Podcasts about farel

Ayah dari Farel Prayoga penyanyi cilik yang sempat viral saaat tampil di Istana Negara ditangkap polisi karena bermain judol.

This part eight of a series of podcasts that will give you a snapshot of the No Name Heroes of the Faith. People who God used in small ways to make big things happen.In this episode we will learn about Guillaume Farel, Calvin's best friend.The main source I will be using for these episodes will come from the pages of Christian History Magazine. Check them out at https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/magazine/issues

Well well well, December is finally here, we're about to close out this year (and have just flew by the second anniversary of chatGPT

Things are about to get spooky–again! The cult monster mash Spookies has thrilled and confused audiences for decades, and the recent announcement of a long-awaited sequel has stirred renewed interest in the property. In light of the news, the Grave Discussions crew sits down with Spookies 2 creator Frank Farel, one of the original producers and writers of Twisted Souls, which infamously became conjoined with additional footage to create Spookies. Listen now to hear all about how Farel plans to make the kind of film he and his partners intended to many years ago! Warning: Spoilers for Spookies ahead. Check out Barnabas's retrospective on Spookies on TikTok! Missed any previous episodes of Grave Discussions? Find them in the Episode Archive!

U nešto okrnjeom sastavu, ali ipak puni entuzijazma, preostala trojka Njuzovica - Jelisaveta, Viktor i Nenad, izgurali su skoro 3 sata POPkasta. Donosimo vam odgovor kada je pravo vreme da se gleda Zona Zamfirova, kao i pitanje kako je moguće da Kolin Farel potpuno ulazi u ulogu Pingvina? Jelisaveta najavljuje i svoj veliki povratak u pozorište, a imaćete i priliku da dobijete još neke predloge za kupovinu na skorašnjem Sajmu knjiga u Beogradu. ☕️ Isprobajte sve Flert kafe i odaberite svoju omiljenu (a sada i sa napitkom na bazi badema)

The Watchers brings you a Horror Watchers episode for the ages. Producer/filmmaker Frank Farel talks about his many years in the industry. The success of the splatter film Street Trash, and the follies of Spookies which after decades was released by Vinegar Syndrome in home video and blew up overnight as a cultural phenomenon. With acting credits in Igor and the Lunatics and the legendary Dawn of the Dead Frank has been on all sides of the camera. This in depth look into his career is as fun as the films he makes. 

mau ke jakarta selatan? Farel siap jadi tour guide

Eduard Farel·lo i Àurea Márquez ens presenten “Conspiranoia”

The Gospel must be preached to all nations because God has elected some from every tribe, language, people, and nation to be in heaven. - SERMON TRANSCRIPT - Turn in your Bibles if you would, to Mark, chapter 13, and you can also turn as well to Matthew 24. We're going to be looking at both of those places. The Scripture reveals that despite all of its swirling complexity, human history has a purpose. We are moving to a destination. We're going somewhere with all of this. It's not just random chaos, but God has a plan and a purpose. The destination the Bible reveals, to which we're going, is a perfect universe, a perfect world free from all sin and a beautiful radiant city. The New Heavens and the New Earth are that perfect universe and that radiant city is called the New Jerusalem. The Bible reveals that the light source of that new universe and of the New Jerusalem, according to Revelation 21 and 22, is the glory of God, the glory of God. Revelation 21:23 says, "The city”[the New Jerusalem] "does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it for the glory of God gives it light and the lamb is its lamp." Again, in the next chapter, Revelation 22:5 it says, "They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun, for the Lord God will give them light." But what is that? What is the glory of God? In my studies and my meditations, I've thought a lot, it's an important topic. I believe the glory of God is the radiant display of the attributes or the perfections of God. Sometimes it's just brilliant light, as 1 Timothy 6:16 says, "God dwells in unapproachable light." Well, think about that, unapproachable light. How amazing must that be? For this reason, the Seraphim in Isaiah's vision were constantly covering their faces, though they had no sin or guilt, but just in that unapproachable light, the presence of the glory, they were covering their faces. For this reason also, the theophanies, or the displays of God, where God shows up in human history are frequently attended by overpowering light, like in Ezekiel's vision of the likeness of the glory of God by the Kibar River east of Babylon. Ezekiel 1 says, "High above on the throne was a figure like that of a man. And I saw from what appeared to be his waist up, He looked like glowing metal as if full of fire. And that from there down He looked like fire and brilliant light surrounded Him, like the appearance of a rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the radiance around him. This was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell face down." So radiant, light, brightness connected with the glory of God. Also at the time of the birth of our Lord in Bethlehem, an angel appeared to shepherds outside Bethlehem and it says in Luke 2:9-10, "There were shepherds living out in the fields nearby, keeping watch over the flocks at night. An angel of the Lord appeared to them and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified." This was a glory of the eye, not of the mind or heart. It was just bright light, and it stunned the shepherds that night. But the glory of God is seen not just in brilliant light, sometimes it's in the radiant display of the perfections of God, the attributes of God woven into the tapestry of historical events. That takes the eye of faith to see it, but it's there. The attributes of God woven into the tapestry of history. The perfections of God, attributes of God, include His wisdom, His power, His love, compassion, justice, patience, kindness, mercy. These are attributes. God has ordained history, the story of history, for this reason to put Himself on display in the sequence of events and unfolding history. He put Himself on display in a history, a story, that He predestined before Christ began, written in His own mind before time began. The sequence of events, this history, has all been written out by the author of history and it's intrinsically connected with the Christ event, the story of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Jesus himself said in Revelation 22:13, "I am the alpha and the omega. I am the first and the last, the beginning and the end." History is linear, and Jesus is history. Jesus is what the story is all about. The radiant display of the glory of God in heaven, I believe, will consist in part in a retelling of His mighty works in saving His people from their sins and in their individual context all over the world, across the centuries, a retelling of the mighty works of God and saving sinners. I believe it's the most glorious thing God has ever done. His glory is greatly on display in salvation. Revelation 7:9-10 says, "After this, I looked, and there before me was a great multitude that no one could count from every nation, tribe, people, and language, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes, and they were holding palm branches in their hands, and they cried out in a loud voice, 'Salvation belongs to our God who sits on the throne and to the Lamb.'" "The radiant display of the glory of God in heaven, I believe, will consist in part in a retelling of His mighty works in saving His people from their sins and in their individual context all over the world, across the centuries." Here's a multitude, a huge quantity of people, from all over the world, every imaginable context, standing around the throne of God in heaven praising God for salvation. The specific stories of these individual people that make up these millions from every nation on Earth, will bring infinite and eternal glory to God. A few verses later, Revelation 8:13, "Then one of the elders asked me, 'These in the white robes, who are they and where did they come from?'" As I've said many times before, that story will take forever to tell fully. It is so complex, but it is woven through with light, it’s woven through with glory. "These redeemed," who are they and where do they come from? Well, how long do you have? We have all eternity. So, pull up a chair and let's hear the story of how God redeemed this one and that one and the other one from all over the world. Heaven will be filled with the stories of the greatness of God put on display in the amazing tapestry of history that He wove in every century. This is the story of missions. The spread of the Gospel of Jesus Christ from Jerusalem to the ends of the Earth across every generation of history, that unspeakable glory as before us this morning. We're going to focus just on two verses of scripture. Mark 13:10, right in the middle of our Mark study, and then a parallel verse, Matthew 24:14. Mark 13:10, "And the gospel must first be preached to all nations." Matthew 24:14, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as a testimony to all nations and then the end will come." I want to tell you something about the science of Bible interpretation. The Gospels, there are four of them, three of them basically take the same approach to the life of Jesus. Matthew, Mark ,and Luke. They're called synoptic because they see things from about the same perspective. Then the fourth Gospel, John, comes at it from a different perspective, but they all tell the same thing. We believe that all scriptures God-breathed is perfect, so therefore these are four perfect accounts of the life of Christ, but they have some differences with one another. When we have those differences between, let's say, Matthew and Mark, we harmonize. We don't pit them against each other, we put them together. We try to harmonize, and that's not always easy to do. Generally, I look on it as a two-for-one sale. I'm going to take both statements here as true, and if one of them tells me one thing, He said that and that's true, and if one of them tells something else, He said that, and I just harmonize, I put it together. I. Context: Jesus’ Prediction of the Destruction of the Temple Let's talk about the context here. We're moving through the Gospel of Mark. Mark 13 is Jesus's description of the history of the end of the world and the events leading up to the destruction of Jerusalem and the Temple and the end of the world. It came from a statement Jesus made in Mark 13:2: "Not one stone will be left on another. Everyone will be thrown down." This was a prediction of the destruction, at least of the Temple, but probably really of the whole city of Jerusalem and focused on the temple. It was the final week of Jesus's life. Things were hurdling to a conclusion, the dramatic turbulent events culminating in His arrest and His trial before the Jewish leaders. His condemnation by them is being handed over to Pontius Pilate for condemnation by the Romans and then His crucifixion by Pontius Pilate and the Romans. So that's where we're heading. Jesus has given a seven-fold denunciation of the Scribes and Pharisees, the spiritual leaders of the Jewish nation. It's fully depicted in Matthew 23. It's just quickly summarized in Mark. But it culminates in this statement in Matthew 23: 38-39, "Jesus says, 'Behold your house is left to you desolate.'" This is a very important statement—your house is left to you desolate. “Desolate” means “empty." The reason I'm saying that is, "For, I tell you, you will not see Me again until you say ‘Blessed is He comes in the name of the Lord.’" “Not seeing Me again” is the essence of your desolate house. That's what makes your house desolate. Then Jesus dramatically walked out of the Temple, never to return again. The disciples came up at that moment and chose that moment to talk about how beautiful the Temple was. We shouldn't be surprised at this. This is what the disciples, the apostles were like, frequently off message. This is who we are as well. “As Jesus was leaving the temple, one of his disciples said to him, ‘Look, teacher, what massive stones, what magnificent buildings.’ ‘Do you see all these great buildings?’ replied Jesus. ‘Not one stone here will be left on another, every one will be thrown down.’" That must've been incredibly distressing to them. They come to Him later, privately, when He's out of the city, He's up on the Mount of Olives, across the Kidron Valley, they're out of the city and they're there. As Jesus was sitting on the Mount of Olives, Matthew 24:3, “The disciples came to Him privately. 'Tell us,' they said, 'When will this happen and what will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?’" Matthew 24 and Mark 13 cover roughly the same ground, but Matthew 24, in much more detail. There's almost nothing found in Mark 13 that's not found in Matthew 24, and there are other things besides in Matthew 24, so I have my eye on both. Matthew 24 has the full question the disciples asked and the fuller answer that Jesus gives. The three parts of the question in Matthew 24 are, "Tell us, when will this happen?" And, "What will be the sign of Your coming and of the end of the age?" The complexity of Matthew 24 and of Mark 13 comes in discerning and kind of to some degree, unweaving the tapestry of Jesus's answer. What is He talking about right now in this part? Is He talking about the destruction of Jerusalem in 870 AD by the Romans? Is He talking about the end of the world? What is it? They weave it through. Jesus, I believe, is giving a history of the world between His First and Second Comings. It's bigger than just the destruction of the Temple. Just to tell you, if you look at Mark 13:10, a key word for me in that is the word “first.” First. "This gospel must first be proclaimed to all nations." First before what? Before the destruction of the temple? That didn't happen. So clearly, Jesus's scope is bigger than the destruction of the Temple. He's looking at, I believe, all history, from the First to the Second Comings of Christ, and He's traveling and traversing that history. Look at verses 5-13, Mark 13. Jesus has said to them, “Watch out that no one deceives you. Many will come in my name claiming I am He and will deceive many. When you hear of wars and rumors of wars, do not be alarmed. Such things must happen, but the end is still to come. Nation will rise against nation and kingdom against kingdom. There'll be earthquakes in various places and famines. These are the beginning of birth pains. You must be on your guard. You'll be handed over to local councils and flogged in the synagogues. On account of Me, you'll stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them." Here's our focus verse, verse 10, "And the gospel must first be preached to all nations. Whenever you are arrested and brought to trial, do not worry beforehand about what to say. Just say whatever is given to you at the time, for it is not you speaking, but the Holy Spirit. Brother will betray brother to death and a father his child. Children will rebel against their parents, and have them put to death. Everyone will hate you because of Me, but he who stands firm to the end will be saved." Last week, we traced out those thirteen verses and looked at the whole answer. Just to summarize, it begins with a warning against false teaching. He goes from that to a prediction of the ordinary convulsion of events of history, wars and rumors of wars. That happens in every generation, almost every year of history, nation rising against nation, kingdom against kingdom. That's all the time. There'll be famines, earthquakes, various places. He calls all this the beginning of birth pains. The birth pains means a terrible convulsion or pain resulting in something beautiful and wonderful. We're heading to a good destination, but we have a lot of pain to go through first. That's what “beginning of birth pain” means. Then He mentions persecution. They will be handed over to the local councils. They'll be flogged in synagogues. These will be opportunities for them to be witnesses to Him. They will testify to Jesus. "On account of me, you'll stand before governors and kings as witnesses to them." The flow of human history is a canvas on which the masterpiece of redemptive history is being painted. These commonplace convulsions, wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, arrests, trials, all of that is being sovereignly controlled to accomplish the spread of the Gospel, to accomplish the salvation of God's people, to accomplish the glory of God. That's what's going on here. It's amazing how God controls history even down to the micro-level, to achieve His purposes. I found a number of years ago a great example of this in the life of John Calvin. John Calvin is a great reformer who spent most of his life in Geneva, a great theologian, tremendous leader. However, he was not originally Swiss. Geneva is a city in Switzerland. He was French and he was basically a refugee, a religious refugee running for his life because he believed in the Reformation. The Catholic King of France was persecuting what they called Lutherans, and he was running for his life. By this time, he had already written a significant theological work, and he was on his way to the French city of Strasbourg. He had in mind a quiet life as a scholar. He was going to be quiet in his room and eat little bowls of gruel and write theology books, and that was going to be his life. That would've made him happy. He was that kind of person. At any rate, he was a scholar but already well known. Amazingly, en route to Strasbourg, he couldn't go there because an obscure war had broken out between the King of France and Charles the Fifth, the Holy Roman Emperor. It's not at all one of the most famous wars ever. It's one of those wars and rumors of wars that Jesus talked about. But as a result, the straight road to Strasbourg was blocked with troop movements. So here, this fleeing man, this refugee has to divert through the city of Geneva. At any rate, there he is in Geneva, and William Farel, who started a Reformation work there hears that Calvin is there, and he thinks this is just the guy that we need for the Reformation here in Geneva. He was right, but Calvin had no such intention. When Farel came and said, "I want you to work here in Geneva," he said, "No, no, I'm going to go have a quiet life writing books in Strasbourg." He didn't say it just like that, but it probably went something like that. After Farel tried to persuade him and wasn't successful, Farel rose up in what Calvin called intemperate zeal and threatened him with the judgment of God if he chose a quiet life of academia rather than taking part in the Reformation in Geneva. Calvin was wired to fear that kind of thing and said, "Okay, I guess I'll stay in Geneva,” and he did. He was there most of the rest of his life. What's my point? Wars and rumors of wars for a purpose. "Are you saying that God orchestrated a war between Catholic King Francis of France and Catholic King Charles the Fifth, so that John Calvin would end up in Geneva and not Strasbourg?" Yes, that's what I'm saying, and other things too. Other things too, but at least that. That's what God does. Isn't it amazing that history has a purpose? Even as it seems to be churning and random and destructive, God is at work in the midst of all of it. The central work of all of this is, "You will be witnesses for me. You'll be my witnesses. You are going to proclaim this gospel." Look at verse 10, "And the gospel must first be preached to all nations." The power of the Holy Spirit is central to this mission. He said, "Do not worry ahead of time what to say, what to speak. It will not be you speaking, but the Holy Spirit." The Spirit is the driving orchestrator and force of the spread of the gospel, the third person of the Trinity, that is His role and He's extremely good at his job. As Acts 1:8 says, "You'll receive power when the Holy Spirit comes in you and you'll be My witnesses in Jerusalem and Judea, Samaria to the ends of the Earth." In the midst of all this, there'll be a tremendous amount of pain for the witnesses, painful betrayals, family relationships will be compromised. Your own closest relatives will turn their backs on you. "Everyone will hate you because of Me," Jesus says. Intense persecution, and that's what makes this journey so glorious. The courage, the boldness, the suffering, the willingness to pay the price. That's the story. That's big picture. II. A Command in Mark Let's zero in on the command, Mark 13:10, “And the gospel must first be preached to all nations." In Mark's version, Mark 13:10, it takes a command form, effectively. It's a command in Mark. It uses the Greek word “dei”, which means “it is necessary,” but that's frequently a command, a sense of a command. It is necessary for the Gospel first to be preached to all nations. What is the Gospel? The Gospel is the message of the kingdom of God with Jesus as the King of the kingdom of God. He's the centerpiece, he is the King, he's the Lord, he's the Savior. The Gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ and all that that means. That's what the Gospel of Mark has been unfolding all along. It's a message about the kingdom of God, that God is King. "What is the Gospel? The Gospel is the message of the kingdom of God with Jesus as the King of the kingdom of God. He's the centerpiece, he is the King, he's the Lord, he's the Savior. The Gospel is the good news about Jesus Christ and all that means." The kingdom is the spiritual realm where the subjects of the King are delighted to have God as their King, and they're pleased to obey Him and to follow Him. They're delighted about it. God's sovereignty over rebels is a different matter, but the advancing kingdom of God has to do with individuals who throw down their weapons of rebellion and come in gladly under the kingship of Christ. The Gospel is, as we've said before, God, man, Christ, response. That God created the universe, the heavens and the Earth, and as the Creator, He has the right to make laws and rules by which we live our lives. God, the Creator, God the King, God, the Lawgiver and God the Judge. That's God. Man, we are created in the image of God to have a relationship with Him, to have a love relationship with Him and to love each other, but we have sinned. We have broken the two Great Commandments. We have not loved God with all of our hearts, all mind and strength. We have not loved our neighbor as ourselves. We have sinned. Therefore, we stand under God's judgment, physical death, eternal death in hell. Christ is God's answer to that problem. The Son of God, fully God, fully man, born, took on human flesh. We celebrate it this time of year. He lived a sinless life under the laws of God. He died in our place as our substitute, a transfer of guilt effected. When we believe in Jesus, our guilt put on Jesus, He dies in our place, His righteousness is given to us, and that's the white robes that we're going to stand in on Judgment Day and for all eternity. The imputed righteousness of Christ, that's what Christ came to do. Then the response, we need to repent of our sins, turn away from our rebellion against God the King. Believe in Jesus, trust in Him, and we'll receive forgiveness of sins. That's the Gospel: God, man, Christ, response. It is necessary for that message to be preached, to be proclaimed to all nations. That's what He's saying. That has to happen first, before the end of the world. That's what first, first is tied to the end of the world. Why? Why is it necessary? Why don't I give you four reasons, four reasons why it is necessary for the Gospel. Let's keep it simple, because Christ the King commanded it. We'll start there. Christ told us to do this. These were his last words before He ascended back to heaven. The Great Commission, so-called, which is a commandment to all of His followers, to make disciples of all nations, is in all four Gospels, a different version but in all four Gospels and in Acts. The most famous version is Matthew 28, "Jesus came to them and said, ‘All authority in heaven and Earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I'm with you always to the very end of the age.’" To all nations in all eras of history, that's the Great Commission. It is necessary, therefore, that this happened because it is the will of God and of Christ for us. Secondly, it is necessary because the Gospel is the only way for sinners to be forgiven and reconciled to God. There is no other way. There is no other plan. The Gospel is the power of God for the salvation of everyone who believes. Or as it says in Romans 10:12 -15, "There is no difference between Jew and Gentile. The same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on Him, for everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved. How then, can they call on one they have not believed in and how can they believe in one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? And how can they preach unless they're sent?" As it is written, ‘How beautiful are the feet of those who bring Good News?’” That's the logic of missions. It's a logical work that Paul does in Romans 10, using a series of rhetorical questions, assuming negative answers. The statement is made worldwide, anyone in any nation on Earth who calls on the name of the Lord Jesus in faith will be saved. But how can someone call on someone they've not believed in? They can't do that, can they? No, of course, they can't. No one can believe in someone they've never heard of, can they? No, of course they can't. And no one can hear without someone preaching or proclaiming the message. No, they can't. Absolutely not. And no one can do that preaching unless they're sent out. Hence, the need for missions. That's the logic of missions, and it's the answer to why it is necessary for this Gospel to be proclaimed. Thirdly, it is necessary for the Gospel to be proclaimed to all nations because God has chosen people in every tribe and language and people and nation. They're called the Elect, chosen before the foundation of the world. God wants those people reached. Jesus said in John's Gospel, "I have other sheep that are not of this sheep pen. They must be brought in, and there'll be one flock and one shepherd." Those are people, not just Jews, but all the ends of the Earth. God has people out there. There will be people from every tribe, language, people, and nation. It's been ordained. They were chosen in Christ before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless and they have to be brought in, and the only way they're going to be brought in is by the preaching of the Gospel. That's the third reason. The fourth, it is necessary for the Gospel to be preached for the maximum glory of God. That's the ultimate reason for everything. It is for the glory of God that this be done. Ephesians 1:11-12 says, "In Him we're also chosen, having been predestined according to the plan of Him, works out everything in conformity to the purpose of His will, in order that we who are the first to hope in Christ might be for the praise of His glory, that we might be, exist, for the praise of His glory and that we might praise His glory, that we might ourselves notice His glory.” So we will be glory, and we will see glory, and we'll praise Him for it. That's the reason why. Or again, in Romans 15:9, "That the Gentiles might glorify God for His mercy." So those are four reasons why it is necessary for the Gospel to be preached. To whom should the Gospel be preached? What we've already said, to all nations. To all nations, the Greek is “panta ta ethne”. The word “ethne” is from which we get the word “ethnic”, and that's the key. We as Protestants, as Evangelicals, we have had a progressive, growing understanding of missions over the last 500 years. Little by little by little, we've understood more and more clearly our obligation in this matter. For the first three centuries, the church just exploded all over the Roman Empire. People were going everywhere preaching the gospel. Apostles, non-apostles, everybody, and it was spreading everywhere. It went as far north as Scotland, it went as far south as Sub-Saharan Africa. There's clear evidence of this. It went as far east as India. It went as far west as Tarshish, which is like Gibraltar. It was all over the place, and the Gospel was spreading. However, once the Dark Ages fell and politics wove together with some form of Christianity, Christendom came about. We had the Crusades, which are the most abhorrent misconstrued incident of mission that's ever been in history; we still paying the price. But there was this mixture of church and state, and it was a mess. To make matters worse, the Gospel itself, for the most part, was lost in a false “gospel of works" religion. The Dark Ages fell, but praise God, the Reformation came and scraped away all that darkness and the Gospel was reclaimed. The Gospel of justification by faith alone, apart from works of law, was shining in those Protestant churches, Lutheran churches, Calvinist churches, the Anabaptist churches. But those folks weren't doing missions initially. They were really just trying to survive. Missions, at that point, was done mostly by Roman Catholics through the Jesuits, who were spreading the power of the Pope and of their Catholic kings, like the King of Spain and the King of Portugal to distant places like Japan and other places. But they didn't bring the true Gospel with them. Meanwhile, the Protestants continued to establish doctrine and to reach their own countries, but not doing missions. But God worked in Protestant churches, little by little, a clearer understanding of our obligation concerning missions in four key steps. The first step, or insight, comes from William Carey. He was a Baptist, a cobbler, a blue collar guy, and he wrote an incredible work called An Inquiry into the Obligation Christians Have to Use Means for the Evangelization of the Missions to the Heathen. Heathen will be pagans or lost people. He was a trailblazer in Protestant missions. The insight is that we Protestants should do missions. We should go to distant lands and share the Gospel. Not just the Jesuits should do that, we should do it. That was step one. Step two came from a leader named Hudson Taylor. Hudson Taylor was a missionary to China. He went on his first missionary trip and just like most missionaries did in the mid-nineteenth century, he stayed on the coastlands such as Shanghai, port cities. He had a vision for the inland regions of China, teeming hundreds of millions of Chinese that had no hope of hearing the Gospel. He founded something called the China Inland Mission. So step number two is, we need to get off the coast and go into the dark heart of Africa, the dark heart of India and of China, and find people there who have no physical access to the Gospel. Step two, inland missions. Step three came from a leader at the end of the 19th century into the beginning of the 20th century named Cameron Townsend. He was a missionary in Latin America and South America. He was working with some tribal people, and they were doing all of their work in Spanish, the trade language. At one point, one of these tribal men said, "If your God is so smart, how come he doesn't speak my language?" Good question, right? Good question. So Cameron Townsend started a ministry called Wycliffe Bible Translators to get the Bible into the heart language of people all over the world, and that work continues to this very day. Insight number four came in the middle of the 20th century from a missionary leader named Donald McGavran, and he began to see that the issue wasn't reaching political nations, like nations that are represented at the United Nations. It had to do with understanding the word ethne as a people group, a group of people characterized by a language and a culture and a heritage and a self-identifying focus. And so that started the people group conception of the work. “Panta ta ethne” means to all people groups. Now, how many people groups are there in the world? No one knows, only God knows. It's very difficult to see lines of border and demarcation between people groups. Donald McGovern did his work in India, and there are probably at least 5,000 people groups, if not more, in India, but there's a lot of overlap. Joshuaproject.net, which you can go and check that out, they say 17,446. As an MIT engineer, I'm like, "I don't think there's that many significant figures." I would say roughly 18,000. or roughly 16,000. I don't think we can get down to 17,446. However, there's a lot. There's a lot of people groups. IMB has a smaller number of people groups. Then you go to the next level, which is “unreached people groups.” What are unreached people groups? It's defined as less than two percent evangelical in that nation. When I was a missionary to Japan, the Japanese were the largest unreached people group in the world, less than two percent evangelical. Since then, they've been superseded by another group. But that's a people group. That's what “unreached” means. “Unengaged,” another U is added, meaning, as far as the IMB knows, there is no effort to try to reach that people group. There's no one working on that, as far as they know. So you've got the UUPG, which is unengaged, unreached people groups. That's the focus. That's where the work should go. It is necessary for us to do that, for the church to do that. It is necessary for us to reach them with the Gospel. And this stands as a permanent command from our Lord and King Jesus Christ. "If you love Me, you'll keep my commandment." That's Mark 13:10, the command. III. A Prophecy in Matthew Look over at Matthew, where it comes across as a prophecy, or perhaps a promise. I'm okay with either one. Look what it says in Matthew 24:14, "And this gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as the testimony in all nations and then the end will come.” So prophecy, promise. What is Jesus saying there? "And this Gospel of the kingdom will be preached in the whole world as the testimony of all nations, and then the end will come." The preaching of the Gospel to every tribe, language, people, and the nation is as guaranteed as the end of the world is. They're equally guaranteed. It's going to happen. This is a remarkable assertion by Jesus, more remarkable than not one stone left on another. Picture Jesus on that tiny little rocky outcropping there in the Mount of Olives surrounded by a band of followers that were frequently off message. You know those guys. Surrounded by a very small number of people saying, "This thing that we're doing here is going worldwide, everyone on Earth will hear about this." All peoples on Earth, all peoples, all nations will hear. That's incredible. Effectively, then, “the Jewish conception of their own kingdom will end, the Messianic kingdom, and My kingdom will be established and will reign for all eternity." That's awesome. How does He know that? He knows it because He's God, but He also knows it because the Old Testament scripture predicted that this would happen. God willing, next week, we'll look at Isaiah 49, but in Luke 24, "This is what is written. The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day. And repentance for the forgiveness of sins will be preached in His name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem." It's going to happen. Which scriptures? Many. There are many scriptures. But I'm going to look at Isaiah 49 next week. Isaiah 49, 1 and 6, "Listen to me, you islands, hear this, you distant nations." Islands and nations, distant nations. God says to Jesus, "It is too small a thing for You to be my servant, to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make You," [Jesus] "a light for the Gentiles that you may bring My salvation to the ends of the Earth.” Jesus is actually not saying anything different than Isaiah the prophet said or that many other prophecies gave. Friends, this is a great encouragement. How does a team play if it's guaranteed, if they think they're absolutely going to win? They're going to play better than if they think they're going to lose. How does an army fight if they think ultimate victory is guaranteed? They fight better. We are going to win because Christ is going to win. This gospel is going to win. The task seems difficult. 3,150 unreached, unengaged, unreached people groups. None of them are easy to reach, or they would've been reached. They're in very difficult situations or places. I went through and thought about some of our units. If you guys don't know what the word “units” means, it means either a married couple, like a family or single. That's why we use the word units because some of them are single men and women, but sometimes family. We call them a mailing address or a group, a family unit. That's what we mean by it. I was reading about units in Turkey, 1.29 million practice Shia Islam. They speak North Levantine Arabic, a significant minority in Turkey. Their goal is to keep their Arabic culture alive in the secular Muslim state of Turkey and pass that on to their children and grandchildren. They mix elements of Sufism, which is Islamic mysticism and Shia Islam. Then we've got Thailand, where we have some units, I won't say their names, but they're there working, and there are people there that are following a certain flavor of Theravada Buddhism. Then in Bangladesh, overwhelmed with poverty, where we have another family unit there. People there are practicing Sunni Islam. They're tragically poor, and they're in darkness, in the grip of darkness. When we think about how difficult it is, and how long it takes to learn a language well enough to share the Gospel in it, and how long it takes to learn a culture, and how long it takes to make friendships, and then that whole journey, and then how long it takes to see one person cross over from darkness to light, that's the challenge in front of us. We need to be encouraged. Remember the lesson of the fig tree that we preached on a number of months ago? Mark 11:23-24, "Truly, I tell you, if anyone says to this mountain, 'Go throw yourself into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he has said will happen, will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, believe that you have received it, and it will be yours." Mountain moving, faith-filled prayer is made for the Great Commission. That's the mountain that needs to be moved. Remember what I said about prayer at that time. Prayer is not you giving God an idea He didn't have before or persuading Him to do something He didn't want to do. That's not what prayer is. Prayer is you learning from Scripture what God is doing in the world and asking Him to do what He has decreed and ordained to do but hasn't done yet. That's what it is. God has decreed and ordained that people from every tribe and language and people and nation will be standing in those white robes around that throne. That's what He's decreed. It is encouraging to see the progress of the Gospel. Those other signs, wars, rumors of wars, famines, earthquakes, those don't mark anything. They're characteristics of every generation. But the progress of the Gospel, that's like a ticking clock to the end of the world. If you were to put dots on a map all over the world of what we would consider to be healthy Bible-believing, gospel-preaching churches in the year 1550, where would you put the dots? It would be almost all Central and North Europe, 1550. If you advance 50 years later, [1600] you would see more dots in those same areas, but still nowhere else. If you put dots where you had healthy Bible-believing, gospel-preaching churches in 1650, by then you would have to add some North American colonies, in Virginia, and New England, and other places, and more over Europe, but nowhere else [1650]. If you advance another 50 years, many more dots up and down the 13 colonies. Many more dots in Europe, and nowhere else. By 1750, by then you had the Great Awakening, lots of dots all over the 13 colonies that eventually became the United States of America. You have some dots in the Caribbean where some Moravian missionaries went and sold themselves into slavery to preach the Gospel to the slave population there. Then, of course, Central and North Europe, some in the Catholic areas in Europe as well, but nowhere else. By 1800, William Carey's in India. So you put a dot there. But all the rest, just more dots in those same areas. As the new country of the United States spreading westward, there's more dots there, et cetera. In 50 more years, unbelievable. The 19th century, called the great century of missions, and they started to explode. By this time you've got Hudson Taylor in the inland regions. You've got dots in China. You've got a lot more dots in India, definitely dots in Burma. Because by the time Adoniran Judson finished his work, there were 25,000 baptized Burmese Christians. Now in 1850 there are dots all over. And by this time you can start putting them in Sub-Saharan Africa and other places. Add another 50 years, 1900, the great century of missions has ended. You got churches all over Asia, Mongolia, India, Burma, South America, Sub-Saharan Africa. In 50 more years, post-World War II, you've got the Gospel spreading to the islands of South Pacific, Irian Jaya, and Papua New Guinea. Soldiers that had fought there then went back to some of those places with the Gospel. Remarkable. 50 years later, the year 2000, the map's covered with dots, the entire world map. There's not a political nation on earth that doesn't have a healthy church. Not one. All the nations, I don't know how many nations are in the United Nations,230 some odd, all of them have some healthy church planted. But still, you've got those unreached people groups. So big picture, I can't tell you this progression without smiling. We are winning, the Gospel's spreading. The Holy Spirit is good at His job. He puts a compulsion on people, and they go where He wants them to go, and they lay down their lives as He wants them to, and the Gospel spreads. But there's still work to be done. I'm not going to burden you with statistics, that would be hard to communicate. But there's been a kind of a flattening of mission endeavor over the last 10 or 15 years. It's a little discouraging as you look, and it's just a narrow window, but missionary thinker Ralph Winter said, "More of the same will not get it done.” The burden is laid on churches like us and many other churches around the world to recommit ourselves to missions, recommit ourselves to the work left to be done, and to give sacrificially as we are called to do. IV. Applications First and foremost, if you're here listening to this mission sermon, but you came in here not a Christian, your work is to believe in Jesus. No point in talking about missions if you're lost. First and foremost, you've heard the gospel: God, man, Christ, response. I'm calling on you while there's time, repent and believe in Christ for the forgiveness of your sins. If you're already a Christian, understand both the command in Mark 13 and the promise or the prophecy in Matthew 24. Take it seriously. This is the command laid on us, but rejoice in the sovereignty of Christ to get it done. Be confident in the final outcome. The Lord is going to win. He will be glorified. I'm looking forward to all eternity of hearing those stories. It's going to be phenomenal. Pray confidently in the spirit of Matthew 9 for more laborers, laborers in the harvest field. Churches like ours send out two precious commodities to the mission field: people and money. That's what IMB does. We gather people, and we gather money from Southern Baptist churches and point them strategically in directions. The Lottie Moon Christmas offering that we take every Christmas, our goal is $150,000. The Southern Baptist Convention exists in part for that. It was originated for that, and it's why we do. It's the crown jewel, I think, of our cooperation with Baptist churches all over the country. We pool resources to do a job too big for any one church to do. We couldn't afford to send very many fully-supported missionaries, just one church, to these various places. So we pool resources with thousands of churches. Truly, 100% of the money you give to Lottie Moon goes to missions. I was a trustee for nine years. What that means is we take more money in than Lottie Moon. It takes more money than Lottie Moon to put those missionaries on the field. I don't know how they tag dollars that go... Whatever, it gets pooled. The point is, the budget is bigger than the Lottie Moon offering. Where does the rest of the money come from? It comes from something called the Cooperative Program, where throughout the year, 12 months a year, we pool resources and a chunk of that goes to missions as well. A hundred percent of your giving goes, and our goal is $150,000. What I always say to you as a member of this church is engage, pray about your financial giving. We also have the opportunity through our home fellowships and through just your own initiative to get to know our friends that are serving overseas. We live in an iPhone or a smartphone world. You can contact them and be with them real-time. I FaceTime with these folks. You can find out what they're going through, support them, pray for them. I'm going to end this time now in prayer, and then we can get ready for the Lord's Supper. Father, thank You for the message that we have heard, the Gospel message of the Gospel going to the ends of the Earth and to the end of time. Now as we turn our hearts to the Lord's Supper, we thank You for the Word that we've heard and for the ordinance we're about to partake in. In Jesus' name, Amen.

Pelajaran ke 8, Kwartal 4, Tahun 2023 (18-24 Nov 2023)

Dans ce procès, c'est la parole de l'un contre la parole de l'autre. Ce mois-ci, Victoire, Pascale, Jeanne et Marianne comparent le roman de Karine Tuil Les Choses humaines paru en 2019, à son adaptation en film réalisée par Yvan Attal sortie en 2021. La famille Farel est puissante et reconnue : entre le père célèbre animateur de télévision, la mère essayiste féministe, et le fils étudiant à la prestigieuse université de Stanford aux Etats-Unis, tout semble leur réussir. Mais quand Claire décide de quitter son mari pour un autre homme, les apparences se fissurent, avant de voler en éclats quand Alexandre, leur garçon prodige, est accusé de viol... Mais le film est-il fidèle au roman dont il est tiré ? Réponse dans l'épisode ! 2 min 50 : On commence par parler du roman Les Choses humaines de Karine Tuil, paru en 2019 et lauréat du Prix Interrallié et du Prix Goncourt des Lycéens. 44 min 35 : On enchaîne sur l'adaptation en film sortie en 2021 et réalisée par Yvan Attal avec Ben Attal, Suzanne Jouannet, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Pierre Arditi, Mathieu Kassovitz et Benjamin Laverhne. 1 h 26 min 03 : On termine sur nos recommandations autour des romans de Karine Tuil, des films d'Yvan Attal et des films de procès. Avez-vous lu ou vu Les Choses humaines ?

197 - Frank Farel Interview, Spookies, Street Trash Steven has the privilege of interviewing Frank Farel on this episode. We talk about his film career and what he has coming out in the future. This episode does have some strong language. Please send feedback to DieCastMoviePodcast@gmail.com or leave us a message on our Facebook page. Thanks for listening!

Brigitte and Mic return with a new episode. Mic interviews writer, producer, filmmaker Frank Farel (Spookies, Street Trash). Brigitte and Mic discuss Thanksgiving holiday movies, DVD sales slump at stores, and recent watches.

penuh Kontroversi |Psikologi Farel terganggu? kenali Secondary Gain

Without Your Head Horror Podcast with Frank Farel of Spookies and Street Trash! - venturing to the convention world - Spookies 2 script and plans to make it - Spookies documentary and the rise in popularity - The Last Drive In with Joe Bob Briggs - Street Trash remake - merchandise and more! --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/withoutyourhead/message Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/withoutyourhead/support

Goddess Zoey, Bens Farel, and CDG conversations on gold table talk part “1” --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/damitriess-farel/support

Goddess Zoey, Bens Farel, and CBG purple table talk part “4” --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/damitriess-farel/support

Goddess Zoey, Bens Farel, and CBG purple table talk part “5” --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/damitriess-farel/support

Goddess Zoey, Bens Farel, and CBG purple table talk part “6” --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/damitriess-farel/support

Goddess Zoey, Bens Farel, and CBG purple table talk part “3” --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/damitriess-farel/support

Goddess Zoey, Bens Farel, and CBG purple table talk part “2” --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/damitriess-farel/support

Goddess Zoey, Bens Farel, AND CBG talks about dealing with discrimination at work “part 1” --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/damitriess-farel/support

In the last few weeks, we have be looking at a very dark time in Christian History, the French Religious Wars of the 16th century. What I have learned from Christian History is that God always has a way of making important things happen in the midst of tragedies in order to further his kingdom. So, today I would like to introduce to you one of the shining beacons in the dark, his name was Pierre Viret. Now, when we think of the Reformers, we think of Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, Farel, but not of Viret. Why? And what about Viret is so important that we really should mention his name among these giants? Let's find out as I read to you from CHM 71, The Forgotten Reformer by Robert D Linder.Here is the link to CHM Issue 71https://christianhistoryinstitute.org/uploaded/50cf8638666ef8.91148792.pdf

BUKA RASA adalah program spesial Ramadhan dari Tulisan Alam yang memberikan kesempatan bagi para followers dan anggota community untuk mengungkapkan isi hati yang belum pernah diungkapkan. Kali ini giliran Carlos, Farel dan Kiki yang melakukan Buka Rasa.

My views and a little about myself Bens Farel --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/damitriess-farel/support

Vous écoutez, le Maquis, un podcast de l'AMECAS (Amicale des étudiants caribéens africains et sympathisants) affiliée à l'Université Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne. Dans les séries d'épisodes qui suivront que nous avons intitulé "les damné(e)s de la terre" nous irons à la rencontre d'étudiants africains ou afro-descendants vénus en France pour les études. Dans cet épisode, nous rencontrons Farel un étudiant d'origine africaine ayant quitté le Cameroun pour la Tunisie et enfin la France pour finir ses études. Ses entretiens sont tirés des épreuves de tournages de Seku un collage documentaire monté et écrit par Liko IMALET, avec AWA NDIAYE et RUTH NKIDIAKA à la caméra, HADIA DIABY et PATRICIA SYLVIA au son. Pour continuer la conversation vous pouvez nous retrouver sur tous nos réseaux sociaux et via le hashtag #Lemaquis. --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/amecas/message

--- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/damitriess-farel/support

Sometimes you'll get a thought and it stops you in yo tracks! Okay well maybe it's just me. But it happens. Don't stay there. Sometime you have to just believe in yoself. Erbody around you may not get it. May not understand. But Jesus understands and he gets you. Farel. Like no one else. --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/felicia-davis42/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/felicia-davis42/support

Frank Farel is film producer best know for New York Indie Horror Cult masterpieces Spookies (1986) and Street Trash (1987). After revisiting Street Trash and seeing Spookies for the first time, I have A LOT of questions for Frank. Some of these can be mitigated by watching the documentary Twisted Tale: The Unmaking of Spookies (2019). 1000 stickers for $79 ONLY at this link www.riotstickers.com/frumess - the best in the business! JOIN THE PATREON FOR LESS THAN A $2 CUP OF COFFEE!! https://www.patreon.com/Frumess

Sekolah Sabat 5 Menit bersama GMAHK MENTENG JAKARTA - Bpk. Farel Siahaan (23-25 Feb 2022)

Farel Prayoga penyanyi cilik yang viral karena bernyanyi di istana negara kembali rame dibicarakan gara-gara ditanya “Farel agamanya apa?” oleh Gus Miftah dalam sebuah acara. Bagaimanakah Om Bob menanggapi Apa Agama Farel Prayoga? ini?

In this episode, Chris and Caleb sit down with producer, Frank Farrel of Spookies and Street Trash fame! --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/tapeheadmassacre/message

In This Interview Host Dustin And Guest Frank Farel Get Spooky! ---------------------------- Kill Your Thirst while at Camp with Liquid Death! https://liquiddeath.com/ Horror Products To Die For! - https://twistedallure.com/?ref=byrpeh0j0u 10% Off Link ( + 5% off Code BHO_Podcast) Patrons- Trevor Stephen Spencer Charnas Spencer Charnas Candy Dean Sharp Do you like Horror? Podcast? Movies? Then consider becoming a Patreon Today to get Special Rewards and Early Access to our Audio and Video Versions of the Podcast before any other site! Come Listen, If You Dare! - https://www.patreon.com/TheBarrensHideout_Podcast All of our Socials In one place! - https://linktr.ee/TheBarrenshideout --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/thebho-podcast/support

One of the biggest cult movies of all time, "Spookies", has caught an audience that can't get enough of it. Today on the show I am joined by the writer and producer of that film, Frank Farel.  Buy Spookies on Blu Ray: https://www.amazon.com/Spookies-Blu-ray-Set-Peter-Dain/dp/B083MZ4GX8 Follow the podcast on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tylergeisbasementpod/?hl=en Buy me a "Ko-Fi: https://ko-fi.com/tylergeis    

In this episode of the Grim and Bloody Theater - Veteran producer Frank Farel stops by the show to talk about the supernatural hit Spookies from 1986. Frank speaks candidly about the trouble releasing the film according to his vision, the comprehensive re-release by Vinegar Syndrome, and his thoughts on Spookies gaining a cult following since its release. Synopsis: After their car breaks down, a group of travelers find themselves stranded in a remote part of New England. After taking shelter in a spooky old mansion, complete with a graveyard, they discover a Ouija board and decide to spend the night attempting to summon some spirits. But the group soon learns that playing with the forces of black magic isn't fun and games, and it's not long before they're head-to-head with all sorts of demonic creatures, shape shifters, and other forms of evil, all of whom are more than happy to pick them off in the most gruesome of ways. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/grimandbloody/support

This is the audio from our livestream we had with the very underrated Frank Farel. He was a writer and producer on two classic B-Horror Films “Street Trash” & “Spookies” also known as “Twisted Souls”One Homebase For Your Followers | Onescreener (use promo code "Fiends" to save 30% on your first year.)John, Luke, and Mandee are Associate/ Executive Producers on 7 upcoming horror films...you can be too. Or choose from other great perks and support these projects.Texas Chainsaw Massacre Fan Film "The Sawyer Massacre".The Sawyer Massacre - Horror TX Chainsaw Fan Film | IndiegogoThe 3rd Channel (Halloween 3 Fan Film)The 3rd Channel, Horror Halloween 3 Fan Film | Indiegogo"Z Dead End" Starring horror icons Kane Hodder (Jason Vorhees) and Felissa Rose (Sleepaway Camp).Z DEAD END Action Thriller | Indiegogo"SamHain" (2022)Samhain Horror Film 2022 | Indiegogo"Late Checkout" (2022)LATE CHECKOUT - HORROR MOVIE | Indiegogo"Mothman" (2022)MOTHMAN | Indiegogo“Hellvira's Haunted Asylum of Horror”https://www.indiegogo.com/projects/hellvira-s-haunted-asylum-of-horror-round-2/x/26579562#/Fiendish Fantasy Productions LLC. Website: Fiendish Fantasy Productions LLCIMDB: John S. Evans - IMDbEmail: btfiends@gmail.comMembers of Sundown Radio and 96.6 The Wolf

Without Your Head Horror Podcast with actor and producer Frank Farel of 80s cult classics Spookies and Street Trash! Hosted by "Nasty" Neal, "Terrible" Troy and "Treacherous" Trista Robinson! Thanks to FANGORIA for supporting Without Your Head subscribe to Fangoria today - https://tinyurl.com/WYHFangoria --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/withoutyourhead/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/withoutyourhead/support

Today marks the last episode in our Reformation Month series. We're ending the series with a banger, highlighting the life of the "French Firebrand," William Farel, and diving into Thomas Cranmer and the reign of Bloody Mary...

Hi there horror hounds and smokers. Frank Farel talks with Drew and John about Spookies, Street Trash, and more. Frank talks about his invovled in the movie Twisted Souls that became Spookies. Find out when Frank likes sativas vs indicas. Discover which movie celebrated an anniversary this week. Learn some behind the scenes facts about Spookies. Spark one up and join us for another episode Horror History [1:02] Puff, Puff, Ask [6:00] Spookies Review [11:10] Burn & Learn [19:18] Frank Farel Interview [21:24] Wrap Up [53:29] Show produced and edited by Josh Hensley. Theme song, also, by Josh Hensley. Check out his feature length album Future Dreams at Hensleysound.bandcamp.com 

Teri and Suelyn dive into conversations about inner and outer beauty, and Suelyn's world as CEO and Co-Founder of the Julien Farel Group. She also spearheaded the development of RESTORE, an anti-aging treatment for your hair. Teri and Suelyn discuss raising teenagers, juggling work-life and family life. Suelyn instills the phrase "comparison is the thief of Joy" as she teachers her daughters how to love themselves and be their own beautiful. She guided, mentored and supported many businesses throughout the pandemic in New York City and gives in so many ways to global and NY based charities.

It's another on-location recording at Heroes Aren't Hard to Find in Charlotte, NC. But with this episode the podcast is doing something different. The on-location show will be going up twice monthly -- schedules permitting -- and joining Derek on these Heroes shows will be Michael Kobre, another guy with a PhD talking about comics. On their on-location shows, Mike and Derek will discuss very recent comics, those being released in the week or two before the recording, that have caught their attention. Mike will primarily focus on the DC and Marvel mainstream titles, while Derek will concentrate on non-mainstream, or alternative and indie, comics. And, of course, they will invite customers and employees of the shop to join in on the conversation. On this episode, Mike discusses the work of Tom King, including the recent deluxe edition of The Sheriff of Babylon, his work on Marvel's Vision, and his run on Batman. Derek comments on recent issues from Image Comics -- specifically Farel Dalrymple's Proxima Centauri#1, Jody LeHeup and Nathan Fox's The Weatherman #1, and Joseph Keatinge and Bret Blevins's Stellar#1-- as well as the minicomics he recently discovered from Natalie Andrewson. Stay tuned, because Mike and Derek will be back at Heroes Aren't Hard to Find in a couple of weeks! Alonzo Cunningham, Zyg Furmaniuk, and Michael Kobre Alonzo Cunningham and Zyg Furmaniuk    

Are you pregnant and wondering what exercises are safe? Or are you a new mom and unsure of when you can return to your workout? Find out the myths of prenatal fitness and get our top fitness tips for moms.

For the February webcomics show, Sean and Derek explore three very different titles. They begin with Christopher Mills and Joe Staton's Femme Noir, a unique twist on the crime noir genre. This is series of tales surrounding a mysterious, unnamed crime-fighting PI who dons an iconic trench coat and fedora, but whose long golden locks and fishnet hose give her away as something wholly other. The guys describe this comic as a blend of Batman, The Shadow, and The Spirit, but with a female protagonist who is anything but a victim. One of the unique contexts of this webcomic, as Derek points out, is that the stories currently being serialized online have originally appeared in print. What Mills and Staton are apparently doing is using their previously published material to re-introduce their comic to a new audience -- and through an entirely different narrative delivery system -- and the guys hope that this will eventually spawn brand new Femme Noir stories. Next, they turn their attention to Farel Dalrymple's It Will All Hurt. This is yet another intriguing title from Study Group, a publisher (online and print) visited often on The Comics Alternative. (Indeed, last year's July webcomics episode was devoted solely to Study Group titles.) Both Sean and Derek are blown away by Dalrymple's art, which should be no surprise to anyone familiar with the creator's work, but at times they are a little confused by the storyline. However, they speculate that perhaps Dalrymple's surreal, dreamlike narrative is supposed to confound, and that one of the best ways of engaging with It Will All Hurt is to just read it through without pause and let the pieces sink in as the story unfolds. After that, the Two Guys wrap us with a webcomics classic, Warren Ellis and Paul Duffield's FreakAngels. This is an important title for the medium, and Sean and Derek spend a good deal of time discussing its impact and what it meant (and still means) for webcomics. This is an opportunity for Sean to revisit the webcomic, in that he was there reading it from the very beginning back in 2008. Of course, the guys also plunge into the story itself, a fantastic post-apocalyptic narrative that bears the Warren Ellis stamp. And they specifically address Duffield's art, a truly outstanding facet of this webcomic. The guys also mention Avatar Press' links to the project and how they were taking a chance during the title's original run. All in all, this month's webcomics episode is both fun and substantive, so crank up your browsers and hold on tight!

As has become an annual event, Andy and Derek use their penultimate show of the year to discuss the current volume of Houghton Mifflin Harcourt's The Best American Comics. The series is overseen by Bill Kartalopoulos -- whom the guys interviewed on the show last year -- and this year's collection is edited by novelist Jonathan Lethem. The entries collected in The Best American Comics 2015 represent what both Lethem and Kartalopoulos consider to be the most outstanding comics published between September 1, 2013, and August 31, 2014. The guys begin by highlighting the organization of this year's volume, pointing out that Lethem has retained the topic- or theme-based approach used by Scott McCloud in last year's collection. The editor breaks down his entries into ten different chapter topics, ranging from the self-evident "Storytellers" and "Biopics and Historical Fictions" to more obscurely intriguing groupings such as "Brainworms" and "Raging Her-Moans." The guys are familiar with most of the contributions included this year -- to paraphrase Andy, The Best American Comics volumes just seem to reinforce their tastes in comics-- and many of them have been the subject of previous Comics Alternative reviews and interviews. They comment on the sheer number of entries that are excerpts from longer works, including Roz Chast's Can't We Talk about Something More Pleasant?, Jules Feiffer's Kill My Mother, Farel Dalrymple's The Wrenchies, Gabrielle Bell's The Colombia Diaries, Sept 14-16, Cole Closser's Little Tommy Lost, Matthew Thurber Infomaniacs, Anya Ulinich's Lena Finkle's Magic Barrel, Jim Woodring's Fran, Anya Davidson's School Spirits, and Josh Bayer's Theth. Most of these selections easily stand on their own, but some could have benefited from more content or additional editorial context (examples being the excerpts from Anders Nilsen's Rage of Poseidon and Joe Sacco's The Great War.) Some of the highlights in this year's volume include works by creators that either Derek or Andy have never read before, such as Mat Brinkman and his darkly surreal Cretin Keep on Creep'n Creek, or Gina Wynbrandt and her hilariously self-deprecating Someone Please Have Sex with Me. This is another must-read book for the Two Guys, but their discussion isn't without its disagreements. In good Siskel and Ebert fashion, the guys spar over the nature of the Best American Comics volumes and, specifically, over the curious “Notable Comics” list in the very back of the book. (This is a list of other significant comics published between September 1, 2013, and August 31, 2014, but not making it into the volume proper.) Derek mentions the almost complete absence in this list of any titles reflecting mainstream (in a broad sense) sensibilities -- the one exception to this is Geoff Darrow's Shaolin Cowboy from Dark Horse Comics -- and scratches his head over these choices that come with no permission or copyright obstacles. And he argues that discussing a text by what it is not can actually give a firmer grasp of what it actually is. Andy, on the other hand, is completely OK with the totally subjective approach to anthologies such as this, and he questions Derek's assumptions of the book's readership. The guys also discuss the notion that, in many ways, these selections are also political choices, especially when published by a major trade house such as Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. But these are the kinds of debates that should sound familiar to Comics Alternative listeners, especially when it comes to matters of awards, essential readings, and “Best of” collections. The bottom line, though, is that both Andy and Derek agree that The Best American Comics 2015 is yet another important contribution to our ever-expanding understanding of the medium. “Best” or not, these comics are definitely well worth reading.

This episode is titled, “Wars of Religion”In our review of the Reformation, we began with a look at its roots and the long cry for reform heard in the Roman church. We saw its genesis in Germany with Martin Luther and Philip Melanchthon, its impact on Switzerland with Zwingli and later with the Frenchman John Calvin. John Knox carried it to his native Scotland and Thomas Cranmer led it in England.We've taken a look at the Roman Catholic response in what's called the Counter-Reformation, but probably ought to be labelled the Catholic Reformation. We briefly considered the Council of Trent where the Roman Church affirmed its perspective on many of the issues raised by Protestants and for the first time, a clear line was drawn, marking the differences in doctrine between the two groups. We saw the Jesuits, the learned shock-troops of the Roman Church sent out on both mission and to counter the impact of the Reformation in the regions of Europe being swung toward the Protestant camp.Let's talk a little more about the Catholic Counter-Reformation because Europe is about to plunge into several decades of war due to the differing religious affiliations of its various kingdoms.There were at least four ingredients in the Counter-Reformation.The first concerned the religious orders of the Catholic Church. There was a spiritual renewal within older orders like the Franciscans, Dominicans, and Benedictines. Reform among the Franciscans led to the founding of the Capuchins in 1528. Their energetic work among the Italian peasantry kept them loyal to Rome.Second, new orders sprang up. Groups like the Theatines [Thee a teen] who called both clergy and laity to a godly lifestyle. The Ursulines [Ursa-leens] were an order for women who cared for the sick and poor. And then of course, there were the Jesuits.The Society of Jesus, or Jesuits, were the most important of the new orders. Founded in Paris in 1534 by Ignatius of Loyola, the order required total obedience of its members for the furtherance of the interests of the Roman church. While there were good and godly Jesuits, men who worked tirelessly to expand the Kingdom of God, there were also some whose motives were less noble. Okay, let's be frank; they were diabolical. Utterly unscrupulous in their methods, they believed it was permissible to do evil if good came of it. They resurrected the Inquisition in the 16th C making it an effective tool in stomping out the Reformation in Italy, Spain, Portugal, and Belgium.Jesuits infiltrated government offices and used every means fair or foul to advance the cause of the Rome. Lest Catholic listeners take offense to this, understand that their power became so great and their methods so immoral, the Pope suppressed the order from 1773 to 1814.Also, it should be noted when Ignatius launched the Society, a counterattack on the Reformation was not in view. His ambition was missionary with a keen desire to convert Muslims. The three major goals of the Jesuits were to convert pagans, combat heresy, and promote education. It was their solemn oath to obey the Pope that led to their being used as a tool of the Counter-Reformation.A third aspect of the Counter-Reformation was the Council of Trent. The cardinals elected a Dutch theologian as a reform pope in 1522. He admitted that the problems Rome had with the Lutherans came because of the corruption of the Church, from the papal office down. As was saw a couple episodes ago, in 1536, Pope Paul III appointed a special panel of cardinals to prepare a report on the condition of the Church. That report gave Luther much ammunition for his critique of  Rome. It conceded that Protestantism resulted from the “ambition, avarice, and cupidity” of Catholic bishops.The Roman Church realized it needed to address the issues raised by the Reformers. The Council of Trent was the answer. It met in three main sessions, under the terms of three different popes, from 1545 to 63. Participants came from Italy, Spain, France, and Germany. The Council decided a wide array of issues.In direct response to Lutheran challenges, the Council abolished indulgence-sellers, defined obligations of the clergy, regulated the use of relics, and ordered the restructuring of bishops.The doctrinal work of Trent is summarized in the Tridentine Profession of Faith, which championed Roman Catholic dogma and provided a theological response to Protestants. Trent rejected justification by faith alone and promoted the necessity of meritorious works as necessary for salvation. It validated the seven sacraments as bestowing merit on believers and their necessity for salvation. It affirmed the value of tradition as a basis of authority alongside the Bible. It approved the canonicity of the apocryphal books of the Old Testament; made official the existence of purgatory; the value of images, relics, indulgences, the invocation of saints; and the importance of confession to a priest. It also defined more specifically the sacrificial aspects of the mass and decided that only the bread should be distributed to the laity.The Tridentine statement made reconciliation with Protestantism impossible.The Council's work constituted a statement of faith by which true Roman Catholics could determine their orthodoxy. No such comprehensive statement existed before. If it had, perhaps the force of the Reformation would have been blunted in some places. What the Council of Trent did, in effect, was to make official dogmas of the Church the various positions Luther had challenged in his break with Rome.A fourth aspect of the Counter-Reformation was a new and vigorous kind of spirituality that bloomed in a remarkable series of writings and movements. Some devotional books from this movement, such as the Imitation of Christ by Thomas a'Kempis and the Spiritual Exercises by Loyola, have received proper attention, but most of have not.This new kind of devout life was characterized by a systemic examination of conscience, prayer, contemplation, and spiritual direction. Its roots lay in the Middle Ages with groups like the Carthusians, who put great emphasis on the contemplative life. It was these works that fueled the calls for reform in the Roman Church before Luther arrived on the scene. They were the reading material of groups like the Brethren of the Common Life and The Oratory of Divine Love which provided many of the best church leaders in the years leading up to the 16th C.The Reformation sparked a series of religious wars across Europe. The last of these was the Thirty Years' War, which last from 1618–48.As we saw in a previous episode, the Peace of Augsburg in 1555 put Lutheranism on a legal basis with Roman Catholicism in Germany. The prince of a region determined the religion in his territory; dissenters could immigrate to another territory if they wanted to.Now, that may seem obvious to highly mobile moderns like many listening to this, but it wasn't for people at that time. Due to feudal rules, people weren't allowed to move without consent of their ruler. The Peace of Augsburg marked a significant change in commoners' mobility. To preserve Catholic domination of southern Germany, the agreement mandated that Catholic rulers who became Lutherans had to surrender rule. The agreement left out Calvinists, Anabaptists, and other Protestants. So for many, Augsburg solved nothing.Beginning in Bohemia, the Thirty Years' War ravaged Central Europe and Germany and involved all the major European powers. The Peace of Westphalia, which ended the war in 1648, resulted from long and complicated negotiations. France and Sweden gained large amounts of territory, and German princes gained greater power and influence at the expense of the Emperor. The treaty finally recognized Calvinism, along with Lutheranism and Catholicism, as legal religions and permitted each ruler to determine the religion of his state.The effects of the War were devastating for Christianity as a whole. Religious issues were increasingly treated with indifference by political leaders. Secular, self-serving matters were now the chief concerns of the growing uber-worldly nation-states. The barbarity and brutality of the war left many questioning the Christian Message. How could a Faith that produced such atrocities be true? Doctrine took a backseat to doubt. Faith was met with skepticism. All this coming at the dawn of, and no doubt hastening, The Age of Reason.In reply to those who criticize Christianity for the wars fought at that time, it ought to be recognized that in every case; political, economic, and social considerations were as important as the religious, if not more. Much of the time, there was no real struggle between Roman Catholics and Protestants. And on some fronts of the war, BOTH Catholics and Protestants fought alongside each other as comrades because their conflict was political rather than religious. We call this period the “Wars of Religion,” but in truth it was rarely religion that sparked or drove the conflict; it was political and economic, hiding behind a mask of religion because that tends to stir the people actually doing the fighting better than some prince wanting more land.Nine times out of ten, if you want to know the real cause of something, follow the money.We turn now to the impact of the Reformation on France and one example of how tragic things can turn – ostensibly, because of religion, but really because of politics.As the 16th C wore on, the Roman church in France fell into a progressively deplorable condition. The Concordat of Bologna in 1516 gave King Francis I the right to appoint the ten archbishops, thirty-eight bishops, and 527 heads of religious houses in France. That meant the Church became part of a vast patronage system, and individuals won positions in the Church not for ability or religious zeal but for service to the crown. Simony & bribery was de-rigor.Conditions became genuinely bad. Literacy among priests dropped to a mere ten-percent. Since the king was head of the French Church, and he depended on its patronage system for income, we see why Francis I and Henry II were so zealous in their persecution of French Protestants. They couldn't afford to permit the system to crumble. They certainly weren't zealous for Catholicism except as a tool to achieve their political ambitions.The French Protestant movement was stoked by what was happening in Geneva in Switzerland under Farel and Calvin. The French Bible, Calvin's Institutes, and numerous other Protestant publications fueled the movement. So naturally, the most literate element of the population was won over. Converts were numerous at the universities and among lawyers and other professionals, the merchant class and artisans, lower clergy, friars, and the lesser nobility. The illiterate peasantry was hardly touched and remained firmly Catholic.Politics and economics played into the mix. The Middle-class and lower nobility of France were tired of King Francis' imperial ambitions, funded on their backs. They were urged into the Protestant cause out of a desire to get rid of the King. It's estimated that two-fifths of all nobles joined the French Protestant cause.  Few of them were authentically converted but sought to use the Protestant movement to weaken the trend toward King Francis' oppressive version of royal absolutism.In spite of persecution, Protestants increased rapidly. At the beginning of the reign of Henry II in 1547 they numbered over 400,000. By the end of his reign in 1561 they were known as Huguenots and numbered 2 million; ten-percent of the population. The Presbyterian system of church government gave organization and discipline to the Huguenot movement.In order to understand the course of events the French Reformation took and see why it became embroiled in civil war, it's necessary to look at the political and social conditions of the times.First, that many of the younger nobility joined Protestant ranks is of great significance. Accustomed to carrying swords, they became protectors of Huguenot congregations during troubled times. They often protected church meetings against hostile bands of Catholic ruffians.Second, and this is key; there were four major groups of nobility vying for the rule in France.The ruling house with a tenuous grip on the throne was the Valois.The Bourbons of Western France were next in line should the Valois falter. Their leadership were decided Huguenots.The powerful Guises [Guy-zuhz], were equally committed Roman Catholics with extensive holdings in the East.The Montmorencys controlled the center of France; their leadership divided evenly between Huguenots and Catholics.Third, when Henry II died, he left three sons all dominated by his queen, Catherine de Medici. She was determined to maintain personal control and advance the power of her government. She was opposed by many of the nobility jealous of their rights and wanted to restrict the power of the monarchy.Fourth, as the likelihood of civil war in France percolated, the English and Spanish sent aid to their factions to serve their respective interests.Such animosities provided the tinder to ignite armed conflict. Eight wars were fought between Roman Catholics and Protestants in France. Leading the Protestants early in the conflict was Gaspard de Coligny. But he lost his life along with some 15 to 20,000 Huguenots in the massacre of St. Bartholomew's Day, in August, 1572. After that, Henry of Navarre, of the Bourbon family, led the Protestants. His maneuvers were successful, and eventually, with the death of others in the royal line, he became heir to the French throne. Because he didn't have enough strength to complete his conquest, he converted to Catholicism and won the crown as Henry IV. Judging from his conduct, Henry's religious principles sat his shoulders rather lightly. His switch to the Roman Church was for purely political reasons. Most likely he simply sought to turn off the blood bath drenching France.In 1598, Henry published the Edict of Nantes, a grant of toleration for the Huguenots. It guaranteed them the right to hold public office, freedom of worship in most areas of France, the privilege of educating their children in other than Roman Catholic schools, and free access to universities and hospitals. The edict was the first significant recognition of the rights of a religious minority in an otherwise intolerant age. Though the Huguenots enjoyed a period of great prosperity after that, King Louis XIV revoked the edict in 1685. Thousands were driven into exile, to the benefit of England, Holland, Prussia, and America where they fled for refuge.

This episode is titled, The Ultimate Fighter; Reformation Edition.The pioneer of Protestantism in western Switzerland was William Farel. Some pronounce it FAIR-el, but we'll go with the more traditional Fuh–REL.He began as an itinerate evangelist; always in motion, tireless, full of faith and fire. He was bold as Luther but more radical. He also lacked Luther's genius.He's called the Elijah of the French Reformation and “the scourge of priests.”Once a devoted Roman Catholic who studied under pro-reform professors at the University of Paris, Farel became a loyal Protestant, able only to see only what was wrong with the Catholicism of his past. He loathed the pope, branding him antichrist, as did many Protestants of the time. Of course, the popes returned the favor and labeled Reformation leaders with the same title. Farel declared that all the statues, pictures and relics found in Roman churches were heathen idols which ought be destroyed.While Farel was never officially ordained, he thought himself divinely called, like a prophet of old, to break down idolatry and clear the way for the worship of God according to God's Word. He was a born fighter and echoing Jesus, said he came, not to bring peace, but a sword. He contended with priests who carried firearms and clubs under their frocks, and fought them with the spiritual sword of the Scriptures. Once he was fired at, but the gun blew up.  Turning to the man who'd shot at him, he said, “I'm not afraid of your shots.” He never used violence himself, except in the verbal salvos he was fond of firing at critics.Farel was never discouraged or dissuaded by opposition. On the contrary, persecution stimulated him to even greater labor. His outward appearance gave no hint to his indomitable will: he was of short stature and looked frail. His pale complexion was oft sunburnt. His red beard was left to grow wild.What his appearance lacked, his voice made up for. When he spoke, he used both gestures and language that commanded attention and produced conviction. His contemporaries referred to the thunder of his eloquence and of his earnest and moving prayers.His sermons were extemporaneous but sadly weren't preserved. Their power lay in their delivery. Farel was the George Whitefield of the 16th C.His strength ended up a weakness. His lack of moderation and discretion unburdened him from second guessing himself, so he would speak his mind without the need to put a fine point on everything for fear of breaking a few eggs, so to speak. But his outspokenness got him into trouble again and again, not only with Roman Catholics but with his Protestant peers.He was an iconoclast. His verbal violence provoked unnecessary opposition, and often did more harm than good. One Reformation leader of the time wrote Farel saying, “Your mission is to evangelize, not curse. Prove yourself to be an evangelist, not a tyrannical legislator. Men want to be led, not driven.” Shortly before his death, Zwingli exhorted Farel not to be so rash.That may be a good way to see Farel's contribution to the Reformation. His work was destructive rather than constructive. He could pull down, but not build up. He was a conqueror, not an organizer of his conquests; a man of action, not a man of letters; a preacher, not a theologian. In a large construction company, the first team that comes in is the demolition crew. They're job is to clear away the old and prepare for the new.Farel was a one-man demo squad; a religious wrecking-crew.The thing is, he knew it, and handed his work over to the genius of his younger friend John Calvin. You'll remember it was William Farel who persuaded Calvin to help out in Geneva. In the spirit of genuine humility and self-denial, he was willing to decrease that Calvin might increase. This is the finest trait in his character.William Farel, the oldest of seven children of a noble but poor family, was born in 1489 at Gap. No, he wasn't born in the changing room of a clothing store in the mall. Gap was a small town in the Alps of SE France, where the Waldensians once lived. He inherited the Roman Catholic faith of his parents. While still young, he made a pilgrimage with them to a supposed piece of miracle-working wood believed to be taken from the original cross. He shared in the superstitious veneration of pictures and relics, and bowed before the authority of monks and priests. He was, as he later said of that period of his life, more popish than the Pope.At the same time he had a great thirst for knowledge, and was sent to Paris to further his education. There he studied ancient languages, philosophy, and theology. His main teacher, was Jacques LeFèvre, pioneer of the French Reformation and translator of the Scriptures who introduced Farel to Paul's Epistles and the doctrine of justification by faith. LeFèvre told Farel in in 1512: “My son, God will renew the world, and you will witness it.” Farel acquired a Master of Arts in 1517 and was appointed teacher at the college of Cardinal Le Moine.The influence of LeFèvre and the study of the Bible brought Farel to the conviction salvation can be found only in Christ, that the Word of God is the only rule of faith. He was amazed he could find in the NT no trace of the pope, a church hierarchy, indulgences, purgatory, the mass, seven rather than two sacraments, a sacerdotal celibacy, or the worship of Mary and saints.When LeFèvre, was charged with heresy in 1521, he retired but remained an advocate for reformation within the Catholic Church, without separation from Rome. We'll talk about the Catholic Counter-Reformation in a later episode.In retirement, LeFèvre translated the NT into French, and published it in 1523. This was virtually simultaneous with Luther's German NT. Farel and several others of LeFèvre's students followed him and began preaching a Reformation message under his influence. But Farel proved too radical and was forbidden to preach.He returned to his hometown and made some converts, including four of his brothers; but the people found his doctrine strange and drove him away. France became dangerous as the persecution of Protestants had begun there as in already had in other places.Farel fled to Basel, Switzerland. Since Reformation ideas were tolerated there, he held a public disputation in Latin on thirteen issues, in which he affirmed the inspiration of the Scriptures, Christian liberty, the duty of pastors to preach the Gospel, the doctrine of justification by faith, and denounced images and celibacy. This speech led to the conversion of a Franciscan monk named Pellican, a distinguished Greek and Hebrew scholar, who became a professor at Zurich. Farel delivered more public lectures and sermons. But as his popularity grew, so did his bombast, and Erasmus persuaded the town council to brand him a disturber of the peace and expel him.After bouncing around for a few years as an itinerate preacher, he arrived in Neuchâtel in December, 1529 where he was instrumental in bringing the Reformation to the city.Farel stopped at Geneva in early Oct. 1532. The day after he arrived he was visited by a number of distinguished citizens of the Protestant French Huguenots. Farel explained to them from an open Bible the Protestant doctrines that would complete and consolidate the political freedom they'd recently achieved. But rather than receive this with joy, they were troubled and demanded Farel and his friends leave! Farel refused. He said he wasn't trying to create trouble; he was simply a preacher of truth, for which he was ready to die. He showed them letters of reference from several Reformation leaders which made quite an impression.When the Roman clergy in Geneva began to harass Farel, this only further ingratiated him with the Protestants there. But the Catholics became so angry at Farel's refusal to budge, the entire city was set on edge. The Council demanded he leave immediately.He barely escaped as the priests pursued him with clubs. He left covered with spit and bruises. Some of the Huguenots came to his defense, and accompanied him across Lake Geneva.Since the Reformation in Geneva was gaining ground and the city was seen as key, the Catholics called Guy Furbity, a Dominican doctor of Theology, to come refute the Protestants. He stirred the Catholics of Geneva into a violent mob. All preaching in the City had to be approved by him. You can imagine how Farel felt about that. He returned with a guarantee of protection from the city of Bern, and held another public disputation with Furbity at the end of January of 1534, in the presence of both the Great and Small Councils of Geneva and delegates from Bern. He was unable to answer all Furbity's objections, but he denied the right of the Church to impose ordinances which were not authorized by Scripture, and defended the position that Christ was the only head of the Church. He used the occasion to explain Protestant doctrines, and to attack Roman church hierarchy. Christ and the Holy Spirit, he said, are not with the pope, but with those whom he persecutes. The disputation lasted several days, and ended in a partial victory for Farel. Unable to argue from the Scriptures, Furbity confessed: “What I preach I cannot prove from the Bible; I have learned it from the Summa of St. Thomas,” meaning of course, Thomas Aquinas.Farel continued to preach in private homes aa tension grew between Protestants and Catholics. He was the eye of the storm. As more and more Genevans embraced Reformation ideas, priests, monks, and nuns left, and the bishop transferred his See to another city.In Aug. 27 1535, the Genevan Council issued an edict of the Reformation. That was followed several months later with an even more thorough embrace of Reformation ideals. The mass was abolished, images and relics removed from churches. Citizens pledged themselves by an oath to live according to the precepts of the Gospel. A school was established for the education of the young. Out of it grew the academy of John Calvin. All shops were closed on Sunday. A strict discipline, which extended even to the head-dress of brides was introduced.This was the first act in the history of the Reformation at Geneva. It was the work of Farel, but only preparatory to the more important work of Calvin. The people were anxious to get rid of the Catholic rule of the Duke of Savoy and the bishop, but had no conception of evangelical religion, and would not submit to discipline. They mistook freedom for license. They were in danger of falling into the opposite extreme of disorder and confusion.This was the state of things when Calvin arrived at Geneva in the summer of 1536, and was urged by Farel to assume the great task of building a new Church on the ruins of the old. Though 20 years his senior, Farel willingly took a subordinate position to Calvin. He labored for a while as Calvin's colleague, but was banished from Geneva with him when their reforms were deemed by the City Council as too ambitious and narrow. Calvin then went to Strasburg while Farel accepted a call as pastor at Neuchâtel where he'd worked before.The remaining twenty-seven years of his life, Farel remained the lead pastor there.

This episode is titled, Thrust Into the Game.So far we've marked the rise of 2 of the 3 major branches of the Reformation. We've considered Lutheranism and the Radical Reformers or Anabaptists. Over the next few episodes we'll consider the 3rd branch, called Calvinism, AKA, Reformed Christianity.I begin with a summary of the opening section of Bruce Shelley's excellent, Church History in Plain Language and his chapter of John Calvin.Because the road to Strasbourg was closed by the war between France and Spain, the young French scholar had to pass thru Geneva. His plan was to spend a night. He ended up spending many.The city was in disarray. Immorality was rampant, the political situation a mess, and there was little prospect for help.The fiery reformer, William Farel had preached in Geneva for four years, and masses at the Catholic church were halted. But Geneva's embrace of the Reformation was more out of political ambition than sincere allegiance to Protestant theology. No one had taken the lead in transforming the city's institutions along Biblical lines. Geneva needed a manager; someone who could step into the political and spiritual vacuum and bring order. When Farel heard John Calvin was spending the night, he made it a point to call on him. He found Calvin to be a candidate to meet Geneva's need, and urged him to stay and help establish the work.Calvin begged off, saying he had further studies he needed to pursue. Farel told him, “Bah! You're only following your own wishes! If you don't help us in this work of the Lord, He will punish you for seeking your own interest rather than His.” Calvin was terror–stricken. The last thing he wanted was to offend God. So he stayed and took up the cause of installing the principles of the Reformation in Geneva.Years later, Calvin remarked, “Being by nature a bit antisocial and shy, I always loved retirement and peace.… But God has so whirled me around by various events that He's never let me rest anywhere, but in spite of my natural inclination, has thrust me into the limelight and made me ‘get into the game,' as they say.”Thus >> the title of this week's episode.John Calvin was born in the small town of Noyon, 60 miles NE of Paris. His father was a lawyer and eager to see John and his two brothers become priests. It was clear from an early age John was both intelligent and serious, so a local wealthy family sponsored his education. He entered the University of Paris at 14 and quickly mastered Latin. He then entered the school of philosophy where he showed brilliance in writing and skill in logical argument. People might not like what Calvin said but they couldn't misunderstand what he meant. He left the University in 1528 with a Master of Arts degree. He was 19.John turned to the study of law at the University of Orleans, but after his father's death in 1531, Calvin returned to Paris as a student of the classics, intent upon a career as a scholar. His studies brought him in contact with new and dangerous ideas circulating round Paris. The Reformation had arrived. It wasn't long before Calvin was converted to faith in Christ and the task of Reformation. He gave up his career as a classical scholar and identified with the Protestant cause in France.In the Fall of 1533, Nicholas Cop, rector of the University of Paris gave a strong Protestant address. Many suspected it was Cop's close friend, John Calvin, who'd written it. The University was thrown into such an uproar, Calvin had to flee the city. He took refuge in Basel, Switzerland, where in March, 1536, he published the first edition of his highly influential Institutes of the Christian Religion – the Reformation's first systematic theology.A systematic theology is one that devotes chapters to specific doctrinal subjects. There's a chapter on God …another on Christology = the study of God the Son,one on Pneumatology = the Holy Spirit,Soteriology = Salvation,Scripture,Ecclesiology = The Church,even a theology of Anthropology = Human Beings.Many systematic theologies often conclude with a chapter on what's called Eschatology = the Study of the End Times. Calvin's work was the most cogent, logical, and readable explanation of Protestant doctrine the Reformation produced. It gave its young author overnight fame. Calvin worked on the Institutes for the rest of his life, adding more volumes and editing the existing content. But 20 years later it was essentially the same work though much larger. His core ideas never changed. At first it was a slim volume but five revisions later saw the last in 1559 containing four books of 80 chapters.The preface to the Institutes was addressed to King Francis I of France. It defended the Protestants from the criticisms of their enemies, vindicating their rights to fair treatment. No one had spoken so effectively in their behalf, and with this letter Calvin was assigned the leadership of the Protestant cause after Martin Luther.Speaking of Luther, a comparison between he and Calvin would be proper here. Keep in mind that only about 20 years separated them. Calvin certainly knew of Luther and Luther heard of the young Frenchman in Geneva.While the cornerstone of Luther's theology was the doctrine of justification by faith, Calvin's was the sovereignty of God. They both had a massive sense of the majesty of God, but for Luther that all just added to the richness of the miracle of forgiveness. Calvin's emphasis rested on the unassailability of God's purpose.Calvin shared Luther's four central Protestant beliefs, but he was born a generation after Luther in a different land and was a far different sort of person.Luther was a monk and university professor. Calvin was a scholar and city manager. While both men lived and worked during a time of great social turmoil, their realms of influence were different.Luther saw himself as the point man for an entire movement in the Church, calling it back to what God intended it to be. Calvin followed in Luther's train but to a highly specialized work in it – to implement Biblical principles in the civil sphere.The differences between Calvin and Luther are reflected in their portraits. As Luther aged, he filled out and his face softened, though his tone became more acerbic. As Calvin aged, though thin to begin with, he lost weight. His face became angular and lined. He looks as if he's cut from stone.Calvin's exceptional administrative abilities enabled him to build on the work of Ulrich Zwingli. The reform he started at Zurich spread rapidly in German-speaking Eastern Switzerland. The Swiss Reformation spread to the important German city of Strasbourg where Martin Bucer was more sympathetic to Zwingli than Luther.When Zwingli died at the Battle of Kappel, the Reformation in Switzerland was left without a leader. Zwingli's student Heinrich Bullinger did a fine job of leading the church in Zurich but that was pretty much the limit of his ability. The success of what Calvin was doing in Geneva shifted the focus away from Eastern Switzerland to the West, French-speaking Swiss city of Geneva.When Calvin fled Paris for Strasbourg in the Summer of 1536, his brother, sister and 2 friends went with him.  They put up for a night at an inn in Geneva. But word spread quickly that the author of the Institutes was in town. Farel was ecstatic. Desperate for help, he rushed to the inn and pleaded with Calvin to stay. Upon his consent, Farel convinced the Geneva city council to appoint Calvin to lead the Reformation there. Interestingly, Calvin never held an official political post and didn't even become a citizen until 1559.Calvin's goal was to make Geneva a “holy commonwealth” where the Law of God became the laws of man. He preached daily and twice on Sunday. He started a school for training young people and arranged for the care of the poor and needy. Under Calvin's direction, Geneva became a model of Reformation belief and practice.And by model, I mean EXAMPLE. Protestant refugees from all over Europe flooded into the City. They sat under Calvin's teaching, and when they returned home, took his theology and Geneva's example with them. This explains the dramatic spread of Calvinism throughout Western Europe.In addition to his strenuous preaching schedule, Calvin was a prodigious writer. He penned lectures, theological treatises, and commentaries on 33 books of the OT, along with the entire NT sans Revelation. Church historian Philip Schaff claims Calvin was the founder of the modern historical-grammatical method of studying the Bible.[1] Calvin also carried on a massive correspondence with people all over Europe.But, Calvin's launch at Geneva got off to a rocky start. A mere 18 months into his new position both he and Farel were banished for disagreeing with the city council. Calvin resumed his prior journey to Strasbourg, where he settled down and pastored for 3 years, married the widow of an Anabaptist and became the adoptive father to her two children.By 1541 Calvin's reputation had spread. He wrote three more books and revised his Institutes. He'd become good friends with leading Reformers Martin Bucer and Philip Melanchthon. He was asked to return to Geneva by the authorities, and spent the rest of his life establishing a theocratic society there.Calvin believed the Church should faithfully mirror the principles laid down in the Bible. He argued that the NT taught four orders of ministry: pastors, elders, deacons, and doctors, by which he meant ‘teachers.' Geneva was organized around these four offices.Pastors conducted church services, preached, administered the sacraments of Communion and baptism, and cared for the spiritual welfare of parishioners. In each of the three parish churches, two Sunday services and a catechism class were offered. The Lord's Supper was celebrated every three months.The Doctors or as we would call them, teachers, lectured in Latin on the Old and New Testaments; Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays. Their students were mostly older schoolboys and ministers, but anyone could attend.Elders kept an eye on spiritual affairs. If they saw someone was often snockered from too much ale, or that Mr. Smith beat his wife, or Mr. Jones and Mrs. Faraday were seeing a little too much of each other, they admonished them in a brotherly manner. If the behavior continued, they reported the matter to the church's governing body, which would summon the offender for an inquiry. Excommunication was a last resort and remained in force until the guilty party repented.Finally, social welfare was the charge of the Deacons. They were the hospital-management board, social-security executives, and alms-house supervisors. The deacons were so effective, Geneva had no beggars.The system worked so well for so many years, when the Scotsman John Knox visited Geneva in 1554, he wrote a friend that the city “is the most perfect school of Christ that ever was in the Earth since the days of the Apostles.”We have a lot more to look at with Calvin and Geneva, but we'll get too it in our next episodes.[1] Schaff, 8:118–119

Derek and Andy are pleased to have as their latest guest Farel Dalrymple, the author of the new book from First Second, The Wrenchies. The guys talk with Farel about his ideas behind the project, its narrative density, Ferel's highly detailed art, the prevalence of insects and ooze, his cool way of drawing villains, and the book's large cast of characters. (And, thank god, no one  mentions The Goonies anytime in the conversation.) Andy is particularly impressed by Sherwood (the protagonist) and his medallion, and Derek is more than a little creeped out by the abundance of tentacles in The Wrenchies and how they bore into people's eyes and latch onto their heads. He even notes this tendency in Farel's Omega the Unknown from several years ago. The Two Guys have Farel discuss his latest book in great detail, talk with him about ending up at First Second, ask him talk about some of his other projects, and then take conversational detours into movies and other pop culture stuff. It's a fun conversation, almost as cool as the wonderful hide-outs that Farel creates for his young characters in The Wrenchies. You definitely have to check out this book!