Podcasts about On Earth

CheckoutThe God Centered Concept Academy Training Community to learn what growth in Christ isTUVU CommunitiesCheck out this link to view Kingdom Cross Roads on TV.https://jesussaid.tv/?affiliate=tswright_gccTo get a copy of our new book "Embracing the Truth" or to have TS Wright speak at your event or conference or if you simply want spiritual or life coaching or just a consultation visit:www.tswrightspeaks.comVisit our website to learn more about The God Centered Concept. The God Centered Concept is designed to bring real discipleship and spreading the Gospel to help spark the Great Harvest, a revival in this generation.www.godcenteredconcept.comKingdom Cross Roads Podcast is a part of The God Centered Concept.Recorded live at CPE Summer 2026 in St. Charles, Missouri, TS Wright welcomes author, television personality, and filmmaker Julie Castro to Kingdom Cross Roads Podcast.Julie shares the story behind her book, On Earth as It Is in Heaven: A Personal Allegory, and explains how a painful season involving divorce, rejection, waiting, and spiritual healing became part of a much larger journey with God. What began as a personal testimony eventually helped prepare her for television production and, ultimately, producing a movie. At the heart of Julie's testimony is a simple principle: say yes to God.Julie discusses what it means to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit when you cannot see where the journey will take you. She describes how God used seemingly disconnected seasons of her life—writing, healing, television, and filmmaking—“line upon line, precept upon precept” to prepare her for what came next. TS and Julie also explore the importance of waiting on God, recognizing His voice, obeying even when His direction seems unusual, and understanding that the ultimate purpose of the believer's life is to glorify God.In this episode, discover:Why saying yes to God can lead to an extraordinary life of faith.How painful seasons can become part of God's healing process.Why waiting is often an essential part of obedience.How Julie's personal testimony became On Earth as It Is in Heaven.Why aspiring Christian authors should begin writing when they sense God calling them.How small beginnings can prepare believers for much larger assignments.Why increasing obedience strengthens faith and prepares us for greater responsibility.How our individual stories can ultimately point people back to Jesus Christ.Julie closes with a powerful encouragement: do not despise small beginnings. What God is doing today may be preparation for an assignment you cannot yet see. Be faithful, remain obedient, and allow Him to receive the glory through your story. Keywords / TagsJulie Castro, Kingdom Cross Roads Podcast, TS Wright, CPE Summer 2026, Christian Product Expo, On Earth as It Is in Heaven, Christian testimony, obedience to God, hearing God's voice, Holy Spirit, Christian faith, walking by faith, Christian author, Christian books, Christian filmmaking, Christian movies, Christian television, healing after divorce, spiritual healing, waiting on God, saying yes to God, faith and obedience, glorifying God, Christian encouragement, Christian podcast, Christian interviews, Christian ministry, personal testimony, purpose of God, small beginnings, Kingdom of GodCall to ActionWhat is God asking you to say “yes” to today? Don't despise the small beginning. Take the next step in faith, obey what God has placed before you, and trust Him with where the journey leads. Be sure to check out Julie Castro's book, On Earth as It Is in Heaven: A Personal Allegory, and share this episode with someone who needs encouragement to keep believing, keep obeying, and keep moving forward with God. Subscribe to Kingdom Cross Roads Podcast so you don't miss more testimonies, ministries, authors, and Kingdom conversations from CPE Summer 2026.

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

Send us Fan MailGood NEWS! In this Episode 472, author and host Elbert Hardy says Jesus is coming SOONER rather than later. The Righteous are the ones who are being saved alive. The wicked are the ones who will be removed from the earth! This can only be good news because of the soon return of Jesus Christ. He will be setting up his Kingdom on the earth in the sight of all people and it is for their benefit!Support the showGo to itellwhy.com to read Elbert's books free of charge, no Ads and no requests for money or Email addresses. You can watch faith building YouTube Links to Videos and the listen to Elbert's Life of Christ Audio Book in 30 minute Episodes arranged and read by the author straight from the Bible, but rearranged in logical harmony of the Gospels, Revelation and other scriptures. All FREE of charge in the public interest.

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

Story of the Week (DR):JP Morgan's news weekThe Lurid Lawsuit, Salami Scandal and Trash-Can Thief Vexing JPMorgan's PR Department AND Meme of 'JPMorgan's HR Department in 2026' Has People in Stitches Amid Sex Scandal and Knicks Bin IncidentShe Stole a Knicks Trash Can Off the Street and Lost Her Job at JPMorganThe Trash Bin That Cost Her Career: Who Is Angie Báez? JPMorgan DEI Executive Fired After Viral Knicks Parade VideoThe Trash-Can Thief: Angie Báez, an Executive Director of Community and Industry Engagement at the bank, was captured on a viral video during the New York Knicks championship parade emptying a public trash bin onto a Manhattan sidewalk so she could steal the limited-edition, blue-and-orange Knicks-themed container.The Resolution: JPMorgan quickly terminated her employment after the video went viral. Báez eventually returned the trash bin and was issued $175 in sanitation fines.But what kinds of thing DON'T get you fired and get you fined?In 2023, JPMorgan Chase agreed to a $290 million (1,657,143x) settlement to resolve a class-action lawsuit from survivors of Jeffrey Epstein. The bank was accused of actively ignoring glaring red flags and helping bankroll Epstein's sex-trafficking operation for 15 years.Internal documents and later congressional probes revealed that the bank processed roughly 4,700 suspicious transactions totaling $1.1 billion for Epstein. They failed to file a single Suspicious Activity Report (SAR) until after his death.Who Kept Their Job? Mary Erdoes: The Head of Asset & Wealth Management was fully aware of Epstein's status as a high-risk sex offender, reviewed his account, and was directly implicated in internal communications regarding his status. She faced zero professional demotions and remains one of the top candidates to eventually succeed Jamie Dimon as CEO.In 2020, JPMorgan Chase entered a deferred prosecution agreement and agreed to pay a record $920 million (5,257,143x) to settle federal charges of market manipulation.For nearly a decade, traders on JPMorgan's precious metals and U.S. Treasuries desks engaged in "spoofing"—placing tens of thousands of fake, deceptive orders to artificially move market prices and maximize their own profits. The FBI stated that traders "openly disregarded U.S. laws."While a couple of mid-to-high-level traders (like Michael Nowak and Gregg Smith) were later criminally convicted and sentenced to prison, the executive leadership team responsible for supervising them and implementing compliance programs suffered no casualties. Top management stayed perfectly secure, chalking the multi-million dollar fraud up as the work of a few "bad apples."The Salami Scandal: Veteran wealth manager Brent Bodner was fired by JPMorgan in 2024 after he expensed a $642.50 deli platter (containing wings, sandwiches, and salads) for a Super Bowl gathering at his Beverly Hills home. The bank accused him of intentionally misclassifying a personal party as a pre-approved business meeting.Bodner counter-sued, jokingly dubbing the controversy the "salami incident." He argued that the event was a legitimate client-acquisition dinner that only two prospects ended up attending, and that the minor coding error was used as a pretext to push him out.The Resolution: A FINRA arbitration panel sided heavily with Bodner, ruling that JPMorgan acted preemptively out of paranoia that brokers were leaving for rivals. The panel ordered JPMorgan to pay Bodner $4.25 million in damages.The Lurid Lawsuit: Chirayu Rana, a former vice president on JPMorgan's leveraged finance team, leveled highly salacious allegations against his female supervisor, Executive Director Lorna Hajdini. Rana's lawsuit alleges he was subjected to a campaign of racial discrimination, severe harassment, and forced sexual relations under the threat of having his career sabotaged.The Resolution: Rana rejected a $1M settlement offer, countering with a demand for up to $22 million before escalating the fight to court. Both Hajdini and JPMorgan strongly deny the allegations as entirely fabricated, and the legal battle is moving toward a highly publicized trial.JPMorgan Chase promotes Petno, Rohrbaugh to copresidents, setting up two more successors for DimonThe Wait to Replace Jamie Dimon Keeps Getting Longer: Another potential successor, Marianne Lake, is leaving JPMorgan, as the longstanding chief executive enters his third decade atop the bank.How JPMorgan went from 3 female CEO contenders to an all-male succession raceJPMorgan named Doug Petno and Troy Rohrbaugh, current co-heads of the bank's commercial and investment bank, as co-presidents, setting them up as the frontrunners to succeed longtime CEO Jamie Dimon. Their promotions, the bank said in a press release, "are part of the Board's ongoing succession planning process."Petno and Rohrbaugh were among a handful of powerhouse candidates poised to succeed Dimon, including Jennifer Piepszak, chief operating officer, Marianne Lake, CEO of the commercial bank, and Mary Erdoes, CEO of asset and wealth management.Marianne Lake, a Potential Dimon Successor, Leaves JPMorganOne-time Retention and Continuity equity awards to the following Operating Committee members:Doug Petno, Co-President and CEO of the Commercial & Investment Bank, and Troy Rohrbaugh, Co-President and CEO of Consumer & Community Banking, in the amount of $30M each;Mary Erdoes, CEO of Asset & Wealth Management, and Jennifer Piepszak, Chief Operating Officer, in the amount of $20M each.JPMorgan Chase unveils $50 billion buyback, Goldman Sachs raises dividend after Fed stress testA 6 year study shows which CEOs are pushing RTO mandates: The ones with the biggest egosFortune 500 bosses demanding staff return to the office share one trait: narcissism, research findsA six-year study tracking corporate executives revealed that strict return-to-office (RTO) mandates are heavily driven by narcissism and executive ego, rather than actual employee productivityWharton organizational psychologist Adam Grant noted that researchers used reliable corporate proxies to quantify CEO narcissism, including the oversized scale of their compensation packages, the size of their signatures, and the prominence of their photos in company annual reports.The data showed that leaders with highly inflated self-opinions consistently coveted maximum power and status, making them the most aggressive opponents of remote work.Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan pushed hard for a 5-day-a-week return to the office. Why they're now letting employees work from homeGameStop CEO Cohen spurns $35 billion pay plan to focus on plan to buy eBayGameStop CEO on His eBay Pursuit: ‘I'm Not Going to Stop, I'm Not Going to Go Away'GameStop unveiled a compensation package worth roughly $35B for Ryan Cohen ​in January, hinging on a turnaround that requires him to lift the struggling company's market value more than tenfold and sharply boost its profit.In May, Cohen surprised Wall Street with an unsolicited offer to buy eBay for roughly $56 billion in cash and stock to ‌turn the e-commerce company into ⁠a bigger competitor to Amazon.EBay's board rejected the proposal, calling the offer "neither credible nor attractive."Cohen argued that he doesn't want the package ⁠so that GameStop's leadership can fully focus on its operating performance and the planned acquisition.SpaceX handed lowest possible ESG rating by MSCI: Triple C score puts Elon Musk's company on par with Russia after 2022 invasion of UkraineMusk 'most obvious risk' following SpaceX's lowest possible ESG rating“Board of Directors: The SPACE EXPLORATION TECHNOLOGIES board currently has an independent majority, which enables it to more effectively fulfill its critical function of overseeing management on behalf of shareholders. The company has failed to split the roles of CEO and chairman, which may limit the board's independence from current management interests. Split CEO and chairman roles are characteristic of 67% of companies in this market.”Welltower CFO's $167 million pay package sets new recordWelltower's Tim McHugh is the new highest-paid finance chief among the biggest U.S. companies. His $167 million pay package in 2025 not only dwarfs that of his CFO peers but also outpaces the compensation of many CEOs.McHugh's pay at Welltower, a real-estate investment trust focused on rental housing for seniors, surpasses the $139 million compensation package received by Tesla's Vaibhav Taneja in 2024. This puts him more than $135 million above Alphabet's Anat Ashkenazi, the next highest-paid CFO in 2025. And it secures him a spot in the club of executives making $100 million or more, a group that remains rare.Here's what the article DID NOT MENTION: CEO Shankh Mitra: $821MGoodliest of the Week (MM/DR):DR: Scientists Say New Method Turns Coffee Grounds Into High-Potency Renewable FuelAccording to a press release from South Korea's National Research Council of Science and Technology, a team of researchers at the Korea Institute of Geoscience and Mineral Resources (KIGAM) have developed a method to convert spent coffee waste into high-quality charcoal, known as biochar.While that's a feat in and of itself, the kicker is the method's blistering speed: it takes just 90 seconds from start to finish, with no drawn-out drying process or oil separation required. According to the release, the new technique solves a major issue in extracting the latent energy potential of spent coffee beans.DR: Bill to raise minimum wage to $25 an hour will be introduced in Senate DR MMThe bill would incrementally increase the minimum wage from its current rate of $7.25, with the first jump to $12 an hour in the first year of enactment. Major corporations would have six years to work up to a $25 minimum wage, while smaller employers would have a 13-year runway. The legislation would also do away with subminimum wages for tipped workers, such as restaurant servers, youth workers and workers with disabilities. Nearly half of the American workforce makes less than $25 an hour.DR: Federal judge blocks new law aimed at ESG, DEI investing decisionsA federal judge has blocked Kansas from enforcing a new law that requires institutional investment advisers to make certain disclosures when recommending against company management on issues, including environmental, social and governance principles.U.S. District Judge Holly Teeter on Wednesday issued a preliminary injunction halting enforcement of law enacted last session that two major national institutional investment advisers said was unconstitutional because it discriminated based on speech.MM: MacKenzie Scott alone accounted for one-third of America's $19.2 billion in megagifts last yearAssholiest of the Week (MM):CEO SPEED ROUND - ONE HEADLINE, ONE CEO, ONE LINERTim Cook - It's pretty sweet to quit your job and let the new guy fight the union: Apple closed America's first unionized store and blocked workers from transfers — now the union is fighting backJamie Dimon - It was easy - we just pointed to the ones with boobs and said “Not you”: How JPMorgan went from 3 female CEO contenders to an all-male succession raceZuck - The best thing about being a little man king with no accountability is I can randomly change and unchange and rechange my mind… about people's lives: Meta pauses an AI training program that tracks employees' keystrokes after an internal leakLarry Fink - Have you SEEN the size of my signature??? Fucking come to work: A 6 year study shows which CEOs are pushing RTO mandates: The ones with the biggest egos“In the six-year study, researchers collected data on Fortune 500 CEOs, using behavioral proxies—signature size, photo size in annual reports, pay gap relative to peers—to construct narcissism scores. The higher the score, the more likely a CEO was to publicly oppose remote and hybrid work and seek additional status (like a board chairmanship). In a separate experiment, CEOs whose egos were primed—by reflecting on the assertive leadership styles of Steve Jobs and Larry Ellison—showed significantly greater opposition to working from home than a control group”Andy Jassy - Now we know EXACTLY when you're wasting our time peeing in a bottle instead of working: Amazon is on a mission to optimize warehouse work. Its latest test puts wearable devices on support staff.Nikesh Arora - If you just said, “Who?”, you better pay attention because I have important things to say: Palo Alto Networks CEO: We're in 'a Darwinian moment' where employees have to prove their AI skills - BRONZE ASSHOLESatya Nadella - If I complain about how everyone TALKS about AI, does that make me sound more sympathetic?: Microsoft's CEO Takes Aim At AI Companies: 'We Have To Walk The Walk' To Convince The Public - GOLDEN ASSHOLEJeff Bezos - I mean, if I'm honest, everyone is terrible and should be laid off: Jeff Bezos Called Washington Post His Worst Investment and Staff He Laid Off ‘Terrible' People - SILVER ASSHOLEBrian Moynihan - I mean, or your kid was late to school because they forgot to make their card for teacher appreciation day, you didn't eat breakfast, and you rushed in to work from the office as fast as you could because working from home isn't allowed anymore: By 7 a.m., Bank of America's CEO has already read 5 newspapers, his email inbox, and hit the gym—he says if you're late to meetings, you're ‘selfish'Dave Ramsey - 0.0001% of Musk's worst day could end hunger ON EARTH, but sure, take away Halloween and pets from the rest of us: Dave Ramsey Says 20% of Americans' Halloween and Pet Budgets Could End Hunger: 'There'd Be No Hungry Kids'Headliniest of the WeekDR: Beloved Grandmother Was Standing in Her Own House When a Tesla, Allegedly on Autopilot, Smashed Through the Wall and Killed Her in Grandchildren's PlayroomA popular password manager was hit by a hack. What you need to know—and how to keep your data safeMM: Ryanair says it will reluctantly not charge parents to sit next to childrenMM: Elon Musk will get a billion shares of SpaceX if he can settle a million humans on MarsJust make it 10 trillion shares if he can safely land Gus who sleeps at the bus station on NeptuneWho Won the Week?DR: The MotherS(C)hIpMM: ESG RatingsPredictionsDR: Symbolically giving up your $35 billion CEO pay package becomes the new $1 salary: proxy statements will say: “Our CEO generously waived his $35 billion pay package as a gesture of sacrifice to lead by example, preserve corporate cash, and show solidarity with displaced workers and stressed stakeholders.”MM: Ryanair announces a new fee children can pay to sit AWAY from their parents

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

Episode 750 arrives with a simple reminder: the bullshit never sleeps. This week Jason and Brian dive headfirst into a game of Douchebag Ping Pong featuring OpenAI, Anthropic, Elon Musk, and the rest of the AI industrial complex. OpenAI is preparing to go public while simultaneously transforming ChatGPT into an everything app, Anthropic wants the world to slow down AI development before Skynet shows up for work, and then immediately releases a more powerful model because apparently self-awareness only goes so far. Meanwhile, Sam Altman's eyeball-scanning side hustle is laying people off, proving that convincing humans to hand over their biometric data remains a surprisingly difficult sales pitch.The AI arms race gets even weirder as SpaceX unveils plans for orbital data centers the size of flying football fields while Google and Anthropic shovel billions into Elon's compute empire just to keep their models fed. On Earth, Seattle is trying to ban new AI data centers before they drink the city dry, Meta is planting AI infrastructure in India, Google is slashing Gemini prices, and a Mississippi judge discovers that lawyers on both sides of a case used AI to invent legal citations, resulting in the rare spectacle of artificial stupidity arguing against itself. Thankfully, AI also manages to do something useful, helping researchers develop a promising universal vaccine and reminding us that not every machine-learning story ends with humanity getting harvested for electricity.Elsewhere, crypto continues its transformation into performance art as Sam Bankman-Fried seeks a presidential pardon while reports suggest the Trump family made billions from crypto projects that left investors holding the bag. Meta gets caught quietly experimenting with face recognition in smart glasses, lawmakers scramble to require recording indicators, and Snapchat tightens protections for younger users. The guys also celebrate Apple's shockingly competent Sports app, a rare piece of software that simply does the thing it's supposed to do without trying to become your therapist, financial advisor, or AI life coach. Plus: Ghostbusters returns, Devil May Cry gets another season, Bill Burr takes on Facebook in The Social Reckoning, and a look at why Silicon Valley's newest luxury service appears to be paying actual humans for conversation.Sponsors:DeleteMe - Get 20% off your DeleteMe plan when you go to JoinDeleteMe.com/GOG and use promo code GOG at checkout.CleanMyMac - Get Tidy Today! Try 7 days free and use code OLDGEEKS for 20% off at clnmy.com/OLDGEEKSPrivate Internet Access - Go to GOG.Show/vpn and sign up today. For a limited time only, you can get OUR favorite VPN for as little as $2.03 a month.SetApp - With a single monthly subscription you get 240+ apps for your Mac. Go to SetApp and get started today!!!1Password - Get a great deal on the only password manager recommended by Grumpy Old Geeks! gog.show/1passwordShow notes at https://gog.show/750Watch on YouTube at https://youtu.be/w8POIp_Dts0SHOW NOTESOpenAI files SEC paperwork to go publicAnthropic proposes a global slowdown of AI developmentOpenAI Joins Anthropic in Call for International AI WatchdogAnthropic releases Claude Fable, a version of Mythos, days after warning AI is becoming too dangerousOpenAI reportedly has a major ChatGPT overhaul in storeSam Altman's Eyeball Scanning Company Now Laying Off WorkersElon Musk's first-gen orbital data center craft spans wider than a Boeing 747 and runs an interchangeable chip payload — AI1 satellite compute payload is 120 kW, peaks at 150 kWGoogle will pay SpaceX $920 million a month to use xAI's data centersSeattle is close to approving a year-long ban on large data centersMeta signs first AI data center deal in India with RelianceGoogle cuts the price of its AI Plus plan and doubles the storageJudge Learns Lawyers on Both Sides of Case Used AI, Cancels Trial, Kicks Everyone Off the CaseThe University of Cambridge says it successfully tested a vaccine with an AI-designed antigenKalshi will require employment info for some bets as an insider trading precautionSam Bankman-Fried applies for a pardon from TrumpTrump Family Reportedly Made About $2.3 Billion on Crypto While Investors Lost About $2.3 Billion on Trump-Related CryptoThe Nerdy Escorts Cashing In On Silicon Valley's AI BoomApple Made a Sports App That Does Almost Nothing. It's Incredible.Meta Removes Face-Recognition System From Its Smart Glasses, Is Mad About itSmart Glasses Would Legally Require a Recording Light Under Proposed LawSnap will no longer allow younger teens' Spotlight videos to be publicly viewableThe iOS 27 beta pretty much confirms that an Apple foldable is happeningThinking Sideways: How to Think Like a Chess Player and Win at Life by Jennifer ShahadeThinking Fast, Slow, Artificially: AI and Your BrainCloudConvertHoppersDownton Abbey: The Motion PictureWidow's BayThe New ‘Ghostbusters' Cartoon Gets a Title and Release DateDevil May Cry Season 2 on NetflixTHE SOCIAL RECKONING – Official Teaser Trailer (HD)See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Dr. Al Grauer hosts. Dr. Albert D. Grauer ( @Nmcanopus ) is an observational asteroid hunting astronomer. Dr. Grauer retired from the University of Arkansas at Little Rock in 2006. travelersinthenight.org From February 2026. Today's 2 topics: - In April 2029 on one of the luckiest Friday the 13th in human history the 1,500 ft by 500 ft asteroid Apophis will pass within 23,600 miles of the Earth's surface traveling at some 4.6 mi/s. This is extremely fortunate since an Apophis impact would release the energy of scores of nuclear weapons and cause wide spread devastation. NASA's OSIRIS-APEX will become the companion of the potentially hazardous asteroid Apophis on 5 June 2029.   - On Earth living things are everywhere from the deepest ocean depths to the highest mountain tops. On our home planet RNA (Ribonucleic Acid) is a complex essential molecule involved in the process of translating genetic information into the working components of living cells. In a recent paper in the peer reviewed scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, Dr. Yuta Hirakawa and his team of two coauthors report on their experiments to produce RNA under conditions similar to those which may have occurred in the early history of Earth and Mars.   We've added a new way to donate to 365 Days of Astronomy to support editing, hosting, and production costs.  Just visit: https://www.patreon.com/365DaysOfAstronomy and donate as much as you can! Share the podcast with your friends and send the Patreon link to them too!  Every bit helps! Thank you! ------------------------------------ Do go visit http://www.redbubble.com/people/CosmoQuestX/shop for cool Astronomy Cast and CosmoQuest t-shirts, coffee mugs and other awesomeness! http://cosmoquest.org/Donate This show is made possible through your donations.  Thank you! (Haven't donated? It's not too late! Just click!) ------------------------------------ The 365 Days of Astronomy Podcast is produced by the Planetary Science Institute. http://www.psi.edu Visit us on the web at 365DaysOfAstronomy.org or email us at info@365DaysOfAstronomy.org.

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

  ABOUT AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR The Avengers and their allies must be willing to sacrifice all in an attempt to defeat the powerful Thanos before his blitz of devastation and ruin puts an end to the universe. AIR DATE & NETWORK FOR AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR April 27, 2018 | Theatrical Release CAST & CREW OF AVENGERS: INFINITY WAR Directors: Anthony Russo, Joe Russo Writers: Christopher Markus, Stephen McFeely, Stan Lee Cast: Robert Downey Jr. as Tony Stark/Iron Man Chris Hemsworth as Thor Mark Ruffalo as Bruce Banner/The Hulk Chris Evans as Steve Rogers/Captain America Scarlett Johansson as Natasha Romanoff/Black Widow Don Cheadle as James Rhodes/War Machine Benedict Cumberbatch as Doctor Strange Tom Holland as Peter Parker/Spider-Man Chadwick Boseman as T'Challa/Black Panther Zoe Saldaña as Gamora Karen Gillan as Nebula Tom Hiddleston as Loki Paul Bettany as Vision Elizabeth Olsen as Wanda Maximoff/Scarlet Witch Anthony Mackie as Sam Wilson/Falcon Sebastian Stan as Bucky Barnes/Winter Soldier BRAN'S MOVIE SYNOPSIS So, they get right to it. Bad boy Thanos gets an infinity stone, the Power Stone. His play is to get all six Infinity Stones and wipe out half of all life in the universe.  His first stop is the ship carrying the surviving people of Asgard. Thanos easily overwhelms the remaining Asgardians, beats up Hulk, and steals the Space Stone from Loki's Tesseract. He then kills Loki. Thanos then destroys the ship and continues his hunt. Edris Elba helps make sure that Hulk returns to earth, where he crashes through the New York Sanctum. Back as Bruce, He warns Doctor Stephen Strange and Wong that Thanos is coming.  Tony Stark joins the conversation. Before he can call Steve Rogers to get the band back together, they attack the city to claim the Time Stone from Strange. Spider-Man is pulled into the chaos, and after they captures Strange aboard his spaceship, Stark and Peter Parker secretly hitch a ride into space to rescue him while Wong remains behind to defend the Sanctum. Meanwhile, the Guardians of the Galaxy answer a distress signal and save Thor floating in space. They agree they need to work together to stop Thanos. But they're too late. Thanos already possesses the Reality Stone and uses its power to manipulate everything around them. He captures Gamora after learning she knows the location of the Soul Stone. Desperate to save her adopted sister Nebula from torture, Gamora tells him where the stone is .  When they get there, the keeper of the Soul Stone, one Red Skull, reveals the price required to obtain it: the sacrifice of someone truly loved. In one of the film's most tragic moments, Thanos throws Gamora to her death, earning the Soul Stone. Vision and Wanda are ambushed in Scotland by Proxima Midnight and Corvus Glaive, who attempt to rip the Mind Stone from Vision's forehead. Captain America, Black Widow, and Falcon arrive just in time to save them, bringing the wounded Vision back to the Avengers Compound. Vision urges Wanda to destroy the Mind Stone and kill him if necessary to stop Thanos, but she cannot bring herself to do it. Instead, the team heads to Wakanda, believing Shuri may be able to safely remove the stone without sacrificing Vision's life. Iron Man, Spider-Man, and Doctor Strange end up on Titan and come face to face with Star-Lord, Drax, and Mantis and they realize they're in the same team.  Using the Time Stone, Strange studies millions of possible futures and discovers only one path where they succeed. Together they execute an elaborate plan to restrain Thanos and remove the Infinity Gauntlet. For a moment, it almost works—until Nebula reveals that Gamora is dead. Overcome with grief and rage, Star-Lord attacks Thanos, ruining the team's hold on him. Thanos breaks free, defeats everyone, and nearly kills Iron Man. To save Tony's life, Doctor Strange willingly surrenders the Time Stone, despite knowing how dangerous it is. In Wakanda, the Avengers prepare for an all-out invasion from Thanos's army. Bruce Banner, unable to transform into Hulk, enters battle wearing the Hulkbuster armor. The tide finally turns when Thor arrives in spectacular fashion alongside Rocket and Groot, tearing through Thanos's army with his fresh new hammer/ax combo, Stormbreaker. Despite their efforts, Thanos himself eventually reaches Vision. Wanda heartbreakingly destroys the Mind Stone—and Vision with it—just before Thanos can claim it. But using the Time Stone, Thanos reverses time, restores Vision briefly to life, and violently tears the stone from his forehead, killing him again. With all six Infinity Stones finally united, the Infinity Gauntlet is complete. Thor attacks and buries Stormbreaker deep into Thanos's chest, but Thanos coldly tells him he “should have gone for the head.” He snaps his fingers and vanishes. Across the universe, half of all life immediately turns to dust. Bucky Barnes, Black Panther, Groot, Scarlet Witch, Falcon, Doctor Strange, Spider-Man, Star-Lord, Drax, and Mantis all fade away. On Earth, Nick Fury manages to send a desperate signal from a mysterious pager moments before he too disappears. The survivors are left shattered and defeated. Tony Stark and Nebula are stranded on Titan. The remaining Avengers stand in stunned silence in Wakanda. And somewhere far away, Thanos sits alone on a quiet planet, watching the sunrise over a universe he believes he has finally “saved.” Watch the show on Youtube - www.deckthehallmark.com/youtubeInterested in advertising on the show? Email bran@deckthehallmark.com Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

Lightning may flash through the skies of Mars. But don’t expect to see big, jagged streaks like those produced by storms on Earth. Instead, they may be tiny sparks – like fireflies twinkling through a summer evening. On Earth, lightning is generated by the motions of bits of ice inside clouds. As the particles move past each other, they build up an electric charge. They dis-charge as lightning. The clouds on Mars are high and thin, so there’s no way for them to make big lightning bolts. But the dust grains that swirl through the Martian atmosphere might generate their own discharges. And two recent studies found evidence of them. In the first, researchers combed through recordings made by a microphone on the Perseverance rover. They found 55 instances of small “crackling” sounds near the rover. Almost all of them happened during dust storms, or when small dust devils passed the rover. The scientists decided the most likely explanation for the crackles was tiny discharges – “lightning” bolts about a centimeter long. In the second study, a team looked at observations made by the MAVEN orbiter. The scientists looked for radio waves produced by lightning, which are different from other types of radio from the planet. They found a single example – a possible flicker in Martian skies. Even if lightning is small and rare, it could interfere with future Mars landers – perhaps endangering instruments and people on the Red Planet. Script by Damond Benningfield

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven Acts 1 by William Klock It's been over ten years since I finished preaching through Luke's Gospel. I had planned to preach on the Acts of the Apostles after a short break, but it didn't happen and didn't happen and didn't happen, but as I was preaching through Ephesians these last few months and pondering the things St. Paul tells us about the what the church is and what that means for us, I got to thinking that I really shouldn't put off Acts any longer.  So I'd planned to jump into it last Sunday. Acts begins with the Ascension of Jesus, and then the very next chapter is Pentecost.  What providential timing!  And then scheduling and a trip to a clericus threw me off by a week.  So last Sunday, Ascension Sunday, you got Ephesians 6—which was a bit of an Ascension sermon—and now on Pentecost, you're getting the Ascension and next week, on Trinity Sunday, you'll get Pentecost! Now, in case you're wondering what Acts has to do with Luke, it's quite a lot. Luke probably wrote his Gospel around a.d. 59 or 60.  He addresses it to someone named Theophilus.  Theophilus means “lover of God”, so some think that Luke may have used this name symbolically and that the Gospel is for everyone who loves God.  It certainly is that, but an attribution like that seems to have been unknown in Luke's world, so Theophilus probably was a real person and was probably a patron who funded Luke's writing project.  Luke was not an eyewitness to Jesus or the events of the Gospels.  As he says in the introduction, he sought out the eyewitnesses so that he could scrupulously record the events surrounding Jesus' life and ministry.  And now Acts.  Luke wrote Acts not long later, sometime between 60 and 62.  The book ends with Paul, imprisoned in Rome, awaiting his hearing before Caesar.  There's a debate about exactly what happened to Paul after that time.  He was martyred at Rome, probably during Nero's persecution of Christians, sometime between 64 and 67.  The traditional view is that Paul's case was heard in 62, he was released, and may have travelled to Spain to preach the good news about Jesus, before returning to Rome to work with Peter to oversee the church there.  The more “modern” view is that Paul was imprisoned once and was executed between 62 and 64.  Whatever the case, since Luke doesn't mention such an important event, we can pretty safely assume he wrote during that time that Paul was awaiting his hearing.  And in the case of Acts, Luke was an eyewitness, at least to part of it.  He researched the early part of Acts just as he did his Gospel, but then he took up with Paul at the city of Troas, on Paul's second missionary journey around 50-51.  Luke spent the following ten or more years travelling with Paul as a missionary and records those events as a participant. And who was Luke other than a companion of Paul?  He was a gentile.  At the end of Colossians, Paul names him separately, apart from his fellow Jewish workers.  In that same passage, Paul describes Luke as a physician.  Beyond that we really don't know a lot about him.  He writes as we would expect a Gentile would write when writing to other Gentiles.  He writes in polished, educated Greek and he often describes Jewish customs for the benefit of his non-Jewish readers.  And when it comes to Acts, he jumps in right where he left off in his Gospel.  He ended with a condensed telling of the Ascension and he begins Acts with a more detailed account, so we'll start there.  It's page 1080 in your pew Bibles if you want to follow along. Luke writes, “Dear Theophilus, The previous book which I wrote had to do with everything Jesus began to do and to teach. I took the story as far as the day when he was taken up, once he had given instructions through the Holy Spirit to his chosen apostles.” Let me pause there.  Notice how Luke writes that in his Gospel he wrote about everything that Jesus began to do and to teach.  Brothers and Sisters, Jesus isn't done.  If Luke's Gospel were called “The Acts of Jesus”, Acts could very easily be “The Acts of Jesus: Part II”.  Jesus isn't done.  Remember what we learned from Paul in Ephesians: in the church, Jesus has established a people—purified by his blood from the stain of sin and filled with God's own Spirit—to be his new creation in the midst of the old, to carry his victory into the world to challenge the Caesars and the gods and the principalities and powers, to proclaim the good news until God's glory fills the whole earth.  Jesus continues his “acts” through us.  At the start of his ministry he told the people to pray: on earth as in heaven.  Now he's empowered us to be the people who will actually live out heaven on earth until he's finally ready to finish what he started that first Easter, and bring heaven and earth and God and human beings back together as they should be. Now, Luke goes on in verse 3: “He showed himself to them alive, after his suffering, by many proofs.  He was seen by them for forty days, during which he spoke about God's kingdom. As they were having a meal together, he told them not to go away from Jerusalem, btu to wait, as he put it, “for the Father's promise, which I was telling you about earlier.  John baptised with water; but in a few days from now you will be baptised with the Holy Spirit.  So when the apostles came together, they put this question to Jesus: “Master,” they said, ‘is this the time when you are going to restore the kingdom to Israel.'” Jesus must have been pretty exasperated by their question.  John Calvin wrote that there are as many errors in their question as there are words.  Jesus has spent forty days teaching them what his resurrection meant for them, for the world, for everything.  Think of the two disciples on the road to Emmaus on Easter Day.  Jesus walked with them for hours and explained what happened to them using the Old Testament scriptures.  We get the impression that as it all sank in they started to understand.  But clearly not fully.  Not even after forty days.  They're still thinking of the kingdom in terms of events like the Maccabean revolt.  The Messiah will raise an army and smite the pagan gentiles and put Israel back on the top of the heap—but this time it will take, it will be forever.  They're still thinking of Jesus as the king in waiting or the king in exile—like some of the Iranians wanting Reza Pahlavi to return to Iran and retake the Peacock Throne.  But that's not how God's kingdom works.  Think of all the parables Jesus told about the kingdom: It's like a tiny mustard seed.  Yes, it will grow into a huge tree, but it takes a long time.  It's like yeast.  Yes, it grows, but it takes time and the right conditions.  After two thousand years, I think we have a better grasp of this.  But not always.  There are still many, many Christians who still kind of ask the same question, as if Jesus is the heir apparent, in exile, still waiting to become king.  But Brothers and Sisters, he already is king.  The church's job is to announce his kingship—as it's carved out on our lychgate: “Jesus is Lord”— and to implement the fact that he really is king.  Now. Not someday.  Now. So Jesus responds to them in verse 7: “It's not your business to know about times and dates,” he replied. “The Father has placed all that under his own direct authority.  What will happen, though, is that you will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.  Then you will be my witnesses in Jerusalem, in all Judaea and Samaria, and to the very ends of the earth.” The timing?  How the kingdom is going play out?  When everything will finally be consummated?  Don't worry about that.  The Father has that worked out in his goodness and wisdom.  That' not your job.  That's not our job.  That' not even Jesus' job to know.  Their job, our job is to witness Jesus—his death, his resurrection, his ascension, the fact that he is Lord—to be God's new creation, to put off the old, lie-based way of being human to to put on the new—our job is witness that good news and God's new creation to the world.  And Jesus reiterates it again: I will make sure you're equipped for this.  He's told them already: As John baptised you with water, I will baptise you with the Holy Spirit.  The significance of that didn't seem to sink in.  It should have.  This is what the Lord had promised through the prophets over and over.  Filling his people with the Spirit was to be the great sign of the Messianic age.  It would be the thing that would finally set the hearts of his people right.  And so Jesus says it again: “You will receive power when the Holy Spirit comes upon you.  And then you'll be my witnesses from Jerusalem and eventually out to the whole world.  The mustard seed.  The yeast.  The king returning from the far-off land.  And then, to make his point, to drive home the fact that, yes, he really is king, Jesus acts out another prophecy.  He loved to do this and so it makes perfect sense that his last act before leaving them would be another acted out prophecy.  Verse 9: “As Jesus said this, he was lifted up while they were watching and a cloud took him out of their sight.  They were gazing into heaven as he disappeared.  Then, lo and behold, two men appeared, dressed in white, standing beside them.  ‘Men of Galilee,' they said, ‘why are you standing here staring into heaven?  This Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you saw him go into heaven.'” Jesus acts out Daniel 7—maybe not something we're intimately familiar with (although we should be), but a passage—a dramatic image—any Jew knew intimately.  That's the dream Daniel had of the ferocious beasts representing the pagan kings and empires that threatened God's people.  And in his vision, Daniel sees the Ancient of Days take his throne to sit in judgement over these beasts.  Their kingdoms are taken from them and then one like a son of man comes on the clouds to heaven to take his throne.  And to him is given dominion and glory and kingship so that all peoples, nations, and languages should serve him.  His dominion, Daniel says, is everlasting, his kingship one that shall never be destroyed.  This the vision of the Messiah becoming king and restoring the kingdom to Israel. So in his ascension, Jesus is showing the fulfilment of God's promise to Daniel.  Coming on the clouds to take his throne.  It was an unmistakable image for the disciples.  The kingdom has been restored to Israel—of course, that's Israel reconstituted around and in Jesus the Messiah—but restored it has been.  The Messiah is on his throne.  At the end of Matthew's Gospel, when Jesus gives the disciples what we often call his “great commission” he deliberately echoes Daniel 7: “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.  So you must go and make all the nations into disciples.”  The Ascension means that the world is under new management.  Maybe it helps to understand how they thought of heaven.  Unfortunately, we tend to think of heaven through a Platonic lens.  It's a far away and otherworldly place.  The opposite of earth.  The real world of which this is only a shadow.  But that's Plato—pagan Greek philosophy—not the Bible.  In the Bible heaven is earth's compliment; its other half.  God created them to fit together, to mesh.  Heaven is his realm, but the two were meant to overlap, for us to share his presence.  But his part, the heavenly half, was—in the Jewish view—it was like the control room or the CEO's office.  And that's where Jesus has gone.  To take the controls, to sit at the big desk, to accede to his throne—to rule and to reign: as Paul in 1 Corinthians 15:25: “He has to rule until he has put all his enemies under his feet.” But back to Daniel 7.  If the son of man has taken his throne, then that means that the kingdom has, indeed, been restored to Israel.  There are implications there for the disciples.  One of the twelve is missing.  Judas hanged himself after betraying Jesus.  The twelve are only eleven.  If the apostles represent the fullness of Israel reconstituted in the Messiah, they need a replacement for Judas.  Twelve tribes; twelve apostles. Maybe they didn't grasp this immediately.  Luke says that after Jesus' ascension, after the two angels asked if they were just going to stand around staring into heaven all day—because: he's one day coming back in the same way—like, didn't he give you work to do?—so they went back to Jerusalem as Jesus had told them.  Verse 13: “They then entered the city (‘they' meaning Peter, John, James, Andrew, Philip, Thomas, Bartholomew, Matthew, James the son of Alphaeus, Simon the zealot, and Judas the son of James) and went to the upstairs room where they were staying.  They all gave themselves single-heartedly to prayer, with the women, including Mary, Jesus' mother, and his brothers.” Luke makes a point of naming them all.  And there are eleven, not twelve.  He anticipates what needs to happen.  The apostles themselves apparently weren't sure what to do, so they did the right thing: they devoted themselves to prayer.  Brothers and Sisters, don't ever let prayer be an excuse for not doing what needs to be done, but when you don't know what to do: pray.  And pray some more.  Luke doesn't say that God suddenly spoke and gave them direction, but after days of prayer they began to understand what they had to do.  They knew the scriptures.  They'd listened to Jesus for forty days.  And as they prayed, understanding came.  Prayer has a way of doing that.  As we see here, the scriptures began to percolate in Peter's head.  That's often how God leads us.  It's not often that he speaks directly and we shouldn't expect him to.  But when we're already steeped in the scriptures and when we pray, the Spirit works and things “seem” to just come together.  I'm often amazed to see how this works when I'm preparing a sermon.  So Peter stands up in the middle of the disciples.  Luke says they'd grown to a hundred and twenty by this point.  And he says—verse 16: “Brothers, the scripture had to be fulfilled, which the Holy Spirit spoke long ago by the mouth of David about Judas, who became a guide to the people who arrested Jesus.  He was counted among us and had his own share in this ministry.”  Luke then adds that Judas went to the field bought with the money used to betray Jesus, he hanged himself there, where he burst open and his guts came out.  Luke notes this bit as historical evidence.  The field was still called “Blood-Place” in his day. And Peter goes on in verse 20, quoting Psalm 69:25 and Psalm 109:8, “For this is what it says in the book of Psalms: ‘Let his home become desolate and let no one live in it' and again, ‘Let another receive his office.' “So,” Peter said, “this is what has to be done. There are plenty of people who have gone about with us all the time that our master Jesus was coming and going among us, starting from John's baptism until the day he was taken from us.  Let one of them be chosen to be alongside us as a special witness of his resurrection.” Through prayer and the scriptures and the prompting of the Spirit, Peter realised that if Jesus, the son of man, sits on his throne, the kingdom has been restored to Israel, and that meant that the leaders…the apostles…of this renewed Israel had better number twelve, to represent the full number Israel's tribes.  The symbolism was vital if people—particularly fellow Jews—were going to see how the scriptures and the covenant and God's promises to Israel were being fulfilled in the church.  “So,” writes Luke, “they chose two: Joseph who was called Barsabbas, with the surname Justus, and Matthias.  ‘Lord,' they prayed, ‘you know the hearts of all people. Show us which one of these two you have chosen to receive this particular place of service and apostleship, from which Judas went away to go to his own place.' So they cast lots for them.  The lot fell on Matthias, and he was enrolled along with the eleven apostles.” This may seem like a mundane detail to us, especially after the glory of Jesus' ascension.  But it was a big deal to the apostles and no less to Luke.  Their knowing the need for twelve, not eleven apostles, highlights just how much they saw the work of Jesus as being about the fulfilment and the restoration of God's people as the promises to Abraham were fulfilled and their mission was about be launched into the nations.  It was proof that this new movement wasn't really new at all.  It was rooted in God's promises and showed their fulfilment of God.  Jesus, the cross, the resurrection, Pentecost weren't just stand-alone events.  They were part of the great story that God had been telling his people for thousands of years.  In these events, God was doing what he'd promised, showing his faithfulness and revealing his glory.  That's why Peter takes us back to the Psalms here.  It's why Stephen, before his martyrdom in Chapter 7 recounts the history of Israel.  They wanted to make it clear that what's happening here in Acts was what God intended all along. I've always found it funny that for all the big deal they make choosing Matthias, he's never mentioned again. I say that, because it's a good reminder that what Luke records in Acts is selective.  As St. John writes at the end of his Gospel, if someone were to write down literally everything that Jesus did, the world could not contain all the books.  And just so with Acts.  Just so with the whole history of the church.  The world could not contain the books needed to record all the things, big and small and all amazing, that Jesus and the Spirit have done through Christians down through the ages, the famous ones and the ordinary saints like you and I.  But the little bit that Luke records for us in Acts, Brothers and Sisters, is a partial (and strategic) record—inspired by the Spirit—that ought to encourage us as it reminds us how God is fulfilling his promises here and now in us and as it exhorts us to carry on with our mission, knowing that the Spirit is with us and will equip us for everything he has for us to do. On that note, I want to conclude with two images.  Jesus was acting out Daniel's prophecy of the son of man coming on the clouds to his throne when he ascended, but there are at least two other unmistakable images in that act as well.  The first is Moses, ascending Mount Sinai, up into the clouds and thunder.  Moses went up and came down with the law.  In the same way, Jesus has gone up, but what has come down is not another law written on stone, but God's own Spirit, poured into our hearts.  Contemporary Christians often think of the Spirit mainly as the agent of amazing and miraculous gifts, but the most important work of the Spirit, Brothers and Sisters, the most amazing miracle of the Spirit, is to transform our hearts and to turn our affections toward God, to fill us with his law of love.  The other image here is that of the Prophet Elijah as he was taken up into heaven in a chariot of fire.  As he went, he threw down his mantle onto Elisha, his protégé.  In that act, he not only passed on his God-given mission to Elisha, but he empowered him to do it.  That is what the book of Acts is about.  Luke's Gospel is about Jesus and his ministry—like the Prophet Elijah—and at the Ascension he's taken up in heaven and his mantle falls to the apostles, to the church, to you and to me, and the book of Acts is then like the continuing story of Elisha, carrying on the work and ministry God had given to Elijah.  Elijah's last act was to strike the waters of the Jordan with his cloak so that they parted, and Elisha's first act is to do exactly the same.  Brother and Sisters, that's Acts.  That's the ministry of the church.  To steward the good news about Jesus, to steward God's presence, to be his temple, ever expanding until it fills the earth.  Yes, it's a difficult job—some even lose their lives for it—but Jesus has equipped us and he's given us hope in the faithfulness of God to do what he has said.  His mantle has fallen on us in the gift of the Spirit and we know that he sits on his throne as Lord.  That central gospel truth is carved on our lychgate, a reminder as we come here and as a remind when we go back out to the world.  May Jesus' ascension never be for us a mere doctrine.  May it be for us the great truth that gives us hope, the great truth that is transforming creation. Let's pray: Almighty God and Father, as you have taken your son, Jesus the Messiah to reign in heaven, and as you have let his mantle fall on us in your indwelling Spirit, fill us with bold faith and certain hope that we might be faithful stewards of your gospel and for the sake of the world until the knowledge of your glory reaches the ends of the earth your son returns again on the clouds.  Through him we pray. Amen.

JKL Media hosts Jesse, Karen, and Lou recap The Expanse Season 3 premiere "Fight or Flight," praising its immediate momentum and debating the title's meaning. They focus on the Rocinante crew's split over going to Tycho versus Io, with Holden pivoting to help Prax find his daughter and Amos and Alex backing him while Naomi faces backlash for betraying the crew and giving the protomolecule to Fred Johnson. On Earth, they condemn Errinwright's manipulation of the Secretary-General and his attempt to frame Chrisjen Avasarala as war with Mars escalates, while noting the looming protomolecule threat on Venus and traces still on the Roci. They discuss Fred Johnson and Drummer's uneasy alliance with Dawes and the plan to recover the Nauvoo, highlight Bobbie's standout action-driven escape with Chrisjen and Cotyar, and react to Alex's emotional message to his family. 

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On today’s episode of the podcast, Rita Gigante shares what it was like growing up as the daughter of mob boss Vincent “The Chin” Gigante. She opens up about trauma, faith, and how she found healing after a life surrounded by chaos.Subscribe for more.Timecodes (Episode #168):0:00 - Start0:25 - Who Was Vincent Gigante4:20 - Her Relationship With Her Father10:27 - The Chin Being “Crazy”17:02 - How the Guys Treated Her29:44 - Rita’s First Trauma Experience34:31 - Working Through Trauma41:05 - What “On Earth as It Is in Heaven” Means1:18:30 - Rita the ChefFollow The John Rondi ShowTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnrondipodcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnrondipodcast/Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7xuYMlfFAXUfReoHKGHjb6?si=e13220a9830e4463Apple Music: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-john-rondi-show/id1670365515Follow Rita GiganteInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/ritagigantepsychic/TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@rita.giganteBuy Her Book: https://www.amazon.com/Godfathers-Daughter-Unlikely-Healing-Redemption/dp/B0BQ99KJ3W/ref=sr_1_1?dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.F8x30lSPLDU80OvtLgeWCKWfPvTaO58XKRr31fqXzgVqhEvpaDKH40Y97lCUTX2gJoyxBjVU-FYzM7JE8mOonlx9x1AUmOzCPnVhKuX0O9I.V_hDx3nMw_8xF5HX0jDs-oEIdmHSjtbVgSMIly8Cx0s&dib_tag=se&qid=1777582162&refinements=p_27%3ARita+Gigante&s=books&sbo=RZvfv%2F%2FHxDF%2BO5021pAnSA%3D%3D&sr=1-1Follow John RondiInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/johnrondiTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@johnnyrondi#podcast #johnrondi

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

As customary on THE ARCHIVE, today's episode is packed with excellent music. Jason Drury opens the show with ‘On Earth as It Is in Heaven' from Ennio Morricone's award-winning score for THE MISSION (Virgin Records), honouring its 40th anniversary. Jason then continues with music from the 35th anniversary release of THE GODFATHER CODA: THE DEATH OF MICHAEL CORLEONE ( La La Land Records), composed by Carmine Coppola, Robert Folk's score from MILES FROM HOME (Quartet Records), Simon Franglen's THE CURSE OF TURANDOT (Sony Music) and music from the new 3-disc JOHNNY DOUGLAS COLLECTION from Dulcima Records. The show continues by commemorating the 40th anniversary of POLTERGEIST II (Intrada Records) by playing selections from Jerry Goldsmith's score. You'll also hear selections from the album LEE HOLDRIDGE GOES TO THE OLYMPICS (Dragon's Domain Records) and Tangerine Dream's classic electronic score for the 1977 action thriller SORCERER (Esoteric Recordings). Jason then rounds off the show with the "End Titles" from Leonard Rosenman's soundtrack for STAR TREK IV: THE VOYAGE HOME, which is also marking its 40th anniversary this year! I told you the show was packed. Enjoy. —— Special thanks to our Patreon supporters: David Ballantyne, Joe Wiles, Maxime, William Welch, Alan Rogers, Dave Williams, Max Hamulyák, Jeffrey Graebner, Don Mase, Victor Field, Jochen Stolz, Eric Skroch, Alexander Schiebel, Alphonse Brown, John Link, Matt Berretta, Eldaly Morningstar, Jim Wilson, Chris Malone, Steve Karpicz, Deniz Çağlar, Brent Osterberg, Jérôme Flick, Alex Brouns, Randall Derchan, Angela Rabatin, Larry Reese, Rudy Amaya, Stacy Livitsanis, Carl Wonders, Lee Wileman, Nathan Blumenfeld, Daniel Herrin, Scott Bordelon, James Alexander, Ian Clark, Andy Gray, Joel Nichols, Steve Daniel, Corey O'Brien, John Leggett, Mim Williams, Grace Hamilton, Rob Kemp, Simon Parker, Harry Fiddlesticks, Jonas Wilstrup, Alexandre Richardson, Amy Stewart, Jack Zhu, Cole Losey. —— Cinematic Sound Radio is fully licensed to play music by SOCAN. Support us on Patreon https://www.patreon.com/cinematicsoundradio Check out our NEW Cinematic Sound Radio TeePublic Store! https://www.teepublic.com/stores/cinematic-sound-radio Cinematic Sound Radio Web: http://www.cinematicsound.net Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/cinsoundradio Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/cinematicsound Cinematic Sound Radio Fanfare and Theme by David Coscina https://soundcloud.com/user-970634922 Bumper voice artist: Tim Burden http://www.timburden.com

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

Lou, Jesse, and Karen review The Expanse Season 2, Episode 10 "Cascade," calling it another dense, solid episode with key storylines on Earth and Ganymede plus a brief Alex scene. On Earth, they discuss Errinwright   confessing to Chrisjen, her insisting he face consequences, and Cotyar's line about working for the "good guys," along with the power dynamics and whether Errinwright is rationalizing his motives. They cover Bobbie's escape, her eye-opening journey through Earth's poverty, meeting an off-med "doctor," and her beach conversation with Chrisjen before Mars retrieves her. They also highlight Alex alone on the ship in low gravity with Hank Williams playing before learning Ganymede is locked down. On Ganymede, they examine the station's failing ecosystem, Prax and Amos forcing information from a profiteering trader, Naomi's warning about crossing moral lines, and the chilling idea that Ganymede is "dead" without realizing it. T

The NASA Curiosity Rover has shown us evidence of ancient rivers and bodies of liquid water on the martian surface. Given it's thin cold atmosphere, seeps of liquid water, presently on the surface of Mars which are capable of hosting microbial life appear to be unlikely. Scientists were thus surprised when high resolution imaging of the red planet's surface revealed thousands of intriguing dark streaks called RSL on hundreds of rocky slope areas. These fascinating features slowly extend down hill and grow during the martian warm season, fade during the colder season, and reappear during the next martian warm period. On Earth features like these are produced by seeps of liquid water. However, on Mars a careful study of 151 RSL features at ten different sites using the high resolution camera on NASA's Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter reveal that they occur almost entirely on slopes which are greater than 27 degrees. This new research published in Nature Geoscience suggests that RSL are composed of solid particles in dry granular flows which unlike water seeps appear to end on many of the dunes when it's slope falls below a critical value. What makes RSL tick remains a mystery and likely involves small amounts of water trapped from the atmosphere. Currently surface conditions are hostile to life as we know it, however, the possibility of finding evidence of ancient life or perhaps even still existing microbe colonies in deep sub surface pockets of water are reasons to continue to explore our next door neighbor without contaminating it.

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

On Earth as in Heaven: The Surprising Way of Life in God's Kingdom

Is there life on Europa? We take a look at Greenland and Antarctica to find out more about life on Jupiter’s icy moon. Further reading: Life on Venus claim faces strongest challenge yet Stanford researchers’ explanation for formation of abundant features on Europa bodes well for search for extraterrestrial life  Show transcript: Welcome to Strange Animals Podcast. I'm your host, Kate Shaw. Today we're going to learn about the potential of life on Europa, a moon of Jupiter! To do that we'll need to look at some extreme life on Earth too. Back in September 2020, we talked about potential signs of life in the atmosphere of Venus, which excited me a whole lot. As a follow-up to that episode, further studies suggest that signs of phosphine detected in Venus's atmosphere, which might be produced by life, may actually just be sulfur dioxide (not a sign of life). But while it's not looking likely that phosphine is actually found in Venus's atmosphere, so far no studies can completely rule it out. So, maybe. Venus isn't the only part of our solar system where life might exist outside of Earth, though. Astronomers have been speculating about Europa for a long time. The planet Jupiter is a gas giant that has at least 80 moons, but Europa is the one that's closest to the planet. It's only a little bit smaller than our own moon. Europa has an atmosphere, mostly made up of oxygen but so thin that if you could magically appear on the moon, you wouldn't be able to breathe. Also, you would freeze to death almost immediately. It's a dense moon, so astronomers think it's probably mostly made up of silicate rock, which is what Earth is mostly made up of, along with Mars, Venus, Mercury, and a lot of moons. If you've ever looked at our moon through a telescope or binoculars, you know it has lots of impact craters on its surface caused by asteroid strikes in the past. Europa doesn't have very many craters—in fact, its surface is incredibly smooth except for what look like cracks all over it. It's mostly pale in color, but the cracks are reddish-orange or brown. The cause of the cracks has been a mystery ever since astronomers got the first good look at Europa. Many astronomers think these cracks are where warm material from below the surface erupted through the crust, sort of like what happens where lava oozes up on Earth and forms oceanic ridges. But on Europa, the material breaking through the crust isn't lava, it's ice—but ice that isn't as cold as the surface ice. You know you're on a cold, cold moon when ice that's close to freezing instead of way below freezing can act like lava. The surface of Europa is about 110 kelvin at the equator and even colder at the poles. That's -260 F or -160 C. The exciting thing is that researchers are pretty sure the surface of Europa is icy but that the crust lies over a deep saltwater ocean that covers the entire moon. Yes, an ocean! As Europa orbits Jupiter, the planet's gravity pulls at the moon, while the smaller gravity fields of the other nearest moons also pull on Europa in other directions. This push and pull causes tides that help warm the ocean and keep it from freezing solid. The brown coloration in the moon's cracks may be due to mineral salts from the water that get leached up through the cracks after warm ice breaks through, assuming that's what is actually happening to cause the cracks. Astronomers even have images of Europa taken by space probes that show what look like water plumes erupting through the surface and shooting up an estimated 120 miles high, or 200 km. But new studies suggest that the water plumes might not be from the ocean. They might be from pockets of water that form within the crust itself, which grow larger until they burst out through the crust. This is even more exciting when it comes to potential life on the moon, because it suggests that the crust isn't just a big block of ice. It's a dynamic system that might harbor life instead of all potential life on Europa being restricted to the ocean. But to learn more about Europa, we have to come back to Earth and examine the island of Greenland. Most of Greenland is covered with a permanent ice sheet like the ones found in Antarctica, but it's a lot easier to study than Antarctica. One feature seen in the ice sheet is something called a double ridge, shaped sort of like a capital letter M. It's caused when the ice fractures around pressurized water that forms inside the ice sheet and refreezes. This is caused when water from streams and lakes on the surface finds its way into the ice. The double ridge can look like a crack. New pictures of the cracks on Europa's surface look just like Greenland's double ridges, but much bigger. My explanation of all this is extremely clumsy, because this is a really complex mechanism. Researchers only figured it out because some of the team had been studying Greenland's double ridges for a completely different project, and noticed the similarities. There's a link in the show notes to an article about this phenomenon if you want to learn more. The Greenland ice sheet is over a mile thick. In 1966, the U.S. Army drilled into the ice to see what was under it, and the answer is dirt, as you might have expected. They took a 15-foot, or 4.5 meter, core sample and stuck it in a freezer, where everyone promptly forgot about it for 51 years. At some point it ended up in Denmark, where someone noticed it in 2017. In 2019, the frozen core sample was finally studied by scientists. They expected to find mostly sand and rock. Instead, it was full of beautifully fossilized leaves and other plant material. The main reason scientists were so surprised to find leaves and soil instead of just rock is that ice is really heavy, and it moves—slowly, but a mile-thick sheet of ice cannot be stopped. If you listened to the recent episode in the main feed about the rewilding of Scotland, you may remember that Scotland doesn't have a lot of fossils from the Pleistocene because it was covered in glaciers that scoured the soil and everything in it down to bedrock, destroying everything in its path. But this hasn't happened in Greenland, even though the sample was taken from an area only about 800 miles, or 1,290 km, from the North Pole. Where the ice sheet now is, there used to be a forest. Obviously, the ice sheet hasn't always covered Greenland. Research is ongoing, but a study of the sediment published in 2021 indicates that Greenland was ice free within the last million years, and possibly as recently as a few hundred thousand years. All this is interesting, but it's very different from Europa, whose ice sheets have probably been in place almost from the moon's formation. What kind of life can live on, in, or under ice sheets? On Earth, at least, a lot of organisms live on glaciers. Most are tiny or microscopic, including a type of algae that grows on top of ice, bacteria that live pretty much everywhere, including inside ice crystals, and microbes of various kinds. But there are some larger organisms, including glacial copepods, snow fleas, glacial midges, and the ice worms we talked about in episode 185 that live on glaciers in the Pacific Northwest. Most likely, life on Europa will be tiny too. Researchers hypothesize that there could be microbial life living deep within the ice or in the pockets of melted water that develop inside it. There might be microbial mats or algae-type organisms that live on the underside of the ice, anchored there but able to extract nutrients from the ocean water. But obviously, Europa's ocean is where most life will probably be found, assuming it's there. While there's no environment quite like Europa's to be found on Earth, since Earth is so close to the sun and nice and warm in comparison, parts of the deep sea are somewhat similar. Lots of animals live around hydrothermal vents, where volcanic activity breaks through the ocean floor and superheats water in small areas. Invertebrates of all kinds have adapted to live between boiling hot water and frigid deep-sea water, where absolutely no sunlight has ever reached. Animals like giant tube worms can grow nearly 10 feet long, or 3 meters, and don't actually eat anything. Instead, they have symbiotic bacteria that provide them with all the nutrients they need while in turn, the bacteria get a safe place to live. When the intensely heated, mineral-rich water of a hydrothermal vent comes in contact with cold water, it causes all sorts of chemical reactions. That's what fuels most of the life around the vents. There are even some fish that live around hydrothermal vents, including the cutthroat eel that can grow over 5 feet long, or 1.6 meters. They're bottom-dwelling deep-sea eels that live worldwide, but they spend time around hydrothermal vents to eat some of the other animals that live there exclusively. There's even a type of bacteria found at one vent off the coast of Mexico that uses the faint light emitted by lava deep within the vent for photosynthesis. All other known photosynthesizing organisms use the sun as a light source. Scientists think that Europa has hydrothermal vents similar to the ones on Earth. Since at least some researchers think life on Earth got its start around hydrothermal vents, it wouldn't be surprising if life forms also live around Europa's vents. But that doesn't mean that life could only live around the vents. In 2018, a team of scientists in Antarctica bored through the ice sheet and took a sample from the sea floor far below the ice to see if anything lived there. Since this was in the middle of the ice sheet with absolutely no sunlight or open ocean within a million square kilometers, they didn't expect to find much. When they gave the sample to marine biologist David Barnes to examine, and he got a first look at it, initially he actually thought they'd pulled a practical joke on him. There was no way this one small sample could contain evidence of so much life in such an extreme environment. He counted 77 different species of organism in the sample. There were worms, bryozoans, sponges, even fragments of jellyfish, and of course there were lots and lots of microorganisms. All the animals were small, which isn't surprising. That they were there at all was the truly surprising thing. We don't know yet if life exists anywhere outside of Earth. Odds are good that it does, just because there are so many planets and moons around so many stars throughout our galaxy and all the other galaxies in the universe. Whether we'll ever find it is another thing. Until we do, though, we will just have to appreciate all the amazing diversity of life on our own planet, and keep watching the night skies and wondering. Thanks for your support, and thanks for listening!

In this episode of Midnight, On Earth, I sit down with bestselling British author and historical investigator Graham Phillips to explore his latest book, 'The Original Zodiac: What Ancient Astrology Reveals About You'. Our conversation dives deep into a forgotten chapter of astrological history - The discovery of the earliest known zodiac system, which contained eighteen signs rather than the twelve most people are familiar with today.Phillips explains how the roots of astrology stretch back to ancient Mesopotamia, emerging from the same mysterious cultural horizon that produced monumental sites like Göbekli Tepe. In those early systems, astrology appears to have functioned through generations of observation, almost like a form of reverse engineering. Instead of starting with a rigid symbolic framework, early astrologers observed patterns in human behavior, personality traits, and life outcomes, then connected those traits back to the time, place, and conditions of a person's birth. Over centuries, these observations became encoded into symbolic archetypes that eventually formed the earliest zodiac signs.At the center of Phillips' research is a mysterious clay tablet held in the British Museum, cataloged as BM 86378. The artifact lists an ancient zodiac system composed of eighteen constellations, many of which are completely absent from the modern Western and Vedic zodiacs. Instead of only the familiar signs, this earlier sky map included figures such as the Serpent, Swan, Crane, Horse, Wolf, and Eagle—symbols that suggest a very different way of interpreting cosmic influence and human identity.Because the tablet preserved the names of the constellations but not their meanings, Phillips attempted to reconstruct the psychological and behavioral traits associated with each sign. Through an extensive survey of hundreds of volunteers from different backgrounds, he analyzed patterns in personality, interests, occupations, habits, and even health tendencies. From this data, he began to piece together what the original zodiac may have signified thousands of years ago.During our conversation we explore how this eighteen-sign system offers an expanded lens through which to view astrology - not as a replacement for the familiar twelve-sign zodiac, but as a deeper layer of symbolic understanding. Phillips explains how the ancient framework may enrich our interpretation of personality, relationships, and destiny by adding additional archetypes that were gradually lost as astrology evolved through later Greek, and Vedic traditions.We also discuss the broader historical mystery surrounding the origins of astrology itself, the possibility that these systems emerged from extremely ancient sky-watching cultures, and how early civilizations attempted to map human experience onto the movements of the heavens. Along the way we touch on archaeology, myth, ancient symbolism, and the enduring human quest to understand who we are and how the cosmos might shape our lives.It's a wide-ranging exploration of forgotten astrology, ancient civilizations, and the archetypal patterns that have guided human thinking about the stars for thousands of years. Drop in!www.grahamphillips.netGraham Phillips Bio:Graham Phillips is one of Britain's bestselling non-fiction authors. A former radio journalist and broadcaster for the BBC, and founder of Strange Phenomena magazine, he is a historical investigator of unsolved mysteries. The author of many books, including The Templars and the Ark of the Covenant, The Lost Tomb of King Arthur, The End of Eden, and Atlantis and the Ten Plagues of Egypt, Graham lives in the Midlands of England. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On Earth living things are everywhere from the deepest ocean depths to the highest mountain tops. On our home planet RNA (Ribonucleic Acid) is a complex essential molecule involved in the process of translating genetic information into the working components of living cells. In a recent paper in the peer reviewed scientific journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences , Dr. Yuta Hirakawa and his team of two coauthors report on their experiments to produce RNA under conditions similar to those which may have occurred in the early history of Earth and Mars.