Podcast appearances and mentions of King James

Making the King James Version (KJV) of the Bible — The task of translating the Bible into English was undertaken by a group of scholars approved by King James the First. All were members of the Church of England and most were clergy. The scholars worked in six committees, two based in each of the University of Oxford, the University of Cambridge, and Westminster. The committees included high churchmen, as well as scholars with Puritan sympathies. E218. Check out the YouTube version of this episode at https://youtu.be/3NchTwzNyZo which has accompanying visuals including maps, charts, timelines, photos, illustrations, and diagrams. King James Version (KJV) Bibles available at https://amzn.to/3jOQna7 ENJOY Ad-Free content, Bonus episodes, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on https://patreon.com/markvinet SUPPORT this channel by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at NO extra charge to you). Mark Vinet's TIMELINE video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVine Mark's History of North America podcast: www.parthenonpodcast.com/history-of-north-america Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 X (twitter): https://twitter.com/MarkVinet_HNA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Mark's books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Audio credits: The Story of the King James Bible with James Naughtie (BBC Radio 4). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

King James convened the Hampton Court Conference in 1604, where a new English version of the Bible was conceived in response to the problems of the earlier translations perceived by the Puritans, an orthodox faction of the Church of England. One cannot underestimate the spiritual, cultural, political, and literary importance and influence of the Authorized Version's preeminence in the English-speaking world. E216. Check out the YouTube version of this episode at https://youtu.be/OAsU9HzL2vM which has accompanying visuals including maps, charts, timelines, photos, illustrations, and diagrams. Hampton Court Palace books available at https://amzn.to/3ND5Q8I Hampton Court Palace souvenirs at https://amzn.to/4fdL5w1 King James Version (KJV) Bibles available at https://amzn.to/3jOQna7 ENJOY Ad-Free content, Bonus episodes, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on https://patreon.com/markvinet SUPPORT this channel by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at NO extra charge to you). Mark Vinet's TIMELINE video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVine Mark's History of North America podcast: www.parthenonpodcast.com/history-of-north-america Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 X (twitter): https://twitter.com/MarkVinet_HNA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Mark's books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Audio credits: The Story of the King James Bible with James Naughtie (BBC Radio 4). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

For more than a year, a seven-foot creature with glowing red eyes and folded wings terrorized Point Pleasant, West Virginia—and just weeks after the sightings stopped, the Silver Bridge collapsed and killed 46 people, leaving the town to wonder whether the Mothman had been a monster, a warning, or something far worse.EPISODE BLOG PAGE (includes sources and full transcript): https://weirddarkness.com/RedEyesOfMothmanREAD or DOWNLOAD the full transcript of this episode:https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/2p8s2fxtFEATURED STORIES IN THIS EPISODE: Most everyone is familiar with the King James Bible, but did you know that King James also wrote a book on demonology during the witch hunts and trials? (The King James Book of Demonology) *** Her gravestone, decorated with a cross and flowers, reads “Jerrilynn S. Mullins — Beloved wife and best friend.” It could also be added, “a victim of a crime that will likely never be solved.” (The Unsolved Mystery of Jerrilyn Mullins) *** It was on November 15th 1966 that Point Pleasant, West Virginia had its first experience with what later became known as the Mothman. Many believe it was either the cause of a horrific bridge collapse, or perhaps a harbinger of the doom that was soon to come. The mystery remains to this day – as do some of the eerie happenings in the area. (Mothman Attacks) ** 17-year-old Kendrick Johnson was found dead in his high school's gym – but the circumstances of his death have brought more questions than answers. Was Kendrick's death a tragic accident – or cold-blooded murder? (The Mysterious Death of Kendrick Johnson)CHAPTERS & TIME STAMPS (All Times Approximate)…00:00:00.000 = Show Open00:01:56.519 = Mothman Attacks00:12:50.814 = The Mysterious Death of Kendrick Johnson ***00:32:56.273 = Unsolved Mystery of Jerrilyn Mullins ***00:44:05.678 = The King James Book of Demonology ***00:54:07.021 = Show Close*** = Begins immediately after inserted ad breakLISTEN ON PODCAST APPS: Look for this podcast on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, iHeart Radio, Amazon Music, Pandora, TuneIn Radio, and other podcast apps. Get a list of free listening apps here: https://weirddarkness.com/wdapps*No AI Voices Are Used In The Narration Of This Podcast*SOURCES and RESOURCES:“The Mysterious Death of Kendrick Johnson” from The Scare Chamber: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/dkuavkb3“The King James Book of Demonology” by Jacob Shelton for Graveyard Shift: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/34vaad3z“Mothman Attacks” by Troy Taylor: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/5ac64hhn“The Unsolved Mystery of Jerrilyn Mullins” by Troy Taylor: https://weirddarkness.tiny.us/224xc2w7(Over time links may become invalid, disappear, or have different content. I always make sure to give authors credit for the material I use whenever possible. If I somehow overlooked doing so for a story, or if a credit is incorrect, please let me know and I will rectify it in these show notes immediately. Some links included above may benefit me financially through qualifying purchases.)WeirdDarkness® is a registered trademark. Copyright ©2026, Weird Darkness.Originally aired: November 15, 2021This episode of Weird Darkness, hosted by Darren Marlar, moves from a winged cryptid haunting a West Virginia river town to a Georgia teenager found dead inside a rolled wrestling mat, a Minnesota newlywed who vanished from a restaurant parking lot, and a king of England who wrote a manual on demons.It opens with the Mothman, first reported on November 15, 1966, when two young married couples driving past an abandoned World War II TNT plant near Point Pleasant, West Virginia, spotted a six- or seven-foot gray figure with folded wings and glowing red eyes that rose into the air and pursued their car down Highway 62 at over 100 miles per hour. That same night, contractor Newell Partridge of Salem watched his television fill with a strange pattern before his dog Bandit chased two red eyes toward the hay barn and disappeared forever, and the next day Roger Scarberry described passing a large dog's body near the city limits that was gone minutes later. Over the following year roughly 100 people, including Marcella Bennett, reported the creature alongside UFO sightings and men in black, and on December 15, 1967, the 700-foot Silver Bridge linking Point Pleasant to Ohio collapsed during rush hour and killed 46 people, cementing the belief that the Mothman had been a harbinger of the disaster.From there the episode turns to Kendrick Johnson, the 17-year-old three-sport athlete found dead on January 11, 2013, stuffed head-down inside a rolled wrestling mat in the old gym at Lowndes High School in Valdosta, Georgia. Investigators ruled the death an accidental positional asphyxia, theorizing the boy fell in reaching for a shoe, but his 19-inch shoulders could not fit through the mat's 14-inch opening, an hour of footage from all four gym cameras was missing and altered, and his organs were found removed and replaced with newspaper. A second and third autopsy revealed blunt force trauma to his neck and right chest, a fabricated confession recording sold to his family for $1,000 was exposed as a hoax by Sheriff Ashley Paulk, and the case, which once entangled FBI agent Randy Bell's sons Brandon and Brian Bell, was officially reopened on March 10, 2021.Vanishing from a restaurant parking lot is what happened next to Jerrilyn Mullins, a 28-year-old Oakdale, Minnesota, newlywed who left the dinner table at a Chi Chi's in Richfield around 9:00 p.m. on November 15, 1978, and was last seen by her husband's coworker Patrick Melbourne, who said he drove her 22 miles back to a Howard Johnson's and left her there. Her decomposed body surfaced in a Lake Elmo swamp on June 30, 1979, identified through dental records and jewelry, with two autopsies unable to determine a cause of death though her stomach contents placed her killing within an hour of leaving the restaurant. Melbourne, who carried a long record of sexual assault allegations and was later convicted of crimes against a 10-year-old girl, remained the prime suspect; husband Ron Mullins lost a 1989 wrongful-death civil suit for lack of evidence, and the Washington County case stayed unsolved when Melbourne died in 2015.The episode closes with King James VI and I, who returned from a 1589 trip to Denmark obsessed with witchcraft and published Daemonologie in 1597, the only treatise of its kind written by a reigning monarch. In its pages he catalogued the signs of demonic possession, describing superhuman strength exceeding six men, iron-hard skin that could not be pierced, and victims speaking languages they never learned, while arguing that demons inhabit the corpses of the pious and that only prayer and fasting, not Catholic ritual, could repel them. He acknowledged werewolves as men suffering an excess of melancholy rather than cursed creatures, dismissed fairies as illusions sent by the Devil, fixed the ratio of female to male witches at 20 to 1 by reasoning that women were more easily deceived as Eve had been, and produced a work that fueled the European and colonial witch hunts and shaped the weird sisters of William Shakespeare's Macbeth.

In this follow-up to their discussion of the Parable of the Ten Virgins, Jesse and Tony make a critical discovery about Matthew 25:13 that fundamentally changes how we should read Christ's eschatological parables. The command to "watch therefore" isn't primarily about staying awake—it's about preparedness for Christ's return. This episode explores the grammatical and theological connections between the Parable of the Ten Virgins and the Parable of the Talents, revealing how Matthew 25:13 functions as a hinge verse that binds these parables into a unified teaching on eschatological readiness. The hosts demonstrate how modern chapter divisions and translation choices can sometimes obscure the organic flow of Christ's teaching, and why understanding these connections matters for Christian living today. Key Takeaways Matthew 25:13 is a hinge verse, not an endpoint. The Greek grammatical structure (using post-positive connectors "therefore" and "for") links verses 1-13 forward to the Parable of the Talents, not just backward to the Ten Virgins. Sleep wasn't the problem in the parable. Both the wise and foolish virgins fell asleep. The issue was preparedness—having oil ready before the bridegroom's arrival, not staying physically awake. "Watch" means preparedness, not wakefulness. The better translation of the Greek word emphasizes alert readiness and preparation rather than literal sleeplessness. The Parable of the Talents explains what preparedness looks like. Christ intentionally connected these parables to show that watchfulness manifests in faithful stewardship and fruitful living. Christ himself made these connections. This isn't just Matthew's editorial arrangement—Jesus deliberately taught these parables together as a unified discourse on eschatological readiness. Sanctifying grace is non-transferable. The wise virgins couldn't share their oil because saving grace and the Spirit's indwelling cannot be borrowed or transferred between people. Eschatological ignorance is divinely ordained. Not knowing the day or hour prevents us from delaying obedience until the last moment, which was precisely the foolish virgins' error. Key Concepts The Grammatical Evidence for Connection The discovery that transformed this discussion centers on how Greek post-positive particles function. Both "therefore" (οὖν) in verse 13 and "for" (γάρ) in verse 14 cannot grammatically stand as the first word in a Greek sentence—they must connect to what precedes them. This means verse 13 isn't simply concluding the parable of the virgins; it's simultaneously introducing the parable of the talents. English translations that insert paragraph breaks between these verses may inadvertently suggest a harder separation than exists in the original text. When Christ says "watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour, for it will be like a man going on a journey," He's creating a seamless logical progression: the reason for watchfulness is eschatological uncertainty, and the nature of that watchfulness is illustrated by what follows in the talents parable. Preparedness vs. Wakefulness in Translation Some English translations render Matthew 25:13 as "stay awake" or "keep alert," emphasizing the sleep imagery from the preceding parable. However, this creates a logical problem: if falling asleep was the sin, then both groups of virgins sinned, since the text explicitly states "they all became drowsy and slept" (v. 5). The better understanding recognizes that the Greek word (γρηγορέω) encompasses a broader semantic range including vigilance, preparedness, and readiness—not just physical wakefulness. The wise virgins weren't praised for staying awake; they were praised for having secured oil before the bridegroom's arrival. This preparedness enabled them to respond appropriately when the moment came, regardless of whether they had been sleeping. Translating with an emphasis on sleep therefore misses Christ's point and artificially seals verse 13 off from the explanation that follows. The Perseverance of the Saints in Action This parable sequence reveals an often-overlooked dimension of the doctrine of perseverance: believers must actually do the persevering. While the Holy Spirit enables, empowers, and ordains our perseverance, He doesn't persevere instead of us—He causes us to persevere. The wise virgins' preparedness wasn't passive; they actively obtained oil before it was needed. They prepared for both the bridegroom's arrival and the potential delay. This illustrates that Christian preparedness isn't anxious vigilance or frantic last-minute effort, but the steady, Spirit-enabled work of sanctification, growing in grace, abiding in Christ, and maintaining readiness over the long haul. The Parable of the Talents then unpacks what this looks like practically: faithful stewardship, productive kingdom work, and diligent use of what God has entrusted to us during the time of waiting. Memorable Quotes The difference between foolishness and wisdom in the first parable is not whether or not the virgins fell asleep. It's whether or not they were prepared for the eventual coming of the bridegroom. - Tony Arsenal When God's people take to see and request his eminent and transcendent power in the lives of somebody else through intercessory prayer, a special bond is created that is very real. - Jesse Schwamb Christ himself has strung these different parables together... Christ was the one who decided that the parable of the talents was a proper explainer for the parable of the wise and foolish virgins. - Tony Arsenal Full Transcript [00:00:08] Jesse Schwamb: Welcome to episode 495 of the Reformed to Brotherhood. I'm Jesse.  [00:00:14] Tony Arsenal: And I'm Tony. And this is the podcast with ears to hear. Hey brother.  [00:00:18] Jesse Schwamb: Hey brother. So sometimes the episodes just seem to write themselves, and I say that of course, tongue in cheek from my full providential register. But in the last episode, we went over with great detail, the parable of the 10 virgins, or the 10 bridesmaids found in Matthew 25. And I think we did all the things that we were supposed to do, like contractually. We made really good oil puns. We talked about Petras song, midnight Oil. We talked about 10 bridesmaids, five Ys, five foolish. They're all waiting for the bridegroom who is late because he operates on divine timing. The foolish five run out of oil and begged the five whys to share theirs. The five whys decline, because sanctifying grace is non-transferrable. This is not a potluck. We went through all of that stuff and then what happened is we turned off the microphones and somehow you and I started a, a new conversation about this thing still. And we thought there's more to say and we didn't even expect it. And incidentally, it all hinges on a single word. Yeah. So we're gonna come back to that on this episode because we couldn't help ourselves. And I say that because we couldn't help ourselves. We literally kept talking about this long after the episode had ended. So we wanted to bring it back and it's something new. I think that you and I were really pondering that's gonna be really, really, really good. Yeah. But the other thing that's really good is either affirming with something or denying against something that's the part of the conversation where we either affirm with something that we think is underrated, really exceptional, that we wanna recommend or we deny against something that's just not that great. So Tony, what have you got for us today?  [00:02:04] Tony Arsenal: I'm gonna phrase this in a very particular way, of course, and then I'll explain why I'm phrasing it that way. I'm starting. Great. Um, I am affirming adult baptism upon a profession of faith, and I say it in that particular way. Sure, of course. Um, because I often hear, and I've heard, I mean, I've heard Presbyterian pastors say this, um, I've heard, heard it said that Presbyterians do cradle baptism too. And, uh, and sort of like, sometimes it's kind of in like a, I'm trying to like build a bridge with a, a cradle Baptist. Sure. Um, I actually object to that because the, the basis on which an adult is baptized in a Westminster covenant theology framework is different than the basis, uh, on which a believer is baptized under a traditional Baptist credo, Baptist position. Right. So I'm affirming adult. Profession of faith, baptism or adult baptism upon a profession of faith. Um, and the reason I'm saying that is because my wife and I had this opportunity this morning to go to another church to visit, uh, a friend of ours. It's actually a friend of our son's, which is crazy to say. He's four years old. A friend of our son's from school, his mother, um, who is a Christian, um, but had never been baptized, was being baptized at her church today. And so we got an opportunity to go to their church. It's a church we've been to before. It was not like a brand new church or any, like, super far away. It's a church we've been to before. Um, so we got to go to church and then we went over to the local sort of like swimming hole. Uh, like there's this little, uh, like recreational area called stores pond, I'm sure. Just I know you're familiar with it. Oh,  [00:03:38] Jesse Schwamb: yeah.  [00:03:39] Tony Arsenal: Um, and they did sort of like a testimony ceremony and, uh, all of the baptizes, I don't know if that's the right word, but all of those being baptized. Uh, I would normally call them catechumens, but I don't think that actually that applies here. But all of those being baptized, uh, got up and gave their testimony. There was eight people being baptized, which was fun to see. Um, of course all adults. This is a Baptist, um, a Baptist church that we were visiting. And then we walked over to the, over to the lake and they dunked him in there. And, uh, it was really great to see. And the reason that I'm affirming adult baptism upon a profession of faith, um, uh, is because it's really quite beautiful, right? I think we've, we just recently talked about this, um, and I'm sure we'll talk about it again at some point in the future, but we just recently talked about a baby baptism at my church that, uh, is beautiful in its own right for its own reasons, and it's got its own theological, uh, underpinnings and theological elegance to it. But there's also something just very beautiful about an adult who either has come to faith, um, and I don't, I don't know, um, this woman very well, like I, she's another mom at, um, at Agie school. And so our kids go to school together and so we interact with her periodically at like drop off and other times and they've been over to the house. I don't know her, well, I heard enough of her testimony today to know that she was kind of a nominal Christian. Uh, and they actually started going to church because in order to bring their son to the school that, um, they wanted to go to, which is, uh, the school that my son goes to, the school that your father teaches at, um. You have to have at least one parent needs to be a Christian, needs to be a regular attender, a regular member of a church. And so they, they joined a church, um, to be able to fulfill that requirement. And either, and, and again, I wasn't, I was watching the kids, um, including her son while she was doing this. So I was only kind of hearing with one ear. So either she was a nominal Christian and was kind of like renewing her faith or she was coming to faith for the first time. I'm not sure. But in either case, she had not been baptized previously that I know of. I didn't, I mean, I guess maybe she was baptized as a baby or something, I don't know. But, um, she was being baptized today upon a sort of a new profession of faith or renewal of faith, and it's just very sweet to see. The emotional investment that occurs when someone is recognizing that God's promise is being sealed on them. Right. And I don't know that, I don't know that a lot of traditional Baptist, and this is a pretty like plain Jane Evangelical church. I'm not sure that a lot of evangelicals would really recognize or use that language. But I also think there's an intuitiveness to it that like this is a sign that God gives us. It's gotta be a sign of something. Right. Um, it's not, this was a church that brought sort of broadly Calvinistic part, the baptism of house was actually adopted or adapted from, uh, a modification of question, one of the Heidelberg catechism. So I warned my Presbyterian heart, um. So they're in a context where like covenantal language is not foreign to them, even if it's not the primary structure that they're using. But it was just very sweet and kind and a, a really encouraging, uh, opportunity for the body of Christ to gather. Uh, it was a little bit chilly. It was raining actually, and people, anybody, like everybody was out there and, and in the rain, most people didn't have umbrellas. And you know, people's hair is wet and their clothes are getting wet and nobody cares. Nobody is bothered by it because there is some baptism going on. There's some, uh, some new birth in a roundabout sense and some yes, uh, some, some signification of that new birth in a very direct sense. So that's what I'm affirming today. Adult baptism upon a profession of faith, uh, with an asterisk in a covenantal mode. That's, that's my very specific, very technical affirmation today.  [00:07:19] Jesse Schwamb: There's also something about that's just special. Again, it's not prescriptive, but there's something special about those open water baptisms too. Oh  [00:07:27] Tony Arsenal: yeah.  [00:07:28] Jesse Schwamb: I mean,  [00:07:29] Tony Arsenal: yeah, it was like super picturesque. It was like, I felt like I was on the Jordan with Town of Baptist, like the, like, it was like a, that classic like Baptist minister standing in the water, like it was very right. Very, uh, it looked staged, but I don't think it was, I think it just was actually this, that genuine scenario. [00:07:44] Jesse Schwamb: Right. So, yeah. Yeah. And that's like a beautiful thing. Like we're saying, oh, we're not trying to get into the particulars. It's just to appreciate, I think all of those details. I myself was baptized by my father in a pond and it was glorious. That was, that was special. And there was something about the occasion and the environment as well that was special to me in that. But you're right, like in that Baptist mode, I, I think when it's like properly administered, when it's really appreciated and the theology is rich and richly exemplified in what's happening there to, it's hard not to be moved, I think in the Christian heart, not to be warned by seeing somebody go down into the water to come up into this representation of new life in Christ. I think regardless of your convictions on this, it's hard not to be moved by the power of the spirits.  [00:08:25] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:08:26] Jesse Schwamb: And the sign and seal being delivered to God's people. In a profound way. So whether you're a Pado or Cradle Baptist, I think it really is difficult not to be moved. And especially in an environment like that, you love to see it, right? I mean, this idea of of, um, being able to come to the Lord because he's called you and whatever season of life that is, and then to follow an obedience into baptism is a glorious thing that we should all celebrate. So I love this idea of people on a chilly day in New Hampshire standing in the rain saying, give us the baptism. Like let, let us see the Holy Spirits working through the lives of the people in our midst. Let, we wanna be a part of that. We wanna celebrate that we're here for that.  [00:09:07] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. It was just a, it was just a very, very sweet, like, I, like I said with, when we were talking about the, the baby baptism at my church, it's, there's just a, there's a sweetness to it. It's, yes. It's almost like, um, I've never been present for the birth of someone's child other than my own. Um, I've been at the hospital, uh, so meeting the family and the, the baby like very shortly after birth, but I've never been actually there. But there's something reminiscent to that, whether it's a baby being baptized or an adult being baptized where it's, it's just this sort of sweet moment of introduction to yes, this person with, um. To varying degrees depending on the theology, underlying baptism. But this person with a very real new identity that they have been given, yes, it's, it's, the old has gone, the new has come new creation in Christ. Um, whether, you know, I, I don't affirm baptism or regeneration, right? That's not a reformed position. But whether you have a, a position of some form of baptismal regeneration or baptismal efficacy, which is where kind of the, the reform tradition tends to fall, or even just, uh, I say just, I don't mean just in a peor sense, but like, even if, if what's going on is, is entirely a symbol that you know, is being applied to a person, there is a new sense of identity. There's a, there's a, a mark, a, a physical mark that it isn't persistent like circumcision, but it's a physical mark being applied, a visible mark being applied to, to the person claiming them as God's child. Um, and, and there's something very sweet and genuine. And, and to see, like, just to see, like I said, the, just the emotionality. And not a crass like emotionalism, but a genuine, heartfelt, emotional moment that someone is going through like a real, genuine emotion, um, is also not something we actually see that much in the world anymore, which is, it was nice to see. Anyway, I could, I could blather on about baptism and, and adult baptism and baby baptism and how great it is. Uh, God knew what he was doing and he, he gave us this beautiful symbol. So next time you have an opportunity to experience a adult baptism upon a profession of faith in a covenantal mode, uh, than you make sure you take advantage of that.  [00:11:14] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. You know what it's like for me and certainly I, baptism is way more profound, uh, than this example I'm about to give. But there's something within me that feels similarly or appreciates in a similar way when you're participating or just viewing a wedding. Yeah. Isn't there? There's that new identity. There's the vows and the covenants being made and promises being given and that that's just like a really meaningful, profound thing. And then like, you know, a thousand times, a million times, that is to participate or to witness again, baptism. And in my own church, which is Cradle Baptist, the one I attend, baptism, I'll say it this way in like this most trite way again, is like a super big deal. And one of the things I really appreciate is when that person, after they've given their testimony and they've gone down into the water and they come back up, our congregation goes like wild. Like just wild in celebration. Yeah. And at first I was like, wow, this. This seems like too much. Guys, can we take, can we take it down now? Just the Lord's day after all. And then I was with you in the sense of like, really, it's like we, you and I have talked so much about like the, the way in which you're trying to sometimes manufacture or theologians try to bring in some sense of emotionalism to kind of convey some kind of like, really, so I can demonstrate that I have a heartfelt and genuine commitment and love for God and Christ and you know, we can leave that as it is right now. Here is a place where I think that celebration is like just wholly and totally appropriate.  [00:12:36] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:12:36] Jesse Schwamb: And so I love that there's genuine enthusiasm and excitement over those things. And you're genuinely gonna get that more in the kind of traditional Baptist mode of this thing. I'm just saying celebrate where you celebrate, you know, get in where you fit in. Yeah. And so I think that your admonishment to us and affirmation there is really good. Um, totally about that. And all the better if you can do it in a, on a rainy day in a pond in New Hampshire. That sounds like a glorious spot.  [00:13:02] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, it's, it was interesting. It was good. It was a good time. Jesse, what do you got for us tonight? [00:13:07] Jesse Schwamb: I'm also gonna go affirmation, and I think we can file this one for me, under seeing the power of God in his, that power demonstrated in his transcendence and in his eminence. All our timing is gonna be off on this, but there's a certain compulsion I have to report back to everybody. And that reporting is really on my wife who did undergo some surgery this week. And I'm about to say a bunch of things medically so you can, I mean, there's nothing in here like grotesque, but I say that because somebody might be like, wow, you're seeing a lot of personal things. I have her permission to share all this. But of course some of you may remember, she spoke on the podcast, I dunno, like a half dozen episodes ago. Go back and listen to that. She talks about her medical journey, but she just had this big surgery. And here's the reason why I want to report back. I sense that when God's people take to see and request his eminent and transcendent power in the lives of somebody else through intercessory prayer, that like a special bond is created that is very real. So I think when somebody comes to their brothers and sisters and says. Would you pray for us? Would you pray for me? That's not just an act. I think of vulnerability. It's one of of truly seeking after what God desires for his people to help and to intercede for one another. And there's something special about that. And then equally special, and I think binding is when people say, yes, I will pray. And they make themselves committed to doing that. When that relationship is established, what I think is like mutual accountability, mutual yielding to one another, mutual submission. The lovely thing about that is I think there ought to be a reporting back. I really feel highly convicted about that because so many people, including those in the from Brotherhood hanging out in the Telegram, TT Me Reform Brotherhood, they have prayed for us. My church has prayed, my parents have prayed. You have prayed. So many people have prayed. And so my wife did go undergo an 11 hour surgery just two days ago. And uh, I can say that that surgery, the doctors, the three surgeons who are working as part of this interdisciplinary team, this multifactorial, multidisciplinary team, were able to accomplish everything that they wanted to do, which was a wild accomplishment. And it was more intense than they thought it was going to be. But I can say to you very, very clearly, very cogently that, uh, God was in the midst of all of these things in a mighty and powerful way. Now, I know people are prone to say that kind of thing. I'm saying it because it was all exceptionally real. Not only as I sat there waiting for the next updates in the waiting room, did I really sense a peace of God that I haven't felt before, even in all of my wife's previous surgeries, when this was the most uncertain, this was the biggest, the highest risk that was all real. But at the very end, and I'll, I'll spare a lot of the details, uh, but at the very, very end when the surgeon reported back to me all the things that they did, which included having to take out a portion of her bowel and stitch it back together again, because she had some endometriosis that had embedded itself in there and that was unknown to them. You can't see that stuff in an MRI and yet God ordained that the right surgeon, the right preparation would be in the room and ready to go if something like that occurred and it did. That she had a full hysterectomy, which we were praying that it would be lack laparoscopic because they were concerned they would not be able to do it that way. And God answered that prayer that she needed to have her ureter, the thing that connects your kidney to your bladder, that also was filled with endometriosis. It had to be resectioned and repaired. And it was that the end of all of this, what the main doctor kept saying to me was, we wanted to put your wife in a position where her anatomy would determine the outcome and that you would have all of the skilled persons in the room to provide the best care, the best expertise possible. And what he said to me at the end is, it's strange things just kept breaking her way. And I said, well, I can tell you why that is. That's because God was answering the prayers of so many people who are praying for her. And so I'm so thankful for everybody who's prayed. She's in a critical time of healing right now. Our prayers now are turning to just that God would solidify the work that he has already accomplished, that there'd be no complications, that all the things that they did, and they did a lot of things. The surgeon in fact said to me at the end, it's gonna feel like she got hit by a truck. And that's actually not a bad description of what we did to her. And so the next days are the ones where we're really pleading for God to do this kind of miraculous healing that he started by providing all the things that he's, he's already done. I, as a husband, cannot be more thankful, more grateful, without words for everybody who has prayed. Uh, for my parents, for you guys, Tony, for all of our friends who reached out for so many people, I've realized I have a part-time job now just answering text messages, uh, on behalf of my wife for those who desperately are loving her through prayer. And again, I think I'd affirmed before. I'll say this very quickly, about the elders praying over her. About what a sweet time that was. Not only did that happen, but uh, unbeknownst to me until a little bit later on in that day did I learn that a bunch of women in the church had taken it upon themselves to schedule an 11 hour block where there was gonna be somebody praying every hour for my wife. And, um. Man, if, if, if this is not what the family of God does for one another, I don't know what they do.  [00:18:35] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:18:35] Jesse Schwamb: So I'm so grateful. Thank you for everybody who has prayed. I also don't want to testify. That's the power of God and his eminence. And his transcendence is just unreal loved ones. It's unreal, it's otherworldly and he comes in power when his people pray. He does good work and it's very James one. There's a lot that even as I'm worried now about the outcome of this surgery and how it will play out, that I can still somehow truly count it all joy, because it is God who does these things in our lives to test and to prove out our faith and our love towards him, because he's in fact good. And I'm just testifying to that goodness in the midst of this difficulty. So wherever you are at. For whatever it's worth. And I think it's worth a lot. God is faithful. He will do the work that he began, and he will meet us when we need him, where we are at in his loving kindness because of his great mercy. So be encouraged by that. And again, my sincere gratitude.  [00:19:36] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. I don't, I don't have much that I can add to that. I mean, I, I, I think, um, prayer is an undervalued commodity in the church.  [00:19:48] Jesse Schwamb: Yes.  [00:19:49] Tony Arsenal: And. As good and right as it is for us, uh, to pray when there's some big, um, big need like this. Um, and, and there's no, there's no, uh, dishonor or shame in asking for prayer in the big situations. I think sometimes too, like we forget that prayer is just as vital and just as important and just as powerful and just as meaningful and just as everything in the small things. Amen. Um, and, and I also think, you know, sometimes we, maybe this is just me, but like sometimes we go into, we go into a, a scenario like what you and your wife are going in and we sort of like prepare ourselves for. The hard providence to come. Like, I don't know if, if that's where you've been at, but I know when I'm facing things like this, um, I'm, I'm kind of like asking people to pray, expecting God to bring the hard providence.  [00:20:43] Jesse Schwamb: Yes.  [00:20:44] Tony Arsenal: Um, and maybe that's just a coping mechanism to sort of like get out in front of it in case he does. Um, but like that God, God doesn't, uh, how do I wanna say this? I don't think that God takes any particular joy in bringing the par, the hard providences. Mm-hmm. And I actually think he does take a particular joy in answering the prayers of his people unto good effect. Um, I think there's a particular joy that God brings when he, God has in his own divine accommodated, anthropo, pathic way, um, when he can make sure that everything just breaks the right way for his children. Right. In a really difficult, complex, long surgery. Um, and all of the butterfly effect elements of, of how all of those different things are gonna, you know, spread out. Right. I don't know if this surgeon's gonna come to faith because you attributed his success in this surgery to, you know, to, to God. I don't know. Maybe, maybe not. Um, but, but either way, there are a thousand, a million imperceptible little ways that God's providence flows out of these kinds of situations that we will never know. Um, and he, he takes great joy in answering the prayers of his people and. Yes, it's true that when God, when we ask God for bread, he does not give us a stone even when he gives us the hard providences, right? The hard providences are not a stone, but he likes to give us really good bread.  [00:22:10] Jesse Schwamb: Amen.  [00:22:10] Tony Arsenal: And I think at times, um, we, we sort of almost doubt that he is able and willing and joyful to do so. So that's more, I think, more a reminder for me than it is for anyone else. 'cause I, I have a tendency to prep myself for the hard providences, um, before they come and, and pray to that effect that God would comfort me in the midst of whatever trials is coming. Um, maybe I need to show a little bit more faith in a good God who gives good gifts, um, to pray and thank him in advance for the good providence is the, the easier the soft providence is that he has in store for his people as well.  [00:22:46] Jesse Schwamb: Well, I think we all need that reminder from time to time and I, again, I like where you've taken that. It is a good reminder to pray for the people that you love around you all the time, or just ask. What's something that you would like some prayer for, especially maybe something that you can't pray for yourselves through this time? I can't tell you how many times somebody has asked to pray with me or for me, and they pray in ways that just astound me. I dunno if that makes sense. Yeah. Like just, I get off the phone and I think, well, that was spirit filled because I didn't know that I needed to hear those words. I didn't know exactly like what needed to be stitched together in terms of the requests that would really minister to my heart and provide me encouragement. But course the Lord knows, and even in prayer as you're saying, he's giving that good gift to each other.  [00:23:35] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:23:35] Jesse Schwamb: When we pray with one another, when we pray for one another, it's just a remarkable thing that I fail to understand and I definitely fail to appreciate. So in this season of being able to see it very clearly as if like the clouds. Parted and I could see some of this power of prayer and what God does in prayer, what God does to us in the prayer of others. I can't help but testify again. I feel it is my duty to do so, actually. So be encouraged, loved ones that this is a powerful weapon that God gives us. I think you and I have said before, Tony, maybe we can also partly this into like another reform. A brotherhood bumper sticker. I said another, like, we have bumper stickers. We don't, we definitely should. At some point  [00:24:17] Tony Arsenal: we do have at least one cross stitch pillow floating around out there  [00:24:20] Jesse Schwamb: somewhere. That's true. Yes. We need to get our hands on that. And maybe here's something else we could add to it, which is of course, when, when we work, we work, but when we pray, God works. And so I've just been reminded of that over and over and over again. The situation, like you said in the big times and the small times, what a blessing, what God is like this, who cares. Who again, is what I've been thinking about is how high and lifted and transcendent God is, so that like he's not moved in, uh, in a dis, like a passionate way by this nonsense of our world. He's steady and steadfast. You know, Isaiah 26, like our God is an everlasting rock, and yet he's eminent in sending his son to identify with the kind of pain even my wife is in right now. In her time of trial and struggle. He is there and yet separated and so powerful that he orchestrates all the details himself. I mean, what God is like this.  [00:25:11] Tony Arsenal: Yeah.  [00:25:11] Jesse Schwamb: So this is the one to whom we get to bend his ear, as it were, and we'll avail ourselves of that opportunity. Always. You're gonna have to stop it, Tony. Otherwise, I'm, this whole episode is just gonna be me talking about, which would not be bad, I suppose, but me talking about how good our God is, I suppose we can talk about that actually in the context of Matthew 25. [00:25:30] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. You better watch yourself before you wreck yourself. Is that how it goes? But I did that, that took a month off of podcasting. I forgot how to do transitions. Not that we were ever great at transitions. It's just slamming into gear  [00:25:43] Jesse Schwamb: now. That loved one's a segue that you, you don't even know about yet. You didn't even get it. So let me help you try to get it. 'cause I, I wanna do this quickly, but of course it's always the best part of our conversations where we can get to the scripture. Let me read just the first, uh, 13 verses Matthew 25, and I'm gonna read them from the version that I read on the last episode because part of the fun of this conversation that Tony I had had subsequently was, do you remember what you said to me, Tony, about, about the, this, I don't wanna say the word yet, but this word. [00:26:10] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. I, what I remember is, um, feeling confused because I, I said, I thought this was like a Mandela effect kind of thing. Yes. We might have to, I'll explain briefly what that is in that I could have swore this word was in the, in the Bible. Like I was, it was so ingrained in my head that this was there. And then I'm trying to find it in my, my version that I'm bringing in. It's not there. And the obvious answer is it actually was there in the version that Jesse was reading and is there in many translations. Um, so we'll, we'll read the translation, uh, Jesse read, and then we'll talk about why not only why this is, uh, important in the light of our last conversation, but actually how it's important in light of what will likely now be the beginning of our conversation on the next parable, and in the next week or maybe two of, of the discussion of the parable of the talents here, or one of the parable and talents. [00:26:57] Jesse Schwamb: So this is Matthew 25, beginning in verse one. Then the kingdom of heaven may be compared to 10 virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the body groom. Now five of them were foolish and five are prudent. For when the foolish took their lamps, they took no oil with them, but the prudent took oil in flasks along with their lamps. Now, while the bridegroom was delaying, they all got drowsy and began to sleep. But at midnight there was a shout. Behold the bridegroom come out to meet him. Then all those virgins rose and trimmed their lamps. And the foolish said to the prudent, give us some of your oil for our lamps are going out. But the prudent answered saying, no, there will not be enough for us. And you go to and instead to the dealers and buy some for yourselves. And while they were going away to make the purchase, the bridegroom came and those who were ready went in with him to the wedding feast and the door was shut. And later the other virgins also came saying, Lord, Lord, open for us. But he answered and said, truly, I say to you, I do not know you. Therefore, stay awake for you. Do not know the day nor the hour.  [00:28:02] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. So the part of this, uh, passage that I was having, like a brain cramp on and couldn't figure out is actually verse 13 and, um. The reason this is important and ties in, and this is part of why Jesse and I after we sort of had like a second, the beginning of a second episode, following the last episode, um, wanted to come back, is that this, this verse in verse 13 actually makes, um, in effect it makes the second parable that we're gonna talk about the parable of the talent here. It actually makes that parable like an extension of the first one or maybe an explanation of the first one, or further clarification. I'm not sure. It, it links the two together in a way that's really significant. So we need to make sure we really understand. Verse 13, and I'm gonna read verse 13 in my translation to demonstrate kind of where I think the, the question starts and says, watch therefore for, you know, neither the day nor the hour. And what Jesse and I kind of like marveled at is, um, the word for watch, uh, it's actually the same word we get the name Gregory, for, uh, from, um, the, the idea of being wakeful or alert or not falling asleep. That's that's there in the word. Um, and, and I don't think it's a bad translation. I don't. I always, um, wanna be really hesitant to sort of like make an argument that you wanna like build an entire theological point on a translation or a mistranslation. I think those are really shaky arguments, and even more than that, I don't ever wanna make an argument that makes it so people feel like they can't trust their English bibles. So the, the difference between the version that Jesse read with, you know, statements of being awake or stay awake or be alert versus watch, or more generalized alertness language, which is I think probably a better, not, not that the other one's bad, but this is probably a better translation. And it's a translation decision that's trying to connect that verb back to something that was said about the virgins. Right, right. The, the virgins, um, and this is, this is where our conversation went, is actually the, the sort of like real time epiphany that Jesse and I had, maybe I just had Jesse new, the, the sort of like real time epiphany that both, both groups of virgins fell asleep. Right. And so being asleep is not the necessary, it's not the thing that makes the virgins foolish.  [00:30:35] Jesse Schwamb: Exactly.  [00:30:36] Tony Arsenal: The, the translation, I think, I mean, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, not like a mind reader and I haven't read anything from the translation committees that explain that this is why they did it. But I'm, I'm, I think it's reasonable to think they translated in light of that wakefulness element of being alert because of the fact that the virgins fell asleep and they were sort of caught off guard when the bridegroom came. But the reason I think that's an over translation is exactly the dynamic we pointed out last week, falling asleep was not the problem,  [00:31:04] Jesse Schwamb: right?  [00:31:05] Tony Arsenal: What was, what was the problem was not being prepared. And so this concept of watch, therefore is more, I think is more about preparedness because of the fact that the parable is about preparedness, not about wakefulness. So when we wanna think about translations, yes, verse 13 comes after verses one through 12, but there's this little word therefore that connects this one with the next one, right? And so it's watch therefore for, you know, neither the day nor the hour. If that was the end of, end of the book of Matthew, right, right there, then that therefore would be like, because of what I just said, watch for, you neither know the day nor the hour, you know, neither the day nor the hour. But then in verse 14, it starts with four. It will be like a man going on a journey who called his servant and entrusted them through his property. That word for, that's another connecting logic word. So it's watch therefore, so like, because of what I just said, be alert, watch, be wakeful, be mindful, be prepared for, you know, neither the day or the hour. Four, because it will be like a man going on a journey, right? The reason you have to watch is partially, or the reason you have to watch is that you will neither know the day nor the hour. And the reason you will neither know the day nor the hour is because it will be like a man who's going on a journey called his servants and entrusted them to his property, right? So these two parables are connected and we have to sort of like understand what that watch word means and how it relates to the previous parable to understand now what it is that the next parable is trying to say and how the two relate to each other.  [00:32:45] Jesse Schwamb: I think that's right. It's like you said before, we talked about last time, it's not that sleep was the problem. That's not where the condemn nation comes in. It's merely that sleep revealed the lack of preparedness. Right. Like I suppose if you wanted to change it up, you could be like, and then they all played Uno for a while and the lambs were going strong and then suddenly the bride coon came out and it was like, okay, well it was the fact that all the lamps were still burning. Yeah. But as they were still burning and that time was passing and the bridegroom delayed, providentially, then it was only those imbued with that grace who already I prepared for that moment in time. Not that they were all playing Uno itself. So, which, which I know this is like my own translation, which is horrible, but. It is important if somebody thinks like we're overworking this.  [00:33:26] Tony Arsenal: Right?  [00:33:26] Jesse Schwamb: It's important, I think, because it, it's gonna set up the next stuff, which we're gonna get to, uh, I presume in the next episode. But this verse is, is like a, is like kind of like the keystone. It's, it constitutes like the entire moral conclusion of both this parable, but the other two that are just like it, that come before it in different ways. And of course it's like structurally parallel to a bunch of like mark and stuff that we may or may not get to. And then it echoes like the broader, all that discourse as well. So I was just looking up quickly, mark 13, in other words like where do we hear this same type of language? Where does it almost rhyme in our minds? And so if you go over just to mark 1333, and this is the parable of the fig tree. So we won't get into that there, but you'll see kind of like the same conclusion, the same, I kind of high and lifted point at the end. And this is where Jesus says, see to it, keep on the alert. For you do not know when the appointed time will come. So instead, really what we're getting at is there's all this language about watchfulness, like the, the present imperative in Greek. Keep on watching, be continuously a work, uh, alert, but it's not like watchfulness in this like anxious, vigilant, kind of nervous energy uncertainty, but it's the prepared readiness of one who has oil in the vessel and knows that the bridegroom is coming regardless of whether you fall asleep. [00:34:46] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And again, you know, the, the way that, um, the way that English translations are broken up into paragraphs and into, with headings and editorial content and chapter divisions and verse divisions, um, those things are all helpful and they're all really useful and I'm glad they're there. Uh, they're not inspired though, right? They're not the word of God. The, the, for the little, the little super script 14 before the word four and the little super script 13 before the word watch. Is not, it's not inspired and neither is the little, at least in the version I'm looking at on logs Bible start, neither is the little paragraph break that separates these two. So we, we can equally read and again, like I haven't done a full Greek exo treatment of this and maybe I should to, to know whether there is actually some real specific grammatical reasons why we would break these. There probably is, but we could equally read it saying, but he answered truly I say to you, I do not know you watch therefore for, you know, neither the hour or the day nor the hour. For it will be like a man going on a journey who called his sermon or we could read it, watch therefore for, you know, neither the day nor the hour for it will be like a man going on a journey. Right, right. We can, we can, the way that we read it, we can, we can clump verse 13 with what comes before it and sort of imply a full break or we can clump it with what comes after it and imply a full break before it. In reality, we shouldn't do either of those. Right. This is in, this is linked together in the, the Bible specifically to take these two parables. And pull them together. Right. Thematically, they're the same. They match, they, they have kind of this rhyming nature that like, there's, there's this theme of like, these people who have a specific task and they accomplish it to greater or lesser degree. And the ones who do it, right, the ones who do it well are rewarded in some sense because of their preparedness and their diligence. And again, I, I don't, um, I know that we can't overemphasize this because this is God's word, right? Right. The, the difference between foolishness and wisdom in the first parable is not whether or not the virgins fell asleep. It's, it's whether or not they were prepared for the eventual coming of the bridegroom, meaning that they had everything they need, not only to, um, and this is a, a real time realization I'm having here, not only to be ready when the bridegroom came, but to be prepared for the long haul until he came. Right. I think that's actually probably another big part of this pearl that we didn't even really talk about is that there's a, there's a, um. There's an implied statement here about the, the, um, perseverance of the saints in the fact that the saints have to persevere. Right? That's a corollary of the doctrine, of the perseverance of the saints, is that we actually have to do the persevering, right? Empowered by the spirit. Enabled by the spirit. Ordained by the spirit, of course, but that doesn't mean the spirit is the one who's persevering, right? Right. The spirit is not persevering for us. The spirit is causing us to persevere, but it's still us that he's causing to persevere. That's a major part of that. This next parable and, and we'll read, we'll read the parable here and then we'll get into some of the beginning part. I think this next parable here is really about like what does that perseverance look like? What does that diligence until the master comes, looks like. It's kind of like taking this, this period of time where the bride groom is delaying and the virgins all are becoming drowsy and sleeping. Well, what does that actually look like? What does it look like for the virgins who have gotten the oil ahead of time versus the virgins who waited and then had to go buy it? Well, the parable of the talents in this next passage shows us what it means to be prepared. And part of what it means to be prepared is to be diligently working to advance the kingdom of God diligently working to pursue and excel in righteousness, insofar as it depends on us, and insofar as we're empowered by the Holy Spirit. So these two, these two parables are linked together and um. Maybe we're falling into this trap a little bit, although I think because of the way we're kind of doing these, these passages in sort of organic fashion, rather than really insisting on sort of hermetically sealing off each parable, we have a tendency, I think to say like, this parable is this right? This parable is that. And we don't really ever talk about them unless you're in like a parables of Christ Seminary class or like you're reading a book on the parables of Christ. Um, if you're just sort of looking at popular teaching on parables or you're. Like a sermon series through the parables. I don't think you're gonna run into a lot that's gonna show these connections and relationships between the parables in the way that I think we're, I'm stumbling upon is maybe not right. But that's what it feels like. We're sort of like discovering in real time together that these parables are so organically linked to each other that we really can't seal them off from each other or we do some violence to the text.  [00:39:36] Jesse Schwamb: Right on. Yeah. And speaking of that whole life, whole preparedness, whole watchfulness, John Owen writes, in the mortification of sin, the whole of Christian living may be described as a preparation for eternity, mortifying sin, growing in grace, abiding in Christ, waiting for his appearing, which really strikes me as maybe a summary of like an umbrella of all of these parables of ones that we've just seen most recently and the ones that we're about to go into because. The ground for the watchfulness here is that like legitimate eschatological ignorance. This is like a deliberate, divinely ordained uncertainty. So of course, like knowing the precise moment would just tempt the flesh to delay until the last possible moment, which is precisely the error of the foolish virgins who assume that there was enough time to obtain the oil after that midnight cry. So all of this is happening right now. Like I, I do think this verse is just so critical now. It's like really a weird linchpin. It is like the capstone in a strange way of like the three parable sequence in the olive discourse, which we already talked about, the 10 virgins, the talents, and the sheep and the goats. Because it strikes me as you were speaking, Tony, what was coming to my mind is like each is almost escalating from, as it were, like a watchfulness to like a fruitfulness, to like a final judgment. And each of those are kind of building on each other. In other words, like there is a logical consistency and chronology to those things that Christ is leading us through. And the verse therefore doesn't stand alone. It's like this hinge between the eschatological warning of the virgin narrative and the productive stewardship demanded in the parable of the talents. And I think unless you see that here, it's like saying, listen, the watchful person does this. You know, why should you be watchful because of this example I've just given to you. So within that Oliver discourse, there's the exhortation to watchfulness, which occurs with that striking force. Stay awake, be ready, watch. And of course, I think we're just joining in all the reform exe and the pros who had this instinct of reading those with a unity. Yeah. The whole discourse is like the L, the Lord's own like pastoral Herman Hermeneutic, I guess on like Daniel nine or whatever. So like it is important, and I think it is maybe a bridge that, at least in my mind, I often didn't build or didn't seem necessarily because you're like, well this, this ends one. And the warning is to be watchful. And now here's something else. That's something interesting you should consider. Yeah. But really this is all one and the same, all, all. Maybe one like well like parable to rule all parables, like it's a single parable told in many sequential pieces.  [00:42:06] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Which is something we saw before, right? Yes. And maybe, maybe not to belabor the point and, and again taking, take this in the context of me saying I never want to try to make an argument that you must be able to read Greek in order to profit from the scriptures. [00:42:20] Jesse Schwamb: Sure.  [00:42:20] Tony Arsenal: All of that said, it's very helpful to understand a little bit about how Greek works, even if you don't actually learn Greek. So for example, and here's, I promise you that this is not just me being nerdy about Greek. I'm looking at the ESV and verse 13 says, watch therefore for, you know, neither the day nor the hour. Right? So the, the command comes, uh, before the logical connector that sort of like, is explaining why, right? Because of, because of something. Right? When it's the thing that comes before, maybe it's the thing that comes after, usually it's probably before, but because of this thing, watch therefore for, you know, neither they or the hour, right? And then in verse 14 it says four. It will be like a man going on a journey. This is where I think understanding how Greek works a little bit is important. Both the word therefore and the word for. In Greek, which it's, it's therefore it's un OUN or omega upsilon new un and gar for four. Both of those are what's called post positive, and what that means is that it cannot be the first word in a sentence. So, um, verse 13 is translated very word order, literal watch. Therefore that ma matches the Greek very closely. Verse 14 is not right, right. Verse 14, if you translated it very literally would be like, uh, let's see. Would be. Just as for a man, and I get like, you can hear there, right there, why we don't translate it that way is 'cause it's really awkward, but it's just as for a man, uh, a man went on a journey or a man, um, going on a journey who called his servants. Right. The, the point of what I'm trying to say here though is that that subtle variation in the verb, the command coming first versus this post positive, logical connector coming first, that that sort of like gears your brain towards a certain conclusion. Right? Right. Watch, therefore we, we have a tendency to think like watch connects to the previous one. Right? This verb must connect us to the previous one, where the next one we see four being the beginning of a word, beginning of a sentence. We feel like that's the beginning of a new thought, right? This logical connector at the be very beginning of a sentence is like starting a new thought. The problem with that is, one, it doesn't actually match the Greek word order in both cases. Neither of these is the first word of the sentence, but let's just think of it in as a post positive and say that it should have been the first word of the sentence, but the Greek grammar won't allow it to be.  [00:45:00] Jesse Schwamb: Right.  [00:45:01] Tony Arsenal: That connector in both cases is linking us to the previous sentence, and that means both of these sentences are linking us to the previous sentence, meaning both segments of thought are linked to other together. Verse 14 is linked to verse 13, and verse 13 is linked to verse 12. There's no good grammatical reason that I can see with the 30 seconds of looking at it and the five semesters of Greek, right? Keep that in mind. I'm not an expert, but there's no good reason I see immediately from the Greek text, right? There are certain phrases and indicators in Greek that tell you like, this is a new segment of thought. I don't see those here. What I see is a very strong, strong, logical sequence of connection between 13 and 14, right? Therefore, watch for, you know, neither the day nor the hour. Well. Going back to our discussion about translating that in terms of sort of general watchfulness or preparedness or translating it in light of sleep. These are the things that are important for us to think about when we're reading English translations. 'cause this keys us off to what the, what the translators thought in terms of what belongs with what translators. Even though there's a paragraph break here in the ESV, the translation that says be awake or be, you know, uh, do not sleep like this language that's specifically connected to this, like not falling asleep aspect of watchfulness, they're signaling to you that this sentence belongs with the parable above it. Right. Almost exclusively. Right. Because there's nothing in the next parable that has anything to do with being awake or sleeping.  [00:46:35] Jesse Schwamb: Right?  [00:46:36] Tony Arsenal: Right. So, so by translating it as sleep language or do not sleep language, they're sealing it off from the parable that follows and they're kind of like making it this firm break in the text. That's not there in the Greek. That language is not there in the Greek. And it's, um, again, I think the sleep language, that's certainly a part of this word and it's, it's fine for us to interpret this word in light of the parable that came before it, as long as we're not letting that interpretation of it in light of the word that came before it seal it off from the next parable. And I, I worry that if we, if we think about it in terms of the sleepiness aspect of it, which again, there's already some contextual reasons why that doesn't make a lot of sense. Why would, why would Christ command to the people that are listening to him be about not falling asleep when falling asleep was not the problem in the, in the bearable He's told. Right, right. But the problem was, was be prepared. And it actually may be, this is also maybe an overt translation. A better translation might be, be prepared, therefore, right. Be alert, be wakeful, be be mindful, be uh, be on top of things. Right. Be ready for anything. Might be a good way to look at this. Be ready for anything for you. Neither know the day nor the hour. Four. It will be like a man going on a journey and called his servants and entrusted them to his property. So he tells the parable of the virgins, which is, is all about being prepared for the sudden, unexpected coming of the Lord after a delay, after he tarries. And then he says, for it will be like a man going on a journey. Well, what will be like a man going on a journey? The coming of the Lord, the coming of the bridegroom, the coming of the one, the promised one from the previous parable, the bride groom. For that will be like a man going on a journey for the day on the hour, which you do not know. That will be like a man going on a journey, I think. Um, and this will be the last thing I say before I, I let you jump in and, and we're getting close to ending anyways here. I think that, um, these parables are so often, uh, this parable about the talents and the parallels. I mean, there's several different par uh, parables that have to do with this theory. This sort of like scenario of like a master is giving some, some funds to his servants, or a man going on a journey. He's giving some funds to his servants and he expects them to make a return. Right? That's a, there's multiple parables that tell that same basic principle. This one here. Is an eschatological one, but I think it gets clumped in with the others in sort of this idea. And it doesn't hurt that the word talents has a meaning in English, right? It gets clumped in with these sort of like way of teaching this that's like Christ has given you some special abilities and some gifts, you better use it for his glory. Or you're all done. That's not really at all what this is talking about, at least this version of it. You might be able to make an argument for some of the others that that is about kingdom fruitfulness and, and to much is given, much is expected, right? That's the output of those parables. This one is really, it's explicitly about being prepared for this sudden arrival of the bridegroom, uh, after he delays, after he tarries. So that's all I'll say for now on that. I just, this is. This is why we had to do another episode, right? Like, because we couldn't do all of this Last week we started and we were like, we gotta push pause, save something for next week. This is one of those like realtime discoveries, realtime uh, epiphanies that I'm just like, I cannot believe I didn't see this in the text before, but I'm so glad that we're doing this deep dive. This sort of like long running slow burns through these parables because these are the kinds of things we're able to see when we really slow down and take our time.  [00:50:17] Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, it's that good old like crockpot theology. I'm with you. There is like in the next par we'll see a kind of manifest fruitfulness that comes from a preparedness and if, if we divorce that we're gonna get to the end of the next parable. And I think what we'd find is that, wow, the master seems super harsh here. Why is he so ticked off that the people with whom he entrusted all of these resources didn't do anything with them? It just seems like he's overzealous in saying, well, you just wasted a lot of things until you see like that full emphasis that comes all the way through these other parables in terms of the reason why. Then I think it starts to make more sense. So I did have to look it up like you're right, that the NIV has therefore keep watch. The King James version also is using watch, therefore. So if that's the emphasis, in other words, if the thrust is you ought to be watchful and prepared in all of your life for all the things preparing for Christ, doing the things in the work of Christ. Now it makes sense that to go away again and to have this time of not knowing when the perusia happens and being unprepared and unfruitful because you were not watchful, because you did not do the things you ought to have done and be making yourself again aware and vigilant in that awareness, then there's a problem. And that's like gonna be, I think, the full thrust of what's gonna happen that we're gonna see next when we look into this parable. I think it's important to remember that this parable is not as it sometimes is presented like an allegorize timeless moral maxim that's divorced from its eschatological referring. Yeah, the 10 virgins are figures of those awaiting Christ perusia. The oil is not some kind like vague symbol of like good works in a ian sense, but I think it's best understood as the reality of saving grace and the spirits in dwelling, which cannot be borrowed or transferred. If all of that is true. Then how does that manifest in daily living? What does that look like? And then what does that lead to on the day of judgment? All of that is to come for us, but it actually starts in this verse here in verse 13, just with the simple, very direct, but e expressly articulated phrase, be watchful or be prepared. Maybe like a better incidentally, like contemporary treatment would be like, don't sleep on this. Like, I like the word sleep in that context. Yeah. Which of course, when somebody says that to you, they're not actually meaning like, don't fall asleep now. But make sure that you're paying attention to this thing. Get after this thing, go and grab this thing, get a hold of this very thing. Make it your priority. And I think really that is what is Christ is after here as he moves us from one example into another. That's almost, again, to me like the manifestation or the outworking 'cause because one might ask, and maybe this is like a good question, he was anticipating, you hear that story and we're just used to like things moving, or like you said, like discreet chunks of text, which we appropriate for ourselves. We take out, it's almost as they have little boxes on the shelf and we remove that box. We look at it, we study it, we turn over, we put it back, and it's a little compartment place. And instead you can imagine, uh, as I could, I think if you were hearing this in the context of conversation, of teaching in this way, that you might say like, so what? Like be prepared for what, how do we get prepared? What does preparedness look like? And so that's what's coming for us next.  [00:53:34] Tony Arsenal: Yeah. And you know, the other thing I think that's, um, important for this parable, um, there are some places in the scripture in the, uh, in the gospels where Christ's teaching and nothing specific comes to mind. So this is. Hypothetical, but I know there are actual places. I just can't think of anything right off the top of my head. There are some places where sort of like discrete chunks of Christ's teaching are juxtaposed next to other discreet chunks. Sure. That's an editorial decision by the gospel author. Right. Matthew makes a decision to put this story next to this story, and we might see in Luke actually, it's slightly different. A good, a good example would be like in the temptation narratives, um, the order of the Temptations is different I think between Matthew and Luke. Right. And there's, there's an editorial decision that's made there and there's a theological reason. I don't know off the top of my head what it is. I'm sure I studied it in, you know, like gospels class in seminary. Um, that's not what's happening here, right? These are not two discreet chunks of text. That Matthew has decided to put together, right? Right. Christ is the one that says, watch therefore for you. Neither know the day nor the hour for it will be like a man going on a journey. Christ is the one who has decided, and this is one chunk of teaching. There's, um, like the Sermo

0:00 - Jeff Legwold will be at Broncos OTAs today! According to Leggy, the two biggest Broncos stories right now are Jaylen Waddle and Bo Nix's ankle. Is there anything else he'll be looking for? Also, in honor of Russell Wilson's retirement, does Leggy think Russ is a Hall of Famer. Even with how his career went post-Seahawks, did he still earn a gold jacket?16:50 - Guess what, guys! Brett thinks he "found something" with his golf game. Easy there, big guy. Famous last words.After that, the Knicks and Spurs battled it out last night in Game 1 of the NBA Finals. Brett noticed that both teams relied on depth! They didn't have a 7 ot 8 man rotation. They used 10 or more guys! That's what we wanted the NUGGETS TO DO against the Timberwolves! USE your depth! It's there! You have it! Why didn't they use depth in the first round, awhile New York and San Antonio are relying on their benches in the FRIGGIN FINALS??31:17 - LeBron has gotten super into YouTube golfers recently. A video emerged yesterday of King James hitting golf balls off a yacht in Italy. Knockin em into the ocean like he's Cosmo Kramer. Cool, man. That's Russell Wilson levels of cornball. 

A king haunted by controversy. A court drowning in secrets. And a murder so scandalous it helped poison the English crown itself.Long before the King James Bible shaped the English speaking world, King James I was navigating a palace fueled by forbidden desire, ruthless ambition, and deadly political games. James grew up isolated, abused, and desperate for affection. As an adult, he openly surrounded himself with powerful male favorites in a country where accusations of same-sex intimacy could lead to execution under the Buggery Act. But when his handsome favorite Robert Carr became entangled with the ambitious Howard family and the brilliant, fiercely devoted Thomas Overbury, the royal court spiraled toward one of the most infamous murder conspiracies in queer history.What followed was a chilling saga of obsession, betrayal, poison, political coverups, and public humiliation inside the Tower of London. In this LGBTQ+ true crime podcast episode, we unravel the horrifying murder of Thomas Overbury, the explosive scandal surrounding King James I's inner circle, and the deadly consequences of living queer lives inside Jacobean England's brutal system of power. From secret relationships and ecclesiastical courts to torture, executions, and royal corruption, this is true crime with a queer perspective at its darkest and most devastating.Hosted by Jordi and Brad, Beers With Queers brings chilling crimes, queer stories, and twisted justice to light—all with a cold one in hand. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Episode 218:Last time I looked at the first part of ‘King Lear' from the opening scene where Lear makes his disastrous decision to split his kingdom between his children, through to the renowned scene where the ex-king and his fool are caught in a raging storm on the moor and saved only by the loyalty of Kent. On the way I looked at the deliciously evil Edmund, the poor judgement of his father Gloucester, and the scheming of Lear's oldest daughter Goneril. Now I will complete this look at the play and discuss it's place as a very Jacobean play addressing the concerns of its time when King James was working hard at an attempt to unite his disparate kingdom. The role, character and purpose of the FoolThe mock trial sceneThe blinding of GloucesterThe character and cruelty of ReganEdgar and Gloucester on the cliffs at DoverHope before tragedy as Lear and Cordelia are reunitedA family dispute as the heart of the playWhy Lear resonates so strongly with audiencesThe sense of ‘no place' in the playKing Lear as a message for King James The significance of the non-Christian setting of the playThe play as a tragedy and a history playA brief view of the later critical and performance history of the playA small selection of ‘King Lear' on filmSupport the podcast at:www.thehistoryofeuropeantheatre.comwww.patreon.com/thoetpwww.ko-fi.com/thoetpYou can find an advertisement free version of the latest podcast episodes by joining on Patreon at the lowest paid tier level – that's for just £1 per month. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Phil has recently spoken very positively about the way King Charles is handling his reign. But there's a story about his earlier - and much more controversial - life that's hardly ever been told. In his bachelor days and as a young man recently married to Diana Spencer, Charles was heavily under the influence of some seriously strange - even dangerous - people. So who were the men who shaped the mindset of Britain's future King, and psychologically prepared him for marriage and public life? You'll be surprised!Phil is then joined by young academic Amilia Gillies to discuss the weird and wonderful world of another royal court - that of King James (the 1st of England and 6th of Scotland). It was a colourful and highly scandalous time, full of larger than life characters and some very naughty poetry!There's information and extracts from Phil's own new book here...https://sites.google.com/view/1945thereckoning/homeYou can order his book on Amazon UK and Amazon Australia, India and NZ - and it is available all around the world as an e-book and an audio book...https://www.amazon.co.uk/1945-Reckoning-Empire-Struggle-World/dp/139971449X/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=#***We now have a Thank You button (next to the 'three dots') for small donations that help support our work***Looking for the perfect gift for a special scandalous someone - or someone you'd like to get scandalous with? We're here to help...https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/ScandalMongers*** If you enjoy our work please consider clicking the YouTube subscribe button, even if you listen to us on an audio app. It will help our brand to grow and our content to reach new ears.THE SCANDAL MONGERS PODCAST is also available to watch on Youtube...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A0YHtSsmAgIPlease follow the Podcast and Phil below...The Scandal Mongers...https://x.com/mongerspodcastPhil Craig...https://x.com/philmcraigYou can get in touch with the show via...team@podcastworld.org(place 'Scandal Mongers' in the heading)Show Produced By The Team at Podcast World Soho, London W1 Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

When the Day of Pentecost was Fulfilled Acts 2 by William Klock Luke opens the second chapter of Acts writing, “When the day of Pentecost had come, they were all together in the same place.”  [Page 1081 in the pew Bibles].  “When the day of Pentecost had come—or some translations say arrived.  The old King James is better: “When the day of Pentecost was fully come.”  Or it might be even better to say, “When the day of Pentecost was fulfilled.”  The Greek word can mean come or arrive, but it has a powerful sense of filling and fulfilment and I think that's particularly important here.  First, this is the day that the church was filled full of God's presence and truly became his living temple, but second, it was also the day when the promises of God contained within this ancient festival were finally fulfilled.  It's about the fulfilment of God's promises to his people. You see, Pentecost was one of the great festivals God told his people to observe when he gave them the torah.  It was a harvest festival, when the people would bring the firstfruits of their grain harvest as offerings to the Lord.  But it was also a commemoration of the giving of torah.  The Passover marked Israel's deliverance from her slavery in Egypt and then fifty days later, Israel met the Lord at Mt. Sinai.  There he gave her his law and established his covenant with her.  You could say that Pentecost was the day that marked Israel's formal creation as a nation—when the Lord had said, “I will be your God and you will be my people.”  And every year, for over a thousand years, the people took their grain offerings to the temple in Jerusalem, laid them before the Lord, and remembered who he was and who they were and they recalled his promises, while looking forward in hope to the day those promises would be fulfilled.  So when Luke writes, “When the day of Pentecost was fulfilled,” we should hear something powerful in that.  Just as Jesus fulfilled the Passover once and for all in his death and resurrection, God is going to fulfil the ancient festival of Pentecost once and for all. Brothers and Sisters, this is important, because ever since John Wesley, there's been a powerful tendency to see Pentecost more as a stage of personal spiritual growth than as the once-and-for-all fulfilment of God's promise happening within the great story of God and his people.  A hundred and twenty-five years ago, a group of Christians in Los Angeles had an unusual spiritual experience that needed an explanation.  They explained it as an end-times renewal of “Pentecost” and the Pentecostal movement was born—a movement that taught—and in most places still today—teaches that while every Christian ought to experience Pentecost and be baptised into the Holy Spirit, it's a second event, a second blessing that follows a person's conversion and that many never receive—and those who never received it include virtually every believer between the First Century church and the birth of the Pentecostal movement in 1901.  This highlights the danger of interpreting scripture in light of our experiences.  Instead, we need to let the scriptures do the talking and understand our experiences in light of them. Because just as every single man or woman who has been united to Jesus the Messiah by faith is a full recipient of the benefits of his fulfilment of the Passover, just so every single man or woman who has been united to Jesus the Messiah by faith is also a full recipient of the benefits of his fulfilment of Pentecost.  The church—the whole church, not just some part of it that began 125 years ago—is pentecostal.   It takes a lifetime to learn to live into both of these realities, but to separate them or to say, as some have, that you have to earn baptism in the Spirit through the process of sanctification is to horribly misunderstand the scriptures and the story they tell.  I have more to say about that, but let's get straight into that story as Luke tells it and, especially, as Peter will explain it.  So, again, this is Acts 2: “When the day of Pentecost was fulfilled, they [that's the disciples] were all together in the same place. [Probably, the upper room where they had eaten the Last Supper.]  Suddenly there came from heaven a noise like the sound of a mighty rushing wind, and it filled the whole house where they were sitting.  Then tongues, seemingly made of fire, appeared to them, moving apart and coming to rest on each one of them.  They were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to speak in other language as the Spirit gave them words to say.” This is the fulfilment of God's promises to come and dwell with his people.  After generations upon generations, millennia upon millennia of sin separating humanity from God, this is God's homecoming.  Jesus' death as a perfect sacrifice for sin washed his people clean, it purified them.  It made them fit and prepared them to be God's temple—the holy place where he will dwell.  And now he's sent his Spirit to take up his dwelling in this new temple. It's also a moment of covenant renewal—again, fulfilling God's promises to Israel.  That's why the imagery of Passover and Sinai are so important here.  In his ascension, Jesus is like Moses going up the mountain and at Passover, like Moses returning with the law and God establishing a covenant with his people, this time God sends down his Spirit to establish a new covenant with this renewed Israel.  And this time it's not an external law carved on stone tablets, but God's own Spirit indwelling, renewing, regenerating and writing his law of love on their very hearts.  Hearts of stone made hearts of flesh. And this fulfilment of God's promises, this covenant renewal, this new temple are all part of the answer to Jesus' prayer that it may be on earth as it is in heaven.  In his ascension, Jesus took a bit of earth—our humanity—to heaven, and on Pentecost he sent to earth, to dwell with us, the Spirit—a bit of heaven.  And that Spirit sent by Jesus, the new Adam, breathes the life of God into the new humanity.  Brothers and Sisters, between the Old Testament imagery that God draws on in doing this amazing thing and the careful choice of words Luke uses to describe it, we ought to see a powerful image here of new creation. And new creation doesn't exist simply for our sake.  New creation began with Jesus and now it's come to his people, but it's not meant to stay with them.  When he ascended, Jesus told his disciples that they would carry this good news throughout Judea and Samaria and eventually to the whole earth.  Once empowered by his Spirit, their mission would be, not only to live out this new creation, but to go out with the announcement that Jesus is Lord and that world belongs to him.  And right here we get a sense of that dominion as these one-hundred-twenty disciples begin to unexpectedly speak in other languages.  Why?  Look at verse 5: “There were devout Jews from every nation under heaven staying in Jerusalem at that time.  When they heard this noise they came together in a crowd.  They were deeply puzzled, because every single one of them could hear them speaking in his own native language.  They were astonished and amazed.” Thanks to the Exile, Jews were spread out across the known world, but Pentecost was one of those feasts where everyone returned to Jerusalem.  So there's an international crowd in the city and this work of the Spirit gets their attention.  Luke goes on in verse 7: “These men who are doing the speaking are all Galileans, aren't they,” they said.  “So how is it that each of us can hear them in our own mother tongues?  There are Parthians here, and Medes, Elamites, and people who live in Mesopotamia, Judaea, Cappadocia…[The international list is a long one.  Jews and proselytes (converts), from the known world.]…We can hear them telling us about the mighty works of God—in our own languages!” Notice about this gift of tongues: It was a gift of known languages.  The speech was intelligible.  And it wasn't for any kind of spiritual benefit of the speakers.  This was a miracle—a first work of the Spirit—to announce what God was accomplishing (or fulfilling!) through Jesus and the Spirit and through this renewed Israel—what we call “the church”.  And Luke says they were all “astonished and perplexed.”  “What does it all mean?” they were asking each other.  But some sneered.  “They're full of new wine,” they said.  Then Peter got up, with the eleven. He spoke to them in a loud voice.” None of the disciples was expecting this.  They were expecting something.  Jesus had told them to go back to Jerusalem and to wait.  So they did.  They waited and they prayed.  Like I said last week, these were men steeped in the scriptures.  Combine that with patience and prayer and understanding will come.  And despite not expecting this exact situation, Peter immediately understands what's going on through the lens of the scriptures, of Israel's story, and of God's promises.  And so—verse 14—Peter says to them, “Men of Judaea!  All of you staying here in Jerusalem! There's something you have to know.  Listen to what I'm saying.  These people aren't drunk, as you imagine.  It's only nine o'clock in the morning!  No, this is what the prophet Joel was talking about when he said, ‘In the last days, declares God, I will pour out my Spirit on all people.  Your sons and your daughters will prophesy; your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams; Yes, even on slaves, men and women alike, will I pour out my Spirit in those days, and they shall prophesy.  And I will give signs in the heavens above, and portents on earth beneath, blood and fire and clouds of smoke.  The sun will be turned into darkness, and the moon into blood, before the day of the Lord comes, the great and glorious day.  And then everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” Joel's prophecy was a prophecy of covenant renewal.  Back at the beginning—sort of the first Pentecost, if it helps to think of it that way—before Israel entered the promised land, Moses reiterated the covenant to the people.  If they would be the holy people the Lord had set them apart to be, if they would keep his law, if they would give him their allegiance and not worship other gods, he would dwell with them and bless them in the land.  But if they refused to do these things, he would curse them and eventually exile them—because an unholy people cannot live in God's presence.  And, of course, exile is precisely what happened.  And even when the people of Judah returned from their exile in Babylon, even after they'd rebuilt Jerusalem and the temple, it still felt an awful like the exile wasn't really over.  Judah was ruled by pagan gentiles.  The Lord's presence had never returned to the temple.  And so they hoped in the promises the Lord had made to one day renew his covenant.  Through Isaiah, through Ezekiel, through Jeremiah, through Joel the Lord had promised.  He would not let his people languish in exile forever.  One day he would come and forgive their sins and their idolatry, one day he would come and fix their broken hearts, giving them hearts of flesh instead of hearts of stone; breathing new life into dead, dry bones; pouring out his Spirit to make Israel new.  And in that rushing wind, in the tongues of fire, as he and his friends suddenly found themselves speaking other languages Peter recognised the words God had spoken through Joel.  This was the day.  Through Jesus and the Spirit, the God of Israel was renewing his covenant, through Jesus and the Spirit he'd returned to dwell again with his people: men and women, young and old, slave and free.  Judgement was coming soon on the unrepentant, but for those who called on the name of the Lord—on Jesus the Messiah—there was renewal.  And so Peter announces Joel's promise to Israel: “Whoever calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” And then he does something astounding.  We're so used to hearing it that we might not even give it a thought, but Peter now takes this passage from Joel that was about the Lord, about Yahweh, about the God of Israel and he makes it about Jesus.  Look at verse 22: “You men of Israel, listen to this.  Jesus of Nazareth was a man marked out for you by God through the mighty works, signs, and portents which God performed through him right here among you, as you all know.  He was handed over in accordance with God's determined purpose and foreknowledge—and you used people outside the law to nail him up and kill him.  But God raised him from the dead! Death had its painful grip on him; but God released him from it, because it wasn't possible for him to be mastered by it.  This you see, is how David speaks of him: “I set the Lord before me always; because he is at my right hand, I won't be shaken.  So my heart was happy, and my tongue rejoiced, and my flesh, too, will rest in hope.  For you will not leave my soul in Hades, nor will you allow your holy One to see corruption.  You showed me the path of life; you filled me with gladness in your presence.” Peter's quoting from Psalm 16.  What's that got to do with any of this.  Well, he goes on: “Men and Brothers, I can surely speak freely to you about the patriarch David.  He died and was buried and his tomb is here with us to this day.  He was of course a prophet and he knew that God had sworn an oath to set one of his own physical offspring on his throne.  He foresaw the Messiah's resurrection and spoke about him “not being left in Hades,” and about his flesh “not seeing corruption.”  [So here's his point.]  This is the Jesus we're talking about.  God raised him from the dead and all of us here are witnesses to the fact.  Now he's been exalted to God's right hand; and what you see and hear is the result of the fact that he is pouring out the Holy Spirit, which had been promised, and which he has received from the Father.”  So Peter's explaining to them that Jesus, in his resurrection, has fulfilled the messianic prophecy in Psalm 16 and what they're seeing happening in the wind, the tongues of fire, and the other languages is the evidence of Jesus' exaltation to his throne.  And in the same way that Jesus' resurrection has fulfilled Psalm 16, his ascension is fulfilling Psalm 110. Peter goes on in verse 34: “David, after all, did not ascend into the heavens.  This is what he says: ‘The Lord said to my Lord, sit at my right hand, until I place your enemies underneath your feet.'  So the whole house of Israel must know this for a fact: God has made him Lord and Messiah, this Jesus, the one you crucified.”  Again, what they're seeing is the proof that God is vindicating the claims of Jesus to be Israel's Messiah.  Jesus fulfilled God's promises when he rose from the dead, he fulfilled God's promises when he ascended into heaven, and now he's fulfilling God's promises in pouring out God's Spirit, now seen and heard in the wind, the flames, and the tongues.  Again, God is renewing his covenant as he promised. Luke goes on in verse 37: “When they heard this, they were cut to the heart.  “Brothers,” they said to Peter and the other apostles, “what shall we do?”  “Repent!” replied Peter.  “Be baptised, every one of you, in the name of Jesus the Messiah, so that your sins can be forgiven and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.  The promise is for you and for your children, and for everyone who is far away, as many as the Lord our God will call.” Notice—this is important—even though, yes, it is individuals who do the repenting, one by one, what Peter is calling for is national repentance.  Israel must repent—from sin, yes, but most of all from her rejection of Jesus as Messiah.  That's why Peter puts so much weight on how all that's happened is proof of Jesus' messiahship.  Jesus had warned over and over that if Israel would not repent, if Israel insisted on rejecting him as Messiah—and Jesus put this rejection in terms of idolatry—judgement would come on Israel and this time it would be permanent.  The Romans would destroy Jerusalem and the temple and the people would be exiled, not for seventy years, not for 490 years, but forever.  As an aside, Paul will pick up this same theme with the Athenians in 17:31.  As salvation was for the Jew first and then for the gentiles, just so would God's judgement be.  He would judge Israel for their idolatry and then come for the gentiles.  So Peter urges his fellow Jews to repent of their idolatry, to put their faith in Jesus as Messiah, and they will become part of this renewed covenant community—this new temple in which God, through his Spirit, has come to dwell. Luke says in verse 40 that Peter “carried on explaining things to them with many other words.”  No doubt walking them through more of Israel's story and more of Israel's scriptures to show them how Jesus and the Spirit have fulfilled them.  “Let God rescue you,” he was urging them, “from this wicked generation.”  Those who welcomed his word were baptised.  About three thousand lives were added to the community that day. And, again, the result is new creation, lived out in this renewed community of men and women.  Pentecost isn't just a personal exercise in spiritual growth any more than Jesus' death and resurrection were.  It's about the formation of a new people of God that would be God's temple in the world.  A temple made of people, transformed from the inside out, a temple that would—that still does—steward God's presence, God's wisdom, God's new creation for the sake of the world.  Luke makes a point of contrasting it with the old Israel, trundling along blindly in unbelief, in idolatry, and heading straight into inevitable judgement and destruction.  In contrast, this new Jesus-plus-Spirit people [verse 42] live out their baptism by “giving full attention to the teaching of the apostles and to the common life, to the breaking of bread and the prayers.  Great awe fell on everyone and many remarkable deeds and signs were performed by the apostles.”  At the centre of their life together was this apostolic teaching that we see Peter giving: Teaching showing how Israel's scriptures, God's promises were being fulfilled in Jesus.  Truly good news.  And it drew them together as they shared meals—just as Jesus had done—including that last meal he'd shared with them, transposing the Passover meal, the covenant renewal meal of the people of God, transposing it around himself, his death, and his resurrection.  And they prayed.  And this transformed them.  “All those who believe came together and held everything in common.  They sold their possessions and belongings and divided them up to everyone in proportion to their various needs.”  No, they didn't become Marxists.  Luke's point is that they became a family.  They became what Israel was supposed to be.  Not a people who did their own thing; not a people who grabbed and hoarded for themselves; not a people who disengaged from community seven days a week, and then gathered with a group of religious acquaintances for a couple of hours one day a week.  No, Jesus and the Spirit made them a family.  Jesus and the Spirit made them a people of love, of grace, of abundance (even in their physical poverty), a family that witnessed the character of the Spirit and the goodness and abundance of God's new creation.  And the people around them noticed: “Day by day they were they were all together attending the temple.  They broke bread in their various houses and ate their food with glad and sincere hearts, praising God and standing in favour with all the people.  And every day the Lord added to their numbers those who were being rescued.” Brothers and Sisters, our great desire should be that the church today—not just our congregation, but the whole church—should look just like this, simply on a much larger and global scale.  We are no less a people of Jesus and the Spirit than those first Christians in Jerusalem were.  We should be such a family where the scriptures are read and the mighty works of God—the fulfilment of his promise; the good news about Jesus, crucified, risen, and ascended—are not only believed, but lived out and proclaimed.  A family where God's new creation generosity is actively lived out.  A family that not only keeps this covenant renewal meal, but lives out its implications throughout the week.  A family that clasps its hands together and prays that it might be on earth as it is in heaven, not just because Jesus told us to, but Brother and Sisters, because we are the people whose King shares our earthly nature and reigns in heaven; because we are the people who have been, ourselves, plunged into heavenly life by God's Spirit; and because we are people who are ourselves the fulfilment of God's promises and therefore a people of hope and witness of God's glory. Let's pray: Faithful God who never fails to fulfil your promises, you have purified us with the blood of your Son and filled us with your Spirit to make us your temple; give us grace to be that temple, to be your new creation, to be the stewards of your presence and your gospel for the sake of the world; and in your faithfulness, cause our faithfulness to bear fruit for your kingdom.  Through Jesus the Messiah, our Lord and our rescuer, we pray.  Amen.

A poisoned enema. A shadow king. And a royal court where desire could be just as deadly as treason.What began as King James I's obsession with beautiful young men would spiral into one of the most dangerous and scandalous power struggles in queer history.In this episode of Beers With Queers, Jordi and Brad dive deep into the dark and twisted world of the Jacobean court, where political ambition, forbidden same-sex relationships, and ruthless betrayal collided beneath the gilded halls of Whitehall Palace. Long before the King James Bible became the most widely printed book in human history, King James himself was navigating a violent world shaped by trauma, paranoia, and intensely public relationships with powerful male favorites. From the brutal murder of his father and the execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, to the rise of Robert Carr and the brilliant, possessive Thomas Overbury, this LGBTQ+ true crime story unfolds like a real-life Game of Thrones.As secret alliances form and enemies gather in the shadows, the line between love, manipulation, and survival begins to blur. This is queer history at its most dangerous. A true crime story filled with political intrigue, royal scandal, and deadly consequences.Hosted by Jordi and Brad, Beers With Queers brings chilling crimes, queer stories, and twisted justice to light, all with a cold one in hand.Press play, grab a drink, and join us as we uncover one of the most shocking scandals in gay history. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Agradece a este podcast tantas horas de entretenimiento y disfruta de episodios exclusivos como éste. ¡Apóyale en iVoox! Episodio de esta semana, con pirueta en el aire incluída.... Nuevos: Cheff Tolle Adriaens, Night Ranger, Eddie Vantez, Boys from Heaven, Frontiers 30 35 años del 'Revenge' de Kiss Clásicos + Remasters: Andy Taylor, King James. Skagarack, Outside Edge, Acacia Avenue, Sahara Celebramos lo 40 de Top Gun El próximo 'Diamond Album' será...Escucha este episodio completo y accede a todo el contenido exclusivo de AOR Diamonds. Descubre antes que nadie los nuevos episodios, y participa en la comunidad exclusiva de oyentes en https://go.ivoox.com/sq/75094

Hello and a very warm welcome to all our listeners across the waves! You are tuning into Spanish Loops, the podcast that connects the dots of Spain's vibrant heritage, culture, and lifestyle. We, your host, Jorge and Fran, are ready to take you on an incredible journey today. Now, close your eyes for a moment. Think of pristine turquoise waters, sun-drenched coastlines, and endless summer nights. Yes, we are flying out to the stunning Balearic Islands, specifically mapping out the breath taking landscapes of Mallorca, Menorca, and Ibiza. But behind the postcard-perfect beaches and the legendary nightlife hubs beats a deep, ancient historical heart. This week, we are looking into how this magnificent overseas territory truly became a part of the Spanish soul. We're traveling back through time, unravelling the dense layers of their strategic history, from the ancient Carthaginian and Roman ports to the fierce Byzantine and Moorish eras. We'll guide you right through the pivotal Christian Reconquista, exploring how King James the First of Aragon claimed these Mediterranean gems in the thirteenth century, setting the stage for their modern Spanish identity. Beyond the history books, we'll give you the ultimate contemporary layout of the islands. We are exploring the fascinating contrasts between Mallorca's grand architecture, Menorca's peaceful, megalithic mysteries, and Ibiza's magnetic, bohemian spirit. It's an overseas paradise rich with unique local traditions, diverse ecosystems, and stories you won't find in standard travel brochures. So, are you planning your next Mediterranean escape or looking to expand your cultural horizons? We've got your front row seat ready. Pour yourself a drink, settle in, and let's loop into the real Spain. Hit that play button on your favourite platform, the adventure begins right now!"For Jorge: Small Group Tours in Spain & PortugalWebsite: https://travelingwithjorge.com/Small group tours Spain, cultural tours Spain and Portugal, authentic travel experiences, guided tours for mature travelers, food and wine tours Iberian Peninsula.If you're dreaming about discovering Spain and Portugal beyond the typical tourist routes, Jorge designs small group cultural tours that combine history, local gastronomy, wine experiences, and meaningful human connections. His journeys are crafted for curious travelers who value authenticity, comfort, and depth over rushed itineraries. Explore upcoming departures, detailed itineraries, and insider travel insights at TravelingWithJorge.com Your trusted source for unforgettable small group tours in Spain and Portugal.For Fran: Cultural & Gastronomic Tours in Spain & PortugalWebsite: https://travelingsteps.es/Looking for a deeper way to experience Spain and Portugal? Fran at Traveling Steps curates immersive cultural tours that blend history, gastronomy, local traditions, and relaxed walking experiences designed especially for thoughtful, experience-driven travelers. From Mediterranean islands to the Portuguese Camino, each itinerary is built around authentic encounters and meaningful storytelling. Discover upcoming tours, travel guides, and insider advice at TravelingSteps.es and start planning your next unforgettable journey through Spain and Portugal.For Pamplona Fiesta – San Fermín Balcony RentalsWebsite: https://www.pamplonafiesta.com/Planning to experience the legendary Running of the Bulls in Pamplona? Secure one of the best balcony views in the city with PamplonaFiesta.com Our premium San Fermín balcony rentals offer safe, exclusive, and unforgettable vantage points overlooking the famous Encierro route. Whether it's your first visit or a return to the thrill of San Fermín 2026, we provide trusted, centrally located balconies for the ultimate Pamplona experience. Explore availability and book early at PamplonaFiesta.com to guarantee your place above the action.

Hello and a very warm welcome to all our listeners across the waves! You are tuning into Spanish Loops, the podcast that connects the dots of Spain's vibrant heritage, culture, and lifestyle. We, your host, Jorge and Fran, are ready to take you on an incredible journey today. Now, close your eyes for a moment. Think of pristine turquoise waters, sun-drenched coastlines, and endless summer nights. Yes, we are flying out to the stunning Balearic Islands, specifically mapping out the breath taking landscapes of Mallorca, Menorca, and Ibiza. But behind the postcard-perfect beaches and the legendary nightlife hubs beats a deep, ancient historical heart. This week, we are looking into how this magnificent overseas territory truly became a part of the Spanish soul. We're traveling back through time, unravelling the dense layers of their strategic history, from the ancient Carthaginian and Roman ports to the fierce Byzantine and Moorish eras. We'll guide you right through the pivotal Christian Reconquista, exploring how King James the First of Aragon claimed these Mediterranean gems in the thirteenth century, setting the stage for their modern Spanish identity. Beyond the history books, we'll give you the ultimate contemporary layout of the islands. We are exploring the fascinating contrasts between Mallorca's grand architecture, Menorca's peaceful, megalithic mysteries, and Ibiza's magnetic, bohemian spirit. It's an overseas paradise rich with unique local traditions, diverse ecosystems, and stories you won't find in standard travel brochures. So, are you planning your next Mediterranean escape or looking to expand your cultural horizons? We've got your front row seat ready. Pour yourself a drink, settle in, and let's loop into the real Spain. Hit that play button on your favourite platform, the adventure begins right now!"For Jorge: Small Group Tours in Spain & PortugalWebsite: https://travelingwithjorge.com/Small group tours Spain, cultural tours Spain and Portugal, authentic travel experiences, guided tours for mature travelers, food and wine tours Iberian Peninsula.If you're dreaming about discovering Spain and Portugal beyond the typical tourist routes, Jorge designs small group cultural tours that combine history, local gastronomy, wine experiences, and meaningful human connections. His journeys are crafted for curious travelers who value authenticity, comfort, and depth over rushed itineraries. Explore upcoming departures, detailed itineraries, and insider travel insights at TravelingWithJorge.com Your trusted source for unforgettable small group tours in Spain and Portugal.For Fran: Cultural & Gastronomic Tours in Spain & PortugalWebsite: https://travelingsteps.es/Looking for a deeper way to experience Spain and Portugal? Fran at Traveling Steps curates immersive cultural tours that blend history, gastronomy, local traditions, and relaxed walking experiences designed especially for thoughtful, experience-driven travelers. From Mediterranean islands to the Portuguese Camino, each itinerary is built around authentic encounters and meaningful storytelling. Discover upcoming tours, travel guides, and insider advice at TravelingSteps.es and start planning your next unforgettable journey through Spain and Portugal.For Pamplona Fiesta – San Fermín Balcony RentalsWebsite: https://www.pamplonafiesta.com/Planning to experience the legendary Running of the Bulls in Pamplona? Secure one of the best balcony views in the city with PamplonaFiesta.com Our premium San Fermín balcony rentals offer safe, exclusive, and unforgettable vantage points overlooking the famous Encierro route. Whether it's your first visit or a return to the thrill of San Fermín 2026, we provide trusted, centrally located balconies for the ultimate Pamplona experience. Explore availability and book early at PamplonaFiesta.com to guarantee your place above the action.

Good morning. Reed Hoffman, one of the founders of Linked In, tells us that typing is over and voicepilling is here.This is the word he has coined to capture the way, he says, we are set to bypass keyboards. After the quill the pen, then the typewriter, the text, the voice note… but in voicepilling entire articles, essays or books - everything actually - is spoken directly to the machine for production. Hands-free.Is voicepilling a word that will stick? Sounds unlikely but who knows? New words seem to be invented more rapidly than ever but then language is always being born again.At an open mic event I was at this week one poet used the beautiful expression ‘sonder' - the kind of neglected word from Chaucer or Shakespeare which etymologists and crossword compilers love to rediscover. Sonder is defined as one's realization that each person you pass by ‘is the main character in their own story, in which you are just an extra.'The definition comes from John Koenig in his Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows, a collection of words he created to capture emotions that he says, ‘we feel but don't have the words too express'.Some words or phrases disappear, some morph into new meaning… while others stick around for ever.Few writers have had more stickability than William Tyndale. The 500th anniversary of his English New Testament is currently being celebrated in an exhibition at the British Library and, from next month, at St Paul's Cathedral.Tyndale believed it shouldn't only be priests who could access the Bible, but that everyone should hear it in everyday English. His translation, published in 1526, was so popular that when King James commissioned his 'Authorized Version', nearly a century later, the royal translation team ripped ninety percent of their text straight out of Tyndale.His phrases continue to haunt the language: 'from strength to strength'; ‘for better or worse'; ‘lead us not into temptation but deliver us from evil'; ‘salt of the earth' and ‘fight the good fight'.Tyndale was after a poetic language understood by ordinary people and was so successful that, as someone said, ‘No Tyndale, No Shakespeare'.Or as playwright David Edgar put it: ‘No Tyndale, No Kindle'.But in democratizing religion, in translating the divine into the human, he was branded the ‘most dangerous man in England' and burned at the stake. The political powers could see, to use another of his phrases, ‘the writing on the wall'.Words are dangerous. Once you can speak the divine in your own tongue then you can bring god down from heaven onto earth and decide for yourself what your religion means for your life.You can, as Tyndale wrote, ‘let there be light'

Send us Fan MailCoach E is back in the huddle with assistant coaches Xen and RP for a full-court press on everything happening in the NBA Playoffs.The crew kicks things off with a real conversation about the NBA's new TV deal — navigating Prime Video, Peacock, NBC, and ESPN to catch your team in the playoffs has become a full-time job. Is the fragmented broadcast landscape good for the game, or are fans getting left on the bench?From there, the guys dig into the broadcast crews themselves — who's bringing the heat, who's coming up short, and why nothing quite replaces the chemistry of Kenny, Shaq, Ernie, and Charles. They also weigh in on the new studio lineups on Prime (Dirk, Blake Griffin, Steve Nash, and UD) and NBC (Melo, Vince Carter, and T-Mac) — and whether any of them have the playoff credibility to match the moment.Then it's time to talk Cleveland. With the Cavs locked in a tough battle with the Detroit Pistons in Game 5, the squad breaks down what's really costing Cleveland: turnovers, ISO-heavy offense, and a coaching staff that needs to let the ball move. Could a rested New York Knicks squad waiting in the second round spell trouble?The conversation takes a detour into LeBron James territory — should he come back to Cleveland? Could he fit in Detroit? What about New York? The crew debates where King James could realistically land and whether he can still be an impact player at 41+, defensively speaking.Other stops on the tour include: the international player takeover of the NBA's MVP race (Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Victor Wembanyama, Nikola Jokic), whether American-born stars are getting a fair shake, a spirited debate on Russell Wilson's "cornball" reputation, and a quick look at the Knicks' impressive playoff run.Coach E closes it out with a post-game word for the people: Don't let temporary become permanent.This isn't just a podcast…It's a GAME FOR ALL SEASONS.

Rob and Kelvin debate whether LeBron James should be forced to retire this upcoming offseason, tell us what the Detroit Pistons need to do to regain their mojo, and discuss the idea that James Harden – not Donovan Mitchell – is the most important players on the Cleveland Cavaliers. Plus, California Post Lakers reporter Khobi Price swings by to discuss LeBron’s future, the pros and cons of having King James with your franchise, how the team plans to build around Luka this summer, and much more! Finally, the Odd Couple Callers bring the heat in this week’s edition of Trash Talk.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Rob and Kelvin discuss the idea that James Harden – not Donovan Mitchell – is the most important players on the Cleveland Cavaliers, and tell us if the Los Angeles Lakers can run it back with the Luka Doncic-LeBron James-Austin Reaves trio. Plus, California Post Lakers reporter Khobi Price swings by to discuss LeBron’s future, the pros and cons of having King James with your franchise, how the team plans to build around Luka this summer, and much more! Finally, the Odd Couple Callers bring the heat in this week’s edition of Trash Talk.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Camilo Pinheiro Machado e Pedro Maia debatem esses dois confrontos das semifinais de conferência. O que explica o 4 a 0 do OKC Thunder sobre os Lakers de LeBron? Qual o futuro de King James após a eliminação? No Leste, como o Cleveland Cavaliers conseguiu reagir e empatar a série contra os Pistons depois de ver o time de Michigan abrir 2 a 0? Vem no play!

Discover 40 everyday phrases you've likely used your whole life—without realizing they come straight from the King James version of the Holy Bible. In this fully illustrated episode of the Bible Made Easy Podcast, Brother George shares 40 powerful Bible sayings that have become part of everyday speech—from “You reap what you sow” to “The blind leading the blind” and many more. This engaging visual journey reveals the Biblical origins behind common idioms, metaphors, and expressions we use daily. Each phrase is brought to life with clear illustrations and KJV scripture, helping you understand both the meaning and context of these timeless sayings. #Kingjamesbible #Biblesayings #biblicalphrases #christianteaching #biblestudy #idiomsinenglish #kjvbible scriptures, #bibleexplained   Bible Made Easy Podcast: Bible based lessons through the lens of God's eternal love for humanity and His desire to reconcile all things to Himself. 

Before demons became horned monsters in paintings, horror movies, and late-night YouTube thumbnails, they were something stranger.Older cultures spoke of daimons, spirits, hidden beings, wilderness presences, fallen angels, pagan gods, unclean spirits, and intelligences that seemed to move through dreams, temptation, sickness, fear, desire, and the human mind.Then Christianity entered the picture and reorganized the unseen world into a moral battlefield.In this episode of Idiot Mystic, we explore the long, eerie history of Christian demons: from Greek daimons and Jewish spirit traditions to the demons of the New Testament, the Desert Fathers, medieval demonology, witch trial panic, exorcism, possession, deliverance ministry, and modern psychological interpretations of demonic experience.We'll talk about Jesus casting out demons, Legion, Mary Magdalene and the “seven demons,” Augustine's rejection of daimonic mediation, Evagrius and the inner warfare of thoughts, medieval hierarchies, incubi and succubi, the Malleus Maleficarum, King James' Daemonologie, and why the demonic still feels so powerful when people talk about addiction, intrusive thoughts, trauma, compulsion, moral injury, oppression, and evil.This is part of the Idiot Mystic hidden beings series, alongside episodes on Mothman, Fairies / Hidden People, Daimons, Djinn, Shedim, and other recurring categories of unseen intelligence.The question underneath it all:Why do humans keep describing intelligences that influence thought, body, morality, desire, fear, and destiny?And maybe more specifically:How did Christianity turn the ambiguous middle world of spirits into a battlefield for the soul?Follow Idiot Mystic:YouTube / TikTok / Instagram: @idiotmysticWebsite: idiotmystic.comDiscord: https://discord.gg/dXKjhZrZmM

Daily Dose of Hope May 6, 2026   Name of God: YHWH, THE SELF-EXISTENT ONE Scripture:  Exodus 3:14-15, 6:2-3, Psalm 83:18, Isaiah 42:8   Prayer:  Yahweh, my God, Thank You for revealing Your Holy name. Thank You for being the same yesterday, today, and forever. I stand in awe of who You are. You are eternal, unchanging, and near. Help me to trust You more deeply, to honor Your name in all I do, And to walk in the beauty of Your covenant love.   Welcome back to the Daily Dose of Hope, the devotional and podcast that complements the New Hope daily Bible reading plan.  Today, we are starting the names of God.  This will be different because we will be flipping around in the Scripture, but I'm hoping we will all learn something new.  Fair warning – although there may be only a few verses listed, it will be a lot easier to read the whole narrative to get a feel for what it is trying to communicate.   Let's start by talking about the significance of names in the Old Testament.  Most ancient cultures, including Israel, believed that to know a person's name was to know their character and nature.  Likewise, the names of God were also intended to reveal different aspects of His character.    Today, we will talk about YHWH, a name for God considered so holy that Old Testament Jews did not say it out loud.  Even today, some devout Jews will not write or pronounce this name of God out loud.  It is the personal, sacred name of God that can be translated, I AM WHO I AM, the self-existent one, He brings into existence, or He will be.  This form of God's name is the most frequently used noun in the Old Testament, and it is written over 6,800 times.  Thus, it goes without saying that the four Scriptures we read are just a drop in the bucket of YHWH references in the Hebrew texts.   Our first Scripture text for today is the Moses and the burning bush narrative.  When God appeared to Moses at the burning bush, Moses asked God for his name. He wanted to tell the enslaved Israelites who had sent him to deliver them. God told Moses to tell them "I AM has sent me to you" and also "the LORD, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you."   Likewise, in chapter 6:2-6, God also said to Moses, "I am the Lord. I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob as God Almighty,[a] but by my name the Lord I did not make myself fully known to them. I also established my covenant with them to give them the land of Canaan, where they resided as foreigners.  Moreover, I have heard the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, and I have remembered my covenant.  "Therefore, say to the Israelites: 'I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. I will free you from being slaves to them, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment. But aren't Lord and I AM two different names?  Actually, most scholars believe that the names yhwh ("LORD") and ʾhyh ("I AM") both come from the same word, the Hebrew "to be" verb, though in different forms.  YHWH can generally be translated "He is." But for my English grammar nuts, in Hebrew that is a complete sentence.  We don't need to finish it with an explanation of what He is.  It simply means, "He exists."  Thus, it becomes apparent how this name of God describes the truth of His self-sufficiency and complete independence and autonomy. God isn't dependent on or influenced by anything external to himself.  YHWH simply is. He is always present, always faithful and always who He says He is. In every season, in every generation, in every circumstance—He remains the same. In the Exodus Scripture that we read, we can see that God is establishing the truth of his self-existence.  Moses doesn't need to be scared of Pharoah, because I AM is with him.  I AM, or the Lord, is above Pharoah, above and separate from everything really.  And yet, while YHWH is self-existent and never-changing, He is also demonstrating that He will be present with his people. He has not abandoned them.  I AM is the God of their fathers and their God as well.  YHWH is the name God uses when He makes covenant with His people. It is the name tied to relationship, to promise, to faithfulness. I also want to touch on the Scripture from the Psalms, Let them know that you, whose name is the Lord—that you alone are the Most High over all the earth.  In the King James translation, this verse called God, Jehovah.  Just for our information (because this will probably come up again), Jehovah and YHWH come from the same word for God.  However, Jehovah is the Latinized version and YHWH (the Lord) comes from the ancient Hebrew.  Most scholars believe that Jehovah is not a good translation at all.  So, what does the name YHWH mean for us? It means we are never alone.  YHWH walks with His people. It means every promise He made—He will keep. It means when we pray, we are calling on the same name that split the sea, shut the mouths of lions, and raised the dead to life.   Blessings, Pastor Vicki      

#KingJames = 55Never forget Bronny was the 55th pick. Today is 5/5 so watch for hella King James symbolism in todays NBA playoff games featuring the last 2 teams Lebron won a ring with.

In these perilous and critical times, the urgent need to study and trust the King James Bible has never been more evident. This episode examines the heart and purpose of the King James translators, whose own preface reveals a deep love and reverence for the Word of God. Their intent was not to cast doubt on Scripture, but to faithfully deliver to future generations the preserved Word of God.We explore how the proliferation of modern Bible versions often removes or weakens God's Word, leaving readers uncertain and questioning truth. In contrast, the translators of the King James Bible sought to give Scripture a “free course”—freely proclaimed, freely understood, and boldly defended.Drawing from the Apostle Paul's exhortation to pray that the Word of God would have “free course” and that believers would be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, this episode reminds us that we have been granted a unique opportunity in America to share biblical truth openly. That freedom remains—right up until the return of our Lord Jesus Christ.A timely call to stand firm, cherish God's Word, and boldly let the truth run freely.The Voice in the Wilderness does not endorse any link or other material found at buzzsprout.More at https://www.thevoiceinthewilderness.org/

Deuteronomio 14:12, 18"Y estas son de las que no podréis comer: el águila, el quebrantahuesos, el azor… la cigüeña, la garza según su especie, la abubilla y el murciélago".¡No se meta con la abubilla, especialmente con las hembras! Su Creador bendijo a este pájaro con una glándula sebácea que produce un líquido de olor fétido. Cuando se frota en su plumaje, huele como carne podrida y disuade no solo a los depredadores, sino también a los parásitos. De hecho, también actúa como un agente antibacteriano.Gracias a este líquido de olor desagradable, la mayoría de los predadores se quedan lejos del nido de la abubilla. Pero, incluso cuando un depredador hace caso omiso de la hediondez y viene en busca de comida mientras la mamá abubilla está fuera, las crías no están indefensas. Aun cuando sólo tienen seis días de edad, pueden producir el mismo líquido y dispararlo con precisión en el rostro de los depredadores.Con un olor tan horrible, tal vez fue una gran bendición que Dios haya puesto a la abubilla en su lista de animales que no debían ser consumidos por Su pueblo. Por cierto, la versión King James (en el Inglés) de la Biblia se refiere a la abubilla como el avefría pero todavía estamos hablando de la abubilla. Ya que esta ave se encuentra en Deuteronomio como uno de los animales inmundos, ¿no es extraño que el estado moderno de Israel, elija la abubilla como su ave nacional?Al igual que la abubilla, toda persona nacida es inmunda a los ojos de Dios. Es por eso que Jesús Cristo, el Cordero de Dios sin pecado, se entregó a sí mismo a morir en la cruz como nuestro sustituto. ¡Él le hará limpio a los ojos de Dios cuando se arrepienta de sus pecados y ponga su confianza en Jesús!Oración: Padre Celestial, sé que no hay nada que pueda hacer para hacerme limpio y justo. Gracias por enviar a Tu Hijo, Jesucristo, a morir en la cruz para hacerme aceptable a tu vista. Amén. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1235/29?v=20251111

A @Christadelphians Video: **Ai Summary** [Inspiring] We, as Christadelphians, found this fourth instalment in the ‘So many versions of the Bible...Why?' series absolutely outstanding and wonderfully revealing. Jason Hensley takes us on an insightful journey into the world of *hapax legomena* – words that appear only once in Scripture. This thought-provoking exposition explains why translation must constantly be revised, how our growing knowledge of ancient languages (like Ugaritic and Koine Greek) unlocks meaning, and why humility is essential when handling God's Word. We explore the fascinating contrast between the simple vocabulary of John the fisherman and the technical terms of Luke the physician. The video also highlights the honest approach of the King James translators, who admitted uncertainty rather than dogmatising. If you've ever wondered why Bibles differ, this is a must-watch.**Chapters** 00:00 – Introduction 01:10 – Challenging words & translation philosophy 03:46 – What is *hapax legomena*? (Definition) 06:00 – Frequency in the New Testament (1,672 times!) 08:02 – Author backgrounds: John vs. Luke vs. Paul 10:30 – The translator's dilemma: no other passages to compare 12:42 – Using the Septuagint and extra-biblical sources 14:38 – BDAG lexicon & early Christian literature 15:29 – King James Version preface: humility and margins 17:14 – Cognate languages: Ugaritic, Akkadian, Arabic, Coptic 18:46 – Conclusion: why ongoing discovery matters **Bible Verse Category**

Ever wrestled with a question that felt too big to answer—something that Google couldn't quite help with, and the Bible app just gave a list of verses that didn't really land? We live in a world of instant answers, but spiritual wisdom takes more than a search bar. So, how do we actually find answers to hard questions using God's Word first, not last? Today's episode is called “Bible First: Finding Real Answers to Questions”, and we're talking about how to study, search, and investigate hard topics using Scripture, not just shortcuts. And the episode is less about specific questions and more about methods to use when searching for answers. When you have a question, where do you usually start? Why do you take this approach? Be honest! Here are more questions to consider: Why is our default to Google or search in the Bible app? And is that always bad? What does it look like to actually investigate using Scripture alone? What types of resources can we use when searching for answers? What makes this kind of study so hard for most of us? What fruit comes from doing it “the hard way”—the Bible-first way? What do we really need when we're studying? TIME and PATIENCE! I hope our listeners know that that Google is not our enemy, but we should still question the root, and the effect, of getting quick answers that we seldom meditate upon. How do you need to slow down, read, reread, and ponder God's word? This is a challenge for me, as well. We don't learn everything all at once; growth takes time. We are always learning! We encourage you to keep reading, praying, and talking with the Lord about your questions. Then, speak with mature Christians who have navigated similar questions and know their Bibles well. Subscribe so you don’t miss an episode! UNEDITED TRANSCRIPTION: 00:00:00 Patricia: Have you ever wrestled with a question that felt too big to answer? Something that Google couldn’t quite help you with? And the Bible app just gave a list of verses that didn’t really land. We live in a world of instant answers, but gaining spiritual wisdom takes more than just searching in a search bar. So today’s podcast is about using the Bible first finding real answers to our questions. Welcome to our Patterns of Truth podcast. I’m Patricia, your host, and today we are talking about how to study, search and investigate hard topics using the scriptures and not just shortcuts. Shortcuts are not a bad thing. We’ll talk about that. Um, but we want to kind of reexamine the practices that we engage in when we’re searching for answers. So this episode is about is not really about specific questions, specific hard questions that we seek to answer, but more about the methods that we can use when searching for those answers. So hello to everyone on the podcast today. Hello, Peter. Hello, Roy. Hello, Bethel. How are you all doing today? 00:01:05 Peter: Hello, hello. 00:01:07 Roy: Hey, great. Rainy and cold in Oregon. Oh it’s raining. Yeah. Rainy. 00:01:15 Bethel: Not humid here. 00:01:17 Patricia: Yeah. 00:01:17 Peter: Whereas here Bethel. 00:01:19 Bethel: Right now it’s Jersey. 00:01:21 Patricia: Yeah. 00:01:22 Bethel: It’s not Philly. It’s Jersey today. 00:01:24 Patricia: Jersey. Welcome back. All right. So um I’ll start with a panel question for all of us. So when any of us have a question, something popped into your mind. Somebody talks about something. Where do you usually start to find the answer? It can be any resource. It could be Google, it could be another. Right. So where do you start and why do you take this approach? 00:01:52 Bethel: I’m a Googler. 00:01:54 Patricia: All right. Yeah. 00:01:55 Bethel: Everybody and everybody makes fun of me that I even use Google because everybody just uses AI. Like everybody’s just like, just ask ChatGPT. Just ask ChatGPT. Um, so even googling is like outdated at this point, but depending on how deep I might text my dad. 00:02:11 Patricia: Oh, nice. All right. Cool. Roy? Peter. 00:02:17 Roy: Um, I asked my wife. 00:02:19 Patricia: Okay. 00:02:21 Roy: Um, good place to start. That’s good intuition. Um, my daughter, um, who also has very good insight. Um, and then it depends on what kind of a question. And I appreciate the Google answer. Um, in fact, I did, I used Google just the other day when I wanted to know the initial, um, area that was assigned to the tribe of Dan and I got a pretty good answer. So if the question is specific enough, um, then I think, um, Google is fine or I don’t know about chat, I haven’t used chat GP so I don’t know how that works, but I know Google uses AI underneath. So Google basically a, a front end to an AI program. Yeah. But it has to be specific. It depends on the type of question. 00:03:18 Patricia: Yeah, I like that you mentioned that because sometimes you could do like a broad question and then who knows what you’re going to get just just how Google works. Right. Sorry, Peter. 00:03:28 Peter: Yeah. I, I would say I try to find the shortest article I find, usually from kind of the same circle of church community. Amen. Um, um, and uh, definitely Google. Like sometimes it’s like a specific website that I go to other than, uh, I find got questions sometimes is a website that would help a lot in like general questions. Uh, if it’s something specific, more doctrine, I go back to the like some brief, uh, article and then control F to find. Yeah, the article. So, uh, yeah, I do that. 00:04:12 Patricia: Yeah. All right. That’s practical, I like it. I tend to start with the Bible app for some reason, right? There’s just, I don’t know, it’s, uh, it’s easy and I don’t know, there’s something I like Google, but I feel like So I really slow down and I think about like, what I feel when I Google something, I usually feel fear because I think that there are questions that I may have that when I Google it, there are harmful or anti-God, anti-Christian things that seem to pop up at the top. And I honestly just don’t want to see that when I’m searching out something. I don’t know what it is, but it just really disturbs me. Um, I know some people can see it and just discard it, but for me, it just, it really unsettles me. So I tend to like not want to go to Google for some reason. So maybe the Bible app, I’m trying to protect myself in some way. I’m not sure. But, um, our first question really is about like, why do we think that, um, a more popular default for searching for any question will be Google or a search in the Bible app? Why is that something that we tend to do these days? And is that always a bad thing? 00:05:21 Peter: Well, convenience. 00:05:24 Patricia: Um. 00:05:25 Roy: It depends a lot on the question. 00:05:28 Patricia: Do you ever feel like. Or maybe I should ask it this way? Is there a scenario where you find something on Google or a different tool, and it makes you immediately stop searching? Like you don’t go back to your Bible? Or does the opposite happen? You find what you need and then you say, oh, I want to go deeper. What does that look like? 00:05:50 Roy: Really depends upon the subject matter and the question. Okay. Um, I think, you know. 00:05:56 Peter: Yeah. I mean, for, for Patricia’s point, um, that’s a good point because I think when I Google things, it does stop me from digging more into scripture because I found the solution or at least part of an answer, and then I’m satisfied with it. Um, so that’s a, that’s a good point. I mean, we’re definitely not against technology. We should use technology. Um, if it’s your favorite AI search, LLM or Google, uh, it can be useful. Um, but, um, I think studying scripture as we can talk soon about is and, uh, like changing your heart through studying scripture is more just knowledge. Um, and I think you reach just knowledge if you like, get the answer quickly. 00:06:55 Roy: Yes. That’s very important point. Uh, and I want to emphasize that we are talking about having a specific question or a question about something. We get an answer, but that should lead us to dig deeper. And that should even that even specific studies should not keep us from regular Bible reading. Um, and that’s where we gain a general knowledge of God’s character. Um, you know, there’s a, a rule, there’s apps and whatnot that lead you through the Bible? Genesis to revelation in a year? Well, you may or may not want to use one of those apps, but the point is you have to be generally familiar with your Bible. I found questions that are, quite surprisingly in books like Ecclesiastes or Proverbs or Chronicles, and that seem to have nothing to do with the subject matter, but they. But they’re put in a way that for trigger thinking about things in a different way. So general Bible reading needs to always be done on a regular basis. 00:08:03 Patricia: Yeah. So leading into that, um, or coming out of that point, I should say, uh, if we had no technology, right. I couldn’t use my phone. Google’s down. It does happen from time to time, right? We can’t get to the website that we want. Um, I’m thinking about that AWS blackout from a few weeks ago where people were panicking. They couldn’t find anything. So if we only had our Bible in front of us, the actual physical volume, what does it look like to investigate using Scripture alone? Where does it start? 00:08:38 Roy: Need to know the books of the Bible and where they are. 00:08:41 Patricia: Mhm. Mhm. 00:08:44 Speaker 6: And I think maybe a general gist of what’s happening in each one. 00:08:48 Patricia: Yeah. 00:08:49 Roy: Definitely the difference between the Old and New Testament. Mhm. Um, and it also helps to have a, a mental map like Bethel was saying of what generally goes together. And this is fairly obvious, and I think a lot of people, uh, talk about it. So maybe we don’t need to belabor the point, but there are prophetic books, there are poetry books, there are history books, and there’s the Pentateuch and there’s New Testament. That’s a general classification. But we should know generally how how the different books relate to one another. Like among the Gospels, Matthew presents the Lord Jesus as the King. And I’m not saying anything that is particularly remarkable. I mean, we I think we all know this quote. 00:09:44 Bethel: And maybe instead of just looking up, oh, what does the Bible say about this? Fill in the blank. We could use Google as a resource to say, hey, how is the Bible split up? What is the Old Testament about? What are the parts of the Old Testament? What makes it different from the New Testament? What makes the Gospels different from each other? And you can use the internet as that type of resource to dig deeper in that way. 00:10:10 Patricia: Yeah. I think also if someone is a new believer, I mean, it’s, it might feel like kind of steep, right? Like, oh, before you start, you got to memorize all these things. I think while you’re doing it, I think I’m looking at the front of my Bible. There’s a table of contents, right? So if you’re a new Christian, or maybe it’s been a little while, if you if you need the pages with the numbers, right, start with it, like where each book of the Bible is. And what’s great is like most Bibles, like mine is organized, it tells you what’s in the Old Testament, what’s in the New Testament, and that can help you with organizing. Um, we’re looking at the Bible like how it’s, how it’s organized. And I think that’s a good place to begin. Um, I. 00:10:52 Peter: Think it’s high yield to Patricia. Like knowing the books of the Bible can be very helpful and knowing like the sections that, like Roy was saying, and I can argue also like some of them maybe can, they’re not inspired the chapters, but knowing how many chapters, like, you know, like, oh, you know, for example, Ephesians and Galatians are six chapters. Colossians and Philippians are four chapters. Um, so help you kind of. you know, contain or have a hold of of the book and how, how long it is. 00:11:29 Patricia: Yeah, that’s really good. And I think too, it’s, um, it’s good to think of how while we learned about what the book of the Bible’s are and how the Bible’s organized, that we can still start reading it. I think sometimes it can feel like levels like, oh, I can’t, I can’t do this until I do that. But it’s like, no, start reading while you’re memorizing where the books of the Bible are. So we talked about, I guess, operationally speaking, knowing how the Bible’s organized, but is there another way that we can begin that helps us when we’re just looking at the scripture alone and trying to find an answer? 00:12:08 Peter: We need help from Roy on this one. 00:12:14 Roy: Well, it’s been a long time since I was, uh, first, uh, I was pretty much know where everything is right now, and I hope this is going to be cut out of the. That’s the final deal. Um, well, again, I have to go back to the kind of question, I guess, because questions about the church, for example, if I have a question about that, I’m going to have to look in the New Testament. And I have to start with acts because that’s where the church began. And then Paul’s epistles in particular. So having a knowledge of where things are talked about and explained in Scripture is almost essential. Um, if you need comfort, let me give a couple of examples. We often look to the Psalms for comfort and encouragement, but in doing that, you need to realize that it’s a Jewish book. And so there are things in the Psalms which do not apply to us. Um, the Imprecatory Psalms in particular, which are Psalms which call down judgment upon our enemies. Well, if you’re new to the Bible, you might get confused by some of that. If you haven’t read and absorbed Romans, for example, toward the end where it says, vengeance is mine, I will repay, saith the Lord. And if you haven’t really digested that. So I guess I’d have to say that we need to start looking through the New Testament to get a feel for the kinds of things that are particularly appropriate for the Christian. I’m thinking of a new believer now. Sometimes we say, okay, start reading John’s gospel. Well, that’s a good one. Um, if I say start reading Matthew, Then I may run across the kingdom of God, where servants are failed, and throw in thrown into outer darkness. And that kind of verses have led to the idea of we can lose our salvation if you don’t really understand what the kingdom of God is. So there is some basic knowledge that’s required. You know, if you keep reading, then you’ll get to John’s Gospel. And there you find out that if you’re in the hand of the Lord, no one can pluck you out. And so there’s the answer. But some of this can be confusing to a new person. So the only solution is, I think, to ask somebody that you can trust, give you a general feeling for what the different books talk about. And then you have to have your general knowledge to have scripture reading it through to, to come up with stuff. And I gotta say this right here too. There are several verses that emphasize that God is compassionate and he preserves the simple. And I think if actually, in my experience, the biggest hindrance is pride. So if we come to the Bible with the proper attitude that this is God’s word, then I think God can lead us. The Holy Spirit leads us to apply things in the right way. Um, striking verses in um, um, Psalm one hundred and sixteen six is perhaps just a good one. Um, and also in Proverbs there’s some. So God and God will guide us if we’re humble enough to learn from him. 00:16:15 Peter: Yeah. Just to add to what Roy was saying is when you’re studying the scripture, uh, it’s good to, uh, uh, look at the context of. 00:16:25 Roy: Right. 00:16:26 Peter: Uh, I think that’s what Roy’s saying also of the whole scripture and the book and the context of the chapter. What does it talk about? 00:16:36 Patricia: So then, okay, so we have the word of God, um, itself, and we have the Holy Spirit who will teach us and reveal things to us that we cannot learn just intellectually on our own. So when we’re Christians, we have that. We have him as a resource. But what about some other resources that we can use when searching for answers? I’m talking about things that other very mature Christians who have studied the Bible have put together. Um, and I’m thinking of a concordance. I’m thinking of biblical commentaries. Um, can we have some commentary on that? What type of resources can we use when searching for answers and how do we use them? 00:17:19 Roy: Concordance is really helpful. I use a concordance frequently. Usually there’s a concordance at the back of most Bibles that is tuned to the particular, um, um, uh, version that you’re using, uh, translation, but you can always do a cross-reference. You know, the standard concordance is ah, Strong’s and Young’s someone that says strongest for the weak and young is for the old. But be that as it may, um, they’re both both good, although they’re different. Um, um, and if you’re not using King James, both of those are based on King James. Maybe they’ve been upgraded, I don’t know, or changed. But anyway, you can always, um, if you have a particular verse in NIV, for example, look it up at the same verse, uh, in, uh, in the King James. Um, and figure out what verse, what word you want to look up and then go to the concordance with that. Now, I use Young’s a lot because it gives the Greek and Hebrew and, um, that can be helpful if you have a good, um, uh, uh, dictionary, uh, specific, you know, the, the, the old Testament, uh, dictionary I use is um, theological wordbook of the old Testament, which is good, good Hebrew, uh, analysis. I don’t know a word of Hebrew. So I just have to depend in that, uh, in Greek, uh, in Hebrew. 00:18:56 Speaker 7: Let me ask you, Roy. 00:18:57 Peter: Um, I, I don’t remember the last time I used the concordance. Bethel. Have you you. 00:19:05 Bethel: Really just just the one in the back of my Bible. 00:19:09 Peter: Uh, are we missing out a lot because we’re not using the concordance or when do you use it? Do you. When is the deep study verse by verse? 00:19:19 Patricia: Wait, so maybe I should define it and it will help to answer the question. Right? I’m thinking that the concordance is actually what the search bar is now in the Bible app. But all right, so the definition of concordance, it’s an alphabetical index of all the words in the Bible or any text. And it lists where each word appears. So it’s an alphabetical index of all the words in a text and lists where each word appears. 00:19:48 Roy: Now the problem is, and this is why I use Young’s analytical concordance, is that there are only about four thousand words in the Hebrew biblical Hebrew. Now, modern Hebrew is totally different, but we’re dealing with an Old Testament text. And if you think about the number of words that we have in the English language, It’s up in the. Millions and more are being added every year. So to have four thousand words in a language means that each word is going to have to do multiple jobs. And so context is really important. And you can get that information. You can look that information up, uh, in the, um, in the back of the Young’s concordance and figure out how the different words are being used in the context in which they’re being used. So you can kind of parse that out. So it is definitely for a deeper study of, of the words. But the basic idea is that it gives you a list of verses where the word is used. 00:20:56 Patricia: Mhm. 00:20:56 Roy: And so you can go and compare where the word is used or how the word is being used in these different verses. And in the back of Young’s Concordance, you also have a reverse cross reference so that you can look up the Hebrew word, for example, and see the different version, the different ways the translators have translated it. So you get a sense of how specific the word is and, um, and what the translators were thinking of when they translated it. You can sort of figure that out. So, um, those kinds of things have to do with puzzling verses that you run across and they just, why? What does that mean? And so if you’re trying to figure out what that means or what a particular verse means, then, uh, a concordance is really helpful. Okay. 00:22:00 Patricia: So on the most basic level, for example, if I have a question about world peace, does the Bible ever talk about world peace? I can look up the word peace in a physical concordance. And I know Strong’s is like big and blue. Maybe they updated it, but the one I grew up seeing was like baby blue. Um, and you could look up the word peace. And when you look it up, it’s got a list of every single place that the word peace is mentioned. And you have to go through each verse to decipher what the definition of peace, I guess you could say is being, or I should say like the part of speech is being used, right? Is it the peace that’s between that passes all understanding for Christians? Is it the peace between God and humans? Now, because of the Lord Jesus? Is it peace that God will establish in the future? So you have to really do some legwork to find out if what you’re looking for is the definition of the word that you found. I guess you would say, is that like how you start at the most basic level? 00:23:04 Roy: Yes. 00:23:05 Patricia: Okay. All right. But if you’re advanced, you’d be like, going towards more nuanced definitions of the word. Um, maybe if they’re in Greek or in Hebrew, there are different words for different types of peace, which I know, like for people who are bilingual, they understand that a lot better than I do. Like being monolingual. I only speak English, but I know there are multiple words. Say, for example, love. So you can’t just look up love. You can. But there’s so much variety in what you’ll find. So it takes effort, right? That’s what it sounds like. Effort. 00:23:42 Roy: Yeah, yeah. You have to do some study. Okay. Probably a real example would be, um, the word corruption in the New Testament. Okay. That has a certain, uh, mental image brought up. But the problem is that in Greek, which is what the base language that the New Testament was translated from, the Greek word uses the same word, same Greek word for two different kinds of corruption. Now we distinguish, for example, corruption from decay. Decay is what results from the law of physics. The entropy. You throw a pile of grass out in the in the backyard and after a while it decays. Um, on the other hand, um, immorality is also corruption. So this, this requires that you kind of look at the verse and try and figure out what is being meant by the word decay. But and some translators will translate them differently. Sometimes they won’t. Okay. 00:24:53 Patricia: So then I guess it’s good to just have a dictionary. Yes. Do I know what the words mean that I’m searching up? Right. That I think that would probably be useful. Like even in your own language, like, you know, the way we use certain words are not necessarily how they’re always used in other contexts? It would be good to have a dictionary as well. Okay. All right. So we got the concordance. So what about biblical commentaries? What are they? When should be the when should they be used and does the publication date matter? 00:25:27 Peter: I thought the use the commentary. 00:25:29 Bethel: Honestly, I’m big on commentaries. I am an enduring word person. Um, I don’t know how the saints feel about that, but I like it. Um, no, I just think it’s very helpful that like sometimes, honestly, I’ll sit and read a passage and I’m like, wow. Um, my reading comprehension is not with us today. I have no idea what I just read. And so sometimes enduring word does a good job of setting the scene of where are we in the chapter? What’s going on? Um, and it breaks it down like couple verses at a time. And then it’ll provide like texts of what certain authors have said about said portion. Um, so it’s very helpful to get a well-rounded picture. Of course, like anything else, we are trying to emphasize that using things as a resource is good. Using things as the source is not good. And so referring back to the Word of God and just kind of, you know, I think we said this, but to, to pray and ask the Lord for wisdom and help. Um, because that’s, that’s the main reason that we can understand any of this because of the help of the Holy Spirit and, um, to kind of be able to have a better understanding of the word of God, but using scriptures in itself to understand you look at a couple commentaries. I mean, like that’s, I really thought about like, how did I learn anything when I was applying for college? How did I learn how any of that process worked? I read a million articles and I read a million Reddit posts, and I read a million everything. And I gathered information on what is what are people saying? And so you can go about it like that, but ultimately approaching it prayerfully and using things, like we said, as a resource, not as the source. 00:27:16 Roy: Yes, that’s that’s a very important principle because no resource I haven’t I’ve been through lots of different translations, for example, and I don’t find any single one that’s perfect or that I, you know, isn’t without some complaint that I can come up with. Uh, and that’s doubly true of commentaries. We have to look at several. And it changes over the years. The commentaries that I looked at when I was, uh, twenty or thirty are quite different than the ones I look at today. But we have to look at different ones and think about what they’re saying in context. And we have to talk to different people to. MM. 00:27:58 Patricia: Oh, one thing I forgot to do was like, define what a commentary is. I know the word comment is in commentary, but there are some people who don’t use a commentary at all. Or maybe they’re nervous about it because it seems like, is it about the Bible? How am I supposed to know? So just by way of defining things, a biblical commentary is a written aid that provides explanations and sometimes interpretations of scriptures to help readers better understand a biblical text. So there are lots of different types. There are some that are about certain topics that are discussing certain topics. And then there are others that are, um, devotional, um, there are some that are historical, cultural. So Bethel, probably the one that you’re talking about. And I’ve seen some in some study Bibles where they give the context of the cultural Sauk, um, backdrop of a particular book of the Bible or a particular passage. And that’s really helpful to help to assist in how we can understand. But like I said, there’s lots of different types of commentaries that we. 00:29:06 Bethel: I think. 00:29:06 Patricia: It is. 00:29:06 Bethel: Helpful along the lines of what you’re saying. I took a class and it’s silly that I had to take a class about this in college to understand it. But always, always, always, no matter what you are looking up, know what the source is and knowing what the point of the source is like. For example, if I’m reading a commentary that is meant for daily encouragement, it’s always going to be not twisted, but the point pulled out of that portion will be to encourage me. And so maybe that’s not exactly what this portion is, or that’s not the point of this portion, or that’s not the context that this portion originally was in. So being able to read a resource and take a step back and put it back in the big picture, is this what the what the scripture is saying? Is this what our context is? Does this fit into what we’re understanding here? AM I getting this right? Always, always, always looking back at what is the source? 00:30:01 Roy: Yes, that’s extremely important. Um, if you pick up something from Legionnaire, for example, which is a reformed, uh, outlet, um, you’re going to have reformed theology woven in and some of what they said is going to be quite wrong. Uh, from my point of view, um, but a lot of it is going to be spot on. You know, I was once riding in a car. This really struck me because I was riding in, in the car listening to some religious program of some kind. It was just a general program. No, it was a Catholic priest, and it was one of the best explanations of a particular subject in Scripture that I had heard. I haven’t heard anything better since, but that was a Catholic priest, but it just happened to be a subject that was so universal that, uh, any denomination basically would, um, would agree to what he said. Uh, but it was, it was very sound and very well put. But if I’m going to listen to him about the remembrance meeting, as we call it, or can, um, confession or something like that, that’s not going to be reliable. So having the source, knowing the source is extremely important. 00:31:15 Patricia: What should people do if they, if the answer they are seeking, the support they’re seeking can be found in a commentary that was written a long time ago, but it just doesn’t make sense to you because we understand things a little bit differently now. What should they do? 00:31:33 Roy: That’s a really tough one. And the best advice that I can say is to talk to somebody about it. Um, an older person, uh, it’s really unfortunate. Uh, you know, it’s, it’s terrible because I, I see exactly what you’re, what you’re talking about. Um, some of these, some of these texts should be rewritten. Um, but who’s going to do that? We just don’t have the energy and the time anymore. Um, if you, if you really want to get into some of the best commentaries I remember, I tell you a funny story. I was in a Bible study at work for a while, and as a miscellaneous group of people there from all kinds of denominations. And, um, we were talking everything and I said, well, I don’t think anything useful has been written about the Bible in the last hundred years. 00:32:27 Patricia: Mhm. 00:32:29 Roy: Well, that was a good talking point. We got off on a real discussion about commentaries. Right. But the problem is it’s it’s almost true. And it’s sad. Um, if you really want to learn about these, then get a dictionary. Sit down and just work at it. MM. That’s all I can say. You know, it’s like if you want, if you want to be really good at something, If you want to be a great basketball player and always be able to sink that shot from beyond the third three shot line, three point line. That’s going to take concentration. It’s going to take work. It’s going to take effort. It’s going to take time. Yeah. So I’m I’m sorry. There’s just no other way. 00:33:18 Patricia: Yeah. No I don’t think you have to be sorry. I do think that there’s something there’s something in the effort that comes forth. And just on the literacy side, like I’ve always got two suggestions. Um, one is using technology and one is just reading out loud. So at times reading out loud, right, can help bring a certain clarity that the voice in your head may not be able to, um, and reading something repeatedly out loud in a conversational voice can be very helpful. Um, in terms of helping you to hear what the author is saying. My second suggestion is that particular sentences or passages you don’t understand, honestly, you can feed it into AI and ask AI, can you please change the level which is literacy? You could change the lexile level. That is what it’s called, or just the reading level of the passage. And you can put it down to like a ninth grade or tenth grade level. If you’re in nine states and it’s going to help you a lot. Just know that it may take away some of the original author’s voice and their particular writing style. Um, but that could be really helpful for you to get the gist of what they’re trying to say. But do be careful because those commentaries are commenting on the Bible, which is God’s Word and AI, and Google those resources. When they summarize, they can lose the original nuances of the words that the Lord intends. So always just know that the technology is not perfect either. Um, and it can also just be a way to just lose the true core meaning of a passage. So just be careful. Thank you, Peter Boy and Bethel for this important conversation about how to answer any question using the Bible. Of course, I’ll go back to the beginning. Knowing the books of the Bible and where they are is always a really great challenge to put upon yourself. Memorize them. We used to have competitions about this when we were younger. There’s some there are there are songs. Right? Exactly. But that’s a really good place to start. Um, I hope that our listeners know that Google is not our enemy. The internet is not our enemy. We love technology, but we should always question the root. The effect of getting quick answers. Um, when we seldom meditate on those answers. So let’s think about how we need to slow down, read, reread, and ponder God’s Word. It’s a challenge for me as well. And just know that we don’t need to learn everything all at once. Growth takes time as well. So we encourage you to keep reading, praying, and talking to the Lord about your questions. And then also, as has been mentioned so many times, talk to mature Christians who have navigated similar questions and they know their Bibles well. They can probably give you some really great supports as to how they have been helped too. For more on this topic, you can check out Patterns of Truth dot org and we will see you next time for another conversation about living this Christian life. 00:36:15 Speaker 1: Thank you for listening to the Patterns of Truth podcast. We invite you to join us for our next episode. And we also encourage you to check out Patterns of truth dot org, where we post articles every week for the encouragement and growth of Christ followers. If you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to submit them on our website. I’m Peter. Until next time. The post Using God's Word to Answer Hard Questions appeared first on Patterns of Truth.

A @Christadelphians Video: [Inspiring] We continue our thought-provoking series on Bible translations with an outstanding and wonderfully insightful exposition. In this session, we tackle the delicate subject of translator bias—not as a conspiracy, but as a reality that requires careful, gracious handling. We explore Granville Sharp's famous Greek rule, revealing how what sometimes looks like doctrinal insertion is often simply more accurate grammar. This is a wonderful opportunity to grow in discernment and trust in the integrity of Scripture.**Chapters** 00:00 – Introduction: Picking up the discussion on bias 00:30 – The reality of translator bias vs. textual accuracy 01:39 – Are translators trying to deceive? A call for fairness 02:52 – Why bias appears: grammar, not always an agenda 03:54 – The danger of accusing bias without knowing the languages 04:32 – Granville Sharp's rule: what it is and why it matters 06:16 – Breaking down the rule: “kai,” nouns, and the Greek article 08:17 – Matthew 12:22: How translation choices clarify meaning 10:33 – New King James vs. King James: applying the rule 11:38 – 2 Corinthians 1:3: “God and Father” as one person 12:57 – Titus 2:13 & 2 Peter 1:1: Jesus called “God” 14:34 – Why this shouldn't unsettle us (God manifestation explained) 17:26 – Conclusion: The solution—read multiple translations**Bible Verse Category**

The Plymouth Company was chartered by King James in 1606 with responsibility for colonizing the northern east coast of America. The merchants agreed to finance the settlers’ trip in return for repayment of their expenses plus interest out of the profits made. The Plymouth Company established the Popham Colony, in present-day Maine, the northern answer to the previously discussed Jamestown Colony, founded by the Virginia Company of London. The Popham Colony was named for its chief investor and Lord Chief Justice of England Sir John Popham who presided over the trials of Sir Walter Raleigh and the conspirators of the Gunpowder Plot, including Guy Fawkes. Enjoy this ENCORE Presentation! Check out the YouTube version of this episode at https://youtu.be/8ir6XfrrUMw which has accompanying visuals including maps, charts, timelines, photos, illustrations, and diagrams. Ferdinando Gorges books available at https://amzn.to/45G3VIg Popham Colony books available at https://amzn.to/3C3Qvbu Maine History books available at https://amzn.to/3N3e2zH New England History books available at https://amzn.to/3OKBPWe Abenaki books available at https://amzn.to/43CqDiL ENJOY Ad-Free content, Bonus episodes, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on https://patreon.com/markvinet SUPPORT this channel by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at NO extra charge to you). Mark Vinet's HISTORICAL JESUS podcast at https://parthenonpodcast.com/historical-jesus Mark's TIMELINE video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/MarkVinet_HNA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Mark's books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

God's Word is packed full of power … power unlimited … to transform your life. But one of the biggest problems people have with the Bible is understanding it. Making sense of it. Knowing where it comes from, and where what they're reading today fits into the big picture. Well, I think it's time we did something about that.   About the Bible – Old and New We've all heard of those word association tests that psychologists use. You know, they say 'black', you say 'white'; they say 'rabbit' and you say 'carrot'; day/night; God/mmm love; devil/mmm evil; Bible/hmm … Bible? How do you respond to that? Stuffy, old, irrelevant? Well, different people will have some different views but actually in Australia where I live, the Bible is one of the least trusted of all historical documents. Over the last week and a bit on the program we've been talking about the incredible power that we unlock, when we read the Bible. But this thing that we call "the Bible", it's a big book, it's massive and it can be daunting. So today I thought it might be useful just to have a look to see what this Bible is exactly. I want to share with you a secret, it's sad but true. I never read a book cover to cover until I was in my early twenties. I managed to get through school and university and did pretty well I might add, without ever reading a book from beginning to end. I remember at university, in first year English, we studied the book Wuthering Heights which absolutely bored me to tears, I'm sorry and I never opened the book once. There are companies that publish crib notes, you know the summary of the book and a summary of what's in it and a summary of what some of the critics say, so I just quickly read those, crib notes, wrote essays and did, by and large, reasonably well. And I never, ever liked libraries either. You know how libraries have this kind of dusty, dank smell; all of them are the same. Every library on the planet has the same smell. I thought about it for a while, I thought 'Berni, why don't you like libraries? Why did it take you so long to read books?' The answer I guess has two parts. Firstly, libraries for me always felt really big and inaccessible. They have tens of thousands of books and in the old days when I was at university, they had card systems for accessing, for finding things, I mean these days they have computers. The old card systems had what they call the Dewey Classification system and finding anything just took so incredibly long. And secondly, when you did find the stuff, there was always so much of it, there was so much time involved to, I don't know, look through all those books and research them. I mean, some people are natural book worms, well I'm not. I still frankly don't like libraries. I'm sorry if you're a librarian, I just don't like libraries. I haven't darkened the doorstep of one since I finished my last degree quite a few years ago now. You know something; I think for a lot of people the Bible is exactly like that. It feels big and inaccessible. There are many, many people who wouldn't mind having a read but, for goodness sakes, where do you start? Well today let's break it down a bit, let's make it a bit more accessible. I remember when I started Bible College only a few months after becoming a Christian, everyone took for granted that we knew about the Bible. The reality was, I didn't and my hunch is, I wasn't alone. Let's unpack it a bit, let's demystify it a bit. All of a sudden you know it becomes a whole bunch more accessible. The thing that we call the Bible is made up of 66 different books written by different people over somewhere between 1,000 and 1,500 years. That's the kind of period over which the Bible was written. And it wasn't just written by different people but at different times and the last book was written, well almost 2,000 years ago. There are essentially two parts to the Bible, this was complete news to me when I first opened it, the Old Testament and the New Testament, and when I started at Bible College I didn't know which one was which. The Old Testament, well the Old Testament is God's story and the story of how He interacted with and engaged with His chosen people, the Israelites. The Old Testament is written completely B.C., before Christ, before Jesus came to be on earth with us here. What Christians call the Old Testament is in fact exactly the same as the Jewish Hebrew scriptures, Jews still use those same scriptures today, Christians call it the Old Testament. It's written mostly in the original language of Hebrew, the language of the Jews. Now there's small parts of books like Daniel which is written in a language called Aramaic which is the language that Jesus actually spoke but by and large, the Old Testament was originally written in the language of Hebrew. And what we have today, the thing that we call the Old Testament is an English translation of that. Now there are lots of funny name books, Deuteronomy and Judges and Chronicles and there's Ezekiel, there are 39 separate books and there are kind of 4 main parts of the Old Testament. The first 5 books, Genesis to Deuteronomy, are the Jewish or Hebrew Law, the Torah. And then you go Joshua through Ezra and Nehemiah and that's kind of the history of what God did and how His people responded. And then after that are the wisdom books, Job, Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, Song of Solomon and Lamentations. And the rest of the books in the Old Testament are written by men called Prophets. Men whom God called to call His people back to Him. That's the Old Testament, it's a story of God engaging with Gods people. And the New Testament is 27 books. Now, it was mostly written in the language of Greek. The first 4 books, Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are gospel accounts, they're the historical account of Jesus' life and His ministry. And the next book, the book of Acts is the story of the first 20 or so years of the Church after Jesus rose again to be with His Father. Then there's a whole bunch of letters called Epistles from people like Peter and John and Paul, written to Churches that they were involved in or in some cases, to individuals. This may be old hat to some, but I know to many, just a simple understanding of the basic structure of the Bible is going to be a real help. I know that when I was a new Christian, no one ever bothered to explain it to me – I wish they had. Now some people might be saying to themselves, that's all well and good, but how accurate is the Bible. Because before the printing press was ever invented by Gutenberg in 1450, the Bible – there's this massive thing, the Old Testament and New Testament – was transcribed over and over by hand by people called Scribes who copied them by hand. It's hard to imagine. But these days, there's a science called Textual Criticism. It studies whether any errors crept into the Bible as it was copied through all these generations manuscripts. And what it tells us, is that having studied thousands of manuscripts, the levels of accuracy are remarkable. I mean it's a science, people have done it. There are very, very few words or sentences where there is any doubt what was originally written. And blessedly these days, this thing called the Bible has been translated into easy to read, contemporary versions. No more thee's and thou's – great, modern day, accurate, easy to understand translations. And did you know that in the Bible, over half of the 66 books, over half, you can read in half and hour or less. Now look, in a few minutes we can't hope to do anything but scrape the surface. Today we've just talked about some basic factual stuff. No-one really taught me this stuff. I remember becoming a Christian and going and sitting in a Church and people just teach from the Bible which is wonderful but no-one ever explained to me that it was 66 books written by a whole bunch of people over different periods of time. That some of it was stories and history and some of it was letters and some of it was poetry. But when you simplify and demystify all that stuff, it turns out that it's just a wonderful book. And with the many contemporary translations, it's much, much easier to read than I ever thought. As I started to read the Gospels – Matthew, Mark, Luke and John in the New Testament, I was completely blown away by this amazing Jesus. Who would have thought … the Bible.   Getting Practical – Useful Resources I have to tell you, that thing they call the Bible was a real problem for me. I mean, first coming to grips with the fact that it is what it says that it is, the Word of God but then, just getting into it. It's made up of 66 separate books written over about 1,500 years in different times, in different places and different cultures. So there are words and names and places and concepts and ways of thinking … well, we're not always familiar with them. We're continuing in our series 'Power Unlimited' – because that's what Go's Word brings into our lives so today, we're going to get down and really practical on just how to get into the Bible because unless we do, we're going to miss out on much of the power that God wants to pour into our lives. Over the years I've discovered a few very simple helps or resources that have made such a difference in making sense of God's Word. You see, it turns out there's a whole bunch of people much smarter than me who have done some great research and put the information together in such easy usable ways and all their work makes getting into God's Word, the Bible, so much easier for the likes of you and me. Today I just want to share some of those resources with you. I remember twenty or so years ago, just after I became a Christian, I started attending a tiny little Baptist Church in the southern suburbs of Sydney. A little place called Oyster Bay. Our pastor, Phil, was a passionate and gifted Bible teacher and that man has had a huge impact on my life. Now as well as Sunday services, the Church used to have these little home Bible studies and we'd meet one night a week in someone's house. In our small group, five of us would gather together. And at the time, the particular little home fellowship that I'd joined, was studying the Old Testament book of Hosea. So we'd lob in there each Wednesday evening, we'd have a cup of tea and some fellowship and then we'd sit down and do a Bible study together. And right through that book, over and over and over again, Hosea talks about Ephraim – that word is mentioned 29 times by Hosea. So I remember asking these people, most of them had been Christians for a good many years, "Okay, who or what is this Ephraim thing?" I mean, Hosea kept talking about it and so it seemed to be quite central to what he was saying. But you know something, no-one could tell me who or what Ephraim was. Now it turns out the Ephraim was one of the tribes of Israel, Ephraim was one of Joseph's sons and there's a whole history around this tribe and how they rebelled against God, but we didn't know that in that Bible study so a lot of what God was saying to us, through this amazing, powerful book of Hosea, well it was frankly lost on us. And that sort of thing happens a lot more than you might think. Consider the story of the Good Samaritan. It loses its whole meaning if we don't understand the Samaritans and who they were and what the Jews thought of them. Now when Jesus told that story to the assembled masses they all knew the Samaritan story but we don't, it's not natural to us. And there are names and places and concepts and ways of thinking in the Bible that are foreign to us, because we're separated from them by time and culture. It might have made sense to the people back then but not to us now. And unless we understand those things, we miss out on the richness, on the gravity, on the power of what God is trying to say to us. I remember coming to grips with the Jewish system of blood sacrifice in the Old Testament. Now I kind of think about blood sacrifice and it's pretty ghastly to me here and now, but it's something I really had to understand to understand what Jesus did for me on the Cross. So I decided I was going to find out, not just skim the surface, not read through a story and have them talk about Ephraim or Samaria or all these other things I didn't know about and miss out on what God was trying to say to me through the story. Now these accounts were written such a long time ago and God has preserved them and kept them accurate for us here and now but there is indeed a gap of culture and time in history that we have to bridge to understand completely what's happening in what's been written. I mean after all if the Bible is God's Word and if God is speaking to us through it, I decided I needed to know what He was saying. And surprisingly, that's not as difficult as I thought it would be. Right now, I'm going to talk about a handful of really simple resources that made absolutely the world of difference. The first one was my Bible, a simple English translation, not the King James with the 'thees' and 'thou arts', there are so many good contemporary language translations available to you and me today. The New International Version or the NIV as it's called, is really popular. I happen to use the New Revised Standard Version (the NRSV). There's a translation called The Message which is really in here and now language. The Contemporary English Version (CEV). The New English Translation (NET). Which one is the best one? The one you're going to read. You can get a thing called A Study Bible, it's got not just the words of the Bible, but it's also got a huge amount of resources packed into it. It explains the meanings of different words, there are notes and maps and cross references. They're really good, they don't cost a whole bunch more than a Bible with just the Bible words. So if you want to do more than just skim across the surface, it's really good to have one of those – a Study Bible. Check them out. One of the most helpful features in a Study Bible is a summary of each book: who wrote it, when, to whom and why because context is so important isn't it? Before I read Ephesians I read four or five paragraphs in my Study Bible which explain the context and all of a sudden the book of Ephesians made a whole bunch more sense to me. A Study Bible is a really worthwhile investment and it's not much more than an ordinary Bible. You can get one from a Christian bookshop or you can buy one online. I happen to have an electronic one these days on my tablet device. The second resource is my Bible dictionary. Now I happen to purchase a Bible dictionary called the Holman Bible Dictionary, years ago – it's just one, single volume. You can get Bible dictionaries that are 25 volumes, mine is just one volume and it has pictures. So when I was reading and it talked about the Temple in the Bible, I could go to my Bible dictionary and look at it and see a picture and plans and explaining the different parts. So I'm able to read a few paragraphs in just a few minutes, and I'm there, I understand what the writers saying about the Temple, about the Holy of Holies, wow! When the Bible talks about Ephraim I look it up, half a column, three minutes, I know who or what Ephraim is. The story of the Good Samaritan; who were the Samaritans? What was their relationship to the Jews? Ah! That's what Jesus meant by the story of the Good Samaritan. And lastly, the third resource was a Bible timeline. It's one of these things you can fold out and it's about four pages wide that show the chronology of the Bible. You read about King David, when was he king? Who was King before him? Who was King after him? What else was going on? Which prophets were writing when David was alive? And all of a sudden you put the whole Bible thing in time sequence, that's huge. And just to top things off, let me tell you about two stunning websites. The first is biblegateway.com where you can compare different Bible translations. The second is studylight.org, it has Bible dictionaries online, the meanings of Greek and Hebrew words, and so many more great resources. All free. So let me ask you? Do you take Jesus seriously? If you do then we need to take the Bible seriously. And for just a small investment on your part in just a few simple resources, they pay such huge dividends in hearing and understanding what God is saying to us today through His Word.   Listen and Learn If you spend anytime with me here on the program one of the things you will know is that I'm really passionate about God and what He has to say. Not in a religious sort of a way but in a Jesus sort of way. The thing that really strikes me about Jesus when you read about Him, is how plain and matter of fact He was about sharing with people who God is and what His plans are. Over these last couple of weeks on the program we've been looking at what it means to lay hold of God's power unlimited, God's resurrection power that's available to you, as you open His Word the Bible and listen to what He has to say. The Bible is God speaking to us and He means to challenge us and stretch us and encourage us and bless us through His Word. One of the ways that many people get God's Word into them is by listening to people speak. Radio programs like this or on television and of course, if you attend a Church. But how can preaching and teaching be a part of really getting God's Word into us? Over these last twenty years or so, the time that I've been a Christian, I've seen two things. On the one hand I have been so blessed by some really good teaching and on the other hand I've seen some pretty bad stuff too. In my very first Church, a little Baptist Church, our pastor's name was Phil Littlejohn. Now Phil was a gifted teacher, he just had this ability to open God's Word and speak God stuff into my heart. I learned later this is a real gifting, different people have different gifts and abilities given to them by God and teaching is one of them. Jesus had that, I mean time and time again when He opened His mouth people were amazed because He spoke with a plainness and a power and an authority that they hadn't heard before. And you know something, He didn't always tell them things they wanted to hear. "Love your enemy." "Take up your cross and follow me." "Lose your life for my sake and you'll gain your life." It's not exactly good marketing, I mean the spin merchants would not have let Him get up and speak like that today. I've spent quite a bit of time looking at how Jesus preached. It's real, it's powerful. It's balanced on the one hand and radical on the other and it sort of, well, it cuts through all the selfish rubbish we go on with, right to the heart of what God wants to talk about. And my prayer is that when I discharge my gifting to teach in my own way, I'll always try to teach like He did. But you know I've also sat in Churches over the years and listened to preachers drone on with dry and theoretical, completely cerebral stuff, that's not relevant to my life. On more than one occasion I've walked out after church and two hours later I ask myself "Do I remember what he talked about?" And the answer is, "No, not really." Or you listen to other speakers and there are lots of words and they're very entertaining and they make people laugh and they tickle their ears with great stories and things they want to hear and they yell and people slap them on the back afterwards, 'praise the Lord' but I've been to some of those too and well, I felt like I'd been at the Lord's table to be fed but I left hungry and empty. The flip side of that is that with some other preachers, I can remember years later what they were talking about, years later in difficult circumstances God seems to bring into my heart the words they spoke to me. Preaching and teaching is one of the ways that God gets His Word into us. You see it right through the Bible; He uses men and women to speak to others, to teach them. I mean the Samaritan woman at the well; she went and told people about Jesus. Paul and Peter and all the other guys that went out preaching. The question is, how do you get the most out of that? How does preaching and teaching play a part in us reading our Bible and unlocking the power unlimited that God has for us? Well, here are just some of my observations. I see people come into a Church on a Sunday and listen to the preacher and they don't take any notes and they don't bring their Bible and they don't follow what the preacher's saying in their Bible. I take my Bible with me, I open my Bible and I read what the preacher is talking about. People can speak all the words that they like, everything that they say, they can crack jokes and have great stories – the most important thing is God's Word, the most important thing is what God is saying. And secondly I take some notes. I mean you can't even get through kindergarten on a half an hour a week without taking notes. You know, if we take God seriously, if we want to follow Jesus and really take that seriously, you know something, we've got to take learning seriously. Do you know what a disciple is? A disciple is literally "a learner", that's what the word disciple means, to be a learner. And thirdly, the thing I do when I've listened to some really good preaching, is I spend some time afterwards in God's Word reading it for myself. Sometimes it's not until you get home and you pray it through and you spend some time in that passage and maybe looking at some other related ones, that God really drops it into your spirit. I mean, years ago I heard a preacher teaching on a profound passage: 1 Peter 5:6,7: Humble yourselves therefore under the mighty hand of God so that He may exalt you in due time. Cast all your cares on Him because He cares for you. Now I've learnt so much from what God taught me through that preacher in this passage but I've learned just as much and maybe even more from pondering and praying over this scripture and looking at other related passages. Learning in my heart – that's when I humble myself, when I get off my little tin pot throne and just walk each day faithfully with God. He's the one who later opens the doors; He's the one that's got an eternity ready for me. I've looked at this whole thing of preaching, and listened to some incredibly sermons and some dreadful ones too, I've come to the conclusion that there are two types of preaching; dead and alive. Dead preaching is full of words, it's boring and dry or maybe it's hyped up and frothy and bubbly but at the end of the day, there's no eternal food there because God's Word is not being preached in the power of the Holy Spirit. It's only God's Word by the power of the Spirit that can change us. I can't change you, I can't say things in my own strength that will change your life, but if I'm speaking God's stuff, if the Holy Spirit somehow takes God's stuff and puts it into your heart, that's when change happens and only God can do that. This is how the Apostle Paul put it: 1 Cor 2:1-5: When I came to you, brothers and sisters, I did not come proclaiming the mystery of God to you in lofty words or wisdom. For I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified. And I came to you in weakness and in fear and in much trembling. My speech and my proclamation were not with plausible words of wisdom, but with a demonstration of the Spirit and of power, so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God Can I encourage you to be discerning as to what you listen to? Go and listen to the preachers who are proclaiming God's Word in the power of the Holy Spirit.. Go and have a read about how Jesus preached in the Gospels Matthew or Mark or Luke or John, the first four books of the New Testament. It's edgy and profound and real and dealing with the hard issues, and find yourself some preachers like that. Not ones that just entertain and tickle your ears with things you want to hear. The ones that open up God's Word and say, 'Well, what's God saying to us today?' and then take what they said home, open your Bible there where they left off and go and lay hold of God's power unlimited for you, for your life.

KING JAMES BIBLE

One cannot underestimate the spiritual, cultural, political, and literary importance and influence of the Authorized Version's pre-eminence in the English-speaking world, including vast parts of North America. In 1604, King James convened the Hampton Court Conference, where a new English version of the Bible was conceived in response to the problems of the earlier translations perceived by the Puritans, an orthodox faction of the Church of England. E171. Check out the YouTube version of this episode at https://youtu.be/0HfAikVyOJM which has accompanying visuals including maps, charts, timelines, photos, illustrations, and diagrams. King James Version (KJV) Bibles available at https://amzn.to/3jOQna7 ENJOY Ad-Free content, Bonus episodes, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on https://patreon.com/markvinet SUPPORT this channel by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at NO extra charge to you). Mark Vinet's HISTORICAL JESUS podcast at https://parthenonpodcast.com/historical-jesus Mark's TIMELINE video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkVinet_HNA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Mark's books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Audio credits: The Story of the King James Bible with James Naughtie (BBC Radio 4). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Noted for its "majesty of style", the King James Version (KJV) has been described as one of the most important books in English culture and a driving force in the shaping of the English-speaking world, including Canada and the United States. The King James Bible is an English translation of the Christian Bible for the Church of England, which was commissioned in 1604 and published in 1611, by authorization and sponsorship of King James the First. E170. Check out the YouTube version of this episode at https://youtu.be/pWnvERt_ZPw which has accompanying visuals including maps, charts, timelines, photos, illustrations, and diagrams. King James Version (KJV) Bibles available at https://amzn.to/3jOQna7 ENJOY Ad-Free content, Bonus episodes, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on https://patreon.com/markvinet SUPPORT this channel by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at NO extra charge to you). Mark Vinet's HISTORICAL JESUS podcast at https://parthenonpodcast.com/historical-jesus Mark's TIMELINE video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkVinet_HNA Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Mark's books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Audio credits: The Story of the King James Bible with James Naughtie (BBC Radio 4). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

“If you heal yourself, you have the ability to heal generations before and after you.” In this episode, Nick speaks with Amber Richbook about her journey through identity, subconscious beliefs, and the impact of generational trauma. They explore the importance of awareness and the role of cultural identity in shaping our experiences and ultimately who we believe we are and what our “identity” means to us. What to listen for: We all have gifts and abilities that can be realized Coincidences are often signs that require investigation Generational trauma impacts our identities and experiences Healing is a personal journey that affects generations Self-mastery requires the willingness to change our identity as we grow Awareness is crucial for personal growth and healing Our identity is fluid “We all have different generational things running through our veins. What are we going to do with them? How are we going to reconcile? How are we going to bring the healing?” Healing is our responsibility, no matter what our parents passed to us genetically Understanding what our family history is can sometimes shed light on our current struggles Epigenetics research is increasingly validating that generational trauma not only exists but has real repercussions on future generations “You must be willing to change identities as many times and as often as you feel led to” What we believe our “identity” is, isn't always accurate or remotely current The hesitance for change is normal, but being willing to adapt and evolve is critical for personal growth Changing identities isn't about becoming someone else; it's about uncovering more of who you are at your core About Amber Richbook Amber Richbook is a transformational speaker and identity-shift coach who helps people move from simply existing to fully living. Through keynotes, coaching, and her podcast Meaningful Conversations, she teaches individuals to break self-limiting beliefs and take practical steps toward authentic, purpose-driven lives. She is a TEDx speaker and has appeared on PBS and corporate leadership platforms. Her mission is to become the go-to voice for mindset and identity transformation for a new generation. https://www.arichbook.com/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/arichbook/ https://www.instagram.com/a.richbook/ Resources: Check out other episodes about identity: Processing Our Childhood Traumas With Jeremy Stegall Exploring The Role Of DEI In Healing And Growth With Corey Williams How To Embrace Your Identity And Inner Strength With Rich Vysion Love and Faith Beyond Identity and Labels With Carl King Exploring Human Design For Self-Mastery With Akary Busto Interested in starting your own podcast or need help with one you already have? https://themindsetandselfmasteryshow.com/podcasting-services/ Learn more about our host, Nick McGowan: https://nickmcgowan.com Thank you for listening! Please subscribe on iTunes and give us a 5-Star review! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-mindset-and-self-mastery-show/id1604262089 Listen to other episodes here: https://themindsetandselfmasteryshow.com/ Watch Clips and highlights: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCk1tCM7KTe3hrq_-UAa6GHA Guest Inquiries right here: podcasts@themindsetandselfmasteryshow.com Your Friends at “The Mindset & Self-Mastery Show” Click Here To View The Episode Transcript Nick McGowan (00:00.495)Hello and welcome to the Mindset and Self Mastery Show. I’m your host, Nick McGowan. Today on the show we have Amber Richbook. Amber, how are doing today? Amber RichBook (00:22.403)Well, how are you Nick? Thank you for having me. Nick McGowan (00:25.679)Yeah, absolutely. We were just shooting the shit for like a solid half hour. And again, one of those situations like let’s just record. So I’m stoked for you to be here. I think this is gonna be cool. We’re gonna get into a lot to talk about identity, subconscious limiting beliefs and your story. And even talking about regional and generational trauma and some of the things I’ve talked about on different episodes. But I think identity is a big part of that. I always like to start episodes off with something that’s a little Amber RichBook (00:29.846)I know. Nick McGowan (00:54.319)odd or bizarre about you that most people don’t know. So what do you got for me? Amber RichBook (00:58.19)Okay, so one of my bizarre weird things that people don’t know about me is that I wrote about my life as a single mother of three daughters when I was in the first grade and my mom She kept like this big bag, like everywhere we moved to, this was like this big bag of childhood memorabilia from myself and my siblings of things we drew and wrote in kindergarten, pre-K, first grade, second grade, like the little macaroni art that’s like happy Mother’s Day. Here’s a flower with glue and there’s missing pieces on it. And so, you know, in first grade when they have the writing pads with the story and you draw the little ugly picture and you think like, Nick McGowan (01:32.655)Yeah, of course. Amber RichBook (01:44.014)And it’s like Miss A takes her three daughters and the names were like J, E, A, like they were all like names with those initials. And my daughter’s names now have the initials J, A, and E. To get ice cream and they love driving in their really big truck. and they love doing all these fun things together. They like dancing. like, there was no, was just this Miss A. and her three daughters. And I remember years ago when I, well, my mom was like, kind of like, all right, you guys are grown, take your shit. Like I saved all of it. Let me show you guys that I actually cared about you as children. Like do with it what you want. I’m like, okay, so let me go through my stuff. And I’m just sitting there and I’m reading it. And I was like, can I curse? I was like, okay. Nick McGowan (02:27.96)Yeah. Nick McGowan (02:40.958)yeah. Amber RichBook (02:42.86)I was like, Amber, what the fuck were you writing about in the fucking first grade? Like you’re writing about being a mom. Now, fun fact, I was the child, the friend, even in high school that used to call kids creatures. I was like, ill, be a mom. That’s so disgusting. Motherhood. So now there’s a running joke. Like every mother’s day, my friends from high school and college are like, dude, how did you become a mom? Nick McGowan (02:45.443)Yeah. Amber RichBook (03:09.836)Like that’s the joke. Like you’re a mom, bro. None of them are mothers, but I’m a mom. Dude, how did that happen? So I think that’s interesting because one of my favorite books is The Alchemist. I talk about it in my, started my Ted talk with it and it was like, we really go on this journey of life and all you’re doing is getting back to the core of who you are. Nick McGowan (03:10.179)You Nick McGowan (03:14.423)Ugh. Nick McGowan (03:36.569)Yeah. Amber RichBook (03:36.992)and your inner child, like those youthful experience where your imagination is purely untamed, not realizing that many of us have these gifts. We all have these gifts and abilities, but where were they most active? How were they most active? and I’ll just layer it with this before I give it back to you. There was a thread that I saw recently that said, healers, spiritual people, did you have a near death experience that confirmed your abilities, et cetera, et cetera? And when I was born, Nick McGowan (04:10.863)Mm-hmm. Amber RichBook (04:13.942)I only had eight minutes to live. Eight is my favorite number. Eight is when I was eight years old. That was like my favorite age. Schoolhouse rock was like a thing when I was growing up. So it was like the figure eight song. I loved eight. When I was in school, I was always drawing eight. I was always like just fascinated with eight. And my birthday is on a 26. So two plus six equals eight. And so. Nick McGowan (04:26.704)yeah. Amber RichBook (04:43.118)start reflecting on these things and you’re like oh here are how all the dots connect in my life in my reality in my experience so yeah i’m a little woo woo Nick McGowan (04:56.431)I don’t think it’s as much woo woo as it’s looking for patterns of things. I’m similar in the sense where I look, like we were talking about even signs before we hit record, looking for signs. I think there’s a level of awareness. And if you’re aware of something, you can at least say, well, that’s something. I don’t particularly agree that there are like coincidences in the world. I think there are things that line up, but then there are also things that just don’t make sense. Like I remember saying, Amber RichBook (05:07.148)Yeah. Amber RichBook (05:19.534)Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Nick McGowan (05:25.679)People saying to me like years and years and years ago like you might read something in a book or like the Bible or whatever and it doesn’t make any sense at all and then years later it punches you right in the mouth like there are times literally within the Bible or God’s like this thing today means the most thing to you and you’re like, whoa What what does that mean and you’ve read it 400 billion times? Or you’ve seen a situation or whatever. I think there’s a power of being aware to be able to see those things but then Amber RichBook (05:36.183)Yep. Nick McGowan (05:53.229)like you had even said before we hit record, and we probably should have just hit record way early, was that it’s our responsibility to do something with that. And it’s what we get to do with it from there that actually shapes the way that future generations and all of those sort of things. It’s interesting to me, like right off the bat when you said, I wrote that out in first grade and now I’m living it, because I remember people in grade school thinking or writing out like a five year, 10 year plan. Amber RichBook (05:56.942)you Amber RichBook (06:01.569)Yep. Amber RichBook (06:09.336)Yeah. Nick McGowan (06:21.967)There were a couple of the smart kids in school that I can think back to, like fifth or sixth grade that did that. And there was one in particular, I forget what her name was, but she was like dead set. Like this is exactly how my life’s gonna be. And I’ve thought about that girl every once in a while of like, did life work out? Because my life was totally different than what anything I could have ever created. But what a cool thing for you to see, because it sounds like you didn’t say, well, my intention is to have three kids. Amber RichBook (06:39.5)Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nick McGowan (06:51.381)and nobody around and I wanna do this and we’re gonna go get ice cream and all this like this is the fucking life I’m gonna live and like you pushed for it but what a wild thing for it to create, yeah. Amber RichBook (06:53.089)Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, you just lived. Yes. And, and, and then I want to say like older years, like in my teen years, I remember being a freshman and we had the opportunity to sign up for vocational school. prior to us hitting record because Nick and I, were chopping it up. we were talking, I said, you know, even as I navigate my own gifts, I had to process, okay, am I speaking things into existence or am I speaking something that’s already into existence and it’s already the same. So even when you say coincidences aren’t real, coincidence gets a freaking rap because if we break down coincidence, it is coincide. It is all these things that are coming together, but it’s easier to write it off like, it’s just a coincidence. It’s nothing. But if it’s really a coincidence, you should want to do the investigation of. Nick McGowan (07:37.081)Yeah. Amber RichBook (07:52.246)where is this coexistence happening in my reality? Okay, so Amber, what are you getting to? When I was in the eighth or the ninth grade, they said we could sign up for a vocational school. So school, high school, halftime, then go to a technical school. So I’m like, all right, I wanna do cosmetology because I don’t wanna flip burgers while I’m in college. Like that was what I convinced my mother. I’m like, mom. Nick McGowan (08:05.377)Yeah. Amber RichBook (08:16.898)And it was $300 and I’m like, it comes with a whole kit. And I’m like, you want me to go to college, right? Like I’m not saying I’m not going to college. So I don’t want to flip burgers. Not that anything is wrong with that. Cause I did end up working at a fast food restaurant, right? Because you’re like, I don’t want to do that. And then you end up where you said you don’t want to be because the universe source wherever it doesn’t here don’t, it just hears focus and attention. And I went through that. that cosmetology program, graduated high school, graduated with my cosmetology license. I’m still licensed to this day. And I remember when I was in college, I had a car accident where I lost all my cognitive abilities and I had to medically withdraw. Now, once I started to heal up, I didn’t have the cognitive ability to return back to college. Nick McGowan (08:58.361)Hmm. Amber RichBook (09:09.024)Why? Because prior to my accident, had a brain contusion afterwards, but I could study with the lights on, the music on, the TV on, all these stimulators. But then after my accident, when I say I had to write things word for word, I had to have pure silence, I had to take breaks. I’m like, this is not going to work for me. So I had this cosmetology license to lean back on to create a living for myself and to work prior to returning back to school. Nick McGowan (09:29.006)Hmm. Amber RichBook (09:38.88)And so that’s where that interconnectedness of the universal law of cause and effect, right? So if you ensure, like get insurance on all these things, you’re also calling in accidents, breaks. You’re also calling in all the things that benefit from having this insurance. So that’s how interesting and coincidental life is, is when you’re preparing and creating these incidents Nick McGowan (09:53.709)you Nick McGowan (10:04.836)Mm. Amber RichBook (10:08.784)that get to coincide with each other. That was so crazy. Yes. Yes. Nick McGowan (10:13.871)I think the awareness is the glue of that though. Like if you’re aware of that stuff, you can then do something or not. Like there are certain things I think that happen. Like even with you saying, all right, mom, I’m gonna go to college, but I wanna go this route. You’re really just thinking from a perspective of the system of the world tells me that I need to make money. I need to do this on my own. So I guess I’ll go do this thing. Yes. Amber RichBook (10:35.692)and I need to have something to fall back on, right? So going with that intention of I need something to fall back on because something can go wrong. Yup. Nick McGowan (10:43.833)Just in case. Yeah. Which is such a fucked thing. So our parents went through the bullshit like that with their parents and maybe they went to college or they did something and they had something they could fall back on because their parents said, based on the current system that we’re in, in the 60s and 70s, this is what it’s gonna be like. And by the time the 80s and 90s came around, now we’re experiencing what that’s like where you motherfuckers were able to afford a house. Amber RichBook (10:49.262)You Amber RichBook (10:53.975)Yep. Nick McGowan (11:13.359)for $13,000 back in the day. We can’t afford that for a porch on a house, let alone, you know what I mean? But those though are stories and it’s up to us to be able to change. And I think that’s where part of the awakening is happening, where we then look back and go, well, motherfucker, some of this shit really fucked us up. And this was straight up abuse in that time or. Amber RichBook (11:13.826)Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Okay, okay, wait. Amber RichBook (11:26.711)Yeah. Yes. Yes. Nick McGowan (11:40.751)You told me I needed to do this and therefore I went down a different path because I wasn’t able to just be my authentic self. Now it’s not like we live in some reality where we just like unicorns and rainbows constantly and we just create whatever we want. Like the Jetsons, you go, I’m hungry, here’s a button and like whatever. I actually don’t want that anyway. Like by the time AI does that shit, I hope to be long gone. But we are not in that space where we can just play constantly. Amber RichBook (11:47.971)Yeah. Amber RichBook (11:57.359)Yeah. Amber RichBook (12:00.876)Yeah. Nick McGowan (12:09.721)but how do we be ourselves with our identity to be able to play? Amber RichBook (12:13.486)Let’s see, Nick, but that’s the theme. I play all the time. Play is a part of it. I think also, so there’s so many different things I would jump through my head as you were talking. And I’m trying to get there. I’m going to get there. My matrilineal line, my grandmother was brought here by a white family in 1961 from Antigua to be there up here. And my mother was a first-generational. college graduate and then I was a second generational college graduate and each my grandmother worked to get her GED coming to America. She got her GED. She worked as a maid in upstate New York. And then once she had my mom and my aunt’s and uncle, she went to school to be a nurse because that’s what she needed to or she felt she needed to do. than my mom or CNA, right? Cause my mom went to college. then there’s me. And so it’s kind of like you mentioned the Bible earlier. I like to tell people like I am an Abrahamic prophecy fulfilled for my grandmother who came to America. for this opportunity from her little island. And in that rate, she worked for white people. And growing up cultured, I didn’t grow up knowing that I was Caribbean because no one wanted to be, everybody wanted to be American. So I was having Caribbean experiences in the household. And I think by the time I got, cause I grew up, where I was growing up, people were like, you’re mixed, you’re not. you’re not just black. And my dad’s family, they’re from the Virginia that’s there, we could trace back to there. And I’m like, yo. And so I was in college, I’m like, I’m not just black. I’m not just African American. I’m not just this. But also it was in high school. So why is all of this relevant? Because it leads to my life. In high school, as a ninth grader, the same year that I was like, okay, I don’t wanna be a whatever I wanna be. Amber RichBook (14:29.528)do here and this is the first time that I’m telling this story and I’m telling this story because of our pre-show conversation and you said I the real, I want the ball, I want all this stuff. So this is the first time I’m sharing this publicly. When I was in the ninth grade, I went to a predominantly white high school where less than 10 % of the high school population were students of color. And I had just moved, this was in the Poconos, and I had just moved from New Jersey because my mom was like, I want you to have a better opportunity, et cetera, et cetera. And at this time, these innate things, I have to share my cultural experience, right? Because people don’t, it’s going to make sense. Nick McGowan (15:11.865)Context. Amber RichBook (15:12.022)you proximity to whiteness will help me be better. That’s why my name is Amber. How many times in high school, right? I remember where there was a substitute teacher and there was another black girl in my class, but she did. She wasn’t there for the day and her name was Shaniqua. Like that was for real her name, but she wasn’t there. So when the substitute got to her name, she’s like, Shaniqua, like whatever. And so she’s looking at me and I’m like, I’m not Shaniqua. Nick McGowan (15:16.473)Hmm. Mmm. Nick McGowan (15:40.078)Man. Amber RichBook (15:41.888)My name was at the end of the thing. So she’s like, Amber Walters. And I’m like, that’s me. man, what? She was going to write me up, me to the principal’s office because she thought I was being funny. And like my classmates were like, no, she’s Amber. I had to get up and show my ID. So having that experience as a ninth grader, then being voted freshman class president, the first black president at a high school, like that was the thing. Nick McGowan (15:42.959)You don’t live here no more. Amber RichBook (16:11.958)at 14 and you got all this pressure. And so now you’re on the softball field and you’re in gym playing softball and you beat the popular girl. You beat the girl who’s been in this district since she was in kindergarten and all her friends and surrounding around. And for the first time in my life, I was called the N word and it was swing and N swing, swing and N swing. And that was my first time. So the culture shock of going from the urban Jersey experience to this predominantly white experience, not harming anyone, just like, yeah, we’re people, we’re ninth graders. Like, it’s cool. Like, I’m just, I’m Amber. Like, we’re gonna be class president. It’s gonna be cool, like class or whatever. And I had never had that experience. And I’m like, all I could feel was like, don’t call me that. Nick McGowan (16:44.867)Yeah. Amber RichBook (17:05.942)And I remember, swing and then swing. You think you won and you think you won. You cheated, you did. And I’m like, what the fuck? And all I went in is to warrior. And it was like my mother, my grandmother, my grandmother before them. My grandmother is a product of Portuguese colonization in Antigua, taking advantage of an indigenous woman on the island, right? So she had no home from either side. And I defended myself, but I was punished for that incident. And I was the first, and I tell my kids, joke about it now, right? I’m like, I was the first black president in my high school, the first one to be voted in, and the first one to be impeached. And that followed me through my whole high school career. And it was in my 20s that this particular woman reached out to me via LinkedIn. And she’s like, I just want to apologize for what happened in the ninth grade. And I’m like, girl, you fucked up my high school career. I graduated in the top 10 % of my class, but that still followed me. And that followed me. And we talked about the Alchemist early on before we came on the show. And I’m sharing this depth of, because you want the real world, I’m going tell you. It shared that depth because that depth. Nick McGowan (17:54.403)Hahaha. Nick McGowan (18:07.715)Ha ha ha. Amber RichBook (18:23.916)because it then took me on that journey when I did go back to college and I finished in accounting as a non-traditional student and I went to the big four as a public accountant. the only one who looked like me. And so it was now my 14 year old self back in this swing and end swing. Go get this thing and go get this coffee and go get this thing. And you’re like, what is happening? But that’s where the world is like, where you talked about where our parents, you got to go to college, you got to graduate, you got to get the good job, you got to do what you got to do, you got to keep your head down. For me and my reality, it’s you got to work twice as hard, you got to be twice as this, don’t show your emotion, don’t show You don’t have these things. So even as I built my career in corporate, right? I built myself to be the corporate mermaid where I tell people don’t ask me shit about corporate because I do what I want when I want how I want whenever I want but I had to heal that 14 year old girl who thought that she wasn’t enough and that thought and and and took the emotional responsibility so me as the adult going to her like we don’t Like what Michelle Obama say, when they go low, we go higher, whatever she said, right? Like, no, that has nothing to do with you. That has nothing to do with you. And so me moving in the frequency of love. giving people back their pain. You mentioned trauma early, giving them back their trauma. Because just like people of color have generational trauma innate in our DNA, so do Europeans, so do Caucasians, so do white Americans. We all have these different generational things running through our veins and it’s what are we going to do with them? How are we going to reconcile? How are we going to bring the healing? And it looks like that accountability, it looks like no. And so what ended up happening and then I’ll wrap it up because I know I just gave you so much at one time. They tried to, I don’t want to say they tried to set me up, but I live near UNC, like the museum, and they were like, we need you to go audit the museum. I’m a little baby associate. You want me to audit a museum’s millions of dollars painting and do an inventory count? I said, okay. I said, okay. And I used to have my, my Bob, my professional white girl looking black hair. so I could be palatable. And I remember the museum couldn’t find a painting, Nick. It was $7 million. And they were like, you can leave. And when we find it, we’ll let you know. I was like, I am not leaving here until y’all find this painting. I am not leaving here. But seeing the pressure that was on me in that now moment. Nick McGowan (21:12.921)No, my God. Amber RichBook (21:19.982)think is the same pressure that I felt in being voted class president as a ninth grade girl. And I sat there and I sat there and they found it because I was like, God, they got to find this. And it was in between some other paintings. But just seeing how my inner child, the intensity that I had and so to bring it home, how Spirit, source, universe, your life path is gonna keep putting you in positions until you get comfortable. And so I remember my mom, she was in seminary school when I was a kid. And I remember going with her and this was in Madison, New Jersey at Drew University. And we pulled up to Burger King. Again, these are things I’ve never told anyone, right? You want the depth, the raw. And she’s like, Amber, you didn’t want to get out the car. And I’m like, what? She’s like, I don’t want to get out the car because all those white people are going to look at me. Now, my family, my mom had white friends. Like, we had a very diverse. friend experience. was not isolated from things. My grandfather, was friends with Italians. I was in school, so it was very diverse, but there was a different energy. It was a different sense. It was a different experience. So now as an adult woman, it was like, right. When we were talking about self mastery and mindset, in my TED talk, I talked about the Oro Burrows, the loop of life, the beginning and the end being one, the death and and the birth and the rebirth and the death and the birth, that cycle. And it wasn’t until I finally, in my adult years, got into the same space as my white peers, my white colleagues, and I stopped shrinking myself to inferiority. And that looked like my grand living and becoming my grandmother’s deferred dream that she wasn’t able to witness in her living life. Amber RichBook (23:22.99)Everything in life connects in that capacity. I had to learn to be confident as an eight year old. I had to learn to be confident as a 14 year old, as a 20 something year old. Now in my thirties to be like, I stand in my power. Now we know that we create our reality. And I was creating my reality at all of those ages. All of those experiences were my own personal lessons to learn. I’m sorry, y’all. Thank you for your patience. I was just running my mouth. Nick McGowan (23:26.669)Yeah. Nick McGowan (23:40.665)Yeah. Nick McGowan (23:51.801)Yeah, thank you for the Ted talk. mean, well, truthfully that’s some of the best magic that happens within podcasting. Even if we just had a few minute conversation, we probably wouldn’t get to this. And I think it’s on me as the host to be able to facilitate this and allow you to have those conversations. Amber RichBook (23:52.944)I know I was like Nick McGowan (24:16.695)and allow in the sense of like, let’s move in a direction that makes it open for you to be able to do that. There’s a lot that you put out there, obviously, and those that are gonna listen to this, they’re like, yeah, there’s a whole lot. But there’s a lot of great things and it’s all also woven together and there’s patterns to that. There’s system problem to start off with. Those white kids in the fucking Poconos, I know, yeah, it’s much different than East Orange. Amber RichBook (24:40.782)because you know the polka-dos, you’re from up there. Nick McGowan (24:46.243)and vastly different. I grew up in the burbs, but in a more diverse section of the burbs, not the higher end burbs. Like if anybody’s from Springfield, Pennsylvania, you know, you’re different than Prospect Park and Glen Olden. And there’s versions to that, but then also living in the city at times. And my mom grew up in the city in Philly as a tiny little goofy looking redhead kid. She got picked on because she looked like Pippi Longstocking basically. And she had problems with Italians and other Irish people as well as African-American people and Latin people and like all these different groups. But all of that comes from a fucking system problem and generational trauma because everybody’s pitted against themselves. And ultimately what I’m learning is that it gets further back to the white people. Amber RichBook (25:34.796)Yep. Yep. Yep. Nick McGowan (25:41.753)that said, think we’re better than you. So we’re just gonna do this the way that we think. And even with like a male and female sort of thing, like men think they’re better than women and I don’t understand it. Like I thank God daily for my partner because she’s so much smarter than I am and so much more grounded and there are things that we learn. And that’s the way that even when you think of men and women being together, let’s just use that as an example where Men should be the leaders. That’s not correct. Women actually lead us. She leads me a lot and will lead me into a direction that then I can do my part and go from there. I think there’s awareness to this and understanding what some of those systems are. Like why are there poor sections of a city or a town? probably because they’re all pushed that direction and everything’s fucking concrete. They can’t even grow their own vegetables. They can’t even… try to get out of the system that they’re stuck within. And even what you’re saying with your mom saying, well, we’re gonna go closer to a white direction because proximity, that makes me think of from the Irish people that were brought over here that were like, well, you’re a slave, but you’re white. And why don’t we just make you a cop? Because, know, fuck it, you’ve got a little bit of authority, but you’re not gonna have all the authority. I’m not saying that I understand what you went through at all because really I don’t. But I can see how some of that is even within my cells that needs to be processed out. I think of the shit that I went through as a kid being a token white kid. kids would make fun of me because I was a chunky little kid and I think I’ve sized appropriately as I got older. But there are things that I remember going, well, this doesn’t feel right. But I do often think back to there was literally just a handful of different people, a handful of Asian kids that were in the school or some black kids, but it was primarily a bunch of douchebag white kids that thought they had privilege over anybody that was slightly different than them. And again, I think that’s a system problem and it’s a generational trauma thing. So we, as the people, get to do something with it. I think it’s cool that that person came back to you and said, Amber RichBook (27:54.594)Yeah. Yes. Yes. Yes. Nick McGowan (28:00.599)I’m sorry, I’ve thought about this. Clearly they’ve thought about it for a long time. Does not make it right for what they said. However, I do think there is a little bit of, I don’t want to say grace, but understanding context of how we grew up. Because look, I’ve said some fucked up shit growing up that I didn’t understand was as fucked up. But then when I understood what it was, and that it was, I don’t know, entrenched in racism or whatever. Amber RichBook (28:14.915)yeah. Yeah. Nick McGowan (28:29.537)I could tie back to where that came from. There was an example. My mom was about to buy a house. She grew up pretty poor and had me at 22. And I don’t know, maybe like 10, 12 years old, something like that. She bought her first house. And I remember her driving, we’re driving down the street and she pointed at somebody doing lawn work. And she was like, we’re going to get one of them. I was like, a lot? I would hope we’re gonna buy a house. And she was like, no, somebody that can basically be our slave and do our lawn work. And I remember, I don’t know, being 12 or whatever and be like, that sounds kind of fucked up. But all the rest of these assholes that I’m around kind of say similar things. And nobody’s really breaking out of that. Their responsibility was to change that so that we, as our kids, you know, like us, were able to do things differently. But it’s not on anybody else, it’s on us to do something with it. I think really the failure would be if you and I are having this conversation and then we get off here and we’re both fucking assholes and douchebags of people and we don’t do anything from it. Because I know that I still have problems at times like I’m really impatient, especially driving. And if somebody is driving in the fast lane, going 10 miles an hour under the speed limit, I question how they even fucking put shoes on, let alone do anything else in the world. But I understand that there’s pieces of that that Once we’re aware of something, we can do something with it. So we started this by talking about identity. Your identity was shifted at that point. Yeah, that girl kind of fucked up your high school. Also, the story that you told by yourself in your own head based on unprocessed trauma that was literally in your genetic code was pitted against you. Like any work that was done prior to you hadn’t been fully accomplished and completed. Amber RichBook (29:58.018)Yeah. Nick McGowan (30:23.981)and then something came up and you needed to do something with it. It took you time. The fact that you’re doing something with it, your girls are gonna be better off. At the same time, it’s on them to do whatever happens to them. Like I had a conversation with a friend maybe about a year or so ago where they’re like, I’m gonna do everything different from what my parents did. And his parents were, they fucked him up. Amber RichBook (30:27.714)Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nick McGowan (30:46.859)And he’s doing everything he can. And at one point he had a realization. He was like, and still, bet these kids are going to be in therapy at some point saying something about me because everybody’s going to interpret it the way that they want and how they do it from there. So the systems of this is fucked up, but it is what we work within. The generational trauma is fucked as well, but here we are. Amber RichBook (30:54.54)Yeah. Yes. Yes. Amber RichBook (31:03.328)Yeah, and so, yeah, yeah. And so even in your response, I appreciate it. And it is multifaceted because we have our own experiences. While your mom had her experiences, you had your own. And while my mom and my grandmother had their experiences, I had my own. So I think that… I can’t necessarily just leave it to my generational DNA pass down trauma without acknowledging the impact of my own personal life experience and those that the things that could be traumatic had I not chose to heal and navigate through them. Right. And so there are some people who don’t have the higher mind or the discipline or the wherewithal. Nick McGowan (31:36.461)Of Amber RichBook (31:58.134)to heal themselves so they may not have been able to receive an apology from someone who has caused them harm, right? So when we think about… the Holocaust experience, people are still apologizing for that experience. Because just because we apologize doesn’t mean it takes away the pain of that experience. And that’s the empathy that… We have to extend to all persons who have been impacted. It does not take away. We can apologize and extend grace and those groups of people who did what they did to that particular community, they may have learned their lesson, but it does not take away the pain. It does not absolve it. I may, and that’s no different than parents, right? There’s a book called Adult Children of Emotionally Immature Parents. As a parent, you do have the responsibility to Nick McGowan (32:35.14)Yeah. Nick McGowan (32:57.902)Yeah. Amber RichBook (33:01.8)listen to your child and be accountable, but your apology is not gonna fix their fucked upness. It’s not gonna fix the pain. They themselves have to do the work to absolve that. And sometimes even when they do, the relationship may not go back to being the same because of how impactful the trauma is. And that’s just psychological in itself. Nick McGowan (33:21.945)Yeah. Amber RichBook (33:27.328)And so it’s just so multifaceted and I, and I can’t speak for a collective of people, but I can speak for myself and like anyone listening. One of the things that I teach my collective specifically persons of indigenous or persons of color, but anybody, right? If you heal yourself, you have the ability to heal generations before you and generations after you, which is able to have a healthy, loving, thriving relationship with my mom. Nick McGowan (33:29.807)For real. Nick McGowan (33:50.319)Mm-hmm. Amber RichBook (33:57.42)and healthy, loving, thriving relationship with my children while still having, and I think the other thing is too, sometimes people think that these healed relationships mean perfection and no mistakes and no disagreements and we are all holding hands and singing the Munchkin song. No, it’s how we navigate through conflict. It’s how we resolve the conflict. Nick McGowan (34:09.251)Yeah. Amber RichBook (34:21.312)Is my mom accountable for herself? Am I accountable for myself? Are my children accountable for themselves? So, this is good. You’re good. Nick McGowan (34:33.167)I mean, I think the big thing here is to really understand that no matter what we go through and how we look at things, there may be an interpretation, there may be things that are kind of blocking us or propelling us in one direction, but it is ultimately up to us to do. And something that has come up as you were talking about, like, I can’t speak for an entire type of people or race of people, et cetera. I think there are things where some people can say, yeah, well, the Holocaust was different than this, or we should look at what happened with this and we should feel a certain way. Any of these things don’t take away from somebody else. The Holocaust is really not as different as what the fucking people did when they got to this country and they’re like, look at this land, who the fuck are you? you grow things here, cool. Amber RichBook (35:17.666)Nick, I wasn’t ready. But they do, right? But they do. And that’s the systemic issue that you started with earlier in the conversation. And it’s no right or wrong. It’s just we have to, for those of us that see, see. Nick McGowan (35:20.857)But I mean, it doesn’t take away from that. Amber RichBook (35:39.934)understand. And then you mentioned something earlier too that I wanted to reflect on where you were like, this stuff is fucked up. But those that know the yin and yang, the dark and the light, the ugliness, the fucked upness is here for a reason. Because there’s, there’s the balance. And that’s the fairness. Nick McGowan (35:56.879)Yep. And there’s a balance to it as well. Amber RichBook (36:05.386)of life that is a universal principle and a universal law. And then when we understand like on this mindset mastery journey of life, we have these fucked up experience based on what our soul needs to learn and understand for its own development. Who do, who did I come here to be? Well, Obviously, I tell people, I’m like, I’m pretty sure in a past life, I was a man and I was an asshole. And then I got sent here to be a woman and specifically a black woman to have certain life experiences to humble me and give me my soul more evolutionary experiences. That’s my own self theory, y’all. That’s just my own self theory. But. Nick McGowan (36:45.785)Damn. Nick McGowan (36:50.127)I love that. I understand, you know, I get that. think there’s like there’s shit that I’ve learned over the past few years that has propelled me in a different direction where even with that sort of stuff, I’m like, I wonder what will happen next. And how faith and religion and stuff like that ties in. Now full transparency, I’m a big fan of the OG Jesus, not the Republican Jesus, because that’s strange. Amber RichBook (37:18.23)tables at the synagogue because he’s like what y’all doing selling stuff in my father’s house I’m throwing all this shit over okay the one who Russia released that the oldest Bible was found in Ethiopia and the oldest form of Christianity was found in northern eastern Africa that Jesus the one with the woolen hair why are you starting problems why are you starting why are you starting problems on your podcast Nick McGowan (37:19.395)Yeah! Ugh… Man… Yeah! shit, even with that. Nick McGowan (37:35.695)Well, that’s where we all started from so even if you think of like race That’s what I’m fucking here for This is what I’m here for disrupt things I actually I talk about that a little bit at different times with that specific story about Jesus. So I read a book Maybe mid-2000s called the beautiful outlaw and a little bit context. I’d played in church bands for the better part of a decade so I was in churches, like in Green Room style in, know, and somebody told me about that book. I read it. It was basically like, well, Jesus will show up to people in the way that they expect to see him. And let’s look at his stories that actually break down context. Like even when they say don’t eat pork, it’s because it was dirty and they couldn’t actually get the viruses out of the pork so people would die. We eat pork now and it’s different. but people will look at things and like, Bible said this. It’s like lot of it was metaphors and parables and just trying to get you to understand the fucking story in your stupid little brain. Amber RichBook (38:38.222)And the Bible was rewritten, one that the Americas, okay, so since you brought this up, there is called the Council of Nicaea. And there once was a king who was upset and scared of witches because witches ruled the world. He also was abhorred by his sexuality and wrote a lot of things against himself as if it would help him. So. Nick McGowan (38:48.306)15th century. Nick McGowan (38:53.039)Ugh. Amber RichBook (39:05.934)What you say? Homophobic and then that. Yes. And then there are missing books because people don’t know that you have the Vatican that has all the books that were written. So. Nick McGowan (39:06.093)And then that became literally gospel. What the fuck? Nick McGowan (39:18.073)yeah. Well, they changed things in the 15th century because they were like, this is what we want this to be. This is when King James came out. Context people, context is important. And we’re not just spewing this shit to just spew the shit. If there are systems in place, yeah, but there are systems, there are things that happen. There are biases of people that say, I am afraid to be me. So I’m going to do these things. We’re fucking seeing it now. Amber RichBook (39:22.998)Yes. Yeah, you can go to a library. Yeah. Nick McGowan (39:44.525)We’re seeing it with everything that’s happening right now. all right, so, I mean, what the fuck? We’re seeing a lot of it now, but so that story specifically, context is important. Jesus actually spent time braiding a whip and then turned it on. The man probably sat there for a while, like an hour, maybe even longer. He might’ve even braided some of the whip at home, because he knew what was going on. He didn’t just walk in and go, what in the fuck? Amber RichBook (39:50.382)Nick you are funny Amber RichBook (39:57.848)Yeah. Nick McGowan (40:13.615)boom, and blow everything up. That’s not how it worked. That’s not what context is about. And the reason why he did that was because these people were doing something against everybody and the actual premise of being community driven. That was selfish. wasn’t just that they were doing something in God’s house and God said, no. A lot of people will just eat the shit that they’re fed and just keep consuming. Reason why it keeps going back to that is again, it’s systems. Amber RichBook (40:25.046)Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Nick McGowan (40:41.455)And I think there are biases that people look at, which then infect or affect whichever way you wanna look at it, our identity. I appreciate that we’ve gone on this tangent in certain ways with this sort of stuff. And I think it’s important for us all to understand that the identity that we have right now is evolving and it may not actually be the identity that we want it to be. And that trauma might be a part of that, the subconscious winning strategy, which we didn’t really touch about. Amber RichBook (40:53.698)We did. Amber RichBook (41:02.092)Yes. Amber RichBook (41:05.537)Yes. Nick McGowan (41:10.903)is a part of that, these strategies that develop us. But what’s your advice for somebody who’s listening that’s on their path towards self-mastery? Amber RichBook (41:19.818)that there is no end to the path of self-mastery. You must be willing to change as many times, change identities as many times as often of times as you feel led to in your residence. And sometimes in this identity self mastery journey, some people do choose to stop and land at a destination. And that’s where they want to cap their beingness on this identity. And there’s no right or wrong to any of it. Amber RichBook (41:59.918)That’s the biggest thing that I would say. There’s no right or wrong to this path of self mastery at all. you get to decide this is your world, this is your reality. If you want to be a single woman today or a single man today and then say tomorrow you want to be partnered and that’s your reality and that’s the identity you want to shift into, do that. And I think the biggest thing is us being willing to look at our lives objectively, understanding that each individual is just filled with opinions and that. is what forms the facts of their life and to respect the opinions and facts of one life as a way of you respecting and honoring the facts and opinions of your life, which is much like the namaste, right? The God in me sees the God in you. Nick McGowan (42:48.567)Yeah, beautiful way to put that. And I think this has been great. I really appreciate you being on. We could probably sit here and just shoot the shit for like hours and just keep recording. But before I let you go, where can people find you and where can they connect with you? Amber RichBook (43:03.638)People can find me on social media everywhere at a.richbook on LinkedIn, Amber Rich Book, arichbook.com. Put my name in Google, I’ll pop up. But thank you, Nick, for having me and allowing me to share these things with your community. Thank you all for having me. Nick McGowan (43:23.779)Absolutely, it’s been a pleasure. appreciate your time. Amber RichBook (43:26.392)Thank you. https://youtu.be/zO7xasV4WUg

A @Christadelphians Video: [Inspiring]Have you ever wondered why there are so many different English versions of the Bible? This insightful and thought-provoking presentation is the second part of our series exploring this very question. We delve into the fascinating world of translation philosophy, revealing why having multiple translations is not a problem, but a wonderful tool for deeper understanding.In this outstanding exposition, we explain that translation is far more complicated than it first appears. We explore the spectrum of translation philosophies, from formal equivalence (literal, word-for-word) to functional equivalence (dynamic, thought-for-thought). Discover why a version like the King James was designed to sound beautiful for public reading, while others are crafted for personal study or for specific audiences like children.We'll clarify the difference between a true translation and a paraphrase, using helpful examples like the Living Bible. You'll gain a revealing look into the prefaces of major translations like the ESV and King James, where the translators themselves explain their goals and methodologies. By the end, you'll see how literal versions can preserve important idioms and connections (like the Exodus imagery in 1 Peter), while dynamic versions help unlock the core meaning, making the text clear and accessible.The key takeaway is wonderfully simple: we need both! Each version has its unique purpose, and by using multiple translations, we gain a richer, more complete picture of God's Word. Join us as we learn to appreciate the incredible depth and beauty of Scripture through the lens of those who translate it.**Chapters:**00:00 - Introduction: The Complicated Task of Translation01:43 - What is Translation Philosophy? Goals and Audience05:36 - Formal vs. Functional Equivalence: The Spectrum of Bibles08:59 - Paraphrase vs. Translation: A Crucial Distinction11:38 - Key Translator Decisions: Word Choice, Gender, and Quotations13:41 - Reading the Preface: What Translators Say About Their Work18:41 - Practical Examples: "Brethren" and the Word "Flesh" (Sarks)22:37 - Why You Need Both: Idioms, Meaning, and Depth (1 Samuel, Esther, 1 Peter)28:13 - Looking Ahead: The Challenge of Translator Bias29:22 - Conclusion: Embrace Multiple Versions for a Richer Faith**Bible Verses Mentioned:**

“Where do we see the Mass in Acts of the Apostles?” This question opens a discussion on the early Church’s practices, alongside topics like defending infant baptism against claims of its necessity, and the significance of Jesus’ addition of “mind” in Mark 12:30. Other questions touch on the nature of confession and the papacy’s ties to Rome, showcasing a rich variety of theological inquiries. Join the Catholic Answers Live Club Newsletter Invite our apologists to speak at your parish! Visit Catholicanswersspeakers.com Questions Covered: 01:20 – Where do we see the Mass in Acts of the Apostles? 09:38 – How do we defend the baptism of infants? My co-worker says you just need faith and it's not necessary to baptize babies. 17:52 – In Mark 12:30ff Jesus quotes the great shema. In Deuteronomy it says to love God with your whole heart, soul, and strength. Why does Mark add the word “mind” to that? 22:15 – Why do some people feel reluctant to go to confession? 28:39 – Is the papacy so tied to Rome that it could never be somewhere else? If Islam took over Europe could the pope be based somewhere else? 31:58 – Why isn't the book of Maccabees in the King James Bible? I'm trying to talk about the faith with my Seventh Day Adventist family members. 41:00 – Mt 10:3 calls James son of Alpheus, and Mk 2:14-17 calls Levi the son of Alpheus. Could they be brothers? 44:17 – My grown children think we are living in a simulation. How can I counter this? 50:13 – You said the King James did not translate the deuterocan books. But I have two KJV Bibles that include the deuterocanonical books. 52:01 – I've been getting along with my new coworkers because they are Christian. But today Mary came up and they really attacked Catholic teaching on Mary. What can I say to them?

“Where do we see the Mass in Acts of the Apostles?” This question opens a discussion on the early Church’s practices, alongside topics like defending infant baptism against claims of its necessity, and the significance of Jesus’ addition of “mind” in Mark 12:30. The conversation also touches on the reasons behind reluctance to go to confession and the implications of the papacy’s location. Join the Catholic Answers Live Club Newsletter Invite our apologists to speak at your parish! Visit Catholicanswersspeakers.com Questions Covered: 01:20 – Where do we see the Mass in Acts of the Apostles? 09:38 – How do we defend the baptism of infants? My co-worker says you just need faith and it's not necessary to baptize babies. 17:52 – In Mark 12:30 Jesus quotes the great shema. In Deuteronomy it says to love God with your whole heart, soul, and strength. Why does Mark add the word “mind” to that? 22:15 – Why do some people feel reluctant to go to confession? 28:39 – Is the papacy so tied to Rome that it could never be somewhere else? If Islam took over Europe could the pope be based somewhere else? 31:58 – Why isn't the book of Maccabees in the King James Bible? I'm trying to talk about the faith with my Seventh Day Adventist family members. 41:00 – Mt 10:3 calls James son of Alpheus, and Mk 2:14-17 calls Levi the son of Alpheus. Could they be brothers? 44:17 – My grown children think we are living in a simulation. How can I counter this? 50:13 – You said the King James did not translate the deuterocan books. But I have two KJV Bibles that include the deuterocanonical books. 52:01 – I've been getting along with my new coworkers because they are Christian. But today Mary came up and they really attacked Catholic teaching on Mary. What can I say to them?

I Timothy 3:16 – 4:6 This time we examine the mystery of godliness versus the mystery of iniquity. We’ll also discuss the King James translation, whether or not other languiages have a perfect bible, and how being”grounded and settled” is … Continue reading →

Get Up resumes with more on all of the fresh free agent signings. Can Danny Dimes still cash in on a massive salary, or will he settle for a one year deal? (0:00) Meanwhile - Drew Dalman is Dalm-out. The Bears center unexpectedly retired at 27 year old. How big of a deal is this for Caleb Williams? (14:40) Then - LeBron has one foot in LA, and one foot in Cleveland? Is a reunion for the King and the Cavs likely? (24:00) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

A Place Where God Will Live Ephesians 2:11-22 by William Klock In today's Old Testament lesson we hear King Solomon praying at the dedication of the temple.  The temple was finally completed and Solomon gathered the elders of Israel at the tabernacle, where they offered sacrifices too many to number.  Then with the priests leading them with the ark of the covenant, they processed up the mountain to the temple.  When they'd placed it in the holy of holies, the presence of the Lord, the shekinah, the cloud of his glory descended to fill the temple as it once had the tabernacle.  And Solomon prayed.  He prayed for the new temple and he prayed for his people.  He prayed that they would be faithful.  And then, our lesson today, he prayed for the foreigners, for the gentiles who might come to the Lord's temple having heard of his great name, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm—that coming to the temple, they would know his glory.  Solomon's kingdom was, however imperfectly, a fulfilment of the Lord's promise to Abraham to make Israel a light to the nations.  And the nations came to Israel and to Solomon, because they saw and because they heard of the Lord's reputation.  Not only had he blessed his people, but in him they saw a god unlike their own.  And so they came, and they saw for themselves the goodness of the Lord, the God of Israel.  And Solomon knew, too, that they would come to the temple that he'd built.  So he prayed that when these foreigners came and prayed, that the Lord would answer them, that he would make himself known to them, so that “all the peoples of the earth may know your name and fear you, as do your people Israel.”  Again, this wasn't some one-off prayer that Solomon came up with.  Solomon's prayer is rooted in the promises of God and in the story of his people.  Solomon knew that the world is not as it should be; Solomon knew the Lord's promises to set it to rights; and Solomon knew that God had given an integral role to his people to bring the fulfilment of those promises.  And Solomon great desire was for his people to be faithful to that calling, to that vocation—faithful to be a temple people. Now, this imagery and idea of the temple wasn't new with Israel; it goes all the way back to the beginning of the story.  The garden was God's first temple.  And the man and woman he created—he created them—us—to bear his image.  That means to be his representatives in the temple, to serve him, and steward his goodness to the rest of creation.  We rejected that vocation and the story ever since has been about God restoring his temple and his people.  Two weeks ago, when we looked at Ephesians 2:1-10, we saw how Jesus—the one in whom God and humanity have come together—represents God's work to restore his temple, but we also saw there that, as Paul stresses so much, what is true of Jesus is also true of those who are in him.  One day his people will be raised to be like him—heaven and earth people—but in the meantime, God has filled his church—filled us—with his Spirit as a foretaste and a down payment of that hope.  Brothers and Sisters, that means that we, purified by the blood of Jesus and filled with God's Spirit, we're now the temple—not a temple of bricks and mortar, but a temple of people filled with God's presence. Just as Solomon prayed that the nations would know the glorious reputation of the God of Israel through his people and come to meet him at his temple, our prayer, our desire, our commitment ought to be that the world will know God's glorious reputation through us and come to meet him here.  What God promised to Adam and Eve, to Abraham, to Moses, to the people through the Prophets is now reality in us.  The promise isn't completely fulfilled.  One day the knowledge of the glory of God will fill the earth.  On that day the new creation that began when Jesus rose from the dead will come to full fruit.  Creation and us with it will be made fully new.  God will wipe every last remaining bit of evil from the world and sin and death will be no more.  But, Brothers and Sisters, here's the really important thing here: The church—you and I and everyone else who is in Jesus the Messiah—we are God's vehicle to get the world to that point.  The church is God's means of making his glory known until it fills the earth.  And that ought to get us reflecting on how faithful we are to our mission.  When the world looks at the Church, when it looks at Christians, does what we say and do and live declare the glory of God: his great name, his mighty hand, and his outstretched arm?  (To put it as Solomon did.)  Does what we say and do and live give the world a desire to come to the church to meet God?  Do we at least make the world constructively curious?  If not, we need to reflect on our priorities and on what we're doing. And this is true of everyone who is in Jesus the Messiah, but Paul, writing to the Ephesians who were mostly gentile believers, wants to stress to them just how significant it is that through Jesus and the Spirit they have been made a part of this temple people.  Brothers and Sisters, this is something that we don't spend enough time talking about and reflecting on.  For Paul, the unification of Jews and gentiles in the Messiah was at the heart of the gospel.  It was the proof that God was fulfilling his promises.  This church, made up of Jews and gentiles, men and women, rich and poor, slave and free, all together, unified, one body was a testimony to the glory of God.  In fact, for Paul, it was the testimony of the gospel's power. And I don't think it's even on the radar for many of us today, because we've become so used to and even so complacent about divisions within the church.  Anglicans, Presbyterians, Methodists, Baptists, Lutherans, Mennonites, Romans, and Eastern Orthodox—and those are just some older divisions amongst us before we got really split-happy in the last century or two.  And it's not just theology and polity.  I suspect Paul might have at least a little sympathy for those sorts of divisions, especially over serious, gospel-compromising theological matters.  But Paul would be furious to see how we divide over things like language and ethnicity.  The English are here and the Germans are at that Lutheran church and the Swedes at that other Lutheran church and the Italians and Spanish and Filipinos are at the Roman church and the Greeks at the Greek Orthodox, the Russians at the Russian Orthodox, the Ukrainians at the Ukrainian Orthodox, the Syrians at the Syrian Orthodox.  The Dutch are in their Reformed church and the Scots are in their Reformed church.  And there's a church just for Chinese-speakers and another for Afrikaans and so on and on.  And you've got Messianic Jews forming their own synagogues.  And Paul would be shouting at us and asking, “Haven't you read a single thing I've written to you?  Your divisions are undermining the very gospel you claim to preach!” Paul did not want this to happen in the Ephesian churches, but even more than that, he wanted the people in those churches, especially he wanted them to appreciate just what God had done for them in Jesus and the Spirit, because if we understand what God has done to make us one, we'll hopefully be far less likely to let it be undone.  So, Paul writes in Ephesians 2:11-12 and reminds them of what they used to be: “Therefore, remember this: In human terms—that is, in your ‘flesh'—you are ‘gentiles'.  You are the people whom the so-called circumcision refer to as the so-called uncircumcision—circumcision, of course, being something done by human hands to human flesh.  Well, once upon a time you were separated from the Messiah.  You were alienated from the community of Israel.  You were foreigners to the covenants of promise.  There you were in the world, with no hope and no God.” You were gentiles.  Of course, Gentiles didn't think of themselves that way.  They were just regular people; it was the Jews who were weird.  But the fact that Paul can say this to them, “You were gentiles” means that they've now been brought into the family of Israel.  And just in case they might have forgotten the significance of that, he describes them as having been outsiders with this string of descriptors that work up to a crescendo of alienation. First, they were separated from the Messiah—from the rightful King.  The Messiah was some weird thing the Jews were into.  What would Greeks or Romans—who were oh, so superior—want to have to do with him?  And even if they did, the Messiah wasn't part of their story.  Then second, Paul says that they were alienated from the community—the commonwealth as the King James puts it—of Israel.  They were foreigners.  Israel was not their nation and Israel's God was not their God.  Even if they did see something attractive in Israel and went to the temple in Jerusalem—think of Solomon's prayer for the foreign visitors who would come—there was a wall between the court of the gentiles and the court of the women.  In Paul's day there was an inscription on that wall warning that foreigners passed it on pain of death.  Gentiles could look from a distance, but they were cut off from the living God.  And third, they were foreigners to the covenants of promise.  Most of them had never heard of Abraham or Moses, but if they had, that simply wasn't their story and it certainly wasn't their family.  They didn't belong there.  Whatever promises the God of Israel had made, those promises were not for the gentiles.  And Paul then sums it all up and says: You were in the world without God and without hope. I think Paul intends a bit of irony there.  When he says they were without God he uses a word that essentially means they were atheists.  And “atheist” is exactly what the gentiles called Jews and the first Christians.  Because Jews and Christians worshipped only one God and one God might as well have been no god to them with their vast pantheons.  And Jews and Christians refused to take part in the pagan worship and festivals that ran all through gentile life and society.  And so Paul flips it around.  “No, it was you gentiles, separated from the Messiah, alienated from Israel, foreigners to the covenant promises—it was you who were the atheists.  You were the ones without God.  And because of that you had no hope.  And if being called atheists didn't make an impact, I have to think this would have.  Because it's not that the Greeks and Romans didn't understand the idea of hope; it's that they had no reason, no grounds to live with hope.  No one in their world believed in progress the way people do today.  That idea is rooted in our biblical heritage.  They thought things just went round and round in cycles—forever stuck.  And while their philosophers might talk about life after death, it was all very vague and not hopeful at all.  Hesiod imprisoned hope in the bottom of Pandora's box, lost forever.  Aristotle and others wrote about hope as fickle and treacherous—a foolish thing to trust in.  Things could go wrong just as easily as they could go right.  Hope just wasn't a big deal for the Greeks.  But in stark contrast, hope was at the centre of the whole Jewish and early Christian worldview.  As I said last time, no one in the pagan world would have ever dreamed that the gods loved them or even really cared about them, so why would anyone in the pagan world have reason to hope?  So Paul sums it all up: Without God and without hope, the gentiles were alone and lost in the world.  Paul reminds them just how bleak things were for them before they were captured by the gospel.  I think it's a good thing for us to reflect on this ourselves and if we did, I think we would have a greater appreciation for what God has done for us and for what he has made his church. So after painting this bleak and pitiful picture of where these people were before Jesus, Paul cuts through the hopelessness and despair.  Like he did with that great, “But God!” in verse 3, now in verse 13 he practically shouts out, “But now!” “But now, in Messiah Jesus, you who used to be far away have been brough near by the Messiah's blood.  He is our peace, you see.  He has made the two to be one.  He has pulled down the barrier, the dividing wall, that turns us into enemies of each other.  He has done this in his flesh, by abolishing the law with its commands and instructions.” Paul wrote about the Messiah's blood back in Chapter 1.  Jesus' blood is the means through which God has accomplished redemption and forgiveness.  This was the great, once-and-for-all-time sacrifice that the Old Testament sacrificial system was pointing to all along.  In the Old Testament, sacrificial blood was like a disinfectant.  It cleansed the tabernacle and later the temple; and it cleansed the people of Israel so that the holy God could come to his people and dwell with them.  Pagan sacrifices were all about killing valuable animals to placate the gods.  In Israel, the sacrifices were all about the blood—a symbol of God-given life—and that blood was shed to wash away the stain of sin and death so that God could come and dwell and fellowship with his people.  Brothers and Sisters, the blood of Jesus, shed at the cross, has fully accomplished once and for all and for everyone what the Old Testament sacrifices did partially and temporarily.  And in doing that, God has abolished the law. You see, the law was the thing that set Israel apart from the rest of the world and Paul saw that wall in the court of the gentiles as symbolic of it.  The law, like that wall, kept the gentiles out of God's people, out of his covenant, and out of his promises.  The law marked out the gentiles as idolaters and as unclean—unworthy of God's presence.  But Jesus' blood has washed us clean—Jew and gentile alike—making both the law and the wall that kept the gentiles out irrelevant.  In Jesus, God had brought these Greek believers into the family—fully and no longer aliens and foreigners.  And why?  Paul goes on in the second half of verse 15: “The point of doing all this was to create, in him, one new humanity out of the two, so making peace.  God was reconciling  both of us to himself in a single body, through the cross, by killing the enmity in him.” Do you remember the first thing the risen Jesus said to his disciples when he entered that locked-up house where they were hiding after he'd been crucified?  It was “Peace”.  Shalom.  Peace is what the world looks like set to rights.  And so it makes perfect sense that “Peace” would be the first thing Jesus would say to his disciples after rising from death and inaugurating God's new creation.  He'd just begun the work of setting the world to rights.  And for Paul, this new humanity—Jews and gentiles, once divided by the law, but now brought together—this new humanity, the church, is the first sign of God's peace breaking out into the world.  The church is the sign of the new age.  As I've said before, we are God's working model of his new creation.  Jesus has killed the enmity that was once between us and he has reconciled both to God and, through that, to each other.  Jesus' blood as washed us clean and Paul stresses regularly to his fellow Jews, this means there's no longer any reason to consider gentile believers in Jesus to be unclean.  We gentiles, with hearts renewed by the Holy Spirit, have turned away from our idols to serve the living God and by the blood of Jesus he has washed us clean.  And if there's any doubt, Paul would point to the fact that the same Spirit has come to fill the gentile believers who first filled the Jewish believers.  So he goes on in verse 17: “So the [he Messiah] came and proclaimed peace, to you who were far off and to those who were near.  Through him we both have access to the Father in one Spirit.”  Again, it's all the fulfilment of God's promises.  In Isaiah 57 God had promised that he would heal the broken and humble in spirit and give peace: peace for those far off and peace for those who are near.  He's now done that in Jesus and the unity of the church—these people who were once separated, these people who once hated each other—their unity in the Messiah as one people is the proof, the testimony, the witness of God's faithfulness and the power of the gospel. And Paul, again, wants to drive this home.  Look at verses 19 to 22: “So then [—this is the result—] you are no longer foreigners and aliens.  No, you are fellow citizens with God's holy people.  You are members of God's household.  You are built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Messiah Jesus himself as the cornerstone.  In him the whole building is fitted together, and grows into a holy temple in the Lord.  You, too, are being built up together, in him, into a place where God will live by the Spirit.” The point of all this is that through Jesus and the Spirit, the living God has welcomed us into this amazing story.  We've been adopted into a family that was not ours.  We were poor, dirty refugees without hope, but God has washed us clean in the blood of Jesus, he has made us welcome members of his family, and most importantly, he has come to dwell with us.  He has filled us—aliens, foreigners, strangers, gentiles—with his Spirit—the presence that he had promised to his own people and in doing that he has made us holy.  And just just because.  God has a purpose for us.  He always has. And this is where Paul stops hinting at things with temple language and imagery and comes out and says it: God has done this in order to establish a new temple.  For centuries the Jews had been waiting for God's presence to return to the temple, not that unlike the way so many Jews today go to the Western Wall and pray for a new temple and God's return.  Brother and Sisters, Paul's stressing that God has, in fact, returned, that he has built a new temple, and that he now dwells with his people.  But not in a stone building on the mountain above Jerusalem.  He has built is new temple and returned to live with his people through Jesus and the Spirit. And, again, that means that we—the church—are God's ongoing means of fulfilling his promises to set creation to rights.  God's presence with us is the sign that one day his presence will fill all of creation.  We are the temple, the working model of new creation.  As we proclaim the gospel, we proclaim the glories of God to the world.  As we live the gospel, we put on display the glories of God to the world.  And our unity in Jesus and the Spirit—something we've often forgotten—is one of the most important ways we ought to be living out the gospel.  Just as there was one temple in Israel, there is only one church.  By our divisions and schism and arguments, by our elevating language and race and nation over the gospel, we've often obscured this reality, but Brothers and Sisters, there is but one church and the unity of that one church across our natural divisions of language and race—and class, and status, and every other way the world divides and separates us—that unity is meant to be a witness.  A witness to the power of the gospel.  A witness to the power of Jesus and the cleansing power of his blood.  A witness to the Holy Spirit who indwells every believer.  And most of all, witness to the faithfulness of God, who has been true to his promises.  And through that, our unity becomes a witness to a bleak and hopeless world of God's coming new creation—not just of the world set to rights, but of humanity set to rights within it: one people, renewed and purified, in fellowship forever with the living God. Let's pray: Gracious Father, you have purified us by the blood of your Son and filled us with your Spirit to make us your temple.  Pour out your grace that we might be faithful stewards of the gifts you have given us.  Teach us to guard the unity of your church, so that the nations will see in us a witness to your mighty hand, your outstretched arm, and your great name.  And when they draw near, hear their prayers, we ask, that they might know your great name as we have, through your Son and through your Spirit.  Amen.

Abstract: God didn't “set a mark” on Cain. Instead, he gave Cain a sign. The unfortunate translation of Genesis 4:15 in the King James Bible (KJV) has been the source of much misunderstanding over the years. This article is about the English words that the King James translators chose in Genesis 4:15 and the Hebrew words from which they are translated. It shows that the renderings of the words in that verse are inconsistent with how the KJV treats the same words and grammatical features in other passages. The result is a translation that cannot be justified from the Hebrew Bible. The post The Lord Gave Cain a Sign first appeared on The Interpreter Foundation.

In this episode, Sadie takes us through the bizarre reasoning behind Fundamentalism's stipulation that the King James version is NOT ONLY the "best" version of the bible in English, but that it is actually not a translation, but God's own words, just as valid as the original texts in Greek, Hebrew, and Aramaic. We also discuss how this belief leads to other fundie beliefs like quiverfull, and women wearing only skirts and no pants.Support the show by going to Patreon.Com/LeavingEdenPodcast!Join our discord server!https://discord.gg/aneFkUJuJoin our subreddit!Reddit.com/r/EdenExodusBluesky:@leavingedenpodcast.bsky.social@hellyeahsadie.bsky.social@gavihacohen.bsky.socialTikTok:@LeavingEdenPodcast@SadieCarpenter1Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/leavingedenpodcast/https://www.instagram.com/sadiecarpentermusic/https://www.instagram.com/gavrielhacohen/Subscribe to Leaving Eden Podcast on YouTube!https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJ4q94gAnsoW2jME4SvVrrQJoin our Patreon for extended, uncensored, and ad-free versions of most of our episodes, as well as other patron perks and bonus content!https://www.patreon.com/LeavingEdenPodcastJoin our Facebook group to join in the discussion with other fans!https://www.facebook.com/groups/edenexodusJoin our subreddit! Reddit.com/r/EdenExodusBluesky:@leavingedenpodcast.bsky.social@hellyeahsadie.bsky.social@gavihacohen.bsky.socialInstagram:https://www.instagram.com/leavingedenpodcast/https://www.instagram.com/sadiecarpentermusic/https://www.instagram.com/gavrielhacohen/ Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

First Take is live with a new and improved All-Star game!! The US vs. World format proved successful as players tried, LeBron skied, and Kawhi turned the tide! Wemby and Ant led the way, and may have started a "face of the league" off. Is this All-Star game rendition here to stay? (0:00) Then, LeBron seems ready for life without the NBA, but is the NBA ready for life without LeBron? Who can we look at as the league's torch carrier after King James calls it quits? (34:30) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

John 14:15-31,15 “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. 27 Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid. 28 You heard me say to you, ‘I am going away, and I will come to you.' If you loved me, you would have rejoiced, because I am going to the Father, for the Father is greater than I. 29 And now I have told you before it takes place, so that when it does take place you may believe. 30 I will no longer talk much with you, for the ruler of this world is coming. He has no claim on me, 31 but I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father. Rise, let us go from here.Twenty-two years ago I stumbled into the habit of private worship every morning. I would get up early, make some coffee, and spend time reading God's word and praying. It's been the most transformative habit of my life — I've never stopped doing it. But about six years ago, I added a new part to it. The first thing I do now, right before I read the Bible, is I seek the mercy of God and give him thanks. I confess my need to God for his mercy and then I thank God for a specific way he has shown me mercy. And it can be all kinds of things … Sometimes it's Father, thank you for coffee. This is a good cup of coffee! Sometimes it's Father, thank you that I slept okay last night. … Thank you for that meeting yesterday … for that conversation … for that thing I learned in that book … and on and on.If we spend time thinking about it, we have so much to thank God for. But the one thing I have probably mentioned the most, over the last five years, and especially over the last three weeks, is actually a person — it's Father, thank you for the Holy Spirit!I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Lord, the giver of Life.He proceeds from the Father and the Son, And with the Father and the Son is worshiped and glorified. And in our passage today, in John 14, Jesus introduces us to the Holy Spirit. For the sermon I just want to tell you three things that Jesus tells us about him. 1. The Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and the Son. We're at verse 15, but recall the context here. It is still Thursday night — the longest Thursday ever — and Jesus is in the middle of his Farewell Discourse. Back at the end of Chapter 13, for the first time, Jesus told his disciples that he's leaving. He is preparing them for a new location within redemptive history — his disciples are about to live in a world where he is physically absent. And this is troubling to them — they are in a troubled-heart situation, and Jesus wants to encourage them. We saw that in Chapter 14. Jesus tells them not to let their hearts be troubled; because his going away is for their good; and he's going to come back for them. Jesus is their way to God; he's God's way to them — and he still has greater works that he's gonna do through them.And that's where we ended last week, in verses 12–14. Jesus introduced two stunning realities about life for believers after his death, resurrection, and ascension. Two Stunning RealitiesThe first of those stunning realities is that those who believe in him — us — will do greater works than he did in his earthly ministry. And we clarified last week that this work is not work that we do ourselves. It's not work in our own strength or isolated from Jesus, but it's work that Jesus is doing through us. The second stunning reality is that Jesus says whatever we ask in his name, he will do it. These are two big claims, and they raise some important questions. Questions like: How exactly will we do greater works?How do we know if we are praying in Jesus's name?Well, the answer to these questions is the Holy Spirit. I couldn't help but talk about the Spirit a little bit last week — Jesus is going to talk a lot about him over the next two chapters — but the first thing we need to know is that the Spirit is sent by Jesus and the Father. The Father and the Son are both ‘in on' the Spirit's coming. Listen to the ways Jesus tells us this …In verse 16, Jesus says the Father will give the Spirit, but it is because the Son asks the Father. In verse 23, speaking of the Spirit's presence in a believer, Jesus says that we, he and the Father, will make our home with him. In verse 26, Jesus says the Father will send the Spirit — but Jesus says it is “in my name.” Later, in 15:16, Jesus says that he will send the Spirit from the Father. So, who sends the Spirit? Where's he from? ‘The Father or the Son?' The answer is Yes.The Holy Spirit has always been active within the Trinity, and at work in creation, but after Jesus's ascension, the Father and Son act together in sending the Spirit on a new mission.Now, why is it important for us to know this? Why does it matter that the Father and Son are together in this?The most obvious reason is that Jesus emphasizes it. Jesus wants us to know this, and I think it's because we need to understand that the Spirit is not some ‘Plan B' in redemptive history. We should not think Jesus introducing the Holy Spirit in this section is some kind of backup option. It's not like things went sideways with the mission of Jesus and now the Spirit is a reinforcement. Not at all. Instead, the sending of the Spirit is according to God's eternal playbook from before the foundation of the world. This is the next step in the Triune God's resolve to bring salvation and magnify his glory. The Spirit is from the Father and the Son.Here's the second thing Jesus tells us about the Spirit.2. The Holy Spirit is the presence of Jesus in our lives. The keyword we need to see here is that word “Helper” in verse 16:“And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever.” The Greek work for “Helper” is the word Paraclete — and it's a title for the Spirit that we only find in John — four times in this Gospel (14:16, 26; 15:26; 16:7). And it's a glorious word, but it doesn't have a direct translation into English. A couple of translations, the English Standard Version (the one I use) translates it as “Helper.” But the King James translates it “Comforter.” Another translation says “Counselor.” Several translations say “Advocate” (NRSV; NEB; NIV). And really, the meaning is a combination of all those words, but the one idea that's clear in all those translations is the idea of presence. The Paraclete comes alongside.Jesus says in verse 16: the Paraclete, the Spirit, will be “with you forever.”He “dwells in you and will be in you” — verse 17.In the same way Jesus was with his disciples, the Spirit will be with his disciples — as the Spirit of Jesus. And Jesus is going to show us this in a powerful way, but first I want to zoom out for a minute and take the whole New Testament into account.New Testament SurveyThe New Testament talks a lot about the Holy Spirit, and two key ways he's referred to…One way is that he's called the promise of the Father (Luke 24:49; Acts 1:4; Galatians 3:14). This speaks to the fact that the Spirit is according to God's plan. He's the fulfillment of a promise we see in the Old Testament. The other way to talk about the Spirit is to call him the Spirit of Jesus. In Acts 16:7, Luke says “the Spirit of Jesus” guided their missionary travel. In Romans 8:9, Paul says the “Spirit of Christ” shows that we belong to Christ — the Spirit of Christ is Christ in you. Galatians 4:6 — “God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our hearts.” Philippians 1:19 — Paul says he is helped by “the Spirit of Jesus Christ.”So, biblically, theologically, the Holy Spirit, the third person of the Trinity, is so closely identified with Jesus himself that it is right to call him the Spirit of Jesus. Jesus himself tells us this first. The Wonderful AnotherLook back at that word “Helper” in verse 16 and notice the word right before it: another. The Father and Son are sending another Helper. So the Spirit is a new helper, but he's of the same kind as a Helper who came before him. So who is that first Helper? It's Jesus. Jesus was one Paraclete, and now the Spirit is another Paraclete.This means the Spirit is not a replacement for Jesus, but he is the continuation of Jesus's work in a new way. But the Son and Spirit are not just united in their mission, they are united in their essence as God. Both are fulfilling the mission of the triune God to be with his people — the Son is God with us; the Spirit is God in us.This is why Jesus can say to his disciples, verse 18: “I will not leave you as orphans” — Jesus says I'm not really leaving you! He's actually magnifying his presence among them. Get this:The Paraclete is first Jesus himself with his people in person, confined to flesh and blood and dirt; and then the Paraclete is the Holy Spirit in his people — he is the promise of the Father, the Spirit of Jesus, who indwells everyone who trusts in Jesus … he speaks, consoles, guides, teaches — just like Jesus did. Ministering RealnessOne way to say it that connects with language we use is to say that the Holy Spirit ministers the realness of Jesus in our lives.That's the way we should understand Paul's experience toward the end of his life. We know that's where Paul was when he wrote his final letter to Timothy. Paul says in Chapter 4 (of 2 Timothy) that the “time of his departure” has come: “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (4:7). And then Paul recounts for Timothy the relational brokenness that laid behind him, and he's honest about how lonely he felt when he awaited trial in Rome; he says “no one came to stand by me” (4:16). But then in verse 17 he says: “But the Lord stood by me and strengthened me.”And he's talking about Jesus there. Jesus stood by Paul and strengthened him. And I've long imagined what that was like. Did Jesus step through the wall of Paul's room and wrap his arm around his shoulder? Sometimes I wish Jesus would do that for me — Just be physically in the room and help me like you did Paul! But is that what he did for Paul?I don't think so. What happened for Paul is that the Holy Spirit — the Spirit of Jesus — was so present and so powerful for him that Paul can say it was like Jesus himself standing by him. The Spirit of Jesus manifested the realness of Jesus for Paul — and I want you to know: we should settle for nothing less in the Christian life. That's the aim of our discipleship. The mission of Cities Church is to make joyful disciples of Jesus who remember his realness in all of life. And when we say that, we're talking about the ministry of the Holy Spirit! Because Jesus tells us the Holy Spirit is his presence in our lives.Third thing Jesus tells us …3. The Holy Spirit empowers our love for Jesus in his world. For this third and final point, we need to come to grips with a repeated theme in this passage. Four different times Jesus tells us there is a connection between loving him and keeping his commandments. It's easy to track, first in verse 15, right away:Verse 15: “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.”Verse 21: “Whoever has my commandments and keeps them, he it is who loves me.”Verse 23: “If anyone loves me, he will keep my word.”Verse 24: “Whoever does not love me does not keep my words.”And then verse 31 — what Jesus says about our love for him also applies to his love for the Father. Jesus says, verse 31:“I do as the Father has commanded me, so that the world may know that I love the Father.”This theme is the clearest thing Jesus says. It's straightforward; no way around it. If you love Jesus, you do what he says. Well what does he say? What are his commandments?What Are His Commandments?The answer here, in short, is the whole Bible. It would be a mistake to truncate what Jesus says as being only the red-letter parts of the Gospels. It's much more than that. Instead, the commandments of Jesus, his word, is the whole revelation of who Jesus is, which blooms into the apostolic testimony, also called the New Testament, which is the fulfillment of the Old Testament.What Jesus says is the whole Bible. Which means: to really love Jesus means your life is shaped and guided by Scripture. The single word for this is obedience. Trust and obey, for there's no other wayTo be happy in Jesus, than to trust and obeyWe used to sing that song when I was kid growing up in church. It's not rocket-science. We all understand that any kind of real love involves more than only sentiment. It can't be just a feeling. And proof that we know this was yesterday — Valentine's Day.Valentines is an old American holiday. It took off in the late 1800s because a woman named Esther Howland had this idea to mass-produce romantic greeting cards. It became a custom that men would send the ladies they were courting a card. Now 150 years later, fellas, if you did it right: you got a card, and chocolates, and flowers, and a dinner reservation — or some combination of that. But we all know that what you cannot do on Valentine's Day is only say “I love you.” Some activity is expected. Love requires demonstration.Love is not less than affection — affections matter — but there's more. There's activity — and the activity that verifies our love for Jesus is obedience to him in this world. Getting Obedience RightAnd listen: the order of that sentence is really important. We are called to obedience to Jesus in this world. It's not obedience to the world for Jesus. Because get this: the world has its own commandments. There's all kinds of commandments the world says people must keep if they're really about love — like I think we're supposed to acknowledge that we're on ‘stolen land' right now and we're supposed to specify our pronouns, and make certain kinds of statements, and check certain boxes. The world has its own commandments — Recently, someone who hates Jesus told me they wanted to talk to me about our optics for Jesus. … And I said, “No thank you.”Jesus does not need us to try to make him look good by doing what the world tells us to do. Jesus calls us to do what he says in a world that will hate us … a world that will revile you and persecute you and utter all kinds of evil against you falsely (see Matthew 5:11). We're not called to manage that. We're called to obey Jesus, come what may in this world.And obedience like that is hard, with the pressures around us. How do we do it? How do we obey Jesus here?The answer is: The empowering presence of the Holy Spirit.The Spirit Empowers UsThe love we have for Jesus — and our obedience that demonstrates that love — does not come from our own strength, but it comes through the gift of the Spirit in our lives. I think that's part of what Paul is saying in Romans 5:5. You've heard these verses before: … we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.And the question is what does Paul mean when he says “God's love” — is this the love of God for us OR our love for God. Well, I think it's first God's love for us, but it also includes our love for God, which must always come next. Our love for God is essential to our character — that's why we ultimately will not be put to shame — Because our love for God is actually a gift from God himself. Our love for God is from his Spirit who seals us and keeps us. Theologically, we understand the Holy Spirit is the bond of love between the Father and Son. This is mysterious, and we wrestle with what Scripture says here; we'll see what Jesus says in Chapter 17. But the Holy Spirit, who is the personal love that flows between the Father and Son, is poured into our hearts as the love that unites us to Jesus.Our love for Jesus, demonstrated by our obedience, is empowered by the Spirit. Peace Even HereThe good news we should hear is that our love for Jesus, which he commands, is love his Spirit creates. When Jesus tells us to obey him, he is not pointing us to an impossible ladder — but he's ensuring the divine supply we need for all things that pertain to life and godliness. Jesus doesn't tell us ‘make me bricks without straw' — but he says: We are making our home in you … I'm with you forever … even in this world … even in troubled-heart situations. This is the only way we can have peace. Jesus says, verse 27:“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give to you. Not as the world gives do I give to you. Let not your hearts be troubled, neither let them be afraid.”That is the ministry of the Holy Spirit to us …Sent by the Father and the Son.Serving the realness of Jesus in our lives.Empowering our love for Jesus in this world. I am so thankful for the Holy Spirit. Aren't you? Thank you, Jesus, for the Holy Spirit. I want more of him! That's what brings us to the Table. The TableJohn shows us, in this Gospel, and in his letters, that love is demonstrated. Our love for Jesus is demonstrated in obedience, but that always follows God's love for us first. John says that we love because God first loved us, and we see that love definitively at the cross. Paul says that in Romans 5 … “God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (NASB).That's the best news in the world. If you're here this morning and you're not a Christian, you become a Christian by believing that. Jesus Christ died to save you, a sinner. Believe him. For those of us who do believe, at this Table we rejoice in Jesus and his gospel. If you trust in Jesus, we invite you to eat and drink with us, and give him thanks.

Get Up resumes with the Lakers still relying on LeBron for EVERYTHING. With Luka out, the ageless wonder popped off for a triple-double in a win against the Mavs. What should they change to give King James a break? (0:00) Meanwhile - Mike T comes in HOT with an A.J. Brown trade. Which team needs him the most? (13:50) Then - NBA talk with Shump and Windy! The Pistons joined the elite 40-20 club. Are we still underrating them. And, Is Wemby a top 5 player in the league? (24:30) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

JAMES I, THE GUNPOWDER PLOT, AND THE RISE OF THE MIDDLING SORT Colleague Jonathan Healey. King James I faces a divided England upon his accession, navigating religious tensions between Catholics, Puritans, and the mainstream. The 1605 Gunpowder Plot, a radical Catholic attempt to blow up Parliament, fuels lasting anti-Catholic paranoia and associates Catholicism with tyranny. Healey explains the rise of the "middling sort," a wealthy, literate class of farmers and lawyers who increasingly comprise the voting body in Parliament. Meanwhile, Jamesstruggles with structural inflation and attempts to avoid the fractious Parliament by keeping England out of expensive foreign wars. NUMBER 11670 CHARLES II

Part 3 of Episode 270 of the Mike Drop Podcast is the deepest, most vulnerable, and most spiritually charged segment of the three-part series. Glover opens up about his life-changing, high-dose psilocybin and ibogaine experiences — describing out-of-body journeys, past-life memories, direct encounters with God, and how plant medicine obliterated ego, addiction urges, and brain fog while dramatically strengthening his faith. The conversation dives into biblical scholarship (King James vs. Ethiopian Bible, Book of Enoch), the therapeutic power of psychedelics for veterans, and Glover's upcoming book. The episode closes with a sobering discussion on vet-on-vet drama and stolen-valor culture, detailed ballistic analysis of the Charlie Kirk assassination, and Glover's concerns about foreign influence, FBI obstruction, and the deteriorating trust in institutions. Raw, redemptive, and unfiltered — this is peak Mike Drop. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

PREVIEW — Professor Claire Jackson — James I and the "Mirror of Great Britain" Symbolic Jewel. Professor Jackson discusses her historical biography of King James I and the "Mirror of Great Britain," a symbolic composite jewel representing the political and cultural union of Scotland and England under unified monarchical authority. Jacksondetails that this distinctive gem contains precious stones from both Scottish and English royal collections, physically embodying the sovereignty integration and dynastic consolidation achieved through the Stuarts. Jackson documents that this symbolic jewel was subsequently sold and systematically dismantled by James I's son Charles during the English Civil Wars, representing the fragmentation of the Stuart vision for consolidated British monarchy and the political dissolution catalyzed by civil conflict and parliamentary assertion against royal prerogative.

You read that title right. Are you familiar with the story of James Strang? A blatant con artist who converted to Mormonism shortly before Joseph Smith's assassination who used a forged letter and some "discovered" brass plates to establish himself as Smith's legitimate heir, and then convinced hundreds of followers to move to Beaver Island in Lake Michigan where they crowned him king in 1850 and formed a small army that included pirates? This true story is wonderfully bonkers. Hail Nimrod! Merch and more: www.badmagicproductions.com Timesuck Discord! https://discord.gg/tqzH89vWant to join the Cult of the Curious PrivateFacebook Group? Go directly to Facebook and search for "Cult of the Curious" to locate whatever happens to be our most current page :)For all merch-related questions/problems: store@badmagicproductions.com (copy and paste)Please rate and subscribe on Apple Podcasts and elsewhere and follow the suck on social media!! @timesuckpodcast on IG and http://www.facebook.com/timesuckpodcastWanna become a Space Lizard? Click here: https://www.patreon.com/timesuckpodcast.Sign up through Patreon, and for $5 a month, you get access to the entire Secret Suck catalog (295 episodes) PLUS the entire catalog of Timesuck, AD FREE. You'll also get 20% off of all regular Timesuck merch PLUS access to exclusive Space Lizard merch Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.