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A woman walks into an ER with chest pain, vertigo, and dizziness. Every test comes back normal—no heart attack, no stroke. Most doctors would discharge her. But Dr. Adam Rizvi asks one question: “What is going on in your life?” And everything unravels. A decade of buried pain, an abandoned commitment, a pattern of abuse she fell back into. With just his presence and willingness to listen, she starts to heal herself. Dr. Rizvi doesn't see himself as a healer—he's a facilitator of love. He's a critical care neurologist who has witnessed deathbed visions, shared death experiences, and spontaneous healings. In this episode, we explore what happens when the body dies, why death is not a failure, and how a loving presence can heal more than words ever could. If you've ever wondered whether consciousness continues, listen closely.0:00 – The Doctor Who Asked One Question 1:26 – I Almost Died 2:11 – Welcome to the Space Between 3:47 – Neurology Meets Spirituality 7:20 – Deathbed Visions in the ICU 9:23 – Consciousness Continues After Death 12:49 – My Father's Death Woke Me Up 17:19 – Death Is Not a Failure 23:44 – Death Reconnects Estranged Families 28:18 – Shared Death Experience 33:21 – Making Death Sacred Again 35:30 – Spontaneous Healing in the ER 40:55 – Seeing Energy Leave the Body 44:47 – Finding Adam Rizvi & Farewell LEARN MORE ABOUT GUEST:https://adamrizvi.com/ Subscribe to my Patreon:https://www.patreon.com/dramyrobbins JOIN MY COMMUNITY In The Space Between membership, you'll get access to LIVE quarterly Ask Amy Anything meetings (not offered anywhere else!), discounts on courses, special giveaways, and a place to connect with Amy and other like-minded people. You'll also get exclusive access to other behind-the-scenes goodness when you join! Click here to find out more --> https://shorturl.at/vVrwR Stay Connected: - Instagram - https://tinyurl.com/ysvafdwc- Facebook - https://tinyurl.com/yc3z48v9- YouTube - https://tinyurl.com/ywdsc9vt- Website - https://tinyurl.com/ydj949kt Life, Death & the Space Between Dr. Amy RobbinsExploring life, death, consciousness and what it all means. Put your preconceived notions aside as we explore life, death, consciousness and what it all means on Life, Death & the Space Between.**Brought to you by:Dr. Amy Robbins | Host, Executive ProducerPodcastize.net | Audio & Video Production | Life, Death, and the Space Between (the "Podcast") is produced and hosted by Dr. Amy Robbins and is made available for informational, educational, and entertainment purposes only. Nothing stated on the Podcast by Dr. Robbins or any guest constitutes psychotherapy, medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment, and listening to the Podcast does not create a psychologist-patient or therapist-client relationship with Dr. Robbins. The views, opinions, statements, and experiences expressed by guests are solely those of the guests. They do not necessarily reflect the views of Dr. Robbins or Spiritually Integrated Living, LLC, and their inclusion on the Podcast does not constitute an endorsement, a professional recommendation, or a verification of accuracy. Topics discussed on the Podcast may include grief, death, loss, and other sensitive subjects; listener discretion is advised. The Podcast may from time to time include sponsor messages, advertisements, or affiliate links. If you purchase a product or service through an affiliate link, we may receive a commission at no additional cost to you. We only accept sponsorships and affiliations we believe are relevant to our audience, but we are not responsible for third-party products or services, and any transaction is solely between you and the third party. All Podcast episodes, including audio, video, artwork, and show notes, are the intellectual property of Spiritually Integrated Living, LLC. You may share links to episodes, but you may not reproduce, redistribute, or use episode content for commercial purposes without our prior written permission. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Reformed Brotherhood | Sound Doctrine, Systematic Theology, and Brotherly Love
In episode 502 of The Reformed Brotherhood, Tony and Jesse begin what promises to be a multi-part deep dive into the Parable of the Good Samaritan — one of the most culturally embedded and theologically rich stories Jesus ever told. But before a single character hits the Jericho road, the hosts ground listeners in something easily overlooked: the charged context in which this parable is told. A lawyer — trained, confident, adversarial — steps forward not to learn but to test. What follows is a masterclass in how Jesus turns the law back on those who wield it as a weapon. This episode covers Luke 10:21–36, explores the covenant of works and covenant of grace, the noetic effects of sin, and why the Good Samaritan is far more than a lesson in being a helpful neighbor. Buckle up. Key Takeaways The lawyer's question is self-contradictory from the start. Asking "what must I do to inherit eternal life?" smuggles a works-righteousness assumption into the very grammar of the question. Inheritance by definition is received, not earned. Jesus does not give the lawyer a new paradigm — He reorients him to the true one. The covenant of grace is not a New Testament innovation. It runs through every Old Testament covenant administration. The lawyer should have already known this. "Do this and you will live" is not a Pelagian concession. Christ is holding out the law's own terms — perfect, total, unrelenting obedience — not to suggest it is achievable, but to expose its impossibility and drive the lawyer (and us) to the only alternative: mercy. "Desiring to justify himself" is more complex than it first appears. Tony argues that the desire to fulfill the covenant of works is not inherently wicked — it is the misguided belief that one can which is the problem. This distinction creates room for reading Christ's response as genuinely merciful instruction, not merely rebuke. The noetic effects of sin mean accurate theology can be deployed in service of self. The lawyer knows the right answers and still uses them to avoid repentance. Correct doctrine alone does not save. The fundamental human problem is not ignorance — it is the will's bondage and the heart's self-love. The parable is primarily Christological, not merely ethical. Jesus is the Good Samaritan. The story is not first about mercy ministry; it is about who binds up our wounds when we are left for dead on the road, unable to save ourselves. The priest and the Levite are not exonerated by their ritual obligations. Considerable ink has been spilled trying to justify their passing by on grounds of Levitical purity concerns. The parable refuses that exit. Everyone in the story — and everyone listening — already knows what the right thing to do was. Key Concepts The Covenant of Works Is Not a Black Box One of the more quietly important arguments Tony makes in this episode is that the covenant of works was never meant to be mysterious or inaccessible. When Jesus responds to the lawyer's question by asking, "What is written in the law? How do you read it?" — He does so with a visible assumption: there is a clear, knowable answer, and the lawyer should be able to give it. And he does. Love God completely, love your neighbor as yourself. The covenant of works was always coherent and comprehensible. The problem has never been that its demands were obscure. The problem is that no one — save the Mediator — has ever kept them. Jesus is not introducing a new ethical framework. He is forcing the lawyer to confront a standard he has always known and has never met. The Lawyer as a Warning to Reformed Christians Jesse closes the episode's first movement with a pointed and personal application that cuts across theological self-satisfaction. The lawyer is not a caricature of ignorance — he is a portrait of someone with accurate, affirmed theological knowledge who instinctively deploys it in the service of self-justification the moment he senses conviction. Jesse names this directly as a danger particularly acute in Reformed circles, where doctrinal precision can become a subtle mechanism of self-defense rather than an occasion for repentance. The Reformation's great recovery of grace must not become a new form of the very disease it diagnosed. Knowing the right words about total depravity, the covenant of grace, and the mediator does not exempt anyone from the need to actually be humbled by them. Theology is not armor against repentance — it is, rightly received, the road toward it. Context Is Not Just Setup — It Is Part of the Lesson Tony and Jesse both emphasize that Luke 10:21–24 is not merely throat-clearing before the real content begins. The theological statement embedded there — that the Father has hidden these things from the wise and revealed them to little children, that no one knows the Son except the Father or the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal Him — is the hermeneutical key to everything that follows. The lawyer approaches Jesus as one rabbi testing another. But Luke has already told his readers that this is not a conversation between equals debating interpretive options. It is the Lawgiver being questioned by someone who does not recognize Him. The parable that follows is not just an answer to a legal question. It is a revelation — the kind that only happens when the Son chooses to give it. Memorable Quotes You do not want to pit the law against the one who has given the law, the one whose character is represented in the law — because you're always going to get owned, and you'll get owned before you realize you've just gotten owned on multiple levels. - Jesse Schwamb Jesus is trying to sort of reorient them back to the true paradigm of grace that is present under all of the Old Covenant administrations. It's not so much a matter of developing a new framework and imposing it on this guy. It's really trying to say, 'Listen — think about this for a second. Think about the fact that, yes, you know you have to love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole strength, your whole mind, and you have to love your neighbor as yourself. You've answered correctly. If you can do those things, you will live.' — with the subtext: and of course you cannot possibly do those things. - Tony Arsenal The fundamental human problem is not primarily ignorance, but the will's bondage and the heart's self-love. It's a problem no amount of correct discipline or doctrine alone can fix apart from some kind of regenerating grace — which is exactly what Jesus is going to illustrate for us in the mercy he's about to display in this parable. - Jesse Schwamb Full Transcript Tony Arsenal: [00:00:00] This parable is not primarily about us figuring out how to do mercy ministry. Like, that's important. It's probably an outcome of this. It's probably something for us to think about. But really, this is actually Christ saying, like, "Hold on a second here, dude." Like, "Let's just think about this." Do you need someone who is going to tell you to pick yourself up off your bootstraps and cross to the other side of the street and leave you to your own devices? Or do you need someone who's gonna throw you on their donkey, who's gonna bind up your wounds, who's gonna pay the innkeeper, and is gonna pledge to pay everything that is owed for your salvation? Right? That's not too on the nose here, I think. Welcome to episode 502 of The Reformed Brotherhood. I'm [00:01:00] Jesse And I'm Tony, and this is the podcast with ears to hear. Hey, brother. Jesse Schwamb: Hey, brother. Well, we've got a big one to talk about on this episode. We're marching further and further into all of the glorious parables Jesus told as part of His teaching. And as you and I kind of joked before we began, I mean, what did you call it? Did you say this is, uh, the big daddy? Tony Arsenal: It's the big daddy, one of the big daddy parables. Jesse Schwamb: It's one of the big daddy parables. Now, this one is probably second maybe only to the prodigal son. Yeah But in terms of its ubiquity and its kind of just common knowledge in culture, this one ranks right up there. And before I reveal what it is, which you may already know, I was thinking how so many times we look at the Beatitudes as expression of a master class in Jesus teaching the law, and I think that's true. But as I was reading and thinking about this particular parable, I thought, "I don't know. I think this one is, uh, right up there," because [00:02:00] this is like law on law. It's double law. Yeah It's law coming back at the law giver who's trying to use the law to test Jesus, and then Jesus tests him with the law that He himself gave His people. It's... I'm already getting too excited- ... and we've got something to do before we get there. But we're talking about the parable of the Good Samaritan. And so I can't imagine, can I just make a prediction up front? I, you know where I'm going with this, and probably everybody else does. Uh, this is gonna be like two conversations- Tony Arsenal: At least ... Jesse Schwamb: probably. Tony Arsenal: Yeah, at least two. Jesse Schwamb: Is that fair? Because I realize we, of course, wanna get to the parable itself, and oh, my goodness, how much ink has been spilled. Even going back to, like, if you read, like, Augustine or, like, the early church, like the Patristics, the Church Fathers, there are so much that could be said, and maybe some stuff that just shouldn't be said about all the allegorical potential intent here about these characters. But [00:03:00] there's so much amazing stuff that happens in the opening of this, that's not just the setup, but it is its own lesson, and I'm real excited actually to talk about that with you before we even get into, like, all the good stuff that everybody expects that you wanna talk about. So we're gonna do it all. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Jesse Schwamb: We're gonna do it all, but it'll take time. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. I'm interested to see if we're even on the same page about where to start reading, 'cause I, I think we might not be, and that's gonna be fun. So we'll, we'll let it fly and see what happens. It'll be our own little, uh, podcast game. Jesse Schwamb: But, uh, I think- Well, I mean, we're gonna be in Luke chapter 10, but I guess to your point, we should be starting in Luke chapter one to get to this. Yeah. Tony Arsenal: Exactly. But Jesse Schwamb: we, we do have to back up quite a bit, and I was gonna ask you about that. Yeah. But I, apparently we're just gonna play that on the fly and see where we go. Affirmations Denials Segment Jesse Schwamb: But of course, the Reformers had their five solos. Chalcedon had its, what, seven withouts. We've got opinions, and we're just as confident about ours, so of course it's time for affirmations, denials, where we affirm something that we think is good or awesome or [00:04:00] we wanna recommend, and we deny, again, something that is not so great or maybe just plain annoying. So before we talk about the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Tony, what do you got for us on this episode? Are you affirming with something, or are you gonna come in with a denial? Tony Arsenal: Well, I've got two affirmations. That's fine. One is just- I will allow it ... a declaration of joy, and one is, like, a real affirmation. I, I just can't... It would be remiss of me not to share with our podcasting family that my son August and my daughter Adeline, uh, joined the visible church today as- Hear, hear ... uh, non-communicant members. Uh, Augie and Addie were baptized on the 16th of August of 2026, uh, into the visible church, into the name of Jesus Christ. Uh, was, it was just a great service. Um, it's funny because I've been- been talking with Augie. One of the thing with toddlers when you're doing something big like this is you kinda have to talk about it and practice and rehearse, rehearse it and, and get them ready for it. And up until maybe, like, I don't know, three days [00:05:00] ago, every time it would come up he would be saying, "I don't wanna be baptized. I don't wanna be baptized." And, um, you know, I, I, I, you know, I don't wanna force him to do something, but also, like, I make him eat vegetables. But, um- ... he, I, I think it was nerves, and I think something clicked in his head and all of a sudden he was very excited to be baptized. So, um, it was great. We've been talking about, you know, what baptism is, God's promise to you that if you trust him he'll save you. And so today he- Right ... he was like, "God's gonna make a promise to me to save me." So he was very excited. Nice. And he did a great job just standing quietly and listening to the pastor talk. Uh, and Addie was, was, was just a beautiful little girl, and she, um, she loved it as well. So that's just a bonus affirmation. I don't know that I could get through a podcast without gushing over that. Glorify App and Devotionals Tony Arsenal: Uh, but the, the affirmation I have, uh, this is an, an app that I think some of our listeners may have heard of. Um, some may roll their eyes at it, to be honest with you. Um, I stumbled on this because, uh, you have an Oura Ring, don't you, Jesse? Jesse Schwamb: I do. Tony Arsenal: You [00:06:00] do, yeah. So for those who don't know, an Oura Ring is like a little wearable ring that's like a, almost like a fitness tracker, but it tracks biometrics, pulse rate, temperature, all these different things, sleep. Um, there's a startup, uh, that has been doing a GoFundMe or a funding kind of thing for, uh, what they're calling like a Christian version of an Oura Ring. So it does a lot of the same things, sleep tracking, basic biometric tracking. Hmm. But it also has like alerts built in, and it's tied into an app that they use for devotionals. So it'll, it'll remind you to pray. It'll remind you, you know, bring you to an app to do a devotion. But the app it uses is a standalone app that I looked up, and it's called Glorify. Have you ever heard of this app before this evening? I have heard of Jesse Schwamb: this, yeah. Tony Arsenal: So Glorify is just a small devotional app. Uh, it's not much different than you would expect based on the name. It is connected to this, uh, to this Glorify ring, which again is, is sort of like an Oura Ring tied into this app. But this app basically is, is [00:07:00] designed to help you complete short daily devotional exercises, and they're usually very brief. They're based on a very brief, um, a very brief passage of scripture. Today's passage, uh, c- there's a quote. So today's quote is from Dietrich Bonhoeffer. It says, "True love does not consist in finding the perfect person, but in faithfully loving an imperfect one." Not sure why this devotional app is using a romance, uh, quote from Bonhoeffer of all people. But that was today's. Um, and the passage is Proverbs 5:15-17. So it's a, it's a devotional based on two verses, which is fine. So you read the passage. There's a very brief devotional on that passage, and then sort of a guided prayer, and they have both premium and free models. The premium model includes like you can listen to the devotional, you can listen to the prayer. Um, but just for example, today's prayer, it, it's very simple. "Loving Father, thank you for, uh, thank you because you're faithful and unchanging. In a world [00:08:00] marked by broken promises, disposable relationships, you remain the same. Teach me to reflect that faithfulness in my relationships. Help me to love with perseverance, grace, and commitment following the example of Christ. Protect marriages, strengthen families, restore what needs healing. May every relationship be marked by respect, truth, and genuine love. Shape in me a heart of integrity that honors you in both the small and significant choices of life. In Jesus' name, amen." So I think what I love about this, and this, I mentioned last week that there was, this is kind of like, sort of like the fluffy evangelical devotions. Like- Right ... there's not a ton of like solid doctrinal meat- But like, it's still nourishing. And sometimes we need a little bit of help. Sometimes we don't know what to pray, we don't know what to read, we're not sure. Sometimes in, I think in our Reformed circles, we feel like if we're not reading large portions of scripture and reading deep theological treaties or long, complex devotionals, that we're really not doing anything, and that's just not the [00:09:00] truth. So I've been using this in addition to other devotional studies I'm doing. I don't do it every day. I mean, there's some like streak functionality, kinda like habit tracking type stuff that's built into it. Um, but it's nice. It's nice to be able to pick it up, read a very short scripture, a brief devotional thought, and then have some guided prayer. I know one of the reasons I don't pray as often as I ought to is because I struggle to know what and how to pray. So even having some written prayers, I mean, this is why the Psalms are good, things like the Valley of Visions are good. Um, having some pre-written prayers that you genuinely pray but you're not having to come up with in the moment can really help. Right. So the app is called Glorify. I know it's available on iPhone. I'm not sure about Android. I'm sure it probably is. I'm sure they wanna have a pretty broad ecosystem. Um, and, and it's good. Again, it's, it's not anything fancy. It's not anything like super technical. Uh, and as I kind of alluded, like some of it's a little weird. Um, I, I didn't read the proverb. I think maybe the proverb is about romantic relationships, why they're, why they're tying in that, um, Bonhoeffer quote in, in the prayer. [00:10:00] But, um, even that, like it's pretty innocuous. And the quotes, like you don't have to read the quotes. It's not like you have to have to do that. Um, you could jump in, just read the scripture or just read the devotion and just do the prayer and you would be fine. So check it out. It's called Glorify, available on iPhone for sure. I'm pretty sure it's on, on Android. And maybe it's something you add daily, you know, this kinda thing like you do when you're on the bus or you're waiting at the grocery store, something quick you can do when you might be wasting that time just sorta sitting around or scrolling Twitter. Again, Twitter's fine. You can use your leisure time as you see fit. But if you wanna fill it with something like this, something that is more spiritual, then this would be a good option to just add a little bit of, uh, a little bit of nourishment to your diet where you might not otherwise be getting it Jesse Schwamb: I have no proof of this, but I just keep saying it anyway. It might be that we're living in the golden age of really great- ... daily worship resources. Like, something to actually cultivate, not just, like, a devotional nugget, but something that actually leads you into a pattern and a habit of [00:11:00]worship, giving your attentive focus on Jesus. And I love that. So, uh, uh, 'cause I was just thinking, like, I was trying to look back on some of our past affirmations here. We've talked about the book Walking in Faith. I just gave everybody Awake My Soul last week. You're coming in with the Glorify app. I- we've talked about Dwell, if not recently, we've talked about that for some time. It's like a great Bible reading app, and there's lots and lots of new features, by the way, coming out on that- Yeah that are fantastic. And then, yes, all these other great prayers. I, I see, like, these books on prayer, like, actually, I'm sorry, like, prayer books, I guess, as, like, a great way to kinda... It's like a jumper for your car. You know what I mean? Like, just gets you started. What a, what a lovely thing to come into a place and have a launching pad. And I've been using a lot of Into His Presence, which is a collection of Puritan prayers, sometimes because, for instance, this just happened, where I wanted to pray for someone who was just going through a rough time, a good friend of mine. And I went to that place to kinda start and frame, knowing that I was gonna sit down with him and pray, how I might be able to do that well and [00:12:00] effectively. And these things are just, like, really phenomenal resources. It's just an amazing time to have all these things at our disposal. So that's another great option. It's, it's really more about, like you and I have talked about, Tony, like, whatever gets us into that pattern, whatever gets us, like, authentically experiencing under our own volition, coming in the discipline of sitting before God in daily worship with that expression being pretty broad in its representation- Yeah is to really include something of devotional time in the scriptures, memorization, metabolation, metabolizing. Metabolation, I'm just gonna make that up as, like- ... what happens when you, when you take the scripture and metabolize it into your own life. Meditating on it and, you know, again, maybe looking through the confessions and creeds that have shaped our distilled understanding of what the scripture teaches so that we're enhancing and edifying our mind. We're also engaging the heart, and then we're engaging God and ourselves in communication with Him through prayer. I'm all for anything [00:13:00] that gets us into those rhythms, reminds us of the importance of them, and like we talked about last week, makes it so that when we think about what it means to be married to Christ, so to speak, it's not just about whipping out some kind of marriage certificate to prove that, but that we actually have a frame and a behavioral pattern that fits a married person, that- Yeah how they act, how they think, how they behave, how they communicate, they're never too far away from their lovely spouse in some way or another. And so I think that these tools are great ways to get us exactly into that kind of mindset and practice. Tony Arsenal: Yeah, absolutely. And like I said, like, I think- In our Reformed circles, we can, you know, we, we tend to be maybe a little eggheaded, and we, we tend to be a little more intellectual and, and a little more, I don't know, studious. And there's nothing wrong with that. Um, but I think sometimes it can breed a sort of, uh, elitism and arrogance. Sure. Uh, this is a perfectly valid devotional tool. Yes. Mm-hmm. And, and I think, [00:14:00] you know, kinda like the old adage, like, well, what's the best translation of scripture? Well, whichever one you're gonna read. Exactly. Like, what's the best devotional tool? Whichever one you're gonna use, whichever one's actually gonna bring you into the Word, uh, on a, on a regular basis. Um, and again, like, two verses of the scripture is two verses of the scripture that you might- Right ... not have other spent time, otherwise spent time reading. And it really is short enough, and it saves your progress. Like, you can do, you can do the quote in the morning, and then you can check the scripture on the way to the, you know, the word work, on a stoplight or whatever. Um, if you have the, the paid subscription, you can listen to this stuff, you know, on the, the bus or whatever. Um, so check it out. Glorify app, they have a ring they're making. It's in funding, I guess, if you wanna check it out, you can check that out too. I am neither affirming nor denying whatever this Glory ring is, Glorify ring. But, um, but yeah, the app is great. The, the app is free, and it's, it's worth even just checking out and adding once in a while to your day Jesse Schwamb: The glory ring or the glorify ring sounds like almost too Tolkien, even for me Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. It's the one ring to rule all of your devotions. [00:15:00] Uh, and in the, and in the morning bind them. Jesse, save me from the trail I was about to go on, and, and I was gonna speak in the language of Mordor, I think, on accident. Uh, save us from this. What are you affirming or denying? Jesse Schwamb: That's Tony Arsenal: beautiful. Please tell me it's the language of Mordor. Elvish AI and Music Pick Jesse Schwamb: Uh, no, but can I just say at the risk of really taking us really far afield so early on, which is not necessarily off-brand for us, I have done this... I, I don't know if I should be ashamed by this or I should be excited by this. But- ... um, the Elvish tongue in the Tolkien universe- Tony Arsenal: Oh, no. ... Jesse Schwamb: is like, there's several... If you're super nerdy, you'll know there's like several different kind of iterations or formulas of it, and there's no, like, official language like Klingon, but there ha- it has been studied, and basically, like, it's kind of like the Eugene Peterson of the language. Like, there's, like, just kind of a dynamic equivalent or an expression of words. Anyway, all that to say- ... there's several languages that, uh, Microsoft Copilot will just not [00:16:00] translate because it says, like, "This one, this language doesn't actually exist. There's not enough for me to do anything." Let me tell you something. Tolkien Elvish is not one of those languages, and I actually built an agent, because I have a coworker who can, uh, who can appreciate all this stuff, that takes a text, translates it into this kind of academic high-level Elvish from Tolkien, and then translates it back to English. That makes anything you're saying way better and far more poetic and just absolutely amazing. So if you wanna have some fun, go and do that with whatever your favorite AI model is. Anyway, that's free of charge. Real quick, my affirmation is more music. It just turns out I've found this band, and I've been listening to them a lot. The band's name is Thronebreaker, which is just a phenomenal name, I think, for any group. Uh, it's amazing. Uh, th- this is... I'm gonna read you their description from Spotify. It just says, "Thronebreaker is Christian metalcore built for the bruised, the doubting, and the ones still fighting their way home." And what I've really been [00:17:00] loving about them is it is kind of like Wolves at the Gate adjacent. It's really lovely music. It is melodic, so it's, there's not just that there's that kind of hard edge, but that is present in it. But, uh, the music is really lovely and beautiful, and in part that's because they're going through this, like, drip of releasing music where they're taking, like, old hymns or maybe songs if you're of a certain age like I am of kind of childhood Sunday school- And they're taking the lyrics, not the melody, and they're reimagining them. So they have two versions of Jesus Loves Me that they just released. They have the old We're Gonna Cross, a song called Glory to the King Most High. These songs are just saturated with gospel. Like, they're just all power, all encouragement, and all authority represented in Jesus Christ. They're incredible, and I've j- where I've, what I've been really blessed by is these two versions of Jesus Love Me are just fantastic. Like, they're orchestral. There is a children's kind of chorus at one point, and it got me [00:18:00] singing that song again, and really, maybe to what you were saying before, Tony, like sitting in those three words, which are really phenomenal words to hear. And so I have been surprised at how moved I've been by what really I, I first understood, of course, as a children's song with simple truth that seems, you know, depending on how long you've known some part of the gospel, obvious. And yet I found them all new again, and a, a really lovely way of just sitting in the truth of God in music that I didn't expect to find. So if you're interested in any of that or maybe just curious of what it would sound like if a Christian metalcore band took Jesus Loves Me and turned it into their genre, then honestly you should just go check out Throne Breaker. I mean, you pretty much have to at this point. Tony Arsenal: I, I don't ever have anything to add to your musical affirmations or denials, 'cause I, I just don't. What I do have to add is that Throne Breaker actually sounds like some sort of really [00:19:00] amazing, like, mace-type weapon in Lord of the Rings. Yes. Jesse Schwamb: Yes, Tony Arsenal: it does. Or like a big hammer that a dwarf carries. And I would also like to say that if you ask Google Gemini to translate something into Tolkien English, it not only will do it, it will tell you how to pronounce it. Google Elf: A ava aini Ilai amel i trona se. Tony Arsenal: What do you think that was, Jesse? Jesse Schwamb: No idea. Tony Arsenal: First of all, that was elevated Quenya, a Quenya. Yes. Jesse Schwamb: Yes, that's Tony Arsenal: the one. Classic Quenya. Jesse Schwamb: Yes. Google Elf: A leta Ilai amel aima. Tony Arsenal: I would be willing to bet... Actually, let's do this. Jesse Schwamb: Ugh. Tony Arsenal: Uh, we don't give out prizes very often. Uh, I will say to anyone who can tell me what that is, the first person that emails, uh, or, or goes into the Telegram chat, we'll do this. We'll be professional podcasters and drive people to one of our channels. Here we Jesse Schwamb: go. Tony Arsenal: The first person who goes to our telephone, our Telegram chat and tells me what that [00:20:00] means, what that, uh, Elvish means, will get a Reformed Brotherhood T-shirt. Jesse Schwamb: Oh, that is big. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Jesse Schwamb: That- Tony Arsenal: So I'm gonna, I'm gonna play it one more time. Jesse Schwamb: Okay, here we go. Everybody listen. Every- All right, pull over. Stop your vehicles. Here we go. Google Elf: A leta Ilai amel aima. Tony Arsenal: There it is, everybody. Jesse Schwamb: I'm not being a cry- I have a guess, but I, I, I wanna try to win the T-shirt, so I'm gonna- Yes ... wi- withhold. All right. Uh, yeah, that's, that's super fun. Did it, um... Did you also translate it back into English from that Tony Arsenal: just to see- No, I'll do that later, 'cause that would give away the, that would Jesse Schwamb: give away the prize. Yeah, it's, it's... We'll have to save that for next week, because that, that is the fun. It creates, like, what I was doing to, to have fun with this coworker is take very technical, like, work-related emails, and I would send it through. It would go through that iterative process, and I actually loved how it, it was talking. Like, it wa- this was an email about risk, and it, it gave, like, these beautiful grand metaphors that didn't sound corny or cheesy. That's the beautiful thing. That's amazing. It [00:21:00] was like true Elvish. Like, you were just like, "I wish I spoke that way all the time about, about risk." And it, like I said, it wasn't just like... You could, you could obviously throw something in and be like, "Make this Shakespearean," or, you know, "Make this, you know, sound like, you know, Milton." This is way better. This is way better, because it's not, like, actually trying to manipulate what you're saying. It's takes, like, the dynamic equivalent of what you said, then translates it back with way more kind of poetic infrastructure while maintaining, like, the essential meaning that you have. I'm, I'm selling this too hard. Everybody just has to go out and try it. So, all right, you know what's at stake here, but here's how you have to win this. If you want a chance, if you want a chance at winning this, you gotta go to t.me/reformedbrotherhood, t.me/reformedbrotherhood, and that link will take you to the Telegram app and our little corner of it, and you're gonna find there's a bunch of chats there. You gotta go to the affirmations or denials chat, and then you gotta put in what is the translation of what Tony just played.[00:22:00] I just love... Isn't it amazing, though, that, like, y- as you discovered, there's more than one version of Elvish available? Yeah. And they do differentiate between the various kinds. This is a big deal. I learned there are actually scholars who have, like, again, filled in kind of like the details of the language- Oh, yeah taking as a basis what Tolkien had there. Yeah. So I think that this is the best. We couldn't have conceived of this if we'd actually tried and planned for it, so- Tony Arsenal: It's true ... Jesse Schwamb: it's just better that it all happened in, in real time. It's true. And, and speaking of which, I think now we get to have the fun of figuring out, uh, where in Luke chapter 10 are we gonna begin? Or should we just start in Luke 1 and just let's see how far we can get reading Tony Arsenal: in this- I could have, I could have Google Gemini read it in elevated Kenya, Quenya I did try to get it to put it in Sindarin, and it wouldn't do it for some reason. I'm not sure. Maybe this anti-Sindarin bias in Gemini, Jesse Schwamb: man. Disappointing. Tony Arsenal: It's disappointing. Jesse Schwamb: Dis- disappointing. So let's kick off some Good Samaritan talk, which again, I think is gonna take us [00:23:00] through maybe in the next couple of conversations, in part because, like I said, we're not even gonna start at, uh, verse 25 because there is so much more that needs to be said, I think, before that. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. I, I think actually the proper place to start this, and I, I'm guessing Jesse probably, whether he was there or not, he probably figured out where I was going, uh, over the course of the last 20 minutes or whatever. Um, I actually think the proper place to start, at least one of the proper places to start, is in verse 21. Yeah. Um, and I- we'll talk about why that is. And I'll... I'm gonna read here, um, 21, uh, through the end of the parable. Uh, and this is Jesus talking. He says in this, uh... Well, it, this is, um... Yes, uh, I'll just read it here. "In the same hour He rejoiced in the Holy Spirit and said, 'I thank you, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and revealed them to little children. Yes, Father, for such was Your gracious will. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father, and no one who knows who the Son is except... No, no one knows who the Son is [00:24:00] except the Father, or who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal Himself.'" Then turning to the disciples, he said privately, "Blessed are the eyes that see what you see. For I tell you that many prophets and kings desired to see what you see and did not see it, and hear what you hear and did not hear it." And behold, a lawyer stood up to put him to the test, saying, "Teacher, what shall I do to inherit eternal life?" He said to him, "What is written in the Law? How do you read it?" And he answered, "You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength, and with all your mind, and your neighbor as yourself." And he said to him, "You have answered correctly. Do this and you will live." But he, desiring to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?" Jesus replied, "A man was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and he fell among robbers who stripped him and beat him and departed, leaving him half dead. Now by chance a priest was going down that road, and he saw him and passed on the other side. So likewise a Levite, [00:25:00] when he came to the place and saw him, passed by on the other side. But a Samaritan, as he journeyed, came to where he was, and when he saw him he had compassion. He went to him and bound up his wounds, pouring on oil and wine. And he set him on his own animal and brought him to an inn and took care of him. The next day he took out two denarii, gave them to the innkeeper, saying, 'Take good care of him. Whatever you, whatever more you spend I will repay you when I come back.' Which of these three do you think proved to be a neighbor to the man who fell among the robbers?" And he said, "The one who showed him mercy." Jesus said to him, "You go and do likewise." Jesse Schwamb: I think you're right, of course, to back us up into verse 21 because I don't want to keep saying it's always a setup, but Jesus is certainly giving us like the right context in which... Well, Luke of course is the author here and as he's explaining the teaching of Jesus, he does so well to start out with some irony that we don't realize is gonna be ironic until we get to the, to verse 25 [00:26:00] when we realize who's testing Jesus, who's setting this all up. So this idea that the Holy Spirit, everybody rejoicing in the Holy Spirit and the knowledge and the wisdom, the intelligence that's revealed through the Holy Spirit to all of these lesser people and in particular here emblematic the infants That here we have kings and rulers, and in this case, this beloved scholar of the law, who all have this adventure in missing the point. They think, in fact, they're looking for the one who is to set them free, and they can't even see that it's Him who is before him. And yet, incidentally, God has already revealed all these things to the lowest, to the ones who are the most humble, the meek, the mild, the down and outs, the ones who are weak by the view of everybody else. And so it's amazing that if we just kinda, again, like blow past it into, like, just all the characters, we don't see that the teaching starts actually well above this, that even everything we're about to understand, that unfolds in our lives, ev- every spiritual incarnation and insight that we have [00:27:00] first starts with God himself in his revealing it to us both in his general revelation, but of course, in the specific revelation of his teaching. So I like that you started us there, because I, I'm with you. That's where this whole thing launches off, right? Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Parables Reveal and Conceal Tony Arsenal: Yeah, and as we come into when we very, like very start of this, uh, series, the, the parable series, Jesus sort of embeds a theology of parables into this introduction, right? Or I should say Luke does. But this, uh, this is written a- as though all of this is occurring as sort of one event. Right. And likely it was, right? So sometimes, uh, in the Gospels, events are kind of, like, moved next to each other for thematic reasons. It's possible that that's the case. It seems like this may have actually just been one, one teaching, and I'll, I'll talk about why that is in a second here. Um, but at the very least, this is placed next to each other in the Gospel almost as, like a, "Here's the theology of parables. Now, here's actually that happening in real [00:28:00] time." Jesse Schwamb: Yes. Tony Arsenal: And then also, like, a parable kinda demonstrating it, right? So the theology of the parable here is that there are many prophets, kings who desire to see what it is that, that, uh, uh, the disciples are seeing, right? And all things have been handed over to the Father or to, to the Son, by the Father, and no one knows who the Son is except the Father. No one who knows who the Father is except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son chooses to reveal, right? So the, the theology of parables here presented in Luke is that the parable itself is being used as a way to reveal the Father and the Son to those whom the Son chooses to reveal it to. The Lawyer as the Fool Tony Arsenal: And that leaves us with this lawyer, um, sort of playing, playing the fool in almost like a dramatic sense, right? In a lot of drama, there's kind of like the fool character who's sort of like the foil or the idiot of the thing who's, who's unaware and is almost like made an example of, right? Um, I, I can't think of any examples off the top of my head, but there's often a character in a play who's like, uh, it's [00:29:00] almost like the opposite of the everyman, right? The everyman in a, in a play- Right ... or in a movie is sort of like the outsider who things gets explained to, and he's sort of the proxy for, for the audience. Um, I think like, um, Hawkeye in Avengers is kind of the everyman. He's sort of just like this regular dude swept up in this thing, and oftentimes he's the one that, uh, the big characters are explaining things to. And really what that is is the big characters are explaining that to the audience through this proxy. There's also this concept of the fool in a lot of these plays or movies who's sort of like the dummy, the idiot of the play, who things are explained to, and it's still a way to explain it to the audience, but the character doesn't get it. And so that's kind of, kind of the role that this lawyer is playing in this, this narrative here. He, he steps forward. He's like, "What must I do to inherit eternal life?" Jesus answers his question, and then in this like sort of like stunning moment of, like unawareness, he's trying to justify himself. He says, "Well, who is my neighbor?"[00:30:00] As though that's a question that needed to be asked, right? I think, like, we sort of think of it as like, "Oh, yeah, that's a valid question." I actually don't think it is. Like, it's pretty obvious, in the Old Testament at least, who your neighbor is. It's the people who live immediately with you. It's the other people of Israel. It's the people in your immediate concentric circles, the people you have direct access to. Um, and so then Jesus explains it through this parable, and whether or not he gets it at the end, I guess is maybe a little bit unclear. We can talk about that as we get there. But at least in the beginning, he's portrayed as this sort of, like, fool who doesn't understand what Jesus is saying, and then this parable is taught. So it's this theology of, um, revelation to those whom it is intended to, and further obscuring from those it's intended not to, not to illuminate, which is identical. Uh, maybe it's a different flavor of the same thing, but it's the same thing as what Matthew had and what Jesus taught- Right ... in Matthew with the parables. Jesse Schwamb: Right. It definitely is, again, illustrating, again, God's divine prerogative. I think you really have to do a lot of theological gymnastics [00:31:00] to try to work yourself out of a place here that says, like, "Well, this, this knowledge is accessible to all people." Tony Arsenal: Right. Jesse Schwamb: That if somehow we just work hard enough, study hard enough, come even before God with the right attitude or do the right things, that somehow all this will be made plain to us, and that's certainly not the truth here. In fact, again, the ironic setup is you have this lawyer asking this question, which creates this strange contrast because here's a man trained in the law, and he approaches the very wisdom of God to test him while the little children already perceive what this fool cannot. So it's irony upon irony, and then I, I like what you're saying. I think, and we'll get to this to anticipate a bit, I'm reading this as he's hoping that the answer to whom is my neighbor, just like he- he's received the affirmative from Jesus saying, "Yes, you understand. Go and do these things. This is life," and we'll get to all of what that means, I think, as well in terms of the covenant of works and the covenant of grace. But I think he's hoping that the definition of neighbor is gonna mean that he has [00:32:00] already accomplished the thing then, so that if there's somehow- Yeah ... he could just set the right boundaries. He could say, "Ah, yeah, I'm already good then, Jesus. I already, already did all that stuff." So- It's wild to me that it, it all starts with, of course, like some kind of scribal specialist in the Torah, of course, likely some kind of Pharisee by theological alignment. And as I'm looking at the notes here, what I find particularly stunning as we start this out is that Luke, of course, is able to speak several times in this parable to the intent. And so he says right away with great kind of fanfare and description that the intent here from this scribal Torah person was to test or to tempt, which is the same verb used of Satan's temptation of Christ and of Israel's testing of God in Deuteronomy 6, which of course Jesus is gonna quote here later on. So it's not, of course, like sincere inquiry, like you're saying. It, it is like adversarial probing. It is like really profound setup. It is dripping with like [00:33:00] ulterior motive. It's seeking to expose Jesus as either like heterodox or as diminishing the law's demands. And I think we've talked about this before, so Tony, correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm pretty sure in one of the previous parables we talked about sometimes how these get set up with this kind of weird like oxymoronic setting. Inherit Eternal Life Debate Jesse Schwamb: So like this question of se- uh, uh, itself, what shall I do to inherit eternal life? Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Jesse Schwamb: It's like more than just theologically revealing. Biblically it's self-contradictory, 'cause of course like we talked about inheritance, I think actually when we went through the, the parable of the prodigal. By definition, that's received, of course, on the ba- basis of relationship or promise. It's not earned by performance. And if the inheritance comes by a law, it no longer comes by promise, right? I think that's like Galatians. So the lawyer's question already portray- portrays like some kind of weird works righteous paradigm. E- even if you think he's really after trying to understand the true intent of God's heart [00:34:00] behind the law, he is assuming at least in this question that eternal life is some kind of wage that he can earn rather than a gift to be received by grace through faith. And that's a fundamental error that the entire subsequent exchange, including the parable, is designed to expose. It's both, like you're saying, Tony, he has not learned yet what it means to be in the kingdom of God. He's outside of that, and so he's trying... Now Jesus is bringing in this corrective action, as it were, set up in a story, but he's gonna turn the law on him, which, which I don't wanna get too excited about that yet. But he's... But essentially, here we have somebody who's the expert in the law trying to leverage the law by way of force against the one who he does not understand has all leverage and authority over him, and is in fact the law giver himself So he's gonna, Jesus is gonna drive him to see his own ability to keep the law that he claims to honor, and that's more than just brilliant. This is what the law does. You do not wanna pit the law against the one who has given the law, the [00:35:00] one whose character is represented in the law, because you're always going to get owned, and you'll get owned before you realize you've just gotten owned on multiple levels, and I think that's what basically unfolds here. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah, I, I have a little bit of a different take on the, the word inherit here. Um, I don't think what you're saying is wrong, um, but I think there's a little different flavor here, and actually, I, I think it, it still sort of propels us forward to the conversation we have to have, um, about the law and the gospel and the covenant of works, the covenant of grace. The, the Greek that lays under this word is, uh, it's a compound word of the word for, like, lot or portion and the word for law. And so, so the, this force of the word is more along the lines of, like, what shall I do to have a legal right to eternal life? Like- Right ... inherit, I think we hear inherit, and we think of, like, um, like what you get when someone dies, and so, like, obviously there's nothing you do to earn it, and that's certainly an element of the way this [00:36:00] word is used in some instances. I think reading this and kind of how, how the rest of the text plays out, this lawyer is coming forward and he's like, "What do I need to do to have a rightful legal claim to eternal life?" Right? We might even be able, and this is where it comes into the covenant of grace, covenant of works k- kind of paradigm. We might even be able to say that what this lawyer or this person comes forward to ask Jesus is, how do I gain, how do I gain the benefits of the covenant of works, right? Jesse Schwamb: Right. Tony Arsenal: Yep. That's language that was developed later that's not, not, like, biblical language in terms of, like, the actual language within the text, but that's the force of what he's saying. What must I do to be a rightful legal... Uh, what must I do to have a rightful legal claim on all of the blessings of the covenant of works, is really the question that's here. And so Jesus' answer is so instructive- Right ... 'cause what he says is, "Well, what's written in the law?" Like, he, he basically says, like, "Well, you should be able to tell me, teacher- Exactly of [00:37:00] the law, like, what, what needs to happen there." And there's an assumption on Christ's part that, like, there is an answer. I think sometimes, sometimes we, we, uh, we make an error in thinking that the covenant of works was never attainable, that it's somehow this, like, um, it's almost like a black box. Like, nobody could know what we have to do to, like, obtain eternal life. That's absolutely not the assumption Jesus makes. Jesus not only knows that there's an answer, it's such a straightforward answer that he expects this scribe to be able to answer it, right? And the scribe can, right? The scribe says, "Well, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, your soul, your mind, your strength, and your neighbor as yourself," right? The summary of the law. Just good old classic Westminster larger, shorter catechism. Where's the law summarily comprehended? Summarily comprehended in the Ten Commandments. And then, then again, I don't know the questions exactly, but then it also, like, says, like, "Where does Christ summarize this?" Well, you should love the Lord your God, and you should love your [00:38:00] neighbor as yourself, right? Covenant Works and Grace Tony Arsenal: So the, the lawyer comes forward and says, "What do I need to do to have a legal right to all of the blessings of the covenant of works?" Christ says, "Well, what do you think?" He says, "Well, you obey the entirety of the law." And he says, "You've answered correctly. Do this. Obey the entirety of the law and you will live." So the parable itself doesn't necessarily speak to this law, gospel, covenant of works, covenant of grace paradigm. The, the parable is used to show that not only does this lawyer know what is required of him, but that he won't do it. Jesse Schwamb: Right. Tony Arsenal: And I think that's really key, because even in the parable, within the parable itself, there are these figures that know what they should do, right? I, I think, um, we'll get into it, but there's a lot of ink spilled on almost like, um, explaining [00:39:00] why the priest and the Phar- phar- and the, the Levite almost like did the right thing by going to the other side of the room, and it points to like, well, their priestly and Levitical responsibilities, if they touch a dead body, like they can't do those things, and those things are so important. Like, there's a lot of ink spilled trying to almost explain why what they did is right, when the point of the parable is that actually we all know what the right thing to do in that sense was. And even the most righteous people in the mind of the hearers, the Levites and the priests, the most righteous people, even they don't do what they're supposed to do. Jesse Schwamb: Right. Tony Arsenal: This, this paradigm, this gospel law paradigm, law gospel paradigm, this covenant of works, covenant of grace paradigm, is so baked into the very like fabric of, of human thought that it's just there. And Christ takes this time to point out to this lawyer, like, "You know what's expected of you." And so that's why the phrase desiring to justify himself is so key [00:40:00] here. I actually think that the, the, the I don't wanna go so far as to say, like, that this person was regenerated in the midst of this conversation, 'cause I don't know that. But I actually think that there's a forward movement of this lawyer as he interacts with Christ that is optimistic. I'm optimistic about it, right? Right. He starts out trying to test Jesus, then he star- then he moves to having a desire to justify himself. I think we hear that, we read that, desiring to justify himself, we automatically think that that's a negative thing. But if we think about justifying himself in terms of what he's talking about, how do I fulfill the obligations of the covenant of works, that's not a bad thing to wanna do. Right. It's not bad to wanna obey God's law and to lay claim to His promises. It's a misguided notion of something we can't accomplish, but in itself, desiring to justify himself is to desire to fulfill the obligations of the covenant of works. That's not necessarily a bad thing. And so I think this is a merciful, a merciful [00:41:00] teaching on Christ's part. He's trying to instruct this guy to say, "Look, you can't do it. And even if you could do it, you wouldn't do it. So let's, let's talk about mercy instead and what that looks like." And that's where we get to kind of the end of the, uh, the end of the parable. Jesse Schwamb: And again, we have to remember that we know that the intent here is actually to test or try Jesus, so He's certainly being merciful by using this opportunity not to just put him on blast, but to actually provide true instruction. And of course, like, that was, to some degree, this turning the question back would've been, like, a rabbinic pedagogical technique, but theologically, this is what floors me, is from the jump, Jesus refuses to let this man treat Him merely as one more voice among competing rabbis. Yeah. Instead, He holds that lawyer to the standard of God's own revealed word by, like you said, asking not just what does it say, but how do you read it? Mm-hmm. He's pressing not just for, like, some kind of recitation, but for the lawyer's own understanding and application, and Jesus is gonna hold him [00:42:00] accountable to his own hermeneutic. So by, by the time we get the answer, we know as readers, and all those present would've understood, he already knows the right answer, and he's not ignorant to God's requirements. He already summarizes the whole moral law correctly, encompassing both tables of the Decalogue. And so I think that does lead us then to this statement that we probably should spend a little time on, like, do this and you will live, like you introduced for us. Like, what does that even mean? Because i- it's not, like, in my view It's not like a Pelagian or Arminian concession that law keeping actually saves. I mean, it is the covenant of works principle stated truly inexorably that the law as law does promise life to perfect obedience. But that's the exact problem. I, I like what you said that it's not as if we can't understand what it would be to comprehend or contemplate this perfect law and what it means to fall under the covenant of works. It's just that he also presents for us at the same time this covenant of grace in which life is [00:43:00] granted freely through faith in the mediator who alone fulfills all of these laws' demands. So it's wild in this back and forth that's happening here where it's... I don't even know if it's fair to say this is like the most incredible subtext ever. I'm imagining trying to process this in real time and realizing everything that's being said, not just listening to what's being said and like the technical answers going back and forth. But I think like you said, that the Spirit even here is at work, I would like to believe, in the life and at the heart and the mind of this lawyer who's bringing forward this question with nefarious intent first to test and to undermine, and then is being drawn in almost inexorably into this debate to more profound understanding about a covenant based on works that cannot be accomplished, uh, in perfect obedience except through the mediator who organizes and distributes liberally this covenant of grace to his children for whom he has accomplished at least passively and then actively in his obedience in life and death. And so Jesus' reply is, I [00:44:00] think, thus a very genuine like if that functions to expose an impossibility. I, I don't think he's teaching salvation by works here, of course. He is holding out the law's own terms so that the lawyer and everybody else listening, and even us as well, can discover through this narrative which is about to happen the impossibility of self-produced righteousness, which again is what this gentleman is theologically all about. He's trying to justify himself. And that is precisely the pedagogical strategy like Paul uses later when he systemizes all of this by saying that the law was our guardian or school master until Christ came in order that we might be justified by faith. I think- Yeah ... and it's only because God is good to us and we might sit in some of this teaching, I think this is all in play. So, so I ask you, like, have I gone too far with all this? Like, how much do you think in the real time was being processed? And maybe that's a horrible question to ask because we know the Spirit does this work of illumination and enlightenment, and we're on the other [00:45:00] side of this and have this time to sit and to kind of parse and to really kind of just be pickled in all of this. But there's so much happening here, right? Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. Uh, maybe I'll answer the question a, a little bit of a different way. I think, um- We often can think about Old Testament religion, if we wanna kinda call it that. We think about Old Testament religion as though it was totally uniform and, um, entirely legalistic. Right. Uh, my- the, the listener is gonna panic a little bit when I say this, so please don't freak out, but I, I think N.T. Wright, uh, and some of the new perspective on Paul stuff is a, a little bit helpful in this, in that it gives us a foil to sorta push against. Yes. The new perspective on Paul is this idea that, um- Paul was not saying that Judaism was legalistic and Christianity is a grace-based religion, right? He, m- [00:46:00] um, N- NPP is not, is saying, um, Paul was not correcting New or Old Testament religion. And where they go wrong is that they say that Paul actually retains this concept of covenantal faithfulness, covenantal nomism fidelity. Uh, where I think, where I think they're right is that this idea that, like, the Old Testament religion is entirely legalistic and Paul was just sort of correcting that, I think that's way too simplistic. And the reason I say that is that the Mosaic Covenant for, you know, w- and predominantly this podcast is coming from a sort of Westminster Confession of Faith Presbyterian perspective, give or take, right? The, the broad Reformed tradition would say that the, the Mosaic, uh, covenant, the Davidic Covenant, all of the covenants of the Old Testament, and we can break them up in all sorts of different ways, but all of the covenants of the Old Testament, [00:47:00] um, with maybe the exception of the Noahic Covenant, and there's some debate about that, all of those are They're not just, like, supporting structures for the covenant of grace, but they actually are the covenant of grace in various administrations. If that's true, and of course we believe that it is, if that's true, then the people of those covenants understood that on some level. Right. Right? So to think that, like, people under the administration of the covenant of grace somehow thought that they were operating under a legalistic framework doesn't make any sense. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, Tony Arsenal: that's true. So, so where I think that applies here is I think this person coming forward, it's not as though the concept of the covenant of grace... Again, that's language that we would develop later, but the concept that God graciously saves His people by the counsel of His own will, apart from their works of righteousness, apart from their meritorious effort, that God [00:48:00] simply extends His grace and conveys the cov- the blessings of the covenant of works to those who trust in the mediator, those who trust in the one to come, the, the forthcoming serpent-crushing seed, right, if you wanna use- Right language from Genesis 3. The, the idea that God simply graciously conveys the blessings of the covenant of works to those people Um, that's not something that's alien to the Old Testament, right? It's not alien to the, even to the Mosaic economy. The most law-based of all of the Old Testament, um, covenants, even that starts with the concept that these people are God's people who he redeemed out of Egypt, right? Right. The redemption out of Egypt comes before the giving of the law, and the giving of the law is a result of the redemption out of Egypt. So to think that this lawyer comes forward, and again, this had been sort of corrupted and distorted and had become a very works-based, uh, [00:49:00] meritorious-based understanding. But the idea that this framework of a covenant of grace is totally alien to this guy just doesn't, it just doesn't, I think it doesn't play. And so I think rather than us read this as I think sometimes we do, of Christ as kind of like giving this guy, trying to give this guy an entirely new paradigm, or like the rich young ruler is very much a parallel kind of situation. We read this, this guy comes forward, he's like, "What do I gotta do to earn eternal life?" Christ is like, kinda basically says like, "Well, you dum-dum, you can't. And I'm gonna demonstrate for you that you can't by- Right ... taking sort of like this situation that you can't possibly believe that you fulfilled and telling you to fulfill it." That's the outcome of this. We'll get to that when we get to the end of the parable. Um, he's not trying to give them a new paradigm. He's trying, in my opinion, he's trying to sort of reorient them back to the true paradigm of grace that is present under all of the Old Covenant administrations. So it's not so much a matter of like [00:50:00] developing a new framework and impli- like imposing this new framework on this guy. It's really trying to say like, "Listen- Think about this for a second, dude. Think about this, right? Think about the fact that, yes, you know you have to love the Lord your God with your whole heart, your whole soul, your whole strength, your whole mind, and you have to love your neighbor as yourself, right? You've answered correctly. If you can do those things, you will live. With the subtext, which I think is what you're getting at, the subtext of, like, and of course you cannot possibly do those things. Right. Right. So what's the alternative, my friend? The alternative is not justifying yourself by somehow identifying who the person is that you have to love the most. The, the, the, um, the... Well, we'll get this when we get to the parable itself, but the, the alternative is... This will be interesting, 'cause I'm not sure that we... I don't know where you are on this, but, um, the alternative is that there's someone out there who shows us mercy. [00:51:00] Right. There's someone out there who takes care of our need despite our total inability to do so. Jesse Schwamb: That's right. Tony Arsenal: That's the alternative to the covenant of works, is the covenant of grace. I m- maybe I'm, like, hinting at it too much, so I'll just say it. Like, Jesus is the Good Samaritan, right? Like, there's something for us to learn about our own justification here and our own- Right ... like, um, our own need to be merciful, to treat people as our neighbors. But just like we talked about when we talked about, like, what does the least of these mean, this parable, uh, I'm totally, like, burying the lede for next, next week, but that's fine. This parable is not primarily about us figuring out how to do mercy ministry. Right. Like, that's important. It's probably an outcome of this. It's probably something for us to think about. But really, this is actually Christ saying, like, "Hold on a second here, dude." Like, "Let's just think about this." Do you need someone who is going to tell you to pick yourself up off your bootstraps and cross to the other side of the street and leave you to [00:52:00] your own devices? Or do you need someone who's gonna throw you on their donkey, who's gonna bind up your wounds, who's gonna pay the innkeeper, and is gonna pledge to play- pay everything that is owed for your salvation? Right? That's not too on the nose here, I think. Right. And, and I really look forward to, like, unpacking that, although maybe we don't need to now, but I think, like, this parable is so much more about how salvation works than it is about, like, what it means to have a good neighbor and to be a good neighbor. I think we get bogged down in that, and I just am really excited to talk more about, like, what I think this parable actually gets at. Jesse Schwamb: I agree, and it's happening in the contex
Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” And they said, “Some say John the Baptist, others say Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” Simon Peter replied, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.” And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.” Then He strictly charged the disciples to tell no one that He was the Christ. (Matthew 16:13-20)
I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Monday morning, the 17th of August, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Joshua 10:13:”So the sun stood still in the midst of heaven, and did not hasten to go down for about a whole day. And there has been no day like that, before it or after it, that the Lord heeded the voice of a man; for the Lord fought for Israel.” Remember, Joshua asked the Lord to hold the sun in place until he defeated the enemies and that's exactly what God did. The Lord works miracles! He expects you and me to believe Him and to trust Him completely.Then we go to the Gospel of John 14:12 and Jesus said:“…I say to you, he who believes…” That's where we come in.”… he who believes in Me, the works that I do he will do also; and greater works than these he will do, because I go to My Father.” If we, you and I, can believe for the miracle, the Lord can do it. If the Lord can make the sun stand still so that the man of God, Joshua, can win the battle, then surely, the Lord also can do it for us. The problem is many of us won't believe it. “No, no Lord. You can't do that.” He says, ”Try me and see.”Many years ago on the farm when we had just started, we didn't have much money, and we desperately needed water, and so I got on my knees, and I prayed, and I said, ”Lord, I'm going to take a peg. I'm going to put it in the ground and I'm going to believe you that I am going to hit water when I call the drilling company to come and drill a borehole.” Yes, I got some experts to give me an idea roughly where the rock formation is situated, but as you very well know, you can drill a hole and miss the water by a few centimetres. So I went out prayerfully, with faith, and I put the peg in the ground. Then I called the drilling company to come and drill in that place. Oh my dear friend, all the Glory to Jesus! You know that was fifty years ago. We are still using that same water from the same borehole. It has never gone dry even in drought years because our God is a faithful God. Now, today, trust Him. I'm going to pray for you. Jesus, my friend, who is listening to this little message is desperate for the answer to the prayer of faith. I stand and I put my faith together with theirs and I believe for that baby that they have been waiting for, for so many years. I thank You by faith, she will conceive. They will have a child and they will give that child to you. In Jesus name, we give You all the glory, amen.God bless you and have a wonderful day. Goodbye.
John 10:27-30 'My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me: and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand. My Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man is able to pluck them out of my Father's hand. I and my Father are one' The sermon explores the identity, security, and unity of believers as the people of Christ, drawing primarily from John chapter 10. It contrasts those who do not believe with true sheep who hear the Shepherd's voice and follow Him in obedience. The message emphasises that believers are eternally secure because they possess eternal life and are held securely in the hands of both Jesus and the Father. This unbreakable security is grounded in the believer's union with Christ and His co-equal unity with the Father. The preacher encourages listeners to rely on God's power rather than their own strength, affirming that salvation guarantees preservation until eternity.
What’s Next: Section Two WEEK FIFTY-THREE: WEEKLY READING PAGE 125 Ha’azinu “give ear” Torah: Deuteronomy 32:1-52 Nevi’im: Prophets/Poetic: Obadiah; Jonah 1-4; Micah 1-7; Malachi 1-4 Brit Chadashah: New Testament: Revelation 17-18 Scripture Memory: Luke 24:49 “And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.” Acts 1:8 “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
What’s Next: Section Two WEEK FIFTY-THREE: WEEKLY READING PAGE 125 Ha’azinu “give ear” Torah: Deuteronomy 32:1-52 Nevi’im: Prophets/Poetic: Obadiah; Jonah 1-4; Micah 1-7; Malachi 1-4 Brit Chadashah: New Testament: Revelation 17-18 Scripture Memory: Luke 24:49 “And behold, I am sending the promise of My Father upon you. But wait in the city of Jerusalem until you are clothed with power from on high.” Acts 1:8 “you shall receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you. And you shall be My witnesses in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and to the ends of the earth.”
Recompense on the Beast and Harlot (1) (audio) David Eells, 8/12/26 Destruction Comes for Apostate Leadership B. A. - 06/23/2015 (David's notes in red) I dreamed that I found myself in Jerusalem, back in Jesus' day, and I was looking up at the temple (a temple made by man's hands which God does not inhabit). Act.17:24 The God that made the world and all things therein, he, being Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands; (Church buildings are not holy, the people must be.) 25 neither is he served by men's hands, as though he needed anything, seeing he himself giveth to all life, and breath, and all things; 26 and he made of one every nation of men to dwell on all the face of the earth, having determined their appointed seasons, and the bounds of their habitation; 27 that they should seek God, if haply they might feel after him and find him, though he is not far from each one of us: 28 for in him we live, and move, and have our being; as certain even of your own poets have said, For we are also his offspring. 29 Being then the offspring of God, we ought not to think that the Godhead is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, graven by art and device of man. 30 The times of ignorance therefore God overlooked; but now he commanded men that they should all everywhere repent: 31 inasmuch as he hath appointed a day in which he will judge the world in righteousness by the man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead. There were stone steps leading down from the temple, and on the steps stood Pharisees and Sadducees (Representing those of our day.). I was standing with a crowd of people in an open area a little ways from the temple and the stone steps, and just as I was looking around me in this crowd of people, I saw a man come forward out of the crowd who began to sternly address the men who were standing up (or exalting themselves) on the stone steps of the temple. I knew that the man speaking was Jesus. (Representing those in whom He lives by Word and Spirit in our day.) Mat.23:12 And whosoever shall exalt himself shall be humbled; and whosoever shall humble himself shall be exalted. As Jesus began to speak, I began to recognize the “Word” He was speaking to these men, since I had heard these same words before. Here is what I heard: Mat.23:15 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye compass sea and land to make one proselyte; and when he is become so, ye make him twofold more a son of hell than yourselves. When Jesus spoke the first “Woe”, I heard a loud pop-like sound and what sounded like a crackling sound. I looked down upon the stone steps of the temple where these Pharisees and Sadducees were standing, and I noticed a large, deep crack had run right up through the middle of those stone steps, and they were beginning to crack and crumble. I noticed that the deep crack was between the feet of a rather large and extremely overweight man. (This represents the apostate leadership of our day overcome by their own flesh.) 16 Woe unto you, ye blind guides, that say, Whosoever shall swear by the temple, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gold of the temple, he is a debtor. Then, when Jesus spoke the second “Woe”, I heard another much louder pop-like sound and more of the crackling sound. I looked around to see where this sound was coming from, and I saw that a large, deep crack had gone all around the temple foundation, and it was cracking up and crumbling as well. (Everything that can be shaken will be.) 17 Ye fools and blind: for which is greater, the gold, or the temple that hath sanctified the gold? 18 And, Whosoever shall swear by the altar, it is nothing; but whosoever shall swear by the gift that is upon it, he is a debtor. 19 Ye blind: for which is greater, the gift, or the altar that sanctifieth the gift? 20 He therefore that sweareth by the altar, (The crucified life.) sweareth by it, and by all things thereon. 21 And he that sweareth by the temple, sweareth by it, and by him that dwelleth therein. 22 And he that sweareth by the heaven, sweareth by the throne of God, and by him that sitteth thereon. 23 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye tithe mint and anise and cummin, and have left undone the weightier matters of the law (So tithing is of the law. This is the leaven of the Pharisees Jesus warned about.), justice, and mercy, and faith: but these ye ought to have done, and not to have left the other undone. 24 Ye blind guides, that strain out the gnat, and swallow the camel! (Making unimportant things important.) 25 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye cleanse the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full from extortion and excess. 26 Thou blind Pharisee, cleanse first the inside of the cup and of the platter, that the outside thereof may become clean also. 27 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye are like unto whited sepulchres, which outwardly appear beautiful, but inwardly are full of dead men's bones, and of all uncleanness. 28 Even so ye also outwardly appear righteous unto men, but inwardly ye are full of hypocrisy and iniquity. 29 Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye build the sepulchres of the prophets, and garnish the tombs of the righteous, 30 and say, If we had been in the days of our fathers, we should not have been partakers with them in the blood of the prophets. 31 Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of them that slew the prophets. 32 Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers. 33 Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of hell? 34 Therefore, behold, I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes: some of them shall ye kill and crucify; and some of them shall ye scourge in your synagogues, and persecute from city to city: 35 that upon you may come all the righteous blood shed on the earth, from the blood of Abel the righteous unto the blood of Zachariah son of Barachiah, whom ye slew between the sanctuary and the altar. 36 Verily I say unto you, All these things shall come upon this generation. 37 O Jerusalem, Jerusalem (John said Jerusalem is the Bride but there is a false bride.), that killeth the prophets, and stoneth them that are sent unto her! how often would I have gathered thy children together, even as a hen gathereth her chickens under her wings, and ye would not! 38 Behold, your house is left unto you desolate. (Devoid of God) 39 For I say unto you, Ye shall not see me henceforth, till ye shall say, Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord. Just as Jesus had finished His Words to these men, the stone steps gave way, and all of those men standing on the crumbling stone steps fell down into a deep pit that had opened up under them. And just after that happened, the entire temple came crashing down on top of them and covered them up. I noticed that from Matthew 23:15 through verse 39, there are “six” woes -- “six” being the number of man. Also, I found it interesting that there is a “Woe” in Mathew 23:23, and the date of this revelation is the 23rd, and 23 means “death”. (This is clearly a reprobation of today's apostate leadership and their fake temples, as Jesus pronounced in His day, and is now a repeat of history.) The Recompense on the Wicked Anna Stewart - 7/24/25 I dreamed that a few others and I were at a safari ranch. There was a ten-foot-high impenetrable wall of dead-looking grass going around the perimeter of where we were. (“All flesh is as grass,” said Peter, representing the flesh of the beast people, the Dragon devouring in Rev 12. Judgments are spreading over the world from these people.) We were told to get back into our vehicle because the grass was full of lionesses (representing the curse and judgment) just waiting to jump out and grab someone. I wasn't afraid, but I did get back into the vehicle. My father (representing THE Father) was driving the vehicle. I was in the front passenger seat (the bride), but someone behind me had left their door open. Three times, with authority, I commanded them to “SHUT THE DOOR.” I knew they were primarily endangering themselves, but also putting the rest of us at risk, as well. (The vehicle represents sanctification, and we must all keep our own doors shut, for ourselves, but also for the sake of the body.) We began to slowly drive down a narrow, one-way dirt road lined by that tall grass. A woman I know, who represents the harlot, was walking alongside us on the left of our vehicle. It wasn't safe to be outside, and she began to nervously knock on the door of the vehicle and say, “Let me in, let me in.” The woman was not afraid, just slightly nervous, not realizing how very real the danger was. Rom.3:18 There is no fear of God before their eyes. To my surprise, my father continued driving slowly along, completely ignoring her. I said, “We need to let her in,” but still he didn't stop. Luk.13:25 When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, open to us; and he shall answer and say to you, I know you not whence ye are; Then I saw a huge, fierce-looking male lion (Satan) behind the vehicle on the right side. I said, “In the name of Jesus—” to pray for the woman's safety, but the Lord didn't even allow me to pray. In an instant, without warning, the lion pounced onto the woman, and there was a graphic spray of blood and body parts. It was horrific. I wailed, “Jesus!” Not just for the gore I had just seen, but because I knew that no repentance had happened. Mercy had run out, and there was not so much as a second for her to repent. And now it was too late. Pro.6:15 Therefore shall his calamity come suddenly; On a sudden shall he be broken, and that without remedy. End of dream. I knew the Lord was speaking of this woman as a group of people. What I saw was His recompense that is before Him. Their time had run out. This is a warning, but the apostates this woman represents must confess their sins and run to the Lord now, or they won't escape. Let's continue to pray and believe for them. Apostates Neglect Their Spiritual Man Sam Paguaga - 12/10/2012 (David's notes in red) In a dream, I was in a large house with a lot of people around. There seemed to be a lot of rooms and a lot of stuff going on. People were talking and hanging around and doing their own business. I saw my mother (representing the apostate Church we were born from). (In reality, her name is Iris. (Which means “rainbow” in Greek. This could represent grace God wants to give to the Church of all nations.) She had a small child with her who seemed like a kid from a third-world country. He was very dark-skinned (representing her spiritual man in darkness), like from India, wearing worn-out clothes (not putting on the works of Christ). He seemed to be sick, and she didn't seem to be tending to him. (Representing the fruit of the apostate church's spiritual man, which they are not feeding and clothing.) If I had to say, he looked around three years old. (The fruit of their spiritual man is very immature.) My mother then gave him to me. (Those who minister to the mother Church will care for and feed their spiritual man.) I took him to a room, like a toddler room, where I was going to clean him up and put new clothes on him. (Cleanse him from sin and dress him up in the works of Jesus.) When I changed his shirt, I noticed what looked like a tumor on the side of his face by his right ear. (His hearing is under the curse. He hasn't heard truth.) Without a thought, I placed my hand over it and began to pray, “Dear Heavenly Father, in the name of Jesus, heal him, heal his sickness, in the name of Jesus. Be healed. Be well. Thank You, Lord. God, thank You”. As I began to say, “thank You”, I felt under my hand something like bones cracking. (the bones of the inner ear, representing spiritual hearing) They were going back in place and the tumor was diminishing. (“Faith cometh of hearing and hearing by the Word”.) I continued to thank God. I knew he was being healed, so I left my hand over his face until I was sure he was all healed. (Their face needs healing: 2Co.3:18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit.) I noticed one of my sons was there looking. (My firstborn, whose name is Eliasaph (“God has increased or added”). We call him Eli.) I told him, “Look. God healed him”. Then, full of gladness for the boy, I grabbed the little boy's hand and walked him over to where my mother was. She was sitting in some type of large living room, on some couches. She was talking to somebody else and some other people. I was trying to get her attention and said, “Look. He's healed! Look, Mom. He's healed”. (They must believe the Gospel that their spiritual man is healed in Jesus' name.) But she just kept talking to the other person, like I wasn't even there. I tried one more time. “Look, Mom. Look. He's healed”. I'm not sure what happened to the little boy by that point. But my gladness turned to rage because she (as the apostate Church) was ignoring the work God had done. (In the natural, my mom is not at all like that. She is very caring and loving. And I have a good relationship with my mother and father. The mother in the dream is like the apostate church, not looking for God's will and rejecting God's spiritual work, in pursuit of earthly things and the entertainment of followers for money. Why did I want my mother to see? The latter rain will be rejected by the apostate church because it will lack the earthly treasures they value, but true treasure is in Heaven.) I picked up a wooden chair that was close by and threw it on the floor and it smashed. (The harlot church cannot rest from their own works, just as was seen in the example of the Jews in the Gospels and Acts. Heb.4:3 For we who have believed do enter into that rest; even as he hath said, As I sware in my wrath, They shall not enter into my rest: although the works were finished from the foundation of the world.). Everyone looked. I felt like I was furious. I started walking down the hall. I picked up another chair and threw it toward them. I wasn't trying to hit them, but it landed right in front of them. (So they could see that they had no rest from the curse and sin through unbelief. Jesus crashed the money changers party for the zeal of God's house.) Then I started going up the stairs to the second floor, as I smashed another chair. (They are not graduating from kindergarten to higher levels.) Then I woke up. I wondered to myself why I had gotten so upset. I'm really not the kind to lose control in anger and in a fit of rage. (This was an expression of God's rage that the apostates care only for the world and not for their own souls or those of others. Heb.2:3 how shall we escape, if we neglect so great a salvation? which having at the first been spoken through the Lord, was confirmed unto us by them that heard. Rev.3:16 So because thou art lukewarm, and neither hot nor cold, I will spew thee out of my mouth.) Devastation of Charismatic Christianity P. O. - 08/03/2009 (David's notes in red) In a dream, a man is walking the earth as if he is checking things. He comes upon a scene of violent disarray. (The best way to describe this scene is that it puts one in mind of how a car accident would look, but there's no car.) It's his bride, his wife. She's dead, but beautiful and at peace. Her luggage, apparel, and various items are in disarray around her. Many of these items are marked “The Enrique Hotel”. Also, she is dressed in a way that is reminiscent of the time the historians called “The Roaring Twenties” (which occurred right before the Great Depression). Then I heard a voice that said, “She's been lied to every day, every step of her life”. (Even though they will enter the Kingdom and be at peace, being lied to by false leaders will cost many Spirit-filled Christians their lives and possessions, at the hands of the violent beast. Hos.4:6 My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge...) When I woke up, I researched the name “Enrique”. It is derived from Spanish or Portuguese, meaning “Charismatic Ruler”. Another site mentioned that it is similar to the English “Henry”, which means “Home Ruler”. (The hotel represents the Church, which, according to Eph.2:19-22, is many houses built together into one Temple for God. Each individual house represents a person. The Spirit-filled people have the position of bride, even though many will not manifest this. The Charismatic leadership, typed by Judah, has gone far astray and is more guilty than the northern 10 apostate tribes because they have had the presence of God's Spirit in their midst to lead them, but have refused to follow His Word.) I also asked the Lord for something in His Word that would coordinate or connect what He was giving me. He laid on my heart a page number in my very first study Bible. When I turned to it, I discovered that He had taken me to 1 Thessalonians 2. The verse that seemed emphasized was: “For ye, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus: for ye also suffered the same things of your own countrymen even as they did of the Jews...” End of Dream. (I interpreted the top part of this dream before I saw Judea and the rest of this verse. Truly, the Charismatics have imitated the churches, rather than the Scriptures, and they will suffer the same violent attack of the Beast as the Jews did from their countrymen.) One of the reasons why I knew the dream meant something was that I would never, in the natural, dream about something named “Enrique”. I live in Indiana, and there's very little Spanish influence here. I thought this dream was meant for me personally, for the Lord to show me that I was part of the Bride, that I had died to the flesh and was now at rest in Him. I have suffered some persecution from family over the past year. As a personal dream, I was not going to pass this on to anyone. But this morning, I noticed that there is news now on the Internet, originating three days after my dream, regarding the latest Hurricane or Tropical Storm of the year. It, too, is named Enrique. Living in the Midwest, I do not follow hurricanes or keep track of what storm names are coming, so this was a total surprise. I'm not a mathematician, but for a Hoosier, English-only speaker, to dream a name that three days later hits the national news as the newest coming storm seemed to me to be 'up there' in the range of improbability, so that's why I've sat down and now typed it for you, thinking this may be for the larger body of believers. A violent storm is now coming straight for the Charismatic Church, most of which believe they will fly away and so are not preparing to escape the Beast. What is it that we should know and do to escape this Beast? The president of scripture over traditions of men. The Harlot's Fire Is Coming Apostate Church Cut Up and Cooked Like a Goose Cal Spinner - 08/07/2007 (David's notes in red) I dreamed I was in the person of the Son of Man. I was in a giant library or bookstore with many books (I.e., religious teachings) and many, many rooms. I met a beautiful woman who seemed Western. She was dressed quite modernly and was wearing makeup, gold and diamond jewelry. We began to converse, and I invited her to come with me. As we began to go, we met another woman who was dressed more Eastern in a plain white dress, with a head covering over her head. She had no jewelry or makeup, just a thin gold belt that was like a rope. She was wearing plain sandals, whereas the other woman wore stockings and high heels. It seemed we all knew each other, and I invited her to come with me as well. (This seems to contrast women of the world and their fake persona, with humble women of the Word to show who is the qualified Bride. 1Ti.2:9 In like manner, that women adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefastness and sobriety; not with braided hair, and gold or pearls or costly raiment; 10 but (which becometh women professing godliness) through good works.) We then walked out of the library and into what seemed like a honeymoon suite of some hotel. The room had a good view of the ocean and elaborate wicker furniture. It was very beautiful and was all decorated in very pure white. There were two king-size beds side by side. I said to the women, “See, there is plenty of room; you both can stay”. They agreed, and both presented me their feet (representing their walk), which became like reeds. It seemed like reeds for making baskets, although I had an impression of water as well, like certain reeds that grow in the water. I took shears and clipped their feet off. Then the beautiful Western woman became jealous of the other woman when I gave her attention. (As the Lord will) I said to the Western woman, “You can't get away because you cannot stand on your own”. I then laid the woman with the head covering in the bed. (The sign of submission to the Lord as husband.) Then the scene suddenly shifted to a kitchen, and I was placing the other woman in the oven. She had the left arm and leg missing, and the right arm and leg were bound with a string. She was on a tray and had an apple in her mouth. She was weeping as I placed her in the oven and shut the door and turned it on to cook her like a goose, but the apple in her mouth reminded me she was a pig. (full of flesh) Then I woke up very disturbed and asked the Lord for interpretation. I am still, at the time of this writing, quite shaken by the vividness of this dream and the quickness with which the interpretation came to me. This is a terrible warning! This is the interpretation the Spirit revealed to me, although there may be more. The great hall with many rooms and the many books represents all the many doctrines of man and his religions. There were many people there partaking of the various books. The Son of Man is in the store or library with all the other doctrines of the world, but only invites some to go with Him. The two women represent the church -- those invited to wed the Lord. The woman dressed more plainly with the head covering represents the true Bride. The head covering symbolized willingness to submit to authority and headship of the bridegroom. The modern woman who was selfish and jealous and dressed in jewelry and fakeup represents the apostate church. (Who believe they are the bride.) The clipping of the feet is when we come to the Lord. We agree not to stand on our own but to be carried by the Lord. (Although both groups acknowledge they cannot stand on their own but by grace, the true Bride will be made to stand by grace because of true faith.) The cutting up represents the denominations of the apostate church that are one-sided, missing one arm and one leg. (The left side [goats] being missing will mean that through their own works they will have no power to escape and be saved. The right side [sheep] represents that they are unable to do the works or walk of the Lord, but are only bound by a string, symbolizing that they could be free if they really wanted to.) The Lord will judge them for being worldly and self-absorbed and put them in the oven Himself. They will cry out, but He won't hear them and will send them to be baked. He won't hear them because they are like pigs concerned with only themselves, rejecting His authority and headship. They will not allow Him to carry them to His bedchamber (where His seed is sown in them to bear His fruit), but instead, they will try to do things their own way, being more concerned about what the world thinks of them than the Lord. It will be grievous to them, but those who are truly the Lord's will be saved through the fiery trial that will cause them to give up their self-works of wood, hay, and stubble. 2Ti.2:19 Howbeit the firm foundation of God standeth, having this seal, The Lord knoweth them that are his: and, Let every one that nameth the name of the Lord depart from unrighteousness. 20 Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some unto honor, and some unto dishonor. 21 If a man therefore purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified, meet for the master's use, prepared unto every good work. 22 after righteousness, faith, love, peace, with them that call on the Lord out of a pure heart. Those who truly are the Lord's will lose the wood, hay and stubble of their self-works and any reward they thought they would have from this, but it is here that they will be saved from themselves. 1Co.3:12 But if any man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble; 13 each man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove each man's work of what sort it is. 14 If any man's work shall abide which he built thereon, he shall receive a reward. 15 If any man's work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as through fire.) We should all take heed with great fear and trembling and submit ourselves to the Lord's authority with all haste. The time is at hand to come out of Babylon or be destroyed by the east. The Righteous Offend the Beast and Harlot Vincent Xavier 1. I am coming to do great injury and wrong to that which is not of My Father. My nature contends with the nature of the beast. This nature of the beast is in the heart of men who have not been sanctified by My Spirit. That which has not been fully sanctified remains an offense to me and I will be an offense to it! Yes, I will offend the Beast in this hour! I will release a shockwave of glorious power that will cause the Beast to reel to and fro like a drunken man! The nature of the Beast has cleverly entrapped MY people and has caused them to err in their hearts concerning what is acceptable to My Father. A learned practice of what is acceptable to men has been the standard by which men have been judged, yet that standard shall be fully violated in this DAY. Religious leaders have led My people into complacency and have lulled them to sleep with their fairytales and ideas that originate in their own minds. Their words are not My words for their words carry no sanctifying power. Their words carry no influence in the realms of darkness to the liberating of the captives. The nature of the Beast is empowered by sin and the message of the religious leaders has not emancipated the conscience of those who believe in me. It is the SIN CONSCIENCE that must be dealt with. It is the SIN ISSUE that must be fully realized as the open door to Satanic power in the souls of those who believe. My nature will make war with the Beast within the soul of men and will execute judgment upon the Beast. Be prepared, for many shall be offended in the last days and it will be I Who is causing the offense! Those who are righteous indeed will be an offense to those who are religious indeed. 2. I am going to exceed all bounds of decency and reasonableness. Follow My life! Look at me! Was I approved and acceptable to the approved social order of My day? Was I subject to those who were in control of the day? Was the Roman government My head? Were the religious leaders of Judaism My head? NO! My only supreme was My Father and I always did what My Father told me to do, even at the risk of upsetting the standard order of the times. Yes, it was I who entered into the temple and turned over the tables of the moneychangers. This was an acceptable practice for those Jews at that time, but their practices were not ordained of My Father. It was I who caused outrage in the hearts of those who would take me to the cliff to throw me down the mountain! It was I who stirred the crowds into chaos and confusion, causing divisions among men! It was I who upset the religious mindset of the day when healing on the Sabbath and doing good to those who were in need. It was I who caused offense in the hearts of the hypocrites! Yes, it was I, and I say unto you that I am going to upset the world again, and I am going to turn it upside down. I am going to shake the world of all its social graces and practices that are an offense and abomination to My Father. Two thousand years ago, I sent a people into the world and they, according to My will, TURNED THE WORLD UPSIDE DOWN! So it is on this, the THIRD DAY, that I am going to release My people once again from the caves of obscurity who have hid from the religious leaders of this Day and bring them out into the open, and oh what an offense they shall be to all the social orders men have labored so hard to erect and put in place. Consider My servant David and the men who went out to meet him in the caves of Adullam. These were not the kind of men who were subjected to the religious order of Saul, and neither will these be those I release in this hour. Surely I say to you that they will enter into your places of worship and contend with all that is not of My Father. They will be an offense to many and will reveal the hate and control in the hearts of the leaders who have refused to LET MY PEOPLE GO! Consider My servant Joseph. He was thrown into prison by his OLDER brothers. Surely he shall arise in the earth having great authority and will rule over those older brothers in the days to come. Yes, those who were an insult to them because of their pride and jealousy will bow their knees to them and will acknowledge their authority and will know of a truth that I have loved them with an everlasting love from before the eons of time, or else they shall perish without a word. Let it be known that I AM an offense to the world, for the world is surely an offense to me! I have watched the world and have watched My people in the world and those who claim to be Mine. I ask, what have you learned since you believed? Have you not yet departed from that which is an offense to me? Have you not read that friendship with the world makes you an enemy of Mine? You have not yet COME OUT OF HER MY PEOPLE! Therefore, you shall incur judgment against yourselves for I have determined to destroy Babylon! I am not speaking of the Babylon in the Middle East, but the Babylon in the middle of your heart! I am speaking to your Babylonian ways and mindsets! When I walked upon the earth, I did not call attention to the Roman authorities but to the condition of men's hearts! Yes, I am coming to topple that which appears before men as most religious. That which is so acceptable today is an abomination to me! That which has become the social order of the day, the acceptable form of worship, is coming to an end! For I have determined to FINISH the house that has been in building for two thousand years. Yes, out of the ashes will arise a new building, complete and perfect, a people who are in the exact image of My Father! I am not concerned with social graces and what is acceptable to men; I am only concerned with that which belongs to my Father! How will I come? I will come to you in the form of men and women! I will come to you with great power and anointing when once I release My reserved ones. I come! I come in them to stand before the multitudes in order that I may bring truth to My temple! I come! Surely I come! 3. My presence will be very shocking and offensive in this DAY. A heavy blow will come to the earth! For heaven has witnessed the actions of men in the earth and their actions have been weighed in the balance. I will cause to stagger all nations by the news they shall hear. What men have deemed as “good taste” shall surely become bitter by what I am about to do. Indeed, that which was once approved of men and acceptable in the eyes of the admirers shall become a revolting offense, even disgusting. My people, who are seated with Me in heavenly places, are prepared to appear in the earth before the eyes of men. These shall be the reason for the “shock syndrome” that will come. For that which was once accepted in My house by men shall be seen as a detestable thing in comparison to the holiness that My sanctified ones shall walk in. Their presence shall reveal the disgusting abomination that has been hidden in the hearts of men while doing many outward works of righteousness. I say that those works of outward righteousness shall be seen for what they truly are, mere religious robes covering the filth of an unsanctified life. My pure presence within My beloved ones shall cause the heart to fail in those who are unrepentant. 4. My appearing shall be violent in action and disposition. When I come, I will come with a violent disposition that will cause men to pale and pine away. For I will take the nations by violence, and I will destroy that which is false with a strong overthrow. How will I come? I will appear through My servants, the prophets! Their words shall be as a hammer violently breaking in pieces that which is an abomination to My Father. A destroying fire shall come out of their mouths to the burning up of all chaff in the hearts of men! There will be no arrogance when they come. Those who would oppose their words will come under swift judgment. For these are My battle axes, My weapons of war, who have been reserved for a time such as this, yet it is I who am working in them beyond their own understanding! They have yielded to My will and have surrendered their lives so that I may live in and through them. It will be I who am contended with by those who would oppose them. I have said that violent men take the Kingdom by force, and it will be at this time that the Kingdom shall be taken by those full of divine energy and power. Satan shall be cast out of the heavenlies and thrust down into the pit. I am speaking to the hearts of men. For it is within the heart that all evil comes. Not outwardly in the skies above but within the very soul of man that Satan has taken his seat along with the Beast and the false prophet. These evil spirits have held the dominion, but shall now come under a violent blow that shall shake them from their high places in order to release My Kingdom in the hearts of those who believe. 5. Because I am going to exceed all bounds of right, morality, and decency known to man, I will be INTOLERABLE to the modern religious and social leaders of this day. My people, hear me! What has been erected as decent, moral, and acceptable to men is truly an abomination to me. You live in a time where men call evil good, good evil, bitter sweet and sweet bitter. It is a DAY wherein light is called darkness and darkness is called light. Because of these conditions, I will come as an INTOLERABLE force of emptying magnitude. I will so completely overturn that which is hypocritical that nothing will remain. Understand that what I have tolerated for so long will no longer be tolerated. In My intolerance, I will lead a militia of chosen warriors through whom I will shake the earth! Many will find My ways intolerable from behind the pulpit in these moments of time, for many in the congregation shall be offended because of the righteousness that flows from the minister's lips. Yes, I have ministers, Apostles, Prophets, Evangelists, Teachers and Pastors who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal, who will demonstrate My glorious power in these days. To them shall many flock. For the true shall know My voice in and through them and will know them by their fruits. Man has played with power greater than himself and by so doing has opened the gate to a great flood of evil. But no man has ever witnessed the magnitude of My intolerance as what shall be witnessed in these days. My presence will become unbearable to the wicked. My words will be too severe for the hypocrites! I will appear as a cruel one to those who have been cruel! Many will not be able to bear with me. Yet to My beloved shall I appear with an intolerable love and grace! Yes, many will not be able to bear My love, mercy and grace that I will bestow upon them, and these shall be swept away in rapturous moments in My glory. These shall be overwhelmed with My love and blessings! Many great and wonderful blessings shall abound to their account, and their inheritance shall be released unto them. These are those who have come to maturity and have grown up beyond the mere religious practices of many. These are My sons and daughters who will set the creation free, even as I did when I walked upon the earth. He came as a Lamb but comes as a Lion!
What are you looking to for help today?In this reflection on Psalm 121, John Ortberg explores two simple actions that can make today a blessed day:God watches over us.We lift our eyes toward Him.But "I lift up my eyes to the hills" may mean something different than we often assume. In the ancient world, the hills weren't merely beautiful. They were places of idolatry, uncertainty, and danger. The psalmist looks directly toward them and asks: Where does my help really come from?John explores what it means to live under God's watchful care, why Psalm 121 doesn't promise a life without suffering, and how this Psalm became deeply personal as he recited its final words at his father's deathbed.Whatever hills you're facing today, your help comes from the One who made them.In this episode:Psalm 121 and God's watchful care"I lift up my eyes to the hills"The high places and ancient idolatryWhat we're tempted to trust instead of GodNicholas Wolterstorff and Lament for a SonWhy God's protection doesn't mean a pain-free lifeRomans 8 and God's inseparable loveJohn Ortberg's final moments with his fatherScriptures:Psalm 1211 Kings 18Romans 8:35–39#Psalm121 #JohnOrtberg #Psalms #Prayer #TrustGod #SpiritualFormation #ChristianFaith #BibleStudy #Faith #godspresence
What if the greatest adventure of your life began with someone else's unfinished dream? Laura Carney is a writer, memoirist, and longtime copy editor whose work has appeared in publications including Good Housekeeping, People, Washington Post, Maria Shriver's The Sunday Paper and Runner's World. But it was a deeply personal story that would become her bestselling memoir, My Father's List: How Living My Dad's Dreams Set Me Free. When Laura was twenty-five, her father was killed by a distracted driver, leaving behind more than memories. Hidden away was a handwritten list of sixty dreams he had written as a young man -dreams he would never have the chance to fulfill. Years later, Laura made the extraordinary decision to complete the list herself, transforming an unimaginable loss into a journey of courage, healing, and self-discovery. In this heartfelt conversation, we explore Laura's remarkable journey, the enduring influence of Joseph Campbell, the Hero's Journey, synchronicity, forgiveness, and the surprising ways our relationships with those we've lost continue to evolve. Together, we reflect on what it truly means to embrace life fully, and how sometimes the path to becoming ourselves begins with answering a call we never expected. Find out more about Laura and her book at https://www.bylauracarney.com/ For more information on the MythMaker Podcast Network and Joseph Campbell, visit JCF.org. To subscribe to our weekly MythBlasts go to jcf.org/subscribeThe Podcast With A Thousand Faces is hosted by Tyler Lapkin and is a production of the Joseph Campbell Foundation. It is produced by Tyler Lapkin. Executive producer, Joanna Gardner. All music exclusively provided by APM Music (apmmusic.com)
Andreas GMs Amanda and special guest stars Lindsay Law from the Rookery, and Liv Vistisen Rörby in this very humorous My Father's Sword adventure! Recorded in Poddrummet (The Podcast room) at GothCon 2026. We're an actual play podcast where professional actors in Sweden play the best of Swedish RPGs! Led by one of Swedens most experienced and appreciated podcast game masters we play My Father's Sword by Nordic Skalds. Starring: Amanda Stenback, Lindsey Law & Liv Vistisen Rörby Game master: Andreas Lundström Music: Andreas Lundström Cover art by: Alessia Marino
Sunday, 9 August 2026 A summary of Matthew Chapter 21. Chapter 17 revealed that there is a future for Israel in God's redemptive plans. The main message of Chapter 18 was that childlike faith is required to enter into the kingdom. The final parable, that of the wicked servant, dealt with Israel's rejection of Christ's fulfillment of the law, showing that they would be delivered up until they entered the New Covenant. Chapter 19 took the reader through various topics to reveal what God prioritizes. The contrasts between law and faith were seen throughout the chapter. Chapter 20 was a chapter filled with hints of the transition from the dispensation of the law to the dispensation of grace. It dealt with order and propriety concerning each step of the redemptive process to ensure that nothing is dealt with until the previous steps are completed. It also presented the truth that God has made faith in what He has done the necessary condition. Nothing more can be added to it, and without meeting that one condition, there is no chance of obtaining access. Chapter 21 continues that thought, but it deals specifically with the object of that faith, Jesus Christ. The chapter began with the details concerning Jesus' triumphal entry into Jerusalem. He came to Bethphage, the House of Unspiced Figs. The fig pictures a spiritual connection to God. These being unspiced picture those who have not yet received their spiritual reconnection to God. Once spiced, the connection is made. It was said to be at the Mount of Olives. A mountain typologically refers to a large but centralized group of people. The olive is a symbol of religious privilege. The picture anticipates those who will have the spiritual connection and who will become a part of receiving religious privilege through faith in Christ. At Bethphage, Jesus directed two disciples to find the donkey with her colt tied at her side. As seen, the female donkey signifies permanence. She represents patient endurance. The colt signifies humanity, but being a colt that was unyoked, it signifies innocence concerning the yoke of sin. It is a picture of Christ, unstained by Adam's sin, despite having come from the line of humanity. Matthew noted that what occurred was fulfillment of prophecy, demonstrating that Jesus is the anticipated Messiah and that Scripture was being fulfilled in Him. The spreading of the garments was seen to be a recognition by the people of Jesus' kingly status and authority. But this kingly authority was acknowledged to be the fulfillment of the messianic promises to David. The people's proclamation recognized this in the words “Hosanna! The ‘Son, David'.” It is Jesus who came in the name of Yehovah. Whether the people realized it or not, their words are the Bible's confirmation that He is Yehovah incarnate. When Jesus entered the temple, He drove out those who defiled it with their selling and exchanging money. After all the time of the law, the corruption of the people was never satisfactorily dealt with. Jesus' cleansing of the temple proved it was so. How could a corruptly run temple provide cleansing for the corruption of sin in the people? The answer is that it could not. It was only a shadow of what would be fully accomplished in Christ. That was confirmed in Jesus' healing of the people in the temple. The sin of the people could not be dealt with through the temple's rites and rituals, but Jesus demonstrated that the consequences of sin could be dealt with through Him. And He demonstrated this while right at the temple complex. While He was doing these things, the children cried out, “Hosanna to the Son of David!” When the leaders at the temple heard it, they were indignant. What did Jesus do? He cited Scripture, clearly implying that He is the fulfillment of what is recorded there. He is the purpose and point of the prophetic word. After that, Jesus went out to Bethany. Various suggestions for the meaning of the name were given. Based on the surrounding context, it seems that House of Figs answers the imagery. Jesus left a place with an unacceptable spiritual connection to God because of its defilement and went to a place with a typological connection to God apart from that place. That is then seen in the next verses where Jesus cursed the fig tree, saying that it would never bear fruit again. As seen, that was a picture of the temple, where He was heading, which was to lose its place as the point of mediation between God and man. After that, the disciples were amazed at what took place concerning the fig. From there, Jesus' words were precise – “Answering, also, the ‘Jesus', He said to them, ‘Amen, I say to you, if you should have faith, and not you should waver, not only the ‘the fig tree' you will do, but and-if the ‘mountain, this', you should say, ‘You be borne, and you be cast into the sea', it will become. 22And all, as much – if you should ask in the prayer, believing, you will receive.'” As explained in those commentaries, the mountain is the mountain of the law, Horeb, which Paul says is the temple in Jerusalem. The prayer is the prayer of salvation, receiving Jesus, such as is indicated in Romans 10:9, 10 – “...that if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. 10 For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.” In receiving Jesus, the burden of the mountain of the law is forever removed from that person. In verses 23-27, there was the question of John's authority, where it came from. The chief priests and elders would not answer. In turn, Jesus did not respond to their question. The law and the prophets, completed in John, fully testify to Christ Jesus. If someone will not acknowledge the source of authority concerning those things, they will never be able to identify where Jesus' authority is derived from. Because of their lack of willingness to proclaim what should be obvious, Jesus gave the parable of the two sons. The leaders of Israel, who are supposedly the obedient by saying they will do the things the Father directs, do not do them at all. On the other hand, the tax collectors and harlots who supposedly rejected what the Father told them to do, ultimately do them when they come to Christ. This is because Christ is the fulfillment of all the work necessary to be saved. To say you will do God's will and not accept Jesus means you failed to do God's will. Next came the parable of the wicked vinedressers, a parable the speaks for itself. This is so much the case that the chief priests and Pharisees knew Jesus was speaking of them. Despite their desire to lay hands on Him, they feared the multitude and did not do so. This final thought is summed up in Jesus' own words – “Therefore My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again. 18 No one takes it from Me, but I lay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down, and I have power to take it again. This command I have received from My Father.” John 10:17, 18 Jesus' time had not yet come. Therefore, until He was ready to lay down His life, obstacles to others laying their hands on Him would continue to exist. Life application: The chapter continues the Bible's theme of the law versus grace, which comes through faith. It details the means of re-obtaining the spiritual connection to God, which is only through faith in the sinless Christ. In proclaiming Christ, salvation is realized. Israel would lose its right to be the vineyard of God. It would be taken from them and transferred to the church, a body comprised of people of faith from around the world. All people, including those of Israel, must be willing to come to Christ to be saved. The law was and is an ineffectual means of obtaining salvation, except as it is fulfilled in Jesus Christ. Believe today and be saved! Lord God, thank You that the pressure and burden of the law is removed from us. Thank You that we have full, final, and forever access to You through the precious shed blood of Jesus Christ, our Lord and Savior. Amen. Matthew 21 21 And when they neared unto Jerusalem, and they came unto Bethphage toward the ‘Mount, the Olives', then Jesus, He sent two disciples, 2Saying to them, “You go into the village, the ‘opposite you,' and immediately you will find ‘donkey, having been bound', and ‘colt, with her'. Having loosened, you bring to Me. 3And if anyone, to you, he says anything, you will say that the Lord, these – need, He has. Immediately, also, he will send them.” 4This also, all, it having become that it should be fulfilled, the ‘having been spoken through the prophet,' saying: 5“You say to the ‘daughter, Zion', ‘You behold! The ‘King, yours', He comes to you, Benignant and having been upon-stepped upon a donkey, Even upon ‘colt, son under-yoked'.'” 6Having gone, also, the disciples, and having done just as He directed them, the ‘Jesus', 7they brought the donkey and the colt, and they upon-set atop them the ‘cloaks, theirs', and He upon-sat atop them. 8The ‘also most crowd', they spread their ‘the cloaks' in the road, others, also, they chopped branches from the trees, and they strewed in the road. 9The ‘also crowds', those preceding, and those following, they croaked, saying: “Hosanna! The ‘Son, David'! Having been blessed, the ‘coming in Name, Lord!' Hosanna in the uppermosts!” 10And having entered, He, into Jerusalem, it was shaken, all the city, saying, “Who is this?” 11The ‘also crowds', they said, “This, He is the Prophet, Jesus, the ‘from Nazareth, the Galilee'.” 12And He entered, the ‘Jesus', into the ‘temple, the God', and He ejected all those selling and buying in the temple. And the ‘tables, the coin-dealers' He overturned, and the ‘benches, those selling' the doves. 13And He says to them, “It has been written: ‘The ‘house, Mine', ‘house, prayer' it will be called.' You also, it, you made ‘cave, robbers'.” 14And they approached Him, blind and lame, in the temple, and He cured them. 15Having seen, also, the chief priests and the scribes, the ‘wonderfuls' that He did, and the boys croaking in the temple, and saying, “Hosanna! The ‘Son, David',” they outraged. 16And they said to Him, “You hear what these, they say?” The ‘also Jesus', He says to them, “Yes. Never, you read that, ‘From ‘mouth, infants and sucklings' You prepared praise.'?” 17And having left them, He proceeded out of the city to Bethany, and He overnighted there. 18Daybreak, also, returning to the city, He hungered. 19And having seen ‘fig tree, one' upon the road, He came upon it, and nothing, He found in it, if not leaves only. And He says to it, “Not more from you fruit it should be, to the age.” And it desiccated straightaway, the fig tree. 20And having seen, the disciples, they wondered, saying, “How, straightaway, it desiccated, the fig tree?” 21Answering, also, the ‘Jesus', He said to them, “Amen, I say to you, if you should have faith, and not you should waver, not only the ‘the fig tree' you will do, but and-if the ‘mountain, this', you should say, ‘You be borne, and you be cast into the sea', it will become. 22And all, as much – if you should ask in the prayer, believing, you will receive.” 23And having come, Him, into the temple, they approached Him teaching, the chief priests and the ‘elders, the people', saying, “In where-such authority these, You do? And who to You, He gave the authority, this?” 24Answering, also, the ‘Jesus', He said to them, “I will entreat you, I also, word one, which if you should say to Me, I also to you, I will say in where-such authority these I do. 25The ‘immersion, John', whence it was? From heaven or from men?” These, also, they deliberated with themselves, saying, “If we should say, ‘From heaven,' He will say to us, ‘Through why, therefore, not you believed him?' 26If, also, we should say, ‘From men,' we fear the crowd, all, for, as a prophet, they have the ‘John'.” 27And answering, the ‘Jesus', they said, “Not we have known.” He said to them, also He, “Nor I, I tell you in where-such authority these I do.” 28“What, also you, it seems? A man, he had ‘sons, two', and having approached the first, he said, ‘Son, you go this day. You work in the ‘vineyard, mine'.' 29The ‘also answering', he said, ‘Not, I will.' Afterward, also, having regretted, he went. 30Having approached, also, the second, he said as thus. The ‘also having answered', he said, ‘I, lord.' And not he went. 31Which from the two, He did the ‘determination, the father'?” They say to him, “The first.” He says to them, the ‘Jesus', “Amen! I say to you that the taxmen and the prostitutes, they precede you into the ‘kingdom, the God'. 32He came, namely, John to you in ‘way, righteousness,' and not you believed him. The ‘also taxmen and the prostitutes', they believed him. You, also, having seen, not you regretted afterward the ‘believe him'.” 33Another parable, you hear, “‘Man, certain', he was ‘housemaster who, he planted –vineyard', and circuited, it, he encircled, and he dug in it – winepress, and he built – tower, and he leased it to land-workers, and he abroaded*. 34When also it neared, the ‘juncture, the fruits', he sent the ‘servants, his' to the agronomists to receive the ‘fruits, his'. 35And having taken, the agronomists, the ‘servants, his', one, indeed, they scourged. One, also, they killed. One, also, they stoned. 36Again, he sent other servants, ‘greater, the first', and they did to them as thus. 37Afterward, also, he sent to them the ‘son, his', saying, ‘They will be in-turned* of the ‘son, mine'.' 38“The ‘also, agronomists', having seen the son, they said in themselves, ‘This, he is, the heir. You come, we should kill him, and we should retain the ‘inheritance, his'.' 39And having taken him, they ejected from the vineyard, and they killed. 40When, therefore, he should come, the ‘lord, the vineyard', what he will do to the agronomists, to those?” 41They say to Him, “Worthless! Badly, he will destroy them, and the vineyard, he will lease to other farmers who, they will give him the fruits in the ‘junctures, theirs'.” 42He says to them, the ‘Jesus', “Never you read in the Scriptures? ‘Stone – which they rejected, those building – this, It has become to ‘head, corner'. From ‘Lord', it was, this, And it is marvelous in ‘eyes, ours'.'” 43“Through this, I say to you that it will be lifted from you, the ‘kingdom, the God', and it will be given to ethnicity producing the ‘fruits, it'. 44And the ‘having fallen upon the stone, this,' he will be pulverized. Upon whoever, also, if it should fall, it will winnowize* him.” 45And having heard, the chief priests and the Pharisees, His parables, they knew that concerning them, He speaks. 46And seeking Him to seize, they feared the crowds, since as ‘prophet', Him, they held. *Verse 33 – Greek: apodémeó, to go abroad. Abroaded is a coined word. *Verse 37 – Greek: entrepó, to invert. In a good sense, to respect, in a bad one, to confound, as in put to shame. *Verse 44 – Greek: likmaó, from likmos (a basket used for winnowing). Thus, it signifies to powderize something to a state where the winds will winnow it. Winnowize is a coined word (see NAS – “it will scatter him like dust”).
Part IIIntroductionWords will mean little now. We use them but as guides on which we do not now depend. For now we seek direct experience of truth alone. The lessons that remain are merely introductions to the times in which we leave the world of pain, and go to enter peace. Now we begin to reach the goal this course has set, and find the end toward which our practicing was always geared.Now we attempt to let the exercise be merely a beginning. For we wait in quiet expectation for our God and Father. He has promised He will take the final step Himself. And we are sure His promises are kept. We have come far along the road, and now we wait for Him. We will continue spending time with Him each morning and at night, as long as makes us happy. We will not consider time a matter of duration now. We use as much as we will need for the result that we desire. Nor will we forget our hourly remembrance in between, calling to God when we have need of Him as we are tempted to forget our goal.We will continue with a central thought for all the days to come, and we will use that thought to introduce our times of rest, and calm our minds at need. Yet we will not content ourselves with simple practicing in the remaining holy instants which conclude the year that we have given God. We say some simple words of welcome, and expect our Father to reveal Himself, as He has promised. We have called on Him, and He has promised that His Son will not remain unanswered when he calls His Name.Now do we come to Him with but His Word upon our minds and hearts, and wait for Him to take the step to us that He has told us, through His Voice, He would not fail to take when we invited him. He has not left His Son in all his madness, nor betrayed His trust in Him. Has not His faithfulness earned Him the invitation that He seeks to make us happy? We will offer it, and it will be accepted. So our times with Him will now be spent. We say the words of invitation that His Voice suggests, and then we wait for Him to come to us.Now is the time of prophecy fulfilled. Now are all ancient promises upheld and fully kept. No step remains for time to separate from its accomplishment. For now we cannot fail. Sit silently and wait upon your Father. He has willed to come to you when you have recognized it is your will He do so. And you could have never come this far unless you saw, however dimly, that it is your will.I am so close to you we cannot fail. Father, we give these holy times to You, in gratitude to Him Who taught us how to leave the world of sorrow in exchange for its replacement, given us by You. We look not backward now. We look ahead, and fix our eyes upon the journey's end. Accept these little gifts of thanks from us, as through Christ's vision we behold a world beyond the one we made, and take that world to be the full replacement of our own.And now we wait in silence, unafraid and certain of Your coming. We have sought to find our way by following the Guide You sent to us. We did not know the way, but You did not forget us. And we know that You will not forget us now. We ask but that Your ancient promises be kept which are Your Will to keep. We will with You in asking this. The Father and the Son, Whose holy Will created all that is, can fail in nothing. In this certainty, we undertake these last few steps to You, and rest in confidence upon Your Love, which will not fail the Son who calls to You.And so we start upon the final part of this one holy year, which we have spent together in the search for truth and God, Who is its one Creator. We have found the way He chose for us, and made the choice to follow it as He would have us go. His Hand has held us up. His Thoughts have lit the darkness of our minds. His Love has called to us unceasingly since time began.We had a wish that God would fail to have the Son whom He created for Himself. We wanted God to change Himself, and be what we would make of Him. And we believed that our insane desires were the truth. Now we are glad that this is all undone, and we no longer think illusions true. The memory of God is shimmering across the wide horizons of our minds. A moment more, and it will rise again. A moment more, and we who are God's Sons are safely home, where He would have us be.Now is the need for practice almost done. For in this final section, we will come to understand that we need only call to God, and all temptations disappear. Instead of words, we need but feel His Love. Instead of prayers, we need but call His Name. Instead of judging, we need but be still and let all things be healed. We will accept the way God's plan will end, as we received the way it started. Now it is complete. This year has brought us to eternity.One further use for words we still retain. From time to time, instructions on a theme of special relevance will intersperse our daily lessons and the periods of wordless, deep experience which should come afterwards. These special thoughts should be reviewed each day, each one of them to be continued till the next is given you. They should be slowly read and thought about a little while, preceding one of the holy and blessed instants in the day. We give the first of these instructions now.What is Forgiveness?Forgiveness recognizes what you thought your brother did to you has not occurred. It does not pardon sins and make them real. It sees there was no sin. And in that view are all your sins forgiven. What is sin, except a false idea about God's Son? Forgiveness merely sees its falsity, and therefore lets it go. What then is free to take its place is now the Will of God.An unforgiving thought is one which makes a judgment that it will not raise to doubt, although it is not true. The mind is closed, and will not be released. The thought protects projection, tightening its chains, so that distortions are more veiled and more obscure; less easily accessible to doubt, and further kept from reason. What can come between a fixed projection and the aim that it has chosen as its wanted goal?An unforgiving thought does many things. In frantic action it pursues its goal, twisting and overturning what it sees as interfering with its chosen path. Distortion is its purpose, and the means by which it would accomplish it as well. It sets about its furious attempts to smash reality, without concern for anything that would appear to pose a contradiction to its point of view.Forgiveness, on the other hand, is still, and quietly does nothing. It offends no aspect of reality, nor seeks to twist it to appearances it likes. It merely looks, and waits, and judges not. He who would not forgive must judge, for he must justify his failure to forgive. But he who would forgive himself must learn to welcome truth exactly as it is.Do nothing, then, and let forgiveness show you what to do, through Him Who is your Guide, your Savior and Protector, strong in hope, and certain of your ultimate success. He has forgiven you already, for such is His function, given Him by God. Now must you share His function, and forgive whom He has saved, whose sinlessness He sees, and whom He honors as the Son of God.LESSON 221Peace To My Mind. Let All My Thoughts Be Still.Father, I come to You today to seek the peace that You alone can give. I come in silence. In the quiet of my heart, the deep recesses of my mind, I wait and listen for Your Voice. My Father, speak to me today. I come to hear Your Voice in silence and in certainty and love, sure You will hear my call and answer me.Now do we wait in quiet.God is here, because we wait together. I am sure that He will speak to you, and you will hear. Accept my confidence, for it is yours. Our minds are joined. We wait with one intent; to hear our Father's answer to our call, to let our thoughts be still and find His peace, to hear Him speak to us of what we are, and to reveal Himself unto His Son.- Jesus Christ in ACIM
Lutheran Preaching and Teaching from St. John Random Lake, Wisconsin
17 Now Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples aside on the road and said to them, 18 “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, 19 and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.”20 Then the mother of Zebedee's sons came to Him with her sons, kneeling down and asking something from Him.21 And He said to her, “What do you wish?”She said to Him, “Grant that these two sons of mine may sit, one on Your right hand and the other on the left, in Your kingdom.”22 But Jesus answered and said, “You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I am about to drink, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with?”They said to Him, “We are able.”23 So He said to them, “You will indeed drink My cup, and be baptized with the baptism that I am baptized with; but to sit on My right hand and on My left is not Mine to give, but it is for those for whom it is prepared by My Father.”24 And when the ten heard it, they were greatly displeased with the two brothers. 25 But Jesus called them to Himself and said, “You know that the rulers of the Gentiles lord it over them, and those who are great exercise authority over them. 26 Yet it shall not be so among you; but whoever desires to become great among you, let him be your servant. 27 And whoever desires to be first among you, let him be your slave—28 just as the Son of Man did not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.”
I greet you in Jesus' precious name! It is Friday morning, the 7th of August, 2026, and this is your friend, Angus Buchan, with a thought for today. We start in the Book of Joshua 1:11. This is Joshua speaking: “Pass through the camp and command the people, saying, ‘Prepare provisions for yourselves, for within three days you will cross over this Jordan, to go in to possess the land which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.' ” It is time to cross over, my dear friend. You're getting comfortable. Don't get comfortable. We are passing through. This is not our home, our home is in heaven! Remember the Israelites lived in tents. They never built any houses. They lived in tents until they crossed over the Jordan River. Then we go to the Gospel of Luke 4:43. This is Jesus speaking: ”…but He said to them, “I must preach the kingdom of God to the other cities also, because for this purpose I have been sent.” Remember, they wanted Jesus to stay with them. They didn't want Him to go, ”Lord, stay, please.” ”No! I have got an obligation to My Father. I have to go out and preach the gospel to the ends of the world.” We need to take new ground for Jesus. It's time for you and me to walk on the water, but the good news is, we do not go alone. He is going with us, and He is leading the way. All we have to do is follow. Remember, if we are not going forward, we are actually going backward. In the Kingdom of God, there is no such thing as standing still, either we are going up the ladder or we are going down the ladder. Now, I'm speaking figuratively because for some of us maybe God wants us to write that book. Some of you must open that new business. “But we don't have enough money. Times are hard.” Sometimes that's the best time to do it. You look at many men and women who have succeeded in life, they do not wait for the right opportunity. They wait for a word from God. Many times, the Lord has told me, “step out”, and that is the time that He does great and mighty things. You know, a ship tied up in harbour is going nowhere. When that ship sets out to sea, even if the wind is contrary, even if the wind is blowing the wrong way, a good captain knows how to work that ship with the sails, and he tacks against the wind and still gets to his destination. Today, let's cross over. Jesus bless you and have an exciting, wonderful dayGoodbye.
Jason is quadrupled booked today! And can we get more Capriotti's shops in the Twin Cities?! There's still time to buy into some of our Bids for Kids experiences -- join us at a dance party or soccer match. Happy birthday to Clara Peller, the "Where's the Beef" lady -- which gets us thinking that everything is funnier with a tuba playing in the background. And Colleen is just like Zendaya in her bathing habits. Plus, an ode to the beverage shower. Holiday creep is a serious problem -- can we let the holidays have their holiday time? HOLLY KNOWS SOMETHING: About the world's oldest theme park, and the drama surrounding a "Barbie" sequel -- just give people the money, Warner Bros.! SCREEN QUEENS: "The Bombing of Pan Am 103," "My Grandfather Charles Manson," and "My Father, The BTK Killer." Our annual Minnesota State Fair schedule has been released -- let the chaos begin! And Post Malone makes a delightful appearance on a new "Sesame Street" Netflix special! See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
What is the dynamic between reverence and irreverence in faith? How can we adopt the posture of the "holy fool" in our lives? Where do we need to embrace the imperfections in order to create, play, and grow? Worship SongsThis is My Father's WorldNothing I Hold On ToMake RoomTeaching SongTurn, Turn, Turn
The first part is in English, and the second part is in Malayalam at 10:46 mark. John 14;23 – Jesus said, “If anyone loves Me, he will keep My word; and My Father will love him, and We will come to him and make Our abode with him.” എന്നെ സ്നേഹിക്കുന്നവൻ എന്റെ വചനം പ്രമാണിക്കും; എന്റെ പിതാവു അവനെ സ്നേഹിക്കും; ഞങ്ങൾ അവന്റെ അടുക്കൽ വന്നു അവനോടുകൂടെ വാസം ചെയ്യും. The Bible emphasizes that reading or hearing the Bible is only the first step. True spiritual power and blessing come from practicing the word of God. Jesus, the word of God, was with the Father before the creation of the world. The Father and the Son Jesus together become one God. Without Jesus in our life, it is hard to move on smoothly with our life. When we love Jesus and follow His commands, Jesus and His heavenly Father will come and reside with us. Then our life will be run by them, not on our own capacity. Then whatever we ask will be given to us. My name... Cicilysunny@gmail.com
God will never let go of you! If you have accepted Jesus Christ as the Lord and Savior of your life, he is committed to you and will keep you for all eternity. Jesus said, My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; no one can snatch them out of my hand. My Father, who has given them to me, is greater than all; no one can snatch them out of my Father's hand. I and the Father are one (John 10:27-30). Maybe you're thinking, “Yeah, but Mary, you don't know what I've done. I've committed a sin, knowingly, and I've wandered far from God.” That may be sadly true, but it doesn't change the promise Jesus gave us. If—and that is an important “if”—you have truly been born from above through faith in Jesus Christ, you can't even jump out of his hand. Your own disobedience and sin are not strong enough to break his grip on you. I would remind you of David, a man after God's own heart. You can't go much further wrong as a believer than David did, committing adultery and murder. He tried to cover it up, to bury it and forget it, but until he confessed it and admitted his guilt, he was the most miserable person alive. That's always true for a believer. If you are living in willful disobedience to God's principles, as a true child of God, you will be more and more miserable until you come to full repentance. Read Psalm 51 to remind yourself of David's agony because of his sin. None of us escape the consequences of our sin, whether believers or not, but nothing can separate a true believer from God's love. Not even our sin. I want to encourage you today to come back to God with a repentant heart, with a commitment to forsake your sin and walk in his way, and he will restore to you the joy of your salvation, just as he did to David. My own story corroborates this truth, for I foolishly chose to walk away from my commitment to God's principles for a period of ten years—ten long years. It wasn't ignorance, but it was a willful determination to run my own life and get what I wanted. I failed miserably in that endeavor, and at the end of my emotional and mental rope, I came back to God, truly repentant, and he has proven himself to be a God of great mercy and grace to me. That was many years ago, and I can testify God simply never let go of me. He let me run my own show, until I ran it into the ground, and then he restored me.
Thursday, 30 July 2026 Then last of all he sent his son to them, saying, ‘They will respect my son.' Matthew 21:37 “Afterward, also, he sent to them the ‘son, his', saying, ‘They will be in-turned of the ‘son, mine'.'” (CG) In the previous verse, Jesus continued the parable, noting that the housemaster sent other servants, greater than the first, and they treated those servants the same. With that noted, He next says, “Afterward, also, he sent to them the ‘son, his'.” The meaning of the words, at least to us, should be plain and obvious, even if the leaders don't immediately get what Jesus is saying. A succession of servants has been sent to receive the fruit of the vineyard, and they have been treated shamefully. These represented the messengers of God, the prophets and wise men, looking for fruit in the nation of Israel. Without success, God sent His Son into the nation, “saying, ‘They will be in-turned of the ‘son, mine'.'” A new word is seen, entrepó. It is derived from en, a fixed position usually translated as “in”, and tropé, a noun signifying “a turning” which is only found in James 1:17. Together, they give the idea of “in a state of turning,” as in turning “one's attention to in a riveted (‘locked in') way” (HELPS Word Studies). The word is used positively when turning in respect, but it is also used when feeling a state of shame. It is seen when there is no respect (as in Luke 18:2 and 18:4). In Hebrews 12:9, almost all translations say something like, “Furthermore, we have had human fathers who corrected us, and we paid them respect [entrepó]” (NKJV). However, the verb is passive, and the word “them” is not in the text. Having said that, because of the difficulty, most take this as a passive with a middle force. This is done to justify the reading as “respect.” However, Thayer's Greek Lexicon notes the word in classical Greek signifies “properly, to turn about, so in passive even in Homer; τινα, properly, to turn one upon himself, i. e. to shame one.” Thus, if the passive is retained, the word would indicate a sense of personal shame, not respect. The entire paragraph in which Hebrews 12:9 exists is based on chastisement, either by God or by our fathers. As such, there is a sense of shame for wrongdoing, which is exactly what sin is and what it causes. We are chastised, and we are ashamed because of our actions. Without that shame because of a lack of correction, we would be unashamed and unrestrained. Something common in the world when there is no correction. Hebrews 12:9 continues, We had fathers who were instructors “... and we were in-turned, not much, also, more we will be subject to the ‘Father, the spirits', and we will live?” One can see the progression: 1) Earthly fathers discipline, 2) children respond, being in-turned (ashamed), 3) therefore, how much more should we be subject to God in humility? The same passive mood is found in the three synoptic gospels in regard to this parable. Because translations reject the passive voice in Matthew 21:37, stating it is to be rendered in the middle voice, it then causes scholars a true dilemma. The Pulpit Commentary, reflective of others, says – “God condescends to speak in human language, as hoping for a good result from this last effort for man's salvation. He, as it were, puts aside his foreknowledge, and gives scope to man's free will. Though the sad issue is known to him, he often acts towards men as if he had hope that they would still use the occasion profitably.” This makes no sense. Why would the housemaster assume or even hope for those in the vineyard to act appropriately? Why would he assume they could be trusted when they have already killed his servants? Such a thought is not in line with what we would consider concerning Jesus' portrayal of the omnipotent God in a parable. An in-turning concerning the son is much more fitting to the surrounding context. And it is exactly what happened to Jesus. Thus, Jesus is clearly saying that they will not accept the son. Rather, they will be ashamed of him. And this is what God the Father knew, in advance, concerning His Son. This is perfectly in line with what Jesus told the disciples just a few days before – “Behold, we are going up to Jerusalem, and the Son of Man will be betrayed to the chief priests and to the scribes; and they will condemn Him to death, 19 and deliver Him to the Gentiles to mock and to scourge and to crucify. And the third day He will rise again.” Matthew 20:18, 19 It is a sentiment He had already stated to them twice before as well. The fact is that, despite knowing in advance, that Jesus would not be accepted, God sent His Son to Israel to offer them salvation. This demonstrates the immense love of God for those He created. It also shows the lengths God was willing to go to for those same creatures. Life application: If the word discussed above is intended to be translated as “respect,” it would demonstrate a naivete in God that does not exist. The only way to get around that is to deal with the words in the way the Pulpit Commentary did. But parables are not merely an inexact representation of what is going on. Nor are they an accommodation for our sensibilities. Rather, they are a type of speaking intended to convey actual meaning, even if veiled. Jesus was standing before the leaders, having just been hailed as the Messiah. If He is, then He is God's selected choice for that position. To say, “Maybe the leaders will respect Me” or “My Father thinks the leaders might respect Me” is completely out of the context of the situation in which He is speaking. The leaders were ashamed of Jesus, and He was rejected and crucified, just as God foreknew that He would be. This analysis fits the surrounding narrative. As such, leaving the translation as literal as possible allows for a resolution to the otherwise nonsensical idea that God would not know that His Son would not be respected. Lord God, what a wonderful delight it is to come to Your word and consider its contents. Help us to be diligent each day to pick it up and dive into it with enthusiasm and zeal. Thank You for this beautiful treasure that tells us of JESUS! Amen.
Richard Blanco joins Kevin Young to read and discuss “Questions of Travel,” by Elizabeth Bishop, and his own poem, “My Father in English.” Blanco is the author of two memoirs and four poetry collections, including “How to Love a Country” and “Homeland of My Body.” He is the recipient of several honors, including a National Humanities Medal, a Lambda Literary Award, a Paterson Poetry Prize, and a Thom Gunn Award for Gay Poetry. He was selected by President Barack Obama as the fifth inaugural poet in United States history, and was named as the first-ever American Academy of Poets education ambassador. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
Andreas GMs Amanda and special guest stars Lindsay Law from the Rookery, and Liv Vistisen Rörby in this very humorous My Father's Sword adventure! Recorded in Poddrummet (The Podcast room) at GothCon 2026. We're an actual play podcast where professional actors in Sweden play the best of Swedish RPGs! Led by one of Swedens most experienced and appreciated podcast game masters we play My Father's Sword by Nordic Skalds. Starring: Amanda Stenback, Lindsey Law & Liv Vistisen Rörby Game master: Andreas Lundström Music: Andreas Lundström Cover art by: Alessia Marino
Sermon TextPsalm 42-43To the choirmaster. A Maskil of the Sons of Korah. As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God. My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When shall I come and appear before God? My tears have been my food day and night, while they say to me all the day long, Where is your God? These things I remember, as I pour out my soul: how I would go with the throng and lead them in procession to the house of God with glad shouts and songs of praise, a multitude keeping festival. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. My soul is cast down within me; therefore I remember you from the land of Jordan and of Hermon, from Mount Mizar. Deep calls to deep at the roar of your waterfalls; all your breakers and your waves have gone over me. By day the LORD commands his steadfast love, and at night his song is with me, a prayer to the God of my life. I say to God, my rock: Why have you forgotten me? Why do I go mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? As with a deadly wound in my bones, my adversaries taunt me, while they say to me all the day long, Where is your God? Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God. Vindicate me, O God, and defend my cause against an ungodly people, from the deceitful and unjust man deliver me! For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy? Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God. Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.Psalm 43:2For you are the God in whom I take refuge; why have you rejected me? Why do I go about mourning because of the oppression of the enemy?Matthew 26:36-39Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, Sit here, while I go over there and pray. And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. Then he said to them, My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me. And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will.Matthew 27:43He trusts in God; let God deliver him now, if he desires him. For he said, ‘I am the Son of God.'Psalm 43:5Why are you cast down, O my soul, and why are you in turmoil within me? Hope in God; for I shall again praise him, my salvation and my God.Psalm 43:3-4Send out your light and your truth; let them lead me; let them bring me to your holy hill and to your dwelling! Then I will go to the altar of God, to God my exceeding joy, and I will praise you with the lyre, O God, my God.Hebrews 6:19-20We have this as a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul, a hope that enters into the inner place behind the curtain, where Jesus has gone as a forerunner on our behalf, having become a high priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.
Send us Fan MailIn this episode, Pastor Ed teaches us the importance of abiding in Christ. John 15:1-111 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. 2 Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He [a]takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear more fruit. 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me. 5 “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much fruit; for without Me you can do nothing. 6 If anyone does not abide in Me, he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. 7 If you abide in Me, and My words abide in you, you will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. 8 By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; so you will be My disciples. 9 “As the Father loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. 10 If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father's commandments and abide in His love. 11 “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and that your joy may be full.Psalms 119:105105 Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.Galatians 5:22-2322 But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, 23 gentleness, self-control. Against such there is no law.Matthew 6:3333 But seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things shall be added to you.Proverb3:5-65 Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; 6 in all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.Isaiah 40:3131 But those who wait on the Lord shall renew their strength; they shall mount up with wings like eagles, they shall run and not be weary, they shall walk and not faint.1 John 1:8-108 If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us. 9 If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. 10 If we say that we have not sinned, we make Him a liar, and His word is not in us.
This recording is a condensed version of the sermon preached at Immanuel Evangelical Lutheran Church in Mankato, Minnesota on July 26, 2026. You can watch the full recording on our YouTube Channel. Sermon Text: Matthew 12:46-50 (NKJV) While He was still talking to the multitudes, behold, His mother and brothers stood outside, seeking to speak with Him. 47 Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside, seeking to speak with You.” 48 But He answered and said to the one who told Him, “Who is My mother and who are My brothers?” 49 And He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 50 “For whoever does the will of My Father in heaven is My brother and sister and mother.” Theme: Christ's Family Comes First
Matthew Week 146 Matthew 26:33-34 ESV 33 Peter answered him, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away." 34 Jesus said to him, "Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." Matthew 26:36-46 ESV 36 Then Jesus went with them to a place called Gethsemane, and he said to his disciples, "Sit here, while I go over there and pray." 37 And taking with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, he began to be sorrowful and troubled. 38 Then he said to them, "My soul is very sorrowful, even to death; remain here, and watch with me." 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." 40 And he came to the disciples and found them sleeping. And he said to Peter, "So, could you not watch with me one hour? 41 Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak." 42 Again, for the second time, he went away and prayed, "My Father, if this cannot pass unless I drink it, your will be done." 43 And again he came and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. 44 So, leaving them again, he went away and prayed for the third time, saying the same words again. 45 Then he came to the disciples and said to them, "Sleep and take your rest later on. See, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. 46 Rise, let us be going; see, my betrayer is at hand." John 18:1-2 ESV When Jesus had spoken these words, he went out with his disciples across the brook Kidron, where there was a garden, which he and his disciples entered. 2 Now Judas, who betrayed him, also knew the place, for Jesus often met there with his disciples. Luke 4:13 ESV 13 And when the devil had ended every temptation, he departed from him until an opportune time. Isaiah 53:5 NASB95 But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities; The chastening for our well-being fell upon Him, And by His scourging we are healed. 1 Peter 4:12-13 ESV 12 Beloved, do not be surprised at the fiery trial when it comes upon you to test you, as though something strange were happening to you. 13 But rejoice insofar as you share Christ's sufferings, that you may also rejoice and be glad when his glory is revealed. Romans 5:3-5 ESV 3 Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, 4 and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, 5 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. James 1:2-4 ESV 2 Count it all joy, my brothers, when you meet trials of various kinds, 3 for you know that the testing of your faith produces steadfastness. 4 And let steadfastness have its full effect, that you may be perfect and complete, lacking in nothing.
Saturday, 25 July 2026 For John came to you in the way of righteousness, and you did not believe him; but tax collectors and harlots believed him; and when you saw it, you did not afterward relent and believe him. Matthew 21:32 “He came, namely, John, to you in ‘way, righteousness,' and not you believed him. The ‘also taxmen and the prostitutes', they believed him. You, also, having seen, not you regretted afterward the ‘believe him'.” (CG) In the previous verse, Jesus told Israel's leaders that the taxmen and prostitutes would enter the kingdom of God before them. He now explains why it is so, confirming their own response to His question concerning the parable of the two sons, saying, “He came, namely, John.” This explains why Jesus gave the parable right after their question to Him concerning what right He had or under whose authority He did the things He was doing – “But Jesus answered and said to them, ‘I also will ask you one thing, which if you tell Me, I likewise will tell you by what authority I do these things: 25 The baptism of John—where was it from? From heaven or from men?'” Matthew 21:24, 25 When they couldn't answer Him, He told them He wouldn't answer their question. After that, He immediately brought in the parable of the two sons. It is a parable that is based on the life and actions of John. Jesus is answering the question for them that they failed to answer. He does that with His continued words. He notes that John came “to you in ‘way, righteousness'.” These words tell us that John's authority came from heaven. Jesus just said that the taxmen and prostitutes would enter the kingdom of God before the leaders. If entry into the kingdom of God is the goal and it is accessed through what John would proclaim, then John's authority was from God. Understanding this, Jesus continues by explaining His statement concerning the matter, saying, “and not you believed him.” If John's proclamation was from God, and these men did not accept his proclamation, then it stands to reason that they have rejected what God expects of them. On the other hand, Jesus says, “The ‘also taxmen and the prostitutes', they believed him.” This explains why these groups would enter the kingdom of God before Israel's leaders. John's message was from God, and they accepted that premise. In this, Jesus equates them to the first son who said he would not go into the vineyard but later regretted it. They ignored the Law of Moses, lived unrighteously, and were stiff-necked toward God's expectations. However, in John's coming, they heard the message, and regret for their way of life sank into their minds. In regretting, they would have done what John proclaimed, which is to believe in Jesus, the One he proclaimed to be the Messiah. On the other hand, Jesus says, “You, also, having seen, not you regretted afterward the ‘believe him'.” Jesus equates the leaders of Israel to the second son. He said he would go into the vineyard, but then he never went. As noted, the vineyard represents the economy (a cultural expression) where God is dealing with man in order to bring about a result. Jesus is what God is now doing. The whole body of the Law and Prophets pointed to Him and His coming. John proclaimed that Jesus was the Messiah. Therefore, those who once failed to uphold the law regretted their lives and accepted that God was ready to cleanse them through John's baptism of reconsideration, preparing them for the coming Messiah. The leaders saw this, the ‘believe him' of the people, and yet they did not regret their walk before the Lord. They were so filled with self-righteousness that they could not accept that they needed the Messiah's healing. In stating His words, He has confirmed John's source of authority, and He has shown that John's proclamation that Jesus is the Messiah is valid. As such, He has actually answered the question that He didn't answer in verse 27. Only, He has done it indirectly. He demonstrates that John's authority is of God because his words lead to entrance into the kingdom of God or exclude those who reject it. John's words pointed to Jesus. Therefore, Jesus' authority is from God. Jesus has brilliantly provided exactly what these men needed to know in a way that leaves them a choice that must be made concerning Him. Life application: Time and again, the Bible shows that a rejection of the Son, Jesus, means a rejection of God. For example – “Then they said to Him, ‘Where is Your Father?' Jesus answered, ‘You know neither Me nor My Father. If you had known Me, you would have known My Father also.'” John 8:19 Man has a choice set before Him. Jesus is the dividing line. Those who reject Jesus reject God. Jesus offers grace, not law. Jesus fulfilled the law. Therefore, to reject Jesus' fulfillment of the law is, by default, a rejection of Jesus. In rejecting Jesus, the person rejects God. One cannot piously claim he follows Abba Father if He is trying to merit what Jesus has already accomplished. It is illogical and contradictory. The choice of Jesus starts with believing in the God of the Bible, but this is not the end of the matter. A rejection of all false gods is the beginning of the pursuit. But the God of the Bible has set before those who come to Him the choice of law versus grace. Jesus is God's grace. To attempt to find reconciliation apart from Jesus through law observance is a self-condemning act. Come to Jesus, set your pride aside, and receive His grace. Lord God, Your word says that the path of restoration to You is narrow. As Jesus is the path, then anything apart from Him is a deviation from the path. Help us to clearly explain this to the people of the world. Without Jesus, no one will ever be restored to You. Give us boldness to proclaim this truth. Amen.
John 17:12b. “I guarded them and not one of them perished but the son of perdition, so that the Scripture would be fulfilled.” The Psalmist wrote: 109:4. “In return for my love they act as my accusers; but I am in prayer. Thus they have repaid me evil for good and hatred for my love.” Psalms 109:8 “Let his days be few; let another take his office.” Ps. 109:4 was fulfilled as Jesus was in prayer and verse 8 was fulfilled in Judas' betrayal and death. Judas was not kept in the name of love, even though he had heard all that Jesus taught. The name the Father gave to Jesus to manifest, the name of love, was not manifested to Judas. Judas didn't believe and receive Jesus' words. He heard them, but they were stolen by the devil. This Scripture was also fulfilled. Matthew 11:27 “All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him.” Judas perished because Jesus didn't reveal the Father to him, and the Father didn't reveal the Son to him. Judas, like the Pharisees, Scribes, Herod, Pontius Pilate, and the Jews and the Romans were sons of perdition, sons of destruction, all serving God's purposes so that we might know the love of God and be saved. Here's how the Holy Spirit explained these things to the disciples after Jesus' resurrection. Acts 4:24-28 “And when they heard this, they lifted their voices to God with one accord and said, “O Lord, it is You who MADE THE HEAVEN AND THE EARTH AND THE SEA, AND ALL THAT IS IN THEM, who by the Holy Spirit, through the mouth of our father David Your servant, said, [now we see the Scriptures fulfilled in Judas not being guarded and kept in His name] ‘WHY DID THE GENTILES RAGE, AND THE PEOPLES DEVISE FUTILE THINGS? THE KINGS OF THE EARTH TOOK THEIR STAND, AND THE RULERS WERE GATHERED TOGETHER AGAINST THE LORD AND AGAINST HIS CHRIST.' For truly in this city there were gathered together against Your holy servant Jesus, whom You anointed, both Herod and Pontius Pilate, along with the Gentiles and the peoples of Israel, to do whatever Your hand and Your purpose predestined to occur.” What do we say to these things? What can separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus? Nothing! He loves us. It is His name. We are kept in His name if we walk in love. This verse gives us a sober warning. God will work out His will and purposes in every person ever created in fulfillment of the Scriptures. Matthew 26:24 “The Son of Man is to go, just as it is written of Him; but woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would have been good for that man if he had not been born.” Jesus fulfilled the Scripture. As He lives and loves in us, He is also fulfilling Scripture. Acknowledgment: Music from “Carried by the Father” by Eric Terlizzi. www.ericterlizzi.com
Country Music Hall of Famer, Nashville Songwriters Hall of Famer, 2-time Country Song of the Year GRAMMY winner, and 5-time BMI Country Songwriter of the Year Paul Overstreet gives us a peek behind the curtain of his legendary career. PART ONE: Scott does his best not to throw a certain individual under the bus with a very funny story involving Paul Overstreet. Plus, the guys pay tribute to the late Joe Melson, past Songcraft guest and primary Roy Orbison collaborator. PART TWO: Our in-depth conversation with Paul OverstreetABOUT PAUL OVERSTREET Paul Overstreet is one of the most successful songwriters in Nashville history and among the three inductees in the Country Music Hall of Fame's class of 2026. His catalog of classics includes “Same Ole Me,” recorded by George Jones, as well as the Randy Travis hits “Digging Up Bones,” “No Place Like Home,” “Deeper Than the Holler,” “On the Other Hand,” and “Forever and Ever, Amen.” The latter two were both named Song of the Year by NSAI, the CMA, and the ACM. Additionally, “Forever and Ever, Amen” earned a Grammy award for Best Country Song in 1988. Overstreet won another Best Country Song Grammy in 1992 for “Love Can Build a Bridge,” which was a major hit for The Judds. Other highlights of the Paul Overstreet songbook include the number one hits “A Long Line of Love,” recorded by Michael Martin Murphy,” “When You Say Nothing at All,” which was a hit for both Keith Whitley and Alison Krauss, and “Some Beach” for Blake Shelton. In addition to his achievements with other performers, Overstreet became a successful recording artist in his own right. He reached the top of the charts in 1987 with “I Won't Take Less Than Your Love,” which he recorded with Tanya Tucker and Paul Davis, and had hits with the group S-K-O, a trio he formed with Thom Schuyler and Fred Knobloch. From 1988 through 1991 Paul scored eight consecutive top 10 singles as a solo artist, including “Seein' My Father in Me” and “Daddy's Come Around.” Paul was named BMI's Country Songwriter of the year five years in a row from 1987 through 1991, a feat that hasn't been duplicated since. He was inducted into the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2003. Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.
Today’s Topics: 1, 2, 3, 4) Father Charles Murr joins Terry Gospel – Matthew 11:25-27 – At that time Jesus exclaimed: “I give praise to You, Father, Lord of heaven and earth, for although You have hidden these things from the wise and the learned You have revealed them to the childlike. Yes, Father, such has been Your gracious will. All things have been handed over to Me by My Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone to whom the Son wishes to reveal Him.” Memorial of Saint Bonaventure, Bishop and Doctor of the Church Saint Bonaventure, pray for us! Bishop Sheen quote of the day
JLR is using duct tape to hold up part of his car. Tomas listens to the show. Woman leaves chicken on her counter for six months. Communal wiping sponge. Is Duji's air conditioning still out? B2's scooter was run over. Who pays for police escorts? Man claims him and his family were urinated on at the Morgan Wallen show. Gia is heading to cheer camp for the week. Woman inherits her father's house, but the HOA will not let her live in their senior community. Circle K lottery ticket winner update. Bryson DeChambeau threatens to call President Trump over Open Championship penalty. Rover opens a certified letter sent to Duji. Trike. Maternal Instincts. My Father the BTK Killer.
Rover opens a certified letter sent to Duji. Trike. Maternal Instincts. My Father the BTK Killer.
Rover opens a certified letter sent to Duji. Trike. Maternal Instincts. My Father the BTK Killer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
JLR is using duct tape to hold up part of his car. Tomas listens to the show. Woman leaves chicken on her counter for six months. Communal wiping sponge. Is Duji's air conditioning still out? B2's scooter was run over. Who pays for police escorts? Man claims him and his family were urinated on at the Morgan Wallen show. Gia is heading to cheer camp for the week. Woman inherits her father's house, but the HOA will not let her live in their senior community. Circle K lottery ticket winner update. Bryson DeChambeau threatens to call President Trump over Open Championship penalty. Rover opens a certified letter sent to Duji. Trike. Maternal Instincts. My Father the BTK Killer. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Director Will Niava's film, JAZZ INFERNAL (2025), is showing on July 23rd at the Future of Film Showcase in Toronto. If you're reading this before the date and can go, what are you waiting for? Buy tickets!It's that incredible, one of the best films I've seen all year. It won a Short Film Jury Award at Sundance last year and very deservedly so. Will is an Ivorian-Ghanaian film director and screenwriter based in Montreal, Quebec. And think about that sentence for a moment: there's few like it in the English language that conjures up that many cultural influences in 13 words. And the best way to describe Will's films is that he brings all of those together into pure artistry.If the interview feels short, blame me. The Future of Film press person asked, will 20 minutes be fine, and I stupidly said yes and regretted the decision fifteen seconds into the interview.On your next film, Will, I won't make that mistake again, trust me.In this episode, Will and I talk about:how he describes his award-winning Sundance film;its evolution from a lighthearted comedy to a love letter for his father;if the prestigious awards it earned changes his mind about making a short;how he got started in filmmaking;the concept of taste versus talent;what's next for him.Will's Indie Film/Filmmaker Highlight: PARADISE (2025) dir. by Jérémy Comte; MY FATHER'S SHADOW (2025) dir. by Akinola Davies Jr; Harley Francis; Zion Saffer; Samuel CaronMemorable Quotes:"[My wife told me] you have to talk about your grief. And my grief felt personal."" This is what a short film has done for me, so I can never recommend against it."Links:Follow Will On InstagramBuy Tickets For JAZZ INFERNAL at The Future Of Film Showcase
The Food of the Gods “I adjure you, O daughters of Jerusalem, if you find my beloved, as to what you will tell him: for I am lovesick. What kind of beloved is your beloved, O most beautiful among women? What kind of beloved is your beloved, that thus you adjure us?” (So 5:9) “The nations of the world say to Israel: ‘How is your beloved more than another beloved?” In what way is He God more than other gods, in what way is He a protector more than other protectors?'” (Midrash Rabbah to Shir 5§9) Once again, the proto-typical event is the exodus from Egypt: “For I will go through the land of Egypt on that night and will strike down all the firstborn in the land of Egypt, both man and beast; and against all the gods of Egypt I will execute judgments—I am the LORD.” (Ex 12:12) “And what one nation on the earth is like Your people Israel, whom God went to redeem for Himself as a people and to make a name for Himself, and to do a great thing for You and awesome things for Your land, before Your people whom You have redeemed for Yourself from Egypt, from nations and their gods?” (2 Sa 7:23) When did the other “gods” of the pantheon assume power over the nations? And are these entities unruly evil demons or ruly assigned powers over the principalities (2 Pe 2:10; Jde 1:8)? Too involved to answer, and probably not so fruitful, but when Israel goes into the principality of an assigned power, in a sense, it is the territory of that nation's assigned angelic majesty, elohim, or “judge, authority.” There are indeed, however, unruly demonic entities that operate within those principalities that are worshipped as gods. Elohim is spirit, yet He “eats” the gifts of our worship, the human desire to be near to Him expressed in gifts and sacrifices: ”You shall consecrate him, therefore, for he offers the food of your God; he shall be holy to you; for I the LORD, who sanctifies you, am holy.” (Le 21:8) “Speak to Aaron, saying, ‘No man of your offspring throughout their generations who has a defect shall approach to offer the food of his God.'” (Le 21:17) “…nor shall you accept any such [blemished, diseased] from the hand of a foreigner for offering as the food of your God; for their corruption (“decay”) is in them, they have a defect, they shall not be accepted for you.'” (Le 22:25) Elohim’s food is to receive our heartfelt, lovesick obedience free of the decay of death. Our food is to do the will of the Father who sent Yeshua, the Living Word. (Jn 4:34) The evil and unclean gods of the pantheon also receive “food” when we idolize them [we actually worship ourselves and they enable it]. As in the Garden, when the serpent offered the humans the opportunity to “be like God,” so evil spirits receive the gifts and sacrifices of human beings as food, fuel for their ability to cross into our realm and proliferate. It was the serpent who was trying to be like God, and he needed Adam and Eve to feed that desire. He fed them what they desired; they fed him what he desired. The serpent is always eager to feed our wrong appetite, desire, emotion, and intellect. The end result, though, is death, not life. Obedience to Elohim's voice, however, produces life and the ability to continue abundant life in the Garden, a Land flowing with milk and honey, wine and balsam. The following recitation for the tithe of the third year contains specific language that reminds us we are not to feed the dead, whether ancestors or gods. Instead, we feed only our Elohim with our holies of sacred obedience. In return, our Elohim sets us high above all the nations and their gods. This is why our Beloved is high above all others and why we are lovesick, seeking His Voice in the night of exile, which is what Adam and Eve should have done, waited to hear His Voice walking in the cool of the evening. “When you have finished paying all the tithe of your increase in the third year, the year of tithing, then you shall give it to the Levite, to the stranger, to the orphan and to the widow, that they may eat in your towns and be satisfied. You shall say before the LORD your God, ‘I have removed the sacred portion from my house, and also have given it to the Levite and the alien, the orphan and the widow, according to all Your commandments which You have commanded me; I have not transgressed or forgotten any of Your commandments. I have not eaten of it while mourning, nor have I removed any of it while I was unclean, nor offered any of it to the dead. I have listened to the voice of the LORD my God; I have done according to all that You have commanded me. Look down from Your holy habitation, from heaven, and bless Your people Israel, and the ground which You have given us, a land flowing with milk and honey, as You swore to our fathers.' This day the LORD your God commands you to do these statutes and ordinances. You shall therefore be careful to do them with all your heart and with all your soul. You have today declared the LORD to be your God, and that you would walk in His ways and keep His statutes, His commandments and His ordinances, and listen to His voice. The LORD has today declared you to be His people, a treasured possession, as He promised you, and that you should keep all His commandments; and that He will set you high above all nations which He has made, for praise, fame, and honor; and that you shall be a consecrated people to the LORD your God, as He has spoken.” (Dt 26:12-19) The unruly rebellious entities derive power when they are worshipped; in a sense, they are “fed” by human beings, which attracts greater numbers of unclean and evil spiritual beings…unclean in that those spirits are NOT assigned to the physical realm, but they hunt for physical hosts to enable them to operate there. It actually speeds the process of death and decay to the host because it is an unclean mixture. Life is only within one's assigned realm: “Then it goes and takes along with it seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there; and the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. That is the way it will also be with this evil generation.” (Mt 12:45) When we “feed” a spiritual entity our disobedience and rebellion, we transgress, mixing two realms, which invites death, not life. It has no place in the life of a believer in Yeshua, or in a human being at all. This is why disobedience is equated with witchcraft: For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, And stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry. Because you have rejected the word of the LORD, He also has rejected you from being king.” (1 Sa 15:23) Because of this rebellion, the kingship and authority was forfeited. Just as in the Garden when the serpent had to entice the human beings into rebelling in order to commandeer their authority to rule, so we still can be deceived into the giving our spiritual authority to the beast by trying to be “like God.” There is only one Elohim, and all other beings are created by Him, even the rebels of the universe. An altar is a “table” connecting the physical realm with the spiritual. Why would we feed rebellious spirits the food of our own disobedience and share their demonic table fare? “Look at the nation Israel; are not those who eat the sacrifices sharers in the altar? What do I mean then? That a thing sacrificed to idols is anything, or that an idol is anything? No, but I say that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to demons and not to God; and I do not want you to become sharers in demons. You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons; you cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons.” (1 Co 10:19-21) Angelic powers over principalities don't need or want human worship to enlarge their influence or authority; they already have authority because it is assigned to them. Perhaps it was pre-assigned when the heavenly hosts were created, but more likely their creation prepared them to be assigned to their supervisory divisions after the Flood: “Two sons were born to Eber; the name of the one was Peleg, for in his days the earth was divided; and his brother's name was Joktan.” (Ge 10:25; 32; 1 Ch 1:19) There is also this verse that synchronizes the symbolic 70 nations of the earth and their divisions to the number of Israelites who went down to Egypt: “Your fathers went down to Egypt seventy persons in all, and now the LORD your God has made you as numerous as the stars of heaven. (Dt 10:22) “When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He separated the sons of man, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel.” (Dt 32:8) This may not be a contradiction, but a hint to the restoration work in progress, a plan where the twelve tribes of Israel would become the judges over the nations from the gates of Jerusalem, i.e., the gates to the Garden of Eden, and the assigned princes over the nations would be shaken out of the way, that role concluded. Whatever the details of the plan, it is evident that these angelic majesties were anticipated and assigned, but the original plan was for the righteous among humankind to judge those angels in administering the Kingdom on earth and possibly in the heavenlies: “Or do you not know that the saints will judge the world? If the world is judged by you, are you not competent to constitute the smallest law courts? Do you not know that we will judge angels? How much more matters of this life?” (1 Co 6:2-3) These things are what makes our Beloved greater than the other gods of the nations. In addition, Messiah Yeshua can give his most beautiful Bride authority to rule the nations as at the beginning when Adam and Even ruled. The gods of the nations, whether unruly demonic or the ruly assigned angelic majesties, cannot and will not give this kind of authority, for their authority is either usurped or only a temporary assignment. “He who overcomes, and he who keeps My deeds until the end, TO HIM I WILL GIVE AUTHORITY OVER THE NATIONS; AND HE SHALL RULE THEM WITH A ROD OF IRON, AS THE VESSELS OF THE POTTER ARE BROKEN TO PIECES, as I also have received authority from My Father; and I will give him the morning star.” (Re 2:26-28) The morning star? The first resurrection! We can share Yeshua’s table at the wedding supper of the Lamb. (Re 3:20) Please SUBSCRIBE to our newsletter to get new teachings.
Matthew Week 145 Matthew 26:26b ESV after blessing it broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." Matthew 26:27b-28 ESV and when he had given thanks he gave it to them, saying, "Drink of it, all of you, 28 for this is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins. Matthew 26:29 ESV 29 I tell you I will not drink again of this fruit of the vine until that day when I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." 1 Corinthians 11:26 ESV 26 For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes. Matthew 26:30 ESV 30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. Psalm 115:1 ESV Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! Psalm 116:1, 8-9, 13, 15 I love the Lord, because he has heard my voice and my pleas for mercy. For you have delivered my soul from death, my eyes from tears, my feet from stumbling; 9 I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. I will lift up the cup of salvation and call on the name of the Lord, 15 Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Psalm 118:1, 5-6, 29 ESV Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! Out of my distress I called on the Lord; the Lord answered me and set me free. 6 The Lord is on my side; I will not fear. What can man do to me? Oh give thanks to the Lord, for he is good; for his steadfast love endures forever! "But imagine now you're not singing these psalms in celebration of God's dramatic rescue, watching a rehydrated Red Sea still foaming before your disbelieving eyes. Imagine instead you're singing these psalms where Jesus likely was singing them—in the dim light of the upper room, mere moments from your violent capture and arrest, mere hours from trial, torture, and death. To be able to sing a hymn of praise in that moment—that's serenity. That's "blessed assurance." That's realizing your Father is wise and good and that He can be implicitly trusted. It's refusing to factor your own feelings into your faith decisions. It's valuing His great redemptive plan above your own comfort and safety. And it's choosing to recognize traces of life, hope, glory, and joy in the same situations where most can see only fear, doubt, anxiety, and self-pity." -Nancy DeMoss Wolgemuth Singing in the Shadow The quiet place : daily devotional readings Page 86 Matthew 26:39 ESV 39 And going a little farther he fell on his face and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will." Psalm 75:8 ESV For in the hand of the Lord there is a cup with foaming wine, well mixed, and he pours out from it, and all the wicked of the earth shall drain it down to the dregs. Matthew 26:31-35 ESV 31 Then Jesus said to them, "You will all fall away because of me this night. For it is written, 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' 32 But after I am raised up, I will go before you to Galilee." 33 Peter answered him, "Though they all fall away because of you, I will never fall away." 34 Jesus said to him, "Truly, I tell you, this very night, before the rooster crows, you will deny me three times." 35 Peter said to him, "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you!" And all the disciples said the same. Isaiah 53:10a NASB95 But the Lord was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; Acts 2:23 ESV 23 this Jesus, delivered up according to the definite plan and foreknowledge of God, you crucified and killed by the hands of lawless men. Luke 22:31-34 ESV 31 "Simon, Simon, behold, Satan demanded to have you, that he might sift you like wheat, 32 but I have prayed for you that your faith may not fail. And when you have turned again, strengthen your brothers." 33 Peter said to him, "Lord, I am ready to go with you both to prison and to death." 34 Jesus said, "I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow this day, until you deny three times that you know me." 2 Corinthians 12:8-10 NIV 8 Three times I pleaded with the Lord to take it away from me. 9 But he said to me, "My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness." Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ's power may rest on me. 10 That is why, for Christ's sake, I delight in weaknesses, in insults, in hardships, in persecutions, in difficulties. For when I am weak, then I am strong.
October 12, 2022 - Inspired by J.C. Ryle's treatise on Prayer. Way back in season 6 of our podcast, we took an extended look at “A Call to Prayer” by J. C. Ryle; those episodes turned out to be some of our most popular. For the next few days, we want to revisit a sampling of those episodes. If you find them encouraging, as I do, this review might spur you back to our 2022 and 2023 episodes to hear everything Pastor Ryle has to say about our call to prayer. Thank you for listening. Drops July 16th We truncated our introduction for the last half of our October episodes. Our shorter introduction ends at the 3:18 mark if you would like to skip to that mark. This way, you have less to wade through.In my zeal for the moving call for our intimate relationship with the Savior, I missed that it began with a prayer.In my defense, Jesus says God's truths are revealed to babes. This is descriptive of your host.Did you know your relationship, including prayer, is an answer to this prayer of Jesus:At that time Jesus answered and said, "I praise Thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that Thou didst hide these things from the wise and intelligent and didst reveal them to babes. 26 "Yes, Father, for thus it was well-pleasing in Thy sight. 27 "All things have been handed over to Me by My Father; and no one knows the Son, except the Father; nor does anyone know the Father, except the Son, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him. 28 "Come to Me, all who are weary and heavy-laden, and I will give you rest. 29 "Take My yoke upon you, and learn from Me, for I am gentle and humble in heart; and YOU SHALL FIND REST FOR YOUR SOULS. 30 "For My yoke is easy, and My load is light."Matthew 11:25-30To the glory of God, our salvation not only saves us from His wrath but restores the reason for our creation. To walk with Him in the cool of the day, getting to know Him as we are known for eternity. “What a man is on his knees before God, that he is and nothing more.” Robert Murray M'CheyneAssistant Editor: Seven Jefferson Gossardwww.freerangepreacheronprayer.comfreerangeprayer@gmail.comFacebook - Free Range Preacher MinistriesInstagram: freerangeministriesAll our Scripture quotes are drawn from the NASB 1977 edition.For access to the Voice Over services of Richard Durrington, please visit RichardDurrington.com or email him at Durringtonr@gmail.comOur podcast art designed by @sammmmmmmmm23 InstagramSeason 008Episode 038
Host Bill Donohue begins this two-hour special by welcoming golf legend Lee Trevino, who shares stories from his Hall of Fame career, memorable moments on the course, and plenty of laughs along the way. Next, Bill chats with former Yankees and Dodgers southpaw Al Downing. Later, Bill welcomes author Randall Sullivan, who discusses his new book about the first MLB All-Star Game in 1933 and the history behind one of baseball's most important events. Bill wraps up the show with Dr. David Fletcher, who talks about his documentary on Dick Allen, highlighting the baseball legend's remarkable career, the challenges he faced, and why his story still matters today.Takeaways:Bill Donohue hosts an engaging show featuring guests like Lee Trevino and Al Downing, focusing on their significant contributions to sports.The episode highlights the historical importance of the first All-Star game in 1933, discussing its implications for baseball and American culture.Lee Trevino shares personal anecdotes about his career and experiences with golf, emphasizing the dedication required to excel in the sport.Dr. David Fletcher discusses the documentary 'My Father, Dick Allen', shedding light on Allen's legacy and the challenges he faced as a Black player in baseball.The show examines the impact of racism on Dick Allen's career and how he overcame adversity to become a beloved figure in baseball.Listeners are reminded of the cultural significance of sports in America, particularly during the Great Depression, and how figures like Babe Ruth and Dick Allen shaped that narrative.
Andreas GMs The Game Master's Trials (Den stora spelledarens prövning), written by Joakim Wendell for Fenix Magazine! Mattias and Dominic play epic "heroes" who have angered the great GM of their world. And now they must prove themselves... We're an actual play podcast where professional actors in Sweden play the best of Swedish RPGs! Led by one of Swedens most experienced and appreciated podcast game masters we play My Father's Sword by Nordic Skalds. Starring: Mattias Redbo & Dominic Kelly Game master: Andreas Lundström Music: Andreas Lundström Cover art by: Alessia Marino
3:10 - The News 4:48 - Jerks of the Week 14:56 - Angie Tribeca 17:39 - A Force of One 21:10 - An Eye for an Eye 22:20 - Moonraker 27:06 - For Your Eyes Only 32:34 - Shogun Assassin 35:02 - The Thing Expanded 39:18 - Johnny Guitar 48:55 - Arthur (1981) 51:47 - The Soldier 52:36 - The Straight Story 56:19 - Darby O'Gill and the Little People 1:00:50 - Dr. No 1:07:43 - Good Luck, Have Fun, Don't Die 1:11:06 - The Master 1:14:13 - The Shadow Strays 1:16:33 - My Father a Hero 1:18:40 - Jackass: Best and Last
What if the very place you've been avoiding holds the key to everything you've been searching for? In Matthew 16, Jesus asked His disciples a question that still echoes today: "Who do you say that I am?" — and Peter's bold answer became the foundation of the Church itself. This powerful message reveals that the Church isn't just a building; it's where broken lives get repaired, weak areas get strengthened, and destinies get unlocked. Watch as a DoorDash driver received a surprise $922 blessing, reminding us that the Church actively transforms communities. Don't miss this — your story could be next.Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
What if the very place you've been avoiding holds the key to everything you've been searching for? In Matthew 16, Jesus asked His disciples a question that still echoes today: "Who do you say that I am?" — and Peter's bold answer became the foundation of the Church itself. This powerful message reveals that the Church isn't just a building; it's where broken lives get repaired, weak areas get strengthened, and destinies get unlocked. Watch as a DoorDash driver received a surprise $922 blessing, reminding us that the Church actively transforms communities. Don't miss this — your story could be next.Matthew 16:13 When Jesus came into the region of Caesarea Philippi, He asked His disciples, saying, “Who do men say that I, the Son of Man, am?”14 So they said, “Some say John the Baptist, some Elijah, and others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”15 He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?”16 Simon Peter answered and said, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”17 Jesus answered and said to him, “Blessed are you, Simon Bar-Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but My Father who is in heaven. 18 And I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hell shall not prevail against it. 19 And I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”
Bride's Ministry to the Lost (1) (audio) David Eells – 7/12/26 Our Brother's Keeper Eve Brast - 12/19/2015 (David's notes in red) Since yesterday afternoon, the Holy Spirit in me has been very grieved. I felt sadness from the Father's heart but I didn't understand why. Then again, on the way home from the Friday night meeting, His sadness and grieving were heavy upon me again. I began to pray as I pulled into my driveway that Father would help me to help His people and that He would make me His eyes and ears and mind and that He would help me to be His hands and feet. I understood in general that this was what the Spirit was grieved about, and He desired that this would be the desire of His people above all else. (Please read my word below from the Father on 12/07/15. It's so very important to Him that my heart breaks at the earnest longing from His Spirit that He allowed me to feel.) Eve Brast - 12/07/15: I asked Father what was on His heart to say to us today and He told me to get a pen and paper. He said, “My people who are called by My name, humble yourselves before Me this day. Fast and pray with weeping and lamentations for your brethren who are in this land, for swift destruction is coming and distress from every side and there shall be none to deliver! But I will deliver, by My power and strong arm, those who will repent and turn to Me in that day. Take care to be mindful of your fellow brethren! Lay down your lives, for you are your brother's keeper. Offer up to Me the sweet smell of sacrifice and I will honor it. Fast! Pray! For the day draws near. All things will be accomplished according to My Word”. (Pray for gifts to be able to help the brethren.) When I lay down to sleep last night, I asked Father for a dream to share with the brethren at the morning prayer meeting on Saturday morning. I received it on 12/19/15. I dreamed that I was making rounds with David and Michael in a nursing home/mental hospital. (The Church is supposed to be gifted to heal the spiritually old and mentally sick in the body.) David was a surgeon dressed in light blue scrubs, and Michael was a resident surgeon in training dressed in royal blue scrubs. (They represent the Man-child ministry “who is like God”.) (Which is the meaning of “Michael”. To be like God, we need His fruit and gifts to be able to help the brethren.) There were others with us from UBM and some nurses I currently work with at the hospital in real life. David was a very talented and important doctor and was well-respected in this dream. He had come there to perform a new procedure that would restore these patients in this facility. We all desired to assist him in this procedure. (Those who followed are like the disciples of Jesus' day who followed Him.) As we all followed David, he would stop at the different rooms and areas of this nursing home/mental hospital and point out different patients and explain to us what he needed us to do to help him. Many of the patients were demented or just old and feeble (in spirit). Many were half naked (not dressed up with the works of Christ) and very obese (meaning overcome by flesh). They wandered around aimlessly and out of their right minds (which is the renewed mind of Christ). (These are our brothers and sisters in Christ who have not come out of the ways of the Harlot church yet or who have fallen back into worldly lusts and the mind of the flesh and their old beastly nature. {Isa.63:9} In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them: in his love and in his pity he redeemed them; and he bare them, and carried them all the days of old.) It was dark as we approached some double glass doors that led out into a courtyard filled with green grass. And as we stood outside on the lighted, covered porch area, it began to rain very large drops of water. (Michael Hare says these represent the trials and sacrifices we endure for the sake of our brethren. As faithful priests, this is what is required of us.) (Also, the rain can be the anointing and gifts God gives to those who sacrifice their lives to help the brethren. As we give of ourselves, He gives to us.) David and Michael stepped out into the rain, and they turned to face us. David held out his hand and said, “I need someone to come and get the stretcher in order to transport these patients”. (The word “stretcher” is a play on words. In order to be at rest, you must “stretch” your faith.) (Those who are able are called to help carry a spiritually sick Christian until they can walk for themselves.) All the others who had been following David and Michael were unwilling to step out into the rain with them in order to go get the stretcher for the “patients”. They began to turn and walk back into the nursing home/mental hospital and murmur as they went, saying that this was too hard, too difficult. {Joh.6:66} Upon this many of his disciples went back and walked no more with him. My heart sank as they walked away and I felt so alone and sad for David. I said, “I'll go”. (The true Bride will help to save God's people, like Esther did.) I didn't want to get out in the rain either, but to my surprise, even though it was cold as the large raindrops hit my face and my arms, I wasn't getting wet. The water was just soaking into my skin and filling me up inside. I felt encouraged and strengthened. {Isa.28:11} Nay, but by men of strange lips and with another tongue will he speak to this people; {12} to whom he said, This is the rest, give ye rest to him that is weary; and this is the refreshing: yet they would not hear. People avoid the rain as though it were acid, but in actuality, it doesn't hurt at all and is refreshing; so it is with tribulations and trials, but the refreshing of the Spirit will help us. {Rom.5:3} And not only so, but we also rejoice in our tribulations: knowing that tribulation worketh stedfastness; {4} and stedfastness, approvedness; and approvedness, hope: {5} and hope putteth not to shame; because the love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts through the Holy Spirit which was given unto us. {Jas.1:2} Count it all joy, my brethren, when ye fall into manifold temptations; {3} Knowing that the proving of your faith worketh patience. {4} And let patience have its perfect work, that ye may be perfect and entire, lacking in nothing. (Missy said this reluctance to help God's people reminds her of the book of Esther, where it says: {Est.4:14} For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then will relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father's house will perish: and who knoweth whether thou art not come to the kingdom for such a time as this? When we choose obedience, Father will strengthen us for the task, just like He did for Jesus. {Rev.22:17} And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And he that heareth, let him say, Come. And he that is athirst, let him come: he that will, let him take of the water of life freely.) (The verse that came to M.L. the morning when I shared this dream was: (Jas.4:17} To him therefore that knoweth to do good, and doeth it not, to him it is sin. Please, brethren, fast and pray for your brothers and sisters in Christ. (Ask for the Holy Spirit and gifts from God for them.) Ask for ears to hear the Holy Spirit's pleadings with us on their behalf. {Rom.9:3} For I could wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren's sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh: {Luk.12:50} But I have a baptism to be baptized with; and how am I straitened till it be accomplished.) The three of us walked across the grassy courtyard together (with the flesh under our feet) to another building on the other side that was white brick (representing righteous works to serve the needy). This was where David would perform the new procedure. (Jesus said, “Behold, I make all things new”.) (I asked Eve, and she thought that the following correction applies well to some in all of UBM. I believe it speaks of many who have had much training but as yet have not entered into the work of restoring their brethren in whatever capacity they have a gift for.) There were many UBM members sitting in the doctor's lounge, along with all the children of UBM, including my two sons, Elijah and Josiah. (Even the two witnesses at this time need the anointing to serve.) They were all sitting around waiting for David to come and perform the new procedure. They were all busy and absorbed in their conversations. They all wanted to talk about the procedure but didn't want to take any action. (Like perpetual students needing to put their knowledge to work.) The children were all over the floor and sitting in chairs and on ottomans that were blocking the path to the procedure room. David told me to move the chairs and ottomans out of the way and clear a path for the stretcher to go through. (Take away their resting in the flesh so they have to stand on their own feet.) This was difficult because the children wouldn't get up off the furniture, and the room was very crowded with people and furniture. (Insisting on resting in the flesh.) The adults wouldn't make the children obey and wouldn't help me move anything. It was like they were unable to hear my requests. I found the strength to move the furniture with the children still on it and clear a path. (In short, we can't be perpetual students; it's time for the more mature to get to work restoring the Kingdom people. Even the children can do something to help. Not all are ordained to be elders, but all have gifts, or should have, to help in restoring the Kingdom. In 1 Corinthians 12, the Lord says to forsake the idols and seek the gifts to be able to help God's people become a defensible body.) After this, Michael and I went to find the right stretcher that would accommodate a very obese patient. (Representing those overcome with flesh.) We finally found an old, faded forest green recliner that was very wide, and when we reclined it all the way, it transformed into a stretcher with wheels. We rejoiced when we found it. (Representing enabling the spiritually sick Christians to rest from their labors through faith.) When I woke up, I asked Father for a word for this dream and received Isaiah 33:16. In context: {Isa.33:10} Now will I arise, saith Jehovah; now will I lift up myself; now will I be exalted. (First, the Lord addresses the fate of those who believe themselves to be a part of Zion but do not have the fruit.) {11} Ye shall conceive chaff, ye shall bring forth stubble: your breath (Hebrew: “spirit”) is a fire that shall devour you. (In other words, be careful of the spirit that goes forth from you through what you speak because that is what you will receive.) {12} And the peoples shall be as the burnings of lime, as thorns cut down, that are burned in the fire. (Jesus said, “Every branch in me that beareth not fruit is cast into the fire”.) {13} Hear, ye that are far off, what I have done; and, ye that are near, acknowledge my might. {14} The sinners in Zion are afraid; trembling hath seized the godless ones: Who among us can dwell with the devouring fire? who among us can dwell with everlasting burnings? (The sinners cannot stand to dwell among those who offer up their flesh as a continual burnt offering; their fear drives them out.) (So who can dwell in the fire? Who can keep their flesh on the altar?) {15} He that walketh righteously, and speaketh uprightly; he that despiseth the gain of oppressions, that shaketh his hands from taking a bribe, that stoppeth his ears from hearing of blood, and shutteth his eyes from looking upon evil: {16} He shall dwell on high; his place of defence shall be the munitions of rocks (meaning those who are defended by the Word); his bread shall be given him; his waters shall be sure. (He shall have God's supply.) {17} Thine eyes shall see the king in his beauty: (They shall see the visitation of the Lord in His body.) they shall behold a land that reacheth afar: (They shall have much freedom living in their Promised Land.) Seek the gifts of God to build up His people. {1Co.12:1} Now concerning spiritual gifts, brethren, I would not have you ignorant. {2} Ye know that when ye were Gentiles ye were led away unto those dumb idols, howsoever ye might be led. {3} Wherefore I make known unto you, that no man speaking in the Spirit of God saith, Jesus is anathema; and no man can say, Jesus is Lord, but in the Holy Spirit. (So forsake the worldly idols and seek gifts to edify God's weak people.) {4} Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. {5} And there are diversities of ministrations, and the same Lord. {6} And there are diversities of workings, but the same God, who worketh all things in all. {7} But to each one is given the manifestation of the Spirit to profit withal. {8} For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom; and to another the word of knowledge, according to the same Spirit: {9} to another faith, in the same Spirit; and to another gifts of healings, in the one Spirit; {10} and to another workings of miracles; and to another prophecy; and to another discernings of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; and to another the interpretation of tongues: {11} but all these worketh the one and the same Spirit, dividing to each one severally even as he will. {12} For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ. {13} For in one Spirit were we all baptized into one body, whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free; and were all made to drink of one Spirit. (They were all filled with the Holy Spirit that manifests the gifts to defend the body. {Act.19:2} and he said unto them, Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed? And they said unto him, Nay, we did not so much as hear whether the Holy Spirit was given.) {1Co.12:14} For the body is not one member, but many. {15} If the foot shall say, Because I am not the hand, I am not of the body; it is not therefore not of the body. {16} And if the ear shall say, Because I am not the eye, I am not of the body; it is not therefore not of the body. {17} If the whole body were an eye, where were the hearing? If the whole were hearing, where were the smelling? {18} But now hath God set the members each one of them in the body, even as it pleased him. {19} And if they were all one member, where were the body? {20} But now they are many members, but one body. {21} And the eye cannot say to the hand, I have no need of thee: or again the head to the feet, I have no need of you. {22} Nay, much rather, those members of the body which seem to be more feeble are necessary: {23} and those parts of the body, which we think to be less honorable, upon these we bestow more abundant honor; and our uncomely parts have more abundant comeliness; {24} whereas our comely parts have no need: but God tempered the body together, giving more abundant honor to that part which lacked; {25} that there should be no schism in the body; but that the members should have the same care one for another. {26} And whether one member suffereth, all the members suffer with it; or one member is honored, all the members rejoice with it. {27} Now ye are the body of Christ, and severally members thereof. {28} And God hath set some in the church, first apostles, secondly prophets, thirdly teachers, then miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, governments, divers kinds of tongues. {29} Are all apostles? are all prophets? are all teachers? are all workers of miracles? {30} have all gifts of healings? do all speak with tongues? do all interpret? {31} But desire earnestly the greater gifts. And moreover a most excellent way show I unto you. {13:1} If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. {2} And if I have the gift of prophecy, and know all mysteries and all knowledge; and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I am nothing. {3} And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing. {4} Love suffereth long, and is kind; love envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, {5} doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; {6} rejoiceth not in unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; {7} beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. {8} Love never faileth: but whether there be prophecies, they shall be done away; whether there be tongues, they shall cease; whether there be knowledge, it shall be done away. {9} For we know in part, and we prophesy in part; {10} but when that which is perfect (complete) is come, that which is in part shall be done away. {11} When I was a child, I spake as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child: now that I am become a man, I have put away childish things. {12} For now we see in a mirror, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known. {13} But now abideth faith, hope, love, these three; and the greatest of these is love. {14:1} Follow after love; yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts, but rather that ye may prophesy. ... {12} So also ye, since ye are zealous of spiritual gifts, seek that ye may abound unto the edifying of the church. ...{26} What is it then, brethren? When ye come together, each one hath a psalm, hath a teaching, hath a revelation, hath a tongue, hath an interpretation. Let all things be done unto edifying. {27} If any man speaketh in a tongue, let it be by two, or at the most three, and that in turn; and let one interpret: {28} but if there be no interpreter, let him keep silence in the church; and let him speak to himself, and to God. {29} And let the prophets speak by two or three, and let the others discern. {30} But if a revelation be made to another sitting by, let the first keep silence. {31} For ye all can prophesy one by one, that all may learn, and all may be exhorted; {32} and the spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets; {33} for God is not a God of confusion, but of peace. Pray the Church Will Hear and Go Back to School G. M. 2/27/18 (David's notes in red) I was an observer in this dream. I was in a place where there were classrooms with clear glass walls. There was a wooden coat rack in the hall. There were several boys walking in the hall who were very focused on where they were going. (12-14 years old [man-child], not messing around or wasting time, like they were on a serious assignment). (These are the teachers in this school who themselves hear the Holy Spirit) There was a very cute little girl (the Church or the ‘little sister') with blonde hair jumping rope in the hallway (appeared to be about 5 years old (Grace). She was dressed all in pink with a pink puffy winter coat (Time of winter - tribulation). She had on pink snow boots and was also wearing a pink headband with fuzzy muffs over her ears. I could tell these were special earmuffs and were not just to keep her warm, but had a headset built into them so the teacher was able to speak to her wherever she was. (She is capable of hearing the teacher, the Man-child by the Holy Spirit.) The little girl was having a good time singing and jumping rope in the hall. (The young and immature play games.) I could hear the teacher calling her name and trying to get her attention. The teacher had called to the little girl often to get her attention, but she didn't hear because of all her singing and jumping. Finally, she did hear the voice. (Pray for this) She stood real still and cupped her hands over her earmuffs so she could hear clearly. A big smile came over her face as she heard her teacher call her to the classroom. (Father will see to it that she goes to the class of the Holy Spirit.) I felt this little girl could represent many in the apostate church who are busy doing their own thing and not hearing the voice of the Lord. He is calling each of us to spend time with Him each day. Sometimes He has to use an extra-loud voice or circumstances to get our attention. Once we hear Him, we gladly come to Him and let Him teach us those things dear to His heart. I was given by faith at random for this dream Luk.24:23 and when they found not his body, they came, saying, that they had also seen a vision of angels, who said that he was alive. (The Church does not know the Living Risen Lord, the Jesus of promises and miracles, Who they were talked out of by false shepherds. Jesus and His disciples are our examples of what a Christian is. Heb.13:8 Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and to-day, yea and for ever. Joh.14:12: Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto the Father. Joh.7:38: He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, from within him shall flow rivers of living water.) The scripture that came to my mind was Rev.3:20 Behold I stand at the door and knock: if any man hear my voice and open the door, I will come in to him and will sup with him, and him with Me. 21 He that overcometh, I will give to him to sit down with Me in My throne, as I also overcame, and sat down with My Father in His throne. 22 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. I believe He may use v19 to get the attention of His children. As many as I love, I reprove and chasten: be zealous therefore and repent. Other verses that spoke to me were: Joh.8:47 He that is of God, heareth the words of God: for this cause ye hear them not, because ye are not of God. Joh.10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me: 28 and I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, and no one shall snatch them out of My hand. Bearing Our Cross Will Save Souls Sean Lynch - 07/01/2009 In a dream last night, the Lord showed me about a coming crucifixion for the brethren. In the dream, I was in either a hotel or some type of big castle. During this dream, there were many events going on, but the Lord is only bringing certain things to my remembrance. In one of the events, I remember I was outside of the hotel, and I heard on a loudspeaker tuned to a secular radio station, David's voice. He was preaching the gospel to the world. I thought this was awesome because now David's message was going to the whole world and was reaching many people. (Representing the David Man-child reformers.) The next event I remember, I was inside this hotel, and I saw a group of people approaching me. Then the fire of God fell upon me with holy boldness because I started preaching the Word with boldness and no fear, like the early apostles did when the Holy Spirit fell upon them. (Normally, I'm very shy and not bold. The Lord has been working on me with this, and I believe He has shown me that He is going to make me speak with boldness. “God's power is made perfect in our weakness”. However, these people did not receive the message of the gospel, as they started laughing and scoffing and went their own way. The next scene I remember, I was in a long walkway with doors on both sides. I believe I was with another brother in Christ. Suddenly, a mountain of a man with long hair, very strong and looking like a professional wrestler, walked in to pummel whoever got in his path. The other brother took off, and both doors shut, and I was left alone with this man. (The Lord was forcing me into crucifixion.) I decided I was going to preach the gospel to him, which at the time seemed crazy because this man looked like he wanted to rip me limb from limb; however, I felt holy boldness rise up in me and went and stood by the man and preached the Word with boldness to him. After I was done preaching, he just stood there and looked at me and then proceeded to beat me up very badly. I did not strike back but let him pummel me. I do not know if he had killed me or not, but I knew the Lord was showing me to turn the other cheek. I was then taken to another scene where I saw this same man had changed because I did not fight back. He was now a fire-breathing gospel evangelist and was preaching to other people. I then remember him preaching to a group of people, and then he was beaten, as well. I do not know if he was killed. (The Lord had shown me that because of my testimony of turning the other cheek and going to my cross, this man was saved and was allowed to go to his cross.) I remember being deeply touched by this brother who had gone to his cross. I remain touched even now as I'm writing this because the Lord is truly showing me how to lay my life down for the brethren and what is meant to go to our cross. The Lord has shown me that there are many brothers and sisters in the world who will come into the kingdom as a result of our willingness to turn the other cheek and overcome evil by laying our lives down. Please read our book, How Shall We Die. Are You a Yielded Vessel? Sandy Shaw - 11/03/2015 (David's notes in red) In a dream, I was high in the air with a big angel on each side of me; each of them was about 10 feet tall. They glowed and stood arm-to-arm with me. One angel asked, “Sandra, what do you see?” I said, “I see a storm approaching; a lot of lightning; sheets of water and wind coming closer and closer”. Then the angel asked me, “Sandra, do you hear the Master speaking?” I had to get very quiet and still. And then I said, “Yes, I do”. Then the angel of the Lord said, “Do it without ceasing”. (It is better to find the will of God in the quiet before the storm. {1Ki.19:11} And he said, Go forth, and stand upon the mount before Jehovah. And, behold, Jehovah passed by, and a great and strong wind rent the mountains, and brake in pieces the rocks before Jehovah; but Jehovah was not in the wind: and after the wind an earthquake; but Jehovah was not in the earthquake: {12} and after the earthquake a fire; but Jehovah was not in the fire: and after the fire a still small voice. (Ah, there He is!) {13} And it was so, when Elijah heard it, that he wrapped his face in his mantle, and went out, and stood in the entrance of the cave. And, behold, there came a voice unto him, and said, What doest thou here, Elijah? Uh-oh, he should have asked before the storm. The flesh is impulsive, moved by fear and self-preservation. Don't obey these enemy spirits or you will end up in deeper trouble. {14} And he said, I have been very jealous for Jehovah, the God of hosts; for the children of Israel have forsaken thy covenant, thrown down thine altars, and slain thy prophets with the sword; and I, even I only, am left; and they seek my life, to take it away. {15} And Jehovah said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, thou shalt anoint Hazael to be king over Syria; {16} and Jehu the son of Nimshi shalt thou anoint to be king over Israel; and Elisha the son of Shaphat of Abel-meholah shalt thou anoint to be prophet in thy room. Uh-oh, lost his ministry, just like Saul, who got ahead of God.) Don't be moved by fear; it is an evil spirit; it is their job to lead you wrong. {Amo.5:19} As if a man did flee from a lion, and a bear met him; or went into the house and leaned his hand on the wall, and a serpent bit him. (Do not be reactionary; get quiet and ask for the Lord's instructions concerning direction and judgments to come.) {Isa.28:16} therefore thus saith the Lord Jehovah, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner- stone of sure foundation: he that believeth shall not be in haste. (We don't have to get in a hurry because the Lord must go before us, as with Israel in the wilderness. {Isa.52:12} For ye shall not go out in haste, neither shall ye go by flight: for Jehovah will go before you; and the God of Israel will be your rearward.) I started praying in tongues and I put my right hand out and I could feel the cold rain and the wind. I could see the wind make depressions in my skin as the force of it blew against my arm. {2Co.5:7} (for we walk by faith, not by sight). {Heb.10:38} But my righteous one shall live by faith: And if he shrink back, my soul hath no pleasure in him. Now I'm a little farther up, higher than before, and the angel of the Lord said, “Sandra, what do you see?” I said, “I see a second storm approaching me and five tornadoes”. I could see beyond these storms and see the devastation that they left. Buildings were gone and turned to rubble. But some weren't even touched. {Psa.91:11} For he will give his angels charge over thee, To keep thee in all thy ways. {Mat.7:24} Every one therefore that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, who built his house upon the rock: {25} and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon the rock. {26} And every one that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand: {27} and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall thereof. The angel asked, “Do you hear the Master's instructions?” I had to get really quiet and still so I could hear. And I said, “Yes”. Then he said, “Do it without ceasing”. (Be trained to seek, hear and act on the Lord's instructions concerning the coming judgments so that when they come you may act in the rest of faith and have a Passover and be able to help others.) The first time I couldn't hear because of the storm, the crackle of the lightning, and the thunder. And the whole time I kept hearing John 4:21-24. John 4:21-24. John 4:21-24 ... {Joh.4:21} Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. {22} Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. {23} But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. {24} God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (Worship = Greek: Proskuneo, meaning “to kiss toward”. A reverential act of love toward God. Any act of love toward God. Every act of obedience is an act of love toward God, for we love Him when we keep His commandments, as He said. We are commanded to worship God with our whole being, with songs, with instruments and dance, etc. Worship should be in spirit, with the heart, meaning not in flesh. It should be in truth, meaning not an act of show to impress others.) 11/07/15 I dreamed this all again. The difference this time was that I could hear the Lord. He spoke very softly, barely above a whisper. He kept saying, “Pray in the spirit and in truth without ceasing. Pray in the spirit and in truth without ceasing”. {1Th.2:13} And for this cause we also thank God without ceasing, that, when ye received from us the word of the message, even the word of God, ye accepted it not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God, which also worketh in you that believe. {5:17} pray without ceasing; {18} in everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus to you-ward. Everything was completely tuned out. I did not hear the storm. 11/08/15 When I woke up in the night, the clock showed 3:33. And the Lord asked me a question: “Are you a yielded vessel?” {Jer.33:3} Call unto me, and I will answer thee, and will show thee great things, and difficult, which thou knowest not. (Call to the Lord in the quiet of the night, when men don't see.) {Mat.6:6} But thou, when thou prayest, enter into thine inner chamber, and having shut thy door, pray to thy Father who is in secret, and thy Father who seeth in secret shall recompense thee. I went back to sleep and woke up at 4:44. And I heard the same question: “Are you a yielded vessel?” (The Greek gematria for “perfect love” is 444.) Then I went back to sleep and in the dream, He showed me and reminded me of something that happened when I was a child. In the dream, I was reminded that there was a Pentecostal church across the street from my mom's house. And my dad was related in some way, to most of the people in that church. Great aunts and uncles and cousins went to that church. Now they were having a special Jubilee celebration with lots of music on Saturday because nothing could interfere with the Sunday service. There were three much older women who asked if I could go to the Jubilee, but Mom said, “No!” Then my dad's great-aunt asked, “Why not?” And Mom said, “Because I'm teaching her Catholicism”. So I went to my room and cried myself to sleep. I really didn't understand at four, almost five years old. Then my dad knocked on my door and grabbed a blanket. He took my hand and we went to the front yard, putting the blanket on the ground, and I sat down. And he went to the kitchen and got some grapes and cheese. Mom came out a few minutes later, very upset with my dad. She said in Spanish, “Why are you deliberately trying to go against what I said? He said, “What you are teaching her is wrong. As long as they are praying and singing and lifting up Jesus, that is all that matters”. She went back into the house, slamming the door. Then the music started. The songs that I remember were “This Little Light of Mine” and “I Have Decided to Follow Jesus”. I learned that song that day with all its verses and I knew I was singing that from my heart. I woke up again and the clock showed 5:55 (grace multiplied), but later that day I went to sleep and dreamed all of that again. But this time the dream went further. Dad came home from work and said, “Why don't you sing that song again, ‘I Have Decided to Follow Jesus'?” Then I did. And when the part came, “Though none go with me, still I will follow”, I started to cry and then sob. Then my dad said, “I thought you liked that song”. And I answered, “Daddy, someday I will be by myself. Jesus has to be enough”. And that's when I heard again, “Are you a yielded vessel?” (Meaning, would we follow Jesus if none of our family or friends or people we respected went with us? Obviously, God's grace, 555, will help us, if we desire this.) Because we know the storms are going to come, He is constantly giving us instructions. So are we yielded vessels? Are we listening and obeying God? We are supposed to be hearing Him, even in the midst of chaos. {Joh.4:21} Jesus saith unto her, Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when neither in this mountain, nor in Jerusalem, shall ye worship the Father. {22} Ye worship that which ye know not: we worship that which we know; for salvation is from the Jews. {23} But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth: for such doth the Father seek to be his worshippers. {24} God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship in spirit and truth. (Are we willing to love and obey Him when no man sees?) {2Co.4:7} But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the exceeding greatness of the power may be of God, and not from ourselves; {8} we are pressed on every side, yet not straitened; perplexed, yet not unto despair; {9} pursued, yet not forsaken; smitten down, yet not destroyed; {10} always bearing about in the body the dying of Jesus, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our body. {11} For we who live are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake, that the life also of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. (If the life of Jesus is manifested in our mortal flesh, we will say with Him. {Joh.5:30} I can of myself do nothing: as I hear, I judge: and my judgment is righteous; because I seek not mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. He will speak to those who are willing to do His will. {7:17} If any man willeth to do his will, he shall know of the teaching, whether it is of God, or whether I speak from myself. Love Your Neighbor as Yourself My Hiding Place 8/23/22 (1 Cor.13:1-8a)(KJV) Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal. 2 And though I have the gift of prophecy, and understand all mysteries, and all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing. 3 And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and though I give my body to be burned, and have not charity, it profiteth me nothing. 4 Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, 5 Doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; 6 Rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth; 7 Beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things. 8 Charity never faileth. Dear brothers and sisters, Lately, my prayer has been for Father to teach me His way to love. Here is how He responded to my prayer. On August 17, 2022, I needed to run a few errands. I got ready with my 2 boys when my daughter popped her head through the door and said, ‘Hey Mom, do you still need to go to the store? I can take you. My car needs to go for a spin.' Off we went to the first and second stores. On the way back, I needed to stop at a third store, but my daughter decided she needed to go home. So I made arrangements to be dropped at the last stop with the boys, and then my husband would come to pick us up. While shopping, I received a call from my husband that he was on the way. But when he reached us, he made a strange announcement. He said that our daughter had arrived home accompanied by a homeless man who desired to get baptized! I have to confess that my initial reaction was not very friendly. I thought, ‘Why did our daughter bring someone to our home without asking for permission? Why did she bring in a stranger knowing my husband was heading out to get me and the boys from the store?' I was not pleased and couldn't come up with any good answer. But on the way back home, I told my husband, ‘Let's just pray for wisdom that Father will help us to deal with whatever may be going on this evening'. We got home and sure enough, there was a homeless man sitting in our kitchen. He looked very shy and spoke very quietly. My first approach was to get my boys situated with their snacks and their bedtime routine, while my husband had a chance to talk to the man. Once I felt my husband was a little more comfortable, I took the time to come over and offer the man some food and drink. Then I asked him to share his testimony. While telling his story, he asked in a rhetorical way, “Why can't people just love? Do you see me? Because I see you.” He wasn't trying to address the question at us, but that didn't matter. To me, it pierced my heart! It was as if the Holy Spirit had uttered those words through his mouth, convicting me. Why was my heart not immediately happy at this man coming to our home? Would I have acted differently if he had shown up wearing fancy clothes? Had I been too busy to notice the needs of those less fortunate? While the Holy Spirit did the job of convicting me, it became clear that I needed some repenting. As he continued to share, I was overcome with Jesus' compassion. Tears began streaming down my face while remembering Jesus saying, ‘They that are whole need not a physician; but they that are sick'. So I gave my daughter the go-ahead to get the bathroom ready. I grabbed some clothes for the baptism and a clean change of clothes for afterwards and within a half hour, all was ready to go. There was our new friend, in our bathtub, ready to confess Jesus as His Saviour and turn from his sins, acknowledging Jesus as the Son of God and renouncing Satan for good. Hallelujah! Afterwards, we got a chance to share a tea and some refreshments around the table and we encouraged him to pray. Then it was time to drop him off at his request while I tidied up. As I said my goodbye for the night, he reiterated how thankful he was for our hospitality. Then I gave him a big hug and blessed him in the name of the Lord. Everything had happened so fast, too fast for me to absorb it all. While I wiped down the bathroom, I examined my heart. ‘Father, I'm sorry that my heart was not ready to have this gentleman over at first, that I questioned what You had in mind rather than just trusting in You.' As I continued with my cleaning, I remembered that our home is not ours but the Lord's. On this night, Father had welcomed one of His prodigal sons home through us. We rejoiced with the angels in heaven for this awesome occasion. My heart still felt heavy and desperate for Father's intimacy. I wanted my alone time with Him and have a chance to properly confess my shortcomings. That's when I retreated into our secret place to pray and to listen. This is when the Holy Spirit came upon me with such sweet presence and impressed these words into my Spirit. Mat.25:34-40 (KJV) Then shall the King say unto them on his right hand, Come, ye blessed of my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world: 35 For I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat: I was thirsty, and ye gave me drink: I was a stranger, and ye took me in: 36 Naked, and ye clothed me: I was sick, and ye visited me: I was in prison, and ye came unto me. 37 Then shall the righteous answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, and fed thee? or thirsty, and gave thee drink? 38 When saw we thee a stranger, and took thee in? or naked, and clothed thee? 39 Or when saw we thee sick, or in prison, and came unto thee? 40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my brethren, ye have done it unto me. Thank You, Father, for knowing the desire of my heart so intimately – that of seeing many souls come into Your kingdom. Thank You, Lord, for giving me a heart to share with those less fortunate on various occasions and to open our home to our new friend this evening. May Your Word be engraved on his heart and may he follow You all the days appointed for him. May his life bring You glory and may he share Your salvation with many more. Dear Father, empty me of all of me and fill me with more of Your Spirit. I pray I may be found worthy to be used mightily for Your Kingdom. To You is all power and glory, forever and ever, in Jesus' name. Amen! Titus 3:3-5 For we ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one another. 4 But after that the kindness and love of God our Saviour toward man appeared, 5 Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost. That's right, brothers and sisters. It wasn't that long ago when we also wandered around without the Lord, chasing after the things of the world, giving ourselves over to sin. And Father had great mercy on us. Now, it's our turn to do the same to others. The harvest is ready; the fields are ripe. Let's pray to the Lord of the harvest to send out His laborers. Let's also pray for His love to abound and overflow in us to be able to share generously. (Hos.6:6a) For I desired mercy, and not sacrifice. 1 John 3:16-18 Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. 17 But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him? 18 My little children, let us not love in word, neither in tongue; but in deed and in truth. Today, the Lord is calling us to love His way, through actions and not just words. The kind of love our Saviour displayed for us is so deep. Lord, help us to keep dying to ourselves daily and to embrace our crosses, laying our lives down for our brethren. Let us not grow weary of doing good. May the Lord find us occupied in His work and loving each other when He returns! 1 John 4:7 Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God. 1John 4:16 And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us. God is love; and he that dwelleth in love dwelleth in God, and God in him. Mark 12:30-31 And thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind, and with all thy strength: this is the first commandment. 31 And the second is like, namely this, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. There is none other commandment greater than these. 1 Tim.6:17-19 Charge them that are rich in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; 18 That they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate; 19 Laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life. A Cry For Souls Solitary Man 4/4/25 So many souls! So many souls hanging in the balance! So many souls perishing. With the whole world being shaken as never before, who in My body is focusing on what really matters? Which one of My servants still dwells on what is most dear. Do My people think that the world of mammon is what they should pay attention to? Do My children think their finances are what matters most? How about patriotism? Should pledging allegiance to this empire or that be what dominates your soul? Perhaps it should be politics. Or seeking ever more information on one topic or another. Maybe more facts and figures are what you need! The planet has never resembled Babel as much as it does today. Voices are crying out over every cause and crusade imaginable. Lies piled upon lies. Ignorance coupled with anger and unholy passions. The noise is deafening. And My people have fallen into this bottomless pit of the unending babble of Babel. Where is the voice of My church today? How is it, as the knowledge of God being all but erased out of the land, that My people have forgotten the first principles? Where is the cry over the lostness of souls? Have you ever seen such a great multitude hurtling themselves towards the eternal flames of hell as you see today? Have you ever witnessed such a hatred of all things holy and pure as you do at this time? While you fight for your freedoms, you pay, oh so little heed to those perishing all around you. While you focus all your energy worrying and fretting over what comes next, those even in your own household that are destined for eternal torment, you have made accommodations for in your own soul. While you lament over others' political persuasions, unless they all repent, they will all likewise perish, regardless of which leaders they admire or hate. The curse of social media has deceived your souls. Do you ever stop and consider exactly how you are spending your life? When was the last time you took stock of how you are using the days that I have allotted you? Where is your heart? Remember what I have told you. Where your heart is, that is where your treasure is to be found. Is your heart consumed with mammon? Is it obsessed with current evils? Maybe it's your entertainment. Or the latest conspiracy of wicked men. Perhaps all you care about is your children. Identify your passion, and there is where your treasure lies. But what about the lost? Have the cares of the world so choked the flame of the Spirit of God that souls no longer matter? Have you convinced yourselves that there is nothing that you can do? Since no one seems to want to listen to the things of God, have you given up? But what about prayer? Have you given up on the power of prayer as well? Did I not wonder whether, when I return, I would find faith on the earth? Is there anyone left who believes that prayer will move heaven? But will you pray, not on your own behalf, but rather die to your own desires, and spend yourself by standing in the gap for those who are dead in sin? Many are in terror, not knowing what comes next. Yet, what does it matter what comes next if one does not know Me? What does it matter if this nation is made great [again], or that war is averted, or this economic collapse is halted, if one loses his own soul? Why has My church stopped weeping over the lost? I said My burden would be easy, and My yoke light. But only for those who have truly put their desires aside and fully embraced Mine. I guarantee that those who refuse to lose their own lives shall never find satisfaction, fulfilment, or peace. But those who lose their life for My sake shall not only find purpose and meaning, but a fulfilment that only I can provide. Children, you know that the time is short. Unless you choose to stop what you are doing and find your way back to the cross, your heart will never become one with Mine. And My heart beats for the lost. For every soul that slips off into eternity without Me, I am wounded anew. Will you not go forth and be My hands and feet, My voice to those who have no one else? Will you find the courage to obey Me when I call you to spread the good news before it's too late? Will you put down your phones and sacrifice your time to petition heaven unceasingly, until I send My Spirit to open the eyes of the blind once again? Who amongst you shall find the resolve to return to your first love, and be that light to those who grope about in darkness? Which of My children shall decide to re-enlist in the Lord's army of prayer warriors, of soldiers who are fearless and unashamed in their witness of Me? To those who let My words of challenge sink in and once again reignite the fire of evangelism, there is great reward that awaits you. Let not this day pass without asking My Father to quicken the truths found here, so that you will not be found wanting on that final day. I long to tell each and every one of you that you have done well, and now it is time to enter into the joy of your Master! Heed the warning, and this shall be yours. Heed it not, and risk it all. The choice is yours alone to make. Scripture References Mat.6:21 For where your treasure is, there will your heart be also. Luk.6:45 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is good; and an evil man out of the evil treasure of his heart bringeth forth that which is evil: for of the abundance of the heart his mouth speaketh. Mat.6:24 No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. Luk.8:14 And that which fell among thorns are they, which, when they have heard, go forth, and are choked with cares and riches and pleasures of this life, and bring no fruit to perfection. Luk.21:34 And take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and so that day come upon you unawares. Mat.10:37 He that loveth father or mother more than me is not worthy of me: and he that loveth son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me. Lam.2:11 Mine eyes do fail with tears, my bowels are troubled, my liver is poured upon the earth, for the destruction of the daughter of my people; because the children and the sucklings swoon in the streets of the city. Joe.2:12 Therefore also now, saith the LORD, turn ye even to me with all your heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourning: 13 And rend your heart, and not your garments, and turn unto the LORD your God: for he is gracious and merciful, slow to anger, and of great kindness, and repenteth him of the evil. Mat.11:28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light. Mat.6:10 Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. Mat.16:25 For whosoever will save his life shall lose it: and whosoever will lose his life for my sake shall find it. 26 For what is a man profited, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall a man give in exchange for his soul? Joh.12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal. Joh.17:21 That they all may be one; as thou, Father, art in me, and I in thee, that they also may be one in us: that the world may believe that thou hast sent me. 22 And the glory which thou gavest me I have given them; that they may be one, even as we are one: 23 I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one; and that the world may know that thou hast sent me, and hast loved them, as thou hast loved me. Joh.3:35 The Father loveth the Son, and hath given all things into his hand. 36 He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him. Rom.10:15 And how shall they preach, except they be sent? as it is written, How beautiful are the feet of them that preach the gospel of peace, and bring glad tidings of good things! Luk.18:2 Saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: 3 And there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. 4 And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; 5 Yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. 6 And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. 7 And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? 8 I tell you that he will avenge them speedily. Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? 2Jn.1:8 Look to yourselves, that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward. Dan.12:3 And they that be wise shall shine as the brightness of the firmament; and they that turn many to righteousness as the stars for ever and ever. Mat.25:21 His lord said unto him, Well done, thou good and faithful servant: thou hast been fa
Ali Siddiq is a comedian, author, and public speaker. His new special, "My Father," is now streaming on YouTube. See him live on the "Custom Fit" Tour.https://youtu.be/XiSewRUOVygwww.youtube.com/@AliSiddiqComedywww.alisiddiq.com Perplexity: Download the app or ask Perplexity anything at https://pplx.ai/rogan. Don't miss out on all the action this week at DraftKings! Download the DraftKings app today! Sign-up using https://dkng.co/rogan or through my promo code ROGAN. Get 30% off + 2 free gifts at https://ARMRA.com/rogan Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices
It's Monday, July 6th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Adam McManus Nigerian Christian pastor, father of 16, needs your help As you know, Nigeria has become the epicenter of Christian martyrdom in the world. In the initial 96 days of 2026, from January 1 to April 6, Muslims killed 1,402 Nigerian Christians. Shockingly, that represents 72% of Christians killed worldwide. In 2025, 3,490 Nigerian Christians were martyred. A total of 52,000 brothers and sisters in Christ have lost their lives in the last decade. Plus, Nigeria has been going through severe economic challenges as well, most of which are due to the country's 30% inflation rate. Some Worldview listeners here in America are trying to help Nigerian Pastor G, a man they know personally and the father of 14 children, move to the United Kingdom for their safety and a better economic opportunity. Currently, his family lives in a small, one bedroom/one bath apartment with no kitchen. They use a small hallway as the place to prepare food. The family has three sets of triple bunk beds jammed in the bedroom, family room, and hallway. In addition, the power outages are frequent in Nigeria, which means that there's little to no air circulation in their tiny apartment. Through a GoFundMe page, these American friends are helping raise the money needed to pay for a larger 3-bedroom apartment where the family of 16 can reside while they're gathering their required documents and visas. Other expenses include the air fare for the family and the initial three months of living expenses in the United Kingdom until the working-aged family members find jobs. Galatians 6:2 says, "Bear one another's burdens, and so fulfill the law of Christ." Check out Pastor G's 3-minute-long personal appeal, Pastor G's YouTube ministry channel, and a 41-minute documentary about the persecution in Nigeria called Faith Under Fire. We have them all linked in our transcript today at www.TheWorldview.com. U.S. and Iran enter technical talks to secure peace deal The U.S. and Iran held technical talks in Doha, Qatar on July 1st as they seek to agree on the flow of shipping through the Strait of Hormuz and secure a lasting ceasefire, reports Reuters. The talks are based on a 14-point interim accord signed last month that was meant to halt the war that began with U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran in February and reopen the Strait of Hormuz, whilst setting up 60 days of negotiations for a permanent peace deal. However, the U.S. and Iran have sparred publicly over the meaning of the interim pact, leading to military strikes over the past week. Iran is determined to win international recognition of its control over the strait and its ability to levy fees on ships entering or leaving the Persian Gulf even if it has to do so by force. Traffic has partially resumed through the strait, which handled one-fifth of global oil and liquefied natural gas trade before the war. Iran has stated publicly that its priorities include agreeing on management of the Strait of Hormuz and the release of $6 billion in Iranian frozen assets. The current round of discussions would focus on those two issues. The stated priority of the U.S. is to ensure the free flow of traffic through the strait. President Donald Trump faces political pressure to contain the economic fallout from the war with Iran before midterm elections in November that will determine control of the U.S. Congress. In Iran, the theocratic leadership survived the war, but faces domestic anger over a shattered economy. Oil prices, which dipped sharply in the second quarter of the year, fell more than 1% on July 1st. The interim deal between the U.S. and Iran also provides for an end to a parallel conflict between Israel and the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah in Lebanon. House passes online protections to shield children from porn The House successfully passed its internet safety package for children while the Senate continues to stall, reports The Daily Signal. The Kids Internet and Digital Safety Act includes a key amendment that would protect children from viewing sexual content online, a statistic that continues to grow. Republican Congresswoman Mary Miller of Illinois, a mother of seven, who attends Oakland Christian Church with her husband Illinois GOP State Representative Chris Miller, sponsored the KIDS Act. It combines 14 digital safety bills, including a key age-verification amendment. The Shielding Children's Retinas from Egregious Exposure on the Net Act would require platforms to use technology verification tools to ensure the accuracy of age verification to prevent minors from accessing sexual material. Congresswoman Miller said, “Sadly, the average age that our children are accessing pornography on the internet is 11, and by the time our children turn 18, 80% of them have access to pornography. Parents are doing their best, but the truth is, with a few clicks of a button, kids can access this filth. Research shows that it causes anxiety, depression, and risky sexual behavior. It's a rot to the soul of our children.” Congresswoman Miller added, “We require age identification for children to access other things like tobacco, alcohol, firearms, casinos, and any kind of adult entertainment. You have to prove your age. So, that's all this bill does. It requires the pornography companies to make the user prove their age.” The KIDS Act has been sent to the Senate. Call your 2 U.S. Senators at 202-224-3121 and ask them to vote for the KIDS Act to protect children from pornography. In Matthew 18:10, Jesus said, “See that you do not despise one of these little ones. For I tell you that in Heaven their angels always see the face of My Father in Heaven." And send a 2-sentence thank you note to Congresswoman Mary Miller for her bold stand to protect the innocence of children. Send it to 3236 Broadway St, Suite 200, Quincy, IL 62301. Idaho: First state to institute firing squad for execution Idaho became the first state to institute a firing squad as the primary execution method for death row inmates, reports One America News. The change went into effect on July 1st after the state legislature passed the law in 2025. However, lethal injection remains an alternative method. Other states have the firing squad explicitly listed as an alternative method including Mississippi, Oklahoma, South Carolina, and Utah. Martyrdom of Czech reformer Jan Hus in 1415 Six hundred eleven years ago today, on July 6th, 1415, Jan Hus, a Czech theologian and reformer, was burned at the stake in Constance, Germany for so-called “heresy.” Hus denounced the moral failings of Catholic clergy, bishops, and even the papacy from his pulpit. He also objected to the Catholic teaching of indulgences, a financial gift to the church that would somehow shorten a dead Catholic's time in purgatory, a place nowhere substantiated in Scripture. Before his brutal execution, a tall paper hat was allegedly put upon his head with the inscription that meant “the leader of a heretical movement.” Worldview listeners in Indiana and New York weigh in I've asked for Worldview listeners to let me know why they like the broadcast in emails including their full name, city and state. In an email sent to Adam@TheWorldview.com, Adam Brouwer in Fort Wayne, Indiana wrote, “I just finished listening to today's newscast. I want to thank you for being biblically grounded . It's a great start to the day. It allows us to focus on what's going on around the world in a Christ-centered way. Keep up the great work.” And Sharon Jenx in Unadilla, New York said, “I started listening to The Worldview about three month ago. I love that only news is presented and your perspective is supported by God's opinion, articulated in His Word, not the world's!” 12 Worldview listeners gave $4,140 last Friday And finally, last Friday, 12 Worldview listeners stepped up to the plate and invested their treasure to fund the six-member team behind The Worldview for another 365 days. Our thanks to Bennie in Clintwood, Virgina and Nancy in Edmonds, Washington – both of whom gave $25, as well as Holly in San Antonio, Texas who gave $40. We appreciate Karen in Waterford, Wisconsin and Stephen in Adrian, Oregon – both of whom gave $50 as well as Zephaniah in Lomax, Illinois who gave $100. We were touched by the kindness of Frances in Beacon, New York who gave $350, Bill in Castle Rock, Colorado who gave $500, and Thomas in Wasilla, Alaska who gave $600. And we're grateful to God for Chris in Columbus, North Carolina and Thomas in Wasilla, Alaska – both of whom pledged $50/month for 12 months for a gift of $600 each as well as Shane in Elbert, Colorado who pledged $100/month for 12 months for a gift of $1,200. Those 12 gifts added up to $4,140. That's the most given in the first three days of July. Ready for our new grand total? Drum roll please. (drum roll sound effect) $6,702. (sound effect of people cheering) We need to raise $24,173 by this Friday, July 10th toward our $123,500 finish line come July 31st. We need to find 5 Worldview listeners who will pledge $100 per month for 12 months or give a one-time gift of $1,200, 15 folks who will pledge $50/month or a give one-time gift of $600 and 30 listeners who will pledge $25 per month or give a one-time gift of $300. Go to TheWorldview.com, click on Give, select the dollar amount, and make sure to click on the “recurring” button if that's your wish. This Christian newscast does not bow to our politically correct culture. We champion the truth and a Biblical worldview. That's why you love it! Invest in it today so that this newscast can continue. Again, go to TheWorldview.com, and click on Give. Close And that's The Worldview on this Monday, July 6th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.
Presented by Lauren Stibgen How do we lament? I guess we should start with understanding what lamenting truly is. Lament is expressing sorrow, mourning, or regret—crying out in grief. As followers of Jesus, we are called to lament! We are made in the image of God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And, throughout the Bible we see examples of the trinity lamenting. Early in the Bible, God lamented the wickedness of man. The Lord saw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and that every intention of the thoughts of his heart was only evil continually. And the Lord regretted that he had made man on the earth and it grieved him to his heart (Genesis 6:5-6). Immediately following this regret and grief, God sent the flood. He blotted out everyone but Noah and his family. In Isaiah 63:10, the word says, but they rebelled and grieved his Holy Spirit. This verse is referencing Israel's rebellion after being led by Moses out of Egypt. And we see examples of Jesus lamenting. It's an often quoted and the shortest verse in the Bible found in John 11:35, Jesus wept. His dear friend Lazarus had died, and he was overcome with grief. Jesus not only expressed this sorrow, but he gave us a true picture of lament in the Garden of Gethsemane. His lament to the Father was so deep his sweat was as drops of blood falling from his body. Jesus tells his disciples his soul is very sorrowful, even to death (Matthew 26:38). He then fell on his face, and prayed, “My Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless, not as I will, but as you will” (Matthew 26:39). Taking these examples from the Father, Holy Spirit, and Jesus, how do we lament? We will look at the life of David and how he modeled lament. And we will consider why this is so important within the context of work.
There is something curious about the way people speak of God. We often imagine Him as distant, alone, or occupied with the endless business of running the universe. We picture a great King, but seldom a Father. Left to ourselves, we could never have guessed what God is like in His own life. We may have discovered that there is a Creator by looking at mountains, stars, or the order of the world, but we could never have discovered the secret of His heart.That secret had to be revealed.When Jesus came, He did not simply bring new commandments or wiser teachings. He came to introduce us to Someone. Again and again He spoke of "My Father." He lived in perfect love, perfect trust, and perfect obedience to the Father. Then He promised the Holy Spirit, the very bond of love between the Father and the Son, to dwell within His people. Suddenly the veil was pulled back. We discovered that God is not solitary. From all eternity, God is a communion of love: the Father giving Himself to the Son, the Son returning Himself completely to the Father, and the Holy Spirit proceeding as the living gift of that eternal love.This is not a puzzle for clever minds to solve. It is an invitation.The astonishing thing is that Jesus did not reveal this mystery merely to satisfy our curiosity. He revealed it because He desires to draw us into it. He does not stand at a distance and say, "Look how wonderful My Father's house is." He opens the door and says, "Come in." Through Him we become children of the Father, not by nature, but by grace. We are welcomed into the very family life of God.If this seems too wonderful to believe, that is because it is. No philosopher could have imagined it. No religion devised by man would dare to promise such a thing. We might have hoped for forgiveness. We might even have hoped for heaven. But who would have dared to hope that the eternal Son would make room for us in His own relationship with the Father?Yet this is the Christian gospel. The life of God is not kept behind locked gates. In Christ, it is opened to all who will receive Him. The Father delights to call us His children, the Son calls us His brothers and sisters, and the Holy Spirit teaches our hearts to cry, "Abba, Father."The end of the Christian life is not simply to become better people. It is to share, forever, in the endless exchange of love that has filled the Trinity from all eternity. That is the destiny Jesus came to reveal, and the gift He and only He, came to give. --- Help Spread the Good News --- Father Brian's homilies are shared freely thanks to generous listeners like you. If his words have blessed you, consider supporting this volunteer effort. Every gift helps us continue recording and sharing the hope of Jesus—one homily at a time. Give Here: https://frbriansoliven.org/give
In the '90s, there was no music video director in hip-hop bigger than Hype Williams. And he concentrated all his visual powers on his first (and for now, only) feature film, BELLY (1998): a gangster film that looked—and sounded—like no other, especially its iconic opening heist sequence, set to Soul II Soul's "Back to Life." Rico talks with Soul's songsmith Simon Law about the '80s UK club scene that birthed that megahit track and learns why this once-maligned movie has become required viewing for hip-hop nation. Other guests include the film's co-story writer Anthony Bodden and hip-hop critic Panama Jackson.Our audio documentary podcast returns with a sequel to our popular 2023 season that dives deep into the grooves of classic movie “needle drops.” Titled “Needle on the Record, Side Two,” in each episode host Rico Gagliano tells the story of a film that fused music and image to make magic—and sometimes, changed popular culture.MY FATHER'S SHADOW is now streaming on MUBI almost globally.To stream some of the films we've covered on the podcast, check out the collection Featured on the MUBI Podcast. Availability of films varies depending on your country.MUBI is a global streaming service, production company and film distributor dedicated to elevating great cinema. MUBI makes, acquires, curates, and champions extraordinary films, connecting them to audiences all over the world. A place to discover ambitious new films and singular voices, from iconic directors to emerging auteurs. Each carefully chosen by MUBI's curators.
One of stand-up comedy’s greatest storytellers, Ali Siddiq, drops by the pod fresh off of winning an NAACP Award for his comedy special My Two Sons. He shares some hilarious stories of growing up in Houston, prison riots, and teaching his kids how to drive. He also speaks on the Kevin Hart Roast, building rapport with his peers, and the importance of independence in the comedy space. Catch his new special, My Father, on his YouTube channel this Father’s Day, and see him live on tour at www.AliSiddiq.com. All lines provided by Hard Rock Bet Visit your nearest Boost Mobile store or https://www.boostmobile.com/promo/25-forever Bask & Lather: Use code RORYANDMAL for 20% offSee omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
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