) Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. 2 And five of them were foolish, and five were wise. 3 For the foolish, when they took their lamps, took no oil with them: 4 but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps. 5 Now while the bridegroom tarried, they all slumbered and slept. 6 But at midnight there is a cry, Behold, the bridegroom! Come ye forth to meet him. 7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps. 8 And the foolish said unto the wise, Give us of your oil; for our lamps are going out. 9 But the wise answered, saying, Peradventure there will not be enough for us and you: go ye rather to them that sell, and buy for yourselves. 10 And while they went away to buy, the bridegroom came; and they that were ready went in with him to the marriage feast (The Greek word here, gamos, should be translated “marriage”, not “marriage feast”, for this is the whole marriage ceremony. This would give a person who knows about the marriage customs to discern what part of the marriage is being spoken about. The virgins escort the Bride and Groom to the Groom's home in Heaven after the Marriage Feast of seven days (tribulation) where there is a Marriage Supper. The foolish virgins who have not borne fruit do not go to Heaven, as Jesus said here.): and the door was shut. 11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us. 12 But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. 13 Watch therefore, for ye know not the day nor the hour. Luk.12:35 Let your loins be girded about, and your lamps burning; 36 and be ye yourselves like unto men looking for their lord, when he shall return (Greek: analuo, meaning “depart; break up”, as in Philippians 1:23. This is the only place in the NT that this word is translated “return”. Those at the Marriage Feast will break up to go to the Marriage Supper; the Groom will “depart” from the Marriage Feast with the Bride to be escorted by the virgins to the Marriage Supper in His heavenly home and some will not be counted worthy.) from the marriage feast; that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may straightway open unto him. 37 Blessed are those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them sit down to meat, and shall come and serve them. Get Ready, Bride Jacob Patek - 01/04/2012 (David's notes in red) I had this dream this afternoon that I would like to share with you. I work shift work, so that is why the dream was in the afternoon. I woke up at 12:30 pm and asked myself if I should get up at that time or not. I ended up going back to sleep and this is the dream the Lord gave me. I have had two brothers who encouraged me to type this out and send it in. It was not until this afternoon (1/05/12) that I came to find out that brother David had given a study on the Bride. I had been talking with a sister in the Lord the night before I had the dream. While I was at work, I had prayed that the Lord would give His permission for His daughter's hand in marriage and continued to pray that He would lead and direct me in wisdom, teaching me to not cover my head and be the spiritual head that He has called me to be. This is the dream: I was in my house preparing to go to a fellowship. I was in the living room while a female friend was in the bathroom, who was also getting ready. She was putting on a bridal gown. This girl was my age (mid-20s). While still in my dream, I was sitting in the living room, and G. W. called me and told me he had to tell me about a dream that he had just had. He said that in his dream, I was getting ready to go to church with a girl. She was putting on a bridal gown, and once we made it to the fellowship, there would be a man who would walk in during the middle of the message. He would walk in and say, “I am here for my bride.” The brother who was giving the Word would then say, “Take your bride”. Then the man who walked in said, “You will have to do the ceremony”. (Men who share the word with the Bride serve in the ceremony of the Wedding Feast, as seen below.) I could see the man kneeling at a cross that was in the middle of the room. At this point in my dream, G. W. stopped talking, and my female friend and I were there. I could now see more detail, as it was from my perspective and no longer G. W. talking about his dream. (Here he begins to see in his dream the confirmation of G. W.'s dream above. This symbolizes that the dream is doubled and is guaranteed by God to come to pass shortly. (Gen.41:32) And for that the dream was doubled unto Pharaoh, it is because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass.) The brother giving the message was speaking English but he had an interpreter. The man walked in through the large double doors at the front of the building. I remember the doors being 20 feet tall or so and the man who walked in was very meek in appearance but quite tall. (He is head and shoulders above all the rest; a giant of the Kingdom.) He had on a white suit or robe and his hair was a brilliant white. He was standing in the doorway and the light that was coming in from behind him through the open doors was brilliant and bright. He said, “I am here for my bride”. The brother giving the message said, “Take your bride”. And sure enough, the man said, “You will have to perform the ceremony”. At this time, I noticed the girl I had come with started to get up. She was walking toward the door through which the man entered. This is when the man grabbed her by the arm gently and with care and he looked at her with great affection. He did not say anything, but in my spirit I heard him say, “I am here”. (He is here in spirit.) The moment he said this, the girl who was my age turned into an old woman dressed in a dress that was a brilliant white, just like the light that was coming through the doors. (She has the maturity and righteousness of many years.) At this, I fell prostrate on my face and began to weep. It was a joyful cry. Now I was watching from a third-person point of view. I could see myself lying on the floor and weeping while the ceremony was taking place. It was over in an instant. Then we were leaving the meeting. The man was walking with us, then was no longer there. I didn't see where he went but the moment he left, in my spirit I heard, “I'm coming back for her. Make sure she is prepared”. Then she turned back into a woman of my age and we proceeded back to my house, where I began to tell her about all that had happened and about G. W.'s dream and it coming to pass. She laughed and kind of shrugged it off, and then I said I had the video on my phone of G. W. and I talking about it. G.W. called me in the beginning of my dream but on the video we were sitting down on the same couch face to face. As I started to play it, G. W. called me in real life and woke me from my dream. (This is confirmation to us again that we are about to begin the ceremony, and the bride needs to be ready. So cut the sin and get ready or miss a once-in-forever chance.) I told him, “Man, I have to tell you about this dream I just had”. We were both very encouraged, and I pray that you are too. The Bride Is Almost Complete Eve Brast - 04/30/2016 (David's notes in red) I had a dream this afternoon that is very encouraging for us. I dreamed I was standing in the middle of the driveway as you top the hill to the Shaw's house. It was sunny outside with almost a white sunlight, like when the sun is close to or at the noon position. (This is the perfect day because there are no shadows; darkness is defeated before the Sun/Son.) I saw all the local UBM brethren clearing all the vines and weeds away from the Shaw's house. Some were pulling with their hands and others with tools. (Exactly like we were doing in real life today when helping to clean and trim, and weed around their house.) Between where I was standing and the front corner of the house was a large square tower made of white stones. (The white stone tower is the Bride who is being put together as her members are sanctified. Mic.4:8 And thou, O tower of the flock, the hill of the daughter of Zion, unto thee shall it come, yea, the former dominion shall come, the kingdom of the daughter of Jerusalem.) Three of the sides were complete and we were six or seven stones (people sanctified) away from completing the fourth and final side. (Pray for these six or seven saints to be set free.) The stones were all about a foot or so in diameter and the tower was larger at the base and more narrow as it reached the top. 1Pe.2:5 ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. Although this is a promise for the true Church, the principle is the same but the Bride comes to this maturity before the Church and is therefore more beautiful to the Lord. It was flat on top, almost like a huge stone altar. As the brethren cleared away the wild vines and weeds out of the flower beds surrounding the house, they would uncover these stones, and then they would supernaturally disappear from the beds and reappear in their perfect position in the tower, which was almost as high as the roof of the house. (As the lives of these living stones were freed from the weeds and vines of bondage. Then they were supernaturally and spiritually resurrected out of dirt burial to be in the Bride.) Then I woke up. I thought of the Shepherd of Hermas when I began to meditate on this dream and what it meant. (The tower was in the building stage there too and it was said that the stones could go into the tower as long as it was being built but after it was finished, no more stones could be included.) When the Bride Is Sanctified, Judgment Comes Anna Stewart - 04/27/2016 (David's notes in red) The dream I shared on the conference fellowship last night was where Matthew and I were in an old red '90s model F-150 pickup (which we don't really have in real life) and we had three bales of hay in the back. We were driving up this narrow one-way dirt road up a mountain (Zion) and the farther up we got, the less hay we had. I said, “By the time we get to the top of the mountain, we won't have any hay left”. (This represents the further up Zion we go, the less flesh we have, since Peter said “all flesh is as grass”. (Hay is dead grass or flesh. The three bales being that which comes from the earth in spirit, soul, and body.) Being in an old red truck may be the first way that the apostles gave us and the red being covered by the blood and the ride being in the rest.) 1Co.3:10 According to the grace of God which was given unto me, as a wise master builder I laid a foundation; and another buildeth thereon. But let each man take heed how he buildeth thereon. 11 For other foundation can no man lay than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ. 12 But if any man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 each man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove each man's work of what sort it is. 14 If any man's work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward. Wood, hay and stubble would not abide in fire because it represents the works of man.) When we got to the top, there was a meadow and I saw a tornado (When the Bride is mature enough to be chosen, then come Judgments like large earthquakes, volcanoes, economic crash, martial law, etc.), but I wasn't scared. As it touched down, the sky went black (The gross darkness, volcanic activity, blackouts, a time of judgment). I could see stars and all the other planetary stuff which you could never see with the naked eye, and straight up above were these two bright lights. In the dream, I knew that there were two suns. (When the Bride is chosen. This could account for the earthquakes, which bring the Man-child when she reaches the top to be chosen.) And then in the dream I was telling Michael what had just happened, so that's why I wanted to share it. Most Don't Make the Cut One other thing I wanted to share. We had eight lambs this year, and I was believing we wouldn't lose any, as we usually lose at least one to something or other, and we didn't have any bottle babies, which might have been a first. But two were born dead, then just recently one died of an unknown cause, two went missing, which must have been coyotes, but we have never had any go missing before, and one got its head eaten off through the fence (coyote?). I just thought that it all kind of lined up with the parable of the sower pretty well because God calls His people sheep. The stillborn sheep would be the wayside ones because they never had life; the missing ones are the ones sown on the rocks because they fell away when temptation arose (I know that they strayed away from the others when they were eaten because the others were not frightened, which they always are for a few days when something scares them). The one that died of who-knows-what was then picked by birds, and the one who lost its head would, I guess, be the third group who didn't bring fruit to perfection. And then, of course, that leaves the last two living ones to be the ones who were sown in the good ground. Even though it was sad what happened, I saw it as kind of a parable and a warning too, because just like the parable of the sower, only 1/4 of them made it. One other thing is that my nieces wanted to name some, so they decided on Marly and Charley. Then Mallory was like, “I know, I'll name mine Jesus!” So Tasha decided to rename hers God. I told them that might get a little confusing, “God, get out of the hay!” “Jesus, don't be so greedy”. Etc. So we stuck with Marly and Charley. I just thought it was interesting that Marly was going to be Jesus, but stuck her head through the fence out of curiosity and got taken out. Because everybody plans on manifesting Jesus, but fence-straddlers (or those halfway through the fence) won't make it. Below I will share an excerpt from Hidden Manna For the End Times -- Chapter Three: “When Do We Go?” The ceremony is according to ancient Jewish custom. It begins with the Marriage Feast as the groom in the Man-child feasts with the Bride for seven day/years. During this time, She has all the rights and advantages of a wife, except the marriage is not consummated. At the end of the tribulation, the virgins escort the Bride and Groom to the Groom's home, where the Marriage Supper is served. The Marriage Feast Excerpt from our book, Hidden Manna For the End Times After seven days of the marriage feast, God's people will go to the Groom's home. Jacob served seven years for each of his wives and he had a marriage feast of seven days for each of them (Gen.29:18-28). This is a parallel revelation. These seven days represent the last seven years or the seventieth week of Daniel, the Tribulation. Samson kept a seven-day marriage feast for his betrothed but left without taking her on the seventh day so she was given to another man just as the harlot will, in our day (Jdg.14:12-15:2). Jesus will feast with His Bride in spirit for seven days/years, after which they are escorted by the virgins to the Groom's home in heaven where she will legally be His. This Hebrew custom is shown in The Zondervan Pictorial Encyclopedia of the Bible, 1976, page 97 under “Marriage”. My notes are in parentheses. The bridegroom was the king for a week (seven-day/year wedding feast). During the whole week their majesties wore their festal clothes, did not work, and merely looked on at the games – except that now and then the queen joined in a dance. Accompanied by his friends (John the Baptist was a friend of the Bridegroom in John 3:29) with tambourines and a band they went to the bride's house (which is obviously on earth) where the wedding ceremonies were to start. The bride richly dressed, adorned with jewels (Psa.45:14-15), usually wore a veil (meaning submission in 1Cor.11:5-13), which she took off only in the bridal chamber. Escorted by her companions (the virgins), the bride was led to the home of the bridegroom (heaven). This is clear. After the seven days/years of the feast, representing the Tribulation, on the eighth day, which is the day of circumcision when the flesh is cut off, the Groom, the Bride, the friends of the Groom, and the virgins, all leave dressed in their new bodies to go to the Groom's home in heaven. It will be just as when Moses and all Israel left Egypt together. Even the dead in Christ will join the procession. (1Cor.15:51) ...We all shall not sleep, but we shall all be changed, (52) in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump... That the Lord takes His people after the seven days/years of the marriage feast is clearly proven by Scripture. As we have seen, a great multitude comes out of the Great Tribulation to the throne of God. (Rev.7:9) …A great multitude…out of every nation…standing before the throne and before the Lamb…. (14) …These are they that come out of the great tribulation…. Only after “the great tribulation,” this “great multitude,” which is made up of all who attend the marriage, announces that the Bride is ready and the marriage is come. (Rev.19:1) After these things I heard as it were a great voice of a great multitude in heaven, saying…. (7)…the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. (8) And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright [and] pure: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. (9) And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they that are bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb…. Notice that the marriage supper is in heaven, after the seven-day feast on earth. Let's go back and look more closely at what will be eaten at the marriage feast. Jesus said, “Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of man and drink his blood, ye have not life in yourselves” (Joh.6:53). What does this flesh and blood symbolize spiritually, for Jesus said, “It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life” (63)? Jesus' flesh was the unleavened bread: the manna of the pure Word of God. (51) I am the living bread which came down out of heaven: if any man eat of this bread, he shall live for ever: yea and the bread which I will give is my flesh, for the life of the world. (Joh.1:14) And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us... The wine represents the blood of the life of Christ, Who is the Word. (Lev.17:11) For the life of the flesh is in the blood... Those who are obedient to attend will feast on the flesh, bread, and wine of the eternal life of Christ for the last seven days of the Tribulation. God is preparing the Man-child ministry of Revelation 12 to walk in the steps of Jesus and to once again serve this feast to the true disciples of our day. I will share more on this later. Although, to a lesser extent, this marriage feast has been served on earth since Christ first came, it is the last seven days that the majority of God's people will feast on the pure bread and wine. Natural Israel was invited to come and partake of this marriage feast in the Gospels, but most had worldly excuses and failed to feast on the life that Jesus served. (Mat.22:1) And Jesus answered and spake again in parables unto them, saying, (2) The kingdom of heaven is likened unto a certain king, who made a marriage feast for his son, (3) and sent forth his servants to call them that were bidden to the marriage feast: and they would not come. (4) Again he sent forth other servants, saying, Tell them that are bidden, Behold, I have made ready my dinner; my oxen and my fatlings are killed, and all things are ready: come to the marriage feast. (5) But they made light of it, and went their ways, one to his own farm, another to his merchandise; (6) and the rest laid hold on his servants, and treated them shamefully, and killed them. (7) But the king was wroth; and he sent his armies, and destroyed those murderers, and burned their city. This was the end of the Jewish age, when in 70 A.D. the Romans slaughtered the Jews and burned Jerusalem. As they were rejecting the feast, the Gentiles were invited to partake. (Mat.22:8) Then saith he to his servants, The wedding is ready, but they that were bidden were not worthy. (9) Go ye therefore unto the partings of the highways, and as many as ye shall find, bid to the marriage feast. (10) And those servants went out into the highways, and gathered together all as many as they found, both bad and good (Gentiles and Jews): and the wedding was filled with guests. John the Baptist pointed out that the disciples were feasting on the Word of Jesus as a marriage feast and as a type and shadow for our day. (Joh.3:29) He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, that standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is made full. The Marriage Supper All who have been sanctified through the feast will be ready to leave for the Groom's home in heaven. (Luk.12:36) And be ye yourselves like unto men looking for their lord, when he shall return (Greek: analuo, “depart”) from the marriage feast (seven days); that, when he cometh and knocketh, they may straightway open unto him. Analuo is not translated “return” anywhere else but is correctly translated “depart” in places like Philippians 1:23 where Paul speaks of departing this life. The encyclopedia is clear that the groom, his bride, and friends, “depart” from a marriage feast of seven days and are escorted by the virgins to the groom's home. (Mat.25:1) Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, who took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. A common false teaching is that the virgins here are the bride who leaves before the seven-year tribulation. That is not only contrary to the Hebrew custom I cited above from the encyclopedia, but other experts on this say the same. I quote the famous The Life and Times of Jesus the Messiah by Alfred Edersheim, Book III, Chapter IV. My comments are in parentheses. On the evening of the actual marriage (after the seven-day marriage feast) the bride was led from her paternal home (on earth) to that of her husband (in heaven) ….covered with the bridal veil, her long hair flowing, surrounded by her companions (bride's maids or virgins), and led by the friends of the bridegroom…some carried torches or lamps on poles (ten lamps)…. Here it is clear that the Bride and virgins are two separate entities, just as in all cultures. After the seven-year marriage feast, the virgins will accompany the Bride to the Groom's home. In Book V, Chapter VII, Edersheim explains the parable of the Ten Virgins with their lamps thus: According to Jewish authorities, it was the custom in the East to carry in a bridal procession about ten such lamps. … Ten was the number required to be present at any office or ceremony (to witness the kethubah or marriage document)…. He also says here: The ordinary Jewish marriage-procession where the bridegroom, accompanied by his groomsmen and friends, went to the bride's house, and thence conducted the bride, with her attendant maidens and friends, into his own or his parents' home.
Sermon Summary — Joshua: Session 1 Text: Joshua 1:1–9 Theme: “Be Strong and Courageous — Stand on God's Word” Speaker: Pastor Matthew Robbins (LWWC) 1. Opening & Testimony Ministry outreach continues to grow — 92 nations now tune into the podcast, with Brazil as the leading listener. Reminder from Amos: there is “a famine in the land — not of bread or water, but of hearing the Word of the Lord.” Pastor celebrates that God always gives a platform to those who faithfully teach His Word. 2. The Call of Joshua After Moses' death, Joshua is appointed to lead Israel into the Promised Land — the end of wandering and the start of inheritance. God alone buried Moses, preserving his body for future purpose (referenced from Jude and the Mount of Transfiguration). Joshua is charged to “Arise… go over this Jordan,” marking a new beginning of courage, obedience, and leadership. 3. The Meaning of the Name Joshua (Yahashua / Yahushua) — means “Yahweh is salvation.” Same root name as Jesus (Iēsous) in Greek — both mean “the Lord saves.” Just as Joshua led Israel into the land of promise, Jesus leads believers into eternal life. The sermon explained transliteration (sound-based) versus translation (meaning-based), showing how “Joshua” and “Jesus” are connected through language and purpose. 4. God's Promise to Israel God promised Israel vast territory — from the wilderness to the Euphrates River. Today, Israel holds only a fraction of that land. Their partial obedience and sin caused loss, yet God's promises remain and will be fulfilled in His timing. Every nation is accountable to God — “The nations that forget God shall be turned into hell.” 5. God's Charge to Joshua (and to Us) Three times God says: “Be strong and of good courage.” The Hebrew meaning carries the sense of divine impartation — God depositing strength within Joshua. The same word (“Be of good cheer” — tharreo) in the New Testament shows Jesus imparting courage to His followers. Believers today receive the same spiritual strength through faith and obedience. 6. The Word as the Foundation of Success “This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth… then you will make your way prosperous, and have good success.” Success, used only once in the Bible, is defined by obedience and meditation on God's Word. True prosperity is not wealth or position — it is faithfulness to Scripture. “Do not turn to the right or left” — God's Word must be the final authority in every area of life. The pastor warned against redefining morality through governments, culture, or opinion: “If the Holy Spirit lives in us, change is inevitable.” 7. Personal Testimony: Strength Through Affliction Pastor shared his open-heart surgery experience (on Yom Kippur, “Day of Deliverance”) as a turning point where God deepened his walk. Quoted Psalm 119, emphasizing how affliction can become God's classroom: “Before I was afflicted I went astray, but now I keep Your Word.” God's faithfulness in affliction brings revelation and renewal. The Word is sweeter than honey and more precious than gold — a believer's constant companion in suffering and success. 8. The Word Made Flesh Read John 1:1–14 — “In the beginning was the Word… and the Word became flesh.” Jesus is the Word — you cannot love Him and reject Scripture. “If they won't believe Moses and the prophets, they won't believe even if one rises from the dead.” To reject the Word is to reject Christ Himself. 9. The Battle of Faith When you were in sin, you weren't battling Satan — you were living with him. The real battle begins when you switch sides and live for Christ. The Christian life is warfare — but God's strength sustains His people. Illustration: a railroad worker's lantern went out though he kept swinging it — a warning that we must not let our light go out. 10. Final Call It's time to: Pray more Study the Word more Witness more “We're running out of time. Be strong and courageous. The Lord is with you wherever you go.”
Welcome to Day 2695 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom Day 2695 – Wisdom Nuggets – Psalm 80:7-13 – Daily Wisdom Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2695 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2695 of our Trek. The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Today's Wisdom Nugget is titled: The Vine from Egypt – A Garden Left to Ruin - A Trek Through Psalm 80:7-13 Today, we continue our deeply moving trek through Psalm 80 in the New Living Translation, encompassing verses 7 through 13. In our last conversation, we heard a desperate communal lament from the psalmist, Asaph. We felt the anguish of a people crying out to God as their Shepherd, questioning, "How long, O Lord God of Heaven's Armies, will you be angry with our prayers?" (Psalm 80:4). We saw the bitter reality of their lives: feeding on sorrow and drinking tears by the cupful, becoming the public "scorn of our neighbors." Their primary plea was for God to "restore us" and to "smile on us and save us" (Psalm 80:3). Now, as we move into this next section, the psalmist continues this prayer for restoration, but he does so through a magnificent and poignant agricultural metaphor. He portrays Israel as a vine, one that God Himself rescued, planted, and tenderly cared for, a vine that once flourished and covered the earth. He then contrasts that glorious past with the vine's present state of ruin and desecration, all to intensify his plea for God, the divine Gardener, to return and care for His vineyard once again. This metaphor would have resonated deeply with the ancient Israelites, a people whose identity and heritage were intrinsically linked to the land and its fruitfulness. It's a powerful picture of a relationship that has fallen into disrepair, and the desperate hope for its renewal. So, let's immerse ourselves in this beautiful and heartbreaking metaphor of a vine planted by God. A Glorious Vine Planted by God (Reads Psalm 80:7-11 NLT) Restore us, O God of Heaven's Armies. Smile on us and save us. You brought a vine from Egypt; you drove out the nations and planted it here. You cleared the ground for it, and it took root and filled the land. The mountains were covered with its shade; the mighty cedars with its branches. The vine spread its branches west to the Mediterranean Sea and east to the Euphrates River. Guthrie Chamberlain: The psalmist begins this section by reiterating the central plea, a refrain that will run throughout the psalm: "Restore us, O God of Heaven's Armies. Smile on us and save us." This repetition serves to reinforce the gravity and single-mindedness of their desire for a complete reversal of their fortunes. They are begging for God's favor to return, for Him to turn His face back to them, for they know that in His smile is their salvation. The psalmist then introduces the magnificent vine metaphor, recounting...
Hosts Pastor Robert Baltodano and Pastor Lloyd Pulley Question Timestamps: Sharon, HI (2:08) - How many times do you have to forgive someone? What if they are controlling and somewhat abusive? Gregory, ID (5:34) - Why does God pursue people in certain cases but not in others? Anonymous, Facebook (9:14) - Am I guilty of having an abortion after having gotten an IUD? Ed, VA (11:50) - Why did Paul write so much of the Bible instead of the Lord's disciples? Alice, GA (14:26) - Did God teach Eve the dos and don'ts of the Garden separate from Adam? Cheryl, email (18:50) - Can you explain John 6:53-66? Is this related to the Catholic practice of Communion? Ray, NJ (23:21) - How does the Euphrates River drying up play out in the end times? Steve, email (27:59) - Why are some pastors afraid to teach on Revelation? Do any pastors know when God will come back and take us? Beverly, NY (33:37) - What does "speaking in tongues" mean? What is the difference between the new heaven and the new Earth? Peggy, NJ (40:33) - Could my friend have been harassed by Satan for twenty years? Vic, NY (45:26) - Does remarriage after divorce mean that I'm in perpetual adultery? John, KY (49:59) - Does the bear in Daniel 7 represent Russia? Do the ribs in the bear's mouth represent NATO? Ronald, CT (55:05) - Can you explain the book of Enoch and whether we should read it? Ask Your Question: 888-712-7434 Answers@bbtlive.org
In Episode 250, Part 2 of the Mike Drop Podcast, Joe Malone dives into gripping accounts from his 2016 deployment in Iraq, where he faced intense combat situations against ISIS. From witnessing Katyusha rocket attacks and mustard gas threats to observing a fierce gunfight near Mosul Dam, Joe shares the chaos and adrenaline of the battlefield. He recounts a particularly harrowing day involving heavy firefights, an ISIS armored vehicle breakthrough, and the tragic loss of SEAL Chuck Heaton. The episode also covers a daring amphibious assault across the Euphrates River in Syria, highlighting the strategic complexity and raw intensity of operations alongside Tier 1 units and the Syrian Defense Force. Tune in for a raw, unfiltered look at the challenges, sacrifices, and surreal moments of modern warfare. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Send us a textThe trumpets of judgment continue to sound in Revelation 9, unveiling horrors that challenge our modern sensibilities and spiritual complacency. As the fifth angel's trumpet pierces the apocalyptic air, we witness the unlocking of the bottomless pit—the abyss where evil entities are imprisoned—releasing demonic locusts that torment humanity for five excruciating months.These aren't ordinary locusts. With human faces, women's hair, lion's teeth, and scorpion stings, they embody something far more sinister than anything in nature. Under the command of their king—Apollyon, the Destroyer—they inflict such agonizing torment that people desperately seek death but cannot find it. Yet remarkably, those bearing God's seal remain untouched, protected in the midst of chaos.When the sixth trumpet sounds, the spiritual warfare intensifies. Four angels bound at the Euphrates River unleash a demonic cavalry 200 million strong that kills one-third of humanity. The scale of this judgment is unprecedented since the Great Flood, yet the survivors stubbornly refuse to repent, clinging to their idols that "cannot see or hear or walk."This chapter forces us to confront uncomfortable questions about what we truly worship. Do we prioritize career, materialism, politics, or social media above our relationship with God? As the ancient wisdom states, "The soul becomes dyed with the color of its thoughts"—we inevitably become like the gods we worship.God's judgment reveals both His justice and mercy. Even amidst the devastation, two-thirds of humanity is spared, given another opportunity for repentance. The message resonates beyond ancient apocalyptic literature into our daily lives: where do our affections truly lie? What occupies our time and attention? When we honestly examine our priorities, we often discover that "God's just not on the daily schedule."Take this moment to consider what holds the throne of your heart. Does Christ have the rightful place He deserves, or have lesser gods quietly usurped His position? The time for genuine repentance—a complete reorientation of heart, mind, and behavior—is now, before the final trumpet sounds.Intro music - Toby MacOutro music - Consumed By FireSupport the show
Welcome to Day 2658 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom Day 2658 – Wisdom Nuggets – Psalm 72:6-14 – Daily Wisdom Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2658 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2658 of our Trek. The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Today's Wisdom Nugget is titled: A Reign Like Rain, A Compassion Unbound - A Trek Through Psalm 72:6-14 Guthrie Chamberlain: Welcome to Wisdom-Trek, your compass for navigating the profound landscapes of faith and life. I'm your guide, Guthrie Chamberlain, and today, we continue our majestic trek through Psalm 72 in the New Living Translation, delving deeper into its prophetic vision of an ideal king, covering verses 6 through 14. In our last trek, we began this royal psalm, a prayer for a king, which also serves as a profound prophecy of the Messiah's righteous reign. We saw how the psalmist appealed to God to grant the king divine justice and righteousness, enabling him to rule impartially and, most importantly, to give justice to the poor. Now, as we move into this next section, the vision expands dramatically, detailing the pervasive blessing, universal dominion, and boundless compassion that characterize this ideal king's rule. This psalm would have stirred the hearts of ancient Israelites with hope, painting a picture of a ruler truly aligned with God's heart – a king whose reign brings flourishing to the land and protection to the vulnerable, extending his influence far beyond Israel's borders. It points us forward to the ultimate King, Jesus Christ, who perfectly embodies every aspiration of this prayer. So, let's immerse ourselves in this beautiful portrayal of righteous kingship and consider its implications for a world longing for true peace and justice. (Reads Psalm 72:6-8 NLT) May the king's rule be like rain upon the mown grass, like showers that water the earth. May all the godly flourish during his reign; may there be abundant prosperity until the moon is no more. May he rule from sea to sea and from the Euphrates River to the ends of the earth. Guthrie Chamberlain: The psalmist begins by describing the refreshing and life-giving nature of the king's reign: “May the king's rule be like rain upon the mown grass, like showers that water the earth.” This is a powerful and deeply significant metaphor, especially in an ancient agrarian society in the Near East, where rain was absolutely essential for life and prosperity. Imagine a field of grass, freshly mown or parched from drought. When gentle, abundant rain falls upon it, it brings immediate refreshment, new growth, and renewed vitality. The king's rule is envisioned not as a destructive flood or a harsh storm, but as life-giving rain – gentle, pervasive, and beneficial. It brings refreshment and renewal to the land and its people, fostering growth and flourishing. This signifies a reign that is benevolent, restorative, and brings true well-being to all it touches. The direct result of such a reign is flourishing: “May all the godly flourish during his reign; may there be abundant prosperity until the moon is no more.” “The godly” (or “righteous”) are those who align themselves with God's ways, seeking to
The most important decision any of us will make is the decision to place our faith in Jesus Christ as our Savior and Lord. All other decisions pale in comparison. Why? Because this decision has eternal implications. Placing our faith in Jesus' death and resurrection for our sins provides us with forgiveness of our sins, and gives us the promise of eternal life.Main Points:1. While many know Jesus, they have yet to believe. They still haven't decided to make Him their Savior and Lord. They are living in a place of indecision. I've heard people say, “I'm not ready yet. Maybe someday I'll become a Christian.”2. We must see that indecision is a decision. Failing to act, is an action. We don't know what the future holds. We have no promise of tomorrow. But we do have this moment and this opportunity to decide to follow Jesus. We cannot postpone life's most important decision. 3. Listen again to the powerful words from Joshua. “Choose today whom you will serve.” I believe this is a word from the Lord to you and me today. Choose whom you will serve. Make a decision. Place your faith in God. Settle the issue. Move forward as aß Christ-follower whose mind is made up.Today's Scripture Verses:Joshua 24:14-15 - “So fear the Lord and serve him wholeheartedly. Put away forever the idols your ancestors worshiped when they lived beyond the Euphrates River and in Egypt. Serve the Lord alone. But if you refuse to serve the Lord, then choose today whom you will serve. Would you prefer the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates? Or will it be the gods of the Amorites in whose land you now live? But as for me and my family, we will serve the Lord.”Matthew 6:24 - “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other.” Quick Links:Donate to support this podcastLeave a review on Apple PodcastsGet a copy of The 5 Minute Discipleship JournalConnect on SocialJoin The 5 Minute Discipleship Facebook Group