Podcasts about greco roman

On this Flash Freedomain Livestream on 2 June 2026, philosopher Stefan Molyneux reveals the truth about Henry Nowak's stabbing death, where police bought a racism claim, treated the white victim as the threat, and delayed help while the attacker's family hid the weapon in a two-tier system. He links this to how Western reason, property rights, and child protection grew from Greco-Roman and Christian roots, then shows why rape, theft, and murder cannot be universalized under his Universally Preferable Behavior rules.GET FREEDOMAIN MERCH! https://shop.freedomain.com/SUBSCRIBE TO ME ON X! https://x.com/StefanMolyneuxFollow me on Youtube! https://www.youtube.com/@freedomain1GET MY NEW BOOK 'PEACEFUL PARENTING', THE INTERACTIVE PEACEFUL PARENTING AI, AND THE FULL AUDIOBOOK!https://peacefulparenting.com/Join the PREMIUM philosophy community on the web for free!Subscribers get 12 HOURS on the "Truth About the French Revolution," multiple interactive multi-lingual philosophy AIs trained on thousands of hours of my material - as well as AIs for Real-Time Relationships, Bitcoin, Peaceful Parenting, and Call-In Shows!You also receive private livestreams, HUNDREDS of exclusive premium shows, early release podcasts, the 22 Part History of Philosophers series and much more!See you soon!https://freedomain.locals.com/support/promo/UPB2025

This week, Pastor Sam Gibson continued our FREED series with a sermon on rejection—opening by admitting he couldn't promise freedom from it. Rejection is inevitable. The real question is whether it will deform you or transform you. Pastor Sam unpacked the snare of recognition as rejection's dangerous shadow side, walked through the Greco-Roman context of adoption in Romans 8, and landed on this: in Christ, we are not rescued strays but chosen heirs—named, inheritance transferred, legally irrevocable. That is the spirit of adoption available to us, and it is what sets us free.

In this profound exploration of Matthew 25:1-13, Tony Arsenal and Jesse Schwamb unpack the parable of the ten virgins, revealing it as far more than a simple warning about preparedness. Moving beyond dispensational "rapture ready" interpretations, they demonstrate how this parable addresses the spiritual condition required for entrance into God's consummated kingdom. The discussion centers on the critical distinction between outward religious profession and genuine possession of the Holy Spirit's grace. With pastoral sensitivity and theological depth, the hosts examine the meaning of the oil, the significance of the midnight cry, and the urgency of both evangelism and personal examination. This episode challenges listeners to consider whether they possess not just the lamp of profession, but the oil of saving grace that alone sustains faith through the waiting period before Christ's return. Key Takeaways The oil represents saving grace, not perfect obedience - The critical distinction in the parable is not between those who stayed awake versus those who slept (all ten virgins fell asleep), but between those who possessed oil and those who didn't. The oil symbolizes the indwelling, regenerating, sanctifying presence of the Holy Spirit—the grace that comes through effectual calling and genuine conversion. This parable warns against mere outward profession - All ten virgins carried lamps and waited for the bridegroom, representing outward religious activity and profession. The difference lay in the interior spiritual reality—whether that profession was accompanied by the transforming grace of the Holy Spirit or remained empty formalism. The "midnight cry" represents both personal death and Christ's return - Historically, Reformed expositors understood the midnight cry as either the actual cry of Christ's angels at His return or the voice of God in individual death. Each person's death functions as their personal midnight that irrevocably fixes their eternal state. Readiness is not about sinless perfection but possession of grace - The parable is not teaching a fearful "rapture ready" theology where Christians must be perfectly sinless when Christ returns. Rather, it teaches that readiness consists in possessing saving grace through faith in Christ, which sustains believers even when they "sleep" (fall into sin or spiritual drowsiness). There is urgency in the gospel call - The parable emphasizes that the opportunity for salvation has a deadline—"you know neither the day nor the hour." This creates urgency both for unbelievers to trust Christ and for believers to share the gospel, since no one knows when their personal "midnight" will arrive. Calvin's insight: you "buy" oil by receiving it freely through faith - Though the parable speaks of "buying" oil, Calvin notes this doesn't imply paying a price. Just as Isaiah invites people to buy wine and milk without money, we obtain the oil of grace not through merit or payment, but by receiving through faith what Christ freely offers. Key Concepts The Oil as Symbol of the Holy Spirit's Grace The oil in this parable has been consistently interpreted throughout church history as representing the grace of the Holy Spirit—specifically the indwelling, regenerating, and sanctifying presence that comes through genuine conversion. This interpretation aligns with Old Testament symbolism where anointing oil signified the Spirit's presence (as in "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit"). The crucial distinction Jesus makes is not about external religious activity (both groups had lamps and waited), but about internal spiritual reality. Just as a lamp cannot burn without oil, religious profession without the Spirit's grace has no sustaining power. This oil cannot be shared or borrowed; it must be personally possessed. The parable thus exposes the deadly danger of assuming that outward Christian activities—church attendance, biblical knowledge, moral behavior—constitute genuine Christianity when the transforming work of the Spirit is absent. All the Virgins Slept: Grace Overcomes Human Weakness One of the most important details often overlooked is that both the wise and foolish virgins fell asleep while waiting for the bridegroom. This demolishes any interpretation suggesting the parable is about maintaining perfect spiritual vigilance or sinless living. The wise virgins' readiness was not based on their superior wakefulness or moral stamina—they fell asleep just like the foolish ones. Their preparedness came from having secured the oil beforehand. This has profound theological implications: our salvation and readiness for Christ's return does not depend on our ability to maintain perfect spiritual alertness or sinless perfection. Even when believers "sleep"—when they fall into sin, experience spiritual dullness, or fail in vigilance—they remain prepared because they possess the oil of the Spirit's grace. The parable thus provides comfort alongside its warning: those who have truly received Christ need not live in constant fear that a moment of weakness will disqualify them when He returns. The Midnight Cry and Personal Eschatology The midnight cry in verse 6 functions on multiple levels theologically. Universally, it points to Christ's unexpected second coming at the end of history. But Reformed interpreters have also recognized its application to individual eschatology—each person's death serves as their personal "midnight cry" that ends all opportunity for preparation. This dual meaning creates urgency both for evangelism and self-examination. The parable warns that whether Christ returns globally or death comes individually, that moment will arrive unexpectedly ("at midnight," the hour of deepest sleep) and irrevocably fix one's eternal state. Once the door is shut, no amount of pleading ("Lord, Lord, open to us") can change one's condition. This underscores a biblical truth often denied in contemporary theology: there is no post-mortem opportunity for salvation, no remedial path after death. The time for obtaining oil is now, in this life, before the cry sounds. Memorable Quotes Every man's death to him is the coming of Christ. That's when our state is irrevocably fixed. And so there's an urgency here—an urgency of evangelism and self-examination because the midnight cry may come at any moment. The difference between the wise and the foolish virgins is not that one of them stays awake and one of them falls asleep. The difference between the wise and the foolish is that the ones that are wise are prepared for when the bridegroom comes, even though they fell asleep. The only way to be prepared for the end is to turn to Jesus. It's not about whether or not you've turned to Jesus and have become perfectly sinless. None of us are like that. It's about trusting Jesus. Full Episode Transcript Welcome to episode 494 of The Reformed Brotherhood. I'm Jesse.  [00:01:10] Tony Arsenal: And I'm Tony. And this is the podcast with ears to hear. Hey brother.  [00:01:15] Jesse Schwamb: Hey brother. Looks like you and I need to get a midnight oil check. That's if you know, you know, that's what's coming up on this episode, and we're headed to Matthew 25 to do that oil check. We're still firmly in all of these beautiful parables that Jesus tells us, and this one goes by various names. You might know it as the parable of the 10 virgins, or if you're Petra. That classic Christian rock group who produced a song called Midnight Oil, which is absolutely a banger that that should be like the the theme song of this episode. If you haven't heard that song, go check out Midnight Oil by Petra and then come back and listen to us. Like, I wish we had the rights to that. We could just drop it in right here. But we're not that cool and we're not gonna edit that. So I'm gonna leave it up to you to craft your own version of this podcast with that great backing track. Have you heard that song?  [00:02:09] Tony Arsenal: I actually haven't. I, I came, uh, came into Christianity sort of at the tail end of Petra's Big Influence. So I know, I knew who Petra is. I've listened to a few of their songs, but they weren't mainstream by any sort, sort of, uh, stretch of the imagination when I was listening to Christian music. So  [00:02:28] Jesse Schwamb: this one's so good. It's so good. And it's right on point for our conversation today. So we're gonna get into all that stuff. The oil check, the midnight nature of it, the 10 virgins. What does it all mean? Of course, Tony and me, we have for you what I believe to be the definitive exegetical and hermeneutical reflection on the parable. So that's what you've come to expect from us and we're happy to deliver, but before we deliver on that, we got all the things we have to deliver to you, and that is affirming with or denying against something that's that point of course in the podcast or our conversation where we choose something they firm with that we think is. Undervalued, something we might recommend or conversely to deny against something that maybe is a little bit too overvalued or just not that great. So Tony, as is our customer, I say to you, sir, what are you doing? Are you affirming with something or are you denying against something?  [00:03:16] Denial Memory Blank [00:03:16] Tony Arsenal: I'm denying something. This is like denial. Ception is what's going on here. So, uh, first of all, thank you, Jesse for, uh, pitch hitting a solo episode at like, literally the last minute, last week. Um, I think we normally record at seven 30 on the Lord's Day, and I think I texted Jesse like 6 45 and was like, I just don't have it in the tank today. Can you do something? And he just hopped behind the mic. So that's a bonus affirmation there. But, uh, Jesse and I were, we're having a little bit of a pregame, uh, today, very much, you know, like five minutes of how you doing and are you ready to go? And, uh, I realized I, I had a really great affirmation last week, all ready to rock. I remember being super excited about it. I remember, uh, when I decided, or when we decided you were gonna do a solo episode thinking, I gotta make sure I remember this for next week. Right? And it has totally left my brain. It's gone. And, uh, it's, it's the worst feeling in the world when that happens. And I remember reading at some point, like, there's a biochemical reason why this happens and why it feels so weird. Like, it, it feels like you should be able to just dive into your mind and like search around enough and find it. And that's just not actually how your, how like your memory works. It's not, um. I think we think of memory as though it's like a big filing cabinet and you can just, like, you can just flip through the CAD catalog like long enough and find it. That's not how it works. Um, it's kind of like more organic network kind of stuff. But yeah, the, the, it's gone. It's just gone and I hate that feeling and it's gone. And that's what I'm denying is that feeling and losing your mind and feeling like you don't remember anything.  [00:04:56] Jesse Schwamb: I'm totally with you because incidentally, as we talked, we discovered we both had that experience because I had something too. And it's not just that, well, you know, we try to set aside or do a little prep on the affirmations and denials because you know, we come across something great in life, or again, the opposite. And you think, I gotta remember this because I wanna talk about this with Tony. And the worst part of that is like twofold. One, it never is great to forget something that you had or you knew you knew at one time, but it's all the less satisfying when it was something that you're super excited about and you're like, this is gonna be great. And it's that thing that you've completely forgotten that's like double the worst. So I'm, I'm totally with you in this denial. [00:05:35] Tony Arsenal: Yeah, it's, it's a really frustrating, terrible feeling. And there's not much you can do about it. And the, the secondary denial to that is it always comes back to you in the worst possible part of whatever conversation you're having. It's like you hem and hover it and you think about it and you, and I'm doing it right now. You, you sit here and you, you continue to try to talk thingy. It's gonna come, it's gonna come. Yes. It's gonna get here.  [00:05:59] Jesse Schwamb: Yep.  [00:06:00] Tony Arsenal: And then just when you finally have resigned yourself and, and the conversation moves on, that's when it comes back around. So I don't know if that's gonna happen or not, Jesse. If it does, I will try my best to ignore it, but I probably won't be able to. So No, I think you probably should get moving. So whatever it was the amazing affirmation, I don't remember. It can come back to us.  [00:06:16] Jesse Schwamb: It can come back. Yeah. I'm hoping that it does. And when it does, you guys just tell us you got, just let it, let it rip. Like even if we're like right in the middle of some deep, heavy, robust, thick theology, I just wanna be like. I, I can't even imagine what your affirmation was. It must have been like something pretty, pretty good.  [00:06:33] Tony Arsenal: I don't know. I don't know. I, I'm sure it was something interesting. I don't even, I'm  [00:06:37] Jesse Schwamb: trying to draw it out of you now.  [00:06:38] Tony Arsenal: Course. I can't even like, think of the ballpark of what part of like, what, what the category even was. It's just totally, it's totally gone. Like it never happened. Yep. It's, it's totally, totally gone. So I keep on saying, and you would think with all of my talk of like note taking apps and how important it's to keep a journal and all the stuff we've talked about that I would finally get around to like just jotting down in Apple Notes what my affirmations are and I just never do it. So. Yeah,  [00:07:05] Jesse Schwamb: I have every intention, but then I think, well, this is the record of them and I'll have it available to me when it comes time. The talk that's, and sometimes it just goes away. Has it happened yet? I'm still trying to draw it out of you by talking.  [00:07:15] Tony Arsenal: No, I'm just gonna give up. It's just gone. It's gone. That's just gone.  [00:07:19] Jesse Schwamb: That's, that's fair enough. Maybe. What do you  [00:07:21] Tony Arsenal: got for us, Jesse?  [00:07:22] Prayer and Anointing [00:07:22] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, I was gonna say, maybe I can just help push it along, as it were by my own. So I'm also affirming with something, lemme just read a couple verses from James chapter five. Is anyone Among You Sick? Then he must call for the elders of the church and there to pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will save the one who's sick and the Lord will raise him up. And if he has committed sins, they'll be forgiven him. I had really just the profound opportunity and privilege today to participate in this because. My wife at the end of this week, uh, which will be a week past when this is, this airs, is about to go undergo that serious surgery, which she spoke about in an episode, I don't know, maybe several weeks ago. And, uh, my pastor asked if it would, if he'd like us and the elders, um, to come and to pray over my wife. And they did so after our service today. And it was just a really incredible thing. Even I'm still processing it. I don't really know. Like the words to say with what I can bring forward is just like words of gratitude and gratefulness for this kind of living out of the scriptures. What I can say is that the way in which he brought this forward and the elders prayed was just so incredibly loving and genteel and spirit-filled. And I think which is a manifestation of, of God's love for us in this moment as we prepare for this great thing to give us peace, peace, and to increase our faith and to do so by just following what the scriptures say here. So my affirmation is maybe twofold. One, it's for this particular experience, it's certainly for pastors, for elders who make it their objective to care for their flock and to do so under the rubric and the instruction of the scriptures. So I'm grateful, and if you have those kind of pastors and elders in your life, I hope that you'll be grateful to them for them as well, and that you might express that gratefulness. So this was a really incredible and, and lovely thing, and, uh, fills us with a kind of hope and encouragement. And if anything else was a reminder of the feel, there's something different going to experience like this armed fully with the promises of God and asking that he would be glorified, that our testimonies would be strong, and that of course, that he would bring healing through it. So I'm ever so grateful and affirming what this passage and this passage put into practice.  [00:09:51] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And if you are listening to this, when, uh, when it comes out or shortly after, probably not even shortly after, probably for a couple weeks after or months after, um, uh, Jesse's wife Jen did talk about the surgery and the condition she's been suffering under. So, uh, she's part of the Reformed Brotherhood family. She is, uh, just as important to the show, uh, as Jesse and I are in terms of the support that our wives give us and, and the space that we need to do this. So please do pray for Jen. Um, she'll be recovering when you hear this, if it's anywhere near the time that this comes out. Uh, it's a fairly large surgery with a, a, a moderately long recovery time. So please, uh, please do pray for her, uh, and, and make sure that you're lifting her up. Um, we are trusting the Lord for good things, uh, for her. Yes. And uh, we're confident that he, his will will be done 'cause it always is. But yeah, definitely pray for her. [00:10:42] Jesse Schwamb: Yes. Thank you for saying that, Tony. I appreciate that as her husband and. We are encouraged that we've said this before, but this is where our theology matters, isn't it? It's in the times where we come before the Lord in faith and in full trust, because one, there's nowhere else to go. He has the words of life for us. He is our life, but also because. In his son, this beautiful gift of salvation whereby his son is the suffering servant. So he's well acquainted with all of this kind of thing. And so stands with us in every conceivable way to be both so incredibly transcendent and above the nonsense and the noise of our world with full power and sovereignty over all things. And at the same time, to be fully eminent. To be literally with us in all the ways. In all the things. And again, well acquainted with our condition, including the grief and the suffering, the anxiety, the all of this, which we experience as part and parcel of what it means to be human, who is like our God in this way. And so we do sense his great and uncommon care for us, and it would be dishonest of me even in the midst of these difficult and challenging things to say that he doesn't care for us. He has good and he loves us, and he's making a way, even though that way be hired. So we're sensing even from, I think, following that time of prayer, that whether we receive the bread of affliction. Uh, or the, the water of of agony that we hear God's voice behind us saying, this is the way, walk in it, and he's with us. So I hope that's encouragement maybe to others who are also going through their own things and who isn't going through something, right?  [00:12:18] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:12:18] Jesse Schwamb: So we all have this great promise in the gospel that God is for us, and I love that James here gives us some practical instruction to that end. [00:12:29] Tony Arsenal: Yeah, for sure.  [00:12:31] Support the Show [00:12:31] Tony Arsenal: Well, before we move into our topic for the evening, uh, the internet tells me that I'm supposed to do this at this point in the show rather than at the very end like we usually do. Well, let's do it. Um, we are a listener supported episode, not like PBS, uh, not like other things. Uh, maybe kind of a little bit like PBS Yeah, a little bit. Anyway, uh, we have a, a pretty dedicated group of Patreon supporters who, uh, donate a little bit and sometimes some people, a lot, a bit of their discretionary income, uh, to help make the show go. And we've said before, like, we are not interested in providing special content or special gear or swag every once in a while. I think we did it once and we've, we've got plans to do it again sometime in the future. We'll send out a thank you gift to those who are subscribing through Patreon. Um, but we are committed to producing the show and making everything that we put online and everything that we make available, available to everybody. And really the only reason that we can do that, especially in today's economy, is uh, because there are people who support the show. And so we always want to make sure that we're saying we're thank you to those people. Yes. Um, they are a part of this show. I don't know if we are not gonna do like executive producer credits, but they're as close to that as you can get. Since we don't do that, um, we really wouldn't be able to do the show, at least not the way that it is without that supporting group of people. So if that's something that you hear and you no, I kind of think that maybe I wanna be a part of that. We would love for you to go to patreon.com/reform tears. There's no special swag, there's no early releases or anything like that. Um, but we would love if you would partner with us. Um, this is a lowercase m ministry, and if you've listened to the show for a long time, you know what I mean by that. Uh, we, we do consider this to be a calling, something that God has given us and we, we understand there's a responsibility with it, but we also know that we can't do it alone. So if you're interested after you've fulfilled all your personal finance obligations, your obligation to your local church and your immediate area, if there's a little bit left over that you're looking to spend somewhere on something that is valuable, uh, please do consider going to patreon.com/form Brotherhood. [00:14:39] Jesse Schwamb: And if you've been listening for a while and you've thought, you know what, I wonder who else is out there that's like me, that's listening to these guys on the internet. Guess what? You can actually meet some of those people. They have a little spot where they hang out. It's called Telegram. It's just a chat app, and we have our own little section of that app. If you just go to your favorite browser, whatever it is, you can choose and go to wherever you like, just go to t me slash Reform Brotherhood. And that link will take you into kind of a preview land where you can see the space where everybody's talking, and you can peruse some of the different channels, everything from uh, channels just for prayer, for a crusting, prayer to general conversation, talk about the episodes, talk about baptism, all kinds of things. It is, as we always say, one of the kindest, most charitable, most loving corners of the internet. Guaranteed. You can test us on that. So in fact, you should by going to t.me back slash reform Brotherhood, Tony, back to you. [00:15:36] Eschatology Shift [00:15:36] Tony Arsenal: Well, let's just slam it right into gear. We, we, we haven't figured out how to do transitions into or out of, uh, Patreon announcements, uh, or telegram announcements,  [00:15:46] Jesse Schwamb: right?  [00:15:46] Tony Arsenal: So this, I, maybe this is the awkward charm of the show, or maybe it's just the awkwardness of the show. It's just charm, Jesse,  [00:15:53] Jesse Schwamb: all charm. [00:15:53] Tony Arsenal: We need to talk about some things tonight. We need to talk about some oil. Yes. We need to talk about some lamps. Yes. We need talk about some bridegrooms.  [00:16:00] Jesse Schwamb: Yes.  [00:16:00] Tony Arsenal: It's the parable of the 10 virgins or the 10 lamps, or the parable of the oil flasks. Yes. There's lots of different things that it's called. Uh, it's what it isn't, it's not the parable of, uh, the 24 hour Jiffy Lube, which is what it made, what you made it sound like when you talked about the midnight oil check. Um,  [00:16:18] Jesse Schwamb: I  [00:16:18] Tony Arsenal: didn't even think about that. But yeah. This is, this is a good one. And I think we've, we've sort of. I've sort of observed that the parables do tend to clump around systematic theology themes, and they clump within the narrative of the gospel within Matthew itself around themes. So the last three parables that we talked about were all sort of like parables of judgment against the Pharisees and a, a lot of things like unconditional election and reparation were all baked into that pie. You know, we talked about with the parable of the lost sheep and the lost coins and the lost, um, the lost, uh, brother. We talked about how that has a lot to do with like election. It has to do with salvation and what the gospel looks like in terms of justification in the father's initiative. And we're moving into a section of Matthew, um, where Jesus is starting to teach on the last days. And so the parables in this section start to move toward ha to have more of an eschatological bent. Yes. We talked a little bit about some of the eschatology and the parables when we, we went through the, um, through the, the. Um, my brain just left me. It happened again, Jesse. The, the denial thing, uh, when we talked about the parable of the tears and the wind field and the, the, the different kinds of soils back on track, there was an eschatological element to that. But we are in like straight up eschatology Yeah. In these, these sections now. That's right. So we're coming to the end of Matthew, uh, our plan right now and who knows what the Lord has for us. But the plan right now is once we finish Matthew, to go back and visit some of the parables that are present in the other gospels. And there's not too many of 'em, but that are present in the other gospels that aren't necessarily, uh, present in Matthew. So, like you said, there's not a ton of 'em. Uh, we do want to hit all of 'em. And if there's, if there's time, and I say if there's time as though we have some sort of time constraints, um, if there's time we probably will talk a little bit about some of the I am statements and some of the things in John. 'cause John doesn't do parables quite the same way in quite the same fashion, but he does have sort of some of this. Allegorical figurative language baked into some of his, um, some of his writings or some of the accounts of Jesus that he, he, um, captures that are probably worth talking about in the seam light. So right now we're, we're coming up quick on the end of the parables of Matthew. Um, there's not very many left and then we'll, we'll keep moving on. Uh, that said. We are, it's almost unbelievable to say this. We're going to be coming up to the end of the parable series sometime in the next, I dunno, six to 10 months. Uh, if you've got ideas for what you think the next series should be, start thinking about those now. Bring 'em to the telegram chat. Let's start percolating those ideas up, right? And, uh, like a good coffee maker. And we'll, uh, we'll brew some goodness. How many more parables? How many more, uh, metaphors can I throw in there? Puns, can I throw in there? But yeah, Jesse, let's get started. This is a good one.  [00:19:08] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, that was a really, I think, fine introduction. I always enjoyed this parable because it has some really fun, dramatic elements, but I think I, I really haven't really appreciated all the eschatological underpinnings that you were just mentioning. And when you think about it as we're, I think we're gonna soon find here. That this is one of the most searching and solemn parables, actually, that Jesus uttered, and you start to get a sense for that as we've just kind of been hitting them, one after the other. As you said, this one belongs to the great olive discourse. It's delivered by Jesus to his disciples on the Mount of Olives just days before his crucifixion. It's in direct response to their questions about the destruction of Jerusalem and the sign of his condiment coming and the end of the age. So you're right. I think this carries like unmistakable eschatological weight because it's not merely this fable about preparedness in general, which sometimes is where we go. Yeah. But it's really more of like a precise theological warning about the spiritual condition required for entrance into the consummated kingdom of God at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.  [00:20:11] Tony Arsenal: Yeah,  [00:20:11] Jesse Schwamb: I think that's the full setup.  [00:20:12] Read Matthew 25 [00:20:12] Jesse Schwamb: We, we've gotta go to the scriptures, right?  [00:20:15] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:20:16] Jesse Schwamb: Alright. It's time. You want me to read it? [00:20:17] Tony Arsenal: Yeah, yeah, go ahead.  [00:20:18] Jesse Schwamb: Okay. Here we go. Matthew 25, beginning in verse one, then the kingdom of heaven may be compared to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bride groom. Now, five of them were foolish and five were prudent for when the foolish took their lamps. They took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. Now while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. But at midnight there was a shout. Behold the bridegroom come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the prudent, give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. But the prudent answered saying, no, there will not be enough for us and for you too. Go instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves. And while they're going away to make the purchase, that bridegroom came and those who already went in with him to the wedding feast and the door was shut. And later the other versions came also saying, Lord, Lord, open for us. But he answered and said, truly, I say to you, I do not know you. Therefore, stay awake for you do not know the day nor the hour.  [00:21:27] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:21:29] Assurance Not Fear [00:21:29] Tony Arsenal: Yeah, this one's heavy. And I just wanna say, kind of coming into this, right, I think a lot of our audience, and I would, I would include myself in this, um, we, we came to sort of like an awareness of faith. And I, I don't say that in a sort of tongue in cheek fashion. What I mean, um. I'll, I'll just speak from my perspective, but I think it's probably one that resonates. I came to faith when I was a, you know, a relatively young teenager, 15 years old, and, um, when you first become a Christian, you're not aware of all the different theological debates or even all of the major implications of the Christian faith. And I think a lot of us and myself, uh, as, as sort of the example when we be started to become aware of the different conversations happening in different dynamics and some of the more, uh, maybe third or fourth tier doctrines that you learn when you're, um, sort of being catechized as a new Christian, uh, catechized in sort of an informal sense, eschatology is probably one of those ones that comes along fairly, fairly late in the game. And I recall, um, when I first became aware of the left behind books, right? And so I, I came to faith in a large Lutheran megachurch, uh, that wasn't really as Lutheran as you would think, cup being a large Lutheran megachurch. It was very dispensational. And I think there is a sense of dread and fear associated with rapture ready theology. And I don't, I don't think all dispensationalist that, um, believe in a, a literal rapture of the church either prior to or following or in the middle of the tribulation. I don't think all dispensationalist fall into this category. But there are definitely dispensationalist out there that would emphasize being rapture ready. And you know, you think of like the song, I wish We'd All Been Ready, you know, and, and this, this sort of existential fear that the Rapture's gonna come and I'm not gonna be ready and I'm gonna be left behind. Right. There's an, the entire book series is about people who thought that they were Christians who thought that they were justified and saved and then weren't. And, and I don't think the book gives all that much explanation other than sort of like a general sense of like, these are sort of nominal fake Christians that maybe some of them think they're saved and some of them don't. I know there were definitely characters in the book who really thought that they were followers of Jesus and then they didn't realize they weren't until they were not raptured with everyone else. The only reason I sort of launch into that progam is I think that the tendency in most circles because of the pervasive. Sort of all expansive influence of dispensationalism in the United States, and particularly sort of this like rapture ready, left behind theology that is a, a major thread within, um, American dispensationalism. There's a tendency to look at this almost exclusively in light of that sort of rapture ready fear that right the end is gonna come and I'm not gonna be ready and. I don't, I'm not a dispensationalist, I don't hold to a rapture in that sense. I don't think you do either. Jesse and I, I think there's an element of this that has that same flavor that we have to acknowledge, but I don't think we should read this in light of like, you think you're gonna be fine, but actually you're not. So you better get it together. I don't think that that's the point of the parable. Um, and I wanna say that upfront because it is easy to read a parable like this and to, to become extremely fearful to the point that it actually shakes whatever assurance you may have had. And I've said it before and, and I, I will say it again, it is not, I am not in the business of robbing the assurance away from Christians. The assurance of faith and the assurance of salvation is the rightful possession and inheritance of all those who are Christ. And so I have no, no desire to shake or rob you of your assurance. That's just not my jam. Um, so I wanted to get that out there. Like I don't think that this parable is here. To scare the daylights out of us and make us question whether or not we actually belong to the bridegroom. I actually think it's here for a different reason.  [00:25:39] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, I agree.  [00:25:40] Watch and Be Ready [00:25:40] Jesse Schwamb: I, I think this may have more in common with like the tears in the wheat parable that we've spoken about before versus trying to promulgate a particular understanding of eschatology. There's no doubt that this is calibrated to the period preceding the perusia. At the same time, the parable is a reminder that describes like the visible professing church on earth as it moves toward that consummation. So this is why I think it is important for us to talk about, well, what do we mean by these 10 virgins? What do we mean about the lamps themselves? What is this saying generally about God's church? And again, him addressing the question of what does it mean for that church to be consummated in his kingdom?  [00:26:18] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And you know, I, I'm, I'm trying to find the specific passage, but um. We also should not miss the verbal affinity here. Uh, at the end of the parable, when it says truly, I say to you, I do not know you. We should really read this in light of, um, the, um, the statements. You know, I was hungry and you didn't feed me. I was, you know, and you say, Lord, we did these things. He said, away from me. I never knew you. We really should read this parable. I think in light of that passage and that phrasing, I think that's, that's actually the punchline of this  [00:26:54] Jesse Schwamb: Yes. [00:26:55] Tony Arsenal: Punchline. That's, that's the point. Parable is that last phrase, and then the, the extra parable, the outside of the parable, um, payoff or sort of like explanation that Christ gives is watch. Therefore, for you neither know the day nor the hour. The point is not, um, you may think you're a Christian. You may think you're, you're on top of things, but you actually, you might be totally wrong. And so you better get your stuff together. The point is what, what happens? Or the point is the same thing as I think it's the author of Hebrew is like, today is the day of salvation, right? Like, do not wait to turn to Christ. Do not wait. That's right to trust in Jesus. Do not wait to enter the kingdom of heaven until the last minute. Do not wait because you don't actually know when the end is coming. And I, I read this when I, when it's watch, therefore for, you know, neither the day nor the hour. I read this less in light of, um. Like universal eschatology, uh, every single person that, that Jesus was speaking to in this original audience that he actually delivered this parable to, did not see that, like, did not see the last days. Right. Whatever the last days looks like. And I mean, like, yes, the last days is from the resurrection to the end of the age. So some of them saw those last days. But what I mean is none of these people saw the return of Christ, like the second return of Christ and that the last judgment. So he would, it would be sort of meaningless to be delivering this parable to those people. With only whatever the last things are with only the rapture in mind with only Right, exactly. The great judgment. None of that would make any sense. So I read this more in light of you never know when your day and hour is coming. Not, not necessarily like the day, like the day of the Lord, although that's true. Yes. There will be a generation on earth who the last day, the final judgment is also their last day in terms of their ordinary human life. But I think this is more of a general call to all of us, and especially to those, um, out there who are in the orbits of the church who are exposed to the gospel, um, and have not yet trusted Christ. [00:29:09] Jesse Schwamb: Yes.  [00:29:09] Tony Arsenal: Um, there is a call to turn to Jesus and to, uh, to, to come into the kingdom of heaven, to be prepared by coming into the kingdom of heaven here. That's, that's the main point of the peril that we have to land on.  [00:29:21] Bridegroom And Virgins [00:29:21] Jesse Schwamb: I agree with you, and I think all of the imagery here points in that direction. So even starting with this image of these 10 virgins, which of course you've been listening to us talk for long enough, or you've read through the Old Testament, you're gonna quickly, and I think cogently see that this is the Old Testament imagery of Israel as the bride or the covenant community. It's also of course, like the Greco Roman custom in which the bridesmaids attended the bride and accompanied the wedding procession when the bride groom arrived to claim his bride. So to your point, what I think is really interesting about this is that we're basically saying that this parable is not speaking of like strangers or enemies, but those who have made a profession of faith. And so even this like idea of the bridegroom who, who's without a question? Christ here, that's a self-identification that's rooted in like John chapter three, where even John the Baptist calls himself merely the friend of the bridegroom and a revelation where you are going already, where the marriage supper of the lamb consummate, consummate redemptive history. [00:30:19] Lamps And Oil Meaning [00:30:19] Jesse Schwamb: So once we get through the idea of we have those whom Jesus is speaking about, and even those who he's speaking to as those who have made some kind of profession, religious or otherwise, to me, where this hinges is in this idea of the lamps or these torches or or burning lamps, which I take to be like this outward profession. And so the question is you have all of them coming with these lamps. Lambs represent this external common to true or false professors alike. But I think to what you are driving at, it's whether within that profession there is a true and actual reliance on Christ himself for righteousness.  [00:30:57] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And you know, oil, I think the oil is really key here too, right? Oil in the, uh, in the scriptures, particularly in the Old Testament. Um, but also in some places in the New Testament, oil is associated with the Holy Spirit.  [00:31:11] Jesse Schwamb: Yes,  [00:31:11] Tony Arsenal: exactly right. So if, if we wanna sort of take the symbolism here, take, take the, the situation sort of as a mixture of, of different kinds of symbols. We have these folks that have all of the outward things necessary to be able to light the lamps. They have the lamps, the wicks are there. Um, they're, they're sort of ready to go. They're, they're ready and waiting for a time. Uh, but what they don't have is they don't have oil, they don't have the Holy Spirit. So yes, we, we need in some senses about false professors, but I do think it's broader than that.  [00:31:43] Salvation Has A Deadline [00:31:43] Tony Arsenal: I think this is, um, again, is a generalized parable about. The, the fact that the hour of salvation, the day of salvation, the opportunity to turn to God, the opportunity to come into God's kingdom is not an indefinite opportunity. It's not going to be out there as a possibility forever. There is a day and an hour and a minute for every single person where that opportunity is no longer available. And of course we're the reformed brotherhood, not the Armenian Brotherhood, right? We're the reformed brotherhood. So yes, God has ordained who will come and who will not. He's ordained the hour and the minute of those who will, and he's ordained that some will never come. But that all operates on God's God's level in God's knowledge. And that's not something we have access to know down here, right? Deuteronomy 29, 29, the sacred things belong to the Lord, but the things that are revealed belong to us and our children forever. And one of the things that's revealed is that God calls us to salvation. He calls us to repent and trust in Jesus. And here in this passage, he is cutting us to do that, to not delay doing that.  [00:32:53] Personal Evangelism Story [00:32:53] Tony Arsenal: I think there are a lot of people, um. I can actually think of a couple really specific examples in when I was in high school. Um, I was, I, I don't do as much personal evangelism as I I did when I was, uh, when I was in high school and younger. I, I don't know for sure what the reason is. Some of it's probably my own cowardice, but I think probably just that's normal, that as you grow and you kind of settle into different kinds of relationships, you have a different context. But I remember a, a friend of mine named Dave, I'm not gonna say his last name, I remember his last name, but I'm not gonna say it, but a friend of mine named David, um, who. All of us were coming to faith, like all, all of our friend group were coming to Faith. There was one of my friends, James was sort of like the first guy who, he was raised in a Christian home and he sort of came to faith in a very real faith, real way. And he sort of brought all of us along with him and sort of one by one we, we sort of like, it was like Domino's falling. And we all came to a genuine, true saving faith kind of all right in a row. And then there was Dave and Dave just didn't like he, he with us. He did all the things we were doing. And I remember having a conversation with him where I was like, what are you waiting for? Like, what's, what's the hold up here? And I didn't have any, again, I didn't have any framework for like what apologetics were, I wasn't trying to make an argument or any sort of like, um, any sort of like persuasion. It was just a real raw like we are all loving this. We're all, we're all so joyful and happy. The lives are changing and we. This is real, Dave, what, what are you waiting for? He never had a real answer. He, he didn't ever make an argument against the faith. He was very clear that he believed that God was real. He believed that God existed, that the sort of the facts of the gospel were true. Like he, he, um, to sort of put like theological language on it, um, he had, he had a ticia and a census, right? Right. He, he acknowledged he knew the true facts of the gospel and he acknowledged the reality that, that those facts were true. He just never actually took the step to trust in Jesus. And I don't know what happened to Dave. Uh, there's another friend of mine named Theo that very similar kind of situation. I don't know what happened to Dave and Theo. I have no idea whether they eventually came to faith or not, but, but it was like, you guys never know when the day in the hours. That's the kind of person that I think this is pointing to.  [00:35:15] Against Rapture Ready Fear [00:35:15] Tony Arsenal: Not necessarily the person within the church, um, who has made some sort of credible profession of faith, but thinks, but like, because like they haven't stopped swearing yet, or because they still have lustful thoughts once in a while. Like I think that's the rapture ready theology is like. You better not hope that like that's the day that a pretty girl walks by and you have a lutful thought. 'cause if Jesus comes back right after that, you're really in trouble. Like those are, those are actually, um, again, this is, this is a caricature of dispensationalism, but it's a caricature that I experienced. It's, it was people who were being characters of themselves. Right? This idea that, look, you better, you better not sin ever. You better not be asleep. And being asleep means sinning. You better not ever sin. Because if you happen to sin right before the rapture, then Jesus is gonna leave you behind. Right? You're not gonna fly up in the clouds if you're not perfectly rapture ready. And like, again, not all dispensationalist are like that. I actually think most dispensationalist these days would probably not fit into that category. Right? But when I was coming to faith in the late nineties and early two thousands, that was the real theology being presented. I don't think that's what this is. This is about a life orientation of preparedness. This is about an entire life. Yes. That is prepared for Christ's second coming or for the hour of our death. And that the only way to be prepared for that is to be happy in Christ, is to be blessed, blessed assurance, like to have your blessed assurance because Jesus is mine. Oh, what a, you know, oh, what a happy delight like that is. The only way to be ready for death, to be prepared for the end is to turn to Jesus. It's not about whether or not you've turned to Jesus and have become perfectly sinless. None of us are like that, right? It's not about, I just got done writing this series of articles on John Piper's affectional theology, affectional Justification, like it's not about perfectly treasuring Christ. There are gonna be times where your emotions do not sync up with what you actually believe. It's not about being perfectly obedient or wanting to be perfectly obedient. It's about trusting Jesus. And there's only one day an hour that that opportunity closes, and you never know when that is, when that day an hour is gonna be. [00:37:26] Wise Versus Foolish [00:37:26] Jesse Schwamb: We know that to be true in this particular parable because of what's written for us in verse two, how Jesus himself bifurcates and labels these two groups. He says five of them were foolish and five were wise. So Christ himself introduces the critical distinction, not of course, with reference to whatever the external practice is, because both of these groups are carrying lamps, both weight, both know the bridegroom is coming, but with an interior character judgment one is literally foolish, which is the same contrast that Christ employs actually in the parable of the two builders at the conclusion of the Sermon on the Mount, where the wise man hears and does, while the foolish man hears, but does not translate hearing into obedient transformation. So I'm with you on this. The terms carry, I think, significant Old Testament fruit because in the all the wisdom literature, wisdom is synonymous with the fear of the Lord, that true knowledge of God, right? And that practical orientation, I think as you were saying, of one's entire life toward God. The fool is not like an intellectual simpleton, but it's a world spiritual category. It's one who lives as though God does not exist or God does not matter, or refuses in the light of incontrovertible evidence to come before God and to submit to him In this way. They are foolish or they are wise. And so again, I like what you're saying. It's not as if like they've just exhibited some kind of quick departure or they've fallen into temptation or sinfulness, but instead, rather, there's something way larger at stake here with respect to a spiritual category. And I think that's really what Jesus is after, as he's bringing these two groups apart from each other, explaining that essentially that they access the same things. They heard the same stuff, they had the same on the outward, at least the same priorities, but the true internal character, the interior character of who they were, was not compatible. These are not the the same kind of person.  [00:39:20] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah.  [00:39:21] All Virgins Fall Asleep [00:39:21] Tony Arsenal: And this is actually something, um, that I hadn't picked up on before. Right. I think we can get into these ruts when we're reading and understanding, uh, the scripture, especially really familiar passages like this. Um, probably like at some point in the past, someone has taught it to me in this way. I heard a sermon or I heard it at a youth group in a particular way, and I just never really went back. The, the wise virgins also fall asleep.  [00:39:46] Jesse Schwamb: Exactly.  [00:39:46] Tony Arsenal: Like, like that, that's amazing to me, like Right. I've always heard this passage as though like, falling asleep is the equivalent of spiritual death.  [00:39:54] Jesse Schwamb: Yes. [00:39:55] Tony Arsenal: But the reality is, in this passage, the difference between the wise and the foolish virgins is not that they, one of them stays awake and one of them falls asleep. One, the, the, the difference between the wise and the foolish is that the ones that are wise are prepared for when the bride root clump comes, even though they fell asleep and, and actually, uh, they're, they're shown to be even more wise because they all fell asleep. Yes. Right. If they hadn't fallen asleep, then the foolish ones probably would've had time to go get more. But the, the wise virgins in this, uh. And not only were they wise in terms of like they had the stuff they needed, they were ready to go, but so wise that in fact their wisdom overcame sort of this happenstance that they were in a state of, of preparedness being asleep when the comes is a state of Unpreparedness, but they have able to compensate for the ready in every other area. And I think this also kind of like mitigates away away from the idea of like the, um. The, the emphasis of the parable here, the readiness of the par of the virgins is not based on the wakefulness of the virgins, right? Yes. The virgins are ready because they have the supplies they need. Right. They're not Exactly, they're not exactly, they're not un 'cause they fell asleep. They're ready because they've, they've prepared by purchasing the supplies they need, by having the supplies they need when the breadroom comes. That's true. Whether they fall asleep or not. So I think like this whole parable needs to sort of like be reoriented in reference to the way a lot of us have, A lot of us have been taught and understood this parable. I was always taught that the, the foolish virgins were foolish because they fell asleep. Yeah, that's probably partially true in that it's foolish to fall asleep when you're waiting for something, but that can't be the only thing that makes them foolish. 'cause it doesn't make the other virgins foolish. [00:41:51] Jesse Schwamb: Yes, exactly.  [00:41:52] Oil As Saving Grace [00:41:52] Jesse Schwamb: And that's why it's so interesting that Jesus basically doubles down or elaborates in verses three and four by saying for when the foolish took their lamps. They took no oil with them. Yeah, but the wises took flasks of oil with their lambs. I think it's actually, as you're, I think leading us into like the theological height of this whole thing, the foolish virgins took their lambs, but no oil. The wise took lambs and extra oil in vessels. And of course the lambs cannot burn without oil in the same way. I think what we're led to believe here is profession without grace has no sustaining power. So I know like throughout church history, this idea of the oil has been interpreted in various ways, in various forms. I think there's a lot of unification though on the point that the oil is more or less like a representation of the grace of the Holy Spirit. That like specific indwelling regenerating, sanctifying presence of the spirit imparted in effectual calling and genuine conversion. And that's why I think this has a lot in common with both like the tears and the wheat parable. But also what you've been saying about the time that is appointed onto a man to die, either for Christ to return or just for you and I to die. And so this understanding, I think is consistent with the Old Testament symbolic use of, like you said before, anointing oil is a sign of the spirit's presence. Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit. And so I'm seeing here like this oil is, I mean, is it going too far to say almost like a saving grace? It's, it's not common grace, it's not the gifts of the spirit, which the reprobate may possess, but I think we're, we're seeing here like that special sanctifying preserving grace, which is inseparable from true election and calling. [00:43:29] Tony Arsenal: Yeah, I mean, I think that's spot on. While you were talking, I was actually just looking up, uh, what Calvin has to say on this. I, I think it's funny because I constantly am saying things that I feel like I'm discovering for myself in real time. But if I actually just took the, a little bit of time to read some of our great sources a little more carefully, I would run into them. This is what he says. He says on, uh, verse five, he says, some interpret this slumbering in a bad sense as if believers along with others abandon themselves sloth. And they were, they were asleep amidst the vanities of the world. This is all together inconsistent with the intention of Christ as structure of the parable. [00:44:05] Slow Down And Read [00:44:05] Tony Arsenal: Like I think it's clear now here as we're working through this and this, and this is the main benefit, um, of taking time to just walk through the parables, any, any text of scripture, but the parables is what we're looking at. Taking time to just actually slow down and read them. I didn't intend to get to like a whole discussion about Bible reading plans, but the typical, I'm gonna read the Bible through, uh, the entire Bible in a year that typically has you reading three to five chapters a day is the average. That's probably too much if you want to be reading for understanding. And there is, there's definitely value. I've, I've commented in the past, there's huge value in reading large tracks of scripture all at the same time. Like if you wanna sit down over 10 chapters of Scripture day and you've got the time and the energy and the discipline to do it, then more power to you. But I think it's not realistic to think you're gonna sit down and read 10 chapters of scripture and have good comprehension and retention of the 10 chapters that you read. This is a really good example of that. If you sit down and you read three chapters, you're gonna be reading this, you're gonna be reading, uh, another parable. The parable of the talents you are gonna be reading. You know, the all of it discourse all at the same time, all in one sitting. Um, it's not until just now when I slowed down to really look at these passages, verse by verse individually and take an hour to discuss 13 verses with my brother-in-law in front of a microphone, right? Then I realized all of the virgins fall asleep. Like that's the kind of stuff that you really only, um, you only overcome. The assumed teaching that you heard when you were in high school, 15, you know, 15, 20 years ago at a summer camp. You really only overcome that when you slow down enough to read things and actually comprehend them. So that's not much of a commentary on the passage, but it is something that I'm learning as we do these parable studies. Just slow down, slow down and read them, read them multiple times, read it over and over again. Um, it is totally fine. The, this is the last, uh, Bible reading soapbox thing I'll say tonight. Um, I think like, because. Of the influence of like expository preaching and like wanting to read things in, in context, and all of those things are good. I think there is this tendency to think that if you sit down and just read a very short portion of scripture, that you're kind of automatically taking that out of context. I don't think that's the case. Like it's totally fine to sit down in the morning and go, you know what? I've got, I've got 10 minutes, I've got five minutes. I've got two minutes before the kids are up. I've got two minutes before the bus stop, you know, before the bus gets here. I'm standing at the bus stop. I've got 30 seconds before the coffee's done. It's totally fine to open your Bible app. And read two or three verses of scripture, that's a totally fine thing to do. It's totally fine because you've got 10 minutes before the kids got up. Oh, and by the way, you've gotta unload the dishwasher before they do. Totally fine to sit down and go, I've got time to read 13 verses of scripture today. So that's what I'm gonna get done. Um, and, and then just think about those things like meditate on those scriptures all day. I just think there's a lot of values to that and that's maybe that's my takeaway from this episode. I know like that's not a takeaway directly related to this passage. That's good. But I think we can oftentimes. Have and understand that isn't right because we've been taught it and we don't ever have the time or space in our life to like realize that what we were taught is maybe exactly right. This is like something so obvious on the surface of the text. It didn't even take any real thought. It just took slowing down and actually reading the words  [00:47:45] Jesse Schwamb: right. It's also a good reminder, like we said from the beginning, that our goal here shouldn't be to torture every detail, to like press it for some kind of allegorical significance.  [00:47:55] Tony Arsenal: Yes.  [00:47:55] Jesse Schwamb: But to take it on the face and to understand in context what's being said. And by context I just mean the context of the story. Of the accounts of the drama that's unfolding. And it is pretty remarkable that all 10 virgins sleep, that maybe even as you start with the details might not be your impression that that was gonna be, was gonna be the difference here, but both the wises and the foolish alike fall asleep. So to me, the parable is not condemning sleep per se, but I think it's the absence of oil which the sleep merely reveals, right? That's the critical detail here. And so Jesus delivers that to us and that's why it's, I think, important to think about these, these variables about what the oil represents and the context in which they're tested with their preparedness. But it's not because like they had it almost times you get the impression, it's like what we're saying here is the wise had more stamina, that they were the ones that were just willing to tough it out, and they knew the bridegroom was coming. And so as a result of that, they decided that they were going to ensure that they stayed awake, even if they had the drink, a couple of extra cups of coffee, just to make sure that was the case. But really their sleepiness, which they both have to endure, is the very context in which proves that they do are not prepared by having sufficient oil, not that they're unprepared by having sufficient energy or stamina.  [00:49:18] Prepared Despite Fatigue [00:49:18] Jesse Schwamb: Well, with all.  [00:49:21] Tony Arsenal: Yeah, that's a good takeaway too, is, is we all, um, we all will succumb to temptation in this life,  [00:49:32] Jesse Schwamb: right? [00:49:33] Tony Arsenal: Right. Every single one of us. And even if we think of sleeping in this negative sense, which I think we probably need to move away from it, even if we do, I think the point that you're making is really good, for instance, between the foolish and the wises is not their ability to stay awake. So I do think that, I do think there's a slightly negative connotation to drowsy and slept here. Like I think that, I think it's intended to show some level of fatigue. Fatigue, maybe not like a moral right, maybe not a moral, uh, negativity, but there's a fatigue. There's something that overcomes both wise and foolish virgins in this parable. Fatigue and drowsiness overcomes them and they sleep. And it's because the bridegroom was delayed, right? We wanna talk about eschatology, right? This is probably also more a commentary on the church as a whole. The church becomes drowsy and sleeps right, and then there's the foolish and the wise. The foolish are the ones who are not prepared even though they are drowsy and sleep. And then there's the wise who are foolish, or the wises who are prepared and are drowsy and sleep. But E, either way, if we think of drowsy and sleep, even in moral negative terms, right? All of us will succumb to temptation. All of us will succumb to sin in this life. I would even go so far as to say all of us sin in every moment of our life in that we never love God. Truly. Yes. With our full hearts and souls. You got that right soul the way that we're, we're commanded to. Right. Right. So all of us become drowsy and sleep. The difference is not in those who pull themselves up by their bootstraps and tape their eyelids open so that they don't fall asleep. Right. I don't, I don't know if you ever like had trouble staying awake in school, but I used to, like I used to sit at my desk with my pencil under my chin. Oh my Lord. So if I started to fall asleep, it would like jab me and I would wake up so I could stay awake in school. Oh. It's not about like gimmicks to stay awake.  [00:51:20] Jesse Schwamb: Right, right.  [00:51:21] Tony Arsenal: It's about the fact that those of us who have trusted Christ. Have received the oil. Yes. So even when we sleep, yes. Even when we are drowsy, even when we are overcome by the fatigue that prevents us from, uh, from resisting sin. Right. Even when that happens, we still have the oil. We still have the grace of the Holy Spirit. We still have the empowering presence and the, the, the justifying reality of Christ's death For us, in my mind as I read this parable, that really is what it is, right? Get the oil, go get the stinking oil now, because you never know when the day or hour is coming. Mm-hmm. Whether that's the day or the hour that you fall asleep and you're not prepared, or whether that's the day or the hour that the bridegroom was, even if you're awake. That's the other element of this. Even if the virgins had stayed awake, they didn't have the oil.  [00:52:11] Jesse Schwamb: Yes.  [00:52:12] Tony Arsenal: So it it's not as though, it's not as though had they stayed awake, they would've had time to go get the oil and come back. They, they wake up right away. Like there's nothing in the parable that's like, oh, it took 'em a little while to get up. So that's why they didn't have time to get the oil. They, they didn't have time to get the oil. 'cause there wasn't time to get the oil  [00:52:31] Jesse Schwamb: right.  [00:52:32] Tony Arsenal: So the only way you're going to be properly prepared when the bridegroom comes is if you already have the oil and you're already ready to go. Regardless of whether you fall asleep or not.  [00:52:42] Gospel Call Get Oil [00:52:42] Tony Arsenal: So I, I think, I think we have to kind of close this with like a gospel, a gospel call here. Like we don't do this very often on the show, and I think the vast majority of our show are professed, regenerate Christians. I don't, I don't know anyone who listens to the show that is outwardly not a Christian, but I think this is a time for us to say, listen, if you are hearing the sound of my voice, be diligent to make your calling an election. Sure. And that both takes the form of what Peter talks about, where he talks about growing in graces and walking in, walking in the qualities of holine

Göbekli Tepe continues to reveal the striking nature of humanity's past. Bernie Taylor arrives to add to the living mystery of the site, specifically the Great Mother Goddess. We'll explore the deep prehistoric foundations of Ephesus, tracing its roots back to ancient matriarchal Anatolian civilizations and the maternal lineages of early humanity. He'll examine the cultural shift from these indigenous traditions and the legendary influence of Amazonian queens to the rise of patriarchal structures in the Greco-Roman era. Finally, Bernie uncovers the enduring symbolic legacy of the Mother Goddess, revealing a continuous spiritual thread that connects prehistoric birthing figures to the venerated Lady of Ephesus. More on Bernie: https://beforeorion.com/ Göbekli Tepe continues to reveal the striking nature of humanity's past. Bernie Taylor arrives to add to the living mystery of the site, specifically the Great Mother Goddess. We'll explore the deep prehistoric foundations of Ephesus, tracing its roots back to ancient matriarchal Anatolian civilizations and the maternal lineages of early humanity. He'll examine the cultural shift from these indigenous traditions and the legendary influence of Amazonian queens to the rise of patriarchal structures in the Greco-Roman era. Finally, Bernie uncovers the enduring symbolic legacy of the Mother Goddess, revealing a continuous spiritual thread that connects prehistoric birthing figures to the venerated Lady of Ephesus. More on Bernie: https://beforeorion.com/ Get The Occult Elvis: https://amzn.to/4jnTjE4 Virtual Alexandria Academy: https://thegodabovegod.com/virtual-alexandria-academy/ Gnostic Tarot Readings: https://thegodabovegod.com/gnostic-tarot-reading/ The Gnostic Tarot: https://www.makeplayingcards.com/sell/synkrasis Homepage: https://thegodabovegod.com/ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/aeonbyte AB Prime: https://thegodabovegod.com/members/subscription-levels/ Voice Over services: https://thegodabovegod.com/voice-talent/ Support with donation: https://buy.stripe.com/00g16Q8RK8D93mw288 Merch store: https://aeonbyte.creator-spring.com/ Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

In this episode of Theologically Driven, host Phil Cecil sits down with Dr. Ryan Meyer to explore one of the most challenging topics in New Testament studies: Paul's view of slavery. Before diving into Paul's letters, Dr. Meyer lays essential groundwork by unpacking what slavery actually looked like in the first-century Greco-Roman world — and it may surprise you.Dr. Meyer explains how slavery in Paul's day differed dramatically from the race-based chattel slavery of American history. In major Roman cities, up to a third of the population were enslaved. Slaves held roles ranging from household servants to doctors, teachers, ship captains, and city officials. Slavery was primarily a legal category, not an ethnic one, and manumission by age 30 was a reasonable expectation for many urban slaves.Yet none of that softens its fundamental evil. As Dr. Meyer puts it, what makes all slavery wrong — ancient or modern — is one image bearer owning another.This episode helps listeners avoid two common errors: minimizing how bad slavery was in order to defend Paul, or reading first-century texts through a purely modern lens. It's an honest, careful look at the historical context every reader of Paul's letters needs.

I can remember when I was just a lad, somewhere around ten years old, being in love with new experiences and ideas. The springboard for my interests as they are today came in the form of one Dr. George Knight, professor of New Testament at Hardin-Simmons University, and an accomplished field archaeologist. It just so happened that his brother-in-law, Reverend Wayne Keller, was the pastor at my church. Our congregation had the great fortune of Dr. Knight's leadership in a number of seasonal bible studies throughout the year. To my great delight, he always added tales of his work on archaeological sites in the Near East. That's really all it took for me, because I drank it all in, and it became part of me. I have ever since been an explorer: a direct result of the marriage of faith in Jesus Christ and academic enthusiasm. I have a BA in History from Hardin-Simmons University. I also have an MA in anthropology from Texas Tech University. This year I completed my PhD in history at Texas Tech University, focusing my studies on Early Christianity and Greco-Roman religions. I also study topics such as the survival of mythology, sacred geography, folk religion, and contemporary alternative religious movements. I grew up in a small town called Merkel, Texas. I went to school there, learned from such wonderful teachers as Chuck Roach, Lisa Amerine, Alvin O'Dell, and Lisa Walker. Merkel also afforded me the opportunity to learn how to play the guitar, and yes, be in a rock band, Black Pearl. The little hamlet of Merkel was a wonderful place to grow up. The present population is about 2500. Merkel has an intersting history, full of cultural vibrance, and at one point in time, it even had a college. So if you ever get the chance, visit Merkel. In my years I've had some interesting adventures. While playing in the marching band at Cisco Junior College, I visited Hawaii. I've also done archaeology on both sides of the globe: Texas and Israel. To top it all off, I've also been to Jordan, Denmark, and Mexico, and hope to add Ireland, Greece, Egypt, Thailand, Australia, Belize, and Vietnam to that list soon. Dr. Burton's Link: https://www.burtonbeyond.net/about-me   ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Gatineau/ Ottawa Sasquatch Conference link: https://slswebz.wixsite.com/gosc2026?fbclid=IwY2xjawRDrLpleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBzcnRjBmFwcF9pZBAyMjIwMzkxNzg4MjAwODkyAAEehxPNtIUmg4zVqLsqhjBJJuoi0uZzotPWAMMdg1iBeba6belugWDW5d9zE5s    

Ancient history just got an upgrade. Forget the ruins, empires and great thinkers of the Classical period and make way for escaped slaves, subversive pirates, and freethinking religious sects. These nonconformist communities rejected hierarchy and political order in favour of creating a more equitable society.Author, religious scholar and historian Christopher Zeichmann offers an alternative lens on the Greco-Roman era in his book called Radical Antiquity: Free Love Zoroastrians, Farming Pirates, and Ancient Uprisings.

We tend to imagine that the gospels were written by Christians for other Christians. But this week, Helen and Lloyd take a trip with Dr Daniel Glover, who has argued that the figure we now call Luke was writing for a cadre of well-educated, cultural elites. This in turn shapes the way that he presents Jesus, conforming to a range philosophical and mythological tropes. Daniel B. Glover is Assistant Professor of New Testament at Lee University. His research focuses on early Christianity within its broader Greco-Roman and ancient Mediterranean context, especially Luke–Acts, early Christology, deification, and ancient religion. Glover is the author of Patterns of Deification in the Acts of the Apostles (2022) and Jesus and Other Sons of God ( 2025), where he explores how Luke presents Jesus in dialogue with ancient Mediterranean ideas about divinity. In this's week bonus episode, Dr Glover discusses the dating of Luke-Acts. Support the showTheme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 produced by John Nelson. 

Randy Couture is a retired mixed martial artist, former UFC heavyweight and light heavyweight champion, and Olympic-level Greco-Roman wrestler known for his toughness, wrestling ability, and longevity in combat sports. Nicknamed “The Natural,” Couture became one of the UFC's biggest stars by winning world titles well into his 40s and competing against multiple generations of fighters. Outside the cage, he has worked as an actor, commentator, and entrepreneur, appearing in films like The Expendables franchise while helping bring MMA into the mainstream. Check out his new movie, Pitfall, in theaters May 29th.IN THE NEWS: Adam reacts to Netflix's Roast of Kevin Hart, breaks down a liberal PAC's attempt to attack Spencer Pratt that may have accidentally made him look even cooler, and discusses Magic Johnson endorsing Karen Bass for re-election while praising her leadership in Los Angeles.Get it on.FOR MORE WITH RANDY COUTURE:MOVIE: PitfallIn Theaters May 29INSTAGRAM: @xcnatch FOR MORE WITH ELISHA KRAUSS:INSTAGRAM: @elishakraussWEBSITE: elishakrauss.com JOURNAL: https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/author/elisha-krauss/LIVE SHOWS: May 14 - Covina, CA (Live Podcast)May 15 - Visalia, CAMay 16 - Modesto, CAMay 24 - Costa Mesa, CA (2 Shows)Thank you for supporting our sponsors:BetOnlineGo to https://hometitlelock.com/adamcarolla and use promo code ADAM to get a FREE title history report and a FREE TRIAL of their Triple Lock Protection! For details visit https://hometitlelock.com/warrantyMarathonRewards.comForThePeople.Com/ADAMoreillyauto.com/ADAMpluto.tvSimpliSafe.com/ADAMSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Revisiting the God-fearer Thesis in the Development of Early Christianity (T&T Clark, 2025) examines in depth the theory, evidence, and trail of scholarly work on god-fearers. Thomas A. Robinson argues for substantial revisions in the depiction of the god-fearer phenomenon, the story of early Christianity and its engagement with both Jews and with the larger Greco-Roman population. Robinson provides a thorough analysis of the god-fearer theory, examining scholarly debate and primary literary and inscriptional materials put forward as evidence for the god-fearer theory. Robinson begins with an exploration of the god-fearing community, its definition, or lack thereof, and its role as a bridge to Christianity in the Greco-Roman world. He then examines the key features of god-fearers, and the scholarly appeal to circumcision as the primary barrier preventing god-fearer conversion to Judaism. The volume concludes with an exploration of Luke's Acts and its readers and a thorough investigation of inscriptional and literary evidence supporting god-fearer theory. Thomas A. Robinson holds a PhD in Religious Studies from McMaster University, having majored in Judaism and Christianity in the Greco-Roman Era and minored in Indian Philosophy. He has taught world religions courses for over thirty years and has published several books on early and modern Christianity, co-authored a world religions text, and developed books and software for New Testament Greek. Among his other publications on early Christianity, he has authored Ignatius of Antioch and the Parting of the Ways: Early-Jewish Christian Relations (Hendrickson, 2009) and Who Were the First Christians? Dismanting the Urban Thesis (Oxford University Press, 2017). Jonathon Lookadoo is Associate Professor at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. While his interests range widely over the world of early Christianity, he is the author of books on the Epistle of Barnabas, Ignatius of Antioch, and the Shepherd of Hermas, including The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch (Cascade, 2023). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Paul wasn't just helping people get to heaven. Nijay Gupta joins me to make the case that Paul's letters were written for people trying to figure out how to live, not how to escape. Drawing from his new book Paul for the World, Nijay walks through the Greco-Roman world Paul was writing into - its economic disparity, its philosophies, its hunger for meaning - and shows how we can see our world similarly. The conversation moves through economics, the arts, the Stoics, and the resurrection to land on a grounded, new creation vision of the Christian life. This is a conversation about meaning, hope, and what it looks like to be fully alive in the world God hasn't given up on.Nijay K. Gupta (PhD, Durham University) is Julius R. Mantey Professor of New Testament at Northern Seminary. He is the coauthor (with A. J. Swoboda) of the book Slow Theology, cohost of the Slow Theology podcast, and founder of the popular Substack newsletter Engaging Scripture. Gupta is an award-winning author of numerous books, including Tell Her Story, Strange Religion, and commentaries on Galatians, Philippians, Colossians, and 1 and 2 Thessalonians. He is also a senior translator for the New Living Translation. Gupta lives in Portland, Oregon.Nijay's Book:Paul for the WorldNijay's Recommendation:God's HomecomingConnect with Joshua: jjohnson@shiftingculturepodcast.comGo to www.shiftingculturepodcast.com to interact and donate. Every donation helps to produce more podcasts for you to enjoy.Follow on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, Threads, Bluesky or YouTubeSupport the podcast and the ministry that my wife and I do around the world. Just click on the support the show link below NEW PODCAST: American Evangelicals - A History PodcastA thoughtful, deep dive into one of the most talked-about movements in American history.Support the show

In this quick and entertaining Ward Radio Angel Studios Special, host Cardon Ellis chats with director Tanner Christensen and legendary cinematographer/father T.C. Christensen about their inspiring documentary Standout: The Ben Kjar Story.Ben was born with Crouzon Syndrome and faced surgeries, bullying, and limitations — but he chose to stand out. He became a 3-time state wrestling champion, UVU's first NCAA All-American, and a world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling.Tanner and T.C. share father-son banter, how they turned a true story into a dramatic narrative documentary (not a slow wildlife film), the real challenges of being LDS filmmakers, brutal ward feedback, “prophet without honor” moments, and the powerful message: you weren't born to blend in — choose to stand out.Funny, honest, and uplifting in just 13 minutes!Watch the full movie Standout on Angel Studios now!#StandoutMovie #BenKjar #TannerChristensen #TCChristensen #WardRadio #AngelStudios #LDSFilmmakers #InspiringStoryChapter Markers (Timestamps):00:00 Welcome & Intro to the Q&A00:15 Who's the Better Filmmaker? Tanner vs T.C. Banter + New Balance Sneakers01:40 Dramatic Documentary Style (Not March of the Penguins)03:55 The Real Life of LDS Filmmakers & Ward Scrutiny06:10 Brutal Ward Feedback & “Prophet Without Honor” Stories08:55 The Core Message: Born Different, Choose to Stand Out10:50 Surgeon's Reaction & Final ThoughtsJoin this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnmsAFGrFuGe0obW6tkEY6w/joinAmazon Wish List: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1AQLMTSMBM4DC?ref_=wl_shareVisit us for this and more at: WardRadio.comTo subscribe to "The Women of Ward Radio" Youtube Channel, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbu-wpRztV-8TYXClhUZhhwTo Subscribe to Cardon Ellis' Adventure Channel, please visit: http://www.youtube.com/@CardonEllisAdventuresThe following authors and/or sponsors are generously offering discounts on their gospel-related publication to Ward Radio listeners.⚡For free trial of Scripture Notes please visit the following link!: https://scripturenotes.com/?via=wardradio⚡For a discount on Tiny 3D Temples, Save 15% with code WARDRADIO at checkout or visit tiny3dtemples.com/wardradio⚡Family: A Rhyming Proclamation for Kids book visit the following linkhttps://plainandpreciouspublishing.com/products/family-a-rhyming-proclamation-for-kids . Use the code "Ward Radio" for 10% off. ⚡To Order Jonah's Book, “Lost Gems of Genesis” visit the following link and use coupon Code: WARDRADIO https://plainandpreciouspublishing.com/products/coming-soon-the-lost-gems-of-genesis-how-apocryphal-texts-prove-joseph-smith-fixed-the-bibleFor 10% off Plain and Precious Publishing Books, visit plainandpreciouspublishing.com and use Coupon Code: WARDRADIOFor a 5% discount on Go and Do Travel, visit goanddotravel.com and use the promo code WARDRADIO5#christian #mormon #exmormon #latter-daysaints #latterdaysaints #latterdays #bible #bookofmormon #archaeology #BYU #midnightmormons #jesus #jesuschrist #scriptures #sundayschool #biblestudy #christiancomedy #cardonellis #kwakuel #bradwitbeckTo support the channel:Venmo @WardRadio or visit: https://account.venmo.com/u/MidnightMormonsPaypal: paypal.me/@midnightmedia CashApp: $WardRadioFollow us at:Instagram: @cardonellis @kwakuel @braderico @boho.birdyFacebook: @WardRadioWorldwideTwitter: WardRadioShowTikTok: WardRadioWorldwide

Revisiting the God-fearer Thesis in the Development of Early Christianity (T&T Clark, 2025) examines in depth the theory, evidence, and trail of scholarly work on god-fearers. Thomas A. Robinson argues for substantial revisions in the depiction of the god-fearer phenomenon, the story of early Christianity and its engagement with both Jews and with the larger Greco-Roman population. Robinson provides a thorough analysis of the god-fearer theory, examining scholarly debate and primary literary and inscriptional materials put forward as evidence for the god-fearer theory. Robinson begins with an exploration of the god-fearing community, its definition, or lack thereof, and its role as a bridge to Christianity in the Greco-Roman world. He then examines the key features of god-fearers, and the scholarly appeal to circumcision as the primary barrier preventing god-fearer conversion to Judaism. The volume concludes with an exploration of Luke's Acts and its readers and a thorough investigation of inscriptional and literary evidence supporting god-fearer theory. Thomas A. Robinson holds a PhD in Religious Studies from McMaster University, having majored in Judaism and Christianity in the Greco-Roman Era and minored in Indian Philosophy. He has taught world religions courses for over thirty years and has published several books on early and modern Christianity, co-authored a world religions text, and developed books and software for New Testament Greek. Among his other publications on early Christianity, he has authored Ignatius of Antioch and the Parting of the Ways: Early-Jewish Christian Relations (Hendrickson, 2009) and Who Were the First Christians? Dismanting the Urban Thesis (Oxford University Press, 2017). Jonathon Lookadoo is Associate Professor at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. While his interests range widely over the world of early Christianity, he is the author of books on the Epistle of Barnabas, Ignatius of Antioch, and the Shepherd of Hermas, including The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch (Cascade, 2023). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/religion

Revisiting the God-fearer Thesis in the Development of Early Christianity (T&T Clark, 2025) examines in depth the theory, evidence, and trail of scholarly work on god-fearers. Thomas A. Robinson argues for substantial revisions in the depiction of the god-fearer phenomenon, the story of early Christianity and its engagement with both Jews and with the larger Greco-Roman population. Robinson provides a thorough analysis of the god-fearer theory, examining scholarly debate and primary literary and inscriptional materials put forward as evidence for the god-fearer theory. Robinson begins with an exploration of the god-fearing community, its definition, or lack thereof, and its role as a bridge to Christianity in the Greco-Roman world. He then examines the key features of god-fearers, and the scholarly appeal to circumcision as the primary barrier preventing god-fearer conversion to Judaism. The volume concludes with an exploration of Luke's Acts and its readers and a thorough investigation of inscriptional and literary evidence supporting god-fearer theory. Thomas A. Robinson holds a PhD in Religious Studies from McMaster University, having majored in Judaism and Christianity in the Greco-Roman Era and minored in Indian Philosophy. He has taught world religions courses for over thirty years and has published several books on early and modern Christianity, co-authored a world religions text, and developed books and software for New Testament Greek. Among his other publications on early Christianity, he has authored Ignatius of Antioch and the Parting of the Ways: Early-Jewish Christian Relations (Hendrickson, 2009) and Who Were the First Christians? Dismanting the Urban Thesis (Oxford University Press, 2017). Jonathon Lookadoo is Associate Professor at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. While his interests range widely over the world of early Christianity, he is the author of books on the Epistle of Barnabas, Ignatius of Antioch, and the Shepherd of Hermas, including The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch (Cascade, 2023). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/biblical-studies

Revisiting the God-fearer Thesis in the Development of Early Christianity (T&T Clark, 2025) examines in depth the theory, evidence, and trail of scholarly work on god-fearers. Thomas A. Robinson argues for substantial revisions in the depiction of the god-fearer phenomenon, the story of early Christianity and its engagement with both Jews and with the larger Greco-Roman population. Robinson provides a thorough analysis of the god-fearer theory, examining scholarly debate and primary literary and inscriptional materials put forward as evidence for the god-fearer theory. Robinson begins with an exploration of the god-fearing community, its definition, or lack thereof, and its role as a bridge to Christianity in the Greco-Roman world. He then examines the key features of god-fearers, and the scholarly appeal to circumcision as the primary barrier preventing god-fearer conversion to Judaism. The volume concludes with an exploration of Luke's Acts and its readers and a thorough investigation of inscriptional and literary evidence supporting god-fearer theory. Thomas A. Robinson holds a PhD in Religious Studies from McMaster University, having majored in Judaism and Christianity in the Greco-Roman Era and minored in Indian Philosophy. He has taught world religions courses for over thirty years and has published several books on early and modern Christianity, co-authored a world religions text, and developed books and software for New Testament Greek. Among his other publications on early Christianity, he has authored Ignatius of Antioch and the Parting of the Ways: Early-Jewish Christian Relations (Hendrickson, 2009) and Who Were the First Christians? Dismanting the Urban Thesis (Oxford University Press, 2017). Jonathon Lookadoo is Associate Professor at the Presbyterian University and Theological Seminary in Seoul, South Korea. While his interests range widely over the world of early Christianity, he is the author of books on the Epistle of Barnabas, Ignatius of Antioch, and the Shepherd of Hermas, including The Christology of Ignatius of Antioch (Cascade, 2023). Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies

Gaius and Germanicus debate in their favorite wine bar by the Thames, in Londinium, Spring 92 AD. This discussion examines the metamorphosis of the American Republic into an Empire by analyzing the symbolic use of architecture and statuary. The hosts reflect on the "emperor's" recent unveiling of a golden statue of himself at a golf course, capturing his image following an assassination attempt. Germanicus identifies this as a "lineal connection to Rome," specifically the period when emperors began to ascend into godhood to legitimate their authority—a shift from the early republic's focus on celebrating civic heroes like George Washington. While Washington rejected kingship and was memorialized by a sacred obelisk, modern leaders are seen as adopting "Egyptian or Babylonian-like" temple tropes, such as presidential libraries. The conversation further critiques the "emperor's" plan to build an "arch of exaltation" and a massive ballroom in Washington D.C. Unlike classical Roman arches that celebrated state victories with balanced proportions, this proposed arch is described as a narcissistic extrapolation that lacks a compelling rationale and ignores traditional aesthetics. Finally, the hosts discuss the symbolism of gold, noting its association with the "Sun King" Louis XIV rather than traditional Greco-Roman statuary, suggesting a drift toward monarchical and discontinuous design. (1/3)1583 LIVY

In this inspiring full episode from Ward Radio at Angel Studios, Cardon Ellis sits down with Tanner Christensen, Brad Witbeck, and T.C. Christensen to discuss the powerful new documentary:Standout: The Ben Kjar Story.Born with Crouzon Syndrome—a rare craniofacial condition—doctors told Ben his life would be limited by surgeries, bullying, and differences. Instead, with incredible family support and faith, he defied the odds to become a 3-time high school state champion, Utah Valley University's first NCAA All-American wrestler, and a world champion in Greco-Roman wrestling.This conversation dives deep into the making of the film, the real-life triumphs and challenges, the power of community (especially in Latter-day Saint culture), and why this story transcends any one faith—it's about choosing to stand out rather than blend in. Funny, emotional, and motivating, this is a must-watch for anyone facing adversity.Watch the full movie Standout on Angel Studios or digital platforms.Use coupon code: FREEANGELSHIRT on the WardRadio.com Merch Store*(WHEN YOU BUY ANY SHIRT OR HAT)******YOU MUST STATE YOUR SIZE IN THE MESSAGE BOX OF YOUR ORDER*****FIRST TEN (10) CUSTOMERS#StandoutMovie #BenKjar #InspiringStory #OvercomingAdversity #Wrestling #Faith #LDS #AngelStudiosChapter Markers:00:00 Intro & Welcome to Angel Studios01:20 The Standout Story: Ben Kjar's Journey with Crouzon Syndrome03:45 Wrestling Against the Odds – State Champion & All-American06:30 How the Film Was Made – Documentary vs. Entertainment09:15 The Role of Family, Community & Faith12:40 Universal Lessons: Standing Out in Any Culture15:50 Working with Family & Behind-the-Scenes Stories18:30 Final Thoughts & Why You Need to Watch This MovieJoin this channel to get access to perks:https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCnmsAFGrFuGe0obW6tkEY6w/joinAmazon Wish List: https://www.amazon.com/hz/wishlist/ls/1AQLMTSMBM4DC?ref_=wl_shareVisit us for this and more at: WardRadio.comTo subscribe to "The Women of Ward Radio" Youtube Channel, please visit: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbu-wpRztV-8TYXClhUZhhwTo Subscribe to Cardon Ellis' Adventure Channel, please visit: http://www.youtube.com/@CardonEllisAdventuresThe following authors and/or sponsors are generously offering discounts on their gospel-related publication to Ward Radio listeners.⚡For free trial of Scripture Notes please visit the following link!: https://scripturenotes.com/?via=wardradio⚡For a discount on Tiny 3D Temples, Save 15% with code WARDRADIO at checkout or visit tiny3dtemples.com/wardradio⚡Family: A Rhyming Proclamation for Kids book visit the following linkhttps://plainandpreciouspublishing.com/products/family-a-rhyming-proclamation-for-kids . Use the code "Ward Radio" for 10% off. ⚡To Order Jonah's Book, “Lost Gems of Genesis” visit the following link and use coupon Code: WARDRADIO https://plainandpreciouspublishing.com/products/coming-soon-the-lost-gems-of-genesis-how-apocryphal-texts-prove-joseph-smith-fixed-the-bibleFor 10% off Plain and Precious Publishing Books, visit plainandpreciouspublishing.com and use Coupon Code: WARDRADIOFor a 5% discount on Go and Do Travel, visit goanddotravel.com and use the promo code WARDRADIO5#christian #mormon #exmormon #latter-daysaints #latterdaysaints #latterdays #bible #bookofmormon #archaeology #BYU #midnightmormons #jesus #jesuschrist #scriptures #sundayschool #biblestudy #christiancomedy #cardonellis #kwakuel #bradwitbeckTo support the channel:Venmo @WardRadio or visit: https://account.venmo.com/u/MidnightMormonsPaypal: paypal.me/@midnightmedia CashApp: $WardRadioFollow us at:Instagram: @cardonellis @kwakuel @braderico @boho.birdyFacebook: @WardRadioWorldwideTwitter: WardRadioShowTikTok: WardRadioWorldwide

Welcome to Day 2856 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom – When Death Becomes Policy: How Christians Must Respond to a Dehumanizing System. Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2856 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps!   I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2856 of our Trek.   The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Our current series of Theology Thursday lessons is written by theologian and teacher John Daniels. I have found that his lessons are short, easy to understand, doctrinally sound, and applicable to all who desire to learn more of God's Word. John's lessons can be found on his website   theologyinfive.com.   Today's lesson is titled:  When Death Becomes Policy: How Christians Must Respond to a Dehumanizing System. The biblical view of human life begins with the most foundational truth in Scripture: “God created man in His own image” (Genesis 1 verse twenty-seven). Unlike the surrounding cultures of the ancient Near East, where only kings reflected divinity, Israel declared that every human being bore the image of Yahweh. This principle shaped the covenant people's moral and legal systems. The Law commanded care for the widow, the orphan, and the foreigner. It forbade the sacrifice of children. Justice was not a privilege for the strong. It was a duty toward the weak. The prophets reinforced this ethic repeatedly. Isaiah, Amos, Jeremiah, and Micah rebuked rulers not merely for idol worship, but for oppressing the poor, neglecting the sick, and perverting justice. Human life was sacred not because of economic output, but because it belonged to the Creator. The first segment is: Jesus and the Early Church Jesus expanded and embodied this ethic perfectly. He healed the sick, welcomed the outcast, and affirmed the dignity of the forgotten. He did not divide people by status or function. He saw them as lost sheep, image-bearers in need of restoration. This was not sentiment. It was theology in action. The early Church followed His example with startling results. In a Roman culture where the disabled were abandoned, the elderly discarded, and infants exposed to die, Christians responded with radical mercy. They rescued infants from trash heaps. They nursed the sick during plagues, often at the cost of their own lives. And most notably, they created something the world had never seen before: the hospital. The first true hospital was founded in the late fourth century by St. Basil the Great in Caesarea, Cappadocia. The Basilias was a large complex that included housing for the poor, medical treatment for the sick, and care for lepers. It was not a tool of state power or military strategy, but a direct expression of Christian love for those society rejected. Basil believed that if Christ healed the broken, then His followers must do the same. Other Christians followed his lead. St. Fabiola in Rome founded one of the first hospitals in the West. Monasteries across Europe established infirmaries, not only for monks, but for pilgrims, travelers, beggars, and the dying. The very word hospital comes from hospitalis, Latin for “guest,” reflecting the belief that in caring for the sick, Christians were receiving Christ Himself. This was revolutionary. The Greco-Roman world had temples for the healthy and private physicians for the elite, but no institutions devoted to caring for the poor and dying until Christians built them. Their actions were not driven by utility. They were driven by conviction: life matters because it is made by God, seen by Christ, and destined for eternity. That is the root. That is the legacy. And when modern systems again begin to measure lives by what they cost instead of what they are, Christians must not be silent. They must remember who they are. The second segment is: Hospice Is Not the Enemy It is important to be clear: this is not an argument against hospice or genuine palliative care. Hospice reflects the biblical ethic of compassion. It affirms that life has value even in suffering, and that dignity is preserved not by hastening death, but by honoring a person's final days with comfort and presence. The danger arises when that sacred view of life is replaced by a cold calculation. Instead of seeing the end of life as a transition, society begins to treat it as a solution to systemic and financial problems. When the vulnerable are seen as obstacles, death becomes a policy tool, and compassion is used to justify elimination. The third segment is: A Troubling Shift in Canada Nowhere is this more visible than in Canada. What began as Medical Assistance in Dying (MAiD) for those suffering from unbearable physical pain has quickly expanded into something far broader. In 2016, just over 1,000 Canadians ended their lives through MAiD. By 2022, that number had surged to over 13,000. It is now reportedly the sixth leading cause of death in the country. Even more troubling is who is now eligible. Increasingly, MAiD is offered not to those with terminal illness, but to those who are poor, mentally ill, or socially isolated. Some have requested euthanasia because they cannot afford housing or support services. Others have been told that medical treatment is not available, but MAiD is. Doctors have reported being pressured to bring up euthanasia as an option, even in cases where it would never have been considered before. And some policy experts have openly acknowledged that the healthcare system is overloaded and needs a centralized solution. Quietly, and without ever officially declaring it, death is being presented as that solution. The fourth segment is: Death as an Economic Decision One of the most disturbing elements of Canada's MAiD system is how these deaths are recorded. In several provinces, including British Columbia and Ontario, official guidance instructs physicians to list the person's underlying illness or condition as the cause of death, even when the immediate act involved a medically administered lethal substance. This is not a clerical oversight. In British Columbia, the College of Physicians and Surgeons directs providers to list MAiD in Part I(a) of the Medical Certificate of Death, but the manner of death is still to be recorded as “natural.” The underlying illness remains the official cause. In Ontario, physicians providing MAiD are required to notify the Office of the Chief Coroner, and the death certificate process generally follows similar lines, emphasizing the condition rather than the procedure. At the federal level, Health Canada's monitoring and reporting system collects MAiD data separately, but the death certificates provided to families and registered in provincial statistics are shaped by these regional protocols. In public datasets and vital statistics, a MAiD death may appear indistinguishable from a natural death. The effect is not only statistical. It reframes euthanasia as a quiet extension of medical care, rather than a deliberate, policy-driven act of ending life. This framing can soften moral and public resistance, making it easier to expand eligibility without backlash. The fifth segment is: When Consent Looks Like Coercion While MAiD is legally defined as voluntary, the real-world conditions under which many of these decisions are made raise serious ethical concerns. Patients have increasingly reported seeking MAiD due to poverty, homelessness, mental illness, or chronic but non-terminal suffering. When essential care is delayed or denied, and when death is positioned as the one guaranteed option, consent begins to look less like a choice and more like surrender. In 2022, a Canadian Forces veteran suffering from PTSD and a traumatic brain injury approached Veterans Affairs for help. Instead of receiving mental health support, he was offered MAiD. A woman named Denise, suffering from multiple chemical sensitivities, chose MAiD because she could not find safe housing. She was not terminally ill, but her pleas for accommodation went unanswered. A man with a degenerative brain condition applied for MAiD after struggling to get the in-home care he needed. His doctor admitted that with proper support, he would not have sought death. A 51-year-old woman with long COVID applied due to unrelenting pain and fatigue. She said she would have preferred to live, but her condition had become intolerable without treatment options. Roger Foley, a man with a neurological condition, recorded hospital staff suggesting assisted death would cost less than long-term care. A woman with scoliosis and fibromyalgia applied after she could no longer afford her medications. Poverty, not disease, drove her request. A homeless man in Ontario with schizophrenia requested MAiD, saying he could not bear another...

Does Western civilisation actually exist — or is it just a modern political myth? In this episode of the Quillette Cetera podcast, Zoe Booth speaks with classicist James Kierstead about the origins of the West, the “Greek miracle,” Christianity, monogamy, democracy, and the cultural foundations of modern civilisation. They discuss: Whether the West is real or an invented concept Ancient Greece and the origins of egalitarianism Why monogamy shaped Western civilisation Protestant guilt and modern culture Honour cultures vs dignity cultures Christianity, Judaism, and Greco-Roman civilisation Why the Industrial Revolution happened in the West Whether Western civilisation can survive without Christianity James Kierstead holds a BA in Classics from Oxford and a PhD in Political Science from Stanford University. 00:00 Intro to James Kierstead and his free speech issue at Victoria University03:35 Interview begins05:24 Taboos in Historical Discourse08:19 Chauvinism and Historical Narratives11:16 Cultural Identity and Modernization13:46 The Complexity of Modernization16:40 Cultural Traditions and Their Influence19:42 Monogamy and Western Values27:10 The Evolution of Monogamy and Polyamory29:48 Impact of Monogamy on Women32:52 The Roots of Western Egalitarianism34:36 The Greek Miracle: A Cultural Efflorescence40:04 Theories Behind Greek Egalitarianism45:38 Polygamy and Its Societal Implications48:40 Morality and Cultural Differences50:58 Japanese Culture and Honor53:35 The Influence of Ancient Greece55:51 Christianity and Its Roots58:25 The Nature of Religious Conversion01:00:16 Judeo-Christian Values and Greek Influence01:03:07 The Impact of the Levant on Global Culture01:06:42 Future of Western Civilization #WesternCivilization #AncientGreece #Christianity #History #Civilization #Quillette #Philosophy #Politics #JamesKierstead Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This episode is part of a special five-part miniseries examining James Madison's role in the American Revolution and the founding of the United States. As part of Montpelier's commemoration of the 250th anniversary of American independence, this series is funded by a grant from the Virginia American Revolution 250 Commission, in partnership with Virginia Humanities.In this final installment, Dr. Katie Crawford-Lackey sits down with Chris Pasch, Montpelier's archaeology field director, to examine one of the property's most symbolically charged structures: the Temple. Built around 1810 while Madison was serving as president, this open-air classical structure draws on Greco-Roman architectural tradition to embed the ideals of Enlightenment, liberty, and self-government directly into the landscape. Pasch brings both archaeological evidence and architectural history to what the Temple reveals about Madison's world. This episode closes the miniseries with a reminder that the Temple's meaning endures: informed, active citizenship is the foundation on which the American experiment still stands.This episode is supported in part by the Virginia Law Foundation.

This one's for all you autodidacts: if you have questions about any aspect of Greco-Roman antiquity, have trouble distinguishing between Phylas and Phrynichus, and are not sure where to turn when you are tearing through an ancient text and get stumped by some unfamiliar term, we've got you covered. This week Jeff and Dave walk us through the fascinating landscape of the most famous classical encyclopedias: Pauly Wissowa, Der Kleine Pauly, Der Neue Pauly, the CHCL (and how it differs from the CAH), and of course, the master map of classical scholarship, L'Année philologique. And in the second half, we explore the history and usefulness of that great granddaddy of them all, the Oxford Classical Dictionary, starting with the 1st ed. and extending to the 4th, digital form it now inhabits. So from Abacus to Zosimus, from Nichomachus to ancient gesturing, the Nerd is strong in this one. And, don't miss FlexCalls.com.

In the Greco-Roman world, gods were known to tame soundscapes, or acoustic landscapes. Zeus, Apollo, Orpheus, and other Classical deities demonstrated their power by bringing order to chaotic sound worlds, replacing cacophony with harmony. In late antiquity, Christians took up this archetype and applied it to Jesus. For many early Christians, the advent of Christ resembled the modern phenomenon of a musical key change, but on a grand scale: Jesus initiated a recalibration of the cosmic soundscape, ushering in a new world. However, according to many Christians in late antiquity, this universal key change was not yet complete. Late ancient Christians believed that they could participate in the ongoing sonic work of Christ by Christianizing the acoustic landscapes of the world.In Sounds for a New World: The Christianizing Soundscapes of Late Antiquity (Oxford UP, 2026), Dr. Philip Abbott explores how late ancient Christians envisioned themselves as participants in the worldwide retuning effort, harmonizing the Classical world to the new Christian reality. Rejecting the sounds of traditional Greco-Roman and Persian cultures, Christians advocated a variety of sonic practices to realize their grand retuning endeavor, including shouting, singing, silent meditation, chanting, and even belching. From the Latin West to the Syriac East, late ancient Christians formed a polyphonous chorus of diverse voices all joining in the great harmonizing work of Jesus as they Christianized the soundscapes of the world.For years, scholars have noted the monumental changes that took place in early Christianity during the so-called Constantinian Revolution. But Dr. Abbott turns our attention to an unexplored aspect of this transitional moment, arguing that it was not simply a political or religious revolution - it was a revolution of the senses. Central to this sensorial transformation was sound. As Christianity gained imperial power in the fourth century, Christians began the process of re-tuning the world for Christ. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

In the Greco-Roman world, gods were known to tame soundscapes, or acoustic landscapes. Zeus, Apollo, Orpheus, and other Classical deities demonstrated their power by bringing order to chaotic sound worlds, replacing cacophony with harmony. In late antiquity, Christians took up this archetype and applied it to Jesus. For many early Christians, the advent of Christ resembled the modern phenomenon of a musical key change, but on a grand scale: Jesus initiated a recalibration of the cosmic soundscape, ushering in a new world. However, according to many Christians in late antiquity, this universal key change was not yet complete. Late ancient Christians believed that they could participate in the ongoing sonic work of Christ by Christianizing the acoustic landscapes of the world.In Sounds for a New World: The Christianizing Soundscapes of Late Antiquity (Oxford UP, 2026), Dr. Philip Abbott explores how late ancient Christians envisioned themselves as participants in the worldwide retuning effort, harmonizing the Classical world to the new Christian reality. Rejecting the sounds of traditional Greco-Roman and Persian cultures, Christians advocated a variety of sonic practices to realize their grand retuning endeavor, including shouting, singing, silent meditation, chanting, and even belching. From the Latin West to the Syriac East, late ancient Christians formed a polyphonous chorus of diverse voices all joining in the great harmonizing work of Jesus as they Christianized the soundscapes of the world.For years, scholars have noted the monumental changes that took place in early Christianity during the so-called Constantinian Revolution. But Dr. Abbott turns our attention to an unexplored aspect of this transitional moment, arguing that it was not simply a political or religious revolution - it was a revolution of the senses. Central to this sensorial transformation was sound. As Christianity gained imperial power in the fourth century, Christians began the process of re-tuning the world for Christ. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the Greco-Roman world, gods were known to tame soundscapes, or acoustic landscapes. Zeus, Apollo, Orpheus, and other Classical deities demonstrated their power by bringing order to chaotic sound worlds, replacing cacophony with harmony. In late antiquity, Christians took up this archetype and applied it to Jesus. For many early Christians, the advent of Christ resembled the modern phenomenon of a musical key change, but on a grand scale: Jesus initiated a recalibration of the cosmic soundscape, ushering in a new world. However, according to many Christians in late antiquity, this universal key change was not yet complete. Late ancient Christians believed that they could participate in the ongoing sonic work of Christ by Christianizing the acoustic landscapes of the world.In Sounds for a New World: The Christianizing Soundscapes of Late Antiquity (Oxford UP, 2026), Dr. Philip Abbott explores how late ancient Christians envisioned themselves as participants in the worldwide retuning effort, harmonizing the Classical world to the new Christian reality. Rejecting the sounds of traditional Greco-Roman and Persian cultures, Christians advocated a variety of sonic practices to realize their grand retuning endeavor, including shouting, singing, silent meditation, chanting, and even belching. From the Latin West to the Syriac East, late ancient Christians formed a polyphonous chorus of diverse voices all joining in the great harmonizing work of Jesus as they Christianized the soundscapes of the world.For years, scholars have noted the monumental changes that took place in early Christianity during the so-called Constantinian Revolution. But Dr. Abbott turns our attention to an unexplored aspect of this transitional moment, arguing that it was not simply a political or religious revolution - it was a revolution of the senses. Central to this sensorial transformation was sound. As Christianity gained imperial power in the fourth century, Christians began the process of re-tuning the world for Christ. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/sound-studies

In the Greco-Roman world, gods were known to tame soundscapes, or acoustic landscapes. Zeus, Apollo, Orpheus, and other Classical deities demonstrated their power by bringing order to chaotic sound worlds, replacing cacophony with harmony. In late antiquity, Christians took up this archetype and applied it to Jesus. For many early Christians, the advent of Christ resembled the modern phenomenon of a musical key change, but on a grand scale: Jesus initiated a recalibration of the cosmic soundscape, ushering in a new world. However, according to many Christians in late antiquity, this universal key change was not yet complete. Late ancient Christians believed that they could participate in the ongoing sonic work of Christ by Christianizing the acoustic landscapes of the world.In Sounds for a New World: The Christianizing Soundscapes of Late Antiquity (Oxford UP, 2026), Dr. Philip Abbott explores how late ancient Christians envisioned themselves as participants in the worldwide retuning effort, harmonizing the Classical world to the new Christian reality. Rejecting the sounds of traditional Greco-Roman and Persian cultures, Christians advocated a variety of sonic practices to realize their grand retuning endeavor, including shouting, singing, silent meditation, chanting, and even belching. From the Latin West to the Syriac East, late ancient Christians formed a polyphonous chorus of diverse voices all joining in the great harmonizing work of Jesus as they Christianized the soundscapes of the world.For years, scholars have noted the monumental changes that took place in early Christianity during the so-called Constantinian Revolution. But Dr. Abbott turns our attention to an unexplored aspect of this transitional moment, arguing that it was not simply a political or religious revolution - it was a revolution of the senses. Central to this sensorial transformation was sound. As Christianity gained imperial power in the fourth century, Christians began the process of re-tuning the world for Christ. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In the Greco-Roman world, gods were known to tame soundscapes, or acoustic landscapes. Zeus, Apollo, Orpheus, and other Classical deities demonstrated their power by bringing order to chaotic sound worlds, replacing cacophony with harmony. In late antiquity, Christians took up this archetype and applied it to Jesus. For many early Christians, the advent of Christ resembled the modern phenomenon of a musical key change, but on a grand scale: Jesus initiated a recalibration of the cosmic soundscape, ushering in a new world. However, according to many Christians in late antiquity, this universal key change was not yet complete. Late ancient Christians believed that they could participate in the ongoing sonic work of Christ by Christianizing the acoustic landscapes of the world.In Sounds for a New World: The Christianizing Soundscapes of Late Antiquity (Oxford UP, 2026), Dr. Philip Abbott explores how late ancient Christians envisioned themselves as participants in the worldwide retuning effort, harmonizing the Classical world to the new Christian reality. Rejecting the sounds of traditional Greco-Roman and Persian cultures, Christians advocated a variety of sonic practices to realize their grand retuning endeavor, including shouting, singing, silent meditation, chanting, and even belching. From the Latin West to the Syriac East, late ancient Christians formed a polyphonous chorus of diverse voices all joining in the great harmonizing work of Jesus as they Christianized the soundscapes of the world.For years, scholars have noted the monumental changes that took place in early Christianity during the so-called Constantinian Revolution. But Dr. Abbott turns our attention to an unexplored aspect of this transitional moment, arguing that it was not simply a political or religious revolution - it was a revolution of the senses. Central to this sensorial transformation was sound. As Christianity gained imperial power in the fourth century, Christians began the process of re-tuning the world for Christ. This interview was conducted by Dr. Miranda Melcher whose book focuses on post-conflict military integration, understanding treaty negotiation and implementation in civil war contexts, with qualitative analysis of the Angolan and Mozambican civil wars. You can find Miranda's interviews on New Books with Miranda Melcher, wherever you get your podcasts. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/christian-studies

I call out to Isaiah: اخرج من الكتب القديمة (ukhruj min al-kutub al-qadīmah), come out of the old books as they came out. The world needs you now.Mahmoud Darwish said it under the siege of Beirut, in 1982, watching human flesh hung from the walls over the openings of the Old Testament. He knew what most of us still do not: that the scroll does not stay on the shelf. The prophet steps off the page. Each time the Gospel of Luke is proclaimed, Isaiah walks the streets of any empire that is using his book to justify injustice. The suffering slave, the mešullam (Isaiah 42:19), from the root ש־ל־מ (šin-lamed-mem), the one at peace, made whole through submission, comes out of the scroll without relent to face every generation each time the empire thinks it has buried him, and in every generation he is heard again, standing in the Decapolis, proclaiming what great things God has done (Luke 8:39).This is the test Luke puts to you, first at Gerasa, and then at the Commission of the Twelve.The Shepherd arrived on the contested shore, the Decapolis, ten cities imposed by Rome on Syro-Arabian nomadic land, and he did what the mešullam does. He drove the legion of Rome into the sea (Luke 8:32-33), the way Moses drove Pharaoh's chariots into the sea (Exodus 14:27-28), and the people of the city did exactly what the wilderness generation did at the meat-pots of Egypt (Exodus 16:3; Numbers 14:2-4). They said: “Leave us alone. We were better off in slavery.” They begged the Shepherd to go (Luke 8:37). And he did. The boat pulled away from the shore of Gerasa, and that boat was ἀποτινάσσω (apotinasso), the sandal shaken at the threshold of the entire region, the verb נטשׁ (naṭaš), from the root נ־ט־שׁ (nun-ṭet-šin), written across the water (1 Samuel 10:2; Jeremiah 12:7), the dust of the God who marches forward, deposited on the coastline of a city that loved its bondage. “I have forsaken my house. I have abandoned my heritage” (Jeremiah 12:7). The Gerasenes were cowards, and the Shepherd honored their cowardice the way the text always honors cowardice: he left them to it.But he did not leave the city.He sent the found man back.The Shepherd shook the dust and sent the prophet back into the city that had just been sealed with it. ὑπόστρεφε εἰς τὸν οἶκόν σου, καὶ διηγοῦ ὅσα σοι ἐποίησεν ὁ θεός (hupostrephe eis ton oikon sou, kai diegou hosa soi epoiesen ho theos), “return to your house, and describe what great things God has done for you” (Luke 8:39). That ὑποστρέφω (hupostrepho) is the root ש־ו־ב (šin-waw-bet), the turn God commands into the place where his name has been denied. Abraham returning from the valley of kings (Genesis 14:17). Moses returning to the mountain still breathing the stench of the calf (Exodus 32:30-31). Gideon returning to the camp (Judges 7:15). The found man is deployed into Greco-Roman imperial territory, as the suffering slave made whole through submission, and his presence in that city is a standing rebuke. A living testimony of mercy refused and judgment invited. He is Isaiah coming out of the old books. He is the mešullam walking the streets.The Gerasenes were blind with the blindness of Isaiah 6: “He has blinded their eyes and hardened their heart, lest they see with their eyes and turn” (Isaiah 6:9-10; cf. John 12:40; Matthew 13:14-15). That is the blindness God imposes on the arrogant so that his judgment is total for the sake of the poor's deliverance (Isaiah 61:1-2; Luke 4:18-19). The refusing city is blind in that sense. They saw the legion go into the sea but could not see what was staring them in the face.But the found man was blind with the blindness of the suffering slave in Isaiah 42: “Who is blind but my slave, or so deaf as my messenger whom I send?” (Isaiah 42:19). The mešullam. He did not see; he trusted that God saw on his behalf. He did not speak for himself; he spoke what Jesus sent him to speak (Luke 8:39). He carried nothing into the streets of the Decapolis except the command of the one who had found him.This is the commission Luke 9 delivers to the Twelve.συγκαλεσάμενος δὲ τοὺς δώδεκα (sunkalesamenos de tous dodeka), “having called the Twelve together,” ἔδωκεν αὐτοῖς δύναμιν καὶ ἐξουσίαν (edoken autois dunamin kai exousian), “he gave them power and authority,” καὶ ἀπέστειλεν αὐτοὺς (kai apesteilen autous), “and he sent them out” (Luke 9:1-2). With no staff. No bag. No bread. No money. No second tunic (Luke 9:3). Why? Because the suffering slave carries nothing. Because the mešullam does not defend himself. Because his Father said, “Be still, I am the one who fights for you, not you” (Exodus 14:13-14). Because if the Twelve carried a bag, they would be carrying David's crutch: the five smooth stones in the shepherd's pouch (1 Samuel 17:40); if they carried a second tunic, they would be hedging against the Father's provision (Matthew 6:25-33); if they carried bread, they would be trading in the coin of the city they were sent to judge. They are sent as the found man was sent: empty-handed, blind in the blindness of trust, deployed into contested territory as the living proclamation that the Lord's Shepherd has arrived.And at every threshold, one of two things happens. The household receives them, μένετε (menete), “remain” (Luke 9:4). What Paul commands as στήκετε (stekete, Galatians 5:1), ὑπομονή (hypomone, Romans 5:3-4), what the Qurʾan names صمود (ṣumūd) from the root ص-م-د (ṣād-mīm-dāl) (Qurʾan 112:2), this is your test, this is your Decapolis, this is the house where the prophet is received, or the house refuses them, and they ἀποτινάσσετε τὸν κονιορτὸν (apotinassete ton koniorton), they shake the dust (Luke 9:5), as the Shepherd shook it when the boat pulled away from Gerasa, the אָבָק (ʾabaq), from the root א־ב־ק (ʾalef-bet-qof), of Deuteronomy 28 (Deuteronomy 28:24). The cloud of the feet of the marching God in Nahum (Nahum 1:3). The plague-powder of Exodus 9 (Exodus 9:8-9). Deposited on the doorframe of the house that refused. The refuser نبذوه وراء ظهورهم (nabadhūhu warāʾa ẓuhūrihim), from the root ن-ب-ذ (nūn-bāʾ-dhāl), who casts the Book behind his back (Qurʾan, Sūrat Āl ʿImrān آل عمران “The Family of ʿImrān” 3:187; cf. Sūrat al-Baqarah البقرة “The Cow” 2:101). Two gestures, one movement. The Book behind the refuser's back. The dust behind the messenger's sandal. Both remain, recorded as evidence against those who reject the prophet until the Hour.The dust on the threshold and the prophet in the house are the same testimony. The dust is the judgment that severs the refusing city from its false peace. The prophet is the judgment that walks the streets of the city that refused, until the poor of that city hear and turn. Mercy is not leniency against judgment. Judgment itself is hope (Isaiah 26:8-9). Judgment is what cuts off your false hope in the sons of men (Psalm 146:3), the Satan who rules human institutions (2 Thessalonians 2:4, 9), so that in your darkness you can be found by the fierce light of God's voice (John 1:5; cf. Qurʾan, Sūrat al-Nūr النور “The Light” 24:35). The dust falls and the prophet walks, and both are the arm of the Lord that Isaiah names (Isaiah 53:1), revealed to whomever will believe the report (John 12:38).This week I discuss Luke 9:5. ★ Support this podcast on Patreon ★

Anchored: Becoming Like Christ - Jonathan Hurshman - a2cc.org. Watch our livestream Sundays @ 11:00am - vimeo.com/annarborcommunitychurch  Summary: Jonathan sets the stage by showing that a centered-set mindset only works if we have clear language for who and what is at the center—Jesus and his ways. He compellingly highlights our need for Christlikeness, reminding us that it is the whole point of the Christian life. The term itself means “little Christs”—people who imitate and resemble Jesus. Yet one of the failures of the Western Church, he notes, is that few of our coworkers and neighbors associate being “Christian” with becoming like Jesus. What if that were different? He then offers a thoughtful exposition of Philippians 2:5–11, grounding it in the Greco-Roman world, where status and achievement were everything—often gained at the expense of others. Against that backdrop, we see again and again that the way of Jesus is humility: a willing lowering of oneself for the good of others. Jonathan calls us to embrace this humble way as we seek to become like Christ in all things.  

As the writer to the Hebrew Christian community of Rome draws his sermon to a conclusion, he employs the rhetorical device of using exemplary heroes to urge his fellow congregation members to endure and remain faithful to Christ. In his absence, his fellow congregants were under a barrage of attack from Judaizers to deconvert back into Judaism. He has already shown throughout this sermon that Judaism was always meant to be superseded by a new covenant, which Christ has now delivered. He has also shown his audience that Christ is superior to angels, Moses, the priesthood - including the High Priest, and even the Tabernacle/Temple. Added to this, he has shown his audience that Mosaic Law with its ceremonies, rituals, and sacrifices all pointed to Christ. These things were mere shadows of Christ, who was the cause of these shadows. As he brings his sermon to its culmination he now reminds his fellow Jewish believers that the heroes of their Old Covenant were all commended by their faithful endurance. His list names ten men and women. This was not a typical list like the Greco-Roman lists of their heroes, this list included people who were martyred, who suffered, who experienced deprivation, and were shamed by their kin. Yet they endured in faithful commitment to Yahweh (Christ). These heroes thus buttress the author's call for them to do likewise and endure. This makes this sermon incredibly relevant for believers today who are often misled into watered-down presentations of Christianity and deceived by prosperity-preachers who misuse this text to claim that 'faith' is a force that can be used by believers to obtain health, wealth and happiness and be shielded against sickness, deprivation, or scorn.

John McKee delivers the April 2026 Outreach Israel News update. There are many people who will make claims about supposed paganism present in the Apostolic Writings (NT). And, this actually does extend to concluding that the account of Yeshua of Nazareth was adapted from Greco-Roman mythology. But this standard is seldom ever held to the Tanach (OT) itself, and supposed influences from Ancient Near Eastern mythology.

Description Christopher Perrin welcomes Dr. John Mark Reynolds for a extensive conversation about the renewal of classical education—and why the term classical often confuses more than it clarifies. Reynolds shares how family life, great teachers, and deep reading (especially C. S. Lewis and Plato) shaped his intellectual and spiritual journey, eventually drawing him into the classical Christian education movement. Together they explore how classical education is not nostalgia or narrow Greco-Roman elitism, but a living tradition rooted in wonder, dialectic, and a “great conversation” that has always been broader than the modern West. The conversation turns to virtue formation and liberal education, arguing that education should prepare students not only for work, but for judgment, sacrifice, and even death. Perrin and Reynolds also address how the classical movement can avoid becoming a guru-driven ideology, how it must remain open to science and modern technological change, and why false dichotomies distort educational debates. The episode closes with Reynolds' vision for St. Constantine School, a K–16 “grown backward” model that integrates tutorial-style liberal arts education with practical formation for diverse vocations.Episode OutlineWhy the question “What is classical education?” is harder than it sounds (and why it matters for renewal)The paradox of learning: the more you know, the more you know you don't know Reynolds' early formation: pastoral family life, reading, and learning to “get to the bottom” of ideasInfluential teachers and the life of wonder: Plato, the Socratic habit, and learning as lifelong pursuitReturning to Christian faith and integrating faith with the life of the mindWhy the word “classical” can mislead: the tradition is global, multi-ethnic, and not limited to Greco-Roman textsClassical education as the “great conversation”: local cultures rooted in mother tongue, connected to a shared metaphysical realityThe liberal arts, virtue, and human freedom: what education once aimed at (and what modern credentialing often replaces)Education as preparation to live well—and to die well: Plato, Scripture, and the moral seriousness of formationAvoiding two dangers in the renewal: guruism and ideological “compounds”Science, technology, and modernity: why classical education must have room for Newton (and for contemporary scientific callings)St. Constantine's model: tutorial liberal arts, K–16 integration, dual enrollment, and forming “souls fit for paradise”Where to learn more: St. Constantine's website and ongoing workKey Topics & TakeawaysClassical education is bigger than the word “classical.” The tradition is not inherently ethnocentric; its sources and conversations span regions and cultures, including the Near East and Africa.Wonder and dialectic are central. Reynolds frames classical learning as rooted in Socratic inquiry and a habit of getting to the bottom of things.Liberal education aims at freedom and virtue. True liberty includes self-governance, responsibility, gratitude, and service—virtues modern schooling often thins into mere credentialing.Education should prepare students for ultimate realities. The conversation repeatedly returns to the claim that the one certainty is death, and education should form people who can face it with moral seriousness.The renewal must remain humble. Classical education collapses when it becomes guru-centric, novelty-driven, or triumphalist.Classical education must remain intellectually modern. A classical school should have room for mathematics, science, engineering, and technological prudence—not a nostalgic retreat from modernity.Multiple models are needed. St. Constantine is presented as one viable “iteration,” not the only faithful expression of classical education.Formation serves many vocations. Reynolds argues that tutorial-style liberal arts can prepare nurses, engineers, builders, and citizens—not only professors and “cocktail party” intellectuals.Questions & DiscussionWhat do you mean when you say “classical education” in your own context?List the assumptions you hear most often (elitist, Greco-Roman-only, anti-science, ethnocentric). Draft a two-sentence explanation that highlights both aims (virtue/wisdom) and methods(dialectic/great books/literacy).How should liberal education form freedom and virtue today?Contrast “credentialing” with “formation.” Where does your institution drift toward one over the other? What habits would actually train self-governance (attention, honesty, courage, sacrifice) in students?What does it mean to prepare students to die well?Discuss whether your curriculum implicitly prepares students for comfort and success more than moral endurance. Name one text, practice, or tradition that could restore seriousness about mortality, judgment, and ultimate goods.How can classical education avoid becoming an ideology or “compound”?Identify warning signs of guruism (one name, one method, one “true” model). List practices that keep a school porous and humble (plural models, peer critique, historical study, spiritual disciplines).What do you think of a K–16 approach to classical formation?Discuss potential strengths (continuity, tutorial culture, cost efficiency, coherent formation). Discuss potential risks (scale, resource demands, insularity). What would be a realistic “next step” in your context?Suggested Reading & ResourcesThe Liberal Arts Tradition by Kevin Clark, DLS, and Ravi Scott JainThe Space Trilogy by C. S. LewisSaint Constantine School ClassicalUClassicalU Course: The Liberal Arts TraditionClassicalU Course: Classical Education History and IntroductionClassicalU Course: Introduction to Classical EducationClassicalU Course: Teaching Science Classically: 10 Essential Principles

Mason Bradford, an international Greco Roman wrestler and coach, joins Rob and Randy to talk about the availability of wrestling versus BJJ, training in eastern Europe, consistency in training and what wrestling after college should look like. Freeco Wrestling & Sambo Instagram  

John 17:14–23,14 I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 17 Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth. 18 As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world. 19 And for their sake I consecrate myself, that they also may be sanctified in truth. 20 “I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.Last week, I said that John 17 is one of the most amazing chapters in all the Bible (because the whole thing is a prayer that Jesus prays for us). And I just wanna start this week by saying that I'm in no hurry to be done with it. We're gonna eventually get to Chapter 18, but for the next two weeks we're gonna stay in Chapter 17, and today I want us to pay special attention to how Jesus talks about us — There is so much in this prayer that we learn about Jesus and about his relationship to the Father, and it's as deep as it gets! It's glorious! But also, as we're listening in on this prayer, we hear Jesus say some important things about us as his people. And he doesn't just say random facts, but they're more like defining realities of who we are as the church — and they're defining realities that Jesus gives us in direct connection to himself. We can see that grammatically each time Jesus uses the word “as” or “just as.” He says three different times about us: “They are this, JUST AS I am this.” Or “AS this is true of me, this is true of them.”He names three defining realities this way, and I'll go ahead and tell you what they are. He says:We are separated. We are sent.We are one. We're gonna look at each of these. Let's start with the first.1. We are separated (verses 14–17).Look again at verse 14:I have given them your word, and the world has hated them because they are not of the world, just as I am not of the world. 15 I do not ask that you take them out of the world, but that you keep them from the evil one. 16 They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.We all just heard that. It's straightforward. Jesus says: “They are not of the world, just as I am not of the world.” And he says it twice, in verses 14 and 16! Which means there's an emphasis.If Jesus is our teacher (and he is), and if this prayer is meant to teach us (and it is), then Jesus wants us know about our relationship to the world: We are not of it.Every Christian must agree with that in principle, because Jesus says it. In basic terms, we as Christians, the church, we have a negative relationship to the world. This same idea is repeated all throughout the New Testament — Pauls says in Romans 12:1, “Do not be conformed to this world…” James says in James 4:4, “Friendship with world is enmity with God…” John says in 1 John 2:15, “Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.”What Is the ‘World'?These are strong statements, and clear statements — we just have to make sure we understand the meaning of “world.” When Jesus says “world,” what's he talking about?The best way to think about the meaning of “world” is to think of it as the realm of human values, ideas, and effort that, because of sin, is in active rebellion against God.The biblical image for the world is Babylon. Or it's what Augustine calls simply the City of Man. Or another way we sometimes talk about the idea of the world is with the word “culture.”In fact, back in 1951, theologian Richard Niebuhr wrote a famous book called Christ and Culture — in it he described different approaches the church has historically taken toward culture. But when he defined culture, he defined it as “what the New Testament writers frequently had in mind when they spoke of ‘the world'…”In the New Testament, the world is not the earth; it's not a globe; it's not a bunch of individual people — but it's a realm. It's a realm of values, ideas, and effort.And it's a realm that Christians are NOT OF — Jesus tells us. But why are we not of the world?Called Out and Set ApartWe're not of the world because, as we saw last week in verse 6, the Father has called us out of the world and he has given us to the Son, who is not of this world. So we now belong to Jesus who is not of this world. That's how God has separated us from the world.We belong to Jesus and Jesus has given us his word. And that is what makes us different! It's verse 17:“Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth.” We are set apart by the truth: we have the gospel! We have the true revelation of God! We have eternal life! The world does not have this, and in fact, it's because we have it that the world hates us. That's verse 14.And Jesus has already told us this. In Chapter 15, verse 18, he says:“If the world hates you, know that it has hated me before it hated you. If you were of the world, the world would love you as its own; but because you are not of the world, but I chose you out of the world, therefore the world hates you.”Look, I don't know how Jesus could be more clear. Christian, you are not of the world … because God has separated you from the world … and the world hates you. That is what's going on outside here with these people who line up on Sundays. These people are against you; they do not seek your good; they do not want us here. They're full of hate. And we're gonna be okay. Because they're just proving what Jesus has already taught us. If we're paying attention to the New Testament, we should not be surprised by this. The world hates us. Jesus says that. And yet, I'm a little concerned that when we hear this kind of message we can instantly write it off and give it a name like Fundamentalism. We can think: Just relax. You're overdoing it.But how dare we think such a thing when our Savior is so clear. Jesus tells us we have a negative relationship to the world in that we are not of the world and the world hates us. We must listen to him. Understand what Jesus is telling us about who we are, and he starts by saying we are separated from the world. We start here. But then … a second defining reality:2. We are sent (verse 18).This is verse 18:“As you sent me into the world, so I have sent them into the world.”Jesus already said in verse 15 that although we are not of the world, he is not asking the Father to take us out of the world. We're still in this realm, because Jesus wants that for now. And in verse 18 Jesus says more. He says: We're not just here, but he has sent us here. So get this: If you are a Christian in this world, you're here because Jesus has sent you here. You're not of the world, but you've been sent into the world.This is the phrase: Not of, but sent into.Life-Changing RephraseFor me, personally, that phrase has changed my life. I mean that. True story… Before I proposed to Melissa, we were in North Carolina, and I told her we were gonna move to Minneapolis for two years. It was gonna be two years for a pastoral training program, and then seminary somewhere else, and then wherever God calls us. That was eighteen years ago.And under God, one of the big reasons we sensed him calling us here was David and Megan Mathis. Years ago I worked with David at Desiring God, and we did some writing together, and I remember one day David had this idea for a blog series (y'all remember blogs?).This was gonna be a blog series on the church's mission, and David's first article to launch the series was titled “Getting the Accent Right: ‘Not Of, But Sent Into.'” Have any of y'all ever heard the saying that Christians are “in the world, but not of the world” — in, but not of.Well, David thought it was inaccurate with what Jesus says in John 17. So he had this idea: he said let's change the phrase! Let's reinvent this popular saying! (David was just 30 back then). He said: instead of saying in, but not of, let's change it to say not of, but sent into — “not of the world, but sent into the world.” That's the new way to say it! We were gonna change the Evangelical church in America!I don't know if y'all have ever read David's article or heard his rephrase, but since that day I have never thought of John 17:18 any other way.We are not of, but sent into. That's what Jesus says! That's why I'm here. That's why we're here. Jesus has sent us into this world — and sent us how? Sent us with what?Sent with What?Well, Jesus says he has sent us just as the Father has sent him. There is a sameness in our sending. Now we shouldn't misunderstand the sameness: the Son does what only the Son can do! Only the Son can truly save! But the sameness is seen in our message. Jesus came here to reveal God and redeem people to God. That was his mission, and he now sends us here as part of that mission, to tell of what he did. The Father sent Jesus here to accomplish the gospel. Jesus now sends us here to tell that gospel. Not of the world, but sent into the world with the gospel.That's who we are, church! We are sent — and sent for this purpose. It is the gospel that makes us unique and different from everything else in the world. There are lots of other good things a local church might do in a city, but Jesus sets us apart by the gospel. That's what he says in verse 19. We have been “sanctified in truth” — another word for sanctified is consecrated. Jesus has consecrated us for the mission of offering life and light to a dead and dark world by pointing to him. He has sent us here to witness to the surprising love of God — that God so loved the world that he gave his only Son that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life. This is the message we carry in our commission to Go and make disciples.We Must Be About the GospelPlease understand: this is not optional. Churches don't get to choose whether they're involved in this mission or not. To be a church is to have this mission — to be not of, but sent into the world with the gospel.The stakes could not be higher.If you know our church, you know that we're not a ‘political church' (in terms of what most people mean by that). But instead, we're all about the gospel. And listen: we must be that. Because here's the thing: if a church is withdrawn from politics and culture wars because they're all about the gospel, but then they don't really go share the gospel, they might as well just be Amish. … I meant that. Because Amish (or Mennonite communities and others like them) are built on a theological approach to the world that is extreme separation. This approach understands the “not of” part in John 17; they're missing the “sent into” part. But see, we understand the sent into part. We just need to keep being clear on why we're sent into the world.It's not mainly so that we get to dress the way we do … or cheer on our favorite sports team or drive our vehicles or watch our shows or use our phones … if those are the only reasons we're not like the Amish, we're doing it wrong. Jesus sent us into the world with the gospel! We are here to make him known to everyone who is willing to listen! That is why we are sent. We are separated from the world, yes — and we are sent into the world with the gospel. This a defining reality of who we are.Now, the third defining reality Jesus gives us …3. We are one (verses 19–23).And I want you to hear this again in verses 20–23:I do not ask for these only, but also for those who will believe in me through their word, 21 that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me.22 The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.It's easy to pick up a theme in these verses. The idea of oneness is mentioned four times. And the word we use for this is unity — which is really important. We need to think carefully about it. Two things to consider: What kind of unity is Jesus talking about? What is the unity for?What Kind of Unity?One thing that the 21st century has in common with the First Century is that our societies both have its own concept of unity. Remember that Jesus is speaking all of this in a Greco-Roman world, and they valued unity. It was a value then kinda like it is today. And you know what I mean. “Unity” is a buzz word. It's the kind of word that the NFL might put on their helmets, or make all the coaches to wear a shirt that says “Unity.” We've seen this before. And at first glance, we might think: Well this is great! Jesus obviously values unity, and our world values unity, so see the world can't be that bad. The world has a biblical value.And that is possible! Over time, Christian values can (and should) influence and transform the values of society (that would be good for society). But just because the same word is used doesn't mean it's the same value — the devil is in the details, literally.And the details of worldly unity is that it's really about coercive ideological uniformity. Worldly unity is a forced sameness of thought that's engineered and held in check by social threats.I remember one time another pastor blamed me as being against broader church unity because I believe what the Bible says about sexuality. He was basically saying I'm against unity because I was unwilling to defy the word of God — but does that mean I'm against unity? … No, I'm against worldly unity.That's not what Jesus is talking about, and he understands it exists. He knows he's in the world. He gets his context. So when Jesus describes unity, he's clear that it's unity from him and to him.The oneness he's talking about is not so much our oneness with each other, but our oneness with him. Our unity is not a Babel-like ground-up operation. It's a heaven-sent miracle experienced in our fellowship with the Trinity. That's the kind of unity Jesus means — “unity controlled by, defined by, and shared by the unity of the Father and the Son” (Klink, 724). And it's unity with a purpose. What Is the Unity For?Jesus tells us this twice, in verse 21 and 23:In verse 21, Jesus asks for the Father to make us one “so that the world may believe that you have sent me.” In verse 23, it's “so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”These verses are saying the same thing. The purpose of our unity is so that the world would see it and know Jesus — so that the world would know that God loves his people … and that those of the world can become his people through faith in Jesus. People of the world become not of the world when they trust in Jesus. They're called out of the world, separated by God, and then Jesus sends us into the world with the gospel. And we do it together with him, filled by his Spirit, welcomed into his fellowship. Church, this is who we are. Separated, sent, one. And my prayer is that in these days we would not shrink back from these defining realities, but that we would embrace them anew. That we would not only endure, but that we would advance.His word shall not fail you, he promisedBelieve him and all will be wellThen go to a world that is dyingHis perfect salvation to tell.That's what brings us to the Table.The TableAs we take the bread and the cup, we remember the death of Jesus for us, and we remember who he has made us to be. He has saved us and given us a mission. Grace upon grace.If you're a Christian, if you trust in Jesus Christ, we invite you to eat and drink with us and give him thanks!

In an Instagram Reel, John Selig described this image — Mount Etna as a cosmological diagram: Typhon pinned underneath, his rage powering the volcano; Hephaestus at the forge above, that same rage transmuted into craft; Prometheus chained on the side, the fire bringer who suffered for giving us what the gods had kept for themselves; and Zeus at the crown, not a creator of fire but the one who directs it.It set my imagination ablaze!John's handle is @stolenfires_. That name tells you everything about his approach: myth is Promethean fire, meaning held by the gods and waiting to be taken — not as belief, not as doctrine, but as a lens you can actually use. What he wants is for you to leave the conversation with something in your hands.We spent this episode inside Greek myth as a living, working system. We examined the Theogony as three successive orders of creation — and why Zeus's is the first one generative enough to let everything be born, even the monsters. We read the Odyssey as the story of a man who cannot go home yet because his unconscious won't let him — the sailors as impulses that thwart the ego until it's ready. We talked about what happens to a culture that runs entirely on Athena consciousness while Poseidon goes ignored. And we talked about creativity, perfectionism, and what myth can do for people who are stuck.What We CoverWe use Prometheus — the fire-bringer who stole meaning from the gods and handed it to ordinary people — as the lens for this conversation. Along the way we explore:Stolen Fires and What the Name Actually Means. The name is two things at once: a cosmological statement about myth as Promethean fire, and — as someone pointed out to John recently — an accidental description of a mythology hot-take platform. He didn't plan that second meaning. The Trickster did. The core idea: myth holds meaning the way the gods held fire. John's work is the theft.Myth Doesn't Require You to Believe Anything. Myth and history are not the same category. Mythologizing history breaks it. Historicizing mythology breaks it too. One lives in the world of the imaginal; the other is the world of record. You can work with myth — let it illuminate your life, your psyche, your moment — without making a single metaphysical commitment.Typhon, Hephaestus, and the Shape of Shadow Work. Zeus didn't destroy Typhon. He pinned him under Mount Etna, where his rage powers the volcano — and Hephaestus's forge sits at the top, transmuting that same rage into craft. Integration instead of obliteration. The energy doesn't disappear. It gets redirected. That's the shape of shadow work, and it's also the shape of the creative process.Satan and the Cultural Shadow. Monotheism needed a bucket for everything that didn't make the approved list, and Satan is what it built. A lot of what ended up in there isn't all that bad — it's just human. The qualities most associated with the mythic Satan map cleanly onto basic features of human nature, and the Greco-Roman roots of the image run deeper than most people realize.Three Orders of Creation. The Theogony gives us three successive cosmological regimes, each more generative than the last. Uranus won't let anything be born. Kronos swallows his children rather than risk displacement. Zeus frees everyone and starts an order in which everything gets to exist — including the monsters. The Greek pantheon is so crowded because Zeus's order requires it to be.The Sailors as Unconscious Impulses. The sailors in the Odyssey aren't named or characterized because they're not really separate people — they're the unconscious impulses that keep thwarting what the ego says it wants. Odysseus doesn't reach Ithaca until they're all dead. The friction isn't always the enemy. The sailors may be telling him something he isn't ready to hear yet.Athena Consciousness, Poseidon Consciousness, and What We've Left Out. Ian McGilchrist's hemisphere theory maps onto the Greek gods: Athena as the rational, ordering, left-brain mode; Poseidon as the holistic, oceanic, right-brain mode. We've built a civilization that runs almost entirely on Athena consciousness while Poseidon goes unaddressed — and John thinks the epidemic of depression among his generation follows directly from that.Spirituality and the Brain. The part of the brain that activates depression is the same part that activates spirituality. When the spiritual mode is engaged, it becomes physiologically impossible to be depressed. This isn't a spiritual claim. It's neuroscience. And you don't have to believe in anything to get there.The Tyranny of Heaven. Uranus and Gaia: heaven and earth, the ideal and the actual. Heaven wants the thing to be perfect. Earth wants the thing to exist. Any version of something is necessarily not every version of something — which is obvious, and is still the exact mistake most creatives make constantly, holding the work hostage to what it could be until it never becomes what it is.Chapters00:00 Welcome00:03:49 The Name Stolen Fires00:04:56 Myth Without Belief00:05:42 Typhon, Prometheus, and the Volcano00:06:53 Satan and the Cultural Shadow00:08:30 How the Volcano Became a Map00:10:17 Zeus as Air, Not Fire00:11:30 Three Orders of Creation00:18:29 Into the Odyssey00:19:31 The Sailors as Unconscious Impulses00:21:57 Odysseus Isn't Ready for Ithaca00:26:42 Myth Is Fractal00:34:20 The Modern Mind and Its Limits00:35:10 Meaning, Depression, and the Missing Lens00:41:45 Spirituality and the Brain00:48:05 The Myth and Creativity Course00:49:05 The Tyranny of Heaven00:50:10 Where to Find JohnMemorable Quotes“The trick with myths is to not take them literally and to turn them into lenses that you can then look at your own life through.” — John Selig“Typhon is put underneath Mount Etna, and his fiery rage powers that volcano and then Hephaestus's forge is at the top, turning that rage, alchemizing it into something beautiful.” — John Selig“That's how it feels to do shadow work, to channel your grief into something creative, to face a part of you that you don't wanna face. All of those things are in that image and it's cosmic and natural and personal all at the same time.” — John Selig“Myth doesn't require you to believe anything. These stories didn't happen. Getting history and mythology confused is one of the biggest problems in our world today.” — Boston Blake“Mythologizing history or historicizing mythology. It breaks it. One lives in the world of the imaginal and one is the world of the historical.” — Boston Blake“If that spiritual part of your brain is activated, it becomes physiologically impossible to be depressed.” — John Selig“Any version of something is necessarily not every version of something.” — John Selig“Take the mess you're working on and make it sacred.” — John SeligResources & LinksJohn Selig's website: https://stolenfires.comStolen Fires on Instagram: @stolenfires_Stolen Fires on YouTube: @stolenfiresStolen Fires on TikTok: @stolenfiresStolen Fires on Substack: https://stolenfires.substack.comJohn's Myth and Creativity Course (May 2026): https://stolenfires.comEpisode page: https://bostonblake.com/mythic-podcast/john-selig-stolen-firesIf this episode landed for you, feel free to add to the pot: https://bostonblake.com/contribute/https://mythicpodcast.comAbout the GuestJohn Selig is a writer and educator specializing in the psychology of myth, symbol, and creativity. He has traveled the world visiting the sacred sites of many cultures and is currently writing a book investigating the deeper practical meanings hidden within the world's myths and religious stories. A lifelong creative, John has worked in music, writing, game design, podcasting, and video, and coaches people in seeing their lives through mythic and symbolic lenses through his one-on-one Mythwork sessions. He has taught at Harvard, UCLA, and School of Rock. Learn more at https://stolenfires.com.About MythicMythic is a podcast about meaningful living through the power of myth, ancient lore, modern pop culture, and depth psychology. Hosted by Boston Blake — ICF Professional Certified Coach, and lifelong student of mythology and depth psychology — Mythic brings together the stories that have have something to teach us.https://mythicpodcast.comTopicsGreek mythology, depth psychology, Jungian psychology, archetypal psychology, practical mythology, myth and meaning, mythology podcast, Prometheus, Typhon, Hephaestus, Zeus, Theogony, Hesiod, Odyssey,...

Edited of filler words. Full unedited show: https://youtube.com/live/9Yo7R8QDZlsThe triumphal return of two leaders of the Golden Dawn tradition return! Join their Substack for less than 10 bucks a month today if you want to keep up with new and exciting research and teachings: https://farrellnick.substack.com/ And get Nick Farrell's new and most complete ever book on Geomancy from Lord Manticore Press: https://www.lulu.com/shop/nick-farrell/complete-geomancy/paperback/product-84wr9vq.html?q=geomancy+&page=1&pageSize=4Paola & Nick Farrell on Golden Dawn Practice, Pagan Integration, and Their Occult Training SubstackFrater RC welcomes Paola and Nick Farrell to the Magic Without Fears Hermetic Podcast, noting Paola's first podcast appearance and promoting Nick's upcoming Complete Geomancy release and their Lord Manticore's Occult Training Substack. Paola recounts early spiritual experiences, dissatisfaction with dubious groups, strong Catholic surroundings in Rome, and an unexpected 2007 initiation at the Nottingham Temple through contacts connected to the Ciceros, describing the Golden Dawn as a complete, challenging framework. Nick describes their 14-year collaborative work building a vault, Paola's pivotal artwork, and adapting Golden Dawn practice by emphasizing candidate-focused ritual, internal godform construction, and integrating Greco-Roman deities without altering core structures. They discuss ritual authenticity, common Golden Dawn shortcuts, group dynamics, regalia's limited importance versus officer skill, Paola's turn toward practical gnostic research, and the Substack's mix of free and paid, research-based and practical articles.Support this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/magick-without-fears-frater-r-c-hermetic-podcast/exclusive-contentAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

In this episode, we're joined by Prof. Cor Bennema, Professor of New Testament at London School of Theology and the author of Imitation in Early Christianity: Mimesis and Religious-Ethical Formation (published by Eerdmans). Prof. Bennema talks about the distinctives of mimesis relative to other kinds of ethical formation/development, and where early Christianity is situated relative to mimesis in Greco-Roman philosophy. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Rev. Dr. Nathaniel Adishian, Rev. Dr. Chris Porter, and Dr. Sydney Tooth. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Description Recorded at the 2026 Great Hearts National Symposium on February 25, 2026, this edited episode features Christopher Perrin's keynote speech exploring the history, meaning, and renewal of classical education, asking a foundational question: what exactly are we trying to recover? Drawing from sources as diverse as Augustine, Herodotus, Tocqueville, and C.S. Lewis, he traces the transmission of the liberal arts from ancient Greece and Rome through Christendom and into early America. Along the way, Perrin reflects on the gradual fragmentation of this tradition in the modern era, illustrated through the story of the Adams family and the rise of progressive education. Perrin challenges educators to embrace the humility at the heart of true learning—that the more we know, the more we recognize our ignorance—and to see themselves as perpetual students. The episode also highlights the remarkable resurgence of classical education today, describing it as a reawakening of seeds long buried but now beginning to flourish. Perrin emphasizes that education is not merely a science or technique, but the transmission of a living tradition aimed at forming wisdom, virtue, and love. Listeners will come away with a renewed sense of purpose, encouraged to tend the “fire” of learning and to participate faithfully in handing down a rich inheritance to the next generation.Special thanks to the Great Hearts Institute. Episode OutlineWhy the question “What is classical education?” is harder than it sounds (and why it matters for renewal)The paradox of learning: the more you know, the more you know you don't know “Begin with the end”: death, wisdom, and the purpose of education Tradition as “handing down”: language, culture, and education as inheritance Athens and Rome: Greek paideia, Roman educatio, and the liberal arts as a transmitted curriculumThe Church and Christendom: incorporating Greco-Roman learning, theology as “queen,” and widening accessEngland to early America: grammar schools, Boston Latin, Harvard, and the rise of popular literacy The Adams family as an educational case study: formation, thinning, and the modern fracture Progressive education: what changed, what was gained, and why education can't be reduced to a quantitative scienceThe modern renewal: early schools (1979–1981), today's ecosystem, and the need for teacher formation at scaleFinal exhortation: preserve humility, avoid pride, resist false dichotomies, and tend the “fire” of wonder in schoolsKey Topics & TakeawaysClassical education is a tradition before it is a “renewal.” A renewal only makes sense if we can name what is being renewed.Teachers must be perpetual students. The classical teacher models humility—seeking wisdom while resisting the pretense of having arrived.Education is measured by ultimate aims. Human life is fleeting; education gains its meaning from what it prepares us for—virtue, wisdom, piety, and a life rightly ordered.Tradition is unavoidable. Even rejecting tradition requires using language and capacities that were first handed down as a tradition.The liberal arts are an inheritance with a genealogy. From Greek and Roman culture through Christian adaptation, the arts endure because they correspond to human nature.Modern fragmentation reshaped education's purpose. When technology and “force” become central categories, education shifts from transmitting culture to preparing for flux.Progressive vs. classical is not a simple binary. Many educational “heresies” are partial truths held out of balance (false dichotomies distort practice).The renewal must be sustained by love, not mere critique. A movement fueled only by opposition cannot endure—formation requires positive vision and shared goods.Classical education belongs to humanity. It is deeply shaped by Christianity, but not owned exclusively by Christians; it welcomes seekers and strangers.Questions & DiscussionWhy do you think “classical education” is so difficult to define clearly?Name what you most often hear from parents or colleagues when they ask what “classical” means. Try writing a two-sentence definition that includes both aim (why) and means (how), then compare with others.How does the “perpetual student” posture change the way you teach?Where are you tempted to project certainty or expertise instead of wonder and humility? Identify one practice that would help your faculty model learning (shared reading, teacher seminar, public “I don't know yet”).What is education for when you “begin with the end” (mortality in view)?How does remembering death sharpen what matters in curriculum and school culture? If you had to prioritize one outcome—wisdom, virtue, piety, civic responsibility—what would you choose and why?What can we learn from the Adams family arc—formation to fracture?In your own experience, where do you see education becoming “garments that no longer fit”? Does your school respond by adapting the form—or by recovering the measure of the human person?What kind of “renewal energy” actually sustains a school long-term?Where does your community rely on critique of modern schooling rather than a positive vision? Identify one “beauty practice” (music, poetry, liturgy, feast, shared reading) that could rekindle joy and friendship.Suggested Reading & ResourcesThe Liberal Arts Tradition by Kevin Clark, DLS, and Ravi Scott JainAn Introduction to Classical Education: A Guide for Parents by Christopher A. Perrin, MDiv, PhDHumanitasAn Essay Toward Education by W. H. H. KaneFrom Dawn to Decadence by Jacques Barzun Democracy in America by Alexis de Tocqueville The Education of Henry Adams by Henry AdamsThe Value of the Classics by Andrew West (ed.)Address to Young Men on Reading Greek Literature by Basil of CaesareaGreat Hearts Institute  Classical Academic PressClassicalUClassicalU Course: The Liberal Arts TraditionClassicalU Course: Classical Education History and IntroductionClassicalU Course:

In this episode, Brad Onishi is joined by world-renowned New Testament scholar Dr. Bart Ehrman to explore the origins of the Western moral conscience through his latest book, Love Thy Stranger. The conversation challenges the common assumption that altruism is a "natural" human impulse, revealing instead how the ancient Greco-Roman world operated on a logic of social dominance and power. Ehrman traces the evolution of ethics from the specific tribal obligations found in Leviticus to the radical, apocalyptic vision of Jesus, who demanded care for the "stranger" as a universal requirement. By examining how this revolutionary Jewish framework was later institutionalized by the early church and the Roman Empire, they uncover why modern Westerners—regardless of their personal faith—still view charity and humanitarianism as a moral imperative. The discussion also dives into the practical friction between Jesus' universalism and Paul's communal ethics, providing a fascinating historical roadmap of how Christian morality became the baseline for Western civilization. From the communal sharing models in the book of Acts to modern-day secular institutions like Doctors Without Borders, Ehrman argues that our contemporary "moral software" is deeply rooted in 1st-century radicalism. To ground these lofty concepts, Ehrman shares a poignant personal reflection on the community response to Hurricane Helene near his home in Asheville, NC, illustrating how these ancient ethical seeds continue to bear fruit in times of modern catastrophe. Subscribe for $3.65: ⁠https://axismundi.supercast.com/⁠ Subscribe to our free newsletter: ⁠https://swaj.substack.com/⁠ Order American Caesar by Brad Onishi: ⁠https://static.macmillan.com/static/essentials/american-caesar-9781250427922/⁠ Donate to SWAJ: https://axismundi.supercast.com/donations/new Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

How should we understand Paul—as a rabbi, a philosopher, or something else entirely? In this episode, Dr. Joseph Dodson explores Paul as a figure who operates within both Jewish and Greco-Roman intellectual worlds. Rather than forcing a choice between “rabbi” or “philosopher,” the discussion shows how Paul embodies elements of both. He is deeply trained in the Scriptures of Israel and interprets them with methods recognizable within Jewish tradition, yet he is also conversant with the philosophical categories and rhetorical practices of the wider Greco-Roman context. This dual identity helps explain both the content and the form of Paul's letters. His arguments are not abstract theological constructions detached from history, nor are they merely repetitions of inherited tradition. Instead, they represent a dynamic engagement with Scripture in conversation with the intellectual world of his day. The episode highlights how modern readers often flatten Paul into one category or another, missing the richness of his thought. By recovering Paul as both rabbi and philosopher, we gain a clearer picture of how he communicates the significance of the Messiah to diverse audiences. Ultimately, this approach invites us to read Paul with greater historical sensitivity and intellectual nuance. For Joseph Dodson's latest book, buy it here: https://bakerbookhouse.com/products/9798400500527_paul-the-rabbi-philosopher-stoic-and-jewish-philosophy-in-the-apostles-thought We are listener supported. Give to the cause here: https://hebraicthought.org/give For more articles: https://thebiblicalmind.org/ Social Links: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HebraicThought Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hebraicthought Threads: https://www.threads.net/hebraicthought X: https://www.twitter.com/HebraicThought Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/hebraicthought.org Chapters: 00:00 Understanding Paul: Context is Key 02:09 Paul as Rabbi Philosopher: Bridging Two Worlds 09:58 The Apocalyptic Paul: A New Perspective 14:16 Politics and Philosophy: Paul's Counter-Cultural Message 18:09 Sin and Systemic Issues: A Deeper Understanding 20:03 The Law's Weakness: Setting the Stage for Grace 25:54 The Role of Law and Spirit in Paul's Theology 27:39 Paul as Rabbi and Philosopher 28:48 Paul's Relationship with the Hebrew Text 29:43 The Wisdom of Solomon and Paul 33:06 Paul's Jewish Identity and the Law 35:01 Paul's Approach to Gentiles and the Law 36:53 Paul's Communication Style and Cultural Fluency 38:27 The Genius of Paul 41:07 The Connection between Nietzsche and Paul's Philosophy 43:00 The Unique Voice of Paul in the Church

The Forgotten Tales cast begin a new homebrewed campaign! Jonny introduces the cast to the world of Phaedria and what to expect from this campaign. Listen in and get acquainted with the Greco-Roman meets Dark Academia world of Phaedria!Natural 20 shoutouts go to Wallcar Games in Glendale, AZ. Support Wallcar games by taking a look at the following links:https://www.instagram.com/wallcargames/Wallcar Go-Fund-Me PageStart Playing with LukeStart Playing with JohnMusic by Medieval Lofi

In this episode of Tiny Show and Tell Us, we explore the strange world of camelid antibodies—tiny, heavy-chain-only immune molecules that turned out to be incredibly useful for research and medicine. Then we chat about archaeochemistry and how pristine white Greco-Roman statues were once "garishly" painted. Using modern chemical techniques, scientists are revealing traces of vivid pigments like Egyptian blue. But how definitive are these reconstructions? Drama!Check out Wow if True here or wherever you listen to podcasts!We need your stories — they're what make these bonus episodes possible! Write in to tinymatters@acs.org *or fill out this form* with your favorite science fact or science news story for a chance to be featured.A transcript and references for this episode can be found at acs.org/tinymatters.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Garth Heckman The David Alliance TDAgiantSlayer@Gmail.com      Did you know that yesterday EASTER was the exact anniversary of our Lord and Saviors death. Exactly 1,993 years ago on that exact day Christ rose from the grave.    Walking through the cemetery as a kid at night… We fear death.. Not birth Not life But death… we can't relate.   I could claim to be born as a God I could claim to live as a God I could claim to die as a God But am I willing to CLAIM to resurrect 3 days later to prove it…   But because he did resurrect we now no longer need to fear death. He conquered it, he made a fool of it, he said where is your sting oh death. Thats all you got? And why wait 3 days until you come back to life?       1. Ancient Medical Understanding: When is someone truly dead?   In the ancient world (including Jewish and Greco-Roman thought), people didn't have modern tools to confirm death (no EEG, no heart monitors). So they relied on observable signs:   What they looked for:   * No breathing * No pulse (very hard to detect accurately) * Body cooling * **Onset of decomposition**   The key issue: People could appear dead and revive (coma, shock, hypothermia)   So there was always a lingering fear: “What if they weren't really dead?”   2. Why “Three Days” Became a Cultural Threshold**   In Jewish thought, there was a widespread belief (not formal doctrine, but common teaching) that:   The soul hovered near the body for about 3 days**   After that:   * The body began to visibly decay * The soul was considered fully departed * Death was **final and irreversible**   You see this hinted at in the story of Lazarus:   “Lord, by this time there is a stench, for he has been dead four days.” (John 11:39)   That's not just a detail—it's a theological statement: “This is beyond recovery. This is real death.”     3. Modern Medical Insight: Decomposition Timeline   Even today, decomposition supports why 3 days is significant:   Within ~72 hours after death:   Rigor mortis comes and goes Autolysis** (cells breaking down) accelerates Putrefaction begins (bacteria causing decay) Odor becomes noticeable   By day 3, the body is unmistakably dead.   So even by modern standards: Three days removes doubt.     4. The Power of the Resurrection Timing   Jesus didn't rise immediately. That's critical.   If He rose:   * After a few hours → skeptics say “He fainted” * After one day → “Maybe He wasn't fully dead”   But after three days: It destroys every natural explanation.   This is why the resurrection isn't just miraculous—it's strategically undeniable.   5. Biblical Pattern: “Third Day” = Divine Intervention   The “third day” shows up all over Scripture as the moment God acts decisively:   * Hosea 6:2 — “On the third day He will raise us up” * Jonah 1:17 — Jonah in the fish 3 days * Genesis 22 — Abraham receives Isaac back (figuratively) on the third day   The pattern: Day 1 = loss Day 2 = silence Day 3 = God moves   Jesus steps into that pattern and fulfills it.   6. Roman Execution Certainty   From a historical standpoint:   * Roman crucifixion was brutally efficient * Executioners ensured death (piercing, blood loss, asphyxiation) * Bodies weren't casually misdiagnosed   So combine:   * Roman certainty of death * 3 days in the tomb * Sealed grave   The resurrection claim becomes *maximally bold*.   Bottom Line (Teaching Power Statement)   Three days wasn't random. It was intentional.   It ensured that:   * No one could argue Jesus merely fainted * Death had fully taken its course * Resurrection could only be explained as supernatural     “Jesus didn't come back early—He waited until death had fully won… and then He crushed it.”

Welcome back to another episode of the unSeminary podcast. Today we're joined by Jeremy Norton, Lead Pastor of Mountainview Church in Whitehorse, Yukon. Jeremy has led the church through a significant revitalization journey since 2017, helping transition it into a growing, multicultural congregation that now includes both English and Tagalog gatherings. Are you looking for a fresh way to engage Scripture in your own life or lead your church through it? In this conversation, Jeremy shares the heart behind his recent book Meeting Jesus, and how exploring the relational encounters of Jesus in the Gospel of John can reshape both personal faith and church leadership. A revitalization story shaped by people. // Originally founded in the 1940s, Mountainview Church underwent significant change beginning in 2017. Over time, the congregation not only stabilized but began to grow, including the addition of a Tagalog-speaking gathering led by a Filipino pastor. This shift reflects the demographic reality of Whitehorse, where a growing Filipino population now makes up a significant portion of the city. The result is a church that is both culturally diverse and unified around shared teaching and mission. Why focus on the relational encounters of Jesus? // Jeremy's book Meeting Jesus began as a sermon series that explored the Gospel of John through the lens of Jesus' one-on-one interactions. Rather than a traditional verse-by-verse approach, Jeremy focused on how Jesus engaged individuals, like Nicodemus, the woman at the well, and Pontius Pilate. This relational framing makes the gospel more accessible and personal, helping people see themselves in the stories. Why this approach resonates today. // Exploring Scripture through relational encounters connects deeply with modern audiences. People are drawn to stories they can see themselves in, whether as skeptics, wounded individuals, or seekers of truth. In particular, Pilate's question, “What is truth?” reflects a growing cultural tension where truth is often seen as subjective. By grounding these questions in Scripture, churches can help people navigate complex cultural conversations with clarity and conviction. A resource for churches and leaders. // Jeremy sees Meeting Jesus as more than a book; it's a ministry tool. Jeremy built this into his book by including discussion questions and action steps at the end of each chapter, making it a practical tool for both individuals and groups. Churches can use it alongside a sermon series through John, in small groups, youth ministries, or leadership development environments. It can also serve as a resource for new believers exploring faith or long-time Christians seeking deeper understanding. Turning sermons into lasting resources. // Jeremy also offers a behind-the-scenes look at why pastors should consider turning sermon series into books. Many pastors spend significant time preparing messages that are later archived and forgotten. By developing those sermons into written resources, leaders can extend their impact far beyond Sunday. Books can become tools for discipleship, outreach, and even invite culture, giving church members something tangible to share with others. A practical framework for pastors. // For pastors considering writing, Jeremy suggests starting with sermon series that span three to six months. That’s long enough to provide depth but not so long that the content becomes overly academic. You can follow along at Mountainview Church at mountainview.church. To learn more about Jeremy's book Meeting Jesus and access additional resources, visit leadbiblically.com or find the book wherever books are sold. Thank You for Tuning In! There are a lot of podcasts you could be tuning into today, but you chose unSeminary, and I'm grateful for that. If you enjoyed today's show, please share it by using the social media buttons you see at the left hand side of this page. Also, kindly consider taking the 60-seconds it takes to leave an honest review and rating for the podcast on iTunes, they're extremely helpful when it comes to the ranking of the show and you can bet that I read every single one of them personally! Lastly, don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on iTunes, to get automatic updates every time a new episode goes live! Episode Transcript Rich Birch — Hey friends, welcome to the unSeminary podcast. So glad that you have decided to tune in Really looking forward to today’s conversation. We got multiple conversations happening on multiple levels today, and we’ve got a repeat guest, which you know, when we have a repeat guest, what does that mean? This is a person I want you to listen in on and pay attention to. Today, we’ve got the privilege of having Jeremy Norton with us. He is the lead pastor of Mountain View Church. It was established in the 1940s in the Yukon, the Yukon Territory, and went through revitalization here in 2017. It is now both English and Tagalog. Did I say that correctly? Is that close? Close. Jeremy Norton — Yes, that’s great, which is which is the language of Filipino peoples.Rich Birch — Which is fantastic. He wrote most recently wrote a book called “Meeting Jesus”, which I want you to check out, which walks through the Gospel of John, highlighting Jesus’ relational encounters and how he crossed boundaries and transformed lives. You’re going to love this. Jeremy, welcome to the show. So glad you’re here.Jeremy Norton — Thanks so much for having me. Excited to be back.Rich Birch — Always good a chance to connect with you. And, you know, people, when they say I’m from the North, I’m like, no, my friend Jeremy, he really is from the North. You know, that’s a long ways away. Kind of talk to us about Mountain View. Tell us a little bit of the story, how you intersect there. If we were to arrive. You’ve been on in past episodes, but kind of update us a little bit.Jeremy Norton — Yeah, yeah. So I’m going on 11 years as lead pastor of Mountainview Church. Started as Whitehorse Baptist Church, revitalized to Mountainview Church, all sorts of different changes there. Yeah, lots of people are familiar with revitalization journeys. Went through that. It’s hard work, but it’s good work. And I’m on the back end of it and we’ve seen crazy growth. We went to two English gatherings during revitalization. And then about a year and a half ago, we added a part time Filipino pastor and he does a Tagalog gathering as well. Jeremy Norton — And so same content, same or same theme and passage as the English gatherings, but obviously he writes his own content. So we still go through the sermon series together. His name’s Byron, Pastor Byron. And so that’s been really, really great. Jeremy Norton — Most people don’t know that in Whitehorse, and I think Yellowknife as well, Canadian immigration about 10 years ago started kind of fast tracking Filipino peoples. And for those of us in Canada, all of a sudden, probably 10 years ago, we started seeing more and more Filipino people in the workforce, amazing people, joyful people, resourceful people. And it got to the point in Whitehorse where we had a lot of Filipino immigrants and And to the point where we’re about 10% of our population in our city is Filipino.Rich Birch — Wow.Jeremy Norton — And so there’s actually like there’s a Filipino Catholic, Nazarene. And for us, we’re Evangelical Baptist. So there’s a number of congregations that are Tagalog speaking. And yeah, so that’s kind of where we’re at now.Rich Birch — That’s very cool. Jeremy Norton — Yeah. Rich Birch — That’s, yeah that’s fun fun to hear. And I, yeah and I’m thinking about, man, moving from the Philippines to Whitehorse, that’s a move. That’s a move right there.Jeremy Norton — Crazy. Yeah. A country that’s constantly what over 30, over 35 degrees Celsius.Rich Birch — Yes, yes. Yeah.Jeremy Norton — And then now they’re in negative 40 Celsius. Rich Birch — Right. Jeremy Norton — Which, for Americans, negative 40 meets at Celsius and Fahrenheit. Rich Birch — Yes. Cold. Jeremy Norton — So it’s just stuff’s cold and it breaks. Rich Birch — Yes.Jeremy Norton — So yeah, crazy. And it just shows you the the desire of Filipino people to to, I guess, make life better for their family and to take opportunities. They’re willing to sacrifice a lot. It’s pretty incredible.Rich Birch — Love it. Well, we want to talk today about a book that you’ve recently released called “Meeting Jesus: the Transformational Encounters of John’s Gospel”. Why don’t you give us the the big picture first? Why did you write this book? what What’s the kind of story you’re telling here? What are you hoping for? What were you thinking as you were pulling this together?Jeremy Norton — Yeah, well, it it started as a sermon series in 2018 called Meeting Jesus. And I wanted to walk people through John’s gospel, but instead of in instead of doing a just kind of an expository preaching series, I was like, what would it look like to go through the actual relational encounters that Jesus had with different people?Jeremy Norton — You know, I guess starting with kind of Philip and Nathaniel and even working to Nicodemus, woman at the well. Anyway, all the way right through to to the to the famous moment of him and Pilate, where Pilate’s like, what is truth? You know so the whole journey. Jeremy Norton — And then after doing that in 2024, I can only assume the the Holy Spirit led me to like just opening up those notes. And I was like, I need to turn this into a book. This isn’t quite a commentary. And yet it is a commentary, and yet it’s it’s it’s a story because it’s each chapter is the story of Jesus and another person. And in the sermon series, I had expanded on like who this person is in modern culture as well.Jeremy Norton — Like, this could be you, this person. You know, whether it be the the legalist or the skeptic or like, you know, yeah, again, you have you have Nathaniel, who’s the skeptic, Philip, who’s the evangelist. You have Nicodemus, who’s the legalist. You know, anyway, ah the the woman of the well who’s wounded and and really disowned from culture. So there’s all these people. Jeremy Norton — And and then so I I started working to put the sermon series into a book. I use a publisher.Rich Birch — Right.Jeremy Norton — I have a great publisher, Ambassador International, sent it to them in…And then through 2025, it went back and forth to multiple edits.Rich Birch — Right.Jeremy Norton — They did a lot of work for me. Rich Birch — Yes, yes.Jeremy Norton — And, you know, and yeah, then it launched in March 10th. And it’s been really fun.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s great.Jeremy Norton — So far, I’ve got amazing feedback from it. So it’s great.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s great. I’d love to, I think the framing of kind of the relational encounters of Jesus is interesting way to look at the Gospels. And, you know, the the the incredible popularity of “The Chosen”, I think, is built on a similar premise, right? How do we see Jesus, even if you have a kind of passing knowledge of Jesus, see these stories that maybe we’ve heard of before, but from a slightly different lens, just a slightly different point of view, which is like, hey, let’s think through this at ah at a human level, for lack of a better word.Rich Birch — Why do you think that that is, an effective way to re-encounter something like the gospel of John? Why is that in a framework that you think God’s used either in your series or when you talk about it here in the book?Jeremy Norton — Yeah, I think and well, I think John’s gospel in itself is, you know, different than Matthew, Mark and Luke like how he writes it. He wrote it later right it’s the gospel that came much later. Rich Birch — Right. Jeremy Norton — And so and for whatever reason God led him to to focus so much on the conversation Jesus had with people. You know the other gospels just detail things differently. And so I don’t we’ll you know we’ll meet John one day but I imagine he he’s pretty pastoral. I I, from his writing, I I imagine that he’s kind of the, you know, for a modern term, you know, coffee shop pastor just wanting to know people’s stories… Rich Birch — Right. Jeremy Norton — …and saying like, oh, I remember this one time Jesus had this conversation with so and so and this is how it played out. And this, you know, and so that’s when I did the sermon series, which became the book like that, I just envisioned John like that. And I just thought that John’s like a lot of pastors with their congregations on those like coffee shop meetings, or like trying to help them through life and trying to point back to Jesus and the conversation he’s had. So, um yeah, that’s kind of that’s where where it all kind of started… Rich Birch — Started. Yep.Jeremy Norton — …and I just wanted to explain that well. And there is tons of scripture in it, and even going back to pointing back like for context, and it’s not like there’s not theological depth to it, or pointing back to some Old Testament stuff on what what was talked about. Yeah, especially with ah Nathaniel, who Jesus calls the true Israelite. You know, we get this picture that Nathaniel really wanted to follow God’s law. He he really he really was waiting to see the Messiah, but but desperate, you know, to see the Messiah. So anyway, yeah.Rich Birch — That’s cool. When you went through the series, was there one of these vignettes that seemed to resonate or stick out with your church more than others? Or, you know, we like to think, oh, every every message is like people just love them. But were there any of them that just kind of like, oh, that seemed to to resonate? And why do you think that resonated with your people? Because maybe that’ll continue to resonate even through, you know, the book here. Jeremy Norton — Yeah, there’s there’s there’s there’s two that I that I remember. Rich Birch — Yep. Jeremy Norton — I mentioned them slightly already. Rich Birch — Yep. Jeremy Norton — But coming out of the revitalization in 2017 and then moving into 2018 this was like one of the one of the sermon series that kind of got us in the journey. And so, you know, hashing out Nicodemus as a, as a, as a legalist who, who’s, you know, the midnight encounter with Jesus and, and, and processing like how to be born again. And we were getting a lot of visitors. And so and so that was an important thing. Jeremy Norton — And it was an important thing, I think, for a church that had been probably like a lot of churches pre-revitalization, they tend to lean towards legalism a little bit, the rules, you know, thus saith the Lord. And to understand, to just see it through Nicodemus’ eyes that that his whole religious worldview was like breaking down at midnight. Rich Birch — Right. Jeremy Norton — And and you know unfortunately, we don’t really get the end of the story with Nicodemus. Rich Birch — Right.Jeremy Norton — It’s like I’m always desperate for it. Like what happened in the end?Rich Birch — Right. Yes.Jeremy Norton — Like, did he just give up his religious position? Did he stay like a Christian spy? Like what, you know, what happened? So that was the first one to, to just really help our church understand that being born again, like that is, that is the, the point.Rich Birch — Right.Jeremy Norton — And, uh, and all the rules and all the commands like of of God’s law, they’re a beautiful thing, but they were all leading us to the trajectory of Jesus… Rich Birch — It’s good. It’s good. Jeremy Norton — …and fulfilling the law, fulfilling the prophets. And that and that we we we need to be dead to self and and born again.Jeremy Norton — And and then the the second one was, which I already slightly mentioned, was that was Pilate and what is truth. And in 2018 in particular, there was, I’m sure pastors listening will remember that we, we weren’t quite in, we weren’t at COVID yet, but the, it was like, you know, a year and a half before and, and truth was a big thing. Rich Birch — Right.Jeremy Norton — There was, there was a lot of identity stuff happening in 2018.Rich Birch — Yep.Jeremy Norton — It was just kind of really kicking off, especially in Canada. It was, it was a big deal. And so capturing truth and and what is truth that that’s actually in 2018 was when we started hearing a common phrase now where like your truth and my truth. That was just kind of starting at that time.Rich Birch — Right. Right. Yes.Jeremy Norton — And so hearing Pilate… Rich Birch — Right. …who is, you know, has so much authority and so much clout and and trying to figure out Jesus and just clearly just so frustrated that he’s in the whole mess of this and that really doesn’t want any part of it. And…Rich Birch — Yep.Jeremy Norton — And for the Greco-Roman world, like they were definitely like in a lot of ways, like modern culture, likeRich Birch — Right.Jeremy Norton — you take a little part A, a little part B… Rich Birch — And blend it together. Jeremy Norton — …and you just form your own truth. Rich Birch — Yes.Jeremy Norton — God 1, god 2, god 4 – who cares… Rich Birch — Right. Yes. Yes. Jeremy Norton — …you know. Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah. yeah Interesting.Jeremy Norton — So so that really resonated too. And that was like the last, that was the the last message in the series. And we actually saw people come to know Christ and baptized at the end of the series and and ending doing it actually right before Easter. And yeah, it it yeah was great.Rich Birch — That’s good. Yeah, I love that. There’s, you know, it’s, I think it’s great to relook at a book like the book of John from this kind of perspective. Because I think sometimes as pastors, people, as we, you know, deal with the scripture, and it it can become routine. We don’t want it to become routine. That’s not our heart for that to happen. But I think that can happen. That’s like, I’ve said in other contexts, that’s like an occupational hazard we have with the scripture is… Jeremy Norton — Totally. Rich Birch — …you know, we’re we’re constantly just opening this book up to find, you know, I got to find nuggets to give to other people. And, you know, I miss that. Rich Birch — Speak to a pastor who might be listening in today that this book could help them because I was struck by that. This could be the kind of thing that I think even for us as we’re thinking about our own walk with Jesus, I think this kind of book could help us help us think think about this book from that perspective.Jeremy Norton — Yeah, this for a pastor that wanted to go through John, they could just grab this book and do a like, like for their church, either the whole church. Rich Birch — Right. Jeremy Norton — Hey, we’re going to be walking through John and we’ve got this book Meeting Jesus and and it’s going to be available in our small groups. Because in the back of every chapter, there’s discussion questions, action items like the the publisher really helped me flesh out the end of the chapter to make it very applicable. Rich Birch — That’s cool.Jeremy Norton — So you can walk through John’s gospel and meeting Jesus could be a discussion guide. Even for like youth, for like senior high youth, totally doable in that through all your community groups and to for for a pastor to preach through John, but then get more ah more out of it, I think would be would be quite valuable. Obviously I’m biased… Rich Birch — Yeah, yeah, yeah.Jeremy Norton — But but if you’re look if you’re looking for a resource to give your people to get the fullness out of your John series this be it for sure. Yeah.Rich Birch — Love it. One of the things I love about this is like, sidebar taking that back to school. I did a class on John. Actually, one of my favorite classes in school was on John and my prof was just amazing. And and I oftentimes when I’m reading John I hear his voice you know my prof’s voice… Jeremy Norton — Yeah. Rich Birch — …and remember he used to make, there’s all those places in John where, maybe it’s not that many, you probably would know because you’re a better preacher than me. There’s those places where John refers to John as the one who Jesus loved.Jeremy Norton — Yeah.Rich Birch — And my prof used to always make fun of that all the time and be like, you know, here, there he is. He’s like writing about himself saying, or maybe it’s the community writing about him saying, well, you know, the John, the one who Jesus loved, you know, which is just a funny story. But it is, it speaks to your point. It’s a personal text. It’s it has a relational edge to it that I think we can miss we can miss or as an opportunity for us to highlight for our people. Hey, let’s let’s think about this from a slightly different perspective. Love that.Jeremy Norton — Yeah, and even even how John talks about the discovery of the empty tomb… Rich Birch — Yes. Jeremy Norton — …and and who’s with who and who’s running back, like how he how he does it, it’s just, I’m for me, I’m always like, that’s you know, great about the New Testament writings is like God in his, wisdom didn’t take the personality out and yet kept the truths.Rich Birch — Yes. Yes.Jeremy Norton — And so you, you see a little bit like, like was John, if he really was the relational guy and, and just the the shepherd, was he also a little bit insecure?Rich Birch — Yes.Jeremy Norton — It kind of comes across a little bit. Like, I don’t know for sure. I don’t, I can’t do the full exegesis of it, but I, I often wonder that.Rich Birch — Yeah, it feels very human.Rich Birch — That part of the, that part of the the well, and even that whole story… Jeremy Norton — Yes. Rich Birch — …well, that to me is one of the most compelling reasons for why I believe the text, because it’s like, if you were trying to make up a story…Jeremy Norton — Totally. Yeah.Rich Birch — …about a guy coming back from the dead. there’s a bunch of stuff in there, including the women, including the…you’re telling me that the guys that were the closest were not here. You know, like that just doesn’t make sense. Like you, if we were writing this story, you would be like, Hey, let’s put, let’s put us all in there. Let’s put us that we, we, we stood by and maybe we beat up the centurions. Like, let’s put that in like that. That’ll make us look better.Jeremy Norton — Totally. Yeah. Rich Birch — But that to me is one of the, to me, it’s like one of the most compelling. There’s a bunch of that in the New Testament, but that’s one of them that to me is a key text… Jeremy Norton — Yeah. Rich Birch — …that speaks to why you can believe this text to be true, because you wouldn’t write it that way if, unless it actually happened. Jeremy Norton — Totally. It makes, yeah, it makes me think of Mark Clark’s book, The Problem of Jesus. Rich Birch — Yes. Yeah. Yeah. Jeremy Norton — He does an excellent job, like, explaining the resurrection and and and from, like, an investigator’s point of view. I’m like, that this is so erratic.Rich Birch — Yes. Yes. Jeremy Norton — It has to be true, you know?Rich Birch — Yes. Yes.Jeremy Norton — So, yeah, it’s good.Rich Birch — When it feels very human, feels very human, right? You’re like, like you say, like that feels like the kind of thing I can relate with for sure. Rich Birch — Think about it at a church level. You kind of mentioned this because similarly, I thought, man, this could be a great study. Jeremy Norton — Yeah. Rich Birch — I was actually struck by, I think an interesting context for it might be, hey, you’ve got a group of leaders. at the church that you’re trying to invest in. And, um you know, my friend Dan Reiland from 12 stone said, you know, the core of his leadership development over the years has been find a group of 10 people say, here’s a book, let’s read it and talk about it. To me, this is one of those ones that could be great because it’ll get, it’ll open up all kinds of other conversation.Jeremy Norton — Totally.Rich Birch — What are some other contexts that you kind of pictured this being used in the church?Jeremy Norton — Yeah, I think, well, personal devos I think would be great. Like if you’re reading through John just on your own, like the the back sections can, yeah, it can be discussion guides, can also be like a personal journal. I if people went ah into a deep dive of of this book, reading along with John’s gospel, obviously there’s lots of scripture just like right in the book. But, and then let’s say they answer the reflection questions, go through the action items. There’s just so much there’s lots of space in that end of each chapter. And I could see someone, turning it into like a journal and…Rich Birch — That’s good.Jeremy Norton — Yeah, I also think, you know, I guess it it could it could also be a great gift. I think if you’re if you’re, you know, you could keep giving people a coffee mug with your church’s logo on. You really could if you wanted to. Rich Birch — Right.Jeremy Norton — I’m I’m I think I think books are with the pen and the candy bar or whatever, you know, whatever you’re going to do I think a book as a gift is a is a good way to do it. Obviously, it’s my book. I’m biased, and there’s lots of great books out there. Rich Birch — Yeah.Jeremy Norton — But this would be a book, whether whether someone’s first coming to know Christ or exploring Christianity, or whether they’re they’ve been long discipled and mentored for a long time as you’re as a first-time guest in your church to give them a little welcome package. This this would would fit, I think.Rich Birch — Yeah, for sure. That’s good. Let’s pivot to actually that, that, ah you know, wants me to pivot to a different kind of a different conversation, but about the book… Jeremy Norton — Sure. Rich Birch — …which is even that as a pastor, so kind of the meta conversation, it’s a lot of time, effort, and energy, I can say as a a third time author who’s working on the fourth and is taking time.Jeremy Norton — Well done.Rich Birch — It’s like, it’s a lot of time to invest to put this together. As a pastor of a church, talk to me why you would invest the time, effort, and energy in writing a book like this. What how do you see that fitting in to you know the mission of what you’re doing at the church?Jeremy Norton — Yeah, well I want a lead passion out over a decade and you go through sermon series. You know there are those pastors who will do like two years in Matthew… Rich Birch — Right. Jeremy Norton — …and they’re doing like one or two verses a time…excuse me. And so you know that i can’t turning that into like that’s going to be a full-on commentary, very theologically deep.Jeremy Norton — But for a lot of us, we’re doing thematic thematic series or like this, where you’re doing an overview of a book, like catching highlights, encouraging a congregation in their personal study to read through the meat of it and the details. But, you know, maybe one chapter at a time, a highlight. So there’s lots of times pastors do that.Jeremy Norton — And so you write these sermon series and then they just get archived. And, you know, I I’ve I have them. Every pastor listening has them where you have, you know, your folders and you open your folders and it’s like you have the year and then you got the months… Rich Birch — Right. Jeremy Norton — …or or maybe you just have the sermon series. And then you open that folder and it’s like manuscripts, notes, and you don’t want to delete them. Rich Birch — Right. Jeremy Norton — Because you’ve put so much heart and soul and prayer and and work into it. And I just, I really feel it’s a ton of work, like so much work, so much work, but you get better at it. And pastors that you you can, you can let those sermon series live on in books. Rich Birch — Right. Right. Jeremy Norton — And you you can do the heart, the hardest work. You know, I’ve done both ways, having a publisher, And self-publishing, you can do the self-publishing, you know, Amazon has those tools. It gets easier over time, you know, having done a ah number of them now and some of them looking ugly and some of them now looking it’m like, okay, I got it I’ve got it locked in now.Rich Birch — Right.Jeremy Norton — And with you go a traditional publisher, you know, when you’re first getting started, you know, it it it costs money. But there is something amazing when you see your sermon series in print. Rich Birch — Sure.Jeremy Norton — And that you can give it to your, you could give it as a gift to your people, welcome gift, or you could just sell it. And, and you, you’ve got people in your congregation that will support your writing anyway. They love your sermon series.Rich Birch — Yeah. Yeah.Jeremy Norton — That’s why they’re there. The main reason they’re coming. There’s, they may come for different reasons to your church, but they’re staying for the teaching.Rich Birch — Right.Jeremy Norton — Like we just know that. The the stats are there and can enter consistent. So to have to have your teaching in a book form, they will buy it for friends. They will buy it for themselves, they especially if they really love the sermon series. Rich Birch — Yep.Jeremy Norton — So. But it’s a lot of work. Rich Birch — Yes.Jeremy Norton — I get it. It’s a lot of work.Rich Birch — Yeah, I like it from, and we said this before we started recording, but from a on the like invite culture, church growth side of work that I do, one of the tactics that I recommend that churches seriously look at is writing a book like this. Take a sermon series, do the work to, and you know, it takes time.Rich Birch — It’s not a like, you can’t pull that trigger and a month later you’ve got a book. That’s not how that works. It takes time. But it is a great tool. And we’ve seen it with the churches we work with, multiple churches, where it it is, like you’re saying, it’s a great in the new year gift. It’s a great tool for there. But it’s frankly a great tool for your people on the invite side. People will give the book to other folks. Jeremy Norton — Correct. Rich Birch — It’s a way to interact in town with other, you know, like other leaders, that sort of thing. And, you know, your people, there is still, there’s like a perceived…prestige is too strong of a word. But there’s like there’s a validation in in putting together a book that… Jeremy Norton — There is. You are totally correct. Rich Birch — …you know you’ve you’ve put the work in, and that it probably means more than it should in the culture, but it is a tool. It’s something that you could use. And so I love that you’re doing this. When you think about, if you were sitting across from a a pastor, was thinking about the kind of series that would translate well into a book based on your experience, obviously not all series could could translate well. What would be the kind of thing that you think could translate well for someone?Jeremy Norton — So there’s a, yeah, a few caveats would be like, it has to be a minimum that you’ve done. It’s gotta be in order to get it to book form, I would minimum two months, but that’s going to be a slim book. So I would say like, I guess if you really wanted to but the sweet spot is three to six months series. In a three to six months series, you’re going to have enough content for a book. But not so much content that now you’ve written a textbook.Rich Birch — Right.Jeremy Norton — That’s why I was saying like, you’re doing the year in Matthew or the two years in Matthew, which, you know, lots of, that seems to be a thing, especially with Matthew. I hear that more than anyone else is, is doing the deep dive of Matthew, probably because a lot of the touch points to the Old Testament in in Matthew for sure. But it’s too it’s too big. You’re you’re it’ll be too academic. It won’t be accessible. It’ll just be a monster. Rich Birch — Right. Jeremy Norton — So three to six months of sermon series. And and yeah, just there’s lots of there’s AI tools out there that you can use to to be cautious with the AI tools, because if you lose your voice, you’re done like it does people people will see it.Rich Birch — Right, right. It doesn’t sound like you.Jeremy Norton — If your book is full of m dashes, they will know that ChatGPT wrote it, you know.Rich Birch — Yes, yes. That’s funny. Yeah.Jeremy Norton — So yeah, it it it. Yeah, it’s it’s it’s something that I think later on I want to help pastors with. I think I really would.Rich Birch — Yeah, that’s cool. Yeah, I do I think there’s a I think there’s an opportunity there for a lot of pastors to think about that and say, hey, what is there a way for us? I like the idea of like, I think that’s a good tangible three to six months. Even if you’re, I’m thinking about even the lead pastor at at our church, we typically do four or five week series.Rich Birch — He doesn’t, we don’t typically do super long series like that.Jeremy Norton — Oh right. Yes.Rich Birch — We’re changing the channel, but he’s done a number of, he’s come back to similar topics over time. So he’s, we just finished up a series on the Holy Spirit. It’s actually the third time in, maybe three years, we’ve done a series on the Holy Spirit. You could see where maybe it’s piecing together a couple different series and say, hey, there might be a, or you could think about that on the front end, like, hey, maybe over the next two years, I’m going to do three or four series together, you know, or over this next couple of years that I eventually am going to pull together into one, you know, overarching kind of idea that we can put together in a book.Jeremy Norton — And even in that, like hearing, okay, so three years doing the Holy Spirit… Rich Birch — Yep. …you could definitely do, just take those three, if they’re like four to six weeks or whatever, a three-part book and actually separate into parts.Rich Birch — Yeah.Jeremy Norton — and And again, using AI tools, you can upload those documents and say, ah you know, anything that’s duplicate, you know, please categorize for me. Rich Birch — Right, right. Jeremy Norton — And, you know, put it into co-work or something like that. And, and then go into the docs, pull, pull that out. And yeah, it would, it it could work. It could work great.Rich Birch — Yeah. That’s similar. Like when I wrote the, the, and I don’t know if I’ve ever talked about this publicly, but the books I’ve written, I’ve similarly, like I, um, the process I’ve gone through is I write an outline and then I actually, I actually speak the chapters like a presentation. So, cause that’s my most natural form, like is I’m doing, or I do it all the time. I’m constantly like, I’m doing it later today, meeting with the church and we’re going to talk for a bunch of hours about stuff. And so I’m like very used to that. I’ll use then the transcript from that. I’ll take that. And then I write from that transcript. I’m basically editing that transcript to turn it into something that sounds like it’s written. And then I’ve done iterative back and forth processes with an actual editor.Rich Birch — So, you know, it’s like then it’s like it goes to her and then comes back to me, goes back to her… Jeremy Norton — Yeah. Rich Birch — …back and forth over time to kind of get that whittled down into, OK, here’s a text. And, you know, the thing I’ve said to other leaders, even that process gets you started, people get stuck looking at a blank page, right They get stuck at the beginning. So even finding a process to get the ball rolling is is and getting the information down on the page. I think it was Ernest Hemingway who said, which stay with me, friends, don’t hang up on the podcast. I think he said, write drunk, edit sober. And you what you should not do as a pastor, but what he’s saying there is like, just get it onto the page, like just get it out.Jeremy Norton — Yeah.Rich Birch — Like, you know, and if you take forever on that first stage, you’ll never get to a book. Right. And you’ve already done that as a, as a pastor, you’ve spoken these, but how do we get the ball rolling? Thoughts on any of that, except for the get drunk thing. Don’t comment on that, but any comments on the rest of that?Jeremy Norton — Yeah, don’t write drunk. But so I guess I so there’s some guys out there that like, you know, they’ll have just like a few little notes and they they’re not manuscript preachers. Some guys are manuscript preachers. Nothing against that. You know I’m kind of a both and guy. Rich Birch — Yep. I manuscript for like our manuscript and teleprompt for our YouTube channel. And then but then I take that like so that manuscript I just have highlights. And then when I live preach, I just have highlights. And I walk around and talk. So there’s lots of passages in different versions but if you are the guy that’s just got an an outline um you’re probably going to have an audio an audio of your sermon and you can put it into a like Otter AI, or don’t know there’s probably loads of different tools now, and run that transcript, and then just export every sermon as a as, you know, the first sermon in your series you know introduction. Right. Rich Birch — Yep. Second one in your series… Rich Birch — Yes.Jeremy Norton — …you know, chapter one. And once you have those documents, now you will you will notice, well, there’s lots of things you’re going to notice when you get a transcript. You’re going to notice how much you say and like and all these different things. Rich Birch — True. Jeremy Norton — You’re going to be just like, oh my goodness, is that how I sound like, which can be a good thing when you read that when you’re when you move from the transcript of your sermon into a book, you’re like, oh my goodness, this is would be the most awful thing to read.Rich Birch — True.Jeremy Norton — But there’s also tools now that remove all all that for you.Rich Birch — Yes. Yeah, that’s fun.Jeremy Norton — Then you go through and you edit it.Rich Birch — Right.Jeremy Norton — And yeah, yeah. And it’s a beautiful thing when it’s done.Rich Birch — Good stuff. Yeah, that’s great. Well, this been a good good conversation. Where can people i want to get people to pick up copies of this.Jeremy Norton — Sure.Rich Birch — I’m assuming they can buy it at Amazon. In fact, I know you can buy it at Amazon because that’s where books come from. But are there other places we want to send people to pick up? I think this would be, even if you’re listening in today and you’re thinking, hmm, I wonder what it looks like to have sermons transformed into a book like hey you should pick up a copy even as just a reference to get a sense of hmm I could see what that could look like even if you’re not going read it that would interesting tool… Jeremy Norton — Totally. It’s it’s a great… Rich Birch — …there. so so Amazon, where else do we want to send them? Jeremy Norton — Anywhere anywhere books are sold. Rich Birch — Right. Jeremy Norton — I don’t I don’t know if anyone buys books at anywhere else. Rich Birch — Yes. Jeremy Norton — Like does people do people still buy books at Indigo or Chapters or ChristianBook.com?Rich Birch — Yes, yes. Yes.Jeremy Norton — I don’t know who does, but if you do… Rich Birch — It’s there. Jeremy Norton — …it’s it’s there. One of the benefits of going with a publisher is they just have access to just…Rich Birch — Right.Jeremy Norton — …every book distributed. They just can get your book everywhere. Rich Birch — Right. Jeremy Norton — When you self-publish, you know, with Amazon, it’s locked in Amazon, but then again, people go to Amazon. And yeah, it’s a, it would be a great thing for pastors to, to look through and say, Hey, you know, I think I could do this.Rich Birch — Right.Jeremy Norton — I see how this works now. So that would be good. And obviously there’s print copy or a digital copy.Rich Birch — Yep.Jeremy Norton — You know, if you want more information on the book and stuff like that, you can go to my website, leadbiblically.com. There’s lots of other stuff there. My other books that I’ve written, self-published and published by Ambassador International, they’re all there too. You can have a look. Yeah.Rich Birch — That’s great. Well, Jeremy, I really appreciate that. I appreciate you being on the show today and and let us peek under the hood. There’s obviously a lot more we could talk about there, but I want to encourage people to go pick those up and and check out your website, Lead Biblically. And thanks for being here today.Jeremy Norton — Thanks so much. Love it.

This week on Sinica, I welcome journalist and former colleague Chang Che. His recent New Yorker piece "How China Learned to Love the Classics" generated enormous attention. We explore one of the more surprising cultural phenomena in contemporary China: a growing, state-backed enthusiasm for the Greco-Roman classics. We dig into what's actually driving this revival, from the genuine intellectual curiosity of scholars like He Yanxiao, who fell in love with the Odyssey as a Chinese high school student and went on to earn a Chicago PhD, to what might be the more deliberate strategic ambitions of figures like Politburo member Li Shulei and the shadow of philosopher Liu Xiaofeng's Straussianism. We also compare Chang's warmly enchanted 2022 China Project piece on Austrian classicist Leopold Lieb to the politically sharper New Yorker piece four years later — and ask what that shift in tone tells us about what's actually changed. This is an episode about civilizational discourse, soft power, and the strange fate of scholarship when the state decides it finds your obscure passion useful.00:32 – Kaiser introduces the episode from Beijing and reflects on the asymmetry in how the West covers Chinese intellectual curiosity 04:08 – Civilizationist discourse: Spengler, Huntington, and The Civilization Trap 10:56 – Introducing Chang Che and the evolution from his 2022 China Project piece to the New Yorker 15:38 – How Chang first got drawn into the subject: Latin classes, Charlottesville, and young Chinese classicists returning from American PhDs 21:38 – What changed in four years: the state moves from background to foreground 25:28 – Inside the institutional push: what China's "classics departments" actually look like, and who controls the definition of "classics" 31:13 – Xi Jinping's letter to Greek scholars and the move, perhaps, to sever ancient Greece from the modern West 39:57 – Liu Xiaofeng, Leo Strauss, and why Strauss fever gripped Chinese intellectuals after 1989 47:03 – The Padilla Peralta "incident" and the strange porousness between American and Chinese discourse communities on the classics 52:13 – Chenchen Zhang's framework: civilizationist discourse claims difference internationally while enforcing homogeneity domestically 57:30 – He Yanxiao, K-pop, and the idea of "Chinatown classics" 01:07:13 – Where will China's classics revival be in ten years?Paying It Forward: Dongxian Jiang (Fordham) and Simon Luo (Nanyang Technological University)Recommendations: Chang recommends House of the Dragon; Kaiser recommends the Ah-Q Arkestra, led by trombonist Matt Roberts, whose latest album Méiyǒu yìjiàn is on Spotify.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Stephanie Rousselle hosts Dr. Mikel Del Rosario, professor at moody Bible Institute in Chicago, and expert in Christian apologetics. The conversation centers on how we can answer the question of whether Jesus clearly claimed to be God, especially when it is asked by skeptics or by Christians seeking a deeper, confident faith.Correctly understanding Jesus as fully God and fully man is foundational to Christian faith—if he's not divine, he can't forgive sins or save. The resurrection, backed by historical evidence, cements the truth of his claims.One common question is, “Why didn't Jesus plainly say, ‘I am God'?” Mikel Del Rosario explains that Jesus' audience was steeped in Jewish theology, where claiming to be God could easily be misunderstood as claiming to be God the Father or as a rival deity. Instead, Jesus reveals his identity incrementally—and profoundly—using language and concepts (like “Son of Man” and allusions to Daniel 7 and Psalm 110) his contemporaries would eventually understand.A major stumbling block for many is the problem of evil—if God exists, why is there suffering? Mikel Del Rosario encourages compassionate, courageous responses, recognizing that both emotional and intellectual issues are at play. Importantly, he frames Christian hope as a guarantee rooted in the reality of Jesus' resurrection—something unique to Christianity.Some people genuinely don't understand how God could allow evil, while others flatly reject God's existence because of evil. Mikel Del Rosario explains the importance of discerning which type of questioner you are engaging. For seekers, gently showing how Christianity makes sense of evil is key; for rejectors, it's valuable to ask how they reached their conclusions and what evidence supports their claim.Anyone making a truth claim—atheist or Christian—shares the burden of proof. For example, if someone claims “Jesus never said he was God,” it's appropriate (and helpful!) to clarify what they mean and what specific evidence or misunderstandings might be at play.In Mark 2, Jesus forgives a paralyzed man's sins. This act isn't just compassion—it's a claim to divine authority. No Jewish priest, prophet, or miracle worker ever forgave sins as Jesus did. The religious leaders recognize this as a claim only God can rightly make.In Mark 14, before the high priest, Jesus refers to himself as the “Son of Man” seated at the right hand of God and coming on the clouds—directly combining messianic and divine imagery from Jewish scriptures. This is why the blasphemy charge is leveled, leading to his crucifixion.Whether engaging skeptics, seekers, or fellow believers, Mikel Del Rosario urges us to listen first—distinguishing between theological, historical, or literary misunderstandings. Rather than just insisting, “The Bible says so,” we should explain how Jesus' words and deeds in context are unique and credible claims to divinity.Honest questioning, careful listening, and deep understanding of historical and cultural context equip us to both strengthen our faith and share it wisely with others. Jesus' claims are profound and unique—and the hope he offers is certain, not wishful thinking. Jesus is fully God and fully man. He died for our sins, and rose again. This is the central truth of our faith, and it is solidly established through historical research.MORE ABOUT DR. MIKEL DEL ROSARIODr. Mikel Del Rosario helps Christians find clear answers to tough questions about Christianity and explain their faith with courage and compassion. He is a Professor of Bible and Theology at Moody Bible Institute and the author of Did Jesus Really Say He Was God? Making Sense of His Historical Claims. (IVP Academic).Previously, he taught Apologetics and Religion at Jessup University and Digital Media at Dallas Seminary. He has published 31 journal articles on apologetics and cultural engagement in Bibliotheca Sacra.He holds an M.A. in Apologetics from Biola University, a Master of Theology (Th.M) and a Ph.D in New Testament from Dallas Theological Seminary where he served as Cultural Engagement Manager, producing and hosting The Table podcast. He has also ministered in the Philippines as a missionary professor with Converge Worldwide and a youth pastor in California. Follow him at ApologeticsGuy.com, the Apologetics Guy YouTube channel, and his podcast, The Apologetics Guy Show.More at https://apologeticsguy.com/ MORE ABOUT THE BOOK, “DID JESUS REALLY CLAIM HE WAS GOD?”How to Make Sense of Jesus' Divine ClaimsDo you ever wonder if Jesus really claimed to be God? Maybe you've heard people say, "Jesus never said he was God," or you've been asked, "Why believe Jesus is divine if he never claimed it?" These challenges aren't just from non-Christians―they show up in church, too. Even if you're not coming from a place of skepticism, you might still question how well church teachings about Jesus match up with what he actually said. So, did the historical Jesus really claim to be divine?This book is here to give you confidence in the historicity of Jesus' claim to divinity. It's designed to help you explain your faith in a world that increasingly doubts the Bible's portrayal of Jesus. Instead of focusing on what Jesus' followers believed, this book takes a different approach―it looks at what Jesus' enemies thought. How did they interpret his words and actions? Their perspective can help you understand the historical validity of Jesus' divine claim.In this book, biblical scholar Mikel Del Rosariouses historiography to examine claims about Jesus' divinity,analyzes ancient Greco-Roman, Jewish, and biblical sources to understand how Jesus' words and actions were interpreted by his adversaries and followers, andargues that Jesus claimed divine authority, a claim supported by strong historical evidence.If you're a Christian, this book will equip you to defend your faith against theories that suggest Jesus only claimed human authority, not divine. If you're someone who sees Christianity differently, this book offers a serious investigation into the claims of the historical Jesus, providing evidence that any theory of his identity must address. Whether you're searching for answers to your own questions or trying to share about Jesus with others, this book will help you communicate Jesus' divine claim with clarity and confidence.We invite you to check out the first episode of each of our series, and decide which one you will want to start with.Go to gospelspice.com for more, and go especially to gospelspice.com/podcast to enjoy our guests! Interested in our blog? Click here: gospelspice.com/blogIdentity in the battle | Ephesianshttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/372022/link/Malachi: Messenger to Messiahhttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/356130/link/Wisdom from the Book of Proverbshttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/324347/link/Come to the Table | The Feasts Jesus celebratedhttps://www.podcastics.com/episode/309956/link/Support us on Gospel Spice, PayPal and Venmo!

David M. Lampton—“Mike”—is one of America's most distinguished scholars of U.S.–China relations, director of China Studies Emeritus at Johns Hopkins SAIS, and the author of landmark works on Chinese politics and foreign policy. He joins me this week to discuss a striking new Foreign Affairs essay he co-authored with the eminent Chinese international relations scholar Wang Jisi of Peking University: “America and China at the Edge of Ruin: A Last Chance to Step Back from the Brink.”Written against the backdrop of President Trump's planned visit to China (and before the outbreak of the U.S.–Israeli war on Iran), the essay is less a routine policy paper than an urgent intervention — two veteran scholars, one American and one Chinese, throwing a rope across a widening chasm. They argue that strategic rivalry has become self-reinforcing, that the greatest danger is no longer deliberate conflict but accidental war driven by miscalculation and escalation dynamics neither side fully controls, and that a rare, narrow window for “a new normalization” may now be opening.We range across the essay's boldest claims — on Taiwan as the unlikely starting point for stabilization, the corrosive logic of securitization, the ghost of the first Cold War, and the looming talent crisis in serious China studies — in a meaty, substantive conversation.3:39 How the Lampton–Wang Jisi collaboration came together6:31 The division of labor and the essay's unified voice9:15 Wang Jisi's cognitive empathy and his unusual depth of American understanding13:57 The essay's emotional register: veteran scholars and the specter of another Cold War16:32 From reassurance to deterrence—and why deterrence keeps getting harder to maintain25:02 Mirror-image threat narratives as self-fulfilling operating systems32:08 Securitization, the “one-way ratchet,” and whether economic interdependence can be rebuilt39:23 Accidental war: what has changed since Hainan 2001 and Belgrade 199944:16 Where the most damaging choices were made—China's Ukraine pivot, U.S. arms-control withdrawals51:29 The window of opportunity: Trump's China visit, the 4th Plenum, and post-Iran recalculation1:01:30 Taiwan as the counterintuitive starting point for stabilization1:10:03 Collapse fantasies, hubris, and the Pearl Harbor danger of “act now or lose the window”1:13:14 The looming China-talent crisis and the future of the fieldPaying It ForwardMike highlights Rosie Levine, executive director of the U.S.–China Education Trust, where she is leading a major new initiative to expand serious American scholarship in China and encourage Chinese institutions to open their doors wider to foreign researchers and students.RecommendationsMike: The Raider by Stephen R. Platt (Knopf, 2025) — a biography of Major Evans Carlson, the swashbuckling Marine officer who trained with Chinese Communist forces in the 1930s, befriended Zhu De, brought the word “gung-ho” into English, and died in 1947 just in time to miss both the PRC's turn away from liberty and McCarthyism's persecution at home.Kaiser: “How China Learned to Love the Classics,” a New Yorker piece by Chang Che on the remarkable renaissance of interest in Greco-Roman philosophy and literature in contemporary China — and what it says about the world we now inhabit. See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Derek Rishmawy, James Wood, and Alastair Roberts welcome Dr. Lyndon Jost, author of Transfiguring Headship: A Figural Theology of Gender. Jost argues that headship is rooted in Old Testament figural theology rather than Greco-Roman culture, that it fundamentally means representation rather than authority, and that this reframes debates between complementarians and egalitarians alike.  — Get your copy of our free ebook, Spiritual Formation for the Family, at http://mereorthodoxy.com/family. Mere Fidelity is a podcast from Mere Orthodoxy and is listener-supported. If you would like to support this work, become a Mere Orthodoxy Member today at http://mereorthodoxy.com/membership. Get 30% of the Baker Book of the Month, Keeping Kids Christian: Recovering A Biblical Vision For Lifelong Discipleship, by going to: http://bakerbookhouse.com/pages/mere-fidelity Apply for Beeson Divinity School's Ph.D program by April 1 for Fall 2026 admission here: https://bit.ly/BeesonPhD — Chapters 01:15 - Overview of Transfiguring Headship 03:06 - Headship as Representation, Not Authority 06:09 - Critiquing Complementarian and Egalitarian Readings 10:32 - Figural Theology and the Fourfold Senses of Scripture 17:05 - Against Greco-Roman Readings of Headship 20:13 - 1 Corinthians 11:3 and Trinitarian Headship 25:35 - Ivan Illich, Gender vs. Sex, and Vernacular Gender 32:48 - Headship, Marriage, and the One-Flesh Union 43:23 - Essentialism, Gender Realism, and Minimalist Claims 50:36 - Headship as Unity, Not Opposition 55:59 - Male Responsibility and the Final Account 58:28 - Headship, Creation Order, and External Representation 01:02:14 - Closing Remarks  

The Archeological Museum in Naples, Italy, contains one of the world's most important collections of ancient Greco-Roman art and artifacts. The collection includes the "Farnese Bull" - the largest ancient sculpture ever recovered, the "Farnese Hercules," the "Farnese Atlas," and the spectacular "Alexander Mosaic" from Pompeii which depicts an episode of the legendary Battle of Issus between Alexander the Great and Daris III. The museum is also home to an extraordinary collection of ancient engraved gems, jewels, and cameos. 

Erkki Koskenniemi, author, “Love, Marriage and Family: Learning from the Early Christians” Love, Marriage and Family: Learning from the Early ChristiansThe post Christian Sexual Ethics in the Greco-Roman World – Pr. Erkki Koskenniemi, 3/4/26 (0632) first appeared on Issues, Etc..