Podcasts about idols

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

Seek God, Stay Close, Tear Down the Idols Speaker: Michael Shockley, ReCreate Church Scripture: 2 Chronicles 15:1-8 Episode Summary In this Father's Day 2026 message, Pastor Michael uses an original skit about King Asa, the Prophet Azariah, and the legendary Shelemiah the Shawarma Guy to bring a timeless message from 2 Chronicles to life. God didn't send a prophet to Asa when things were falling apart - He sent one right after a great victory. Because staying close to God when things are going well may be the hardest thing we're called to do. Key Points - God seeks us out not just when we're in trouble, but after victory - when we're most likely to drift - Seeking God means coming to Him as we are, without straightening up first - He helps us work through the mess - Staying close means not waiting for trouble to remind us we need God - Idols are anything we can't be okay without - the things we run to for identity, comfort, or worth instead of God Main Takeaway Seek God, Stay Close, Tear Down the Idols. God promises He can be found by those who seek Him. But victory, comfort, and success can quietly pull us back into old patterns and habits. It takes courage to recognize what has too much of our heart - and the guts to tear it down. Memorable Quotes - "The Lord is with you while you are with Him. If you seek Him, He will be found by you." - "He made Himself findable." - "Nobody drifts away all at once." - "An idol is the thing we can't be okay without." - "When your soul feels like a shaken-up soda bottle - what do you reach for? If it's not your God, it might be your idol." - "Nothing that pulls you away from The Heavenly Father is making you a promise you can trust." Reflection Question Are there idols - money, success, control, comfort, approval - that have quietly taken too much of your heart? What would it look like to have the courage to tear them down? Tune in to hear the hilarious skit featuring King Asa, Azariah the Prophet, and Shelemiah's Shawarma Shack, and discover why God sends His message right after our victories, not just our failures. Connect & Give Learn more about ReCreate Church at www.recreatechurch.org Give online easily and securely through Tithe.ly

In this episode of the Divine Council Worldview Podcast, Ronn and Mike delve into various theological questions, exploring the concepts of theosis and deification, the significance of Jesus' first miracle of turning water into wine, the humor present in Jesus' life, the implications of the incarnation, and the understanding of idols in spirituality. Each topic is examined with depth and insight, providing listeners with a rich understanding of these complex themes. They also delve into the spiritual significance of idols in biblical narratives, exploring their role as objects of worship and their psychological influence on believers. The discussion transitions into the topic of Gentile salvation in the Old Testament, emphasizing the importance of loyalty to Yahweh and the implications of salvation for both Jews and Gentiles. Finally, they reflect on the complexities of understanding these themes within the broader biblical narrative.

Michael Heard, an author of the Exodus Study at Arise, speaks on the tension between God's wrath and His mercy, but also about the role of an artist in worshipping the one true God.

From our series titled Revelation: Loyalty to the Lamb in the Land of Idols. In this series, we will look at the first five chapters of Revelation and learn what whole-hearted allegiance to the way of the Lamb looks like. Scripture reading: Revelation 3:1-6Additional readings: Matthew 24:42-44Genesis 35:1-4Daniel 12Exodus 32:30-35Recommended book: ⁠Reading Revelation Responsibly⁠ by Michael GormanLearn more about Redeemer Church at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠redeemerclt.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

Forgetting God leads to forsaking Him for idols and lasting consequences. We may experience God's discipline, but if we do, it is evidence of his mercy. Each generation must choose for themselves whether they will follow God. Our responsibility is to pass on “lived knowledge” of God.

A person too poor to present such an offering selects wood that will not rot; they look for a skilled worker to set up an idol that will not topple. — Isaiah 40:20 As we noted yesterday, idolatry is an offense to God. Today's text describes how a person who cannot afford to use gold or silver might choose a special kind of wood and then hire a craftsman to carve it into an idol that they can worship.An idol cannot do anything or even support itself, so how can a person trust it? Idols are fragile and lifeless in contrast to the all-powerful, living God. Idols are handmade from some kind of found material in contrast to the Creator God, who is spirit. If a person makes an idol and worships it, that would be like the creator worshiping the creature, revealing the foolishness of idolatry. Why would a person want to worship something that is lesser than they are?The psalmist, after speaking of the uselessness of idols, says, “Those who make them will be like them, and so will all who trust in them” (Psalm 115:8).The French reformer and theologian John Calvin said that the human heart is like a factory of idols. We think of our favorite idols, and we bow down before them: money, sex, power, status, leisure, ideals, and more.Let's be aware of the idols that we can too easily manufacture in our deceitful human hearts. Instead of being foolish, let's live by the wisdom of God. Living God, free us from the idols that our hearts can create. Expose every false trust and tear down every lifeless substitute. Guide us to worship you alone and to devote our lives wholly to you. In Jesus' name, Amen.

As for an idol, a metalworker casts it, and a goldsmith overlays it with gold and fashions silver chains for it. — Isaiah 40:19 God's people have always been surrounded by worshipers of idols that represent other gods—and all other gods besides the Lord are false.Sadly, we have always been drawn to worship things other than the one true God. In the past, most idols were made of wood, stone, or precious metals such as silver and gold. But an idol can be anything to which we bow down. An idol can be a material thing, a person, a relationship, an ideal, a philosophy, a status or accomplishment, and more. Idols are a grotesque substitute for God and a crude representation of him. They are human works, not divine works. They are works or ideas forged by human imagination, not by divine guidance.Idols are powerless. An image may have a mouth, but it cannot speak. It cannot see or hear or walk. It cannot feel. Idols are inert and powerless. They can fall and break. To worship an idol is to become like it, without any understanding.Idolatry is a distortion of the worship we are called to offer the Lord in spirit and in truth. Idolatry is an abomination to the Lord. The idea of worshiping something other than God is an offense—a great insult—to the Lord. God cannot be represented by any figure or thing or idea. Let's be aware of the deception of idolatry. Let's serve the Lord alone. Lord, free our hearts from every kind of idol or false god. Teach us to worship you alone—in spirit and in truth, with undivided love and loyalty. Amen.

In Joshua 11, it is recorded that Joshua and the Israelites destroyed the city of Hazor, burning it to the ground. And according to the Law of Moses, they would have destroyed and burned all the pagan idols, not leaving one untouched. Now, the site of the ancient city has been excavated, and their findings have been remarkable. Amongst the old remains they found idols that had been smashed and clearly burned. It appears this lines up with what is written in the Bible. Join us as we uncover this mystery!-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------DONATE: https://evidence4faith.org/give/WEBSITE: https://evidence4faith.org/NEWSLETTER: http://eepurl.com/hpazV5BOOKINGS: https://evidence4faith.org/bookings/CONTACT: Evidence 4 Faith, 349 Knights Ave Kewaskum WI 53040 , info@evidence4faith.orgMy goal is that their hearts, having been knit together in love, may be encouraged, and that they may have all the riches that assurance brings in their understanding of the knowledge of the mystery of God, namely, Christ, in whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. - Colossians 2:2-3CREDITS: Developed & Hosted by Michael Lane. Produced & Edited by Noah Sauder. Graphics & Publication by Noah Sauder. Additional Art, Film, & Photography Credits: Stock media “Memories” provided by mv_production / Pond5 | Logo Stinger: Unsplash.com: Leinstravelier, Logan Moreno Gutierrez, Meggyn Pomerieau, Jaredd Craig, NASA, NOASS, USGS, Sam Carter, Junior REIS, Luka Vovk, Calvin Craig, Mario La Pergola, Timothy Eberly, Priscilla Du Preez, Ismael Paramo, Tingey Injury Law Firm, Dan Cristian Pădureț, Jakob Owens | Wikimedia: Darmouth University Public Domain, Kelvinsong CC0 | Stock media “A stately Story (Stiner02)” provided by lynnepublishing / Pond5

Join us for this week's message: Removing Idols | Summer at Union At Union Church, we exist to lead people into a growing relationship with Jesus. Our messages are rooted in the Bible, relevant to everyday life, and focused on helping you walk out your faith with confidence. No matter where you are on your journey, you belong here. Plan a Visit: https://unionchurchonline.org/plan-a-visit Connect With Us: https://unionchurchonline.org/staff Support the Ministry: https://unionchurchonline.org/give

"You're in despair. You just don't know you're in despair." — Peter RollinsOn this episode of Podsongs, John Kunkel of The New Division takes the guest-host chair to interview Northern Irish writer, philosopher and theologian Peter Rollins as inspiration for a brand new song. John opens up on his influences — Depeche Mode, New Order, Echo & the Bunnymen, Duran Duran — before the conversation turns to Rollins' work: questioning certainty, exposing the contradictions we live by, and finding freedom from the relentless "tyranny of happiness," with Los Angeles cast as a spiritual "Mecca" selling wholeness to anyone who can afford it. Along the way Rollins unpacks desire, sacrifice, work and alienation, ideology, AI and the unconscious, the films that shaped him, and the parables behind his "pyrotheology" — and the talk becomes the seed of "Idols," a song about the things we all end up worshipping, good and bad.New single "Idols" by The New Division — out 26 June. Stream/pre-save: https://ffm.to/tnd_idolsTOPICSPeter Rollins on desire, contradiction, and ideologyThe tyranny of happiness and the demand to enjoyLos Angeles as a spiritual marketplaceLacanian psychoanalysis and the unconsciousWhy desire needs obstaclesSacrifice, meaning, and fulfillmentAI, consciousness, and the technological singularityFilms, storytelling, and creative inspirationJohn Kunkel's influences: Depeche Mode, New Order, Echo & the Bunnymen, Duran DuranWriting a song live on the podcastTIMESTAMPS00:00 Intro: welcome to Podsongs01:29 Why UK music hits different (New Order, Depeche Mode, Echo & the Bunnymen)04:45 Keeping new wave alive06:18 Moving abroad: music logistics09:47 Writing 150 song demos14:41 Who is Peter Rollins?28:17 Peter joins the call31:50 LA and the demand to enjoy37:01 The tyranny of happiness38:35 The superego's demand to enjoy40:19 Why fulfilling your dreams can backfire41:53 The enjoyment hidden in sacrifice44:33 Why desire needs obstacles47:39 The unconscious and Lacan's "object a"52:56 Filmmaking and prohibition57:43 Negative universality and politics01:01:16 The church of contradiction01:05:29 AI, singularity and the unconscious01:12:42 Music tastes and influences01:14:08 Film picks: They Live and ideology01:19:49 Who inspires Peter now01:20:34 Writing the song live01:21:20 The Vegas parable and unknowing01:26:02 Where to find Peter Rollins01:28:43 The profane temple and lack01:34:51 Post-interview debrief01:39:07 "Idols" — song outroGUEST & MUSICIANPeter Rollins: https://peterrollins.comThe New Division: https://www.newdivisionmusic.comGet the newsletter, support the show, and download the song for just €/$1:https://podsongs.comWebsite: https://podsongs.comPodcast Episodes: https://podsongs.com/podcast-episodesMusic: https://podsongs.com/musicInstagram: https://instagram.com/podsongsTwitter/X: https://twitter.com/podsongsFacebook: https://facebook.com/podsongs#PeterRollins #JohnKunkel #NewDivision #Philosophy #Theology #Psychoanalysis #Lacan #ArtificialIntelligence #AI #Consciousness #Ideology #Desire #Happiness #Spirituality #Songwriting #SynthPop #NewWave #PostPunk #Podsongs #JackStafford

In Week 8 of Hosea: A Living Sermon of God's Love, we look at Hosea 8:1–14 and the danger of idolatry in the heart of God's people.Idols are sneaky. They often begin as good things, but when they become ultimate things, they take the throne of the human heart. Hosea reminds us that God is not interested in empty religious activity when our hearts belong to something else.A divided heart cannot offer undivided worship. This message challenges us to examine what has captured our affections, what is shaping our pursuits, and whether our lives are truly surrendered to God's mission.

Have you ever felt completely stuck when it comes to body image, or really ANY area where you just can’t get unstuck, no matter what boxes you check? In this episode, Heather Creekmore dives into the underlying reasons we stay stuck and offers a biblically-rooted path toward true freedom. Episode Highlights Why Do We Get Stuck? Exploring the feeling of desperation and stuckness, especially around body image or life circumstancesHeather Creekmore shares the real-life struggle and the “one thing” mindset00:00:09 Parallels with the biblical story of Rachel & Leah’s desperate longing00:03:01 The Root of Stuckness: Envy and Comparison How envy eats us alive—what Rachel and Leah were really longing for, and how this shows up in our own lives00:03:51 The dangerous pattern of “Give me _ or I’ll die!” and how this mindset affects our faith and contentment00:05:10 False Solutions and Chasing Idols Why achieving our desires (like Rachel’s longed-for baby) doesn’t satisfy in the end00:10:17 How “self-improvement” can actually lead to more pride and stuckness instead of freedom00:25:17 The Call to Pure Humility A deep dive into biblical humility vs. pride; why humility is about focusing less on ourselves00:13:15 The example of Mary (mother of Jesus) and her response of true humility and worship00:24:35 Getting Unstuck: Practical Steps Why you can’t do it alone—why Christian community, confession, and honest conversations are crucial00:31:19 How zooming out (not magnifying your own issues) can change everything00:30:26 Final Encouragement Reminder: body image healing isn't just mental...it’s spiritual. It's very difficult, if not impossible, to heal in isolation or alone.00:35:29 Mentioned Episodes and Resources The following episodes and resources are referenced and would be linked in the show notes: Episode: “What if I Just Want a Body I'm Proud Of?”(Heather Creekmore discusses the pitfalls of longing for body satisfaction through surface change. Episode: “I'm Sorry I Got it Wrong: Why Leaning On Your Own Understanding Isn't the Answer”(Discussed at 00:20:35) “Waiting for Weight Loss” Series(A series reframing how we view weight loss and its relationship to body image freedom) “YouVersion Bible Reading Plans” (Summer Body Image Issues and More)(Find Bible-based reading plans tailored to body image struggles) Book: The Comparison Free Life(Learn more about chasing idols and biblical freedom) Book: The 40-Day Body Image Workbook Book: Aging Gratefully: A 30-Day Devotional for Women in Midlife Book: Heather's story- Compared to Who? Stay Connected Take the free body image quiz and access all resources at improvebodyimage.com Interested in one-on-one, bible-based coaching (nouthetic counseling)? Visit the “Work with Me” and “Beyond Body Image” sections of the site. If you’re struggling, don’t walk the road alone! Share the episode with a friend or invite someone to join the next 40-Day Journey for Christian women. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

In this powerful teaching, Bishop Omar Thibeaux continues the Stolen Images series from Jasher 31:38–40, where Rachel steals her father's images before leaving Laban's house.This message reveals the difference between an image and an idol, showing that the real issue is not art, symbols, or pictures — the issue is worship. Bishop Omar teaches how idols can live in the heart through money, people, relationships, technology, family patterns, and anything that takes the place of God.This episode calls believers to examine what they are carrying, remove every idol, and return fully to Yahweh, the only One worthy of worship.

From our series titled Revelation: Loyalty to the Lamb in the Land of Idols. In this series, we will look at the first five chapters of Revelation and learn what whole-hearted allegiance to the way of the Lamb looks like. Scripture reading: Revelation 2:18-29Additional readings: Daniel 3Daniel 71 Kings 16:29-34Jeremiah 17:1-12Recommended book: Reading Revelation Responsibly by Michael GormanLearn more about Redeemer Church at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠redeemerclt.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

God demands the sole worship of his people and we need to be careful that nothing else takes his place in our devotion.

Topher Gardner is the founder of Black Gold Biochar, a regenerative builder, a lifelong bodyworker, and a former Division I football kicker who has actually walked the path most spiritual seekers only theorize about. He played at Michigan State under Nick Saban, spent three more years in pro leagues, and rebuilt the body football broke through Rolfing and yoga. That work took him to southern India, where he served as operations director of an ashram before the new age yoga world wore him out. He landed in Costa Rica, where for nearly two decades he built domes, taught regenerative agriculture, partook in fifty-plus ayahuasca journeys, studied true sidereal astrology with John Lamb Lash, and found the work that now anchors his life: biochar.The conversation moves the way Topher's mind moves, between cosmology and concrete, between Wilhelm Reich's writing on why we build idols just to slay them and the chemistry of why a 2,000-degree kiln in the Missouri Ozarks turns hardwood waste into the most stable carbon you can put in soil. We get into the suppressed Christ archetype hidden in Ophiuchus, why the distinction between self and other is the actual purpose of incarnation, what ten years inside the ayahuasca world taught him about variability over devotion, and why the carbon they trained us to fear is the same carbon our bodies and our land are starving for. Hard-won wisdom, earned the only way it ever gets earned.(00:00) Why Is Carbon Demonized? (00:41) Yerasimos Opening (02:46) Meet Topher Gardner (06:56) Costa Rica Calling (09:29) Bodywork And Ayurveda (12:20) Ayahuasca vs Peyote (17:54) True Sidereal Astrology (24:57) Purpose And Boundaries (41:07) Human Design Origins (46:48) Egoic Manifester Clarity (49:18) The Truth About Idol Worshippers (56:52) Biochar Origins (01:06:21) Kilns & Production Scale / Soil Carbon Vs Fertilizer (01:12:41) Feeding Biochar to Animals (01:17:11) Planting Mixing and Top Dressing (01:21:56) New Products & 3rd Party VerificationCONNECT WITH USStart the Free 7-Day Self-Esteem Reset → https://selfesteemreset.com/Watch Our Episodes → https://hereforthetruth.com/episodes/Join our free Telegram community → https://t.me/areyouhereforthetruthJoin our membership Friends of the Truth → https://hereforthetruth.com/friendsBuild your digital home with Atlas → https://atlasdigital.world/CONNECT WITH TOPHERBlack Gold Biochar → https://blackgoldbiochar.com/Topher HQ → https://topherhq.com/Podcast → Biocharisma

Send us Fan MailThanks for joining us online!  Feel free to share this sermon with friends and family. Grace Baptist Church of Brandon, FL, led by Pastor John Jupp, is a dynamic church that will enrich your daily life. Whether you are just curious about church and God or you are a committed follower of Jesus Christ, you are welcome to join us here at Grace!If you have a prayer concern, we would love to come alongside you in prayer: Share that here:https://growingatgrace.churchcenter.com/people/forms/391447To worship through giving clink this link below:https://growingatgrace.churchcenter.com/givingFill out our digital connect card and help us to get to know you:https://growingatgrace.churchcenter.com/people/forms/602007Support the show

June 14, 2026

Norwood Campus Pastor - Lemuel Maldonado

Israel had seen the plagues. Walked through the Red Sea. Eaten manna from heaven. Heard the voice of God at Sinai.And yet, while Moses was on the mountain, they built a golden calf.Exodus 32 reveals a sobering truth: the greatest obstacle to following God was never Pharaoh, Egypt, or the wilderness—it was the human heart.In this message from our series Follow: The Story of the Exodus, Pastor Tommy Orlando explores how idols are formed, why waiting on God is often difficult, and how God's mercy proves greater than our greatest failures.In this message:• Idols grow when we refuse to trust God's timing.• Idols reduce God to something we can control.• God's mercy is greater than our failure.Through the intercession of Moses, we see a powerful picture of Jesus Christ—the true Mediator who does what Moses could only foreshadow. Moses pleaded for the people, but Jesus gave Himself for them.Exodus 32 reminds us that even redeemed people can wander, but God's grace is greater than our wandering. His mercy is not permission to continue in sin, but an invitation to repentance and renewed trust.

No Idols Exodus 20:4-6 Idols lead to momentary satisfaction; God leads to lasting satisfaction Exodus 20:4 Nehemiah 13:26, 1 Kings 11:4 Matthew 5:3, Matthew 6:33 Idols will never satisfy; only God will truly satisfy you 2. Idols put you in bondage; God frees you Judges 6:6, 6:10, 6:12, 6:23 God's promises are more important than the enemy's accusations

Fr. Mike points out the results of what happened to the kings who built idols, and what happened to the kings who tore them down. He encourages us to tear down the idols we've built up in our own lives by trusting God with our first fruits. Today's readings are 1 Kings 14, 2 Chronicles 14-15, and Song of Solomon 3. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Welcome to the Daily Disciple Podcast. As daily disciples, we seek to adore and follow Jesus, our teacher, into the abundant life that he offers. Because we find Jesus irresistible, fascinating, and incredibly practical, we want to be students of his scripture. Today's episode is found in Luke 6 "Idols"

Idols have always been stumbling blocks in maintaining a personal relationship with God. Why? They can easily be put in a place where God should remain. How can we ensure that idols don't take complete residence in our lives and hearts. Rid and commit.We would love for you to join us in the Student Space at Eubank Baptist Church on Wednesday nights at 6:00 p.m.! We also stream our services on Facebook (Impact Student Ministries) & YouTube (Eubank Baptist Church) for those unable to join us in person!

Send us Fan MailToday, we discuss recognizing idols in our lives and how to rid our lives of those idols.Check out our new website:https://www.graceintheshadowsor.com/We can be reached here:drjonathan@graceintheshadowsor.org(251) 244-4645*If you are searching for a clinical counselor and you live in Alabama, Idaho,  Florida, Virginia, South Carolina, Kentucky, or North Carolina, Dr. Jonathan Behler would be happy to see you as a client! He does all counseling virtually through a secure portal. He will also work with you on payments - don't let finances keep you from getting counseling!Check out Dr. J's new podcast, Dr. J and the Bible https://www.buzzsprout.com/2601596Support the show

What is wrong with idols if we know they are false? How do idols shape our identity? How do idols lead us to immorality?

What do you place your trust in when life gets shaky?In today's episode, Stephanie Alessi Muiña invites us to reflect on the things we lean on for comfort, security, and identity. We'll journey through the story of Exodus and discover how God lovingly reveals the unreliability of our modern “idols,” inviting us to build our lives on a stronger foundation. Together, we'll explore how life's tests can draw our hearts back to what truly matters.Join our community as we pause for prayer and devotion, grounding ourselves in the unchanging love and faithfulness of God.Tap HERE to send us a text! BECOME A FOUNDING "MY MORNING DEVOTIONAL" MEMBERIf you enjoy your 5 minute daily dose of heaven, we would appreciate your support, and we have a fun way for you to partner with the MMD community! We've launched our "Buy Me a Coffee" membership where you can buy us a latte, OR become a founding member and get monthly bonus video episodes! To donate, go to mymorningdevo.co/join! Support the showNEW VIDEO EPISODES! You can watch our new video episodes on YouTube! Watch Our Video DevotionalsNEW TO MY MORNING DEVOTIONAL? We're so glad you're here! We're the Alessis, a ministry family working together in a church in Miami, FL, and we're so blessed to partner with the My Morning Devotional community and continue the great work done by the show's creator and our friend, Alison Delamota.We pray our personal reflections and devotions will empower you to grow your faith in God, and that you'll join us every morning in prayer! HELP US GROW THE MMD COMMUNITYSubscribe to the show on this appShare this with a friendJoin our newsletter Follow Us on ⁠Instagram⁠ and ⁠Facebook⁠⁠Leave a reviewSupport Our Friends and FamilyConnect with the original host of MMD  Alison DelamotaFollow our family's podcast The Family Business with The Alessis

"Idols and Counterfeit Gods" - Clay Stauffer - June 7, 2026 by Sermon

This is the final week of our series, Idols: What We Trust Most.

God calls his people to give him their highest loyalty and to guard against competing desires, affections, and ideologies.

From our series titled Revelation: Loyalty to the Lamb in the Land of Idols. In this series, we will look at the first five chapters of Revelation and learn what whole-hearted allegiance to the way of the Lamb looks like. Guest preacher: Mike Quint. Scripture reading: Revelation 2:12-17Additional readings: Numbers 22Exodus 16John 6:48-58Isaiah 62Recommended book: The Lost Letters of Pergamum by Bruce W. LongneckerLearn more about Redeemer Church at ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠redeemerclt.org⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠.

الشباب الموجودين في الحلقة: محمد علي، يامن بابليك،تكلمنا عن:   - Lost and Found Co.-The last caretaker  -FATAL FRAME II: Crimson Butterfly REMAKE-Crisol: Theater of Idols

A final concert can feel like a party, a farewell, and a time capsule all at once and ARASHI somehow makes it all work. We watch the We Are Arashi 2026 finale from Tokyo Dome and hit record immediately, because sitting with those feelings in silence was not an option. What follows is our honest, slightly scattered, very emotional recap of the night that closed a 26 plus year run and reshaped what a J-pop goodbye can look like.We talk through the moments that made the livestream feel huge: a Dome full of rainbow penlights, cinematic camera angles, drones, and those bold stage effects that swing from wonder to intensity in seconds. We also dig into the setlist pacing, from early high-energy throwbacks to the pair of emotional songs that detonated our tear ducts way too soon. If you've ever felt like one track can hold an entire era of your life, you'll know exactly why that section hit so hard.Then we slow down for the details that fans love: the outfit changes, the little bits of humor, the juniors on stage singing along, and the campfire-style staging that turned a stadium into something strangely intimate. Finally, we unpack the farewell speeches member by member, including the surprise moments when even the most composed voice starts to crack, and why the final song feels like a deliberate last gift.If you're watching replays, debating a Blu-ray purchase, or just trying to process the end of an era, this conversation is for you. Subscribe for more pop culture and concert deep dives, share this with a fellow fan, and leave a review telling us what moment from the finale you can't stop thinking about.Support the showPlease help Music Elixir by rating, reviewing, and sharing the episode. We appreciate your support!Follow us on:TwitterInstagramBlueskyIf have questions, comments, or requests click on our form:Music Elixir FormDJ Panic Blog:OK ASIA

Henner, best known for her role in the 1970s sitcom “Taxi”, has a highly superior autobiographical memory, which allows her to remember vast portions of her life in vivid detail. She's in Kansas City to star in “Cactus Flower” at the New Theatre & Restaurant, and will perform her “Memory Girl” cabaret June 8.

This is the second week of our series, Idols: What We Trust Most.

This message was inspired by Susie's book "Waking Up to the Goodness of God." Check out Susie's new podcast God Impressions on Apple, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts! Faith Radio podcasts are made possible by your support. Give now: click here

Sermon preached by John Folmar at the Evangelical Christian Church of Dubai from 1 John 5:13-21.

Central Christian Church is a non-denominational church in Wichita, KS. We are happy to share the teaching of our pastors and friends with you through this podcast. If you have any questions or want to know more about us, visit https://www.ccc.org/ Sermon Notes: https://www.bible.com/events/49615882 1 Corinthians 8:1-13

Send us Fan MailI have been trying to use the Alexa all week, but it never answers me anymore. I figured it was broken. That was until my wife informed me there is a reason it won't answer my calls anymore - the kids changed it's name. I've been calling out the wrong name. Whose name are you calling on? If we call on any other name than the Lord, we will receive no reply, like that of the prophets of Baal. Idols, be they ancient or modern, cannot deliver. There is only one name that we can find deliverance through when we call upon it: the name of Jesus. #SetYourMindAbovePodcast

“They sacrificed unto devils, not to God; to gods whom they knew not, to new gods that came newly up, whom your fathers feared not.” (Deuteronomy 32:17) This terrible indictment was in ... More...

A lot of so-so and outright bad candidates won primaries last night, so what does that mean for the general? Plus, James Talarico is a grotesque heretic.

Do you struggle with idols? Maybe your idol looks different than a golden calf. Tune in as Michelle and Asher open up about idols God recently revealed to them in their lives and what they learned from the experience.Apply for Asher's coaching now: https://betterthanbeforebrand.com/pages/mens-fitness-coachingApply for Michelle's coaching now:https://betterthanbeforebrand.com/pages/womens-fitness-coachingIf you would like to support our ministry, please donate here: https://www.venmo.com/forthegoodministry or email business.michelleann@gmail.com for other payment methods.New Life Discord: https://discord.com/invite/vk2gfv8PFAFor The Good Socials:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/forthegoodministry/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@forthegoodministryAsher's Socials:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asherarwine/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@asherarwine_Michelle's Socials:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/michellearwine/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@michellearwine_

A strange natural phenomenon sends Jase down a rabbit hole that leads him, Al, and Zach into a deep discussion about truth, love, obedience, and the meaning behind God's commands. Jase revisits an old Bible insight that reframes the Ten Commandments, and the guys connect the teachings of Jesus to creation, the golden calf, modern idols, and the struggle people have with uncomfortable truth, arguing that God's commands were never meant to be empty rules but a path to life. In this episode: 1 John 2, verses 3–6; 2 John 1, verses 4–6; 3 John 1, verses 1–8; Deuteronomy 4, verse 13; Deuteronomy 5, verses 6–10; Deuteronomy 30, verses 19–20; Exodus 20; Exodus 23, verses 20–22; 2 Corinthians 4, verses 1–6; Jude 1, verse 5 “Unashamed” Episode 1332 is sponsored by: https://chministries.org/unashamed — See why Christians are ditching health insurance for good. Get a simpler alternative at half the cost! https://myphdweightloss.com — Find out how Al lost 80+ pounds. Visit the website or call 864-644-1900 and mention "AL" to get 2 weeks free in the program! https://ruffgreens.com — Get a FREE Jumpstart Trial Bag for your dog today when you use promo code Unashamed! http://unashamedforhillsdale.com/ — Sign up now for free, and join the Unashamed hosts every Friday for Unashamed Academy Powered by Hillsdale College Check out At Home with Phil Robertson, nearly 800 episodes of Phil's unfiltered wisdom, humor, and biblical truth, available for free for the first time! Get it on Apple, Spotify, Amazon, and anywhere you listen to podcasts! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/at-home-with-phil-robertson/id1835224621 Listen to Not Yet Now with Zach Dasher on Apple, Spotify, iHeart, or anywhere you get podcasts. Chapters 00:00 Love Bugs, Mayflies & Opelousas Catfish 11:05 Truth Without Love or Love Without Truth? 18:40 A Rabbit Hole on the “Ten Commandments” 24:27 The First Commandment 30:25 When Truth & Reality Align 36:36 The Consequences of Idolatry 42:20 The Golden Calf & Distorted Thinking 47:44 Choosing Life Through God's Word — Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices