Podcasts about judas

Read OnlineHe appointed the Twelve: Simon, whom he named Peter; James, son of Zebedee, and John the brother of James, whom he named Boanerges, that is, sons of thunder; Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus; Thaddeus, Simon the Cananean, and Judas Iscariot who betrayed him. Mark 3:16–19Though Jesus called many disciples, He chose Twelve, representing the Twelve Tribes of Israel, and entrusted them with a unique mission. He named them Apostles, meaning “one who is sent” or “messenger,” and gave them His authority as the first bishops of His Church. Among them was the betrayer, Judas Iscariot. Did Jesus make a mistake when He called Judas to be an Apostle? Certainly not. Jesus' actions were perfect in every way and fully in accord with the Father's will. Why did He pick Judas, even though He knew he would betray Him?Saint Thomas Aquinas teaches that Jesus possessed the Beatific Vision and infused knowledge from the moment of His conception (Summa Theologiae, III.9.2&3). Therefore, He comprehended all things with God's eternal knowledge, including the future role each Apostle would play. When He chose Judas Iscariot, He knew the path Judas would take, yet He called him anyway.An important theological principle to understand is that God's foreknowledge of our future does not interfere with our free will. Some philosophers have argued that God's foreknowledge means the path we walk is predetermined and cannot change. While it is true that what God knows will not change, it is also true that His knowledge does not force or determine what we freely choose. God's knowledge simply transcends and encompasses all time.When pondering the sorrowful betrayal of one of Jesus' intimate friends, there are important lessons we can learn from this permissive act of evil. God permits evil because He permits good. If He were to prohibit evil—an act of free will—He would be prohibiting the use of free will itself, thwarting our ability to freely love. This reveals the incredible gift that God has given us: the ability to love or not. This gift is essential to who we are, enabling us to share in God's abundant and overflowing love and mercy, freely bestowed and freely received.God's permissive will also reflects the mysterious relationship between Divine Providence and human action. God, Who is All-Powerful, can bring good even out of the gravest sins. This is not a credit to us but to God's might. In the case of Judas, God used his betrayal to set in motion the very act of redemption. The same is true in our lives.When we experience betrayal, or betray another, God is able to bring good out of that act. If we are guilty of betrayal and fail to repent, God's justice will prevail, and we will be condemned. Though our sins against others are damaging, God can use even our sins for good in their lives. He can foster mercy and forgiveness in others' hearts and unite them more fully with Himself, Who was betrayed.When another sins against us, the impulse to judge and condemn is a common temptation. Yet, the lesson we must learn from Judas is recorded beautifully by Saint Paul: “We know that all things work for good for those who love God, who are called according to his purpose” (Romans 8:28). Even injustice and sins committed against us are not reasons for despair but for hope—hope in the sinner's repentance and hope that God will transform evil into good for those who love Him and unite themselves with Jesus' betrayal by Judas. Reflect today on God's almighty power to work all things for good in your life, even sin. Though the sinner who refuses to repent will experience the fullness of God's justice, profound good can come from our repentance and from imitating Jesus, Who endured cruel betrayal. Trust in His power and allow Him to bring good out of evil in your life. Doing so not only lifts the heavy burden of anger, it also infuses God's perfect charity into any and everything we encounter or endure in life. My triumphant Lord, You were cruelly treated by one of Your closest companions, yet in Your almighty power You transformed that evil, bringing from it the greatest good ever known—our redemption. Please give me the grace to repent when I sin, and when I am sinned against, help me to unite that injustice to the betrayal You endured so that Your grace will triumph. Jesus, I trust in You.  Image: NateBergin, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia CommonsSource of content: catholic-daily-reflections.comCopyright © 2026 My Catholic Life! Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission via RSS feed.

Many people only know the version of the non-canonical gospels popularised by Dan Brown's Da Vinci Code. The Church did away these 'lost' texts, and their recovery promises to reveal a more primitive version of Jesus that Orthodoxy suppressed. But how much truth is there to this narrative? What really are the non-canonical gospels? In this episode, Helen and Lloyd are joined by Simon Gathercole to uncover the true story of the non-canonical or 'apocryphal' gospels. Simon J. Gathercole is Professor of New Testament and Early Christianity at the University of Cambridge and a Fellow of Fitzwilliam College. He is a world leading authority on the non-canonical gospels, and is the author of The Gospel of Judas (2007), The Gospel of Thomas (OUP, 2007), The Gospel of Thomas: Introduction and Commentary (Brill, 2014) and The Apocryphal Gospels (Penguin, 2021). SUPPORT BIBLICAL TIME MACHINEIf you enjoy the podcast, please (pretty please!) consider supporting the show through the Time Travellers Club, our Patreon. We are an independent, listener-supported show (no ads!), so please help us continue to showcase high-quality biblical scholarship with a monthly subscription.DOWNLOAD OUR STUDY GUIDE: MARK AS ANCIENT BIOGRAPHYCheck out our 4-part audio study guide called "The Gospel of Mark as an Ancient Biography." While you're there, get yourself a Biblical Time Machine mug or a cool sticker for your water bottle.Support the showTheme music written and performed by Dave Roos, creator of Biblical Time Machine. Season 4 produced by John Nelson.

In John 13 we step into the final week of Christ's earthly ministry—holy, heavy, and deeply personal. Knowing his hour has come, Jesus doesn't spend these last moments protecting himself; he spends them loving “his own… unto the end,” even with betrayal already taking root in Judas' heart. Then the unthinkable happens: the Master takes a towel and a basin and stoops to wash dirty feet—an acted sermon that exposes our pride, confronts our discomfort with his humiliation, and points us straight to the cleansing we can only receive through him. And when he's done, he turns the basin toward us: in the body of Christ, no one is too high to serve and no one is too low to be served—because real ministry is never just a task; it's a testimony of love.

Hello Friends! I love to hear from you! Please send me a text message by clicking on this link! Blessings to You!In this episode, Dr. Jori discusses with her listeners  Peter's discussion that Judas's betrayal of Jesus had to happen that Scripture may be fulfilled.  Scripture References: Acts 1:16; Acts 1:1-8; Luke 1:1-5; Acts 1:9-20; John 13:18-20; Psalm 41:9; 2 Timothy 3:16-17; 2 Peter 1:21; Matthew 26:47; Mark 13:35; Romans 10:9-11; Luke 9:23 Scripture translation used is the NASB “Scripture quotations taken from the NASB (New American Standard Bible) Copyright 1971, 1995, 2020 (only use the last year corresponding to the edition quoted) by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. www.Lockman.org”CHECK OUT DR. JORI'S NEW PODCAST- The First Love ProjectHere is the video introducing the podcast on You Tube-https://youtu.be/PhFY1moDDms FIND DR. JORI ON OTHER PLATFORMS https://linktr.ee/drjorishafferCHECK OUT THE DWELL AUDIO BIBLE APP:Click this link for my unique referral code.  I use this frequently. Such a wonderful audio bible app. https://dwellapp.io/aff?ref=jorishafferBIBLE STUDY TOOLS DR. JORI USES:Note: These contain  Amazon affiliate links, meaning I get a commission, at no extra cost to you,  if you decide to make a purchase through my links.Here is a link to some of my favorite bible study tools on Amazon:https://geni.us/cHtrfEMr. Pen Bible Journaling Kitshttps://lvnta.com/lv_PTrHSCogbRim4yhEDnhttps://lvnta.com/lv_mkaMOuGe6m4oHR88uqhttps://lvnta.com/lv_dgvsxOc99t663A628z  BOOKS OF BIBLE COLOR CHARTI made this chart as a helpful tool for grouping the collections of books or letters  in the Holy Bible.  The colors in the different sections are the ones that I use in my journals.  Books of Bible Chart (color) (4).pdf - Google Drive    LOOKING TO RETAIN MORE OF WHAT YOUR PASTOR IS TEACHING?              CHECK OUT DR. JORI'S SERMON REFLECTION JOURNALS! Sermon Notes, Reflections and Applications Journal/Notebooks by Dr. Jori. Click the links below to be directed to amazon.com for purchase. Or search “Dr. Jori Shaffer” on Amazon to bring these up.  https://amzn.to/418LfRshttps://amzn.to/41862EyHere is a brief YouTube video that tells about the Journal/Notebooks as well:https://youtu.be/aXpQNYUEzds   Email: awordforthisday@gmail.comPodcast website:  https://awordforthisday.buzzsprout.com  Support the show

Basic Bible Study | Matthew, Mark, Luke & John (Part 12) In today's podcast, join Chris and Robyn as they continue their discussion in Matthew, Mark, Luke & John. Here is a breakdown of what was discussed: - recap of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John (Part 11) - Jesus' trial continues - Judas hanged himself - Jesus died on the cross in fulfillment of Old Testament prophecy so that we could be saved from our sins & be given eternal life - Jesus suffered fully conscious & with a clear mind - it is never too late to turn to God - Jesus suffered physical & spiritual agony - Jesus spent 40 days with his disciples between his Resurrection & Ascension - at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit was given to all who believed in Jesus - Jesus ascended to Heaven - what to read for next time “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ABOUT Opening a Bible for the first time can be intimidating. Join Amy & Robyn in an easy-to-follow discussion. This Basic Bible Study is perfect for beginners & those who have never read the Bible. Look for new podcasts every Tuesday & Friday! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BIBLE RESOURCES https://biblehub.com/ https://www.bible.com/ http://betterdaysarecoming.com/bible/pronunciation.html https://biblespeak.org/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/mybasicbiblestudy WEBSITE http://www.mybasicbiblestudy.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can contact us via e-mail or regular old snail-mail: Basic Bible Study 7797 N. 1st St. #34 Fresno, CA 93720 basicbiblestudy19@gmail.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Astrid Holleeder is voormalig strafrechtadvocaat en schrijver. Sinds 2015 leefde ze ondergedoken omdat ze getuigde tegen haar broer Willem Holleeder. Ze schreef vier autobiografische boeken over haar criminele broer en de impact die zijn handelen had op haar leven. Zo schreef ze ‘Judas', over onder andere de impact van de Heineken-ontvoering in 1983 en de verwijdering tussen de goede vrienden Willem Holleeder en Cor van Hout. Ook kwamen van haar hand ‘Dagboek van een getuige', ‘Familiegeheimen' en ‘Wie praat, die gaat'. In augustus 2025 verscheen ze voor het eerst herkenbaar op televisie. Sindsdien was ze regelmatig te gast als duider bij RTL Tonight.

This message was given by Pastor DJ Ritchey on Sunday, November 2, 2025 at Memorial Heights Baptist Church.

This message was given by Pastor DJ Ritchey on Sunday, November 9, 2025 at Memorial Heights Baptist Church.

For more from Doug, subscribe to Canon+: https://canonplus.com/

Readings Acts 1:17-26 where Peter preaches to the brethren and helps them understand from the Scriptures what God was doing even through Judas's betrayal. Visit wwutt.com for all our videos!

Our Election in Christ (3) (audio) David Eells, 1/14/26 I'm going to continue to speak on our election in Christ and how God has chosen Israel, and who Israel is in the New Testament. In (1Co.15:22) For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive. Everybody who abides in Christ is going to be made alive, so it's important for us to know what it means to be “in Christ.” Does it mean, “I accepted Jesus as my Savior”? It could be, but it might not be. Some people truly want Jesus to be their Savior. They are truly repenting and believing, while other people are merely parroting words. Did you know that the Bible says salvation and eternal life were not given to you? (Gal.3:16) Now to Abraham were the promises spoken, and to his seed. He saith not, And to seeds, as of many; but as of one, And to thy seed, which is Christ. The promise that God gave to Abraham was only to Abraham and Christ. And the promise of eternal life was given to Christ; it was not given to us. The gift of eternal life is in Christ. God didn't give the gift of eternal life into your hand outside of Christ. He gave that gift in Christ and only if you are abiding in Christ do you have that gift. The “once saved, always saved” believers think that they have been given a gift of eternal life which is outside of Christ, but that's not Biblical. (1Jn.5:11) And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son. The eternal life that God gave us is in Jesus. The only way you can have it is to be in Jesus because the promise wasn't to you, it was to the seed of Abraham, “as of one.” That seed is Christ. (12) He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life. Let's face it, some only have religion. Jesus said, (Joh.15:1) I am the true vine, and my Father is the husbandman. No man is going to pluck you out of Jesus' hand; the Father is the Husbandman and He is the One Who is going to pluck up the plant. (2) Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away.... There are people whom we have considered to be Christians who are not Christians. They may have started out with Christ, but they have not come to Him. (2) Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away: and every [branch] that beareth fruit, he cleanseth it, that it may bear more fruit. (3) Already ye are clean because of the word which I have spoken unto you. (4) Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; so neither can ye, except ye abide in me. (5) I am the vine, ye are the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same beareth much fruit: for apart from me ye can do nothing. (6) If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch.... He is “cast forth” from where? He is “cast forth” from being in Christ. He said, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit, he taketh it away.” If you are bearing fruit (Galatians 5:22,23; Ephesians 5:8-10), you are in Christ and have nothing to worry about. If you are not bearing fruit, it's because you are not abiding in Him. “To abide” means “to endure,” “to persist,” “to continue,” “to remain,” “to be steadfast.” To abide in Christ is to abide in His Word. It is to have ears to hear His Word (Matthew 11:15; Mark 4:9; Romans 11:8; etc.) (Joh.15:6) If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and they gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned. (7) If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ask whatsoever ye will, and it shall be done unto you. (8) Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; and [so] shall ye be my disciples. It's in bearing fruit that you are proven to be a disciple. You can come into Christ, but you won't stay there if you don't bear fruit. (2Jn.9) Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God: he that abideth in the teaching, the same hath both the Father and the Son. The “once saved, always saved” crowd believes that after you step over the line, that's it, but Jesus said that if you don't bear fruit, you are not My disciple and you are going to be cast forth as a branch. The word translated “elect” and the word translated “chosen” are the exact same word. The Greek word eklektos is translated sometimes as “chosen” and sometimes as “elect.” It's many who are called but few who are chosen. Jesus speaks about the man who made it into the marriage feast, but didn't have on the wedding garment. (Mat.22:11) But when the king came in to behold the guests, he saw there a man who had not on a wedding-garment: (In Rev 19:8 the wedding garment was “the righteous acts of the saints”, which also represents our fruit.) (12) and he saith unto him, Friend, how camest thou in hither not having a wedding-garment? And he was speechless. (13) Then the king said to the servants, Bind him hand and foot, and cast him out into the outer darkness; there shall be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth. (14) For many are called, but few chosen. Those who are abiding in the Kingdom are the ones who are bearing fruit and are chosen, or eklektos, or “elect.” The elect are all called and once they are saved, they are always going to be saved, but “many are called.” Among the called, there are those who don't bear fruit and there are those who bear fruit. Those who bear fruit are chosen. God said in (Hos.11:1) When Israel was a child, then I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt. You say, “He was talking about Jesus.” No, He was primarily talking about the children of Israel and then it was used of Jesus. He called them out of Egypt and into the wilderness, and then He tried or tested them. Some bore fruit and went into the Promised Land, and those were the elect. Those who died in the wilderness, in type, had been called, but they were not the elect; they were not chosen. (Num.32:11) Surely none of the men that came up out of Egypt, from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land which I sware unto Abraham, unto Isaac, and unto Jacob; because they have not wholly followed me: (12) save Caleb the son of Jephunneh the Kenizzite, and Joshua the son of Nun; because they have wholly followed the Lord. Joshua and Caleb bore fruit and were chosen. Here's a good example of this: (Rom.11:26) And so all Israel shall be saved.... Is that all of natural Israel? No, because (Rom.9:27) … If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that shall be saved. So, who is “all Israel” who is going to be saved? (Rom.11:19) Thou wilt say then, Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in. The “branches” that were broken off are the natural Jews who would not believe. (20) Well; by their unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by thy faith. Paul is talking about the Gentiles who are standing in the vine by faith. Be not highminded, but fear: (21) for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare thee. So, where is unconditional eternal security?? (22) Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them that fell, severity; but toward thee, God's goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off. (23) And they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again. In the New Testament, “all Israel” is those natural Jews who believe and those Gentiles who are grafted into the vine by their faith. All the people who were broken off for unbelief were not Israel, but all of true spiritual Israel is going to be saved. Look what Paul said about the end of the Jewish Covenant: (Rom.11:5) Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant (This is speaking of a remnant of Jews.) according to the election of grace. (6) But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. (7) What then? that which Israel seeketh for, that he obtained not; but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened. He said a remnant of natural Israel was elect, but Israel as a whole did not obtain grace. The called who were not the elect were hardened and the elect obtained grace because they believed. This was at the end of the Jewish Covenant. Now we are coming to the end of the mostly Gentile Covenant, and today “Israel” is the Gentile church and the few Jews; I.e., all who are “circumcised in heart.” (Rom.11:7) What then? that which the “Israel of God”(As a type of this Church) seeketh for, that he obtained not; but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened. Is that Scriptural? Yes, because the Bible plainly says that the lukewarm are going to be spewed out of the body (Revelation 3:16) and there will be a great falling away (Revelation 12:4). Pagans can't fall away. Those people who fall away have to have been believers first, or they could not have fallen away, and the Lord is not coming until the falling away comes to purify the Church. (2Th.2:2) To the end that ye be not quickly shaken from your mind, nor yet be troubled, either by spirit, or by word, or by epistle as from us, as that the day of the Lord is just at hand; (3) let no man beguile you in any wise: for [it will not be,] except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition who was reprobated. The same statement can be made of the Gentile era because the elect are going to obtain grace to bear fruit and the rest are going to be hardened. The rest are going to fall away, exactly as Jesus showed in the Parable of the Sower. This should really give you the fear of the Lord. By the faith that God has given us, we are responsible to take God's grace and put it to work in our lives. We are responsible for obeying what we see in the New Testament, not in “Church.” Everybody who abides in the vine, which is Jesus, whether it's the remnant of natural Israel or whether it's the remnant of the Gentiles, is true Israel. And “all Israel” shall be saved because all true Israel is the elect, regardless of race. At the end of the Jewish Covenant, Jesus came to prove who the elect remnant was among the Jews. Jesus said, (Joh.16:21) A woman when she is in travail hath sorrow, because her hour is come: but when she is delivered of the child, she remembereth no more the anguish, for the joy that a man is born into the world. (22) And ye therefore now have sorrow: but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no one taketh away from you. Our personal man-child is born to us as the fruit of Christ being manifest through us to the world. All who exercise faith in the promises will bear His fruit, which looks like Him. In these days, the corporate Man-child body, in whom is the full manifestation of Jesus, is coming to prove who the first fruits elect remnant is in the Church, and the Man-child is going to use the same method that Jesus used to bring this nature to the Church. What was Jesus' method? (Mat.13:10) And the disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? In other words, “Why are you saying things to them that are so hard to understand?” (11) And he answered and said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. (12) For whosoever hath, to him shall be given.... “Whosoever hath” what? Well, if we go back three verses, we'll find the answer: (9) He that hath ears, let him hear. It's like when something makes perfect sense to you, but when you try to explain it to other people, somehow they just can't understand what you're saying unless they have the gift of faith. You see, Jesus' method for separating the elect from the non-elect was to preach the Word and when He preached the Word, the elect understood because they had ears. (Mat.13:12) For whosoever hath, to him shall be given (If you have ears, it's going to be given to you. Sometimes we do not hear the word of the Lord with the respect that we should have. God is speaking.), and he shall have abundance: but whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken away even that which he hath. People who don't have ears to hear are going to lose what understanding they do have. Remember what happened to the servant who was given the one talent? (Mat.25:14) For [it is] as [when] a man, going into another country, called his own servants (The Greek word there is doulous and it actually means “bondslaves.”), and delivered unto them his goods. (15) And unto one he gave five talents, to another two, to another one; to each according to his several ability; and he went on his journey… (24) And he also that had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art a hard man, reaping where thou didst not sow, and gathering where thou didst not scatter; (25) and I was afraid, and went away and hid thy talent in the earth: lo, thou hast thine own. (26) But his lord answered and said unto him, Thou wicked and slothful servant, thou knewest that I reap where I sowed not, and gather where I did not scatter; (This servant had no ears; his knowledge was false. His Lord did scatter it, to him. He didn't realize that all was given to him by grace. It did not come by their works. Many think they own what they have.) (27) thou oughtest therefore to have put my money to the bankers, and at my coming I should have received back mine own with interest (or fruit). The servant with the one talent didn't bring forth any fruit from what was given to him. The Lord took away the one talent from him and gave it to the servant who had the 10 talents. (Mat.25:28) Take ye away therefore the talent from him, and give it unto him that hath the ten talents. (29) For unto every one that hath (ears) shall be given, and he shall have abundance: but from him that hath not, even that which he hath shall be taken away. Again, a person who doesn't bear fruit is not “harkening,” which means “to hear and obey,” unto the voice of the Lord, and even what they do have is going to be taken away from them. Jesus told us, (Mat.10:34) Think not that I came to send peace on the earth: I came not to send peace, but a sword. That “sword” separated the righteous from the wicked, and the wicked from their demons. That was a good thing because a little leaven leavens the whole lump (Matthew 13:33; Luke 13:21; 1 Corinthians 5:6; Galatians 5:9). (Jer.48:10) Cursed be he that doeth the work of the Lord negligently; and cursed be he that keepeth back his sword from blood. Now, there are a lot of preachers who are not going to cut anyone with the Word; it's too easy to lose tithes that way and so they aren't going to step on anyone's feet. Your sword is supposed to separate. The Word of God is sharper than any two-edged sword and it divides. (Heb.4:12) For the word of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart. The Word divides the carnal from the spiritual. Jesus wasn't trying to explain things to people who didn't have ears to hear. Even if He had given it to them, as we've seen, they could not have kept it. (Luk.13:23) And one said unto him, Lord, are they few that are saved? And he said unto them, (24) Strive to enter in by the narrow door (Many pass up the narrow door of grace until it is too late.): for many, I say unto you, shall seek to enter in, and shall not be able. (25) When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us; and he shall answer and say to you, I know you not whence ye are; (26) then shall ye begin to say, We did eat and drink in thy presence, and thou didst teach in our streets; (27) and he shall say, I tell you, I know not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity. Well, they were walking with Jesus, but they had not come to Him, just as Judas walked with Him and did miracles and signs but was an unrepentant thief until he couldn't turn back. Jesus warned us (Mat.7:21) Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father who is in heaven. (22) Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy by thy name, and by thy name cast out demons, and by thy name do many mighty works? (23) And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity. How could they do these miracles if He didn't “know” them? It's because Jesus gave them authority to do those works (Matthew 28:18-19; Luke 9:1). You see, “knowing about” someone is not the same as “knowing” someone. “Knowing you” is like the relationship Adam had with Eve. He knew Eve. This is a personal relationship with the Lord, like a husband knows his wife. “I never knew you” is what Jesus will say about a person who was doing the work of God, but was not giving good ground to the seed. Some people think they surely must be acceptable to God because they are doing the work of God. No, you can do the work of God and yet totally fail in your personal relationship with God. Personally, someone can be a total failure in their life of obedience to God, but they can still go cast out demons and do many mighty works. It's not gifts that open the door to the Kingdom, folks, it's fruit. He said that many are going to seek to enter in, but they will not be able. When the five foolish virgins came to the marriage feast after the door was shut, they called out, (Mat.25:11) … Lord, Lord, open to us. (12) But he answered and said, Verily I say unto you, I know you not. Were they Christians? Yes, they were Christians and they did start out and seek to enter in, but they did not bear fruit. In a way, at the end of the Jewish Dispensation, the Lord was getting up to close the door, and Jesus was a part of God closing that door. Though all of those Jews, according to the Old Testament, were Covenant people, all but a remnant were rejected at that time, and God closed the door. Here we are at the end of the Gentile Covenant and the exact same thing is getting ready to happen again, which lets us know that we have to bear fruit. What's the difference between the called who don't bear fruit and the called who do bear fruit? The called who do bear fruit are the elect among the called because they abide in Christ by their faith, and therefore they receive more grace. Those who don't abide in Christ eventually lose even what grace they have. Hopefully, they will return when they receive the greater knowledge that is coming. Grace comes by faith. The only difference between those who bear fruit and those who don't bear fruit is that some walk by faith in the truth and some do not. There's no use in worrying, “Am I the elect or am I not the elect?” The only way you are going to prove that you are the elect is to walk by faith. You have that choice; everyone who is among the called has the choice to walk by faith or not to walk by faith. Why did Jesus rebuke His disciples for their unbelief? Did Jesus rebuke them because they couldn't walk by faith? Did He rebuke them because they weren't the elect? No, He rebuked them because they could walk by faith, but they were not walking by faith at that moment. He does the same with us sometimes when we are not walking by faith. But notice that they repented and He didn't remember their sins against them. (Joh.17:6) I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were, and thou gavest them to me; and they have kept thy word. He said that they were obedient disciples. Jesus doesn't remember our sins against us, either, but He wants us to repent and walk by faith. So don't get caught up in, “Am I just called and not elect?” All you have to do is walk by faith because, if you walk by faith, you will bear fruit and you will be the elect. We are here in this wilderness to walk by faith and to prove that we are ‘Joshua and Caleb'. The Jews who convert to Christianity have no problem with predestination, calling and election because that's what they have been taught all of their lives. It's the Gentiles who have a problem with it because it's so foreign to their thinking. (Deu.7:6) For thou art a holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples that are upon the face of the earth. (7) The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all peoples: (8) but because the Lord loveth you, and because he would keep the oath which he sware unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. There are answers here to some theological problems if you believe that history repeats. As Jesus said, (Mat.5:18) … Till heaven and earth pass away, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass away from the law, till all things be accomplished. And Paul told us, (1Co.10:11) Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. One theological problem is all the prophecies we've heard about the coming great revivals because people feel that God has failed unless He converts a large number of humanity. We can see here, if God has failed in the New Testament, He certainly did fail the Old Testament, but God wasn't going after large numbers. In fact, He picked the fewest of all peoples to be His people. He was after quality and not quantity. Some people think that God is out to convert the people of the world, yet Jesus prophesied, (Mat.7:13) Enter ye in by the narrow gate: for wide is the gate, and broad is the way, that leadeth to destruction, and many are they that enter in thereby. (14) For narrow is the gate, and straitened the way, that leadeth unto life, and few are they that find it. Even though Jesus will “compel” many to come in, He didn't prophesy that great masses of humanity would be running into the Kingdom of Heaven over the course of time. Another theological problem for people is the classic question, “What about the heathens in deepest, darkest Africa? What is God going to do about them?” Well, we just saw that back in the days when God chose Israel and even all through the Old Testament, they were a small group of people compared to the rest of the world. If you had asked one of them that question, they would have replied, “What are you talking about? Don't you understand that God has chosen Israel?” And if you repeated your question, “Yes, but what about the heathens in the deepest, darkest Africa who have never heard about God?” They would have replied again, “Don't you understand? God has chosen Israel.” The Jews understood this. If you give people this answer today, they don't understand, but the Jews did understand because they were raised with the predestination doctrine. Now, I do have a couple of answers for this problem: one is election and the other is conscience. Let me point out that God said He was going to judge people according to their conscience, but first, I'd like to clarify something here. He's talking in this Scripture about Christians coming to God, as opposed to the Jews who were with God under the Law. And so He says, (Rom.2:15) In that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing [them]; (16) in the day when God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my gospel, by Jesus Christ. A person's conscience is either going to accuse or excuse them. We know this text is talking about Christians because they are the only ones “who show the work of the Law written in their hearts.” But the rest of the world is going to be judged according to conscience, too, and conscience won't put any of us in Heaven. Jesus said, (Mat.24:37) And as [were] the days of Noah, so shall be the coming of the Son of man. If God did the same thing He did in the days of Noah, some would find grace and the rest would find justice. Noah found grace in the eyes of the Lord (Genesis 6:8). He was elect; he found grace and the rest found justice. God did no wrong for the rest had defiled their conscience they were born with. Remember what Jesus spoke in the Parable of the Husbandman, who went out at different hours and hired people to work in his vineyard (Matthew 20:1-16). The people who were hired last worked for only one hour, while the rest of them worked through the heat of the day. When it came time to pay the people, the husbandman called the last first and paid them a shilling and then He paid everyone else a shilling. But those who were hired first were unhappy. (Mat.20:11) And when they received it, they murmured against the householder, (12) saying, These last have spent [but] one hour, and thou hast made them equal unto us, who have borne the burden of the day and the scorching heat. (13) But he answered and said to one of them, Friend, I do thee no wrong: didst not thou agree with me for a shilling? (14) Take up that which is thine, and go thy way; it is my will to give unto this last, even as unto thee. (15) Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? or is thine eye evil, because I am good? That's the Lord's reasoning. God is never going to do less than justice, and in fact, God is almost always merciful. He doesn't have to be merciful, but at the least, He's always going to do justice. We've received God's grace, but we don't deserve it; it's a gift of God. When God judges, the world will receive righteous judgment (Acts 17:31), but true Christians will receive grace. Praise the Lord! So the answer to “What about the heathen in deepest, darkest Africa?” is that the heathen in Africa are going to be judged according to their conscience. Their conscience will either condemn them or excuse them. Everyone in the world has a conscience, but for some, their conscience has condemned them until it became quiet and just gave up condemning them. Their conscience finally became hardened, you see, because they rebelled against it. God has chosen the few and He's always chosen the weak among men in the next two verses. (1Co.1:25) Because the foolishness of God is wiser than men; and the weakness of God is stronger than men. (26) For behold your calling, brethren, that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called: So we see that God is clearly speaking of calling weak men. Then the translators, who probably didn't consider themselves weak and foolish, added things in the text over and over in the next three verses, which they italicized, showing it was not in the original text. Clearly, God is not speaking of things but MEN. So when we read them without things but with minor corrections from the Numeric Pattern, the text fits together and makes sense. (27) But God chose the foolish things of the world, that he might put to shame them that are wise; and God chose the weak things of the world, that he might put to shame the things strong; (28) and the base things of the world, and the things despised, did God choose, [yea] and them things that are not, that he might bring to nought those things that are: (29) that no flesh should glory before God. Clearly, He chose weak and the base men so no one can brag. He wants to prove His power to save. He has always chosen small and weak Israel. Even in the New Testament, spiritual Israel, those who are after the same faith as Abraham, is still the only one who is chosen. (Psa.147:19) He showeth his word unto Jacob, His statutes and his ordinances unto Israel. (20) He hath not dealt so with any nation; And as for his ordinances, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord. Not showing the nations His ordinances and statutes in the Old Testament is the equivalent of not giving someone “ears to hear” the Gospel in the New Testament. Jesus told the Jews in (Joh.6:44) No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him... And (37) All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. God is not wrong by giving mercy to some and reaching out with the good news to bring them into the ark, no more than He was wrong when He brought those few into the ark in Noah's day. God is not wrong. And in many cases, God does not open the ears of people and He hardens hearts, and He hides things from “the wise and capable.” (Isa.45:15) Verily thou art a God that hidest thyself, O God of Israel, the Saviour. You may ask, “What's His method of hiding things?” Well, the devil is one. (2Co.4:3) And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish: (4) in whom the god of this world (The devil is the god of this world because the world copies and thus worships him.) hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn [upon them]. The devil has permission to do this. Also, (Mat.11:25) At that season Jesus answered and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding (This is speaking of the Pharisees, Sadducees and their students.), and didst reveal them unto babes: (26) yea, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight. (27) All things have been delivered unto me of my Father: and no one knoweth the Son, save the Father; neither doth any know the Father, save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son willeth to reveal [him]. So it pleased the Father to hide some things, and in this text, He talks about hiding them even from religious people. There truly is a supernatural blindness on people. You've probably seen it when you try very simply to share the Gospel or a revelation from God with people, but somehow they just can't see it. And you look upon them almost in awe, wondering, “Why can't they see it? It's so simple.” Of course, it's simple to you because you have a gift they don't have. You have the gift of hearing.

This message was given by Pastor DJ Ritchey on Sunday, October 19, 2025 at Memorial Heights Baptist Church.

This message was given by Pastor DJ Ritchey on Sunday, October 12, 2025 at Memorial Heights Baptist Church.

“‘Abba, Father,’ he cried out, ‘everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine.’” (Mark 14:36 NLT) Mark 14 describes what may be the darkest night of the soul in human history. Jesus was “deeply troubled and distressed” (verse 33 NLT) because He knew the “awful hour” (verse 35 NLT) of His suffering was approaching. Jesus knew that in a very short time He would be denied by one of His closest friends. He knew that He would be the object of Peter’s shame and the cause of his cursing. He knew that He would be rejected by the people of Israel whom He came to save. He knew that His disciple Judas would betray Him with a kiss. He knew that the rest of His disciples would scatter in fear. He knew that He would be tried in a kangaroo court, falsely accused, and convicted. He understood the sheer torture of what He was about to do—that is, to take all the impurity, sin, and wickedness of humanity upon Himself. He who was righteous, holy, and pure was about to take upon Himself all that was unrighteous, unholy, and impure. For eternity Jesus had enjoyed unbroken communion with His Father. But He knew that in a short time, when the sin of the world was poured upon Him, God would momentarily turn His face from Him. He would be forsaken. That’s what He was recoiling from in the Garden of Gethsemane. That’s what He was dreading: the horrible moment when He would take all the sin of the world upon Himself. The only one who could understand what He was about to experience was His Father. “‘Abba, Father,’ he cried out, ‘everything is possible for you. Please take this cup of suffering away from me. Yet I want your will to be done, not mine’” (Mark 4:36 NLT). Abba is a term of intimate affection used by children for their father. It’s similar to the terms “Daddy” or “Papa.” Jesus the Son was crying out to God the Father in His moment of difficulty. As He struggled with what lay ahead, Jesus asked His Father for one final reassurance that this was the only way to satisfy God’s justice and holiness—that this was the only way to make salvation and eternal life possible. Through it all, Jesus had one overarching goal, and it wasn’t to spare Himself pain and suffering. Look at His resolute words again: “I want your will to be done, not mine” (NLT). In offering this prayer, Jesus gave us an example to follow. None of us will ever be able to fathom the agony Jesus experienced that night. But we will experience our own consequences for pursuing God’s will. We may not always know what the will of God is in every situation. And when we do know it, we may not always like it. But we follow One who prioritized God’s will above everything else. And we must never be afraid to trust an unknown future to a known God. Reflection question: What would embracing God’s will look like in your life? Discuss Today's Devo in Harvest Discipleship! — The audio production of the podcast "Greg Laurie: Daily Devotions" utilizes Generative AI technology. This allows us to deliver consistent, high-quality content while preserving Harvest's mission to "know God and make Him known." All devotional content is written and owned by Pastor Greg Laurie. Listen to the Greg Laurie Podcast Become a Harvest PartnerSupport the show: https://harvest.org/supportSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Enero 13, 2026 - Alguna vez se ha puesto a pensar que el Creador del universo sabia que Judas lo iba a traicionar, y aun asi convivio con el por casi tres anos? Que hubiese hecho usted? Ayer aprendimos lo que Pablo y otros lideres de la iglesia dicen al respecto del tema del servicio. Hoy, dejemos que la Biblia sacuda nuestros ideales y establezca Sus fundamentos. Aprendamos de Jesus! Impactemos nuestras comunidades con actos sencillos de servicio y amor.

What if you could sit across from someone who spoke with those who walked with Jesus, but everything he told you sounded almost too strange to believe? Papias of Hierapolis claimed to preserve eyewitness testimony from the apostolic generation, including bizarre sayings of Jesus about supernatural vineyards and a grotesque account of Judas' death that will haunt you. This bishop's writings have vanished from history, leaving only fragments that raise an urgent question: Was he a faithful guardian of apostolic truth, or a well-meaning collector of legendary embellishments? Tune in now to learn why the early Church couldn't decide either, and why it matters for how we understand the Gospels today.Join the ConversationHead over to our ⁠private Facebook community⁠, where listeners discuss episodes, grapple with historical questions, and share insights on how these ancient stories shape our faith today. It's a place for genuine conversation with fellow church history enthusiasts, from seasoned scholars to curious newcomers.Get Episodes & More in Your InboxSubscribe to the free ⁠Substack ⁠and receive each podcast episode delivered directly to your email every week, complete with full transcripts. During off-weeks, you'll also receive a devotional blog post exploring spiritual themes connected to recent episodes—perfect for personal reflection or small group discussion.Unlock Premium ContentBecome a paid ⁠Substack⁠ subscriber to access devotional/historical study guides for each episode. Your subscription directly supports the creation of more episodes and helps keep church history accessible to everyone.Buy Me a CoffeeWant to support the podcast with a one-time gift or ongoing contribution? Head to ⁠Buy Me a Coffee⁠, where you can encourage this work in whatever way makes sense for you. Every contribution helps cover production costs and makes future episodes possible.For any other questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact Jared at thechurchhistoryproject@gmail.com.

Sunday Preaching , Jan 4th, 2025  If you like what you hear, check us out on Facebook, Instagram, Podcast, and our website.  Instagram @MedoraChurch Facebook @MedoraChurch Podcast @MedoraChurch Website medorachurch.com

A new MP3 sermon from Covenant Baptist Church is now available on SermonAudio with the following details: Title: Loving Judas and Peter Subtitle: Loving People Speaker: Pastor Charles Swann Broadcaster: Covenant Baptist Church Event: Sunday Service Date: 1/11/2026 Bible: John 13 Length: 57 min.

In John 13:21–38, Jesus reveals the true nature of discipleship as He prepares for the cross, showing that following Him is more than outward association. Judas warns us to beware of fake discipleship—being close to Jesus without truly surrendering the heart. In contrast, Jesus calls His followers to practice genuine discipleship by loving one another with the same sacrificial, selfless love He has shown, making love the defining mark of those who belong to Him. At the same time, Peter's confident words and coming denial remind us that even sincere disciples can be weak, yet Jesus does not discard them; instead, He strengthens and restores those who humbly depend on His grace. Through this passage, we are reminded that Jesus changes everything about discipleship by exposing false faith, calling for authentic love, and patiently shaping imperfect followers into faithful ones.

In John 13:1-20, Jesus shows us the heart of true service by washing His disciples' feet. He serves because He loves, not to gain approval. His actions flow from a secure identity, knowing He belongs to the Father. Jesus models a humble posture, laying aside status to meet others' needs. He reminds us that service begins when we first receive His grace, allowing Him to cleanse and restore us. He then calls His disciples to serve in obedience, following His example. This kind of service is not always easy—it is often costly, as seen when Jesus washes even Judas' feet. Jesus concludes by teaching that blessing comes not just from knowing how to serve, but from actually doing it.

John 13:18-30,I am not speaking of all of you; I know whom I have chosen. But the Scripture will be fulfilled, ‘He who ate my bread has lifted his heel against me.' 19 I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he. 20 Truly, truly, I say to you, whoever receives the one I send receives me, and whoever receives me receives the one who sent me.”21 After saying these things, Jesus was troubled in his spirit, and testified, “Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” 22 The disciples looked at one another, uncertain of whom he spoke. 23 One of his disciples, whom Jesus loved, was reclining at table at Jesus' side,24 so Simon Peter motioned to him to ask Jesus of whom he was speaking. 25 So that disciple, leaning back against Jesus, said to him, “Lord, who is it?” 26 Jesus answered, “It is he to whom I will give this morsel of bread when I have dipped it.” So when he had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him. Jesus said to him, “What you are going to do, do quickly.” 28 Now no one at the table knew why he said this to him. 29 Some thought that, because Judas had the moneybag, Jesus was telling him, “Buy what we need for the feast,” or that he should give something to the poor. 30 So, after receiving the morsel of bread, he immediately went out. And it was night.This is the Judas sermon. It's dark. It centers on betrayal, which can be one of the most emotionally painful and gut-wrenching experiences in human life. Have you ever been betrayed?Our passage ends with John reporting “it was night,” which is not just the time of day but an ominous note about what's to come, for Jesus and for Judas. This is an emotionally heavy sermon. But don't think of that as bad. We're human. God designed us with emotions; they are features, not bugs. He means for our lives to have rhythms of emotional heaviness, and relief. Many of us live in a desert of emotional triviality, or even emotional numbness. This heaviness can be good for you.It was heavy for Jesus. Verse 21 says, “Jesus was troubled in his spirit.”That's the same language we saw at the tomb of Lazarus (11:33) and when he realizes his “hour” has come (12:27). It's a strong verb that “signifies revulsion, horror, anxiety, agitation” (Carson). It's a visible emotional response, perhaps almost a panic, obvious to the others in the room.Jesus is no stoic. He is human, fully human, with fully human emotions. And this, for him, is a heavy, painful, troubling moment. Not only has his “hour” come to go to the cross, but one of his chosen twelve, whom he loves and has just washed their feet, is on the cusp of betraying him. Jesus is not deadpan when he says, in verse 21,“Truly, truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.”He's emotional: shaken, stirred up, troubled in his spirit. They could hear it in his voice. And he's without sin. Take note: you can be holy and “troubled in your spirit”; God made your heart to be moved, and facing death and the betrayal of a dear, close friend should be moving. Jesus, fully human, and perfect, was troubled. If you're never troubled, that's not a mark of maturity. It may be a sign you're not well, not whole.But oh how wonderful it is that the human heart is capable of such complexities. Even in this heaviness, remember the banner that flies over chapter 13, verse 1:“…having loved his own who were in the world, [Jesus] loved them to the end.”This is a chapter about Jesus's love. So, even though this is the Judas sermon, this is also a sermon of great love — with love and affection even for Judas. Jesus washes his feet. And we'll see in a minute a specific way in which he loves him to the end. Disciple Jesus LovedIn this passage about Jesus's love we're also introduced to “one of his disciples, whom Jesus loved” (verse 23). This memorable way John refers to himself will come back four more times in the last three chapters (19:26; 20:2; 21:7, 20) before the author reveals his identity in the second to last verse in the Gospel (21:24). What a marvelous way for a Christian to refer to himself: one whom Jesus loved. John doesn't even give his name but knows himself loved. This is the heart of being a disciple of Jesus: knowing yourself loved by Jesus, and gladly giving your life to make his name known, not your own. I don't need to put myself forward — I am loved by Jesus.Here's where I want to go this morning… I want to end with two very personal questions for everyone in the room:Could I be like Judas?How do I handle the Judas in my life?But first we need to know what happened to the first Judas. How did Judas get to the place where, in verse 27, “Satan entered into him”?It did not come at random or without warning. Satan cannot force his way into a soul. He comes invited. And he's welcomed, not just in a moment, but little by little, over time, in a process of a heart becoming hard to Jesus, and responsive to Satan, because it is becoming like Satan's.What Happened to Judas?I see at least six glimpses in this passage of that process of hardening for Judas. And several of these are striking for us in terms of what not to do, and conversely what to do, to not be like Judas, but rather be like John — as a beloved disciple of Jesus, who leans on Jesus and communes with him, and stays with him, and in the end is held fast by him.So, our first question: What happened to Judas? How did one of Jesus's Twelve come to betray Jesus? What contributed to the process of hardening Judas's heart?1. He had been a devil-in-the-making.Back in John 6, we got our first cue that a defector was among the twelve. This is John 6:70–71:Jesus answered them, “Did I not choose you, the twelve? And yet one of you is a devil.” 71 He spoke of Judas the son of Simon Iscariot, for he, one of the twelve, was going to betray him.Jesus knows, but no one else can tell. No one expects Judas. The disciples even seem to expect themselves before they expect him.But Jesus knows. We saw two weeks ago in verses 10–11:[Jesus says] “you are clean, but not every one of you.” 11 For he knew who was to betray him; that was why he said, “Not all of you are clean.”We can marvel here at Jesus as his “hour” comes. He is in full control, “not a hapless victim” (Carson). He knows Judas and chose him and allows this. Even as Jesus goes to the cross, he is master of this hour, like he is master of every hour. We saw in chapter 10, verse 18:“No one takes it from me, but I lay it down of my own accord.”And we so marvel at how Jesus goes to the cross: resolute, in control. Yes, troubled, and loving his own to the end. Which includes getting them ready to endure. So, in verse 18, he quotes Psalm 41 (we'll come back to this), and says in verse 19:I am telling you this now, before it takes place, that when it does take place you may believe that I am he.To strengthen their faith, he lets them know ahead of time that he knew a traitor would emerge. It's painful, but part of the plan. He's in control. And in verse 27, he even gives Judas one last command:“What you are going to do, do quickly.”Jesus knows the heart of Judas and what's in him. Long had he been a devil-in-the-making, even though the other disciples had no clue and only Jesus knew it.2. He kept the moneybag.Verse 29 mentions that “Judas had the moneybag,” which we first came across in 12:4:But Judas Iscariot, one of his disciples (he who was about to betray him), said, 5 “Why was this ointment not sold for three hundred denarii and given to the poor?” 6 He said this, not because he cared about the poor, but because he was a thief, and having charge of the moneybag he used to help himself to what was put into it.Apparently, Judas was a master deceiver. He hid his love of money behind the veneer of care for the poor.This is important: Satan had a way in with Judas: love of money. Judas gave the devil a foothold (Ephesians 4:27). How many times had Judas heard Jesus say,No one can serve two masters, for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve God and money. (Matt 6:24; also Luke 16:13)Yet, Judas's love of money was his fatal flaw. What started small in him, grew and grew, until he was willing to trade Jesus for 30 pieces of silver. Paul says in 1 Timothy 6:10 that the love of money is the root of all evils. The kind of heart that loves money more than God is the heart of evil, in all its many forms. Cities Church, let's newly be on our guard against the love of money. Check your heart regularly for love of money. Money itself is not evil. Having money is not evil. Earning money is not evil. But loving money is the root of all evils. Don't give the devil that foothold. Fight it. Do what Judas didn't do when you sense the magnetism of money in your heart: remember the surpassing value of Christ (Philippians 3:8), confess your sin, give generously. One of the best ways to battle love of money is give generously to meet needs in Jesus's name.So, Judas had the moneybag, and developed a love for money.3. The devil put it into his heart.This is chapter 13, verse 2, at the last Supper,“the devil had already put it into the heart of Judas Iscariot, Simon's son, to betray him.”Note the process: Judas is, by nature, a devil and thief. And his heart is poisoned by love of money, and into such a heart Satan stands ready to put his bait: exchange Jesus for money. The slowly conditioned state of Judas's heart has opened the door for Satan. Satan doesn't need to control Judas and make him do anything. Judas's heart has become so aligned with Satan's that he gives him just what he wants.4. Jesus gives him the bread.Now, this may seem like a surprising step in Judas's process, but this is what verses 26–27 say happened right before the fateful moment:“…when [Jesus] had dipped the morsel, he gave it to Judas, the son of Simon Iscariot. 27 Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into him.”This is a dramatic moment. At least two things are happening here. One is that it is an act of affection from Jesus to select a choice morsel, and dip it, and give it to Judas. Jesus, the host, is honoring Judas, and expressing affection for Judas in giving him the morsel. This is Jesus truly loving him to the end. Jesus washes his feet, and offers him one last overture of love, one last chance to come clean and repent. And Judas reaches out and takes the bread and receives Jesus's favor, and instead of returning to Jesus, he gives himself over one last time to evil.The second thing, with the mention of bread, is what we saw in verse 18 from Psalm 41:9: Even my close friend in whom I trusted, who ate my bread, has lifted his heel against me.Psalm 41 is a psalm of David. Many betrayed David in his embattled life, including his own sons. But one particularly painful betrayal was that of his trusted counselor, Ahithophel, in 2 Samuel 15–17. When David's son Absalom rebelled against him, David's best counselor betrayed him and went over to Absalom's side. Which was a deeply painful loss for David, and almost cost him the kingdom. Ahithophel knew exactly how to counsel Absalom, and if Absalom had listened, it would have been the end of David. But David had planted a spy, his friend Hushai, who offered alternative counsel and carried the day (and so bought David time to regroup). Ahithophel realized his folly, like Judas would, when his counsel was not received, and he went and hung himself, knowing what his fate must be when David returned.Jesus, the descendant of David, sees in Psalm 41 what happened to David, and he knows the heart of Judas, and knows what is developing, and that just as betrayal happened to David, so too would it happen to him. David's close friend (which Jesus will call Judas in Matthew 26:50), who ate David's bread, lifted his heel (like a horse) against him. Even so, in one last act of love, Jesus prepares the morsel of bread and gives it to Judas, who takes it.5. Satan entered into him. Now the fateful verse 27: “Then after he had taken the morsel, Satan entered into [Judas].”What does it mean that “Satan entered into him”? Luke says the same in Luke 22:3, “Satan entered into Judas.” In Acts 5:3, Peter says something similar to Ananias: “Satan [has] filled your heart.” What does it mean for Satan to fill a heart, or enter into Judas?I do not think it means that Satan possessed Judas in such a way as to control him beyond his will or to make him do anything that otherwise was not in line with his heart. Remember the process we've seen: from a hidden devil and thief, to a hardened hypocrite in his love for money, to a heart so callously evil he's primed for the devil's suggestions, and now to being totally in sync with the devil's anti-Christ plan.I do not think this means that the devil made Judas do it. Satan doesn't have that power. He can't make anyone do anything. But the very anti-God impulse of unchecked evil in the devil's heart can also become so deeply cultivated in a sinner's heart that he begins to share the very heart of the devil. Judas is not possessed against his will; Satan entered in according to his will. Judas is fully culpable. As Jesus says in Matthew 26:24,“The Son of Man goes as it is written of him, but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.”6. He “went out.”This may seem like a small detail in verse 30, but it is significant:“So, after receiving the morsel of bread, [Judas] immediately went out. And it was night.”The last step is that Judas departs. He leaves the fellowship. He goes out from communion with Jesus and from the gathering of Jesus's disciples. He leaves them. The safest place in all the world for Judas would have been right there with Jesus, and with his disciples. But Judas goes out, into the night, into the darkness, into unchallenged communion with Satan and his plans against Jesus, and his plans to destroy Judas.So, Judas is a devil, and he loves money, and he opens himself to Satan's influence, and receives the bread from Jesus and doesn't repent; his heart and mind are aligned lock-step with Satan's, and at last, he leaves. He goes out from Jesus and out from his people.So, we end with our two questions.1. Could I be Judas?The ultimate answer is no. There is one Judas. You have not had the physical, bodily proximity to Jesus that Judas had. Your story will not be exactly like his. Cosmically, you are not a devil-in-the-making like he was.However, there is a sense in which you could be like Judas. This is very real. You could give Satan a foothold by nursing some particular sin in your life. Your heart could slowly become more callous, making yourself more and more evil and open to the influence of evil.And the objective, visible flashpoint today is often the “going out.” Just as Judas's last step was to leave Jesus and his people, we see it today over and over when once-professing believers leave their fellow disciples in the church. They “go out from us.”They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us. But they went out, that it might become plain that they all are not of us. (1 John 2:19)Brothers and sisters, perennial temptations include money, sex, and power, and plenty of other patterns of sin besides. Give the devil no foothold (Ephesians 4:27). “Keep your life free from love of money” (Hebrews 13:5). Don't “go out” from Jesus and his people; stay in the room; stay at the Table.Ask yourself this morning, Are you giving the devil any foothold in your life? Is there any unconfessed, un-renounced, unaddressed pattern of sin in your life?My prayer this morning is that if anyone is on a Judas path, that they would turn. And that if any have unholy fears about being Judas those would be quelled, and you'd have fresh confidence how not to be Judas. Fight love for money and any pattern of sin. Give Satan no chance. Stay close to Jesus and his people.And, as we close, I want to pray for fresh freedom to entrust to Jesus the one in your life you most fear could be Judas.2. How do I handle the Judas in my life?We are our brother's keeper. This is what we covenant with each other in church membership: I will be the church to you; you be the church to me. We commit to be the church to each other, and live out Hebrews 3:12–13:Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. 13 But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin.We are our brother's keeper, but not our brother's lord. So, we finish with a word to dear friends, even parents, of those who seem like a Judas. They once professed faith; all seemed right. Then came the drift; or perhaps all of a sudden, it seemed, they “went out from us” and have not come back.Many of us, perhaps especially parents, carry the burden more than is reasonable. Yes, pray, invite, seek to win them. Whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins (James 5:20). And trust your God. Do not carry what is not yours to bear.Years ago John Piper wrote a poem about Judas's father, Simon Iscariot. The poem had this refrain with which it ended:Sink not in darkness nor despair, Bear not what yours is not to bear: When you have loved and lost then trust; The ways of God are always just.And so we come to the Table. And take the morsel from Jesus with fresh sobriety and clarity this morning.Receive His Bread in FaithThis Table, and our receiving in faith, and eating in faith, is a powerful regular means, among others, of Christ keeping us in him. How do you receive this morsel from Jesus at his Table week by week? Paul says, in 1 Corinthians 11,Whoever [like Judas?] eats the bread or drinks the cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty concerning the body and blood of the Lord. 28 Let a person examine himself, then, and so eat of the bread and drink of the cup. 29 For anyone who eats and drinks without discerning the body eats and drinks judgment on himself.Yet when we do discern the body and eat and drink in faith, we share in the blessing and security that are ours only in Christ.

In this sermon, Pastor David Mathis expounds upon John 13:18-30. This dark story, centered on betrayal, is an emotionally heavy moment for Jesus and for us. But even in the Judas sermon, it's a story of the great love of Jesus. Pastor David walks through what happened to Judas, and asks two very personal questions for all of us.

For thousands of years Christians have gathered around the world once a week to remember and celebrate Jesus together. However, is what we call “church” what it was intended to be?This movement that we have been swept up in began with a handful of people who were not terribly sure of what they were doing. In fact, they were mostly unsure and confused in their nature.But by the grace of God, the Holy Spirit empowered them to establish and lead a revolutionary vision creating witnesses of the love and grace of Jesus that has continued even to this day. We are here today because of the ACTS OF THE APOSTLES through the Holy Spirit just weeks after Jesus was crucified and resurrected.This study of the book of Acts should bring us back to purpose of the church and the power of the Holy Spirit.---As the apostles and first followers of Jesus wait for the Spirit, they take on the task of replacing Judas. In confusion and anxiety, they resort to doing what they know to do.

His dedication in the Temple “And when eight days were completed so that it was time for His circumcision, He was also named Jesus, the name given by the angel before He was conceived in the womb. And when the days for their purification according to the Law of Moses were completed, they brought Him up to Jerusalem to present Him to the Lord (as it is written in the Law of the Lord: “Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy to the Lord”), and to offer a sacrifice according to what has been stated in the Law of the Lord: “A pair of turtledoves or two young doves.” Luke 2:21-24 NASB His escape from Herod “Now when they had gone, behold, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph in a dream and said, “Get up! Take the Child and His mother and flee to Egypt, and stay there until I tell you; for Herod is going to search for the Child to kill Him.” So Joseph got up and took the Child and His mother while it was still night, and left for Egypt. He stayed there until the death of Herod; this happened so that what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet would be fulfilled: “Out of Egypt I called My Son.” Matthew 2:13-15 NASB His growth as a human being “And when His parents had completed everything in accordance with the Law of the Lord, they returned to Galilee, to their own city of Nazareth. Now the Child continued to grow and to become strong, increasing in wisdom; and the favor of God was upon Him.” Luke 2:39-40 NASB “And Jesus kept increasing in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and people.” Luke 2:52 NASB Jesus grew… Mentally (In Wisdom) Physically (In Stature) Spiritually (In Favor with God) Socially (Favor with people) His rejection by His brothers “After these things Jesus was walking in Galilee, for He was unwilling to walk in Judea because the Jews were seeking to kill Him. Now the feast of the Jews, the Feast of Booths, was near. So His brothers said to Him, “Move on from here and go into Judea, so that Your disciples also may see Your works which You are doing. For no one does anything in secret when he himself is striving to be known publicly. If You are doing these things, show Yourself to the world.” For not even His brothers believed in Him.” John 7:1-5 NASB “Is this not the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James, Joses, Judas, and Simon? And are His sisters not here with us?” And they took offense at Him.” Mark 6:3 NASB “James, a bond-servant of God and of the Lord Jesus Christ,” James 1:1 NASB “But I did not see another one of the apostles except James, the Lord's brother.” Galatians 1:19 NASB “Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ and brother of James,” Jude 1:1 NASB

This message was given by Pastor DJ Ritchey on Sunday, January 4, 2026 at Memorial Heights Baptist Church.

¡Apoya Reconectados, escucha programas exclusivos y participa en todos los sorteos! ✅ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/reconectados ¡Feliz año nuevo! Arrancamos los episodios de 2026 con el listado definitivo de los videojuegos más esperados que salen los próximos 12 meses, los prometedores, los que van a dar la sorpresa, los que no tenías en el radar pero marcarán el año, y hasta los que seguro que no saldrán este 2026 pese a que otros digan que sí, o los que son solo rumores no confirmados oficialmente. Manu y Jabote solos, ya que esta semana Paula y Borja no pueden estar, repasan juegazos venideros como Resident Evil Requiem, Judas, 007 First Light, Marvel Lobezno, GTA 6, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, Slay the Spire 2, Crimson Desert, Pragmata, Professor Layton y el Nuevo Mundo de Vapor, Fable, Saros, Prince of Persia Las Arenas del Tiempo Remake, o Phantom Blade Zero, entre muchos otros. ¡Muchas gracias por escucharnos, por compartir el programa con otras personas a las que le puedan interesar los juegos más prometedores del 2026 y por los comentarios que leemos siempre! Time stamps: (00:00:00​) - Intro, sorteazos y nuestros Reyes Magos (00:11:39​) - Todos los juegazos que apuntarse para 2026 (02:14:39​) - Despedida y recuperar programas de principios de año Compra más barato en nuestro enlace de Instant Gaming: https://www.instant-gaming.com/es/?igr=reconectados ¡Apoya Reconectados, decide y participa en todos los sorteos! ✅ Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/reconectados ¡Sigue nuestro canal de Twitch! ✅ Suscríbete a Twitch: https://www.twitch.tv/reconectados ¡Únete a nuestro grupo de Telegram de ofertas! ✅ Canal de ofertas: https://t.me/ofertasvideojuegosreco ¡Escucha Reconectados cada semana: Jueves 07:00am! Ivoox: https://www.ivoox.com/podcast-reconectados-videojuegos_sq_f1467878_1.html Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0TzgUfUZppavUlKeRreIXL Apple: https://podcasts.apple.com/es/podcast/reconectados-videojuegos/id1304330116 ¡Síguenos en redes sociales! X-Twitter: @ReconectadosPod Jabote: @Jabote22 Manu: @ManuGmn Paula: @paulacroft02 Borja: @borjaruete TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@reconectadospod Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ReconectadosPodcast/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/reconectadospod/

This message was given by Pastor DJ Ritchey on Sunday, October 5, 2025 at Memorial Heights Baptist Church.

Hechos 1:16-22, domingo 4 de enero de 2026, Servicio de las 8:45 a.m.

Hechos 1:16-22, domingo 4 de enero de 2026, Servicio de las 8:45 a.m.

Our Election in Christ (2) (audio) David Eells - 1/7/26 I'm going to continue where we left off in part one, about our election in Christ. We were speaking about how Judas was identified from among the disciples. (Joh.6:70) Jesus answered them, Did not I choose you the twelve, and one of you is a devil? (71) Now he spake of Judas [the son] of Simon Iscariot, for he it was that should betray him, [being] one of the twelve. So, Jesus understood that Judas was a son of the devil, yet He called him to walk among the 12 in (Joh.13:18) I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen.... So Judas was not chosen . He went on to explain that He was not speaking of Judas, who never had ears to hear the spirit words and didn't believe. (Joh.6:63) It is the spirit that giveth life; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I have spoken unto you are spirit, and are life. (64) But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who it was that should betray him. (65) And he said, For this cause have I said unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father. Let me point out to you that it's not who receives the call and starts out with you who is chosen; it's who is still with you at the end. (2Jn.7) For many deceivers are gone forth into the world.... John is talking about them leaving Christianity. (1Jn.2:18) Little children, it is the last hour: and as ye heard that antichrist cometh, even now have there arisen many antichrists; whereby we know that it is the last hour. (19) They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but [they went out,] that they might be made manifest that they all are not of us. “They” here is referring to the antichrist body leaving the Church. The Beast is antichrist in the world, but antichrist in the Church is this son of perdition or destruction. They will all be reprobated like Judas so you will know them. (2Jn.7) For many deceivers are gone forth into the world, (I.e, out of the Church) [even] they that confess not that Jesus Christ cometh in the flesh. (They deny, “Christ in us the hope of glory.”) This is the deceiver and the antichrist. (8) Look to yourselves, that ye lose not the things which we have wrought, but that ye receive a full reward. (9) Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God: he that abideth in the teaching, the same hath both the Father and the Son. So it's not “he who began with you” who is chosen; it's “he that abideth in the teaching” to prove they are not antichrist. Some people say they love the Word and seem very eager to study the Word, but there comes a point where they decide not to go any deeper, usually because it comes against their flesh. You know, lost people like knowledge. They like knowing things that other people don't know because they are prideful and this gives them a reason to be puffed up. The son of perdition likes knowledge, but when it comes to knowledge that demands a change in their life, that's where those people start filtering out, as the Bible says: (1Jn.2:19) They went out from us, but they were not of us; for if they had been of us, they would have continued with us: but [they went out,] that they might be made manifest that they all are not of us. In the parable of the sower, three out of four, fell away. (2Jn.9) Whosoever goeth onward and abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God: he that abideth in the teaching, the same hath both the Father and the Son. “He that abideth not in the teaching of Christ, hath not God.” This is saying you have to be obedient to have the Father and the Son. Antichrist are those who go out from among you and are denying the Father and the Son because they are not obedient to the Word. Remember that Jesus said, (Joh.14:15) If ye love me, ye will keep my commandments. (23) Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love me, he will keep my word: and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him. That's not a promise to those who are disobedient or to those who start out and don't finish the course. That's a promise to those who endure until the end denying their flesh. (Mat.24:13) But he that endureth to the end, the same shall be saved. (1Co.1:23) But we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumblingblock, and unto Gentiles foolishness; (24) but unto them that are called (meaning “invited” to partake in election), both Jews and Greeks, Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God. People who are called understand the wisdom of the Gospel, but to the rest, it's foolishness and a stumblingblock. However, you may preach the Gospel to somebody today, and they won't come, but they might come later on because the right foundation was finally laid and the right timing has finally come. Just because someone doesn't accept the Gospel today doesn't mean that they're forever lost of God's calling, but only the called are going to come to Christ. Only the called have initial salvation. A good example of that is, (26) For behold your calling, brethren, that not many wise after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, [are called:].... It's not many who “accept Christ” to begin with. This calling is not to the lost. This calling is internal; the calling is a gift from God to those who are being saved. The Bible never says, all are called. But it does teach that not all have the gift of faith. Everything in this world was created for the purpose of manifesting sons of God and everything that Paul did was toward that purpose. He said in (2Ti.2:10) Therefore I endure all things for the elect's sake, that they also may obtain the salvation which is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory. God called His Son out of Egypt (Hosea 11:1), but then He tried Him in the wilderness to find out who was going to go on to the Promised Land. Those who went on into the Promised Land were in type God's elect. Notice that His whole purpose was for the elect, not for those who fell away in the wilderness. You see, God's grace has been given to all those who are called, but it's the elect among the called who are going to take advantage of it and that's the difference. Paul dealt with many, but everything he did was for the few, the elect. God used Paul to fulfill His purpose. (Joh.6:37) All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. This is very interesting because the phrase “come to me” is used many places in Scripture. Jesus told the Jews in (Joh.5:39) Ye search the scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of me; (40) and ye will not come to me, that ye may have life. That was obvious about most of the Jews then, who rejected everything that Jesus said. And it's obvious about those people today who reject everything that Jesus said, but did you know that some of those people who walked with Jesus, even as disciples, wouldn't come to Him? (Joh.6:66) Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. That actually happened, then and now. Notice the verse number 666. Antichrist was coming out from among them as we saw. Only God can cause a person to come to Jesus: (Joh.6:39) And this is the will of him that sent me, that of all that which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up at the last day. (40) For this is the will of my Father, that every one that beholdeth the Son, and believeth on him, should have eternal life; and I will raise him up at the last day… (44) No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him: and I will raise him up in the last day. It's not possible for anyone to come unto Jesus, except the Father draws them. It is possible for them to come to church and to believe many doctrines. They can go to an altar and accept Jesus as their Savior, even though we don't see anything in the Scriptures about that. But people will not actually come unto Jesus unless they are drawn by God. (Son.1:4 Draw me; we will run after thee:) (Mar.1:14) Now after John was delivered up, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God, (15) and saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand: repent ye, and believe in the gospel. “Repent and believe” is the Gospel being preached in the Scriptures, but it's been pushed aside for another gospel that says, “Just accept Jesus Christ.” That's a gospel that fills up the Church with tares because you can “accept” Him while He does not “accept” you. You can “accept” without repenting and believing. We've seen people who have come to the Unleavened Bread Bible Study and even when they were shown, “This is what the Scripture says,” they refused to believe it. The Greek word for “repent” is metanoeo and it means “to change your mind; to think differently.” Repenting means to change your mind and believe the Scriptures.  Some people refuse to do that. Yes, they can “accept” Jesus all they want, but Jesus doesn't accept them unless they repent and believe. Let me show you again that you can walk with Jesus, but not come unto Jesus: (Joh.6:64) But there are some of you that believe not. For Jesus knew from the beginning who they were that believed not, and who it was that should betray him. That tells you Jesus knew from the beginning that Judas didn't believe. (65) And he said, For this cause have I said unto you, that no man can come unto me.... Judas was doing the same mighty works, and he was accepted among the disciples because they didn't know that he wasn't like them. Did he come to Jesus? No. Judas was walking with Jesus, and yet Judas didn't come to Him. Somewhere along the way, if you adhere to the Scriptures, those who are not of God are going to be filtered out. They are going to come to a place where the Scripture demands obedience and they will not obey, which is to repent and believe. (Joh.6:65) And he said, For this cause have I said unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it be given unto him of the Father. (66) Upon this many of his disciples went back, and walked no more with him. (67) Jesus said therefore unto the twelve, Would ye also go away? (68) Simon Peter answered him, Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life. (69) And we have believed and know that thou art the Holy One of God. (70) Jesus answered them, Did not I choose you the twelve, and one of you is a devil? He said several things about this devil. Jesus said that he didn't believe, he hadn't come unto Him, and he's not going to obey. (71) Now he spake of Judas [the son] of Simon Iscariot, for he it was that should betray him, [being] one of the twelve. The son of perdition is still in the Church today. Let's read (2Th.2:3) Let no man beguile you in any wise: for [it will not be,] (the coming of the Lord) except the falling away come first, and the man of sin be revealed, the son of perdition, (I.e., Like Judas they will eventually faction and fall away to prove who they are. We have seen this first hand.) (4) he that opposeth and exalteth himself against all that is called God or that is worshipped (Like Judas, they don't start out this way, they end up this way.); so that he sitteth in the temple (Which in Greek is the word, Naos, which is always used by Paul as the people, not the building.) of God, setting himself forth as God. (I.e., They are their own God) (5) Remember ye not, that, when I was yet with you, I told you these things? (6) And now ye know that which restraineth, to the end that he may be revealed in his own season. (7) For the mystery of lawlessness doth already work: only [there is] one that restraineth (the coming of the Lord) now, until he be taken out of the way. (The numeric pattern shows “until he be come out of the midst”. He will be taken out so that the body can be spotless, ready for the coming of the Lord.) (8) And then shall be revealed the lawless one, whom the Lord Jesus shall slay with the breath of his mouth, and bring to nought by the manifestation of his coming; (9) [even he,] whose coming is according to the working of Satan with all power and signs and lying wonders, (10) and with all deceit of unrighteousness for them that perish; because they received not the love of the truth, that they might be saved. (Everyone they deceived also became one of them.) (11) And for this cause God sendeth them a working of error, that they should believe a lie: (12) that they all might be judged who believed not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.  That's talking about the corporate son of perdition in the corporate body of the Church. They are walking with Jesus, but they are not coming unto Jesus and they are doing the works that Judas was doing because Jesus gave Judas authority along with the others. You can have some works without the Life. (Mat.10:1) And he called unto him his twelve disciples, and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal all manner of disease and all manner of sickness. (Mar.6:12) And they went out, and preached that [men] should repent. (13) And they cast out many demons, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them. He didn't choose Judas to be one of the elect, but he chose him to be one of the 12 and He gave him authority. We read in (1Co.11:19) For there must be also factions among you, that they that are approved may be made manifest among you. It's necessary for factions to be among the people of God to prove them. (Luk.17:1) And he (Jesus) said unto his disciples, It is impossible but that occasions of stumbling should come; but woe unto him, through whom they come! It's necessary that these occasions of stumbling and these “heresies” come because they weed out the tares from among the wheat. They weed out those who don't bear fruit, and so Jesus chose Judas and didn't do anything to separate him from out of their midst, even though He knew what Judas was. It was the Word that finally ended up separating Judas; just as in these days, it's the Word that separates the Judas', the sons of perdition, from among the disciples. Judas brought Jesus to His cross. (Joh.17:2) Even as thou gavest him authority over all flesh, that to all whom thou hast given him, he should give eternal life. Remember that Jesus said in (6:37) All that which the Father giveth me shall come unto me.... The “freewillers” say, “If you don't go get them, they won't come.” Well, I do believe in going and preaching the Gospel, but I tell you, if you don't go, somebody will, and those who are His are going to come. Some people think that Jesus failed in His mission because He gained so few disciples. No, He said in (Joh.17:4) I glorified thee on the earth, having accomplished the work which thou hast given me to do. What was that work? (6) I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world.... Notice that the Lord manifested His name only to the elect among Israel, a type of the Church. He was not manifesting His name to anybody else. (Psa.147:19) He showeth his word unto Jacob, His statutes and his ordinances unto Israel. (20) He hath not dealt so with any nation; And as for his ordinances, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord. Jesus is still doing that today; He is still revealing His statutes and His commandments only to the Israel of God, circumcised in heart not flesh. Only spiritual Israel is a “chosen” generation now. But to the true Church He said in (1Pe.2:9) But ye are an elect (chosen) race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvellous light. Notice carefully who the elect race is now. (Joh.17:6) I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were.... This is the Church whom He “called out” of Judaism. Church means “the called out ones”. You see, before they came to Jesus, they belonged to God. They always belonged to God. Let me tell you something about the sons of God and the sons of the devil. According to election, a child of God was never a son of the devil. According to nature, they were sons of the devil as in (Ephesians 2:2,3), but according to election, they were never sons of the devil. Why? (Eph.1:4) Even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blemish before him in love. In the mind of God, anybody who is a son was always a son. So Jesus tells us, (Joh.17:6) I manifested thy name unto the men whom thou gavest me out of the world: thine they were and thou gavest them to me (They belonged to God, who doesn't dwell in time, before they came to Jesus.); and they have kept thy word.  When the disciples walked with Jesus as His children (Mark 10:24; John 13:33; 21:5), they grew in wisdom and understanding, as the Bible says of Jesus: (Luk.2:52) And Jesus advanced in wisdom and stature, and in favor with God and men. God didn't attribute to Him any of the childish things that Jesus might have done as a child because children do things grownups would never think of. He didn't attribute to the disciples any of the childish things that they said and did. (Psa.32:2) Blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, And in whose spirit there is no guile. Jesus didn't hold against them the mistakes they made in ignorance. He had to rebuke them so that they would know what was displeasing to God. (Matthew 17:17; Mark 9:19; 16:14; Luke 9:41; 24:38; John 20:27; etc.) In spite of this He said, “They have kept thy Word.” (Joh.17:9) I pray for them: I pray not for the world, but for those whom thou hast given me; for they are thine.... Notice Jesus was not going to pray for the world, but it's something we see done all the time. Do you know for whom we are actually praying when we pray for the world? We are praying for God's elect. Jesus said, “I don't pray for the world; I pray for those whom You have given me because they are Yours.” Someone who is not God's, will never be God's. We were chosen in Christ before times eternal, before the world was made. A person who is a child of God always belonged to God through election. Remember that God uses methods in election and He doesn't go around these methods.  He always uses the faith and prayers of His people to manifest election. He's going to use the faith and prayers of parents for their children to bring their children into the election. He's going to use the faith and prayers that you have for other people who are the elect of God. Some people say, “If my children are elect, they will just come into the Kingdom.” No, those people are neglecting the method by which God elects. God's method for election is faith and prayer. I personally don't believe that God does anything on the earth whereby He doesn't use someone in faith and prayer to bring it to pass. We have examples in the Scriptures of how God always used the faith and prayers of people to manifest miracles, to heal, to bring salvation, and so on (Genesis 32:9-12,18; Job 42:7-9; Luke 22:31-32; Acts 9:10-19; etc.) God has chosen to use the vessel of man to bring things to pass, and He's not going to circumvent man. You may have heard the old saying, “Prayer changes things,” but that's not a Scriptural statement. Prayer fulfills things. God chose, from the foundation of the world, His elect to come into His Kingdom. Through faith and prayer you can be a vessel to bring this to pass. What happens is that God puts in you the desire and faith to pray for certain people, and then He brings them in. (Php.2:13) For it is God who worketh in you both to will and to work, for his good pleasure. And Jesus told the disciples in (Mar.11:24) Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them, and ye shall have them. What's the condition there? “Believe that ye receive them.” Faith is a gift of God. You see, “All things whatsoever” is a dangerous promise unless you know that God has total control over the situation because He's the one who gives faith in the first place.  If you've ever tried and failed, over and over, to believe for something, sometimes it's because you are praying for something that's not Scriptural. And your faith doesn't hold up, of course, because God doesn't want you praying for that. I don't want you to use this as an excuse, though; many people pray for things and then don't endure in their faith to receive them. Jesus rebuked His disciples for their unbelief in (Matthew 8:26; 17:20; Mark 9:19; Luke 7:9; etc.)  Remember what God said to Ananias when he questioned God's choice of Paul: (Act.9:15) But the Lord said unto him, Go thy way: for he is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles and kings, and the children of Israel… (17) And Ananias departed, and entered into the house; and laying his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the Lord, [even] Jesus, who appeared unto thee in the way which thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mayest receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit. (18) And straightway there fell from his eyes as it were scales, and he received his sight; and he arose and was baptized. God chose Paul to do wonderful things, and God put it into the heart of Ananias to come and pray for Paul to receive his sight and the Holy Spirit. That's a good example of how God uses people to do His will. Another good example is the story of Cornelius: (Act.10:3) He saw in a vision openly, as it were about the ninth hour of the day, an angel of God coming in unto him, and saying to him, Cornelius. (4) And he, fastening his eyes upon him, and being affrighted, said, What is it, Lord? And he said unto him, Thy prayers and thine alms are gone up for a memorial before God. (5) And now send men to Joppa, and fetch one Simon, who is surnamed Peter: (6) he lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side. (21) And Peter went down to the men, and said, Behold, I am he whom ye seek: what is the cause wherefore ye are come? (22) And they said, Cornelius, a centurion, a righteous man and one that feareth God, and well reported of by all the nation of the Jews, was warned of God by a holy angel to send for thee into his house, and to hear words from thee. The angel was showing Cornelius to send for Peter and he will come and tell you how to be saved. Angels could do this but they don't because God chooses to use men. Jesus said, (Joh.17:12) While I was with them, I kept them in thy name which thou hast given me: and I guarded them, and not one of them perished, but the son of perdition; that the scripture might be fulfilled. Again, in our day, the only one who is going to perish among the people, who are thought of as disciples of Christ, will be the son of perdition. “Not one of them perished” who was truly a child of God. Judas was not a child of God. According to Jesus, he was a son of the devil. Is there a “son of the devil” in the Church today? Yes, there certainly is; he was called “Antichrist.” Also in (Joh.3:18) He that believeth on him is not judged: he that believeth not hath been judged already, because he hath not believed on the name of the only begotten Son of God.  Now the Armenians want you to believe that God loves everybody, but they must not have read this verse: (Joh.13:1) Now before the feast of the passover, Jesus knowing that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto his Father, having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end. You see, the doctrine that says God loves everybody is not in the Scriptures: (Rom.9:13) Even as it is written, Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated. That's what the Bible says and we should believe it. Jacob, in type and shadow, represents the true Church. Esau represents those who hate the chosen people and fight against them to our day. Both of these men had the same mother and father. So we can see that among Christians, there are those whom God loves and there are those whom God hates for mistreating their brother. Physical lineages of flesh mean nothing in the New Testament. There are born-again men in all races. Many verses prove God is particular about whom He loves: (Psa.5:5) The arrogant shall not stand in thy sight: Thou hatest all workers of iniquity. Yet it also says, (Rom.5:8) But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. I discovered something about that. I discovered that God's love is just like His faith. He doesn't love you for what you are; He loves you for what He will make of you. God sees the end from the beginning (Isaiah 46:10). If He loves you for what you are, then that would mean He loves sin and that's not true because the Bible says He hates “all workers of iniquity,” and the worker of iniquity is the “old man.”  Let's read (Eph.4:17) This I say therefore, and testify in the Lord, that ye no longer walk as the Gentiles also walk, in the vanity of their mind, (18) being darkened in their understanding, alienated from the life of God, because of the ignorance that is in them, because of the hardening of their heart; (19) who being past feeling gave themselves up to lasciviousness, to work all uncleanness with greediness. (20) But ye did not so learn Christ; (21) if so be that ye heard him, and were taught in him, even as truth is in Jesus: (22) that ye put away, as concerning your former manner of life, the old man, that waxeth corrupt after the lusts of deceit; (23) and that ye be renewed in the spirit of your mind, (24) and put on the new man, that after God hath been created in righteousness and holiness of truth.  There is a means to the end of election. (Col.3:5) Put to death therefore your members which are upon the earth: fornication, uncleanness, passion, evil desire, and covetousness, which is idolatry; (6) for which things' sake cometh the wrath of God upon the sons of disobedience: (7) wherein ye also once walked, when ye lived in these things; (8) but now do ye also put them all away: anger, wrath, malice, railing, shameful speaking out of your mouth: (9) lie not one to another; seeing that ye have put off the old man with his doings, (10) and have put on the new man, (That is faith.) that is being renewed unto knowledge after the image of him that created him: (11) where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, bondman, freeman; but Christ is all, and in all. God hates the old man and the Bible says the old man is the enemy of God: (Rom.8:6) For the mind of the flesh is death; but the mind of the Spirit is life and peace: (7) because the mind of the flesh is enmity against God; for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be: (8) and they that are in the flesh cannot please God. Some people want to convert the old man. He cannot be converted; it's not possible. He has to die. God loves you for the seed that He's sowing in you and what that seed is going to bring forth. God loves the fruit and the fruit is Jesus. He doesn't love the dirt. The Bible says He hates all workers of iniquity and people are workers of iniquity. Maybe you've heard someone say, “God loves the sinner but hates the sin.” Well, that's a complete lie and it's not Scriptural. He hates all workers of iniquity, so how can God love the sinner when the sinner IS sin and his whole nature is sin? Pick out any sinner in the world. They are bound in sin and “shapen in iniquity” (Psalm 51:5; Acts 8:23); their whole nature is sin. Their whole nature is self-will and rebellion against God.  There's no way to pick out something there that is righteous and good because nothing righteous and good is in a person if the seed of God hasn't been sown in them. (Psa.11:5) The Lord trieth the righteous; But the wicked and him that loveth violence his soul hateth. (Pro.6:16) There are six things which the Lord hateth; Yea, seven which are an abomination unto him: (17) Haughty eyes, a lying tongue, And hands that shed innocent blood; (18) A heart that deviseth wicked purposes, Feet that are swift in running to mischief, (19) A false witness that uttereth lies, And he that soweth discord among brethren. You know, that clearly describes unregenerate man, so it's clear that when we come to God, His love for us is a love of faith. (Rom.5:8) But God commendeth his own love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. He loves us by faith; for what He sees we will be (1 Corinthians 13:12; 15:49; 1 John 3:2). It's a false doctrine that God loves everybody. God can save anybody He wants to save, as you can see in Apostle Paul's conversion, and if He loves them, He will certainly save them. (Psa.147:19) He showeth his word unto Jacob, His statutes and his ordinances unto Israel. (20) He hath not dealt so with any nation; And as for his ordinances, they have not known them. Praise ye the Lord. God called Israel and He didn't call any other nation. Did He love any other nation? No, obviously not. Whom did He love? He loved Israel and He still loves Israel. He still calls His spiritual Israel, and He still reveals His statutes unto them.  (Deu.7:7) The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all peoples: (8) but because the Lord loveth you, and because he would keep the oath which he sware unto your fathers, hath the Lord brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. God revealed Himself to Israel and He knew that they were the least of the nations. They were the smallest nation; they were the weakest nation, and He revealed Himself to them. It's the same today! True spiritual Israel is a very small percentage of the world's population, and God is revealing Himself to them. He loves them and He doesn't love the rest. As it was with Noah in the ark.

This message was given by Pastor DJ Ritchey on Sunday, September 28, 2025 at Memorial Heights Baptist Church.

This message was given by Pastor DJ Ritchey on Sunday, September 21, 2025 at Memorial Heights Baptist Church.

We are looking at Ephesians chapter 4, verses 22through the end of the chapter. In these verses, the apostle Paul isinstructing the believers in Ephesus to put off the old man. Why? Because theyare now in Christ. They have a new man living within them. The Holy Spirit ofthe living God—Christ Himself—lives in us.  Paulbecomes very specific in this section. Beginning in verse 22, he addressesparticular sins that are to be put off. The first sin he deals with islying—put away lying. The second area he addresses is anger, which we havetalked about over the last couple of days. Today, we come to verse 28: “Lethim who stole steal no longer, but rather let him labor, working with his handswhat is good, that he may have something to give to him who has need.” (Ephesians4:28) Thisis an important exhortation. One of the Ten Commandments is “You shall notsteal.” Paul is reiterating a command that goes all the way back to the OldTestament. Now why would a person steal? To steal means to take property orpossessions that do not belong to you but belong to someone else. When God gavethis commandment, He established the principle of private ownership ofproperty. That is a very important principle—even in our own day especiallywhen socialism is taking a strong foothold in our country. Aperson has the right to turn his strength and labor into gain, to keep thatgain, and to use it as he sees fit. God gave specific laws in the Old Testamentto protect property, and these biblical principles became foundational to ourlaws, our Constitution, and even our local laws today. In Deuteronomy chapter8, God makes it very clear that it is He who gives us the power to get wealth.The chapter begins with the promise of blessings it the people of Israel keep God'scommandments. Then in verse 8, God gives a warning to the Israelites on theverge of going into the Promise Land.  “Bewarethat you do not forget the Lord your God by not keeping His commandments.” Oneof those commandments, of course, is “Do not steal.” Godgoes on to say in verses 16-18, that when you come into blessing—when youinherit land, enjoy prosperity, and have abundance—you may be tempted to say inyour heart, “My power and the might of my hand have gained me this wealth.” Butthen He reminds us: “You shall remember the Lord your God, for it is He whogives you power to get wealth.” If you have anything worth having, it isbecause God gave you the strength and ability to obtain it. Paul'sadmonition to the believers in Ephesus is clear. “Let him who stole steal nolonger.” The culture and that world of that day was such that stealing was almostaccepted as a common thing. We seem to have the same problem today in America withshoplifting and stealing to the extent even of the government stealing hardearned money from taxpayers and giving it to those who refuse to work for it.  Aswe discussed with lying and anger, we must remember the influence of the devil.Jesus said in John 10:10, “The thief comes only to steal, and to kill, andto destroy.” The first thing listed here is steal. Satan is the thief, who lies,steals, kills and destroys. He is a murderer from the beginning. We tied thattruth into the subject of anger. When a person harbors anger and bitterness,they are opening the door to the enemy's work. Infact, when you look through Scripture, you see that even one of Jesus'disciples was a thief—Judas. Eve became a thief when she was tempted by Satanand took what God had forbidden her to take. Adam followed and also became athief when he ate from the tree and was cast out of Paradise. And then therewas the thief on the cross, hanging next to the Last Adam, Jesus—yet he becamea believer when he repented and Jesus said to him, “Today you will be with Mein paradise.” Jesus took a thief and made him a new person. That is the heartof this passage: “Let him who stole steal no longer.” There istransformation in Christ.

What was an apostle? Do apostles still exist? Why does the ascension of Jesus matter? In this episode, Emma Dotter unpacks the definition, role, and qualifications of an apostle and why Judas needed to be replaced. Then, Watermark's Resident Theologian, Garrett Wikle, joins to explain the doctrine of the ascension, how it shapes our understanding of the rest of Scripture, and why it's significant forfollowers of Jesus today.   ADDITIONAL VERSES MENTIONED:  Ephesians 2:20; Acts 2:43; 1 Corinthians 9:1; Luke 24:50-53, 49; Matthew 26; 28; Daniel 7; 1 Corinthians 15:24-25; 2 Corinthians 5:10; Ephesians 1:20; 2:6; 4:8-11; Philippians 2:5-11; Colossians 3:1-4; Hebrews; 1 Peter 3:21-22; Revelation 1; 4-5  RESOURCES FOR FURTHER STUDY:  Acts of the Risen Lord: https://a.co/d/bUChMSg  The Bible Project: https://bibleproject.com/videos/acts-1-12/ GotQuestions: https://www.gotquestions.org/apostleship.html   RELATED JOIN THE JOURNEY EPISODES:  - S4:263 – Introduction to the book of Acts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/join-the-journey/id1600151923?i=1000735019898  - S1:190 – How do I see the Spirit working in my life? https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/join-the-journey/id1600151923?i=1000580392361   WHAT IS JOIN THE JOURNEY?  Join The Journey is a realistic daily Bible reading plan that helps followers of Jesus at Watermark Community Church and beyond enjoy abiding in Jesus together.  Daily Bible lessons for adults: https://www.jointhejourney.com  Daily Bible lessons for parents and families: https://www.jointhejourney.com/jr/7957-what-is-real Weekly Bible podcast for kids: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/join-the-journey-junior/id1660089898   Contact the Join The Journey Team: JoinTheJourney@watermark.org  

The Letter of Jude E1 — Jude is one of the shortest writings in the New Testament. It comes from one of Jesus' own brothers (or cousins, or stepbrothers, depending on the tradition). Written in the early years of the Jesus movement, the letter addresses a Jewish community in Jerusalem or Galilee, made up of disciples who likely grew up with Jesus and knew his family. Jude (or Judah in Hebrew or Judas in Greek) is deeply rooted in the Hebrew Bible. His writing shows these roots through consistent biblical language and tons of hyperlinks. But who was Jude, and what do we know about his family and ancestors? In this episode, Jon and Tim introduce the background of this short letter and the larger world surrounding its author.FULL SHOW NOTESFor chapter-by-chapter summaries, referenced Scriptures, and reflection questions, check out the full show notes for this episode.CHAPTERSJude's Identity and the Brothers of Jesus (0:00–8:29)Jesus' Brothers in the Gospels and Early Church (8:29–24:01)James, Jude, and Their Descendants (24:01–44:15)OFFICIAL EPISODE TRANSCRIPTView this episode's official transcript.BIBLEPROJECT JUDE TRANSLATIONView our full translation of the Letter of Jude.REFERENCED RESOURCESPanarion by Epiphanius of SalamisThe Perpetual Virginity of Blessed Mary: Against Helvidius by JeromeProto-Gospel of JamesCommentary on Matthew by OrigenAntiquities of the Jews by Flavius JosephusThe Church History by Eusebius of CaesareaCheck out Tim's extensive collection of recommended books here.SHOW MUSIC“afternoon reads.” by Lofi Sunday, PAINT WITH SOUND.“date night” by Lofi Sunday, Cassidy GodwinBibleProject theme song by TENTS SHOW CREDITSProduction of today's episode is by Lindsey Ponder, producer, and Cooper Peltz, managing producer. Tyler Bailey is our supervising engineer, who also edited today's episode and provided the sound design and mix. JB Witty writes the show notes. Our host and creative director is Jon Collins, and our lead scholar is Tim Mackie. Powered and distributed by Simplecast. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On parle de la « Passion » du Christ pour désigner l'ensemble des souffrances qu'il endure depuis son arrestation jusqu'à sa crucifixion. Mais ce mot peut surprendre, car aujourd'hui, la passion évoque plutôt l'amour, l'enthousiasme ou l'élan intérieur. En réalité, le sens religieux du terme est bien plus ancien — et presque à l'opposé de son usage moderne.Le mot « passion » vient du latin passio, qui signifie littéralement « souffrance », « ce que l'on subit ». Il est lui-même issu du verbe pati, « endurer, supporter ». Dans le latin chrétien des premiers siècles, la passio désigne donc le fait de subir une épreuve, en particulier une souffrance injuste. C'est dans ce sens que l'on parle très tôt de la Passio Christi : la souffrance du Christ.Dans les Évangiles, la Passion commence généralement avec l'arrestation de Jésus après la Cène : trahison de Judas, procès, flagellation, couronne d'épines, portement de la croix, crucifixion et mort. L'accent n'est pas mis seulement sur la douleur physique, mais aussi sur l'humiliation, l'abandon et l'acceptation consciente de cette épreuve. La Passion n'est pas une souffrance subie passivement : elle est acceptée volontairement, selon la théologie chrétienne, pour le salut de l'humanité.C'est là un point central. Dans la tradition chrétienne, le Christ est à la fois victime et acteur. Il souffre — c'est la passio — mais il choisit de traverser cette souffrance. Le mot « passion » conserve donc une tension fondamentale : il désigne à la fois l'extrême douleur et l'engagement total. Ce double sens explique pourquoi, plus tard, le mot a pu évoluer vers l'idée d'un élan intérieur puissant, capable de dépasser la raison.Au Moyen Âge, la Passion devient un thème majeur de la liturgie, de l'art et du théâtre religieux. Les « Mystères de la Passion » mettent en scène la souffrance du Christ pour susciter compassion, empathie et réflexion spirituelle. La Passion n'est pas seulement un épisode de la vie de Jésus : elle est un moment fondateur, qui donne sens à la Résurrection.Avec le temps, le mot « passion » s'est progressivement éloigné de son sens premier de souffrance pour désigner une émotion intense, souvent amoureuse. Mais dans l'expression « la Passion du Christ », le sens originel demeure intact.En résumé, on parle de la Passion du Christ parce que, dans le langage chrétien ancien, la passion n'est pas l'amour exalté, mais la souffrance assumée. Une souffrance centrale, non pas subie au hasard, mais placée au cœur du récit et du message chrétien. Hébergé par Acast. Visitez acast.com/privacy pour plus d'informations.

QUOTES FOR REFLECTION“My chief reason for choosing Christianity was because the mysteries were incomprehensible. What's the point of revelation if we could figure it out ourselves? If it were wholly comprehensible, then it would just be another philosophy.”~Mortimer J. Adler (1902-2001), philosopher, educator, and founder of the Aspen Institute “There has not been a ‘when' when the Father was not in existence. This, then, is true of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. Put another question and I will answer it.Since when has the Son been begotten? Since as long as the Father has not been begotten.Since when has the Spirit been proceeding? Since as long as the Son has not been proceeding but being begotten in a non-temporal way that transcends explanation….” “How is it then that they are not co-unoriginate if they are co-eternal with him? Because they are from him, though not after him. ‘Being unoriginate' necessarily implies ‘being eternal', but ‘being eternal' does not entail ‘being unoriginated', so long as the Father is referred to as origin.”~Gregory of Nazianzus (c. 329-390) in “On the Son” orations 29, chapter 3 “The saints have both their spiritual excellency and blessedness by the gift of the Holy Ghost, and his dwelling in them. They are not only caused by the Holy Ghost, but are in him as their principle. The Holy Spirit becoming an inhabitant, is a vital principle in the soul. He, acting in, upon, and with the soul, becomes a fountain of true holiness and joy, as a spring is of water, by the exertion and diffusion of itself.”~Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) in “God Glorified in Man's Dependence” “This then is the order of the rule of our faith…: God, the Father, not made, not material, invisible; one God, the creator of all things: this is the first point of our faith. The second point is: The Word of God, Son of God, Christ Jesus our Lord, who was manifested to the prophets according to the form of their prophesying and according to the method of the dispensation of the Father through whom all things were made; who also at the end of the times, to complete and gather up all things, was made man among men, visible and tangible, in order to abolish death and show forth life and produce a community of union between God and man. And the third point is: The Holy Spirit, through whom the prophets prophesied, and the fathers learned the things of God, and the righteous were led forth into the way of righteousness; and who in the end of the times was poured out in a new way upon mankind in all the earth, renewing man unto God.”~ Irenaeus (c. 125-202) bishop of Lyon in The Demonstration of the Apostolic PreachingSERMON PASSAGEJohn 14:15-26, John 15:26, John 16:5-15 (ESV)John 14 – Jesus speaking 15 “If you love me, you will keep my commandments. 16 And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever, 17 even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you. 18 “I will not leave you as orphans; I will come to you. 19 Yet a little while and the world will see me no more, but you will see me. Because I live, you also will live. 20 In that day you will know that I am in my Father, and you in me, and I in you. 21 Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me. And he who loves me will be loved by my Father, and I will love him and manifest myself to him.” 22 Judas (not Iscariot) said to him, “Lord, how is it that you will manifest yourself to us, and not to the world?” 23 Jesus answered him, “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and make our home with him. 24 Whoever does not love me does not keep my words. And the word that you hear is not mine but the Father's who sent me. 25 “These things I have spoken to you while I am still with you. 26 But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in my name, he will teach you all things and bring to your remembrance all that I have said to you. John 15 – Jesus speaking 26 “But when the Helper comes, whom I will send to you from the Father, the Spirit of truth, who proceeds from the Father, he will bear witness about me.” John 16 – Jesus speaking 5 But now I am going to him who sent me, and none of you asks me, ‘Where are you going?' 6 But because I have said these things to you, sorrow has filled your heart. 7 Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you. 8 And when he comes, he will convict the world concerning sin and righteousness and judgment: 9 concerning sin, because they do not believe in me; 10 concerning righteousness, because I go to the Father, and you will see me no longer; 11 concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. 12 “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now. 13 When the Spirit of truth comes, he will guide you into all the truth, for he will not speak on his own authority, but whatever he hears he will speak, and he will declare to you the things that are to come. 14 He will glorify me, for he will take what is mine and declare it to you. 15 All that the Father has is mine; therefore I said that he will take what is mine and declare it to you.

How did Mary worship Jesus? And what was Judas really like? Come Bible Study WITH ME through John 12 and ask all the questions!

SPOILER WARNING FOR THE END OF STRANGER THINGSSpoiler content: 28:00 to 43:30Cast: Christian H, Alex Tuna & Tom CaswellPokémon: 513 - PansearOfftopic: Stranger Things, New Years Eve, ChillisGames: Resident Evil Requiem, GTA VI, Wolverine, 007 First Light, Nioh 3, Forza Horizon 6, Fire Emblem: Fortune's Weave, Lego Batman, Dragon Quest VII Reimagined, Marvel Tokon: Fighters, Crimson Desert, Fable, Tomb Raider Legacy of Atlantis, Half-Life 3?, Pokemon Pokopia, Diablo IV Lord of Hatred, Halo: Campaign Evolved, Gears of War: E Day, Yoshi and the Mysterious Book, Star Wars: Galactic Racer, Mario Tennis Fever, Professor Layton and The New World of Steam, Rhythm Heaven Groove, Prince of Persia Sands of Time Remake, Pokemon Generation 10, Star Wars Zero Company, Splatoon Raiders, Toxic Commando, Judas, SAROS, Control Resonant, Pragmatic, Phantom Blade Zero, The Duskbloods, Slay The Spire 2, Reanimate, Mewgenics, Silksong Sea of Sorrow, Mouse: PI For Hire, Vampire Crawlers, Replaced, Super Meat Boy 3D, Ontos, Mixtape, High on Life 2, Tides of Annihilation, Highguard, Pony Island 2, Free Shepherd, Coven of the chicken foot, Mega Man Jewel Override, Eternal Life of Goldman, Demon Tides, Order of The Sinking Star, There Are No Ghosts at The Grand, Denshattack, WitchbrookThis weeks Challenge: Fastest time on Gestral beach #4Next Challenge: Get the 2nd highest score fighting Glass JoeYouTubehttps://www.youtube.com/unrankedpodcastDiscordhttps://discord.gg/wkvu88KvTVQuestions, Comments, Complaints, Corrections!?Call: 805-738-8692Email@UnrankedPodcast.com Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

NOTAS DE ELENAMaterial complementario de la escuela Sabática para adultosNarrado por: Patty CuyanDesde: California, USAUna cortesía de DR'Ministries y Canaan Seventh-Day Adventist ChurchSÁBADO DE TARDE, 03 DE ENERORAZONES PARA AGRADECER Y ORARLa perseverancia en la oración ha sido constituida en condición para recibir. Debemos orar siempre si queremos crecer en fe y en experiencia. Debemos ser "perseverantes en la oración". Romanos 12:12. "Perseverad en la oración, velando en ella, con acciones de gracia". Colosenses 4:2. El apóstol Pedro exhorta a los cristianos a que sean "sobrios, y vigilantes en las oraciones". 1 Pedro 4:7. El apóstol Pablo aconseja: "En todas las circunstancias, por medio de la oración y la plegaria, con acciones de gracias, dense a conocer vuestras peticiones a Dios". Filipenses 4:6. Dice Judas: "Vosotros empero, hermanos... orando en el Espíritu Santo, guardaos en el amor de Dios". Judas 20, 21. Orar sin cesar es mantener una unión continua del alma con Dios, de modo que la vida de Dios fluya a la nuestra, y de nuestra vida la pureza y la santidad refluyan a Dios. Es necesario ser diligentes en la oración; ninguna cosa os lo impida. Haced cuanto podáis para que haya una comunión continua entre el Señor Jesús y vuestra alma. Aprovechad toda oportunidad de ir adonde se suela orar. Los que están realmente procurando mantenerse en comunión con Dios asistirán a los cultos de oración, serán fieles en cumplir su deber, y ávidos y ansiosos de cosechar todos los beneficios que puedan alcanzar. Aprovecharán toda oportunidad de colocarse donde puedan recibir rayos de luz celestial. Debemos orar también en el círculo de nuestra familia; y sobre todo no descuidar la oración privada, porque ella es la vida del alma. Es imposible que el alma florezca cuando se descuida la oración. La sola oración pública o con la familia no es suficiente. En medio de la soledad, abrid vuestra alma al ojo penetrante de Dios. La oración secreta solo debe ser oída por el Dios que oye las oraciones. Ningún oído curioso debe recibir el peso de tales peticiones. En la oración privada el alma está libre de las influencias del ambiente, libre de excitación. Tranquila pero fervientemente se elevará la oración hacia Dios. Dulce y permanente será la influencia que dimana de Aquel que ve en lo secreto, cuyo oído está abierto a la oración que brota del corazón. Por una fe sencilla y serena el alma se mantiene en comunión con Dios, y recoge los rayos de la luz divina para fortalecerse y sostenerse en la lucha contra Satanás. Dios es el castillo de nuestra fortaleza. Orad en vuestro gabinete; mientras atendéis a vuestro trabajo cotidiano, levantad a menudo vuestro corazón a Dios. Así fue como anduvo Enoc con Dios. Esas oraciones silenciosas suben como precioso incienso ante el trono de la gracia. Satanás no puede vencer a aquel cuyo corazón está así apoyado en Dios (El camino a Cristo, pp. 98, 99). 

Solemos empezar el año con buenos propósitos: paz, amor y tranquilidad. Pero si echamos la vista atrás a la historia de Maranello, nos damos cuenta de que todo eso a Enzo Ferrari le importaba un pimiento. Si Il Commendatore hubiese tenido espíritu navideño, la historia de su marca sería mucho más aburrida. Ferrari no se construyó solo a base de victorias; se forjó a base de portazos, gritos y enemigos jurados. Para Enzo, el conflicto no era un fallo de gestión, era su combustible. Creía firmemente que enfrentar a sus pilotos entre sí o contra el mundo era la única forma de sacar lo mejor de las máquinas. En este vídeo recorremos cronológicamente los 15 conflictos (más un Bonus Track muy especial) que definieron la leyenda. Desde los años 50 hasta su muerte, aquí no se salva nadie: ni los campeones, ni los gigantes industriales, ni el Papa. CRONOLOGÍA DE LA POLÉMICA: 1. Stirling Moss (1951): La "promesa rota". Cómo Enzo ninguneó a un joven Moss en Bari dejándole sin coche, creando a su primer gran enemigo por pura falta de educación. 2. Juan Manuel Fangio (1956): El choque de dos machos alfa. Enzo odiaba que el piloto fuera más importante que el coche, y Fangio lo era. Una guerra psicológica que acabó con el argentino huyendo de Maranello. 3. El Vaticano (1957): Tras la tragedia de Guidizzolo, la Iglesia y L'Osservatore Romano compararon a Enzo con "Saturno devorando a sus hijos". Un juicio moral que le alejó de la religión. 4. Jean Behra (1959): Un puñetazo al gerente del equipo en un restaurante y un despido fulminante por teléfono. 5. Carroll Shelby (1959): El juicio moral de un americano que vio a Enzo como un monstruo que enviaba a los jóvenes a la muerte, sembrando la semilla de su futura venganza con el Cobra y Ford. 6. Carlo Chiti y los Ingenieros (1961): La "Noche de los Cuchillos Largos". El despido masivo de la cúpula técnica por quejarse de la injerencia de la esposa de Enzo. 7. Phil Hill (1961): El campeón ignorado. Ganó el mundial con amargura y se marchó al sentirse traicionado por la "famiglia". 8. La FIA y el GTO (1962): Cómo Enzo engañó a los inspectores moviendo los mismos coches de un parking a otro para homologar el 250 GTO. 9. Ferruccio Lamborghini (1962): El error de marketing más caro de la historia. "Sabes conducir tractores, pero no un Ferrari". Una frase que creó a su mayor rival local. 10. Henry Ford II (1963): El "NO" de Maranello. Cuando Enzo se negó a vender su libertad deportiva y desató la ira de Ford en Le Mans. 11. Luigi Chinetti (1964): La rabieta por la que los Ferrari corrieron pintados de azul y blanco para ganar el mundial. 12. Peter Monteverdi (1965): Otro cliente VIP ofendido por exigencias económicas que acabó fundando su propia marca de superdeportivos. 13. John Surtees (1966): La traición de Le Mans. El único campeón de 2 y 4 ruedas abandonó el equipo a mitad de temporada harto de las políticas internas. 14. Clay Regazzoni (1976): El silencio como arma. Un despido cruel y sin palabras para un soldado fiel. 15. Niki Lauda (1977): "Judas". La acusación de traición al piloto que volvió de la muerte y que decidió marcharse antes de terminar la temporada. BONUS TRACK: La discusión con Dios (1956). La muerte de Dino marcó el fin del Enzo humano y el inicio del mito de las gafas oscuras. Una paradoja final: sin este carácter endiablado, Ferrari no sería lo que es hoy. Cada discusión creó un rival que obligó a la marca a ser mejor.

Looking for ways to arrest and kill Jesus, the chief priests and associates offered thirty pieces of silver to Judas to betray him. Judas agrees, and he participates in the Last Supper, until Jesus dismisses him.  It says that satan, the devil, possesses him at that moment to betray him.  In this episode, we cover Judas' betrayal and a few examples of demon possession in history.  Matthew 26:1-4Matthew 26:14-16Matthew 27:3-10Luke 22:1-6John 13:18-30www.messagetokings.com

¡Buenos días, Javi y Mar! presenta su "encuesta absurda", donde un oyente responde preguntas como si Judas debe ser la figura más cara del belén o si al comer en IKEA se pide un "desmontadito". Luego, en los "jeroglíficos auditivos", Jimena propone adivinar insultos finos a partir de sonidos, resultando en "barrio bajero", "canta mañana" y "fantoche". El programa explora cómo huelen las ciudades, destacando que Sevilla huele mejor por el azahar, mientras Madrid, Huelva y Valladolid se consideran las peor olientes por contaminación, industria y depuradoras, respectivamente. Alfred García comenta su nuevo disco, explicando que el título "Te estimo es te quiero" surgió de una anécdota y que el álbum refleja honestidad, con influencias mediterráneas y de rumba catalana. Además, se comparten anécdotas de amigos, como el intento fallido de curar un "grano" o una competición de comida picante. Finalmente, Fernando Martín, en su monólogo, habla de David Muñoz de Estopa, quien estudia Historia ...

Basic Bible Study | Matthew, Mark, Luke & John (Part 11) In today's podcast, join Chris and Robyn as they continue their discussion in Matthew, Mark, Luke & John. Here is a breakdown of what was discussed: - Chris talks about something personal - recap of Matthew, Mark, Luke & John (Part 10) - Chris & Robyn have a brief discussion about why Jesus had to die on the Cross - the Jewish leaders were planning to have Jesus killed - Judas accepted 30 silver coins to turn over Jesus - Jesus washed the disciples feet - Jesus shared his bread & wine with the disciples at Passover Dinner ("The Lord's Supper") - Peter denies that he knows Christ three times - we are to living examples of Jesus' love - Jesus promised the Holy Spirit ("The Advocate") - Jesus explains to the disciples he will be leaving for a little while, but will soon return - Jesus has made us acceptable to God - Jesus prayed for future believers - Jesus was betrayed & arrested - all the disciples deserted him & fled - the Jewish ruling body contained 71 Jewish leaders - no sin is to great for Jesus to forgive if you are truly repentant - what to read for next time “If you declare with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.” (Romans 10:9) ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ ABOUT Opening a Bible for the first time can be intimidating. Join Amy & Robyn in an easy-to-follow discussion. This Basic Bible Study is perfect for beginners & those who have never read the Bible. Look for new podcasts every Tuesday & Friday! ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ BIBLE RESOURCES https://biblehub.com/ https://www.bible.com/ http://betterdaysarecoming.com/bible/pronunciation.html https://biblespeak.org/ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ FACEBOOK https://www.facebook.com/mybasicbiblestudy WEBSITE http://www.mybasicbiblestudy.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ You can contact us via e-mail or regular old snail-mail: Basic Bible Study 7797 N. 1st St. #34 Fresno, CA 93720 basicbiblestudy19@gmail.com ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Romans 9:19-24 — Why does God allow evil to exist? Many see the presence and reality of evil as something God should extinguish. In this sermon on Roman 9:19–24 titled “God's Wrath,” Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones says that what fails to be seen is that evil is not an external force acting upon humanity, but an internal reality within people. To extinguish evil would be to extinguish humanity. The holiness of God will not tolerate anything sinful in His presence and His wrath is completely justified to protect His glory. That protection should immediately send every sinner to hell; however, it is God's grace and mercy that restrains His wrath. As seen in the example of Pharaoh, God endures sinners for a time so that His kindness may be on display and people brought to salvation (Romans 2:4). However, His kindness is not to be abused and His patience and longsuffering are not to be ignored. Though for a time He may endure sinners as Christ did with Judas, that patience did not save him and it only prolonged the time until his punishment. That is the lesson of the Old Testament – that God waits, longing for people to repent. However He will not delay punishment forever and when it does arrive, it will be without recourse. The lesson to humanity today is to repent while there is time and while the longsuffering of God endures their sin. Be reconciled to God today and embrace the forgiveness only available through Jesus Christ. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/603/29?v=20251111

Mary had an accepting heart, one that remained simple and uncomplicated. And she had a trusting heart, because she had obviously been well trained in the Word of God and knew its promises and prophecies. When this incredible message came to her from Gabriel that she would bear this miracle baby, she was prepared to trust because she knew God’s Word. Let’s look further at this story to get a better understanding of the heart of Mary. When the angel left her, she went to the one person with whom she could share the news, the one person she knew would understand, her cousin Elizabeth. Elizabeth was bearing a miracle baby, too—a child given to her in old age, beyond child-bearing years. It’s interesting to note how Zacharias, Elizabeth’s husband, reacted when the angel told him that his wife would have a special baby. He said: “How shall I know this for certain?” He focused on the facts as he saw them: his body was old, his wife’s body was old, and they could not have children. He doubted the angel’s message and asked for a further sign. Because of his lack of faith, he became speechless and remained that way until his son was born. I’m afraid Zacharias’ reaction is more like what mine would have been, how about you? He considers the circumstances and loses sight of the power of God to change circumstances, and he does a foolish thing—he fails to trust God. Let’s learn a lesson from Zacharias and set our hearts to trust God no matter what. Don’t look at the circumstances when God gives you a promise. God is never limited by any physical circumstances. Gabriel said it to Mary, very succinctly: For nothing will be impossible with God (Luke 1:37). When Mary comes into Elizabeth’s presence, Elizabeth was filled with the Holy Spirit and immediately recognized Mary’s news even before Mary could tell her. She calls Mary blessed, and Mary answers with one of the most beautiful passages in all of Scripture. It is commonly called The Magnificat, and I encourage you to read it anew this Christmas season, as found in Luke 1:46-55. It is beautiful poetry, but far beyond its literary beauty is its content. Remember, Mary was a young girl, with probably no formal education. But she had obviously been taught the Scriptures, for as she recites her praise to God, she draws from several Old Testament sources. Again, we get a look at the heart of Mary. It is an accepting heart, a trusting heart, and it is a heart of praise. Many women would have focused on the negatives of this situation. Many would have run into Elizabeth and said: “Oh, Elizabeth, what am I going to do? What will I tell people? Will you shelter me? What will Joseph say?  Help me, please Elizabeth.” But Mary had an eternal point of view and a total trust in God, so that she was able to see the real importance of her position and was able to thank and praise God for his eternal purposes, though her life on earth was very difficult. What a wonderful role model this simple lady is for us today. Do you have a heart of praise? That’s what you need to find favor with God, as Mary did. How much time do you spend each day simply praising him for who he is and what he has done for you? Have you ever analyzed your prayer time? How much is just sheer praising the Lord? Notice that Mary used Scripture to recite back to the Lord in praise. That’s a wonderful way to praise God, by reciting Scripture. You could use this wonderful Magnificat for your own personal praise time. I think we also have to take a look at Joseph. I’m sure he was chosen of God for his part in this, as much as Mary was. He could have easily refused to marry Mary. Most men would have done that, under the circumstances. By agreeing to marry her and support her through this birth, he took on a heavy responsibility. Can you picture that trip to Bethlehem? It's almost a hundred miles, so it took days. It must have been a tiring trip for a pregnant woman. We aren't told what manner of transportation they had—perhaps a donkey or a cart or they just walked. But any way you look at it, it's not a trip a very pregnant woman would want to take in those days. But Mary did it and Joseph gently and carefully took care of her. Joseph must have felt great frustration when he realized Mary was going to deliver there, away from home and friends and people to help with Mary and the baby. No doubt God provided for their needs, but it was a very humble birthplace—especially for the one and only one born as a King. But with Mary in hard labor, he finds a place where she can deliver. Of course, life doesn’t get any easier for Joseph. Soon he has to take his wife and this child and flee his country. He has to leave his home and his business and take her to Egypt. Never could he have thought that this would be required of him. But when the angel gives him these instructions, he obeys. Joseph had a very obedient heart and a non-complaining spirit. His love for the Lord and for Mary must have been enormous. And having delivered this little miracle baby, I’m sure he felt a very real sense of responsibility as well as privilege to be able to take care of this God-child for a few years. Mary must have thanked God for Joseph time and again. If you knew, as Mary did, that you were bearing the Son of God, how would you feel when you realized that your delivery room was to be so dismal? After all, Mary knew this child within her was of the Holy Spirit. Everyone else had to take it by faith, but Mary knew that she had never known a man, and yet here she was ready to give birth to a child. How could God allow his Son to be born in such a degrading manner? She must have been puzzled. And then, almost adding insult to injury, while they’re still in this terrible situation, just having given birth, in come these lowly shepherds to find this baby. We don’t know how many there were, but they invade Mary’s delivery room, and come in upon a weary mother and child. Not exactly what you would plan for the reception committee of the King of kings and Lord or lords, right? But Mary allows them in, and we are told she “pondered all these things in her heart.” Instead of questioning or rebelling, instead of being discouraged or disheartened, Mary pondered on everything that had happened, and treasured it up in her heart. In addition to an accepting heart and a praising heart, Mary had a meditative heart. She thought a lot more than she spoke. She remembered what God had said and what he had done, and she stored up the truths and treasures. We need to have hearts that treasure up God’s goodness and God’s promises to us, and hearts that meditate on those things. Then the day came when Jesus left his home and his mother to pursue the ministry God had planned for him, a brief ministry, ending in a crucifixion. He leaves her to become the Savior of the world, and indeed to become her Savior as well, for she was in need of redemption like everyone else. She watched him suffer and die. I can imagine that Mary must have found it difficult to believe at this point that she was “blessed above all women.” Here she is, probably a widow with her beloved Joseph gone, and her precious treasure, her miracle baby, gone as well. Crucified, of all things. If you ever think you’ve got it tough, think about Mary. How could she hold up under this incredible load of suffering and confusion and emotional pressures she endured? She was chosen for this because her heart was right: She had an accepting heart. She kept things very simple and didn’t ask “why’s” and “how’s.” She accepted and she trusted. She had a praising heart, that saw the positive and not the negative. And she praised God from a heart that had been filled with the Word of God. And she had a meditative heart, that treasured up God’s goodness and God’s promises. As we close our thoughts about Mary, the Mother of Jesus, I want to share a chapter from Max Lucado’s book God Came Near. Max does an incredible job of helping us see the incarnation of God becoming Man in new and marvelous ways. This chapter is entitled “Twenty-five Questions for Mary.” Imagine sitting with Mary and asking her: “What was it like watching him pray? How did he respond when he saw other kids giggling during the service at the synagogue? When he saw a rainbow, did he ever mention a flood? Did you ever feel awkward teaching him how he created the world? When he saw a lamb being led to the slaughter, did he act differently? Did you ever see him with a distant look on his face as if he were listening to someone you couldn’t hear? “How did he act at funerals? Did the thought ever occur to you that the God to whom you were praying was asleep under your own roof? Did you ever try to count the stars with him. . . and succeed? Did he ever come home with a black eye? How did he act when he got his first haircut? Did he have any friends by the name of Judas? “Did he do well in school? Did you ever scold him? Did he ever have to ask a question about Scripture? What do you think he thought when he saw a prostitute offering to the highest bidder the body he made? “Did he ever get angry when someone was dishonest with him? Did you ever catch him pensively looking at the flesh on his own arm while holding a clod of dirt? Did he ever wake up afraid? When someone referred to Satan, how did he act? “Who was his best friend? Did you ever accidentally call him Father? What did he and his cousin John talk about as kids? Did his other brothers and sisters understand what was happening? Did you ever think, ‘That’s God eating my soup’?” It is an incredible truth God became flesh and dwelt among us, and for his earthly mother, we can only imagine the joy and the amazement she knew as she watched this miracle baby grow, and the pain she knew because of his sufferings. It will be good in heaven someday to hear her answer some of these questions.

Have you memorized all of the 12 Days of Christmas song? Did you know that these themes in the song had a deeper Catholic meaning? Prepare to get the song stuck in your head as you dive deep into some catechetical truths! Timmerie unveils the song's potential role as a secret catechism tool during times of Catholic persecution in England (1558-1829). This joyous melody might have served as a covert means for Catholic children to learn and remember their faith. Here's a breakdown of the hidden Catholic meanings in each verse: Partridge in a Pear Tree: Jesus Christ, the self-sacrificing savior. Two Turtle Doves: The Old and New Testaments, symbolizing the continuity and revelation of God’s word. Three French Hens: The theological virtues - Faith, Hope, and Charity. Four Calling Birds: The Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Five Golden Rings: The Torah (first five books of the Bible.) Six Geese A-Laying: The six days of creation. Seven Swans A-Swimming: The seven gifts of the Holy Spirit. Eight Maids A-Milking: The Beatitudes Nine Ladies Dancing: The fruits of the Holy Spirit, condensed for memorability. Ten Lords A-Leaping: The Ten Commandments Eleven Pipers Piping: The eleven faithful Apostles (excluding Judas who betrayed the Lord. Twelve Drummers Drumming: The twelve articles of faith in the Apostles' Creed. Timmerie challenges you to not just enjoy the melody, but to delve into the rich tapestry of faith these verses represent. Try to work on memorizing all of these important aspects of our faith! It's an invitation to rediscover the depth and joy of the Catholic Church, especially in times of trial.

In this gripping episode of Gangland Wire, host Gary Jenkins sits down with Robert “Bob” Cooley, the Chicago lawyer whose extraordinary journey took him from deep inside the Outfit's criminal operations to becoming one of the federal government's most valuable witnesses against organized crime. Cooley pulls back the curtain on the hidden machinery of Chicago's underworld, describing how corruption, bribery, and violence shaped the Chicago Outfit's power in the 1970s and beyond. As a lawyer, gambler, and trusted insider, Cooley saw firsthand how mob influence tilted the scales of justice—often in open daylight. Inside the “Chicago Method” of Courtroom Corruption Cooley explains the notorious system of judicial bribery he once helped facilitate—what he calls the “Chicago Method.” He walks listeners through: How defense attorneys worked directly with Outfit associates to buy favorable rulings. The process of approaching and bribing judges. Why weak forensic standards of the era made witness discrediting the key mob strategy. His personal involvement in the infamous Harry Aleman murder case, where clear guilt was erased by corruption. Life in the Outfit: Gambling, Debt, and Mob Justice Cooley recounts his early days gambling with Chicago Outfit associates, including Marco D'Amico, Jackie Cerrone, and John DeFranzo. Notable stories include: The violent implications of unpaid gambling debts in mob circles. Tense interactions with bookmaker Hal Smith and the chaotic fallout of a bounced check involving mobster Eddie Corrado. How D'Amico often stepped in—sometimes with intimidation—to shield Cooley from harm. These stories reflect the daily volatility of life inside the Outfit, where money, fear, and loyalty intersect constantly. Bob Cooley has a great book titled When Corruption Was King where he goes into even greater detail and has many more stories from his life inside the Chicago Mob. Hit me up on Venmo for a cup of coffee or a shot and a beer @ganglandwire Click here to “buy me a cup of coffee” Subscribe to the website for weekly notifications about updates and other Mob information. To go to the store or make a donation or rent Ballot Theft: Burglary, Murder, Coverup, click here To rent ‘Brothers against Brothers’ or ‘Gangland Wire,’ the documentaries click here.  To purchase one of my books, click here. 0:06 Introduction to Bob Cooley 1:32 Life as an Outfit Gambler 2:00 My Relationship with Marco D’Amico 10:40 The Story of Hal Smith 11:05 A Dangerous Encounter 20:21 Meeting Sally D 22:23 A Contract on My Life 22:37 The Harry Alleman Case 34:47 Inside the Courtroom 51:08 The Verdict 52:26 Warning the Judge 53:49 The Case Against the Policewoman 58:36 Navigating the Legal Maze 1:08:14 The Outcome and Its Consequences 1:11:39 The Decision to Flip 1:24:38 A Father’s Influence 1:33:57 The Corruption Revealed 1:50:12 Political Connections 2:02:07 The Setup for Robbery 2:20:29 Consequences of Loyalty transcript [0:00] Hey, guys, my guest today is a former Chicago outfit associate named Robert Bob Cooley. He has a book out there titled When Corruption Was King. I highly recommend you get it if you want to look inside the Chicago outfit of the 1970s. Now, Bob’s going to tell us about his life as an outfit gambler, lawyer, and I use payoff to judges to get many, many not guilty verdicts. Now, I always call this the Chicago method. This happened for, I know, for Harry Ailman, a case we’re going to talk about, Tony Spolatro got one of these not-guilties. Now, the outfit member associate who is blessed to get this fix put in for him may be charged with a crime, even up to murder. And he gets a lawyer, a connected lawyer, and they’ll demand a bench trial. That means that only a judge makes the decision. A lawyer, like my guest, who worked with a political fixer named Pat Marcy. [0:53] They’ll work together and they’ll get a friendly judge assigned to that case and then they’ll bribe the judge. And all that judge needs is some kind of alibi witnesses and any kind of information to discredit any prosecution witnesses. Now, this is back in the olden days before you had all this DNA and all that kind of thing. So physical evidence was not really a part of it. Mainly, it was from witnesses. And they just have to discredit any prosecution witness. Then the judge can say, well, state hadn’t really proven their case beyond a reasonable doubt and issue a not guilty verdict and walk away. Now, our guest, Bob Cooley, is going to take us inside this world. [1:29] And it’s a world of beatings, murders, bribes, and other kinds of plots. He was a member of the Elmwood Park crew. He was a big gambler. He was a big loan shark. And he worked for a guy named Marco D’Amico, who was their gambling boss and loan shark in that crew. Among other bosses in this powerful crew were Jackie Cerrone, who will go on and become the underboss and eventually the boss for a short [1:55] period of time. and John no-nose DeFranzo, who will also go on to become the boss eventually. What was your relationship with Marco D’Amico? I talked about when I first came into the 18th district, when I came into work there, and they put me back in uniform, the first person I met was Rick Borelli. Rick Borelli, he was Marco’s cousin. [2:23] When I started gambling right away with Rick, within a couple of days, I’m being his face, and I’m calling and making bets. There was a restaurant across the street where every Wednesday and sometimes a couple days a week, I would meet with Ricky. And one of the first people he brought in there was Marco. Was Marco. And Marco would usually be with a person or two. And I thought they were just bookmakers. [2:55] And I started being friendly with him, meeting him there. Then I started having card games Up in my apartment And, Because now I’m making, in the very beginning, I’m making first $100 extra a week. And within a couple of weeks, I’m making $500, $600 extra a week. And within about a month, I’m making $1,000, sometimes more than that. So now I’m having card games, relatively big card games, because I’ve got a bankroll. I’ve got probably about $5,000, $6,000, which seemed like a lot of money to me. Initially uh and after a while that was a daily that was a daily deal but uh so we we started having card games up there and then we started socializing we started now he’d be at these nightclubs all the time when when i’d go to make my payoffs he was part of the main group there he was one of the call he was right he was right under jack right under at that time originally Jackie Cerrone, and then he was right under Johnny DeFranco. [4:07] But he was… And we became real good friends. We would double date and we spent a lot of time together. And we had these big card games. And that’s when I realized how powerful these people were. Because after one of the card games, there was somebody that was brought in, a guy named Corrado. I’m pretty sure his name was I can’t think of his first name, but Corrado was this person that somebody brought into the game. And after we finished playing cards, and I won all the time. I mean, I was a real good card player, and I wouldn’t drink. I’d supply liquor and food and everything, but I wouldn’t drink. And as the others drank, they were the same as at my office. After we finish up, this guy says, you want to play some? We can play maybe some gin. just human being. And he was there with another friend of his who just sat there and watched. So we played, not gin, but blackjack. We played and passed cards back and forth when you win. Then you’re the dealer and back and forth. And I lost, I think I lost about $4,000 or $13,000 to him. [5:26] I lost the cash that I had. I had cash about $5,000 or $6,000. And I gave him a check for the rest. You know, but everything I was doing was wrong, you know. Yeah, one of those nights. It’s in there. And it’s funny because you asked about Marco. [5:47] And I thought, you know, oh, well, and whatever. And I gave him a check. I said, no, it’s a good check. And it was. It was for my office. It was an office check that I gave him. And that next morning, I’m meeting with Ricky and with Marco at this restaurant across from the station before I go in and to work. And I said, son of a B. I said, you know, they had a bad night first ever. Marco wasn’t at that game, at that particular game. And what happened? I said, I blew about 12,000. Okay, but you? Wow. And I said, yeah, I said, one of the guys at the game played some, I played some blackjack with somebody. What was his name? Eddie, Eddie Corrado. Eddie Corrado. He said, that mother, he said, stop payment on the check. He said, stop payment on the check. He said, because it wasn’t nine o’clock. It was only like, you know, seven, you know, seven 30 or whatever. He said, and when he gets ahold of you, arrange to have him come to your house. Tell him you’ll have the money for him at your house. So that’s what I, that’s what I do. So I stopped payment on it probably about five after nine. I get a call from, from Mr. Corrado. You mother fucker. [7:17] I said, no, no. I said, there wasn’t enough money in the account. I said, I’m sorry. I said, all right, then I’ll be over. I said, no, no, no. I said, I’m in court right now. I said, I’m in court. I said, I’m going to be tied up all day. I’ll meet you at my place. I’ll meet you back there. Well, I’ll be there. You better have that. I want cash and you better have it. Okay. Oh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I’m at home. Marco comes in. And he was there with Tony and Tony was there and Ricky was there. And Ricky was there. And they come over a little ahead of time and he comes in. I live on the 27th floor. The doorbell rings. Up he comes with some big mustache. [8:00] I open the door. You better have the fucking money and whatever. And I try to look nervous. I try to look real nervous. and when you walk into my apartment you walk in and you see the kitchen right in front of you and to the left to the left you’ve got an area away and you’ve got the the kitchen wall blocking what’s behind it over there and these three guys are standing marco and you are standing right there alongside of it and and when he walks in behind me, He sees Marco and all but shit in his pants. When he sees Marco, he goes, and Marco, you motherfucker. And, you know, oh, I’m sorry. I’m sorry. I didn’t know he was with you. He says, how much money you got me right now? And, you know, he says, pull your pockets out. He had about, he had about three or 4,000 with him. [9:02] And he says, you give him that. He says, you, he says, you, and he says, you give him that right now. And you apologize to him. Oh, and he says, he says, and I may give you a number. I want you to call. He says, we can put you to work. Apparently this guy had done the same thing to them a few years before and got the beating of his life somebody brought him into one of their card games, did he have a technique a cheating technique or had some marked cards no it was a card mechanic he could play games with cards they call him a mechanic and, in fact the guy was great at it because he had his own plane and everything else. But again, he had moved from Chicago and had just come back in the area. And they mounted. And so anyhow, he leaves. And he leaves then, and Marco took the money. Marco took the money. Marco took the money. Typical Bob guy, man. [10:19] And I says, what about the cash I lost to him? He says, well, you lost that. He says, you lost that. That’s when I realized how powerful. That’s when I realized how powerful that [10:35] he was part of the mob, not only a part of it, but one of the operational. Yeah, important part of it. That brings to mind another unbelievable situation that occurred. [10:49] The, uh, this is probably the, we’ll know the year by when it happened. There was a bookmaker named Hal Smith. Oh yeah. I remember that name. He got, tell us about Hal Smith. [11:05] Well, Hal Smith was a, he was a big guy too. A real, a real big guy. I met him on Rush street. He knew I was a gambler. He knew that I was a big gambler and I started gambling with him. Thank you. And I was with him probably for about maybe five or six months. And I’d win with him. I’d lose with him. And he would take big places. He would take $5,000 a game for me. And as they say, so the numbers were big. At the end of the week, we were sometimes $60,000, $70,000. [11:42] They were big numbers back and forth. And he was always good for the money. I was always good for the money. And one particular week, it was about $30,000. And I was waiting for money. Somebody else was supposed to give me even more than that. And the person put me off. And it was a good friend of mine. And I knew the money would be there. But a lot of times, these guys are going to collect it at a certain time. And then they’re expecting to give it to somebody else. Well, he was short. So I said, look, I don’t have it right now, but I’ll have it tomorrow, I said, because I’m meeting somebody. Well, okay, it better be there. [12:31] And look, it’ll be there, okay? Not a problem. So the next day, the person I’m supposed to get it from says, I’ll have it in a couple of hours. I don’t have it right now, but I’ll have it by late this afternoon. And I’m in my office when Hale Smith calls me and I said, I’ll have it a little bit later. And he slams the phone bell. I’m downstairs in Counselor’s Row. In fact, I’m meeting with Butchie and Harry. We’re in a booth talking about something. They had just sent me some business or whatever, but I’m talking about something. And George, the owner of the restaurant, comes over and he says, somebody is asking who you are and they want to talk to you. And they point out this guy. It was a guy I had seen before, because a lot of times at two in the morning, I would go down on West Street, and they had entertainment upstairs. And there was this big English guy. He was an English guy, as you could tell by his accent, a real loud guy. And when I walk up to talk to him, and he’s talking loud enough so people can hear him, and he says, you better have that. I’m here for it. You better have that. You better have that money. [13:51] Bob Hellsmith sent me, you get the money and you better have that money or there’s going to be a problem or whatever. And I said, well, the money will be there, but people can hear what this guy, this guy talking that shit. And he leaves. And he leaves. He’s going to call me back. And he leaves. I said, I’m busy right now. I says, give me a call back when I’m in the office and I’ll meet with you. So Butch, he goes, what was that all about? And I said, you know, it’s somebody I owe some money to. Well, who is he? Who is he with? I said, Harold Smith. And he said, who’s Harold Smith? You don’t pay him anything. He said, you don’t pay him anything. And he calls, when he calls back, he says, you will arrange to meet him. And I said, you know, I said, well, where? [14:44] And they knew where I lived. They’d been to my place at that time. I’m living in Newberry Plaza and they said, there’s a, there’s a Walgreens drugstore in Chicago Avenue. Tell him you’ll meet him there at Walgreens, and we’ll take it. And he says, and we’ll take it from there. When he does call me, I said, look, I said, I’ll meet you tomorrow morning for sure at Walgreens. I’ll have the cash. I said, I’ll have the cash, and I’ll have all of it. I said, but, you know, I’m tied up on some things. I said, I’ll go to my own bank when I’m finished here and whatever, and I’ll see you tomorrow morning for sure at 9 o’clock tomorrow morning. Okay. I sit down with them and they just said, I said, they said, go there and go meet them. And we’ll take care of it. The Walgreens is a store right in the corner of Michigan Avenue and Chicago Avenue, south side of the street. And it’s all windows. Huge windows here. Huge windows here. And a bus stop, a bus stop over here. When I get there, I park in the bus stop and I’m looking to my right and here he is sitting in a booth by himself, right by the window. And I look around and I don’t see anybody. I mean, with a lot of people, I don’t see Butchie. [16:06] Uh or red or anybody around but i i go in there anyhow and uh sit down and i uh sit down in the booth across from him and he’s eating breakfast he’s got some food in front of him and uh the girl comes by right away the girl comes by and i says you know just get me a coke and and he says have you got the money and i said yes and why i got i got a lot i got a lot of money in my pocket but not the, whatever it was he wanted, not the 27 or 28,000. There’s nobody there. And, uh, so we’re talking for no more than about two or three minutes. They had a telephone on the counter. I hear the phone ring and the waitress, the waitress is on the phone. And then she comes walking over and she says, it’s a call for you. And, and when I go get in the phone, I woke up and there’s a phone booth there. And here’s Butchie in the phone booth. And he’s there with a couple of other people. I hang the phone up. I walk over and I had my appointment booked. And I walk over and I just pick up the book. And as I’m walking out there, walking in, we pass each other. And so now when I get in my car and he’s looking at me in my car and right next to him is Butchie. And across from him was a red old male and Fat Herbie. [17:34] Herbie Blitzstein? Herbie Blitzstein? No, it wasn’t Herbie. This is another one. That’s one thing of Herbie. We called Herbie Fat. It was Fat Herbie. And the third guy is like sitting facing him. This is like, that weighs about 300 pounds. Oh, Sarno. Make Mike Sarno. Mike Sarno. That was it. And that’s, that’s, that’s who it was. You know, and I, I drive off, go to my office and go about my business. I get a call later that day from, uh, Hale Smith. Where’s my money? Where’s my money? I said, I gave it to your guy. You what? I gave it to him. I met him at nine o’clock this morning and I gave him the money. You did. And I said, yeah. Um, okay. And he hangs, and he hangs up. I don’t hear anything for a while. I never saw him again. I saw Hale a couple of times because he was always in one of the other restaurants. I lived in Newberry right across from there, but he never talked to me. I never talked to him, never said anything. It was about maybe it had to be a good couple of months later, When I read about Hale, Hale’s no longer with us. [18:52] That’s obviously how they found out about him. I never saw the other guy again. I’m hoping they didn’t kill him, but I’m assuming that’s what probably happened to him. In a public place like that, they probably just scared him off. He probably said, you know, I’m way over my head. I’m out of here. [19:15] They didn’t kill him in the public place he wouldn’t have been in the newspapers my little thought is like with the three guys they took him for a ride, I don’t know they just told him to leave town and he realized what it was and he did Hal didn’t get a chance to leave town Hal had other problems if I remember right I’d have to look it back up but he had other problems with the outfit what I found out later what they had done, was they had gotten one of their guys connected with him to find out who his customers were. In other words, one of the other people that he didn’t realize, that Hale didn’t realize was with them, they got him connected with them where he’s the one who’s doing his collecting and finding out who the customers were because they wanted to get all his customers as well as his money. It turns out he was He was a huge bookmaker for years. That’s what happened to him. And they just took his book. Yeah, I remember something about that story because I killed him in his house, I believe. Yeah, Sally D. [20:22] Sally D, yeah. Sally D was one. When I first met Sally D, he was with Marco’s Fruit, too. [20:30] He owned a pizza place up on the north side, north shore, and I broke him. I was betting with him and beating him week after week. And one of the last times I played with him, he couldn’t come up with the money. It took him an extra couple of weeks to get the cash to pay me. But we were real close friends with him. He’s a bizarre character because he was a totally low level at that time. Yeah. When he then connected up with the Cicero crew, with Rocky and Felice, with Rocky and those people, he became a boss with them. It turns out it was after they killed Al Smith. He was part of all that. That’s Salih De Laurentiis. He’s supposed to be a boss. He moved on up after the Family Secrets trial. He didn’t go down with that, I believe, and he kind of moved on up after that. I don’t know what happened to him. What was so funny about that, when he would come into the club, Marco’s club, Bobby Abinati. [21:42] Who was strictly a very low-level player, although we indicted him with the Gambia star. He’s the one who set up the robbery. Would that have been great if that would have gone through? He’s the one who set up that robbery in Wisconsin. He’d be making fun of Salihide all the time. [22:03] When Salihide would come in, he would make fun of him and joke about him and talk about what a loser he was. This is when he’s a boss of that crew. I mean, just a strange, I mean, nobody talked to bosses like that, especially when, when you’re, when you’re what they call Bobby, you know, what was Marco’s nickname for Bobby Knucklehead? [22:23] That was his nickname, Knucklehead. Pat Marcy, uh, contacted me about, you know, handling me in the only own case. [22:32] I couldn’t have been happier because that was a short time after they put a contract on me. So now i realized if they’re going to be making money you know they finally stopped because for good six seven months when i when i came back to chicago uh i was checking under my car every day in case there was a bomb i moved i moved from uh from a place that i own in the suburbs into an apartment complex so i wouldn’t be living on the first floor yeah it’d be impossible to somebody to break into my, you know, took them thrashing into my place. I changed my whole life around in that sense. [23:10] And when I drove everywhere I went, you know, I would go on the highway and then jump over. I would do all, I wanted to make absolutes. Even though nobody came around, I wasn’t taking any chances for a long period of time. And that was too when it cost me a fortune because that’s when I stopped dealing with the bookmakers because I wasn’t going to be in a position where I had to go meet somebody at any time to collect my money and whatever. [23:39] So what had happened, though, was somebody came to see me. And when I was practicing, there’s a lot of things I wouldn’t do. I set my own rules. I would not get involved. After the Harry Alleman case, I never got involved anymore myself fixing certain cases. But even prior to that, I wouldn’t fix certain cases. I wouldn’t get involved in certain cases, especially involving the police, because my father was such a terrific policeman, and I felt I was too in a lot of sentences. I loved the police. I disliked some of the crooked cops that I knew, but on the surface, I’d be friendly with them, etc. Harry Ailman was a prolific hitman for the Elmwood Park crew. He killed a teamster who wouldn’t help set up trucks for the outfit, a guy named Billy Logan. He was just a regular guy. He’s going to take us right into the meeting with the judge. He’ll take us into a counselor’s row restaurant where these cases were fixed. Now, Bob will give us a seat right at Pat Marcy’s table. Now, Pat Marcy was the first ward fixture, and he’s going to take us into the hallway with Pat Marcy where they made the payoffs. [24:57] Now, Bob, can you take us inside the famous Harry Aileman murder case? I know you fixed it. And tell us, you know, and I know there was a human toll that this took on that corrupt judge, Frank Wilson. Okay. The Harry Aileman case was, it was not long after I became partners with Johnny DeArco. I get a call from, I’m in Counselor’s Row at the restaurant. Whenever I was in there now, my spot was the first ward table. Nobody was allowed to sit there day or night. That was reserved for first ward connected people and only the top group of people. [25:40] I’m sitting there at the table and Johnny DeArco Sr. Tells me, you know, Pat wants to talk to you. About something. And I said, you know, sure. Not long afterwards, Pat comes downstairs. We go out. We go out in the hall because we never talk at the table. And he tells me, have you got somebody that can handle the Harry Alleman case? I had seen in the news, he was front page news. He was one of the main mob hitmen. He was partners with Butchie Petrucelli. But it was common knowledge that he was a hitman. He looked like one. He dressed like one. He acted like one. And whatever. And he was one. In fact, he was the one that used to go to New York. And I know he also went to Arizona to do some hits and whatever. He traveled around the country. I said to Pat, they thought the case was a mob hit on a team street. a teamster. I assumed that it was just that. It was people doing what they do. But I said to Pat, I said, well, get me the file. Get me the file. Let me see what the case looks like. Because I would never put a judge in a bad spot. That was my nature. [27:06] When I had cases, a lot of these judges were personal friends of mine. What I would do, if I wanted to have a case, if I wanted to fix a case to save all the time of having to go to a damn long trial, I would make sure that it was a case that was winnable, easily winnable. When I got the file, when I got the file from Pat, he got me the file the next day. The next morning, when he came in, he gave me the file. I looked at the file. It was a throw-out case. When I say throw-out case, absolutely a nothing case. [27:46] The records in the file showed that a car drove up down the street. Suddenly somebody with a shotgun blasted a guy named Billy Logan in front of his house and drove away. They were contacted by a neighbor, this guy, Bobby Lowe. Was it Bobby Lowe? Yeah, I’m pretty sure Bobby Lowe. Who indicated that he opened the door and let his dog run out. And when he looked, he saw somebody. He saw a car, and he gave a description of the car. And he saw somebody pull up, and he saw him shoot with a shotgun. And then he saw the person get out of the car and shoot him with a .45, and shoot him with a .45. And then the car sped away. That was pretty much the case. Some other people heard some noise, looked out, and saw a car driving away. A period of time after that, it had to be about a year or so after that, somebody was arrested driving to Pennsylvania to kill somebody. There was a guy who stopped. [29:16] Louie Almeida was his name. Louie Almeida was stopped in his car. He was on the way to Pennsylvania. And in front of his car, he had shotguns. And he winds up, when he gets arrested, he winds up telling the authorities that he can tell them about a mob murder back in Chicago and winds up cooperating with them. He indicates what happened. He indicated that, you know, he was asked to, you know, or he got involved in it. He got the car and whatever. They did this. They did that. And he pulled up alongside Billy and wound up shooting the victim as he came out of the house. [30:09] Now, I look at some other reports in there, some reports that were made out, new reports. They talk about the Louis Almeida. They talk about the witness that gave the first statement. and they said that they found, or he’s giving us a new statement now where he says he’s walking his dog. He hears a shotgun. His dog runs towards the car where the shooting was coming from. He saw Harry get out of the car and walk over and shoot him, walk over and shoot the victim, and he was looking at him, And then he jumped in the bushes and the car drove away. A complete new story. Yeah. A complete new story. And. I looked at the reports, and this is an easy winner. And so I told Pat, you know, I’ll take it. You know, I’m sure I can handle it. I said, I’m sure I can handle it, but, you know, I’ll let you know. [31:21] That’s when I contacted, I met my restaurant, Greco’s, and I had Frank Wilson there a lot. Well, I called Frank Wilson, invited him and his wife to come to the restaurant. I had done that many times before. When he gets there, I tell him, I have the case. You know, I told him I was contacted on this case, I said. And I said, it’s an easy winner, I said. And I explained to him what it was. I told him, you know, it’s the driver of the car who’s doing this to help himself. And this other guy, Bobby Lowe, that gave a complete new story from the original story that he gave. And I indicated, you know, can you handle the case? And he tells me, I can’t handle the case, he said, because I was SOJ’d. In Chicago, Illinois, they have a rule that makes it easy for people to fool around because for no reason at all you can ask to have a judge moved off the case. And you can name a second judge that you don’t want to handle the case. [32:34] Frank Wilson’s reputation was as such that the lawyer that turned out to be a judge later on, Tom Maloney, who had the case, named him in the SOJ. It was assigned to somebody else, and he indicated he wanted any other judge except Frank Wilson. Frank Wilson on the case. And this was Harry Aileman’s lawyer. Yeah. Okay. And who Tom Maloney, who then ends up being the judge years later. But yeah. Well, because we knew he was going to be a judge. Yeah. We knew ahead of time. I knew at that time. That’s what makes the story so unbelievably interesting. Yeah. Anyhow, he says, I can’t do it because… In Chicago, in Chicago, it’s supposed to keep it honest. I love this. To keep it honest. Yeah. To keep it honest, each judge is supposed to be picked by computer. [33:33] Same thing they’re doing to this day. Trump wondered why the same judge kept getting all his cases. Because they’re doing the same thing we did, some of us could do in Chicago. He was the chief judge in the area. he said to me, I don’t think I can get the case. I don’t think I can’t get the case. I said, I’ll get the case to you. I said, I’ll get, because I already, I, in fact, through Pat Marcy, anytime I wanted a case to go anywhere, I would contact Pat and I’d give him a thousand dollars and he would get me any judge I wanted. Uh, I said, well, I think I can. I said, I said, And I gave him $1,000. [34:16] I said, here, this is yours. And if I can’t get the case to you, you keep it. If I can’t get, I never said to him, will you fix it? Will you this or that? I mean, he understood what it was. I didn’t know how he would react to it. When I asked him, would you handle it? Were the words I used. I had never fixed anything with him before. [34:43] In case he was, you know, he would want to report it to somebody. I wasn’t worried because Frank had a reputation as being a big drinker. After I got the Harry Elliman file, Pat tells me, I’m going to have somebody come and talk to you. Who comes? And we meet in the first ward office, and then we go downstairs into the special room they had for conversations. It’s Mike Ficarro. He’s the head of the organized crime section. He’s the one who prosecutes all the criminals. He’s one of the many prosecutors in Chicago. That’s why there were over 1,000 mob murders and never a conviction from the time of Al Capone. Not a single conviction with over 1,000 mob murders because they controlled absolutely everything. He’s the boss. [35:35] I knew him. I didn’t like him. He had an attitude about him. You know, when I would see him at parties and when I’d see him at other places, and I’d walk by and say, hi, he just seemed coldish. [35:47] I found out later why. He was jealous of the relationship I had with all these people. [35:54] He says, I’ll help you any way I can, anything you need, whatever. So the prosecutors on the Harry Olliman case were our people. That’s who’s prosecuting the case anyhow. But they couldn’t get one of their judges apparently who would handle the case. So, but anyhow, uh, so, uh, when we, um, when we go, when we, when we go to trial, um. [36:25] Before to help me out, I told Pat, I’ll get somebody else to handle the case. I’ll have somebody else. I said, I won’t go in there. I won’t go in there because everybody knows I’m close to Frank, very close to Frank. I said, so I won’t go in there. I’ll get somebody. He says, no, no. He said, I’ll get somebody. And so he gets a guy named Frank Whalen, who I didn’t know at the time. He was a retired lawyer from Chicago. He was one of the mob lawyers. [37:00] He was one of the mob lawyers. And he lived in Florida. He lived in Miami. I think it was, no, Lauderdale. He lived in the Lauderdale area. He was practicing there. So I fly out. I fly out to meet him. I i do all the investigating in the case the i’m using an investigator that harry alleman got from me in fact he was the same investigator that got in trouble in in uh in in hollywood for what for a lot of stuff i can’t think of his name right now but he’s the one who got indicted in hollywood eventually for you know wiretapping people and whatever it was the same one. And he got me information on Bobby on this Bobby Lowe. He found out Bobby Lowe, Bobby Lowe was a drug addict. [37:59] When the FBI got a hold of him, Bobby Lowe was living out in the street because he had been fired from his first job. He had a job in some kind of an ice cream company where they made ice cream, and he got fired there for stealing. And then he had a job after that in a gas station, and he faked a robbery there. Apparently, what he did was he called the police and said he had been robbed. This is before they had cameras and all the rest of that stuff. He said he had been robbed. And somebody happened to have been in the gas station getting gas. It was a big place, apparently. [38:45] And when the police talked to him, he said, I didn’t see anything strange. He said, I saw the attendant walk out to the back about 10, 15 minutes ago. I saw him walk out to the back of the place and then come back in. And so they go out, and he had his car parked behind it, and they found the money that was supposed to have been stolen in the car. So not the best witness, in other words. Well, that’s an understatement, because that was why… That was why now he suddenly shows up, and they know all this. The FBI agents that obviously know all this, that’s their witness. That’s their case. To me, it’s an airtight, you know. Yeah. Anyhow, I developed the defense. I went back to see Frank a second time. I flew out to Florida a second time, gave him all this information. [39:48] I had talked to some other people to a number of people that were going to indicate that Harry played golf with them that day see how they remembered not golf but he was at a driving range with them with about five people they remember what they were three or four years three or four years before that what I also found out now, and I didn’t know and it changed my whole attitude on that this wasn’t a mob killing you, This guy that he killed was married to his, I think it was his cousin or some relation was married. I’m pretty sure it was to his cousin. She had told Harry, I got this from Butchie, Butchie Petrosselli, who had become a close friend of mine after I got involved with Harry’s case, his partner. And that was why he killed them, because apparently the sister, his sister-in-law, whatever she was, had told him, you know, when he was beating her up, she had said, well, my Harry Alameda won’t be happy about this. And he said, supposedly, he said, fuck that, Kenny. [41:02] And that’s why the shooting took place. Wow. This changed me. You know, I’m in the middle of it. There’s no getting out of it now. Yeah, they’ll turn it back. And by now, I’m running around all the time with Butch and Mary at night. I’m meeting them at dinner. They’re coming to one of my places where I have dinners all the time. You know, I’m becoming like close friends, close friends with both of them. Yeah. So anyhow, but anyhow, the lawyer that he got, Frank Whalen, who was supposed to be sharp, turned out like he was not in his, let’s just say he was not in his prime. [41:46] Charitable. And when he went in, you know, while the trial was going on, you know, while the trial was going on, I get a call from Frank. From Frank Wilson, because I told him, you don’t come back into the restaurant now. You don’t come back into the restaurant. I used his office as my office all the time, along with a bunch of other judges. I had a phone, but it cost about a dollar a minute to talk on my phone. I had to talk on my phone. So when I’d be at 26th Street in the courthouse, even though no lawyers are allowed back there in the chamber, so I’m back there sitting at his desk using the phone taking care of my own other business. I stopped going in there while the trial was going on. [42:35] So, anyhow, he calls me, and he wants to meet me at a restaurant over on Western Avenue. And, okay, he called me from one of the pay phones out there in front of the courthouse, and I go to meet him. What did he want? Was he complaining about the lawyer, Waylon? What was he complaining about, Waylon? and I was screwing it up. [42:59] When I meet him, I said, you know, he’s like, you know, he said, you know, we go into the bathroom and he and he said he’s all shooken up. He says, this is going to cost me my job. He said, he said, you know, they’re burying him. You’re burying him. You know, because I had given this information on the two witnesses. And he says, Frank Whalen, he said, isn’t doing a thing and cross-examining these people and whatever. [43:32] And he says, and he’s all upset. And I said, Frank, no, I’m shook up one of the few times in my life where it’s something I can’t handle. He had never told me, you know, I’ll fix the case, never. And I said to him, and I said, Frank, I said, if something goes wrong, I said, I’m sure they’re going to kill me, is what I said to him. Yeah. I said, if something goes wrong, I’m sure they’re going to kill me. And I left. I left the bathroom. Now, I have no idea what’s going on in his mind and whatever. Yeah. I see Pat the next day. And by something goes wrong in this case, you mean if he gets found guilty, that’d be what would go wrong and you would get killed. Is that that’s what you mean? Well, no question, because when I met, I didn’t go into that. I met with Harry Alleman. I get a call after I got involved in the case. A couple days later, I get a call from Markle. Meet me at one of the nightclubs where I was all the time at night with these people. [44:47] Above it, you’ve got a motel, a bunch of hotel rooms. I get a call from Markle. The reason everybody loved me and the mob, I never discussed what I was doing with anybody or any of the other dozens of mobsters I run with that I was involved in Harry’s case. Never said a word to anybody about any of this. That was my nature, and that’s why all these people love me. I never talked about one thing with anybody else or whatever. He says, I want to meet you. When I get over there, he says, let’s go upstairs. Somebody wants to talk to you. And we go upstairs, and there’s Harry Alleman. And Harry, how you doing? How are you? [45:27] And he says, listen, you’re sure about this? And I said, yeah. I said, I’m sure. And he said, well, if something goes wrong, you’re going to have a problem. Those were his words to me. You’re going to have a problem. And I said, you know, he says, because this judge, he says, this judge is a straight judge. And he said, Tom, you mean Tom Maloney. He says, and Tom wants to handle my case. And he tells me he’s going to be named a judge by the Supreme Court real soon. And he wants to handle and he wants to handle my case before he… Uh, you know, before he becomes a Supreme court, before he becomes a judge, I knew the moment he told me that I knew for sure that was the case because we control everything, including the Supreme court. I said, you know, I said, don’t, you know, don’t worry about it. I lied to him. And I said, uh, I said, yeah, the judge is going to, I said, yeah, he’s going to throw it out. He knows, I said, he knows what’ll happen if he doesn’t. That’s what I told Harry. I want to keep him happy. [46:34] I’m going to keep him happy probably for a few hours I’m a little nervous and then that’s all behind me like so many other problems I got in the middle of oh my god talking about walking a tightrope so now the lawyer came into Chicago he was in Chicago I met him when he came in he was staying at the Bismarck was at the Bismarck Hotel right around the corner from you know where Counselor’s Row was that’s where he was staying in the in the hotel right there by the first board office and there was a way to go in there without being seen and there was a, You go through another restaurant and you go through the alley and go up there. And I wouldn’t, I didn’t want to be seen walking into there because I know the FBI are probably, are probably watching and whatever. When he comes into town, they handle the case. So I go upstairs to see him. You know, I said, what the hell’s going on in court? He says, I’m going, it’s going great. It’s going great. I said, it’s going great. I just, you know, I just got a call last night. I had to go meet the judge. And he said, you’re not doing any cross-examining. Oh, I’m doing a great job. You know, I’m doing a great job. So after a few minutes of, I leave. Yeah. [47:52] That’s when I saw Pat Marcy, too. And I said, Pat, I said, the judge is upset about whatever’s going on. I said, maybe we should give him some more because I agreed to give him $10,000. And he said, you know, what a piece of work he is. You know, he said $10,000, and that’s all he’s going to get, not a nickel more or whatever. So now to say I’m nervous again is an ultra statement. The case, I walked over, and I wouldn’t go in the room, but I wanted to just be around that room for some reason. FBI agents all over the place. [48:30] FBI agents all over the place. And so now I’m at home and I’m packed. I’ve got my bags packed because if he finds it, I don’t know what he’s going to do. I’m worried he might find him guilty because of all that had happened. He, when the trial ended a given night, and the next day he was going to give the result. In fact, I didn’t go out and play that night. I was a little nervous, and I stayed home, and I packed up my bags. I packed up my bags, and about 9 o’clock, I got in the car, and I started driving. And by the time he gave the ruling, I was probably about 100, maybe 150 miles away. And I hear on the radio, you know, found him not guilty, found him not guilty. So I turn around. Hit the next exit, turn around and come back. I turn around. Northbound on I-55. [49:27] Probably a couple hours later, here I am parked in my parking spot. My parking spot was in front of my office, right across from City Hall. And I parked in the mayor’s spot when she wasn’t there. And drove probably to drive her crazy. But that was where I parked. That was my parking spot. We’d see my big car with the RJC license plates parked in the bus stop. And so here I am. I parked the car and I go in. I go in. [50:01] And I’m sure Pat told some people, probably not, but I’m sure they told all the mobsters, all the top mobsters, because these guys all wanted to meet me afterwards and get the restaurant. I go in to see them. We walked into the janitor’s closet. You walk out of Counselor’s Row. You go to the left. It goes into the 100 North Building. Now, you’ve got the elevators to the right. And behind that, you’ve got a closet where the janitors keep all their stuff. And you’ve got some stairs leading up to the, there was a, what do you call it? There was an office there where the commodities, big commodity exchange was right there. that there was a stairway leading up to where the offices were with some doors with bars and everything on it. And Pat is standing on those stairs, about two or three stairs. You know, I said, wow. I said, you know, everybody’s going nuts. And he goes, well, you know, you did a good job. And he gives me an envelope. He gives me an envelope. And, you know, I put the money in my pocket. [51:09] We said we had some more. We said a couple other words about, you know, this and that. And then I just go in there. I go back in the counselor’s. [51:21] Now, after the feds started getting indictments, did you try and warn the Aleman case judge, Frank Wilson? Why did you do that? And when I went to see Frank Wilson, I went to help him. I said, Frank, I said, look, I said, I was contacted by, I said, I was contacted by the, by the, by the FBI. They were investigating the Harry Aleman case. I said to him, I said, they, they feel the case was fixed. I said, when they come to see me, I said, you know, I said, I’m not going to talk to them. I said, I’m not going to talk to them. I’m going to take the fifth. And in your case, you can do the same thing. When they, if they come to talk to you, you just take the fifth amendment. If they give you immunity, I said, you know, then you, then you testify, but you tell them the truth. I said, don’t worry about me. Tell them the truth. This is how I talk to him. When I’m talking to him like that, it’s almost like he’s trying to run away from me. [52:27] We’re at a restaurant in a big complex. It was in one of those resorts in Arizona. He’s all but running away from me. I was trying to help him. What I said to him was, Frank, I said, the statute of limitations ran on all this. It’s been more than five years. There’s nothing they can do to you or to me, I said, because the statute ran. I said, so don’t lie to them. What the feds were concerned about, and I don’t know why, that he would deny ever fixing the case when it went through. I don’t know why they’re worried about that, but they were, and I didn’t want to see him get in trouble. [53:13] That’s why I went there to protect him. Hey, Bob, you were asked to represent an outfit associate or an outfit associate’s son who was accused of breaking the jaw of a Chicago policewoman. And you know, when a cop is injured in a fight with somebody, the cops follow that case. And I do not want to see any shenanigans going on. So, so tell us about how you walked that line. And I bet those cops were, were not happy with you in the end. Some people think this is a reason you flipped. Take us inside that case, will you? [53:45] And the reason I mentioned that it had a lot to do with what I eventually did. Now we’ll get back to what made me do what I was going to do. When I was practicing law now, and now I have been away from all this for years, I was out of town a lot because I’m representing the Chinese all around the country. I’m their main lawyer right now. [54:10] And I get a call from Lenny Colella. And he says, my son, he said, my son is in trouble. I want to come in and I want to talk to you about handling his case. This was a heater case, too. This was a front page case because he was charged with aggravated battery and attempted murder. Supposedly, he had beat up a policewoman and it was all over the place. He was a drug addict and whatever, supposedly he did all this. And when he came into the office with his dad, he was high. When I talked to him, he’s got his kid with him. And the kid is a smart aleck. As we’re talking, the kid, and I asked the kid, well, whatever. The kid was a smart aleck. And I just said to him, I said, Len, I can’t help you. I said, get him out of here. I want nothing to do with him. I said, I can’t help you. You didn’t take cases that were involved with cops anyhow, for the most part. No. I didn’t know what had happened in this case. I know what I saw in the paper. I didn’t know what the facts or anything were or whatever. I mean, if it turned out that if I felt when I talked to him that he had done it, whatever, I would not have taken the case anyhow. [55:26] I mean, I would not have. That’s why I say, too, that may be, too, why I was as quick and as rude as I was when he came in there and was acting and was a little bit high. I just wanted nothing to do with him, period. I said to his dad, his father said, you know, if I get him cleaned up, you know, I said, well, if you get him cleaned up, then we’ll talk again. I said, but I can’t help him, and I can’t help him. [55:54] And off he goes. the father re-contacted me about a week later. And he said, I had him in rehab and he straightened out and whatever. And he brought him back in and it was a new person. And when he told me the facts of the case, when he told me what happened, because he was a big, tough kid. He was a big, you know, he was a weightlifter, but he was a big, tough looking kid. [56:19] And it’s a little police woman. When he told me what happened, I believed him. Because I’ve been out in the street and whatever. And he says, you know, he told me what happened, that he had gotten stopped. He was out there talking to her. And when she said, you’re under arrest for DUI, he just walked. He says, I walked. I was going to get in my car and drive away. And she grabbed me and was pulling me or whatever. And I hear all these sirens coming. And within a few minutes, there’s all kinds of police. There’s about half a dozen police there. He says, and then they started jumping on me. He said, she was under me. He was all beaten up. He was all bloody and whatever. And she apparently had her jaw broken. And there’s no doubt in my mind when he’s telling me that, you know, when they were hit with his clubs or with this thing that they claimed he had without his fingerprints, it was a metal bar. Right, a slapper. A chunk of lead covered by leather. Everybody used to carry a slapper. How about you carry a slapper? They claimed, but there was no cloth on this. It was just the metal itself. Yeah, oh really? [57:45] Anyhow, that makes it interesting during the trial when they flat out lied. No, he had no blood. I got the hospital reports. They wouldn’t take him in the station because he was too badly beaten up. But anyhow, he also had two other charges. He had been involved in a fight in a bar. And he had been involved in another situation with the police. And he was charged with resisting arrest and battery on a policeman out in Cicero. So he had these three cases. So I gave the father a fee on handling, you know, the one, I was going to, I gave him a fee one case at a time. I said, you know, first thing we’ll do, I want to get rid of those other two cases. I’ll take them to juries, I said. [58:36] I’ll take them to juries because I wasn’t going to put them. I knew both the judges on those cases, but I wasn’t going to put them in a position on a case like that. I take the first case to trial. And I get him a not guilty. That was the fight in the bar. [58:54] That was out in one of the suburbs. That was out in, I’m not sure which suburb, in the northwest side. After we get that case over with, before that case, I get a call from Pat Marcy. Pat Marcy, I hadn’t seen him probably even for a couple months, but I hadn’t talked to him for quite a long period of time. And he says to me, you got a case that just came in. He said, we’re going to handle it. And I said, there’s no need, Pat. I said, I can win these cases. I said, there’s no need. I can win these cases. And he said, we’re going to handle this. The case is going to go to Judge Passarella, he said, and we’ll take care of it. I said, Pat, there’s no need to. I said, I can win these cases. I said, they’re all jury trials, but I know I can win them all. And he says, you do as you’re told. Pat had never talked to me like that before. [59:54] Powerful as he was and crazy as I am, And he never, you know, you never demand that I do anything or whatever. We had a different type relationship. And although I hadn’t broken away from them by now, it’s been years. I had broken away from them for about, you know, two, three years. And he says, you know, take the case to trial. I said, well, he’s got some other cases, too, and I’m going to take the one. And she says, I’ll take it to a jury, and I’ll win it. You’ll see how I win it. I take her to trial, and I get her not guilty. The second case was set for trial about a month after that. Not even, yeah, about a month or so after that. And during that time, a couple of times I’m in counselors, and Pat says, when are you going to take the case to trial? I said, well, Pat, you know, I won the one case. I got the other case on trial, and it was before Judge Stillo. He was a judge that we eventually indicted. [1:00:51] Stillo was very, very well connected to the first ward. He’s one of the old-time judges out in Maywood. And I told him, you know, when I came in there, he assumed I’d take it to trial and he’d throw it out. And I said, no, no, no, there’s no need to. I says, I’m going to take the jury on this one. Number one, I had stopped fixing things long before this. And, but he was, to make money, he was willing that he would have thrown the case out. It was a battery with a Cicero policeman. And I says, no, no, I’ll take it. I’ll take it to, you know, I’ll take the jury. I said, I don’t want to put you in that pursuit. Oh, don’t worry about me. I take that one to trial and I win that one too. Now Pat calls me, when the hell are you going to take the case to trial? And that’s the original case with the police woman. That’s the main one. The main one. Okay, go ahead. [1:01:44] When are you going to take it to trial? And I don’t want to take it to trial. In fact. I had talked to the prosecutor, and I said, look, I said, because he was charged with, he was charged with, you know, attempted murder and arrest. I said, if you’ll reduce it, the prosecutor was an idiot. He knew me, should have realized that, you know, that I never lose cases. Yeah. You know, but I want to work out something. He was a special prosecutor on it. He said, we’re not going to reduce it. We said, you know, if you want to work out a plea, we went five years, we went five to ten or whatever in the penitentiary. And I said, well, that’s not going to happen. I said, well, then we’ll just have to go to trial. So now, while I’m at Counselor’s Row, on one of my many occasions, because I was still having some card games over there at somebody else’s other lawyer’s office, because I had had big card games going on there for years. I’m sitting at the counselor’s row table, and Judge Passarella comes in. There’s just him and me there, and when he comes in, I say, Oh, you’re here to see Pat? [1:02:56] And he goes, Pat, who? No more conversation. Who the fuck? No more. The guy’s treating me like I’m some kind of a fool or whatever. And I developed an instant disliking to him. I had never seen him around that much or whatever before that. So now, after the second case, you’re going to go to, you know. So I talked to Lenny. When Lenny came in, Lenny came in with him when we were starting to get prepared for the case. And, oh, this is before this is before I talked to the prosecutor. And I said, Lenny, I said, I says, if I can get it reduced to a misdemeanor, to a misdemeanor. I said, you know, can we work with, you know, and work out a plea, let’s say, for maybe a month or two, you know, a month or two. Is that OK with you? Oh, sure. He says, oh, sure. [1:03:57] Now, this Lenny, this was the kid’s dad, your client’s dad. This is his dad. Now, explain who he was, who Lenny was. His dad was. What’s his last name? Yeah, Karela. Karela, okay. Lenny Karela, I’m pretty sure was his name. He owned a big bakery out there in Elmwood Park area. Okay. And he was friendly with all the mobsters. Okay, all right. I got you. For all I knew, he may have been a mobster himself, but I mean, he may have been because we had thousands of people that were connected. He was a connected guy. All right, go ahead. I’m sorry. And he said, oh, yeah, sure, no, not a problem because the papers are meant, they’re still, after a year, they’re still mentioning that case will be going to trial soon and every so often. [1:04:43] What I had also done, I tried to make contact with the policewoman, not with her, but I put the word out and I knew a lot of police and I got a hold of somebody that did know her. And I said, look, I said, no, the case is fixed if I want it. Yeah. But I don’t want it. Even though I know that, you know, that it’s all BS, you know, I said, look, I said, get a hold of her and get a hold of her lawyer and tell them if they want to file a lawsuit, you know, you know, we can, they can get themselves some money on it. Uh, you know, he’ll indicate, you know, he’ll, he’ll, he’ll indicate that, you know, he, he was guilty or whatever, but I wanted to get her some money. The word I get back is tell him that piece of shit, meaning me to drop dead, to drop dead. You know, we’re going to put this guy in prison and that’s where he should be too. When the case now, now when the case goes to trial. [1:05:48] The coppers lied like hell and talk about stupid. I’ve got the police reports there. When they took him into the police station, they wouldn’t take him. The station said take him to a hospital. He goes to the hospital and the reports, you know, bleeding here, bleeding there, and, you know, marks here, marks there. They beat the hell out of him. [1:06:10] You know, nobody touched him. You know, nobody touched him. Nobody touched him. Was he bleeding? No, no, he wasn’t. He wasn’t bleeding. Didn’t have any, you know, along with, you know, along with everything else. Flat out lied. How many policemen were there? There were two or three. There were about 10 by the time it’s over. But it’s an absolute throwout. Any fingerprints on that metal? Well, we had some fingerprints, but not his. And on and on it went. It’s a throwout case to start with. The courtroom now where the case was, was very interesting. You walk in there, and when you walk in there, there’s about 20 people that can sit. And then there’s, it’s the only courtroom in the building where you have a wall, a glass wall, all the way up, all the way up. Covering in the door, opens up and goes in there. You go in there. It’s a big courtroom. A bunch of benches now in there. You go to the left, and here’s the judge’s chambers. You come out of the chambers, and you walk up about four steps. And here the desk is on like a podium. And it’s not where all the others are, you know, where you look straight forward. It’s over on the side. It’s over, you know, to the left as you walk out of his chambers. [1:07:40] When the judge listens to the case he goes in there I’ll come up back with my ruling he comes out about 10 minutes later he walks up the steps, And now he turns off the microphone. Somebody turns off the microphone so the people in the back can’t hear anything. The ones inside there can, you know, can hear. The one back there can’t hear anything because it’s all enclosed. [1:08:11] That’s why they got the microphone back there. Somebody shut it off. He says, basically, I’m not guilty in a real strange voice. And all but runs off the all but run and don’t ask me why this is what he did all but runs off all but runs off into the into his chambers, you know he’s afraid all those cops out in the audience were going to come and charge the stand I guess and put a whack on him. [1:08:43] But think about it this is Chicago he’s with the bad guys but I’m just saying I don’t know why he did all that, but that’s what he did. And so now, as I come walking out with Mike, and they’re all in uniform, and most of them are in uniform, and then you’ve got the press and all kinds of cameras and whatever there. And as I come walking out along with him, some of these guys I know, and these jerk-offs are like calling me names and whatever. I go, I go see Pat. [1:09:23] And when I go back into Counselor’s Row now, he’s there at the table. And when I come in, it’s a repeat of the Harry Allerman thing. He walks out. He walks directly. And I’m following him, and he walks in. He goes back into the same janitor’s closet and stands on the same steps just above me, you know, talking to me. And I said to him I said this judge is going to have a problem, I said, he’s going to have a problem. I said, what if he says something? And he said to me, nobody would dare. He said, nobody would dare cooperate against us. They know what would happen. Or words to that effect. And don’t ask me why. So many other things had happened before this. But now I’m looking at him and I’m thinking, you know, somebody’s got to stop this craziness. All this stuff. I’m thinking that at the moment, but then I’m worried for some reason, I think he can read my mind. [1:10:34] Stupid as all of this seems, I’m afraid to think that anymore. I’m almost, you know, cause Pat’s such a powerful person and every sense I know, I know his power, but anyhow, so I leave. And like I say, 10, 15 minutes later, that’s all forgotten about. He paid me the rest of the money I was supposed to get from them. [1:10:56] Obviously, he wanted to do it because he was probably charging a lot of money. That’s why he didn’t want me to take things. He wanted to collect the money because while the case was going on too, he puts me in touch with the head of the probation department because he was able to help in some way. He knew some of the, you know, some of the, some of the policemen involved in the thing had been contacted too. Yeah. But they were contacted and they messed up by, you know, they messed up by lying about all that. Yeah. When there’s police reports saying, oh, no, but anyhow, that was that particular case. Tell us why you decided to flip. [1:11:38] These had been your friends. You knew you had explosive information. You knew as a lawyer, you knew what you had to say would send these people to prison for many, many years. if not life. It had to be hard. As other things happened, why did I commit the, Probably two or three other times things happened. But the most important thing was to think when my dad was dying, and I was very close to my dad. When my dad was dyi

On the 9th Nightmare Before Christmas... On the afternoon of March 12, 2004, a quiet Fresno street exploded with panic. Twenty-five-year-old Sofina Solorio stood outside the boarded-up home where she'd once lived, screaming for Marcus Wesson to release her children. Her cousin, Ruby Ortiz, shouted beside her. Both women had grown up under Wesson's rule. Both had borne him children. Now they wanted them back. Relatives crowded the curb, furious and ready to force their way in. Inside, Wesson's family gathered at the windows, shouting back with a strange, fevered devotion. “Judas! Judas!” “Bow down to your master!” When Fresno police arrived, the chaos only deepened. At the center stood Marcus Wesson, fifty-seven, nearly 300 pounds, his graying dreadlocks hanging to his knees. He was eerily calm, answering questions in a soft, measured voice. Officers believed they were dealing with a tense custody dispute. Then Wesson asked for one thing: to say goodbye to the children. He closed the door behind him. Join Cam and Jen on this episode of Our True Crime Podcast entitled "Innocence Destroyed: The Wesson Family Horror." Thank you to our fantastic team: Listener discretion by Edward October @octoberpodVHS. Executive Producer/Music @theinkypawprint. Sources:  https://www.crimelibrary.org/noto rious_murders/family/marcus_wesson/13.html https://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/04/22/wesson/ https://www.cbsnews.com/news/many-questions-in-fresno-slayings/ https://web.archive.org/web/20190827142254/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2005-jun-30-me-wesson30-story.html https://abc30.com/post/marcus-wesson-mass-murder-children-killed-convicted-murderer/14518182/ https://abc7.com/archive/7540458/ https://www.amazon.com/Marcus-Wesson-Horrific-Fresnos-Murderer/dp/1703797760 https://www.cbsnews.com/news/jury-gives-death-to-killer-dad/ https://www.cnn.com/2005/LAW/04/22/wesson/ https://www.foxnews.com/politics/will-jerry-brown-commute-sentences-of-every-death-row-inmate-in-one-of-his-last-acts-as-california-governor https://www.nydailynews.com/news/justice-story/justice-story-vampire-king-article-1.1621606 http://www.cbsnews.com/news/dad-guilty-of-killing-his-9-kids/ http://www.daily-journal.com/life/wesson-massacre-largely-forgotten/article_389f9b7f-4237-511d-a6b7-b003bddc088a.html https://abcnews.go.com/Primetime/marcus-wesson-mass-murder-surviving-family-speaks-abuse/story?id=11089648 https://abc30.com/marcus-wesson-mass-murder-children-killed-convicted-murderer/14518182 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

“Why is Judas’s Death Different in Acts?” This episode addresses the differences in accounts of Judas’s death found in Matthew and Acts, while also delving into how a non-literal interpretation of the creation story affects the concept of original sin. Additional questions include the implications of kneeling at statues and why God sent Jesus long after Adam and Eve. Join the Catholic Answers Live Club Newsletter Invite our apologists to speak at your parish! Visit Catholicanswersspeakers.com Questions Covered: 03:39 – Can you clear up why Judas's death differs in Matthew 27 and Acts? 05:47 – Does Revelation 22:8-9 where John bows down and worships the angel prove kneeling at a statue can be considered worship? 19:40 – Can you explain how if the creation story is not literal how would this impact original sin? 31:43 – Why did God send Jesus long after Adam and Eve not right after? 34:42 – Did Jesus participate in the last supper? Did he eat the bread with his disciple? 39:00 – How could you explain Mary’s need for a cleansing in the bible when she was without sin? 46:15 – Are translations considered inspired? Was this protected by the Holy Spirit? 51:55 – When the angel appeared to Zachariah and Mary they both seem to show disbelief. Why did only Zachariah get punished?