Podcasts about priests

This is The Briefing, a daily analysis of news and events from a Christian worldview.On today's edition of The Briefing, Dr. Mohler discusses the argument that A.I. will replace imams, priests, and preachers, and he answers questions about women in singleness, the difference between a passion and a calling, and how a Christian should approach the ‘transitioning' of a family member.Part I (00:14 – 10:09)Imams, Priests, and Preachers — Will A.I. Replace Them? A.I. Can Never Replace the Preaching of the Gospel and the Word of GodAI is changing religion and religions are trying to change by The EconomistPart II (10:09 – 15:53)Why are You So Harsh Towards Christian Single Women About Not Being Married and Having Children? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From Listeners of The BriefingPart III (15:53 – 21:08)How Do I Know the Difference Between a Passion and a Calling? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From Listeners of The BriefingPart IV (21:08 – 26:34)I am a Christian, Husband, and Father. How Should I Approach the ‘Transitioning' of My Sister? — Dr. Mohler Responds to Letters From Listeners of The BriefingSign up to receive The Briefing in your inbox every weekday morning.Follow Dr. Mohler:X | Instagram | Facebook | YouTubeFor more information on The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, go to sbts.edu.For more information on Boyce College, just go to BoyceCollege.com.To write Dr. Mohler or submit a question for The Mailbox, go here.

1 Samuel 22:1-23. David's lies catch up with him. As David gathers followers and learns to trust God's direction, Saul's fear and paranoia lead to a horrifying attack on the priests of Nob. One priest escapes, leaving David to face the painful consequences of the lie he told in the last episode.

Send us Fan MailFr Joe Krupp talks today about expectations of our Bishops and Priests.Check out the JIBM Web site at:  https://www.joeinblackministries.com/To submit comments or questions, please email: joeinblackministries@gmail.comPlease use the following link if you would like to financially support  Church of the Holy Family: https://pushpay.com/g/hfgrandblanc?sr…Check out the JIBM Web site at:  https://www.joeinblackministries.com/Support the show

Well, only shocking if you weren't paying attention.Sponsored by Charity Mobilehttps://www.charitymobile.com/rtt.phpSources:https://substack.com/@returntotradition1Contact Me:Email: return2catholictradition@gmail.comSupport My Work:Patreonhttps://www.patreon.com/AnthonyStineSubscribeStarhttps://www.subscribestar.net/return-to-traditionBuy Me A Coffeehttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/AnthonyStinePhysical Mail:Anthony StinePO Box 3048Shawnee, OK74802Follow me on the following social media:https://www.facebook.com/ReturnToCatholicTradition/https://twitter.com/pontificatormax+JMJ+#popeleoXIV #catholicism #catholicchurch #catholicprophecy#infiltration

From the beginning, God gave humanity dominion in the earth, and through the blood of Jesus, we have been restored to our Kingdom purpose. As sons and daughters of God, we're called to walk in kingly authority and recognize the weight our words and actions carry.

Greg welcomes Dolly Parton superfan, Liz, to the music diary to discuss the life and career of the late singer/songwriter and pop culture icon. What are your favorite Dolly memories and songs? Let us know at poppingcollarspodcast@gmail.com or send us your playlist on socials Find us on the web at poppingcollarspodcast.com Don't forget to pick up some awesome merch Check out our Youtube offerings Read Greg's ramblings about movies at Letterboxd

TWPC D4S1 | SEPTEMBER 13, 2026 | THE BIRTH-PANGS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT PRIESTS You are being called into a priesthood that begins not with public ministry, spiritual gifts, titles, or spectacular experiences, but with a deep and sustained hunger for God that draws you continually into His presence until His Word, nature, burden, and ways are formed within you. The gospel of the Kingdom is meant to prevail over darkness, transform territories, establish God's will on earth, and raise a people who know their spiritual identity and can carry His purposes without being corrupted by prosperity, popularity, opposition, suffering, or the approval of men; therefore, you must remain with God long enough to receive not merely information but the message He intends you to embody. The tabernacle, the feasts, the priesthood, Eden, and the experiences of people such as Moses, Abraham, Daniel, David, Jeremiah, and Paul reveal one continuing divine intention: God is building a people into His image and likeness. Every stage of the tabernacle illustrates progressive encounter and transformation—laying down the flesh, washing and renewing the mind, receiving illumination by the Spirit, feeding on the bread and wine of God's life, carrying His burden in intercession, and ultimately coming into the place of His presence and authority. The priesthood after the order of Melchizedek is therefore an organic priesthood of intimate fellowship with God, sustained by believing, eating, digesting, and embodying His Word until what is already true of you in Christ becomes increasingly expressed through your mind, character, conduct, obedience, authority, and even your mortal life; this complete transformation is described as God's life replacing everything within you that carries the imprint of the world and forming His own likeness in you. Spiritual gifts alone are not proof of maturity, because gifts may continue functioning where intimacy, obedience, and consecration are deficient; what God seeks is the person themselves as the sacrifice—a broken, surrendered, obedient life that values His presence above comfort, prestige, wealth, pleasure, and self-preservation. Like Moses choosing the reproach of God above the treasures of Egypt, preparation for divine assignment requires removing idols, worldly entanglements, sinful patterns, distractions, and competing pleasures while increasing prayer, fasting, meditation in Scripture, obedience, and fellowship with God whenever He calls you deeper. You cannot confront spiritual resistance merely because God has given you an assignment; you must allow Him to prepare you for what the assignment will require, because authority without formation leaves you vulnerable to intimidation and failure. The pattern is first inward judgment and then outward authority: allow the Word of God to destroy Egypt within you before expecting to confront Egypt around you; fulfill obedience before attempting to avenge disobedience; let God remove what is contrary to His nature in you before you attempt to uproot darkness in nations, communities, families, or institutions. This is why the bread and wine associated with Melchizedek point to something far deeper than ceremony: they represent feeding upon Christ until His life becomes your life, His righteousness becomes your nature, His burden becomes your burden, and His authority can safely operate through you. Such intimacy with God is beautiful toward those who belong to Him but hostile toward everything opposed to His will, so genuine priesthood inevitably carries a warfare dimension; the priestly garments become the armor of God, intercession becomes participation in God's government, and a person who has learned to stand before God can eventually stand before powers, systems, territories, and nations without fear. Yet none of this can be manufactured by ambition or human confidence—the foundation is hunger. Cultivate the kind of hunger that made Moses prolong every encounter with God, that made Paul count everything else as loss for the excellency of knowing Christ, and that refuses to settle for memories of former encounters when God appears silent. When spiritual dryness comes, do not withdraw; increase your pursuit, deepen your consecration, search the Scriptures more earnestly, pray more intentionally, remove whatever dulls your appetite, and continue seeking until the presence and nature of God become your deepest necessity. Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, because they will be filled; and as that hunger matures, you become a living altar, a living stone, a holy priest who comes before God and a royal priest who comes forth from Him—carrying His presence, revealing His character, exercising His authority, interceding for His people, confronting darkness, and participating in the manifestation of His Kingdom on the earth.

They're not hiding that they are operatives for antiChristian politicians anymore.Sponsored by Charity Mobilehttps://www.charitymobile.com/rtt.phpSources:https://substack.com/@returntotradition1Contact Me:Email: return2catholictradition@gmail.comSupport My Work:Patreonhttps://www.patreon.com/AnthonyStineSubscribeStarhttps://www.subscribestar.net/return-to-traditionBuy Me A Coffeehttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/AnthonyStinePhysical Mail:Anthony StinePO Box 3048Shawnee, OK74802Follow me on the following social media:https://www.facebook.com/ReturnToCatholicTradition/https://twitter.com/pontificatormax+JMJ+#popeleoXIV #catholicism #catholicchurch #catholicprophecy#infiltration

Daf Yomi Chullin 136Episode 2444Babble on Talmud with Sruli RappsJoin the chat: https://chat.whatsapp.com/LMbsU3a5f4Y3b61DxFRsqfMERCH: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BabbleOnTalmudSefaria: https://www.sefaria.org.il/Chullin.136a?lang=heEmail: sruli@babbleontalmud.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/babble_on_talmudFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Babble-on-Talmud-100080258961218/#dafyomi #talmud00:00 Intro 01:37 Further developing R Illai's position on partnerships38:59 Conclusion

TWPC D3S2 | SEPTEMBER 12, 2026 | THE BIRTH-PANGS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT PRIESTS The Christian life is meant to be a journey of continual transformation into the image of Christ, not a stagnant religious routine; just as a child naturally grows into the likeness of a parent, those born of God are called to mature until their heavenly identity becomes increasingly evident in their desires, thinking, conduct, spiritual authority, and entire manner of life. This growth begins with hunger: when desire for God becomes weak, distractions must be deliberately reduced through consecration, fasting, prayer, and separation so that appetite for the Word and the presence of God can be restored. Priesthood begins as a “holy priesthood,” in which the believer draws near to God, presents the body as a living sacrifice, studies the Scriptures deeply, receives revelation of Christ, and discovers what God has written concerning their true identity and purpose; but it is meant to mature into a “royal priesthood,” where intimacy with God produces spiritual authority and enables a person to advance God's purposes in the earth. Every generation should therefore go beyond merely repeating what previous generations discovered: Moses received what God was saying for his time, Paul drew Christ out of the prophetic Scriptures, and believers today must faithfully receive the inheritance of those who came before while pressing further into the knowledge of Christ. The teaching presents earthly ancestry, “genes,” garments, books, bloodlines, and bodily records as interconnected pictures for understanding how inherited patterns and accumulated actions can seek expression in a person, while emphasizing that the believer's decisive identity is no longer determined by earthly lineage but by being born from above, belonging to Zion, being part of Christ, and being conformed to His likeness; therefore, inherited limitations, sinful tendencies, destructive patterns, sickness, fear, and other claims attributed to natural ancestry are to be confronted with what God declares in Christ. This requires actively searching the Scriptures for God's testimony concerning one's life rather than surrendering to inherited narratives, because faith takes what is written in God's Word and uses it to reshape the believer's understanding and expectation. Exposure to greater possibilities in God is also necessary because people often remain spiritually comfortable simply because they have never seen anything beyond their present experience; knowledge of Scripture, church history, revivals, and the testimonies of believers who pursued God intensely should awaken desire rather than become objects of imitation. Yet spiritual maturity cannot be measured merely by dramatic experiences, long prayers, fasting, miracles, or public displays of spirituality: prayer without the transforming ministry of the Word can coexist with anger, bitterness, lust, pride, hatred, manipulation, and religious bondage. Prayer and the Word must therefore operate together, with Scripture renewing the mind and exposing hidden sins while prayer supplies the communion and spiritual strength necessary to obey what has been revealed. Holiness is not achieved by religious activity alone but by learning Christ, obeying His Word, allowing deeply rooted attitudes to be judged, and refusing to excuse character flaws behind impressive spiritual disciplines. Believers must also walk wisely rather than suspiciously among family and society, cultivating discernment, guarding what God has entrusted to them, responding spiritually when necessary, and functioning as watchmen over their households without turning everyone around them into an enemy. Christian doctrine must remain anchored in Scripture rather than being fragmented into competing denominational identities, because Christ is not divided and every ministry must submit its revelations, traditions, and emphases to the common faith revealed in the Word. At the heart of everything is Jesus Christ, uniquely qualified as Savior because He entered humanity without sharing humanity's sinful condition, lived without sin, bore the burden of redemption, died, and rose again, making a new creation and a new heavenly lineage possible. The call, therefore, is to refuse spiritual complacency, recover an intense and even uncompromising hunger for God, immerse yourself in Scripture until the Word reshapes your inner world, discover what God says concerning who you are in Christ, put on that identity until it governs your life, confront everything contrary to it, unite prayer with obedience and character transformation, and then carry the purposes of God beyond the point where previous generations stopped—moving from holy priesthood into royal priesthood and from merely belonging to Christ into visibly reigning in life through Him.

Daf Yomi Chullin 135Episode 2443Babble on Talmud with Sruli RappsJoin the chat: https://chat.whatsapp.com/LMbsU3a5f4Y3b61DxFRsqfMERCH: https://www.etsy.com/shop/BabbleOnTalmudSefaria: https://www.sefaria.org.il/Chullin.135a?lang=heEmail: sruli@babbleontalmud.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/babble_on_talmudFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Babble-on-Talmud-100080258961218/#dafyomi #talmud00:00 Intro 02:34 General definitions of reishis hagez13:50 The exclusion of kodashim from reishis hagez35:49 Partnerships and reishis hagez50:23 Partnerships in all sorts of things58:59 Conclusion

TWPC D2S1 | September 11, 2026 | THE BIRTH-PANGS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT PRIESTS God is calling you beyond a Christianity of outward religion, spiritual activity, inherited traditions, intellectual knowledge, miracles, deliverance, prosperity, or dependence on ministers into the reality of His life formed within you. The goal of redemption is not merely to prepare you to die and go to heaven, but to bring the life, nature, wisdom, love, holiness, authority, and even the power of resurrection into your present existence, until your whole being—including your mortal body—is brought increasingly under the government of the Spirit of life. The signs, upheavals, darkness, deception, wars, crises, and pressures of the age should therefore not merely frighten you; they are like birth pangs announcing that creation is moving toward the manifestation of a different kind of humanity—the mature sons of God and a New Testament priesthood capable of expressing Christ and participating in the coming order of His kingdom. Yet this company cannot be produced by activity alone. The essential preparation is intimacy: you must know Christ personally, face to face and heart to heart, rather than only knowing about Him through books, sermons, pastors, conferences, or even biblical information. Scripture is meant to lead you to Him, ministers are meant to point you to Him, and spiritual leadership becomes dangerous whenever it takes the place that belongs to Christ. Learn therefore to hear His voice, discern it from every counterfeit voice, and cultivate a secret-place relationship strong enough to recognize Him even amid the noise and deception of the world. Whenever He calls, “Come away,” be prepared to leave behind whatever has become a wall between you and Him—even things He originally gave you: ministry, family, career, money, revelation, reputation, spiritual gifts, church activity, technology, routines, or the approval of people. Every new level of intimacy will require a new surrender. Do not insist on meeting God only on your own terms, at familiar times, through familiar routines, or in familiar spiritual environments; allow Him to lead you beyond your comfort and carry you where you would not naturally choose to go. In the secret place He will expose the “little foxes”—hidden pride, anger, lust, anxiety, impatience, offenses, distractions, self-interest, ambition, and subtle inward corruptions that public ministry and external deliverance may never uncover. Guard spiritual impressions carefully because spiritual things can be delicate, and refuse the distractions that continually interrupt communion with God. Seek Him with your whole heart, not merely His power, gifts, solutions, success, protection, or provision; even legitimate desires can become idols when they redirect your heart away from Him. Seek Him in Scripture rather than merely reading to preach, seek Him in prayer rather than merely presenting needs, and seek Him through fasting and solitude until knowing Him becomes the one necessary thing around which everything else is ordered. Love must remain the true measure of maturity, because prophecy, knowledge, faith, sacrifice, spiritual gifts, and ministry accomplishments become empty without the nature of divine love—patient, humble, truthful, enduring, unselfish, and free from pride. Revelation must become practice quickly, because truth that is admired but not obeyed soon fades and leaves you searching for another conference or another experience. Recognize also that straying from God rarely begins with dramatic rebellion; a tiny deviation maintained over time can take you far from the mark, and prosperity, poverty, failure, pain, offense, disappointment, ministry success, or desperate desires can all become idols that alter your direction. Therefore repent wherever your heart has shifted, guard your heart carefully, receive the restoration God offers, and ask Him to renew your hunger, discernment, strength, love, purity, spiritual hearing, and capacity to obey. The call of this season is to return to Christ Himself, allow truth to restore what has been lost, become one with His Word and His nature, grow from infancy into mature priestly sonship, carry His presence rather than merely discuss it, and become a fruitful vessel through whom God can reveal His life, establish His kingdom, and manifest Christ in the earth.

TWPC D2S2 | September 11, 2026 | THE BIRTH-PANGS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT PRIESTS The life of God planted within every believer is not meant to remain hidden; it must be brought forth until Christ becomes visible in thought, conduct, desire, work, relationships, and daily living. This bringing forth requires spiritual “birth pangs”—a deep hunger, mourning, travail, and willingness to surrender everything that belongs to the present age so that the realities of the age to come can emerge. Do not merely accumulate revelation; return to what you have heard, meditate on it, question it, digest it, and allow truth to reshape you, because the Word is given not simply to inform you but to command your obedience and produce the nature of God within you. Hunger not primarily for things that can be seen, possessed, enjoyed, or lost, but for the eternal realities of glory, honour, immortality, righteousness, and the knowledge of God; the more the heart is occupied with temporary things, the more the present world retains its hold, but as truth reveals Christ and detaches the heart from the world, a new nature begins to appear. The coming kingdom is therefore not merely something to wait for externally; its realities must first be birthed within a people whose lives declare that another civilization has begun. Holy living, complete obedience, blamelessness, godliness, and righteousness are ways of hastening that coming reality, because darkness loses its influence as the sons of God increasingly shine through the kind of people they become. Prayer and fasting have their place, but they cannot substitute for obedience; what God commands must be practiced until truth becomes character. Scripture equips you for these good works by producing a life in which the old nature loses its authority and the new man becomes visible. Faith must therefore be understood not merely as a means of obtaining things, but as the courage to release what is temporary in order to possess what is eternal, as Moses forsook Egypt because he saw an invisible reward of greater value. You cannot hold tightly to the old life while expecting the new life to appear; resurrection follows death, and reigning follows surrender. This process of crucifixion must reach every area of life: the mind must be renewed so that your thoughts are governed by Christ rather than the world; the hands must be crucified so that your work, business, craft, and pursuit of gain are free from dishonesty and manipulation; the feet must be surrendered so that you go only where God sends you rather than pursuing visibility, recognition, opportunity, or religious fame; and the heart must be pierced so that worldly affections, ambitions, desires, motives, and attachments lose their beauty before you. Carrying the cross is therefore a daily yielding of your own life so that Christ can live through you. Ministry activity, spiritual language, miracles, or public usefulness are not proof of maturity if the inner life remains worldly; discernment is necessary because a person may continue ministering while inwardly loving the present world. Maturity means becoming able to distinguish what is truly of Christ, refusing to excuse spiritual carelessness, and allowing constant fellowship with truth to transform the soul until what you preach and what you live are no longer different things. Offenses, pressures, work, money, relationships, and hidden motives become places where the reality of Christ is tested and revealed. Like pilgrims who saw a better country and refused to return to what they had left behind, set your affection on things above and refuse every invitation—whether through old desires, friendships, ambitions, or memories—to return to Egypt. The world that must be judged is not merely an external system; its appetites, values, fears, pride, lusts, and patterns must be uprooted from within. Allow the Spirit of God to produce an inward earthquake so deep that the old landscape of carnality disappears and those who encounter you increasingly encounter Christ. Seek God Himself above everything else, not merely knowledge about Him, until knowing Him creates a hunger that nothing in this age can satisfy. Let discipleship, fellowship, Scripture, obedience, discernment, prayer, intimacy, and the continual working of the cross bring you into maturity, so that the life presently hidden within you becomes a living expression of the coming age and your existence on earth becomes evidence that the kingdom of God has begun to appear.

TWPC D1S2 | September 10, 2026 | THE BIRTH-PANGS OF THE NEW TESTAMENT PRIESTS You must understand that the Christian life is not meant to remain at the level of outward religion, familiar doctrines, church attendance, spiritual vocabulary, or occasional encounters with God; you have been called into a life in which Christ is progressively formed within you until what God has written concerning you becomes your actual experience. He set his heart to understand, entered a season of prayer and mourning, denied himself ordinary pleasures, and remained before God until understanding came. You must learn the same discipline. Whenever Scripture reveals a dimension of Christ, righteousness, spiritual authority, holiness, communion, wisdom, or divine life that is absent from your experience, do not simply admire it as something that belonged to people in another generation. This is where spiritual warfare becomes personal. The great conflict between light and darkness does not merely take place somewhere outside you in an invisible realm; it seeks expression within the human soul. Darkness gains influence through thoughts, cultures, ideologies, fears, desires, excuses, habits, ambitions, wounds, and assumptions that resist what God is saying. The resistance to divine instruction can even speak with your own voice, giving you reasonable explanations for why obedience should be postponed. This is why spiritual warfare cannot be reduced to shouting at external demons while remaining inwardly unchanged. The enemy resists this birth because a believer who truly embodies Christ is far more dangerous to darkness than one who merely possesses Christian language. You must therefore refuse a Christianity that gives you information without transformation. Do not assume that spiritual gifting, ministry office, popularity, wealth, influence, eloquence, large crowds, or public recognition prove maturity. A person can possess remarkable gifting and still be governed inwardly by insecurity, pride, competition, ambition, materialism, and the values of the world. Jesus is greater than money, status, platforms, buildings, titles, and ministry success. You must learn to distinguish the life of Christ from the appearance of spiritual success. You cannot remain permanently dependent on a prominent minister, prophet, pastor, or spiritual leader to hear God on your behalf. The future of the church requires communities of people who can hear Him together—a prophetic people rather than merely prophetic personalities. When the voice of God resides in a company of mature believers, the community becomes resilient because truth is no longer concentrated in one person. You are part of that responsibility. The God you seek is not merely somewhere outside you; you are His temple. His Spirit dwells within you, and the river you keep looking for must increasingly rise from within. Learn to draw from the wells of salvation. Learn to recognize the movement of God within your own spirit. Learn to steward impressions, burdens, convictions, insights, Scriptures, and divine promptings rather than continually searching outside yourself for validation. Do not allow your years in Christianity to make you unteachable. Whenever God releases fresh light, become a student again. Some of the greatest barriers to further revelation are the truths you already understand incorrectly. God may have to disturb theological assumptions, inherited traditions, religious customs, denominational expectations, and ideas you have confidently taught before He can show you something deeper. Do not reject truth merely because it arrives in a form you did not expect. John the Baptist did not look like the established religious order of his day, yet he carried a divine administration. Do not run from God's presence because of them. Remain before Him. Let Him remove the filthy garments, deal with the iniquity, silence the accusation, clothe you with clean garments, and place authority upon you. Let every inner configuration that contradicts Christ be challenged. Let every limitation imposed by darkness be dismantled. Let God pour you from vessel to vessel until stagnation is broken and His life gains free expression through you. Let the travail begin wherever it needs to begin. Let God alter the track of your life where necessary. Let Him lead you away from systems that cannot give you life and into relationships and communities where His testimony is being preserved among disciples. And when He shows you what He has placed inside you, do not abort it through distraction, compromise, fear, convenience, or conformity. Carry it faithfully. Travail until it comes forth. Allow Christ to mature within you until the world encounters not merely someone who believes in Jesus, but someone through whom the life, wisdom, character, authority, and government of Jesus have become visible.

What's wrong with Socialism-Communism? From a biblical perspective, much; both epistemologically and theologically. But to my delight and surprise Catholics were decrying the horrors of Soc-Com ideology two years before Karl Marx even published his Manifesto. Clear back in 1846 Pope Pius IX was both watching what was lurking over the horizon and sounding the alarm. Subsequent traditionally Catholic Popes and Priests also had much to say about what they were witnessing with the embodied presence of Soc-Com. I work through some of their warnings and critiques. In this show I also reflect in humor-splashed ways on the outcome of a recent college football game, address a now-established meme that Jesus didn't think he was divine, talk about ongoing social media shaddow-banning, and work through whether I am a Catholic-o-phile. Come think and laugh with me.

Take a ride back in time to 2018 when the Popping Collars regulars, Betsy, Greg, Liz, and Ricardo, discussed the rise of celebrity scandal in 2018 and the consequences that resulted (or didn't) for notable figures accused of reprehensible behavior. What's the complicated legacy of bad behavior in the public eye? Let us know your thoughts at poppingcollarspodcast@gmail.com or hit us up on socials Find us on the web at poppingcollarspodcast.com Don't forget to pick up some awesome merch Check out our Youtube offerings Read Greg's ramblings about movies at Letterboxd

Can we participate in the worlds economy even when it rejects Jesus? All In Gospel Podcast is a chapter by chapter, verse by verse, in depth bible study where we seek to understand God's Word.All In Gospel is recorded live at Calvary Chapel with Pastor Seann Dikkers. You can support this study at anchor.fm/allingospel ⁠or ⁠https://all-in-gospel.com/

A Kingdom of Priests | John Lawler | Exodus 19.1-25 by Christ Church Presbyterian

Believers have been saved for the purpose of being royal priests.Three months after leaving Egypt, Israel camps at the foot of Mount Sinai. God renews His covenant with them, reminding them that He brought them out of slavery on eagles' wings and brought them to Himself. The call is clear: if they will obey His voice and keep His covenant, they will be His treasured possession—a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.Like Joseph, who was freed from slavery and exalted to serve as a mediator, Israel has been delivered for a purpose. They are to represent the King and mediate His truth to the nations. The same is true for every believer: we have been saved not merely from something, but for something—to live as royal priests who declare the excellencies of the One who called us out of darkness.Preached by Rodney Brown Jr. at Rhome Bible ChurchWebsite: https://www.rhomebible.org#Exodus #BibleTeaching #RhomeBibleChurch #Sermon #ChristianPodcast #BiblicalPreaching #GodsSovereignty #OldTestament #Faith #ImpartingTheWord #Reformed #ExpositionalPreaching #ExpositionalTeaching #KingdomOfPriests #Covenant

Prophets, Priests & Kings: Amos Part 3 Joel Johnson Download

Kings and priests I. Rule self II. Reign III. Resist sin IV. Render sacrifice V. Reach others

Much of his story is told in the first chapter of Luke's Gospel. The Synaxarion continues:   'After the birth of Christ, Zacharias plainly declared the virginity of Mary and showed her truly to be the Mother of God; for he appointed her a place in that part of the Temple reserved for the virgins and so brought upon himself the hatred of the priests and levites.   'When John was six months old, Zacharias hid him and his mother in a cave beyond the Jordan because King Herod, hearing of the birth in Bethlehem of the king of the Jews and fearing a rival of his own worldly power, sent soldiers to kill all the male children of Bethlehem. His enemies seized this opportunity to denounce Zacharias to Herod, who had him pursued and put to death within the precinct of the Temple, at the very place the Mother of God abode for a witnes to her virginity. As the Prophet's blood flowed within the sanctuary, it signified the withdrawing of the divine Presence. Priests came to take up his body and they buried him with his fathers. From that moment signs and prodigies occurred in the Temple, indicating that the rites of the Law would soon be abolished. No longer would the priests behold the angels of God, or have the grace of prophecy; no longer would they be able to deliver oracles or enlighten the people upon the dark places of holy Scripture, as they had been wont to do.'

Ted Flynn, Marian apparitions expert and author of Secrets of the Book of Revelation Revealed, joins John-Henry Westen to argue that the Book of Revelation is unfolding before our eyes. Drawing on decades of research into Marian prophecy, Scripture, mystics, and the end times, Flynn connects Fatima, Garabandal, the Marian Movement of Priests, and Fr. Stefano Gobbi's messages to the present crisis in the Church and world. Humanity, he insists, cannot repair this collapse by its own efforts, divine intervention is coming.Flynn turns to artificial intelligence, surveillance, digital identity, and the infrastructure being built by technological elites, including Palantir, Peter Thiel, massive data centers, and wealthy figures preparing bunkers for catastrophic scenarios. He argues these developments resemble the conditions described in Revelation, where people could be prevented from buying or selling. Marian warnings about the Antichrist, Freemasonry, and the "appointed time" for the unveiling of Revelation are being fulfilled before our eyes.Despite the warnings, Flynn's message is ultimately one of hope: Our Lady triumphs in the end. The infrastructure is being laid. The signs are everywhere. But the triumph is certain. The question is whether the faithful will recognize the battle before it is too late. The Book of Revelation is not a distant prophecy, it is present reality. And the time to prepare is now.Buy Ted Flynn's new book here: https://sign.org/product/the-secrets-of-the-book-of-revelation-revealed/Make the switch today to iCatholicMobile today!iCatholic Mobile—supporting the Catholic faith with every connection.https://www.facebook.com/icatholicmobile https://www.icatholicmobile.com/ HELP SUPPORT WORK LIKE THIS: https://give.lifesitenews.com/?utm_source=SOCIAL U.S. residents! Create a will with LifeSiteNews: https://www.mylegacywill.com/lifesitenews ****PROTECT Your Wealth with gold, silver, and precious metals: https://sjp.stjosephpartners.com/lifesitenews +++SHOP ALL YOUR FUN AND FAVORITE LIFESITE MERCH! https://shop.lifesitenews.com/ +++Connect with John-Henry Westen and all of LifeSiteNews on social media:LifeSite: https://linktr.ee/lifesitenewsJohn-Henry Westen: https://linktr.ee/jhwesten Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Father's Day Special 2026. We wish everyone a happy father's day tomorrow. All Fathers of all types, Uncles. Priests. Who had an input to family life. Gospel Reflection (Matthew 24:3-35) 

Why don't Priests and clergy preach the truth? Is it insidious? Ralph Martin's Book: The Coming Judgment! stpaulcenter.com/thecomingjudgment  SUPPORT CATHOLIC TRUTH! (501c3)- Credit Card or PayPal: https://catholictruth.org/donate/- Patreon: Patreon.com/catholictruth (monthly giving only) - GoFundMe: https://gofund.me/6ce08aae (Catholic Billboards) NEED A CATHOLIC SPEAKER? Parish Mission? Confirmation Retreat? Keynote Speaker? Other? https://catholictruth.orgFOLLOW CATHOLIC TRUTH: 1. Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/catholictruthofficial/ 2. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/CatholicTruth.org/ 3. TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@thecatholicofficial 4. YouTube channel #2: https://www.youtube.com/@catholictruthliving 5. YouTube Channel #3 https://www.youtube.com/@GabrielasDSJourney 6. Podcast: https://www.buzzsprout.com/1157177 7. Twitter: https://twitter.com/CatholicTruth7 8. Instagram #2 https://www.instagram.com/catholictruthliving/ 9. Instagram #3 (Down Syndrome Advocacy) bit.ly/3R90a8i 10. Facebook Group Page for CT: https://www.facebook.com/groups/catholictruthct 11. Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/catholictruth/ 12. Rumble: https://rumble.com/user/CatholicTruth 13. Online Articles in Different Languages: https://thecatholictruth.org/category/articles Online Confirmation Retreat: https://catholictruth.org Online Shop: https://catholictruth.org/shop/ 

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In this Bible Story, we peer into the childhood of Jesus. Even as a young boy, his purpose is clear. He is to teach the word of God and turn people's hearts of stone into hearts of flesh. Although his family doesn't entirely understand, Jesus grows up with purpose and mission. He grows in strength and wisdom, works as a carpenter, and waits to begin his ministry. This story is inspired by Luke 2:40-52. Go to https://www.BibleinaYear.com and learn the Bible in a Year.Today's Bible verse is Luke 2:40 from the King James Version.Episode 175: As Mary and Joseph were leaving Jerusalem, after their annual Passover visit, they lost track of Jesus. After looking for three days, they found him still in the Temple, asking questions of the Priests and learning from them. Mary was concerned, but Jesus was content and obeyed his father and mother. Growing daily in wisdom, stature, and favor with God and man.Hear the Bible come to life as Pastor Jack Graham leads you through the official BibleinaYear.com podcast. This Biblical Audio Experience will help you master wisdom from the world's greatest book. In each episode, you will learn to apply Biblical principles to everyday life. Now understanding the Bible is easier than ever before; enjoy a cinematic audio experience full of inspirational storytelling, orchestral music, and profound commentary from world-renowned Pastor Jack Graham.Also, you can download the ⁠Pray.com⁠ app for more Christian content, including, Daily Prayers, Inspirational Testimonies, and Bedtime Bible Stories.Visit JackGraham.org for more resources on how to tap into God's power for successful Christian living.Pray.com is the digital destination of faith. With over 5,000 daily prayers, meditations, bedtime stories, and cinematic stories inspired by the Bible, the Pray.com app has everything you need to keep your focus on the Lord. Make Prayer a priority and download the #1 App for Prayer and Sleep today in the Apple app store or Google Play store.Executive Producers: Steve Gatena & Max BardProducer: Ben GammonHosted by: Pastor Jack GrahamMusic by: Andrew Morgan SmithBible Story narration by: Todd Haberkorn Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

This episode we continue with the reign of Uno no Sarara, aka Jito Tenno, and look at records of the various foreigners and immigrants who came to the archipelago. This includes immigrants from the Korean peninsula as well as those foreigners with whom Yamato shared the Central Land of the Reed Plains--like the Hayato and the Emishi. We also take a look at the Yamato court's widening relationship with and use of Buddhism. Along the way we take a look at a few different incidents and reports, including omens, hunting and fishing restrictions, and a story of sweet wine that reportedly cured the worst of diseases. For more check out the podcast website: https://sengokudaimyo.com/podcast/episode-155 (blogpost goes live 1 Sep 2026) Rough Transcript Welcome to Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.  My name is Joshua and this is episode 155: Immigrants, Priests, and Sweet Wine The three priests and their companions could see the distinctive pagoda from a distance away.   It stood several stories tall, and the bells at the eave ends glinted in the morning light. To their right, a tall, conical peak stood out from the other mountains, much like a miniature Mt. Fuji.  From there, the mountains swept down to the flat plain, which then ended at the edge of the giant body of water known as Lake Biwa.  The pagoda rose up between the two, its uppermost spire jutting upwards towards the sky.  Around it, much of the flat area had been carved into rectangular rice paddies, with paths and thatched roof buildings around—most of them low to the ground, distinctive of the muro style still prominent amongst most of the common people.  As such, though it didn't come anywhere near the grandeur of the temples in the capital, even a provincial temple stood out with its tiled roof and the brightly colored, red, white, and green walls and windows.  As they approached, the group saw a crowd of people by the gates.  Many of them seemed ill and infirm.  They had come to be healed by the waters of the temple—the same healing waters that had brought these priests all the way from the capital to investigate. We are covering a bunch of different things from the reign of Uno no Sarara, from 686 to 697.  This episode we take a journey through a few different topics.  Mostly we are talking about foreigners—both those from overseas and the ones that Yamato shared the archipelago with—and with Buddhism and how the court used this continental religion that had already become a key organ of the Yamato State. To start with, let's talk about immigrants.  Immigration to the archipelago by this point isn't anything new—and I'm not just talking about the groups that came over and kickstarted the Yayoi culture and the eventual mounded tomb period that we know as the Kofun era.  There were numerous ethno-linguistic groups that fell under Yamato's hegemony, and evidence of active migration. Of the various groups on the archipelago, there appear to be several categories.  For instance, we have groups that are clearly external immigrants, from outside of the archipelago  and then we have those groups that appear to be considered indigenous, at least by Yamato's thinking.. Some of this can be seen in how they are treated, discussed, and even assimilated.  Those external, while often presented as being in a tribute status, are still treated differently from those on the archipelago, where the land borders of Yamato would abut against the territories of local ethnic groups.  This probably also had something to do with the claim that the Heavenly Grandchild and their descendants, the current Tennou, were presumably given sovereignty over the entire Land of the Central Reed Plains, aka the Japanese archipelago. External immigrants included people from Silla, and, even though the kingdoms themselves had fallen and been absorbed by Silla, Gogureyo and Baekje.  This last one might be a bit surprising if we think about it in modern terms where we tend to think in terms of citizenship and nationality first and foremost.  So we think of someone as being American, French, or Japanese based on the country they came from.  But that American might be Dine—aka Navaho—or they could identify as Cajun or their parents might have been immigrants from somewhere else and they are the first generation born in the US.  That doesn't mean they aren't American, but "American" is only part of their identity.  Likewise that Japanese person could be Ainu, Ryukyuan, or even one of the Bonin islanders.  That is to say they may be from an ethno-linguistic group other than the majority ethnic group in that nation. In the same vein, while it's true that Baekje had been conquered by Silla, that doesn't mean that the Baekje people were suddenly erased and that the people suddenly changed their lifestyles or language overnight.  And so, while they may have been subjects of the Silla kingdom, there were still Baekje people both in Silla and in the archipelago.  And as late as 690, decades after it was conquered, we see that Baekje immigrants were arriving in Japan. Similarly, we see Goguryeo immigrants who came over in 687, three years earlier, even though that kingdom no longer existed.  They were settled in Hitachi, where they were given lands, received an allowance of grain to help tide them over, and then allowed to grow their community and work, as long as they did so peacefully, under the care of the local Yamato officials. And it isn't difficult to see why people of Baekje and Goguryeo might come to the archipelago.  Their other options were to head to the Great Tang, which had been the other conquering force, or possibly to go find refuge with various Tungusic ethnic groups around the Amur river area, outside of Tang control. What actually strikes me as a bit more surprising, to be honest, is the immigration of people from Silla.  After all, Silla was ascendant, was it not?  They had just unified the peninsula and this seems like it would have been a great time to be team Silla, and yet we see people leaving to come to Yamato. For instance, in 687 we see 14 immigrants from Silla settled in Shimotsuke.  22 more were presented by the Dazai-Sochi and settled in the land of Musashi.  In 689 and then in 690 we see more Silla immigrants settled in both places.  We also had 50 people come over with Buddhist priests, though we don't know where they ended up settling.  So both Musashi and Shimotsuke were being settled with immigrants from Silla.  Musashi, if you didn't already know, is the name for the area that would largely become the Tokyo metropolis in modern times.  Shimotsuke was the land adjoining it to the northeast.  In all likelihood, all of these people were probably being located to areas near each other, even though they are mentioned as being in different provinces.  That may have been more of an administrative distinction.  That also seems to indicate that they were likely being relocated to border areas where there weren't already large populations, probably because that is where there was open land that wasn't already claimed.  We see something similar with the court sending the people from Goguryeo all the way to Hitachi. It does make me wonder what must have happened for someone to choose to come to the Japanese archipelago from Silla to be sent all the way to the far end of Yamato to work the land.  In previous centuries I would have assumed that these were captives brought back from raids against the mainland, but by all accounts—and the fact that we continue to have relatively cordial diplomatic relations between Yamato and Silla—it appears that Yamato wasn't sending raids and that these individuals were likely coming willingly.  Perhaps they were getting crowded out somewhere in Silla, and had heard of new opportunities.  Or perhaps they had done something to make them persona-non-grata, as they say, back in their home country.   Whatever the reason, there were a number of people coming over, who would have also brought their cultural and technological knowledge along with them.  And many of them were being settled in the far eastern end of Honshu—though that may be something for another time. The indigenous category includes not only the Wa people of Yamato, but also the Hayato and the Emishi.  Of these we don't have a lot of information about who they were or what languages they spoke. For the Hayato we only have a few possible words of their language, and various other things that we know from Yamato's court records.  We know that the Yamato officials needed interpreters to speak with the Hayato.  There are those that theorize that the Hayato language had evolved from one of the languages spoken during the Jomon era—which doesn't give us much to go on other than the idea that it may not have been a Japonic language.  Attempts have been made to connect the Hayato with the unique burial features and other material artifacts of southern Kyushu, and then to the previous ethnic group, known as the Kumaso—or possibly the Kuma and So—but so far there are theories but no hard and fast connections. For example, we know that the Hayato were said to be from Ata and Ohosumi, according to the records of the court, but they also only show up in the late 7th century.  Prior to that we have stories of the Kumaso, and even people called Tsuchigumo.  Were those previous names for the ancestors of the Hayato?  Or were the Hayato encountered later, as Yamato's borders expanded, having perhaps encompassed the lands of the Kumaso and now running into the Hayato?  The fact that they show up so late in the narrative is particularly interesting, as they really only get mentioned in the reign of Ohoama and then Uno no Sarara—though they would be particularly active in the years to come, when the Nihon Shoki was being compiled.  For example, we know that the Hayato were brought into the court system, and also that they resisted, with numerous rebellions in the 8th century, though at this early point, things seemed to be going well. So Hayato were coming to the court, likely seeing some benefit in their association with Yamato.  They are shown coming in fairly significant numbers as well. Meanwhile, we have the ongoing assimilation of the Emishi.  Unlike the Hayato, the Emishi have shown up in the narrative since the legendary period.  We've talked about them quite a bit in various episodes.  Even within the Emishi, the Emishi of Koshi are differentiated from the Emishi further north in Tohoku.  Linguistically, a lot of place names in Tohoku and eastern Honshu have been compared to the Ainu language, with suspicions that a related language was in use in eastern and northeastern Japan for some time.  Tohoku is also the area that most resisted Yayoi culture, based on archaeological finds.  We know that wet rice paddy agriculture also made early in-roads into Tohoku, but then retreated much farther south, perhaps because it wasn't as suitable for the colder climate at that time.  Northern material culture continued to exhibit signs of evolution from the previous Jomon era, with Hokkaido continuing a tradition that we know as the Epi-Jomon, which we first talked about back in episode 50, and several times since then as well..  There were some mounded tombs—even some keyhole shaped tombs around Sendai and Osaki, in modern Miyagi prefecture—but nothing comparable to the large numbers of tombs found in areas further to the south. The Yamato people had had regular encounters with people called "Emishi" since at least the time of Kashikiya Hime, aka Suiko Tenno.  During the time that Takara Hime was on the throne a second time, there were massive military operations, first against the Emishi, and then supporting them against the Mishihase people in what appears to have been Hokkaido.  The Emishi were further brought under the Yamato court and into the court rank system, and we see rank handed out to various members of the group.  Then, in the reign of Uno no Sarara, we start to see further cultural assimilation in the form of the spread of Buddhism. In 689, we are told of Shiriko, an "Emishi of Kikafu, in Ukitamu district, in Michinoku".   This possibly refers to Okitama no Kori, a district in modern Yamagata Prefecture.  Shiriko had two sons, Maro and Kanawori, who requested permission to shave their hair and become Buddhist priests.  Perhaps related to this, about twenty days before, about 231 Emishi men and women had attended a banquet under the tsuki tree by Asukadera, where they were given gifts and rank.  Did that inspire them to want to learn more about this "Buddhism" thing? Either way, Uno no Sarara agreed.  In the edict she commented that Maro and his brother were both refined and modest, despite their youth, and that they were eating vegetarian dishes and keeping the Buddhist precepts.  So presumably this wasn't a last minute decision on their part, though we should probably take the wording in the edict with at least a grain of salt, given their purpose. Only six days later we see that the court is presenting a load of gifts to an Emishi monk named Doushin.  Doushin is said to have been a Koshi Emishi, rather than the Kitafu Emishi of Michinoku.  The court granted him a Buddhist statue, a purification flag, a wine cup, a begging bowl, five-colored silk cloth, thirteen pounds of flossed silk, 10 bolts of regular cloth, ten hoes, and a saddle. Six months later there is another priest:  Jitoku, an Emishi of Michinoku, who is granted a gold-copper image of Yakushi Buddha and a gold-copper image of Kanzeon—or Kannon—Boddhisatva, as well as a bell, a begging bowl, a precious curtain, an incense burner, and a banner. What this looks like, to me, is the court promoting Buddhism among the Emishi.  This feels similar to the way that priests also spread the worship of Mt. Miwa or other kami.  While Buddhism was technically universal, the Court had ensured that they had a hand on the center of Buddhist teaching, at least early on.  Indeed, at the same time that Uno no Sarara was building up the Jingikan and bolstering the worship of Amaterasu at Ise Grand Shrine, she and the court were also leveraging Buddhism and Buddhist concepts in a variety of ways.  She put it in an edict to the ministers in 691.  She noted that they had erected Buddhist Halls and Sutra repositories, and they practiced the six monthly fasts.  The sovereigns would occasionally send Ohotoneri to inquire after the welfare of priests.  As such, they should continue to uphold the Buddhsit Faith with zealous hearts. Upholding the faith wasn't just about words.  There were actual financial contributions.  Besides the national temples, there were gifts made, such as those to the Emishi priests, mentioned earlier.  In 692, Kwansei was presented silk and cloth and commended for making white lead, which was a popular ingredient for cosmetics.  Later that year, Yamada no Mikata was granted rank, and the fact that he had gone to Silla to study as a priest is mentioned in conjunction with that, though apparently he either didn't take orders or had gone back to being a lay person.   And in 693 they gave the priest, Hokyo, 3 chou worth or rice-land.  And in 696 there were 30 houses granted as a sustenance-fief to Bendou, a priest of Daikandaiji. And that tells us the kinds of resources the State was putting towards it, but what were they using Buddhism for?  What purpose did it serve the State, or was it purely altruistic?  A big part of it, as we have discussed in the past, was through the concept of karma and merit.  The court seems to have been making a variety of decisions that look to be efforts to increase the State's merit.  This is a continuation of things we saw in Ohoama's reign, along with some new moves.  For instance, we have previously mentioned in passing how the court was giving alms to the elderly and infirm, at least in the capital, and we see a lot more amnesties—though often qualified amnesties, with various crimes excluded. Then there were things like the edict of 689, in which Hunting and Fishing were prohibited in the Sea of Muko in the province of Settsu for a distance of 1000 paces, and for 20,000 shiro on the plain of Nagino in the district of Ate in the province of Kii, and for 20,000 shiro on the plains of Mino in the district and province of Iga.  The edict also attached keepers to these places in the same way as the Sea of Takashi in the district of Ohotori in the province of Kawachi.  Right off the bat we know a few things.  First off, this is the first time we've seen an edict like this, and yet the Chronicles say that this is similar to the way that "Keepers" were attached to the Sea of Takashi in Ohotori district.  The term used for "Keepers" appears to be "shugo", which would later be used for military governors in the Kamakura period, which would eventually become the shugo daimyo and then the Sengoku daimyo—our namesake.  But in this case it appears that "shugo" is just a literal translation of a "protector".  In front of that is the word "oku", meaning to keep or preserve.  Hence Aston's translation of these people as "keepers".  What is not clear to me is whether this is a reference to something that happened earlier, and just didn't get recorded, or if the Chroniclers are talking about a later practice which the audience for the Nihon Shoki would have been familiar with.  The Takashi sea would refer to the Seto Inland Sea just off the coast of Takashi, which was in Kawachi, south of modern Osaka.    The other places we see named are the Sea of Muko, in Settsu, which would have been north and west from modern Osaka, as well as Nagino in Kii and Mino in Iga. Nagino's location is not quite certain.  Ate is likely Arida, and Nagino may be what was eventually Nago, now thought to be near or including the Hirogawa region of Wakayama.  Later there were be prohibitions on fishining in the areas of Yuasa, Hiro, and Hirogawa, so perhaps there was also a prohibition on hunting on the plains.  This is all on the west side of the Kii peninsula, south of modern Osaka, so still facing the Seto Inland Sea. Iga, however, was on the other side of the peninsula.  Given that it was in Iga district of the land of Iga, this prohibition would definitely be about hunting, and not fishing.  It is also interesting to take a look at the measurements involved.  The one clear prohibition on fishing, in the Sea of Muko, is measured in paces while the other two are mentioned as being on the "plains"—though technically it should probably be "Nagi Plain" and "Mi Plain"—and they are measured differently, in something called "shiro".  By the way, I tried to find how big a "shiro" was and I couldn't quite do it. I wonder if the difference there, though, is area versus length:  For the sea of Muko it probably meant the waters directly out from the shore of Muko, and so I imagine that the paces were measure out from a certain point, walking along the shoreline, and then you couldn't go out into the sea in those areas to fish.  For the plains you could have more definitive markers indicating a particular area that was under the prohibition. For another clue to protected areas and distances, we see later that "long-life places" were established throughout the various provinces, each one being 1000 paces.  Aston notes that "long life places" indicated areas where animals couldn't be harmed, and given that they talk about it in terms of "paces" I would assume that means these were probably more prohibitions on fishing. That language also suggests to me that there was some kind of Buddhist reasoning behind it—mercy for the creatures of the land.  It isn't clear how long these prohibitions remained in effect, either.  This may also explain an order just a few days later that a white swallow that was caught in Mike, in the land of Sanuki, should be set free.  Unusually white or albino animals were often caught and presented to the throne as auspicious omens, not always in a live state.  However, Buddhism often teaches that there is merit in releasing animals, and so this feels like it was a way of demonstrating mercy and building merit, while also acknowledging the auspicious omen that accompanied its appearance. Also in this edict is who it is directed to:  Tanaka no Ason no Norimaro, who is named as the "soryo" of Iyo.  We've mentioned this before, in passing; this was a position similar to the Dazai no Sochi.  Effectively, the government official in charge of Iyo was in charge of the entire island of Shikoku.  Unlike the Dazai no Sochi, this position does not seem to have remained for long; instead, Shikoku was divided up into separate provinces and then each province had its own governor. By the way, we've talked about Norimaro before, as well.  He was previously in charge of the mission to Silla, when they went to announce Ohoama's demise, but then ran into a bunch of diplomatic etiquette issues such that they weren't able to deliver the news—or perhaps more appropriately they decided they couldn't deliver the news.  So from representing the court on missions, Norimaro went on to become the government official in Iyo overseeing all of Shikoku.  A couple of years later he would show up again, this time sending gold and silver that had apparently been found at Mt. Mima in Uwa district—modern Uwajima.  Unfortunately, after that he disappears from the narrative, and the position seems to end with him. Speaking of animals—the presentation of auspicious plants animals continued, and was often wrapped up with amnesties and similar such things.  The year 692 seems to have been of particular significance.  There we see the Governor of Sagami presenting a pair of fledgling red crows that had been caught in Miura.  Later we see that the governor, the vice governor, and the individual who had caught the crows—Kashima no Omi no Kusu—were gifted with rank and presents, while Miura district had its taxes and forced labor remitted for a period of three years. Later that same year, the Governor of Ise presented auspicious stalks of rice while the Governor of Echizen, that is to say the western part of Koshi closest to the capital, presented a white moth.  The stalks of rice don't seem to have warranted much, but the white moth, which presumably was not just a moth that is naturally white, was apparently considered something noteworthy.  We are told that it was caught on the shore at Uragami, in the district of Tsuruga.  As such, the Fief of the Kebi no Kami—the kami of Kebi, or at least his shrine—was increased by 20 houses.  Unfortunately, we have a lacuna or gap in the text so we don't get everything else.  This is a good reminder that sometimes we don't have anything because it wasn't written down, and sometimes because accidents happen.  Either something doesn't get transcribed properly or something gets damaged early on and there aren't enough copies for it to propagate from another source. Our next omens come in 694—the same year that the Fujiwara Palace was occupied.  We are told that a white copper-pheasant was presented by Sarara in Kawachi.  So the Governor and Vice-Governor of the district received promotions, as did the many who had caught it, Osakabe no Miyatsuko no Karakuni.  Four months later, a white bat was found by a man in Araki, in Hida province.  His name was Ohokunibe no Otohi, and he didn't receive a promotion in court rank, but he did get material presents in terms of silk cloth and floss, and, perhaps more importantly, he was exempted from all forced labor for the rest of his life.  Not a bad deal, if you ask me. Now omens were good and all, but omens were hardly active expressions by the government.  When things were happening—like damaging rains—or perhaps not happening—like droughts—people wanted the government to do something.  I know it may be hard for people to believe in this day and age, but many people believed that the government was responsible for all sorts of things that it had little control over.  In this case, that was the weather, and the state could at least prepare by collecting taxes in rice and then providing relief via those same resources.  But that still only did so much.  So when months went by with no rain falling, the state would turn towards ritual.  In some cases that ritual was directed at the kami and the new Jingikan, but in other cases, it fell on Buddhist priests. So, for example, in 688 we are told that there was a drought and the court initiated prayers for rain.  Those prayers were carried out by the priest Douzou.  Douzou was of Baekje extraction, but that didn't concern the court—they just wanted to know that he was effective.  Sure enough, after praying for rain, the clouds opened up and before morning the rain had fallen.  We are told it fell "across the realm", which I'm pretty sure is hyperbole.  It probably fell all across the Nara plains and surrounding areas, which was enough for the court. In 691, they were struck with the opposite problem, which we know because the court issued an edict dated to the 19th day of the 6th month of that year.  Apparently rain had fallen for two straight months.  And while the fifth month rains—the Satsuki-ame—are well-known, this apparently had started back in the 4th month of that year, and now there was a worry that it would start to injure the crops, reducing the annual yield.  The conclusion appears to have been that the country did not have enough merit.  Therefore the ministers and officials were prohibited from the use of strong drink or meat—Aston translates it directly as "animal food".  They were also ordered to compose their hearts and repent of any sins they may have committed.  At the same time, the priests in the temples of the capital and Home provinces were told to recite sutras for five straight days.  We also know that a day later they announced an amnesty for various criminals, as well.  Another act of mercy and hopefully for making merit. And it seems to have worked.  Or one could just say that the natural monsoon rains finally stopped after a particularly heavy season.  Who's to say? In the 5th intercalary month of 692, the rains were again pretty bad.  This time it isn't that they were long, but that it was heavy rain—what Japanese meteorology reports would likely call "Oyu", or Great Rain—which brought with it floods. Unfortunately, while they could pray for rain to start or stop, floods are another matter.  By the time you know the flood has happened it is too late.  And so this is where the government's preparedness came into focus.  Commissioners were sent to visit the districts and provinces.  There they found people affected by the flooding and they were empowered to make loans to provide relief.  Furthermore, they allowed people to access resources that might otherwise have been restricted, allowing them to fish and cut wood in the hills, forests, ponds, and marshes, even if that was normally a prohibited activity, so that they could sustain themselves until they were able to get back on their feet.  At the same time, the Sutra of Golden Light, the Konkwoumyou Sutra, one of the sutras for protecting the state, was to be read aloud in the capital and the Home Provinces.  The Sutra of Golden Light is the one which not only talks about the Shitennou, the four heavenly kings, but also emphasizes that if rulers support and honor the recitation of the sutra, then their kingdoms would be prosperous and peaceful, so what better time to read it than during or just after a disaster? There were other recitations and congregations that were not quite so obviously connected.  In 690, there were discourses in the inner precinct of the palace during the "Vassa", known in Japanese as "Ango" or "Dwelling in Peace".  This comes from the tradition in Buddhism where it is said that the Buddha and his disciples, though normally traveling around the countryside, would come together during the rainy season.  During this time they would talk and share.  It is still practiced in many Theravada schools, where monks will gather in temples during the rainy season.  Of course, as we've discussed, the 5th month was right in the middle of Japan's rainy season, so it seems like they may have been attempting to emulate that tradition. Three years later, we are told that they held a great-congregation of monks on that same date—the 15th day of the 5th month.  This is not referred to as an Ango, however, possibly noting a change in the way they were organizing or conducting it—or possibly just because it was referred to differently in the record the Chroniclers used.  That said, a great-congregation was simply a Buddhist gathering, where various priests would provide sermons or sutra readings, and not necessarily tied to a particular time.  Another one was called in the 9th month of 693 on behalf of the late sovereign, Ohoama and all prisoners were released, which was no doubt merit seen as accruing to the late sovereign. A month after that, the Benevolent King Sutra, or Ninnou-kyou, was expounded in the provinces for four days.  This is another one of the sutras considered important for the well-being of the state. In 694 we have 100 copies of the Konkwoumyou sutra—the Sutra of Golden Light—being sent out to the provinces, with the intent that they should be read together, at a certain time, when the moon of the first month was in the first quarter.  Any fees or resources needed by the temples to carry this out were to be defrayed from the public revenues of the provinces.  As Aston points out, "revenues" in this case would not necessarily be cash money.  Not that they didn't have coins—they had the Fuhonsen coins from Ohoama's time; see Episode 146 for more information.  We are even told that in 694 the court appointed three officials—Ohoyake no Maro, Utena no Yashima, and Kibumi no Honjitsu—to be governors for the mint, although Aston notes a Shoku Nihongi account from 708 that claimed that was the "first time" the title was given out.  Either way, even though they were minting coins, these wouldn't have been in common circulation.  The government may have used them to pay for things, but taxes coming in, especially in the provinces would have been in-kind taxes, meaning that the revenue to the temples were likely paid in rice, cloth, or similar. We similarly see another edict to read the Golden Light sutra on the first day of the twelfth month of 696.  This time it wasn't just a one time reading, though: they were setting a precedent.  The edict was to expound the Sutra of Golden Light and then, every year hence, they would schedule ten people of pure life who should be inducted as monks on the eve of the New Year.  I have to wonder about how they had people take orders—and whether it was a lifelong commitment or, as in some cultures, today, a temporary position.  After all, Ohoama took orders but didn't exactly remain "retired" for all that long. The same thing had happened back in 694, when one hundred and four people were made to enter religion for the sake of Royal Princess Asuka.  So how long did they remain Buddhist priests? There is a reference, in 693, of a priest being stripped of his monkhood.  It was done by royal order for a Goguryeo priest Fukuka, and it isn't made clear why.  Was it something that the priest wanted?  Maybe they wanted to stop being a monk for some reason?  Or was it done as a punishment?  There was apparently a great-congregation only about two weeks prior.  Maybe there was some drama?  We'll probably never know. In 697, there was an uptick in merit-making.  In the third month, a great-congregation was being held in the Eastern Palace.  The Eastern Palace was the home of the Crown Prince, so this may have something to do with the planned succession, but then in the 6th month we see a bunch of things happening.  There was a royal order for sutras to be read in temples in the Home Provinces, and then, nine days later, an order that people of 5th rank and lower were to go spend time cleaning out the temples in the capital.  On the 26th, 11 days after that, we get a record the seems to bring this into focus, as the Ministers and public functionaries started making votive images of the Buddha for the sake of Uno no Sarara's illness.  It seems that she was feeling unwell, which probably kicked off a lot of this activity, and may even be why she finally decided to abdicate.  There was one more seemingly related note.  On the 29th day of the 7th month the Ministers and public functionaries prepared a festival for the installation of Buddhist images in the temple of Yakushiji.  This was the temple Ohoama had originally commissioned for Uno no Sarara during his reign when she was sick back then.  She had recovered, then, and she would recover again—but her faith in the healing power of the Buddha may have been limited.  She would abdicate a few days later, leaving the throne to Prince Karu—the future Monmu Tennou. One last thing, somewhat tangential, it seems.  In the 11th month of 693, three priests, Houin, Zen'ou, and Shingi, set out, along with others, to the Yasu district in Afumi to taste the sweet wine of the local springs.  This is likely the area around the Yasu river, where it flows northwest from the mountains into Lake Biwa.  Today it is Yasu city on one side of the river and Moriyama city on the other. They apparently came back in the third month of the following year, as that is when we get a royal edict concerning said springs.  Based on that, we are told that the spring of quote-unquote "sweet wine" or "sweet sake" bubbled up at Mt. Tsuga in the Yasu district of Afumi.  Mt. Tsuga, or Tsugayama, may be related to "Moriyama", and Moriyama city is still known for the spring water that comes out of the nearby mountains. In the edict they mention that people who were afflicted with various disease would stay at Yasudera, where they presumably drank the water from the springs, and many of them found themselves healed.  For this miraculous occurrence, the temple itself was awarded four chou of rice-land, and an amount of cloth.  In addition, the district of Yasu was exempted from taxes and forced labor, as well as from any other kinds of corvees that might be levied, for at least one year.  Local authorities were promoted a grade in rank, and gifts were made out to those who were credited with first discovering the springs and their miraculous properties—Kadono no Hatsuki and the daughter of Kudara no Tsurara. A couple of extra notes, based on what we see here.  First off, it is unfortunately too often the case that we see women described like this—the daughter of so-and-so—without providing an actual name.  It is interesting that she is the daughter of someone with the name "Kudara", meaning "Baekje".  During the reign of Naka no Ohoe, aka Tenji Tennou, a number of Baekje people were settled in the areas around Lake Biwa and the Echi River, the next major river to the northeast. The temple mentioned, Yasudera, would have been the local temple, probably run by the local elites.  That likely means the Yasu no Atai family.  The temple itself is no more, and we aren't sure exactly where it was, but there is a strong case to be made that archaeological remains at Yoshimi-chou, in modern Moriyama city, might be that temple.  Still, there is no conclusive evidence. As for springs having healing properties—this is nothing new.  Minerals could have given the water a sweet taste, or perhaps there was something that clouded it, like nigori-zake—unfiltered rice wine.  Whether or not there were any natural healing properties I leave up to your own imagining.  Did people actually benefit from the waters?  Or maybe just because they believed?  Was the fact that a Buddhist temple was involved part of it, or is this just the same thing we see with people going to various springs and imparting to them some healing properties? Either way, it seems that at some point the spring no longer produced the "sweet wine" that had made it famous in its day, and people moved on to a different location. For now, I think we can stop here.  We have probably one more episode talking about specific items from this reign, but we are starting to get more and more sources, including the poetry of the Man'yoshu, which I hope to dig into here in a bit.  Plus a few other things in the works. Until then if you like what we are doing, please tell your friends and feel free to rate us wherever you listen to podcasts.  If you feel the need to do more, and want to help us keep this going, we have information about how you can donate on Patreon or through our KoFi site, ko-fi.com/sengokudaimyo, or find the links over at our main website,  SengokuDaimyo.com/Podcast, where we will have some more discussion on topics from this episode. Also, feel free to reach out to our Sengoku Daimyo Facebook page.  You can also email us at the.sengoku.daimyo@gmail.com.  Thank you, also, to Ellen for their work editing the podcast. And that's all for now.  Thank you again, and I'll see you next episode on Sengoku Daimyo's Chronicles of Japan.

Liz and Ricardo are back with some cozy reading recommendations heading into the Fall. They also weigh in with their takes on the NYT's Top 10 Thrillers of the 21st Century. What do you like to read when the weather turns cooler? Let us know at poppingcollarspodcast@gmail.com or send us your recommendation on socials Find us on the web at poppingcollarspodcast.com Don't forget to pick up some awesome merch Check out our Youtube offerings Read Greg's ramblings about movies at Letterboxd

Prophets, Priests & Kings Amos Part 2 Joel Johnson Download

Anchor Your Soul in His Majesty David Mathis Download Psalm 110,The Lord says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand,until I make your enemies your footstool.”2 The Lord sends forth from Zion your mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies!3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments;from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.4 The Lord has sworn and will not change his mind,“You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.”5 The Lord is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.6 He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses;he will shatter chiefs over the wide earth.7 He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head. I know Psalm 110 sounds hard to understand at the first reading. I think it is understandable with a little explaining. And it's worth it. Martin Luther said,“This beautiful psalm . . . is the very core and [heart] of the whole of Scripture. No other psalm prophecies as abundantly and completely about Christ. It portrays the Lord and his entire kingdom and is full of comfort for Christians.”Hebrews 6:19 calls this psalm “a sure and steadfast anchor of the soul.” If you get Psalm 110, it is powerful for assurance. Its gives us “strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us” (Hebrews 6:18).For those in room who are not yet Christians, Psalm 110 is powerful evidence for the truth of Christianity. I saw an article just this week called “An Overlooked Argument for Christianity: Why the Fulfillment of Old Testament Prophecy Still Matters.” Psalm 110 stands at the confluence of two massive OT rivers of anticipation, as the messianic river of regal hope converges here with another major river of priestly anticipation.A powerful defense of the Christian faith for Christians, and challenge for unbelievers, is how Jesus fulfills in one person thousands of years of such diverse expectations. And Psalm 110 is right at the center of it.Jesus Right NowBut more than assurance and apologetics, as Luther said, this is a great psalm “full of comfort for Christians.” Cities Church, it's been an unusual 2026. I really believe that God gave us what we could not have expected that we might know his Son better. At least that.And here at the end of the summer, he gives us this spectacular vision of our Lord in Psalm 110. This is what we need most right now, a fresh vision of the majesty of Christ, as he is right now, seated in glory and power, worthy of your confidence and full trust.What God wants us to see this morning is that our Lord Jesus is infinitely great. And it's one thing to say that and move on. It's another to say it and then try to back it up with details from Psalm 110; that is, to say and linger over it; to make the general declaration “Jesus is infinitely great” and then explain it, explore it, develop it, give specifics, get fresh glimpses, and real tastes, and perhaps ones we're not used to talking about all the time.So, let's enjoy four sights of the majesty of Jesus, right now, full of comfort for Cities Church.1. Your Lord has conquered and is ruling. (vv. 1, 4)Psalm 110 makes two stunning moves, both declaration from God. The first is verse 1, right out of the gate:The LORD says to my Lord: “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool.”This is an enthronement declaration to a new king, from the mouth of God himself: Sit (on the throne) at my right hand (in the greatest possible place of honor), while I put your enemies under his feet. That is, God (the LORD) will make this king's enemies to serve him, to prop his feet up. The surprise is that David is the king, and we would think he has no lord other than God himself. What does David mean that he has a “Lord” other than the LORD? We'll come back to that.The second surprising move is Verse 4:The LORD has sworn and will not change his mind,“You are a priest forever after the order of Melchizedek.” What's so stunning is that in Israel, the kingship and the priesthood were strictly two different offices. They were expressly not to be joined. Kings, like David, were from the tribe of Judah. Priests, like Aaron (Moses's brother), were from the tribe of Levi.Psalm 110 is clearly from king David, addressed to a future king, and in verse 4, David says God does the imponderable: he declares to the king, You are a priest.Which brings us to this strange Melchizedek figure. Outside of Psalm 110 and the book of Hebrews, he is only mentioned briefly in Genesis 14. In the days of Abraham, four kings from the east came and fought with five kings near Abraham and took his nephew Lot. So, Abraham gathered his trained men and pursued the four kings and overtook them and defeated them. When Abraham returned home with all the spoils, this strange king-priest from Salem (Jerusalem) brings out bread and wine, and blesses Abraham in the name of God Most High. And Abraham acknowledges him and gives him a tenth (a tithe) of the spoils. And that's it. Three verses, and nothing more about this enigmatic Melchizedek.Until David comes along, a thousand years later, sitting as king in Jerusalem, reading Genesis 14 and realizing there was once a king-priest who ruled over this city. David himself would not dare play priest. Saul had tried that and received God's judgment (1 Samuel 13): his kingdom would not continue but be given to “a man after his own heart” (who would be David). But David has received promises from God about his dynasty enduring forever, and always having a son on his throne (2 Samuel 7).Under the terms of the first covenant, under the order of Aaron, king-priest was strictly forbidden. Kings are kings. Priests are priests. But in Psalm 110, David has a vision of a new day when one of his sons will be greater than him (because of God's promise) and that son will not only be king (ruling the people) but priest (making atonement for their sin), like this Melchizedek was. Which must mean a new covenant. (The NT book of Hebrews is essentially an extended meditation on this.)The big deal about a king also being priest is that the heart of the priest's work is offering sacrifices for sin. Making atonement for the people. Kings rule through making laws, enforcing justice, rendering judgments; priests serve the people by offering sacrifices to cover sin, so that a sinful people can have peace with a holy God.What's mainly in view in the king being priest is his making atonement for sin. And the significance of the priesthood for Jesus is that his sacrifice is done. At the cross, he made the perfect sacrifice once for all, and so with his work complete, the Father declares, Sit at my right hand.So, Jesus has conquered. He has made the final sacrifice for sin as the great high priest, and he is presently ruling on heaven's throne as the universe's king.Some of us love especially his kingship: his power and authority, his strategy and decisiveness; his wisdom and perfect justice as the Lion of Judah. Others of us, especially love his priesthood: his compassion and holiness; his sympathy and sacrifice as the Lamb who was slain. We all need both. Amazingly Jesus is both.2. Your Lord never grows old or gets tired. (vv. 3, 7)This is a wonder, and such good news. Look first at the second part of verse 3, which may be “the most obscure verse in the whole Psalter.”“…from the womb of the morning, the dew of your youth will be yours.”Dew and morning, and womb and youth, capture the prime of life: youthful vigor, energy, and strength; the vitality and fresh hope of a new day. In other words, your Lord doesn't grow old and frail; he doesn't slow down with age.One great irony, in our fallen world, that when we're young, we have energy but not yet our best wisdom, and as we grow our wisest, our energy begins to fail us.My dad was a dentist for more than 40 years. As he approached age 70, his knowledge and experience in dentistry was at its height, and yet his energy was declining. His tank got empty quicker. All the knowledge was there and better than ever, but his energy was flagging.And I know a great Christian counselor, here in our church, who was as wise and knowledgeable as he's ever been, at the very top of his game in the counseling field, but as he approached 70, he realized he could not keep doing what he'd once done for 40+ hours week. He's now retired. And still one of the wisest men I know.And I've known a great aging preacher, who knows the Bible and the human heart better than he ever has, and is as skilled in preparing and delivering sermons as he's ever been. But at 80, he does not have the same vigor and energy as he did at 50. Every great leader grows old, and often it's right when he's at his best.But Cities Church, this is not the story of your Lord. And it never will be. There's no transition plan for Jesus. The dew of his youth is still his. It's still morning for his reign, and no evening is coming. He is full of wisdom, greater than Solomon, and full of vigor and life, greater than any Olympian or warrior.Which leads to verse 7, the last line:“He will drink from the brook by the way; therefore he will lift up his head.”The picture is of a great hero who has expended himself in battle, and as the enemy retreats and he hunts him down, God gives him water on the way, to refresh him, and keep him going.Like Gideon in Judges 8:4:“Gideon came to the Jordan and crossed over, he and the 300 men who were with him, exhausted yet pursuing.”Or like Samson in Judges 15:18–19, after he struck down 1000 men with the jawbone of a donkey:[Samson] was very thirsty, and he called upon the Lord and said, “You have granted this great salvation by the hand of your servant, and shall I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?” 19 And God split open the hollow place that is at Lehi, and water came out from it. And when he drank, his spirit returned, and he revived.Verse 7 is a picture of Jesus hunting down the enemy, and being continually refreshed by his Father to keep up the pursuit.Some of us have been wearied in various ways by the challenges of 2026. Or in whatever ways you might be weary going into the fall. We grow old; we get weary; Jesus does not. And in his ever renewing strength he stands ready to renew ours.3. Your Lord is God himself in our own humanity. (vv. 5-7)This truth is so spectacular that it almost cheapens it to put it into words. It's the answer to some of the Bible's most piercing questions. Like when Jesus calms the sea, and the disciples say, Who then is this, that even the wind and the waves obey him?In Matthew 22 (Mark 12; Luke 20), Jesus asks the Pharisees, “What do you think about the Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, “The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, in the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying, [Psalm 110:1]44 “ ‘The Lord said to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I put your enemies under your feet” '? 45 If then David calls him Lord, how is he his son?” (42-45)Then verse 46 reports:“And no one was able to answer him a word, nor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.”Why is that? The missing piece for us is the assumption in the ancient world that a father is greater than his son. The father sired the son; father came first, and from his life and marriage came a son. So, the older generation is greater than the subsequent ones.Yet what Jesus points out is that David is speaking about one of his offspring, but calls him “my Lord.” How can that be? And Jesus leaves it at that. He doesn't need to give the answer with his mouth, because he is the living embodiment of the answer as a son of David and the divine Son. (Calvin says it well: “There is something in Christ more excellent than his humanity, on account of which he is called the Lord of David his father.”)Jesus is so plainly human, standing before the Pharisees in human flesh and blood, in a body he will give to be broken at the cross and blood he will shed as a sacrifice to atone for sins. He is manifestly human (he drinks from the brook!). Yet, he is so much more. This is God himself, the second person of the triune Godhead, among us as one of us. Which is why he is Lord of all, even King David.Psalm 110 gives us an amazing coming together of God himself and his anointed king. See it first in verse 5:“The Lord (God) is at your right hand; he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.”In verse 1, in heaven's throne room, the king was the God's right hand. Now, on the battlefield, God is at the king's right hand. And he (God or human king?) will crush kings on the day of his (God's or king's?) wrath.Verse 6 continues:6 He will execute judgment among the nations, filling them with corpses; he will shatter chiefs [the head]over the wide earth. Is it God or the king who shatters kings and executes judgment, and fills unbelieving nations with corpses? The ambiguity is on purpose. The LORD God and Lord king act as one. There's an intentional conflation of God and the coming king.Especially significant is that last part of verse 6. Our translation has “he will shatter chiefs,” but the word for “chiefs” is singular and the same word as “head” at the end of verse 7. So, verse 6 could read, “he will shatter (or crush) the head.” Which sounds like God's word of curse to the serpent in Genesis 3, that a coming offspring of the woman (and now offspring of David) “shall bruise your head.”Cities Church, the greatness of our Lord Jesus as God himself in our own humanity defies easy articulation. “Jesus is God” just doesn't do it. It doesn't capture the glory. We ache to say more. The best language is the language of worship: to declare him great, to say out loud he's worthy, to sing there is none like him. Our Lord is great beyond description, marvelous beyond our grasping for words. Which is why our gathering here every Sunday to worship Jesus, despite whatever opposition his enemies throw at us, is the most important thing we do week in and week out. Oh don't take this gathering lightly. We are here to worship Jesus — God himself in our own humanity.4. Your Lord shatters his enemies and thrills his people. (2-3a)Finally, verses 2–3a:“The LORD sends forth from Zionyour mighty scepter. Rule in the midst of your enemies! 3 Your people will offer themselves freely on the day of your power, in holy garments.”At the seam between verses 2 and 3 is the critical distinction between “your enemies” and “your people.”We saw in verse 1 that God declares he will make “your enemies” a prop for Jesus's feet. Now in verse 2: “Rule in the midst of your enemies.” And note that it is no flaw in Jesus that he has enemies; in fact, it would be a flaw if he didn't.Those who reject this infinitely great person of Psalm 110 will not escape the day of his righteous wrath. Reject his priestly work, and there is no other sacrifice for sin; you will have nothing to shield you from what your sins deserve before the holy God.The day is coming when Jesus will have the honor of executing perfect judgment among the nations. He will do no wrong in righting every wrong. Which means no punishment for sin will be too severe; nor will it be too light. The only escape is to embrace the king of the universe as your own sacrifice.And those who do embrace him as Lord, verse 3a says, “offer themselves freely.” In other words, no coercion. No arm-twisting. Jesus's people do not declare him Lord through gritted teeth. They rally to him from the heart. They adore him. They obey from the heart, with overflowing joy.Don't miss this, Cities Church, as his people: our joy really matters. Our offering ourselves freely plays a part in this vision of his majesty in Psalm 110. Vital to how the king-priest looks great is that his people “offer themselves freely.” He doesn't force them. He wins us from the heart, and Jesus looks great in our joy in him. Our willing, glad service to him glorifies him.Receive His Bread and WineAnd so we come to the Table to receive bread and wine from our king-priest in the order of Melchizedek. The Lion is our king. The Lamb is our priest. He never grows old or gets tired. He is far greater than we can even say, and so we worship. And he is the one who thrills our hearts and has won our glad allegiance.

1 Peter 2:4-10 | Pastor Mike Awtry

This episode is part 16 in a study of the book of Exodus. In this episode the priests including Aaron and his sons are consecrated, that is set aside for the use of God. Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

Revelation 20:1-6 And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand. And he laid hold on the dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan, and bound him a thousand years, And cast him into the bottomless pit, and shut him up, and set a seal upon him, that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled: and after that he must be loosed a little season. And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years. But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years. We stand here at one of the most majestic peaks in all of Scripture. After the seals have been broken, the trumpets have sounded, and the vials of wrath have been poured out, after the beast and the false prophet have been cast into the lake of fire, the Spirit of God draws back the curtain on a scene that every believer's heart has longed for since the garden of Eden was lost. Here is the literal, earthly reign of the Lord Jesus Christ for a thousand years. Here is the fulfillment of promises given to Abraham, to David, and to the prophets. Here is the answer to the prayer that has ascended from the lips of the saints for two thousand years: “Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven.” This passage is not a puzzle to be solved by clever allegorizing. It is a plain declaration of what God has determined to do. Let us take the text as it stands, in the order in which the Spirit has given it, and let the Word of God speak for itself. I. The Binding of the Ancient Enemy (vv. 1–3) John says, “And I saw an angel come down from heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit and a great chain in his hand.” Notice carefully that this is not the Lord Jesus Himself who descends; it is an angel. The Greek word is angelos, a messenger. One angel is sufficient. The same Lord who once cast a legion of demons into a herd of swine with a single word now commissions one of His messengers to seize the chief of all rebels. The dragon, that old serpent, which is the Devil, and Satan—four titles piled one upon another so that there can be no mistake about the identity of the prisoner—is laid hold of and bound. The Greek verb for “laid hold” is krateō, meaning to seize with power, to take firm grip. The great chain is not a figure of speech for the restraining influence of the church or the gospel; it is a real instrument of restraint in the hands of a real angel. He is cast into the bottomless pit—the abyssos, the same abyss from which the demonic locusts of chapter 9 emerged. The pit is shut and sealed. The purpose is stated with crystal clarity: “that he should deceive the nations no more, till the thousand years should be fulfilled.” Six times in this chapter the Holy Spirit uses the expression “a thousand years” or “the thousand years.” The Greek is chilia etē. When the Spirit repeats a number six times in the space of a few verses, He is not inviting us to spiritualize it away. He is underscoring its importance. The binding is for a definite period of time. After that period Satan “must be loosed a little season.” The word “must” (dei) indicates divine necessity. God's program requires it. There is no room here for the idea that Satan is already bound in some limited sense. If he is bound now, then the nations are not being deceived, and the New Testament itself becomes nonsense when it warns us that the devil walks about as a roaring lion seeking whom he may devour (1 Peter 5:8), that he is the god of this world who blinds the minds of them that believe not (2 Corinthians 4:4), and that the whole world lies in the wicked one (1 John 5:19). This binding is future, personal, complete, and temporary. It is the necessary prelude to the kingdom. No kingdom of righteousness can flourish while the great deceiver is free to work his will among the nations. II. The Resurrection and Reign of the Saints (vv. 4–6) John continues, “And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them.” Who are these who sit upon the thrones? The text itself identifies them in two groups. First, the souls of those who were beheaded for the witness of Jesus and for the word of God. These are the martyrs of the tribulation period who refused the mark of the beast. Second, those who “had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands.” These are the faithful who endured to the end. Together they “lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.” The Greek word for “lived” is ezēsan, an aorist tense that points to a definite act of coming to life. This is the first resurrection. The rest of the dead—the unsaved—do not live again until the thousand years are finished. Then comes the solemn declaration: “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.” Here is the double blessing: they are priests and they are kings. As priests they have access to God and offer spiritual sacrifices of praise. As kings they share the governmental authority of the Son of David. This is not a spiritual reign in the hearts of men; it is a reign with Christ upon the earth. The text says they reigned with Him. The location of that reign is fixed by the entire prophetic program of the Old Testament. III. The Character of the Millennial Kingdom Described in the Old Testament The book of Revelation is indeed a book of signs, symbols, and numbers. Yet the Holy Spirit has not left us to guess at the meaning of the thousand-year reign. He has given us page after page in the Old Testament that describe the activities of that kingdom in language so plain, so geographical, so political, and so material that only a determined refusal to accept the plain sense of Scripture can turn them into mere spiritual ideals. Let us listen carefully to the prophets as they describe what the saints will be doing and what the earth will be like during those thousand years. Isaiah 2:2–4 declares: “And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD's house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it. And many people shall go and say, Come ye, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for out of Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more.” Here the saints, under the direct rule of the Messiah, will see the law go forth from Jerusalem. The nations will stream to Zion to learn the ways of the Lord. The saints will participate in the administration of that perfect justice. War will cease. The instruments of destruction will be converted into instruments of agriculture. Isaiah 11:1–10 continues the picture: “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked. And righteousness shall be the girdle of his loins, and faithfulness the girdle of his reins. The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together: and the lion shall eat straw like the ox. And the sucking child shall play on the hole of the asp, and the weaned child shall put his hand on the cockatrice' den. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain: for the earth shall be full of the knowledge of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea. And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek: and his rest shall be glorious.” The saints will live in a world where the curse on the animal creation is lifted. The knowledge of the Lord will cover the earth. The Messiah will rule with absolute equity, and His people will share in that rule. Children will play safely. Nature itself will be at peace. Isaiah 65:17–25 adds further detail: “For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind. But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy. And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying. There shall be no more thence an infant of days, nor an old man that hath not filled his days: for the child shall die an hundred years old; but the sinner being an hundred years old shall be accursed. And they shall build houses, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and eat the fruit of them. They shall not build, and another inhabit; they shall not plant, and another eat: for as the days of a tree are the days of my people, and mine elect shall long enjoy the work of their hands. They shall not labour in vain, nor bring forth for trouble; for they are the seed of the blessed of the LORD, and their offspring with them. And it shall come to pass, that before they call, I will answer; and while they are yet speaking, I will hear. The wolf and the lamb shall feed together, and the lion shall eat straw like the bullock: and dust shall be the serpent's meat. They shall not hurt nor destroy in all my holy mountain, saith the LORD.” Longevity returns. A person who dies at one hundred is considered a child. The saints will build and inhabit, plant and eat the fruit. Their labor will not be frustrated. Prayer will be answered immediately. The elect of God will enjoy the work of their hands for the full thousand years. Micah 4:1–4 echoes Isaiah: “But in the last days it shall come to pass, that the mountain of the house of the LORD shall be established in the top of the mountains, and it shall be exalted above the hills; and people shall flow unto it. And many nations shall come, and say, Come, and let us go up to the mountain of the LORD, and to the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths: for the law shall go forth of Zion, and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem. And he shall judge among many people, and rebuke strong nations afar off; and they shall beat their swords into plowshares, and their spears into pruninghooks: nation shall not lift up a sword against nation, neither shall they learn war any more. But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid: for the mouth of the LORD of hosts hath spoken it.” Every man under his own vine and fig tree—personal security, private property, and peace. The saints will enjoy this rest. Zechariah 14:8–11, 16–21 describes the geographical and religious center: “And it shall be in that day, that living waters shall go out from Jerusalem; half of them toward the former sea, and half of them toward the hinder sea: in summer and in winter shall it be. And the LORD shall be king over all the earth: in that day shall there be one LORD, and his name one. All the land shall be turned as a plain from Geba to Rimmon south of Jerusalem: and it shall be lifted up, and inhabited in her place, from Benjamin's gate unto the place of the first gate, unto the corner gate, and from the tower of Hananeel unto the king's winepresses. And men shall dwell in it, and there shall be no more utter destruction; but Jerusalem shall be safely inhabited. … And it shall come to pass, that every one that is left of all the nations which came against Jerusalem shall even go up from year to year to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, and to keep the feast of tabernacles. And it shall be, that whoso will not come up of all the families of the earth unto Jerusalem to worship the King, the LORD of hosts, even upon them shall be no rain. And if the family of Egypt go not up, and come not, that have no rain; there shall be the plague, wherewith the LORD will smite the heathen that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. This shall be the punishment of Egypt, and the punishment of all nations that come not up to keep the feast of tabernacles. In that day shall there be upon the bells of the horses, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD; and the pots in the LORD's house shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall be holiness unto the LORD of hosts: and all they that sacrifice shall come and take of them, and seethe therein: and in that day there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the LORD of hosts.” Jerusalem will be the political and spiritual capital of the world. The saints will go up year by year. Nations that refuse will be disciplined with drought. Holiness will characterize even the ordinary utensils of daily life. Psalm 72 is a portrait of the righteous King's reign: “Give the king thy judgments, O God, and thy righteousness unto the king's son. He shall judge thy people with righteousness, and thy poor with judgment. The mountains shall bring peace to the people, and the little hills, by righteousness. He shall judge the poor of the people, he shall save the children of the needy, and shall break in pieces the oppressor. They shall fear thee as long as the sun and moon endure, throughout all generations. He shall come down like rain upon the mown grass: as showers that water the earth. In his days shall the righteous flourish; and abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. He shall have dominion also from sea to sea, and from the river unto the ends of the earth. They that dwell in the wilderness shall bow before him; and his enemies shall lick the dust. The kings of Tarshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. Yea, all kings shall fall down before him: all nations shall serve him. For he shall deliver the needy when he crieth; the poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare the poor and needy, and shall save the souls of the needy. He shall redeem their soul from deceit and violence: and precious shall their blood be in his sight. And he shall live, and to him shall be given of the gold of Sheba: prayer also shall be made for him continually; and daily shall he be praised. There shall be an handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains; the fruit thereof shall shake like Lebanon: and they of the city shall flourish like grass of the earth. His name shall endure for ever: his name shall be continued as long as the sun: and men shall be blessed in him: all nations shall call him blessed.” The saints will share in this universal dominion. They will see the poor delivered, the oppressor broken, and the earth productive under the King's blessing. Ezekiel 40–48 describes in exhaustive detail a temple, a priesthood, a sacrificial system, and the division of the land among the tribes. The prince will have his portion. The saints from every nation who have part in the first resurrection will serve as priests of God and of Christ in that restored order. The glory of the Lord will fill the house. Living waters will flow from under the threshold, healing the Dead Sea and bringing life wherever they go (Ezekiel 47). These are not vague spiritual principles. They are concrete, measurable, geographical, agricultural, political, and religious realities. The saints will reign. They will judge. They will teach. They will worship. They will enjoy the fruit of the earth. They will see nature restored. They will watch the nations come up to Jerusalem year after year. They will experience longevity, security, and the absence of war. This is the kingdom the prophets saw. This is the kingdom John saw. This is the kingdom that lasts a thousand years. IV. Why the Thousand Years Must Be Taken Literally Why do we insist that this reign is literal rather than a mere figure of speech? Because the plain sense of Scripture demands it, and every alternative interpretation collapses under the weight of the text itself. First, the number is repeated six times with deliberate emphasis. If “a thousand years” is only a symbol for a long time, then why does the Spirit carefully distinguish “the thousand years” from “a little season” that follows? Symbols do not require such chronological precision. Second, the binding of Satan is described with concrete details—an angel, a key, a chain, a pit, a seal. If these are symbols, then the resurrection of the martyrs in the same paragraph must also be symbolic, and the second death must be symbolic. But the second death is clearly the lake of fire (Revelation 20:14; 21:8). Consistency requires that the first resurrection and the thousand-year reign be just as real. Third, the Old Testament promises to Israel of a restored land, a Davidic King on a literal throne in Jerusalem, and a time of national and universal blessing have never been fulfilled. The amillennial view spiritualizes them into the church age. The postmillennial view postpones them indefinitely into a golden age produced by human effort under the gospel. Neither does justice to the land promises, the throne of David, or the geographical center of Zion. Only the premillennial view allows the promises to mean what they say: a future, earthly, theocratic kingdom under the personal rule of the Messiah, with resurrected saints sharing that rule for a thousand years. Fourth, the sequence of events in Revelation itself is chronological. Chapter 19 ends with the beast and false prophet in the lake of fire. Chapter 20 begins with the binding of Satan. Then comes the thousand years. Then the loosing of Satan. Then the final rebellion. Then the great white throne. To rearrange this sequence into a spiritual present or a progressive ideal is to do violence to the order the Spirit has given. Fifth, the first resurrection is called “the first.” If the only resurrection is a general one at the end of time, then there is no “first.” The text insists there is a resurrection of the righteous that precedes the thousand years, and a resurrection of the rest of the dead that follows it. This matches the “resurrection of life” and the “resurrection of damnation” of John 5:29, and the order of 1 Corinthians 15:23–24—“Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming. Then cometh the end.” While Revelation is filled with signs and symbols, the substantiation from the Old Testament gives the premillennial understanding a weight of evidence that no other view can match. The same Spirit who inspired the prophets inspired John. The same Spirit who described the kingdom in Isaiah and Ezekiel and Zechariah now places that kingdom after the return of Christ and before the final judgment. The only logical view that fits the literal and plain sense of the whole of Scripture is that the thousand years is a real period of time during which the Lord Jesus Christ reigns personally and visibly upon the earth, and the resurrected saints reign with Him. V. The Practical Word for Our Hearts What does this mean for us who live in the present age? It means that history is not a meaningless cycle. It is moving toward a definite goal—the personal return of the King and the establishment of His kingdom. It means that every act of faithfulness, every refusal of the world's mark, every testimony for Jesus, is preparing us to sit on those thrones. It means that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory that shall be revealed. It means that the same Lord who was once crowned with thorns will one day be crowned with many crowns, and we shall see Him face to face and reign with Him. Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection. The second death has no power over such a one. Priests of God and of Christ—access into the very presence of the throne. Kings who shall reign with Him a thousand years—and then forever. The angel has the key. The chain is ready. The thrones are prepared. The King is coming. Even so, come, Lord Jesus.

John Zmirak, Eric Metaxas. Movie About Christian Resistance to the French Revolution, J.J. Carrell- Immigration Stats,  Destructive Darwinism, The Growing Case for Intelligent Design.   John Zmirak The Eric Metaxas Show John ZmirakThe Eric Metaxas  Aug 19 2026  Today On The Eric Metaxas Show, John Zmirak joins Eric to challenge the standard Darwinian account of human origins and discuss the growing case for intelligent design. They examine whether Christians can truly reconcile evolution with Genesis, why Zmirak believes Darwinism undermines the biblical understanding of humanity, Francis Collins and theistic evolution, and the cultural consequences of teaching that human life arose through unguided processes.  John Zmirak Joins0:26 Intelligent Design Vs. Darwinism3:29 Creation Or Evolution?5:11 Were Humans Really Descended From Apes?6:29 Can Christians Reconcile Genesis And Evolution?9:16 Why Darwinism “Multiplies Faith By Zero”11:40 Eric's Encounter With Francis Collins17:14 Deism, Providence, And The American Founders23:05    ----------------------------------------------------------- jjcarrellpolitics• Follow https://www.instagram.com/reels/Dblbbn-SMTw/   --------------------------------------------------------------------- Streaming movie recommended by John Zmirak- https://victoryordeathmovie.com/   When everything you value is on the line, when all you love and believe in is at stake, there's no other choice but to fight for it. Victory or Death Fight for Faith. Fight for Family. Fight for Freedom. --------------------------------------------------------------- Article by John Zmirak- New Book by Chaberek, Greene Probes Evolution as a “Catholic Dilemma” John Zmirak August 5, 2026 Evolution, Faith & Science I recently returned from a two-week wildlife safari through Zimbabwe and South Africa. I visited Victoria Falls, which dwarfs Niagara, the extraordinary Table Mountain, and several wildlife reserves including Kruger National Park. The jeep rides through the brush yielded close encounters with female lions shepherding their cubs, male lions sleeping off meals, a leopard in a tree crunching the skull of an impala, herds of piously maternal elephants — only one of which came close to charging us — and a dozen other species of predator or prey. The high point, I'll confess, was one wildlife encounter in particular: when a troop of baboons charged the outdoor diners at The Black Marlin in Cape Town, driving them to flee, so the apes could stuff their faces with pilfered pasta. Sadly, I was sitting inside, so all I could do was cheer the hairy creatures on from through the window. Privacy Note: On play, Google may track viewers. YouTube's Privacy Policy. The Book of Nature I hope that I'm sufficiently grateful for this encounter with the baroque, sublime abundance of biology that our planet is privileged to host — alone, so far as we know, among the billions of planets. Gratitude should be aimed at a giver, and it was reading the works of Discovery Institute authors that made this easier for me. I could wonder at the tiny penguins that somehow survive in the Mediterranean climate near the Cape of Good Hope, or the birds that live symbiotically with wildebeests by feeding on bloodsucking insects, without the deflating idea lurking in the back of my mind, “This all the result of blind chance and iron necessity, with no crafting intelligence behind it.” Instead, I saw works of art, and found myself thanking the Artist. I was reading the Book of Nature, and seeing in it glimmers of divine action, intention, and generosity — as “natural philosophers” did from Kepler and Newton to Pasteur and Mendel. Back when I unreflectively adhered to the theistic (really deistic) evolution that's preached in most Christian pulpits, I accepted the notion that God was somehow behind every aspect of the cosmos. If pressed, I would have said that God had “guided” or “instigated” the emergence of extraordinary creatures like the zebras that stared at our jeep, the elegant kudus that capered past us through the veldt, the wild dogs that seemed at once so alien and so familiar that it was tempting to hop out and try petting them. (“Do not attempt this,” I was informed by our solemn African guide.) But all of life was at best a convoluted Rube Goldberg contraption, which Someone had set in motion then stepped away to observe. God even had humans in mind — deciding, for some reason, to slowly evolve His earthly image through a long chain of predecessor species, until at some point He chose to implant both rationality and immortal souls in creatures who'd mutated in and then emerged from the womb of an animal. I used to speculate about how that allegedly worked, and how I could reconcile it in some fashion with the Genesis account of God making man directly from the dust of the earth, and woman from his side. I remember thinking, lamely, “Maybe they were identical twins … and He switched Eve's sex before the ape gave birth to them?” Then I stopped bothering, encouraged by modern priests who treat not just Genesis but most of the Old Testament as mostly wholesome mythology, akin to that found in Bulfinch or Edith Hamilton. Christianizing Darwinists Obeying the dictum of 19th-century “Higher Criticism,” Christianizing Darwinists aim to explain away every claim of miraculous action — from the direct creation of man to the parting of the Red Sea, from Jesus' virgin birth to even his Resurrection. I was taught in high school that the last, most crucial Christian miracle, amounted merely to the “ongoing presence” of Jesus in his apostles' hearts and minds. Big whoop. In that sense, Adolf Hitler is still sadly with us. (If you want an account of how and why biblical critics crafted such blinders, read Scott Hahn and Benjamin Wiker's magisterial Politicizing the Bible, which I edited for publication.) Priests, theologians, bishops and even (recently) popes have responded to the popular triumph of Darwinism by dismissing most of the events recounted in Genesis as purely allegorical and moral. Keen to avoid being tarred as “fundamentalists,” and encouraged by some cautious leeway granted to evolutionary thinking by popes such as Pius XII and John Paul II, most Catholics have eagerly accepted that Darwin's theories fully explain the emergence of every living species, even man. Otherwise-orthodox believers have made this intellectual concession, convinced that “the science” is irrefutable, so the theology must make room for it. But what if, in fact, the science is very shaky, and the implications for a Christian worldview profoundly toxic? Those are the questions asked and convincingly answered in a new book, Creation or Evolution? A Catholic Dilemma. It's written in an extremely engaging format — a series of questions posed by science journalist Steve Greene and answered by theologian Rev. Michael Chabarek, O.P. It was Chaberek's previous book, Aquinas and Evolution, that convinced me to take intelligent design seriously, and embark on the journey through the works of Stephen Meyer, Michael Behe, Douglas Axe, and many others — to my profound intellectual and spiritual enrichment. This new book is every bit the equal of Chaberek's earlier work. He lays out the serious evidential weaknesses in the Darwinist claim to have explained the appearance of human beings by incremental mutations from previous apelike species. (For much more detail than this book offers, see Science and Human Origins, from Discovery Institute Press, which Chaberek cites.) He explains how circular logic and wishful thinking pervade the claims of paleontologists to have discovered non-human ancestors for our species, with periodic claims to have found a “missing link” based on tiny bone fragments of indeterminate origin. False First Principles But Chaberek's main focus is not on empirical flaws or gaps in the Darwinist account. Instead, he focuses on the false first principles that motivate, even compel Darwinists to invent their “just so” stories in the first place. Here's a sample of the straightforward, plain-speaking way that the authors convey key philosophical issues: If man did not come from the ape, then how did he come into existence? First, let us consider whether sciences such as paleontology and genetics are actually capable of providing an answer to this question. If man came into existence naturally, then, yes, because science explains the workings of nature. But if man came into existence supernaturally, that is, by the action of divine power exceeding the power of nature, then science cannot explain the beginning of man. Therefore, whether science can provide an answer to this question does not depend on scientific research, but on the previously adopted religious or philosophical assumptions. Chabarek argues convincingly that secularist and materialist assumptions precede and determine the scientific work of Darwinists, essentially forcing them to deny evidence of design, and to make impossible claims for the creative power of mutations — despite the overwhelming odds against blind chance happening upon even a single useful new protein in the entire history of life on earth (as Douglas Axe showed in exhaustive experimental detail in his book, Undeniable). When such bias-inducing reductionist assumptions migrate from the research papers of laboratory scientists into the works of Christian leaders, the consequences are even more baleful, Chabarek warns. If such a central question as the origin of the only rational species, the “image of God,” is to be surgically excised from the domain of religious authority and turned over to materialist scientists, what is to stop that same debunking impulse from undermining every mystery of faith? Should we leave Sarah's miraculous conception of Isaac to the gynecologists, the parting of the Red Sea to the oceanographers, and the resurrection of Jesus to the biologists? That's the inexorable logic of Christians who cling to Darwinist explanations of the “descent of man” from ancestral apes. Far better, Chabarek advises, for Christians who accept a long series of miracles and mysteries as entailed in the redemption of humanity to also make room for the Bible's literal account of the miracle of his creation — from the dust of the earth, by the hand of God. John Zmirak John Zmirak is a senior editor at The Stream and author or co-author of ten books, including The Politically Incorrect Guide to Immigration and The Politically Incorrect Guide to Catholicism. His newest book is No Second Amendment, No First. To read articles from John Zmirak visit- https://chroniclesmagazine.org/author/johnzmirak/   Endorsed Charities -------------------------------------------------------- Pre-Born! Saving babies and Souls. https://preborn.org/ OUR MISSION To glorify Jesus Christ by leading and equipping pregnancy clinics to save more babies and souls. WHAT WE DO Pre-Born! partners with life-affirming pregnancy clinics all across the nation. We are designed to strategically impact the abortion industry through the following initiatives:… -------------------------------------------------------- Help CSI Stamp Out Slavery In Sudan Join us in our effort to free over 350 slaves. Listeners to the Eric Metaxas Show will remember our annual effort to free Christians who have been enslaved for simply acknowledging Jesus Christ as their Savior. As we celebrate the birth of Christ this Christmas, join us in giving new life to brothers and sisters in Sudan who have enslaved as a result of their faith. https://csi-usa.org/metaxas   https://csi-usa.org/slavery/   Typical Aid for the Enslaved A ration of sorghum, a local nutrient-rich staple food A dairy goat A “Sack of Hope,” a survival kit containing essential items such as tarp for shelter, a cooking pan, a water canister, a mosquito net, a blanket, a handheld sickle, and fishing hooks. Release celebrations include prayer and gathering for a meal, and medical care for those in need. The CSI team provides comfort, encouragement, and a shoulder to lean on while they tell their stories and begin their new lives. Thank you for your compassion  Giving the Gift of Freedom and Hope to the Enslaved South Sudanese -------------------------------------------------------- Food For the Poor https://foodforthepoor.org/ Help us serve the poorest of the poor Food For The Poor began in 1982 in Jamaica. Today, our interdenominational Christian ministry serves the poor in primarily 17 countries throughout the Caribbean and Latin America. Thanks to our faithful donors, we are able to provide food, housing, healthcare, education, fresh water, emergency relief, micro-enterprise solutions and much more. We are proud to have fed millions of people and provided more than 15.7 billion dollars in aid. Our faith inspires us to be an organization built on compassion, and motivated by love. Our mission is to bring relief to the poorest of the poor in the countries where we serve. We strive to reflect God's unconditional love. It's a sacrificial love that embraces all people regardless of race or religion. We believe that we can show His love by serving the “least of these” on this earth as Christ challenged us to do in Matthew 25. We pray that by God's grace, and with your support, we can continue to bring relief to the suffering and hope to the hopeless.   Report on Food For the Poor by Charity Navigator https://www.charitynavigator.org/ein/592174510   -------------------------------------------------------- Disclaimer from ACU. We try to bring to our students and alumni the World's best Conservative thinkers. All views expressed belong solely to the author and not necessarily to ACU. In all issues and relations, we hope to follow the admonitions of Jesus Christ. While striving to expose, warn and contend with evil, we extend the love of God to all of his children. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------

Over 20 years have passed since the revelations from Boston that set off a decade of cultural persecution of the Church in retaliation for the bishops allowing morally unfit men into the priesthood who then predictably became monsters of the worst kind, with the bishops then compounding the grave evils of these decisions by hiding the guilty men by moving around dioceses or across the country until, predictably, it all was exposed by the media. Now they want you to foot the bill of the sins of their predecessors or for their sins.Sponsored by Nelson Insurance Advisorshttps://www.nelsonplan.comSources:https://substack.com/@returntotradition1Contact Me:Email: return2catholictradition@gmail.comSupport My Work:Patreonhttps://www.patreon.com/AnthonyStineSubscribeStarhttps://www.subscribestar.net/return-to-traditionBuy Me A Coffeehttps://www.buymeacoffee.com/AnthonyStinePhysical Mail:Anthony StinePO Box 3048Shawnee, OK74802Follow me on the following social media:https://www.facebook.com/ReturnToCatholicTradition/https://twitter.com/pontificatormax+JMJ+#popeleoXIV #catholicism #catholicchurch #catholicprophecy#infiltration

Preacher: Aaron MenikoffTitle: Priests of GodSeries: Persevere! A Series through RevelationPassage: Revelation 20:1–6

Who actually wrote down the Bible? Not in the storybook version, but in history. Behind the pages of the Hebrew Bible stands a hidden world most readers never see. Rival priestly families competing for authority. Refugees from a fallen kingdom rebuilding their identity with a pen. Scribal dynasties whose fingerprints are still on the text you read today. And at the center of it all, one question that mattered more than any other in the ancient world: who gets to speak for God?In this episode, Johnny Ova sits down with Dr. Mark Leuchter, Professor of Hebrew Bible and Ancient Judaism at Temple University and Director of Jewish Studies, one of the world's leading scholars on the Israelite priesthood. Dr. Leuchter takes us inside the institutions that controlled sacred knowledge in ancient Israel, from the rise and fall of the Levites to the scribes who turned written words into a substitute for the temple itself. This conversation will change how you understand the book sitting on your shelf.In this episode you will learn:Who actually preserved and passed down the texts that became the Hebrew BibleWhy ancient Israel's priesthood was fragmented into competing families, and what they were really fighting overWho the Levites were, and how they fell from the top of the ladder to the back tableWhat the golden calf story is really criticizing beneath the surfaceHow scribes became sacred intellectuals, and why authority shifted from the altar to the penWhy scholars connect Deuteronomy to Levite scribes, and where that leaves MosesThe scribal family of Shaphan and how they shaped the book of JeremiahWhat happened to the rival priestly families by the time of EzraWhether human fingerprints on the text rule out divine purposeDr. Mark Leuchter's books:The Levites and the Boundaries of Israelite Identity: https://www.amazon.com/Levites-Boundaries-Israelite-Identity/dp/0190665092Dr. Leuchter's faculty page: https://liberalarts.temple.edu/directory/mark-leuchterHis articles at TheTorah.com: https://www.thetorah.com/author/mark-leuchterStay Connected:Website: Johnnyova.comYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thejohnnyovaThe Revelation Reset: https://a.co/d/hiUkW8H

Welp, here we go! After two years of planning, Greg and Ryan are finally off on their Camino adventure. And, we're kicking things off with a lot of travel! A journey of well more than 1,000 steps begins here. What big project are you starting in your life right now? Let us know at poppingcollarspodcast@gmail.com or send us your idea on socials Find us on the web at poppingcollarspodcast.com Don't forget to pick up some awesome merch Check out our Youtube offerings Read Greg's ramblings about movies at Letterboxd

This week: a chorbishop's park rendezvous gets him relieved of duty, two Penn State fraternities were busted for moving weight, an Arkansas lawmaker's career implodes after a domestic violence arrest, Kyrsten Sinema overshares in a deposition, a former NFL receiver gets caught at a mall arcade, a horrific North Dakota tragedy, the internet's new least-favorite dater ("Voice Memo Guy"), an overloaded elevator disaster, a snake that outlasted an entire football practice, New Jersey's surprising new ranking, a Florida official facing the same death penalty law he once championed, a scammer's mysterious pool death, Kentucky's first grooming-law arrest, Lauren Boebert's son facing serious felony charges, a Trump-touted gas station chain's rap sheet of fines, and Bezos's surprise move into Premier League ownership. Buckle up.

I. The law of the sacrifice of peace offerings, vv11-21. II. The law of the fat and of the blood, vv22-27. III. The law of the wave offering, vv28-38.

In Nehemiah 3, something remarkable unfolds. Priests, goldsmiths, perfumers, rulers, and even a father and his daughters — all working side by side, section by section, to restore what had been broken. Everybody had a place. Everybody had a role.But tucked inside this incredible story of restoration is a sobering contrast: the Tekoite nobles. They wanted the benefits of restoration without the participation.Sound familiar?Here's the truth: God doesn't save us to set us on a sanctified shelf. He saves us to send us into service. As Ephesians 2:10 reminds us, "We are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works."The place we live isn't an accident. The place we work isn't an accident. The school, the campus, the neighborhood — God has placed us there for a reason. We carry unique fingerprints — stories, experiences, and gifts that nobody else has — to reach people in ways nobody else can.Three questions worth sitting with this week:  What's your place?  What's your role? What's your choice?

Prophets, Priests & Kings: Amos Part 1 Joel Johnson Download

Today, Fr. Gale is joined by Fr. John of God, Fr. Buster, and Avery, to discuss the arrival of the Cor Jesu Apostolate to St. Isidore's. Cor Jesu is a new religious community in the Salina Diocese that will become very familiar to the students of St. Isidore's, as they will be offering sacraments, spiritual direction, and Ignatian retreats.

Micah 3 How Do You Know If your Pastor Is Speaking for God is the topic that will be discussed today on RIOT Podcast, a Christian Discipleship Podcast. How Can You Tell If a Pastor Is Truly Speaking for God? Is it because they’re confident? Because they have a large church? Because thousands of people follow them? Because their message makes you feel good? Or is there something deeper we should be looking for? This week, we’re continuing through the Book of Micah with Micah Chapter 3, and God turns His attention directly toward leadership. Political leaders. Judges. Priests. Prophets. The very people who were supposed to protect, serve, and shepherd God’s people had become part of the problem. Some were using their authority for personal gain. Some allowed money to influence their message. Some told people exactly what they wanted to hear. And perhaps most dangerously, some continued claiming to speak for God while they had stopped listening to Him. Then Micah gives us the contrast: “But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord…” Micah 3:8 That’s where this conversation gets personal. Because Micah 3 isn’t only asking us to examine our pastors. It’s asking us to examine ourselves. Whether you’re a pastor, parent, ministry leader, business owner, teacher, or simply someone another person looks up to, you have influence. And influence is stewardship. So what is shaping yours? Money? Power? Recognition? Popularity? Personal benefit? Or the Spirit of God? Real spiritual influence doesn’t come from becoming more impressive. It comes from becoming more surrendered. And wrestle with one question: Am I becoming still enough before God to hear His voice and courageous enough to follow what He says?

No one let the Pope listen to this week's episode.   Our guest is Natasha Pulley, genre-defying author of The Watchmaker of Filigree Street, The Bedlam Stacks, The Kingdoms, and now, in the The Salt King she pits the Vatican and Catholic Doctrine against something much, much older, lurking in the salt mines of the world.   It leads us to a conversation about faith of many kinds, about reality-adjacent fiction, the horrid truth of Sodom and Gomorrah, dark representations of the Catholic Church, and the challenge of fusing folk horror and global apocalypse.   There are also some holy dick pics.   Enjoy!   Other books mentioned: Gentle Things (2026), by Danielle Giles Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell (2024), by Susanna Clarke The Hill in the Dark Grove (2026), by Liam Higginson The Name of the Rose (1980), by Umberto Eco Foundation (1951), by Isaac Asimov A Canticle for Liebowitz (1959), by Walter M. Miller Jr Father Alberto and the Flying Girl (2026), by Timothy X Atack   Support Talking Scared on Patreon   Check out the Talking Scared Merch line – at VoidMerch   Come talk books on Threads, Bluesky, and Instagram, or email direct to talkingscaredpod@gmail.com Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Easy to know God's will? Why believe in aliens? The Catholic suffering? All this and more on Called to Communion with Dr. David Anders.

Links For The Occult Rejectshttps://linktr.ee/theoccultrejectsOccult Research Institutehttps://www.occultresearchinstitute.org/Substackhttps://substack.com/@theoccultrejects?r=7auau0&utm_campaign=profile&utm_medium=profile-pageCash Apphttps://cash.app/$theoccultrejectsVenmo@TheOccultRejectsBuy Me A Coffeebuymeacoffee.com/TheOccultRejectsPatreonhttps://www.patreon.com/TheOccultRejectsBibliographyPrimary and Classical SourcesAgrippa, Heinrich Cornelius. Three Books of Occult Philosophy. 1533. Translated by James Freake; edited and annotated by Donald Tyson. St. Paul, MN: Llewellyn, 1993.Austin, J. L. How to Do Things with Words. 2nd ed. Edited by J. O. Urmson and Marina Sbisà. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1975. Originally published 1962.Betz, Hans Dieter, ed. The Greek Magical Papyri in Translation, Including the Demotic Spells. 2nd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1992.Clarke, Emma C., John M. Dillon, and Jackson P. Hershbell, trans. Iamblichus: De Mysteriis. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003.Faulkner, Raymond O., trans. The Ancient Egyptian Book of the Dead. Revised by Carol Andrews. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1990.Iamblichus. On the Mysteries. Translated by Emma C. Clarke, John M. Dillon, and Jackson P. Hershbell. Atlanta: Society of Biblical Literature, 2003.Searle, John R. Speech Acts: An Essay in the Philosophy of Language. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1969.Ancient Egyptian and Greco-Roman MagicBorghouts, J. F. Ancient Egyptian Magical Texts. Leiden: Brill, 1978.Dieleman, Jacco. Priests, Tongues, and Rites: The London-Leiden Magical Manuscripts and Translation in Egyptian Ritual. Leiden: Brill, 2005.Faraone, Christopher A., and Dirk Obbink, eds. Magika Hiera: Ancient Greek Magic and Religion. New York: Oxford University Press, 1991.Frankfurter, David. “Narrating Power: The Theory and Practice of the Magical Historiola in Ritual Spells.” In Ancient Magic and Ritual Power, edited by Marvin Meyer and Paul Mirecki, 457–476. Leiden: Brill, 1995.Frankfurter, David. Religion in Roman Egypt: Assimilation and Resistance. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1998.Graf, Fritz. Magic in the Ancient World. Translated by Franklin Philip. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1997.Meyer, Marvin, and Paul Mirecki, eds. Ancient Magic and Ritual Power. Leiden: Brill, 1995.Pinch, Geraldine. Magic in Ancient Egypt. Austin: University of Texas Press, 1994.Ritner, Robert K. The Mechanics of Ancient Egyptian Magical Practice. Studies in Ancient Oriental Civilization 54. Chicago: Oriental Institute of the University of Chicago, 1993.Smith, Morton. Jesus the Magician. San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1978. Use cautiously and comparatively rather than as a consensus account.Ritual Language and Performative SpeechBloch, Maurice. “Symbols, Song, Dance and Features of Articulation: Is Religion an Extreme Form of Traditional Authority?” European Journal of Sociology 15, no. 1 (1974): 55–81.Finnegan, Ruth. Oral Poetry: Its Nature, Significance and Social Context. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1977.Malinowski, Bronisław. Coral Gardens and Their Magic. 2 vols. London: George Allen & Unwin, 1935.Rappaport, Roy A. Ritual and Religion in the Making of Humanity. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999.Tambiah, Stanley Jeyaraja. “The Magical Power of Words.” Man 3, no. 2 (1968): 175–208.Tambiah, Stanley Jeyaraja. Culture, Thought, and Social Action: An Anthropological Perspective. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1985.Oral Tradition, Formula, and TransmissionFoley, John Miles. The Theory of Oral Composition: History and Methodology. Bloomington: Indiana University Press, 1988.Lord, Albert B. The Singer of Tales. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1960.Ong, Walter J. Orality and Literacy: The Technologizing of the Word. London: Methuen, 1982.Parry, Milman. The Making of Homeric Verse: The Collected Papers of Milman Parry. Edited by Adam Parry. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1971.Ritual Form, Authority, and TransmissionBell, Catherine. Ritual Theory, Ritual Practice. New York: Oxford University Press, 1992.Bell, Catherine. Ritual: Perspectives and Dimensions. New York: Oxford University Press, 1997.McCauley, Robert N., and E. Thomas Lawson. Bringing Ritual to Mind: Psychological Foundations of Cultural Forms. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.Whitehouse, Harvey. Modes of Religiosity: A Cognitive Theory of Religious Transmission. Walnut Creek, CA: AltaMira Press, 2004.Xygalatas, Dimitris. Ritual: How Seemingly Senseless Acts Make Life Worth Living. New York: Little, Brown Spark, 2022.Also want to remind people about the website, if you're into reading we have tons of information by multiple contributors, and we got t-shirts up on the site if you're interested. Fun fact, the art is all based on the eyeball. 

DescriptionSt Vincent de Paul developed what he called his ‘little method' of preaching for his fellow ‘mission priests and brothers' in 17th century. France. We know that St Vincent de Paul is a champion of the materially poor, but did you know he was also deeply engaged in helping the materially poor out of spiritual poverty, as well. He dedicated his life to preaching Parish missions to poor and rural areas throughout France, as well as great clerical reform for French priests, as well. And his ‘little method' of preaching which is threefold, was at the center of both - his parish missions in poor communities as well as updated instruction on preaching for Priests after ordination. Today, we are going to jump into this ‘method' and see how it might still apply to us almost 400 years later in our ministry today…Here's a link to the document that includes his teaching on the “little method”. It starts on actual page of PDF (270) and concludes on actual page of PDF (293). The internal pagination runs from p 237 to p 260. https://via.library.depaul.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1037&context=vincentian_ebooksLinksFor more information about the Better Preach Podcast visit: www.ryanohara.org/betterpreachBetter Preach Podcast is now on YouTube. Here's a link to the channel.Check out Ryan's FREE course on “sharing your faith as a Catholic.”Follow Ryan on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, or FacebookJoin the Better Preach email list.

The Catechism moves on from bishops—the episcopacy—to priests in the presbyterate, who share in the bishop's ministry “in a subordinate degree”, to be “co-workers”. Fr. Mike dives deep into the service-leadership that priests are called to. “[A priest's] whole life must be configured and must be conformed to Jesus Christ the high priest.” Today's readings are Catechism paragraphs 1562-1568. This episode has been found to be in conformity with the Catechism by the Institute on the Catechism, under the Subcommittee on the Catechism, USCCB. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/ciy Please note: The Catechism of the Catholic Church contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.