Podcasts about Roman Empire

Don't Imbibe the Kool-Aid with Kim Kennedy – A government can borrow for years before the bill feels real. A politician can promise benefits without explaining who pays for them. A crowded arena can offer a welcome escape from problems at home. None of these things alone brings down a country. Together, they can make it easier to look away. Rome's history offers no simple checklist for...

Who was Polycarp, and what did this disciple of the apostle John teach about Christianity? Explore Polycarp of Smyrna's life, his Letter to the Philippians, and his martyrdom—and discover how the early church passed the apostles' teaching to the next generation.In this video, we examine Polycarp's teaching on salvation by grace, the authority of Scripture, Jesus' true humanity, Christ bearing our sins, and the character of church leaders. We also explore his relationship to the Bishop of Rome, his references to elders and deacons, and his defense of the Christian faith against false teaching.Polycarp's story brings church history into our own lives: Are we faithfully passing on the gospel? Are we making disciples? And will we remain faithful to Jesus when following Him comes at a cost?Watch through the end as we consider persecution in the Roman Empire and Polycarp's refusal to deny Christ.What stands out most to you about Polycarp's life or teaching? Share your thoughts in the comments.Subscribe to Emet Ministries for more biblical teaching, theology, and church history to help you understand and live out your faith.Learn more and support our ministry: emetministries.orgWant more discipleship resources? Visit emetministry.orgHelp Us Reach the Lost: Support Emet Campus Ministry- https://emet-campus-ministry.churchcenter.com/giving/to/ecm-general-fundHelp Us Make More Resources: Support Emet Ministries- emetministry.churchcenter.com/givingCheck out these sources we love and use our Amazon Affiliate Link: Knowing God - https://amzn.to/3ScwPh4The Holiness of God - https://amzn.to/4ouI7sSThe Resurrection of Jesus - https://amzn.to/4ouitVeWhat is the Gospel - https://amzn.to/4oAFqpUWhat it means to be Protestant - https://amzn.to/3Qkt8W32,000 Years of Christ's Power Vol 1 - https://amzn.to/4edGaxFFollow us on Instagram: @emetministry and @everytuesdayat7Christian's Reading List: goodreads.com/user/show/74696644-christian-barrett#Polycarp #EarlyChurch #ChurchHistory #ApostolicFathers #ChristianDiscipleship00:00 Who Was Polycarp? A Disciple of John02:30 How Discipleship Preserved the Apostles' Teaching05:20 Passing On the Faith: Our Call to Make Disciples08:21 Polycarp's Letter to the Philippians Explained09:12 Why Scripture Shaped Polycarp's Teaching10:50 Polycarp and the Bishop of Rome11:40 Scripture and Tradition in the Early Church13:19 Salvation by Grace, Not Works: Polycarp's Teaching15:30 Can We Earn Eternal Life? Grace in the Early Church16:10 Was Jesus Truly Human? Polycarp Against Docetism17:15 Why Beliefs About Jesus Matter: Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses18:38 Jesus Bore Our Sins: Atonement and His Role as High Priest20:18 Church Leadership: Why Character Matters22:18 Elders and Deacons in the Early Church24:35 How Polycarp Defended the Apostolic Faith25:30 Christian Persecution Under Rome: Pliny and Trajan27:01 The Martyrdom of Polycarp: Refusing to Deny Christ

Jones and Keefe discuss Roman Anthony leaving last nights game early after reinjuring himself for yet another postseason run. Is it time for concern for the young star and his inability to stay healthy especially when it matters the most.

Hour 1 - Jones and Keefe give their reactions to a Red Sox extremely uninspiring 9-0 loss to the New York Yankees. Cam Schlittler gives the Red Sox Deja Vu as he strikes out 10 Red Sox in a scoreless outing for the second time in his young career. Is the Roman Empire crumbling in front of our eyes? How much of the blame for this loss is on Chad Tracy vs the Players?

Full Show - Jones and Keefe give their reactions to a Red Sox extremely uninspiring 9-0 loss to the New York Yankees. Cam Schlittler gives the Red Sox Deja Vu as he strikes out 10 Red Sox in a scoreless outing for the second time in his young career. Is the Roman Empire crumbling in front of our eyes? How much of the blame for this loss is on Chad Tracy vs the Players? What's more likely tonight in Game 2: Sonny Gray shuts down the Yankees lineup or the Red Sox bats come alive and win them the game. On this week's edition of "Would You Rather Wednesday" the guys have to decide between: Celtics starting off hot or 76ers starting off cold, Jeremy Swayman or Connor Hellebuyck, 1 or 3 game Wild Card, keep Mike Vrabel or Drake Maye. Former Red Sox Pitcher Lenny DiNardo to talk about what exactly went wrong for the Red Sox bullpen. Bruins get a shutout win with thanks to Jeremy Swayman in season opener vs the New York Islanders.

Another vineyard story - here we go! Triumphal entry. Peaceful protest against Roman Empire and the religious establishment. Religious leaders are piiiiiissed. "Who do you think you are? Where did you get your authority?" they ask. Jesus is all - the tax collectors and prostitutes are in better shape than you a-holes. Then he tells the story about the vineyard. The owner gives the vineyard as a gift to the tenants. Trust is built into this story. The vineyard is a gift entrusted to the tenants. It all starts with gift. Of course, this is how life begins. Before we accomplish anything, even the ability to walk and talk, we are given relationships, food, water, air, a world we didn't create and bodies we did not design. It's all gift. And when we see everything as gift gratitude becomes something more than saying thank you. We begin to see differently. We see each morning differently. We see neighbors differently. We see everyone we meet differently. It's all part of the vineyard. We begin to see that the world isn't about competition or simply a collection of things to possess or acquire or use. It's all gift. Of course, the story moves on. The tenants beat, kill, and stone the servants sent by the owner to collect the fruit. He sends more. The tenants do the same. He sends his son. They kill him, too. Because they now see themselves not as stewards, but as owners. This can happen when we begin to think that something belongs completely to us. It creates a sense of scarcity and fear. We have to let everyone know that we own it. We have to protect it. If it's taken from us we or we simply give it away, it feels like loss. Perhaps there's an invitation here to hold things lightly, with open hands so that we can still give and receive. We'll end where Jesus ends. He pronounces judgment on those who won't produce fruit. But it's not just judgment, the vineyard will still go on. It will be entrusted to those who bear fruit. That's all the owner wanted: fruit. He wanted his gift to reproduce and make more gift. And what do we think of when we think of fruit? Love, joy, peace, and all the rest. We can add to it justice and compassion and empathy and equality. So the question becomes, what kind of fruit are we producing? Speaker: Aaron Vis Scripture: Matthew 21:33-46 http://bible.com/events/49670997

God Empowers the Weak (7)  (audio) David Eells, 9/30/26 We all want to manifest the fruit of the Spirit, but first there must be the crucifixion of the lusts. Jesus taught us and He's our example. Many people think He was an example so that we wouldn't have to die. No, Jesus didn't die so that we wouldn't have to die. Jesus died so that we could die. I'm talking about dying spiritually; dying to self. He died to make it possible for us to die to self.  Those who refuse to take up their cross and follow Him, and refuse to obey His commands, are refusing to be disciples. Even if they call themselves Christians. I want to show you that Jesus turned the other cheek, but He did it as an example to us. When Jesus was before Pilate and the Sanhedrin (Matthew 27:12-14), He resisted not the evil. He did turn the other cheek. He had the power to say “No.” He had more power than the disciples understood He had because they thought they were going to save Him with the sword. (Mat.26:52) Then saith Jesus unto him, Put up again thy sword into its place: for all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword. He said, “Don't you know I could call more than 12 legions of angels?” (Matthew 26:53) Look, Jesus had power they didn't know of to keep from going to the cross. He didn't have to resort to man's arm of the flesh. One angel in the Old Testament killed 185,000 men (2 Kings 19:35) and Jesus is talking about calling 72,000 angels here. That's power! Christians need to realize that their power is not in the arm of the flesh; it's in the Kingdom of Heaven. That power should be used to fulfill God's Will. In the very next verse after Jesus said, “Don't you know I could call more than 12 legions of angels?” He said, “how then should the scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be?” (Mat.26:54) We want the Scriptures to be fulfilled in us, which is the manifestation of Christ; however, they won't be fulfilled if you refuse to go to your cross. Just as Jesus had a free will and He could have called the 12 legions of angels, we have a free will, and we could, in many cases, walk away from our cross. But that doesn't mean we won't be faced with it again. We will be faced with it again and again because God is merciful. And we'll be faced with it until we get it right or just run out of time because we are running out of time. We've been put here to bear fruit, and we've been given a certain amount of time to do that. There's a door closing on the other end of this life. I've shared before the vision my wife had about being on a treadmill. The door ahead was closing. We had to run faster and faster to get through the door before it closed. The treadmill was imperceptibly picking up speed going in the opposite direction, and we had to run faster and faster. That's the way the world is; it's picking up speed in the opposite direction, and the door is closing. We're running a race but it's not a race against one another; this is a race against time. There's a door closing. You have to bear fruit or else you'll be called what Scripture and Jesus called an “unprofitable servant,” cast forth into outer darkness (Matthew 25:30). There's no such thing as bearing fruit without the cross. I'm going to point out just a few of Jesus' commands and show you that when you obey them, they put you in a position of weakness. You cannot defend yourself. You cannot hit back. You won't be able to do the things that your flesh wants because, if you do, your flesh will live and it will get stronger. (Rom.8:13) For if ye live after the flesh (in other words, if you walk in obedience to the flesh), ye must die; but if by the Spirit ye put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall live. We want the new man to live and there's only one way that can happen – the old man has to die. They live in the same house. The spiritual man was supposed to go into the Promised Land and kill the old man and live in his house, and we are, in one parallel, that promised land. That spiritual man is Christ in us and He's the spiritual man in every one of us, Who seeks to take over our vessel. (1Pe.2:18) Servants, [be] in subjection to your masters with all fear; not only to the good and gentle, but also to the froward. (19) For this is acceptable (the literal translation is actually “grace”), For this is grace, if for conscience toward God a man endureth griefs, suffering wrongfully. Grace? That's right. God sends us through grace down here on this earth. Sometimes we don't look on it as grace, but it's fleshly suffering. He calls it grace. That's the original word there. We have to go through suffering. (Act.14:22) … Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God. We must go through suffering because the flesh doesn't die without suffering. If you're not suffering, then you're not ceasing from sin. Peter said, He that hath suffered in the flesh hath ceased from sin (1Pe.4:1). That's because when you're suffering, when the flesh is suffering – and I'm talking about that entity of the old man in you, the mind of the flesh in you – when that old man is suffering, it means that he's not getting his way and he's dying. This is not about the physical flesh suffering, you understand. I'm talking about that entity that lives in you that wants to gratify “self.” If the old man is not suffering, you're not bearing the cross; you're not obeying the commands of Jesus to lose your life. So Peter called it “grace” here. (1Pe.2:20) For what glory is it, if, when ye sin, and are buffeted [for it,] ye shall take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer [for it,] ye shall take it patiently, this is grace with God. The last thing we want is to do right and to have wrong done to us in return. We want justice and our rights. The flesh demands its rights, but the flesh is a dead man. We reckon the old man to be dead unto sin (Romans 6:11) and dead men don't demand rights. You can slap the dead man on one cheek and they'll turn the other one, too. That's the way Jesus commanded us. If you want that old man to die, then don't feed him. Just don't obey him and he'll die. This is grace with God. (1Pe.2:21) For hereunto were ye called…. We were called to suffer in what the world would call “wrongfully.” In other words, we're called to suffer when we do right. (1Pe.2:21) For hereunto were ye called: because Christ also suffered for you, leaving you an example, that ye should follow his steps: (22) who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth: (23) who, when he was reviled, reviled not again; when he suffered, threatened not; but committed [himself] to him that judgeth righteously. In other words, Jesus left judgment, wrath and payback in the hands of God. Peter said Jesus left this example to us so that we should follow in His steps. Every day we're going to have an opportunity to do this. There's just no way you could live this life without having an opportunity to deny our self life. Don't waste your time. Redeem the time (Ephesians 5:16), the Scripture says. This is what we're here for. Suffering is one of God's greatest methods to put to death your flesh so that Christ can live in you.  (1Pe.3:13) And who is he that will harm you, if ye be zealous of that which is good? (14) But even if ye should suffer for righteousness' sake, blessed [are ye:] and fear not their fear, neither be troubled; (15) but sanctify in your hearts Christ as Lord: [being] ready always to give answer to every man that asketh you a reason concerning the hope that is in you, yet with meekness and fear: (16) having a good conscience; that, wherein ye are spoken against, they may be put to shame who revile your good manner of life in Christ. (17) For it is better, if the will of God should so will, that ye suffer for well-doing than for evil-doing. (18) Because Christ also suffered for sins once, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God; being put to death in the flesh, but made alive in the spirit. We can see a spiritual type there in the life of Christ. When He resisted not the evil, He was put to death in the flesh, but He was made alive in the spirit. This is a spiritual type for us because, if we want to be made alive in the spirit, we must accept our death in the fleshly self-life daily.  (1Pe.4:14) If ye are reproached for the name of Christ, blessed [are ye;] because the [Spirit] of glory and the Spirit of God resteth upon you. (15) For let none of you suffer as a murderer, or a thief, or an evil-doer, or as a meddler in other men's matters: but if [a man suffer] as a Christian, let him not be ashamed; but let him glorify God in this name. (17) For the time [is come] for judgment to begin at the house of God: and if [it begin] first at us, what [shall be] the end of them that obey not the gospel of God? (18) And if the righteous is scarcely saved, where shall the ungodly and sinner appear? (19) Wherefore let them also that suffer according to the will of God (That doesn't fit the prosperity doctrine very well, does it?) commit their souls in well-doing unto a faithful Creator. Commit your soul unto a faithful Creator. Jesus obeyed His own command in Matthew 5:39 and He was crucified for it. I can imagine several places where He could have interjected just a little bit of truth and totally turned the situation around, such as when He talked about, “destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (Joh.2:19). Of course, he spake of the temple of his body (21), but that's not what was brought out at the trial by the Sanhedrin and I never saw Him even objecting to it, though He knew what He meant. He didn't bother to stick up for Himself. There's one person from the Old Testament who really impressed me with his understanding of not resisting him that is evil, and that's David. He obeyed this. I've seen probably a half-dozen to a dozen good examples of where David obeyed this doctrine. He seemed to be way ahead of his time in understanding what it was that pleased God. He seemed to be almost walking in New Testament revelation in some areas of this resisting not evil and it definitely bore fruit in his soul. (Psa.38:12) They also that seek after my life lay snares [for me,] And they that seek my hurt speak mischievous things, and meditate deceits all the day long. (13) But I, as a deaf man, hear not; And I am as a dumb man that openeth not his mouth. (14) Yea, I am as a man that heareth not, And in whose mouth are no reproofs. (15) For in thee, O Lord, do I hope: Thou wilt answer, O Lord my God. David put his trust in God to bring about justice, just as the Lord did (1 Peter 2:23), and not with his own tongue, nor in his own strength. In fact, as we read on here, you'll see that David knew and understood God's purpose. You know, it's a fiery trial when you resist not the evil, no matter what form it is. There's a righteous indignation that rises up on the inside of you wanting justice, but listen, we can't afford justice. Nobody reading this can afford justice. We want mercy. With the merciful thou wilt show thyself merciful (Psa.18:25). If you get justice, you're in trouble. Did you know that? God gives justice to some and He gives mercy to others (Romans 9:21-23). Christians get mercy. The world doesn't always get mercy. But I'll tell you what, the only thing we better show to the world is mercy because God's going to be merciful and forgiving to those who are merciful and forgiving. And to those who are not merciful, He's going to give justice (Matthew 18:35). None of us here can afford the justice of God. Not everybody even gets a revelation of God in this world, but they get justice because every man is going to reap what he sows (Galatians 6:7). People ask, “What do you do with the wicked who never hear the name of Christ?” No problem. They're going to get justice. Everybody in this world is going to at least get justice, but Christians, at least true Christians, are going to get mercy and grace from Him.  God's not doing wrong by doing that because He's at the very least giving justice to people. But we had better pray that we don't get justice because that means we'll pay for what we've done and what we are doing that is wrong. David understood this, and Jesus understood this. So David says, “for I said, Lest they rejoice over me: When my foot slippeth, they magnify themselves against me.” (Psa.38:16) (17) For I am ready to fall, And my sorrow is continually before me. (18) For I will declare mine iniquity; I will be sorry for my sin. (19) But mine enemies are lively, [and] are strong; And they that hate me wrongfully are multiplied. (20) They also that render evil for good Are adversaries unto me, because I follow the thing that is good. (21) Forsake me not, O Lord: O my God, be not far from me. (22) Make haste to help me, O Lord, my salvation. (39:1) I said, I will take heed to my ways, That I sin not with my tongue: I will keep my mouth with a bridle, While the wicked is before me. (2) I was dumb with silence, I held my peace, even from good; And my sorrow was stirred. (3) My heart was hot within me; While I was musing the fire burned; [Then] spake I with my tongue: (4) Lord, make me to know mine end, And the measure of my days, what it is; Let me to know how frail I am. You know, when David resisted not the evil, when he kept his mouth shut when he was really being pressured to speak up, he said the fire burned in him. Have you ever felt that fire? I have. It's just like a real fire burning in you. It's a fiery trial that's come to prove you and to burn up the wood, hay and stubble of the self-life. You know, we've been told by some church ministers that the fiery trial is in the next life, but that's as big a lie as has ever been told. (1Co.3:12) But if any man buildeth on the foundation gold, silver, costly stones, wood, hay, stubble; (13) each man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it is revealed in fire; and the fire itself shall prove each man's work of what sort it is. It's here that you go through the fiery trial to burn up the wood, hay and stubble, not in the next life. The Bible says, “the day shall declare it.” There are no days in eternity. This is where the fiery trial comes. But you can avoid the fiery trial very easily. All you have to do is not obey the commands of Jesus. If you don't obey Him, it's easy to avoid those kinds of trials, and quite often we'll go around them, but what we're doing is putting off the day of crucifixion and the day of bearing fruit. God wants to motivate us with many, many Scriptures that today is the day of salvation. Today is God's day of deliverance (2 Corinthians 6:2). I found many places where David understood this. One of them is when Nabal's herds had been protected by David and his men out in the wilderness (1 Samuel 25:16). By the way, Nabal means “fool.” And David's men were sent to Nabal to get some supplies for his men, who were living in the wilderness, and Nabal answered them very roughly and sent them back without any help (1 Samuel 25:10,11,14). So David had decided, “I'll just go over there and take his head off” (1 Samuel 25:22). Meanwhile, Nabal's wife, who was a very understanding and wise woman, decided she was going to go meet David and ask his forgiveness, and she did (1 Samuel 25:24). And one thing she said is, “Thank God that the Lord has withheld you from avenging yourself at your own hand” (1 Samuel 25:26,31). She said that twice. Then David thanked her for her part in bringing that to pass (1 Samuel 25:32,33). You know, there's something wrong about us avenging ourselves with our own hand. (Rom.12:19) Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto the wrath [of God:] for it is written, Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord. He said, if you do this, “thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head” (20). In other words, it's God's job to repay. If we repay, then God has to whip us because we've been commanded over and over not to repay. If we do it, He's going to whip us, but He doesn't have to whip them.  I'll give you an example. If you have two kids and you tell them, “Now, look, don't you hit back. If so-and-so does something to you, you come and tell me; I'll take care of it. If one of them hits back, then the other one has al­ready gotten his punishment. In that case, why should I hit him again? I'm going to have to hit you since you're the one who needs the whipping because you disobeyed me.” Here's the point. This is the way God does things. If He tells us. “Don't do it,” there's a purpose in it. (Eph.6:12) For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual [hosts] of wickedness in the heavenly [places]. What we war against must be done in the spirit; it must be done with authority of Christ and through the power of faith. It can't be done in the flesh.  Let me show you a really good example of this from David. (2Sa.16:5) And when king David came to Bahurim, behold, there came out thence a man of the family of the house of Saul, whose name was Shimei, the son of Gera; he came out, and cursed still as he came. (6) And he cast stones at David, and at all the servants of king David: and all the people and all the mighty men were on his right hand and on his left. (7) And thus said Shimei when he cursed, Begone, begone, thou man of blood, and base fellow: (8) the Lord hath returned upon thee all the blood of the house of Saul, in whose stead thou hast reigned … Well, I don't know if Shimei knew it or not, but David had opportunity about three times to kill Saul. It was in his hand to do it, and he wouldn't do it. He would resist the evil. He wouldn't repay. He left that to the Lord, and the Lord took care of that. The Lord used the Philistines to take Saul and his whole family out (1 Samuel 31:6), but He didn't have to blame David for it. David even had to dodge some of Saul's spears and his evil spirits (1 Samuel 18:11, 19:10). Shimei went on with his slander… And the Lord hath delivered the kingdom unto the hand of Absalom thy son; and, behold, thou art [taken] in thine own mischief, because thou art a man of blood. (2Sa.16:9) Then said Abishai the son of Zeruah unto the king, Why should this dead dog curse the lord my king? let me go over, I pray thee, and take off his head. (10) And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? Because he curseth, and because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David … Do you see that? “The Lord hath said unto him, ‘Curse David.'” David wasn't wrong here. The Lord works all things after the counsel of His Own Will (Ephesians 1:11). He sends wicked people to us to crucify our flesh. It's His purpose to do that, just as He sent and used the hand of wicked men to crucify the Lord. (Act.2:23) Him, being delivered up by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of God, ye by the hand of lawless men did crucify and slay. God used these vessels of dishonor. He used the people of Israel and He used the wicked Roman Empire to crucify the Lord, as the Scripture says. It's the same with us. He put us here in the midst of a bunch of wolves. Jesus said, “I send you forth as lambs in the midst of wolves” (Luk.10:3). We have been put here for crucifixion, and the world is designed to crucify us. If you don't understand that, you don't understand the sovereignty of God. God designed this world to crucify us. Jesus was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world (Revelation 13:8). Stop and think. “The Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.” Before Adam fell, God designed a Savior. Do you think we're in Plan B? Nope. We're in Plan A. There never has been a Plan B because God is Sovereign. He designed this world to manifest sons, and to manifest sons, you have to have a fallen nature to begin with. There have to be people who don't deserve God's goodness. That's where you have to start out because God wasn't creating angels. If He was creating angels, He wouldn't have had to make man at all. God didn't want angels. He wanted somebody who was fallen and so they could gratefully realize they picked up by the grace of God. You remember what Jesus said to one of the Pharisees? (Luk.7:40) And Jesus, answering, said unto him, Simon, I have somewhat to say unto thee. And he saith, Teacher, say on. (41) A certain lender had two debtors: the one owed five hundred shillings, and the other fifty. (42) When they had not [wherewith] to pay, he forgave them both. Which of them therefore will love him most? (43) Simon answered and said, He, I suppose, to whom he forgave the most. And he said unto him, Thou hast rightly judged. (47) Wherefore I say unto thee, Her sins, which are many, are forgiven; for she loved much: but to whom little is forgiven, [the same] loveth little. In other words, “Who is forgiven much, loveth much.” See, we're going to know how to love God because we don't deserve anything. We have fallen and have been picked up by grace, not by our works, but by grace or unmerited favor. We don't deserve anything. We deserve justice, but pray you don't get that because God's grace is far above justice. His mercy is far above justice. That's why we have to give grace to other people. Don't give them what they deserve; you may get what you deserve. (Mat.7:2) For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured unto you. If you give somebody justice, you'll receive it back. Give them mercy. Give them grace. God will judge them. God may even judge them out of your mouth, but understand that it won't be with your flesh. The prophets spoke judgments. In the Book of Revelation, prophets speak judgment in (Revelation 11:6). I'm convinced that everything that happens in the Book of Revelation comes out of the mouth of God's children. Many of the curses today that are coming upon this world are coming out of the mouth of God's children. In fact, I'm convinced that all of them do. God is bringing judgment, and He's doing it through His people but it won't be personal retaliation or unforgiveness. They're speaking judgment, but they're not doing it with the mouth of the flesh. You know, we can't rise up against this government that God ordained according to Romans 13. If you do, God promises, “all they that take the sword shall perish with the sword” (Mat.26:52). But ultimately God's Kingdom is coming. The saints are going to possess the Kingdom, and they're going to take it from the Beast. They will do this by using the Sword of the Spirit and it will be happening in the spirit realm. They won't be doing it in the flesh. The flesh must be crucified. Works of the flesh must cease. You must desist. You must resist not him who is evil. In the spirit realm, we can do many mighty things. God has planned it that way so that your spirit man will be strong, but your flesh will be weak. That's the way God's salvation, God's deliverance, and every need is going to come. David understood that the Lord had commanded this, and we need to understand this, too. All we have to do is read Job to see that circumstances are the same today as they were back then. (Job2:10) … What? shall we receive good at the hand of God, and shall we not receive evil?…. And you know what? Job repented after God answered him in chapters 38-40. He repented of his self-righteousness. He repented (Job 42:1-6) and God gave him back what he'd lost (Job 42:10). But God used crucifixion in Job's life. Job wasn't physically doing wrong things; he wasn't in outward immoral disobedience. His problem was self-righteousness. God brought all this against him to bring him to repentance. David was also put in a position of crucifixion by God. God sent this enemy against him and David understood that. I think very few people in the Old Testament had wisdom like David concerning this. And he said, (2Sa.16:10) And the king said, What have I to do with you, ye sons of Zeruiah? Because he curseth, and because the Lord hath said unto him, Curse David; who then shall say, Wherefore hast thou done so? (11) And David said to Abishai, and to all his servants, Behold, my son, who came forth from my bowels, seeketh my life: how much more [may] this Benjamite now [do it]? let him alone, and let him curse; for the Lord hath bidden him. “The Lord hath bidden him.” Think about that the next time people come against you and want to put you on the cross, and you keep wanting to climb down. We do want to climb down off that cross, but you can't drive the nails. God has designed the wicked to put the cross in the ground and drive the nails. That's their calling in this world.  God has vessels of honor and vessels of dishonor. He has vessels of grace and vessels of wrath. They're all doing His Will, one way or the other. All things serve the Lord, and He works all things after the counsel of His Own Will (Ephesians 1:11). If you understand this, you can walk in grace and peace in this world, no matter what comes against you, because God put you there for a purpose. He put you there to be crucified and so that you would learn to use the weapons of your warfare (2 Corinthians 10:4). You know, sometimes the Lord sends the devil against you just so you can defeat him. He'll send the enemy against you, but He doesn't want you to go against him by wrestling with flesh and blood (Ephesians 6:12). Remember that the Bible says, “resist not him that is evil” (Mat.5:39). On the other hand, it says, “resist the devil” (Jas.4:7). “Resist not him that is evil” is talking about man. We don't wrestle with flesh and blood. When they wrestled with flesh and blood in the Old Testament, that was a type and shadow of them wrestling with principalities and powers. Go back over there and read the names of those kings and the names of those tribes that were conquered, and study in the Hebrew what those names mean. You're going to find out they're all the lusts of the flesh and demon spirits. That's who the Israelites were spiritually wrestling with and everything that happened to them was a type and a shadow for us. (1Co.10:11) Now these things happened unto them by way of example; and they were written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the ages are come. So go back to the Old Testament and look at it carefully. You'll see what they wrestled with.  Today we think we're supposed to carry on an Old Testament-type warfare in the way we war with people, but you can't grow if you do that. God will chasten you if you do that because you're rebelling against His Word. And David said of his accuser, “the Lord hath bidden him” (2Sa.16:11). (12) It may be that the Lord will look on the wrong done to me, and that the Lord will requite me good for [his] cursing of me this day. David is saying that the Lord will pay him back good for his resisting not evil. If the Lord's going to bless you for it, go ahead and let them curse. Didn't Jesus say you'd be blessed when men would curse you? Absolutely (Matthew 5:11). Didn't He say the spirit of grace and the Spirit of God would rest upon you? Have you ever experienced that? I have. When I first learned of this doctrine, the Lord put me in situations where I did, by His grace, turn the other cheek, and I felt the power of God on me for going through that. It's just a great anointing that comes upon you when you obey God in the place where you want to defend yourself, and you refuse to do it. Instead, you leave it in the hands of God, and you won't defend yourself.  If you do defend ‘self', then the old man will live; he'll climb down off that cross. Even though he's crucified, he's not totally dead yet, so he can still climb down. It's true that we have to reckon him dead (Romans 6:11), but until he is dead, don't let him live; don't feed him. Do you know what fasting is a type of? Well, when you fast, you're not feeding the flesh. What happens when you don't feed it? It gets weak. What does that do? It makes the spiritual man strong. There's a reason for fasting and there's a spiritual type. The whole chapter of Isaiah 58 is talking about spiritual fasting, about denying yourself, so we see that they had a revelation of that in the Old Testament, too. (2Sa.16:13) So David and his men went by the way; and Shimei went along on the hill-side over against him, and cursed as he went, and threw stones at him, and cast dust. (14) And the king, and all the people that were with him, came weary; and he refreshed himself there. Well, that wasn't the end of the story. David never did do anything to Shimei, but his son Solomon had him killed because he rebelled against his commands and left the city. It's hard to comprehend why Shimei was so against David. My guess is he was a low-life who just didn't want to understand the situation here. Anybody who was on Absalom's side and saw righteousness in Absalom and not in David, and saw righteousness in Saul and not in David, was in trouble. He was a sick son of the devil. Leaving our recompense in God's hands will do a work in you that nothing else will do because our old man would like to get the last word. And the last place you'll usually overcome in doing this is in your family. You can do it pretty well with the world and with the Christians around you, but one of the last places you're going to do it is with your family. The Scriptures teach this really well. The Lord says, “bless them that persecute you; bless, and curse not” (Rom.12:14).(17) Render to no man evil for evil. Take thought for things honorable in the sight of all men. (18) If it be possible, as much as in you lieth, be at peace with all men. We're to be at peace with all men. I once had a rather strange thing happen to me when I was in that state between dreaming and waking up. I was faced with an enemy that had come against this country. I saw an invasion force, and I was in the midst of it, and I was saying things to them in this dream like, “You're not my enemy.” The world may have enemies, but the world is not our enemy. Did you know the world is not our enemy? He said, “I will be his father, and he shall be my son: if he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men” (2Sa.7:14). See, the rod is not your enemy; the rod is God's method of creation. When what we call our “enemy” is finished doing their work, God's going to destroy them. They have a work to do that we have to cooperate with God in. They are the rod of God who comes against us, but they're not really our enemy. We are to resist not that evil because that evil is what crucifies this flesh, which is our true enemy; it's the enemy of our eternal life. So they're doing a work in us that nothing else could do, and we need them. And God says, “as much as in you lieth, be at peace with all men” (Rom.12:18). (19) Avenge not yourselves, beloved, but give place unto the wrath [of God]. “Give place unto the wrath.” That “of God” wasn't in the original. Just cross that out because it's not in there. It says, “give place unto the wrath: for it is written, Vengeance belongeth unto me; I will recompense, saith the Lord” (19). (20) But if thine enemy hunger, feed him; if he thirst, give him to drink: for in so doing thou shalt heap coals of fire upon his head. (21) Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good. Our method to bring the Gospel to people around us is to overcome evil with good. And Paul said, always leave the vengeance up to the Lord. Now I've heard for years that this ‘heaping coals of fire upon their head' was coals of conviction. Maybe so. But if you don't take vengeance, the Lord will, because He said to Israel, I will bless them that bless thee, and him that curseth thee will I curse (Gen.12:3). The Bible says we're the Israel of God. That verse is about you. It's not about a bunch of pagan Israelites who don't know God. No, it doesn't have anything to do with them. It has to do with the Israel of God. For as many as are of the faith of Abraham, these are the sons of Abraham (Romans 4:16). (Rom.2:28) For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh: (29) but he is a Jew who is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart…. God's going to bless those who bless you, but He's going to curse those who curse you.  (Psa.140:9) As for the head of those that compass me about, Let the mischief of their own lips cover them. (10) Let burning coals fall upon them: Let them be cast into the fire, Into deep pits, whence they shall not rise. So, this ‘burning coals upon the head;' could mean a lot more than just the convicting power. There are some people who will be totally convicted when you resist not their evil, and God can overcome evil in people who can be convicted because the power of God is drawing them. But there are some people who have no desire toward God. They're not being drawn of God, as a matter of fact. The Scripture doesn't say God draws everybody. (Joh.6:44) No man can come to me, except the Father that sent me draw him…. It's just not in there. And this won't do anything for them, but the Bible does say God's judgment will fall upon them. If you resist not the evil, God's judgment will fall upon them, so those burning coals can mean the judgment of God. (Rom.13:1) Let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers: for there is no power but of God…. Did you know that there is no power but of God? If somebody has power over you, guess Who gave them that power? Jesus told Pilate, “thou wouldest have no power against me, except it were given thee from above” (Joh.19:11). It's the same situation with us. God puts us in positions where physically we don't have the power; the enemy, the wicked, have the power. How many times have you ever seen a Christian government over a country? Daniel said that God gives the kingdom to whom He will and He sets up over it the basest of men (Daniel 4:17). Did you ever wonder why God does that? Did you ever wonder why, in the days of Jesus, there were the Neros and the Caesars, and since then the Hitlers and the Mussolinis? God does that because we need crucifixion. God is in the process of creating sons, and there has to be a crucifixion for sons. The people in power most often are the wicked. The Bible says in Romans 13 that when they're put in power, God puts them there. So it says, “let every soul be in subjection to the higher powers: for there is no power but of God; and the [powers] that be are ordained of God” (Rom.13:1). And that was written in the days of the Herods and the Caesars and the Neros! God put them in there and they crucified the Christians. They brought the Christians through trouble and all that was God's purpose. (Act.14:22) … Through many tribulations we must enter into the kingdom of God.

Welcome back, Adnavserinos, to the wild world of H.I. Marrou. This week it's Part III, ch. III, entitled The Language Question: Greek and Latin. Here the fearless French historian takes us through bilingualism in the Roman Empire, developing familiar themes and extending them in surprising directions. Sure, the Romans steamrolled militarily over all resistance in East and West, and by the time of Trajan's greatest success in 117 A.D. the Roman Empire extended from Mesopotamia to northern Britain. But did the legions take with them more than bathing, togas, and mosaics for your entryway? Did the Latin language go along for the ride, and how was it received? Surprisingly, says Marrou, Greek was never eclipsed nor canceled, and indeed Romans were all agog to master their Homer and Menander. To serious students of antiquity this is not news, but you may be surprised at the "freshness preserving" directions in which Marrou takes the argument.

Paul walked into Ephesus, the wealthiest and most idol-filled city in the Roman Empire, and found twelve disciples who had never heard of the Holy Spirit. Three months in the synagogue later, he moved the church to a rented lecture hall and taught the word of God daily for two years, during the hours everyone else spent napping through the heat. In Acts 19, revival wasn't organized around a prayer room. It was organized around a Bible study.This week in Church on Fire we're asking what it means to be a church anchored by Scripture. We look at how Luke uses "the word" as a main character in Acts, something alive and unstoppable rather than information sitting on a page, and we go to Matthew 4 to see the two ways Scripture gets read: the way Satan quotes it, clipped and out of context, and the way Jesus submits to it. Then we get practical. Study the word, submit to the word, live the word. With your money, your relationships, your sexuality, your integrity, your phone, what would it look like to actually do what it says?

The Book of ACTS continues the story of Christianity and is the fifth book of the New Testament. It recounts the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message across the Roman Empire. Breathe Bible Audio CD available at https://amzn.to/3CPRa4x The Acts of the Apostles book available at https://amzn.to/3M6sTId Historical Jesus books available at https://amzn.to/43rnYbq ENJOY Ad-Free content, Bonus episodes, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on https://patreon.com/markvinet SUPPORT this channel by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at NO extra charge to you). Mark's video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 X (twitter): https://twitter.com/HistoricalJesu Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Mark's Books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Audio credits: Breathe Bible podcast (LifeAudio Podcast Network, Salem Web Network). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Pastors Alex and Chris discuss the Roman Empire and the Equestrian Class (Equites). How often do you think about the Roman Empire? It's okay if you don't or if you do, but the New Testament makes a whole lot more sense by understanding it a bit.

Twin brothers Sts. Cosmas and Damian healed the sick across the Roman Empire — and never once asked for payment. Trained physicians who believed their medical skill was a gift from God, Cosmas and Damian treated rich and poor alike for free, and their generosity drew many toward Christ. When Emperor Diocletian's persecution reached them, both brothers and their three siblings were martyred together for refusing to deny their faith. "Physicians who healed for free, out of pure love rather than profit." Cosmas and Damian's challenge doesn't have to end when the episode does. Our free Family Pack has a saint calendar, feast-day activity pages, and family discussion questions to keep it going at home — free when you subscribe: https://shop.catholicsprouts.com/pages/every-days-a-feast-day-follow-along  

In this Papal Snapshot, we cover an amazing letter written by the Council of Aquileia (in which St. Ambrose participated) in 387, acknowledging before all the emperors of the Roman Empire—both east and west—that the Roman Church to be the center and source of Catholic communion.BECOME A PATRON OF THE GREAT TRADITIONHas our content blessed you or those you love? Then please consider becoming a monthly patron for $10/month or more.➡️ https://eternalchristendom.com/become-a-patron/This apostolate is a non-profit under priestly authority, and all your gifts are tax-deductible. Your generosity makes it possible for us to produce our podcast, research, and written content with excellence, while making it available to the world for free, all for the salvation of souls. It also empowers us to work on even bigger projects behind the scenes (stay tuned).VISIT OUR WEBSITE➡️ https://eternalchristendom.com/CONNECT ON SOCIAL MEDIAX: https://twitter.com/JoshuaTCharlesFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/joshuatcharles/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/joshuatcharles/DIVE DEEPERCheck out our “Becoming Catholic” resources, where you'll find 1 million+ words of free content (bigger than the Bible!) in the form of Articles, Quote Archives, and Study Banks to help you become, remain, and deepen your life as a Catholic:➡️ https://eternalchristendom.com/becoming-catholic/SUBSTACKSubscribe to our Substack to get regular updates on our content, and other premium content:➡️ https://eternalchristendom.substack.com/EXCLUSIVE BOOKSTORE DISCOUNTS➡️ https://eternalchristendom.com/bookstore/CHAPTERS00:00 - Intro03:34 - Historical Context05:20 - The Letter of St. Ambrose (Council of Aquileia)10:27 - ConclusionThis podcast can also be heard on Apple, Spotify, and other podcast platforms.

Value Based on Creativity and Community, Not Productivity Download There is a very old trick by which empires make themselves appear necessary: they persuade human beings that their value is measured by their usefulness to the machine. The Pharaoh needs workers. The Roman Empire needs soldiers and taxpayers. The feudal lord needs peasants producing grain. The industrial capitalist needs labor. The modern corporation needs "human resources"— which is perhaps the most straight up Orwellian Skynet phrase ever invented, and if they cease to produce—through illness, age, disability, unemployment, or simply exhaustAion—they are subtly invited to regard themselves as having become less of a person. That is the great moral fraud of a production-obsessed society because a human being is not a commercial trader but also not even a unit of economic output.These insight sub-episodes are mirrored on our primary YouTube channel which can be found at https://www.youtube.com/@NilesHeckman/videos

Emperor Manuel II Palaiologos stands at the head of a dying empire, trapped behind the walls of Constantinople while Sultan Bayezid tightens his grip around the city. But the arrival of the legendary French knight Marshal Boucicaut gives the Romans one last chance to strike back. Together they take the war across the Bosphorus, raid the Ottoman coast, and finally bring an end to the bitter feud between Manuel and his nephew John VII. With Constantinople temporarily secure, Manuel makes an extraordinary decision: the Roman Emperor will leave his empire behind and travel personally into the West. From Venice and the courts of Italy to Paris and finally London, Manuel appeals directly to the kings of Europe for an army capable of saving Constantinople. He is welcomed with celebrations, gifts, promises, and all the ceremony befitting an emperor—but the soldiers never come. Then, just as Manuel begins to lose hope, astonishing news arrives from the East. Bayezid has abandoned the siege, marched into Anatolia, and confronted a conqueror even more terrifying than himself: Tamerlane.https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/byzantine-and-modern-greek-studies/article/abs/byzantine-grand-embassy-to-russia-in-1400/B1AD163E0D67F667C474BD6ED3C53044https://cappellarecords.com/assets/uploads/2022/12/753459828328_Booklet.pdfThe History of Modern Greece Podcast covers the events from Ancient Greece, the Roman Empire, and the fall of Constantinople in 1453, to the years under the Ottoman Empire, and 1821, when the Greeks fought for independence... all the way to the modern day.EMAIL US: historyofmoderngreece@gmail.comWebsite: www.moderngreecepodcast.comSOCIAL MEDIA: Go here to chat with us. https://www.instagram.com/historyofmodern%20greece/https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=61578023316172Music by Mark Jungerman: www.marcjungermann.com

1963 SOVIET EMBASSY PEOPLE'S DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF YEMENYemen's Long Memory and the Houthi Threat to the PeninsulaEdmund Fitton-Brown, former UK ambassador to Yemen, joins John Batchelor regarding the complex geopolitical history and current instability of Yemen. The speakers highlight the resilience of the Houthi movement, noting their historical ability to withstand foreign interventions ranging from the Roman Empire to modern Saudi-led airstrikes. Their conversation examines the sectarian divide between the Zaydi North and the Shafi'i South, emphasizing how the Houthis have evolved into a revolutionary force with expansionist ambitions. Fitton-Brown expresses deep concern over the United States' current diplomatic strategy, arguing that trusting Houthi reassurances is a dangerous miscalculation given their allegiance to Iran. Ultimately, the discussion serves as a warning about the existential threat the Houthis pose to the stability of the Arabian Peninsula and the safety of global maritime routes.

If anti-immigration nationalist parties have their way, countries like Germany and the UK will essentially disappear by 2075 due to plummeting birth rates. But if immigration continues, those countries will be run by Muslims. We're looking at the most massive geopolitical shift since the fall of the Roman Empire in AD 476 – but there is still reason to be hopeful! Kevin Swanson and Bill Jack discuss the wildcard that no one is talking about: Christians having babies. They reveal some surprising facts about: - How Africa will have 100x the population of the UK by 2075 – and are on track to be majority Christian - How 33% of American children will be in Christian education within 30 years, if trends continue - How the Chinese are failing to recover from their suicidal one-child-per-family policy - And how once self-worship is institutionalized into a culture of death, the only way back is repentance and faith in the life-giving gospel that denies self and worships the true God. Got a topic you want us to cover? Email us at mail@generations.org Subscribe for more biblical analysis of world events from Generations. #GenerationsRadio #Generations #KevinSwanson #BirthRateImplosion #Immigration #Nationalism

If anti-immigration nationalist parties have their way, countries like Germany and the UK will essentially disappear by 2075 due to plummeting birth rates. But if immigration continues, those countries will be run by Muslims. We're looking at the most massive geopolitical shift since the fall of the Roman Empire in AD 476 – but there is still reason to be hopeful! Kevin Swanson and Bill Jack discuss the wildcard that no one is talking about: Christians having babies. They reveal some surprising facts about: - How Africa will have 100x the population of the UK by 2075 – and are on track to be majority Christian - How 33% of American children will be in Christian education within 30 years, if trends continue - How the Chinese are failing to recover from their suicidal one-child-per-family policy - And how once self-worship is institutionalized into a culture of death, the only way back is repentance and faith in the life-giving gospel that denies self and worships the true God. Got a topic you want us to cover? Email us at mail@generations.org Subscribe for more biblical analysis of world events from Generations. #GenerationsRadio #Generations #KevinSwanson #BirthRateImplosion #Immigration #Nationalism

If anti-immigration nationalist parties have their way, countries like Germany and the UK will essentially disappear by 2075 due to plummeting birth rates. But if immigration continues, those countries will be run by Muslims. We're looking at the most massive geopolitical shift since the fall of the Roman Empire in AD 476 – but there is still reason to be hopeful! Kevin Swanson and Bill Jack discuss the wildcard that no one is talking about: Christians having babies. They reveal some surprising facts about: - How Africa will have 100x the population of the UK by 2075 – and are on track to be majority Christian - How 33% of American children will be in Christian education within 30 years, if trends continue - How the Chinese are failing to recover from their suicidal one-child-per-family policy - And how once self-worship is institutionalized into a culture of death, the only way back is repentance and faith in the life-giving gospel that denies self and worships the true God. Got a topic you want us to cover? Email us at mail@generations.org Subscribe for more biblical analysis of world events from Generations. #GenerationsRadio #Generations #KevinSwanson #BirthRateImplosion #Immigration #Nationalism

Conclave author Robert Harris has returned to Rome with a fictional memoir of Agrippa, a military genius and trusted ally of the first Roman Emperor, Augustus. In the memoir, the general doesn't have much time left and is ready to divulge a life story filled with battles, vows and betrayals. In today's episode, Harris joins Weekend Edition's Scott Simon for a conversation about Agrippa's origins, the many other historical figures that populate the book, including Octavia Caesar and Pompeia, and why Harris says ancient Rome is in “our DNA.”Support public media with NPR+ and enjoy perks for over 25 podcasts like this one. This show's perks include sponsor-free listening. Learn more at plus.npr.org.See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for sponsorship and to manage your podcast sponsorship preferences.NPR Privacy Policy

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/TheOccultRejectsGreek and Roman Primary SourcesAristotle. Generation of Animals. Translated by A. L. Peck. Loeb Classical Library 366. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1942.Galen. On Semen. Edited and translated by Phillip De Lacy. Corpus Medicorum Graecorum V 3, 1–2. Berlin: Akademie-Verlag, 1992.Galen. On the Usefulness of the Parts of the Body. Translated by Margaret Tallmadge May. 2 vols. Ithaca, NY: Cornell University Press, 1968.Hippocrates. Generation, Nature of the Child, Diseases IV. Translated by Paul Potter. Loeb Classical Library 520. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 2012.Hippocrates. On the Seed and the Nature of the Child. In Hippocratic Writings, edited by G. E. R. Lloyd and translated by J. Chadwick and W. N. Mann. London: Penguin, 1978.Soranus. Soranus' Gynecology. Translated by Owsei Temkin. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1956.Greek and Roman Medicine, Gender, and SexualityConnell, Sophia M. Aristotle on Female Animals: A Study of the Generation of Animals. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2016.Dean-Jones, Lesley. Women's Bodies in Classical Greek Science. Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1994.Flemming, Rebecca. Medicine and the Making of Roman Women: Gender, Nature, and Authority from Celsus to Galen. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000.King, Helen. Hippocrates' Woman: Reading the Female Body in Ancient Greece. London: Routledge, 1998.Laqueur, Thomas. Making Sex: Body and Gender from the Greeks to Freud. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1990.Lloyd, G. E. R. Science, Folklore and Ideology: Studies in the Life Sciences in Ancient Greece. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1983.Mattern, Susan P. The Prince of Medicine: Galen in the Roman Empire. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2013.Nutton, Vivian. Ancient Medicine. 2nd ed. London: Routledge, 2013.Ayurveda, Kāma, and South Asian Sexual TraditionsDoniger, Wendy, and Sudhir Kakar, trans. Kamasutra. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2002.Flood, Gavin. The Tantric Body: The Secret Tradition of Hindu Religion. London: I. B. Tauris, 2006.Meulenbeld, G. Jan. A History of Indian Medical Literature. 5 vols. Groningen: Egbert Forsten, 1999–2002.Sanderson, Alexis. “The Śaiva Age: The Rise and Dominance of Śaivism during the Early Medieval Period.” In Genesis and Development of Tantrism, edited by Shingo Einoo, 41–350. Tokyo: Institute of Oriental Culture, University of Tokyo, 2009.White, David Gordon. Kiss of the Yoginī: “Tantric Sex” in Its South Asian Contexts. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2003.White, David Gordon. The Alchemical Body: Siddha Traditions in Medieval India. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1996.Wujastyk, Dominik. The Roots of Ayurveda: Selections from Sanskrit Medical Writings. 3rd ed. London: Penguin, 2003.Chinese Medicine and Daoist CultivationDespeux, Catherine. Taoism and Self Knowledge: The Chart for the Cultivation of Perfection. Leiden: Brill, 2018.Furth, Charlotte. A Flourishing Yin: Gender in China's Medical History, 960–1665. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1999.Kohn, Livia. Daoist Body Cultivation: Traditional Models and Contemporary Practices. Magdalena, NM: Three Pines Press, 2006.Lo, Vivienne. “The Influence of Nurturing Life Culture on the Development of Western Han Acumoxa Therapy.” In Innovation in Chinese Medicine, edited by Elisabeth Hsu, 19–50. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2001.Pregadio, Fabrizio, ed. The Encyclopedia of Taoism. 2 vols. London: Routledge, 2008.Schipper, Kristofer. The Taoist Body. Translated by Karen C. Duval. Berkeley: University of California Press, 1993.Wile, Douglas. Art of the Bedchamber: The Chinese Sexual Yoga Classics Including Women's Solo Meditation Texts. Albany: State University of New York Press, 1992.Comparative and Methodological StudiesFoucault, Michel. The History of Sexuality. Vol. 2, The Use of Pleasure. Translated by Robert Hurley. New York: Vintage Books, 1990.Hopwood, Nick, Rebecca Flemming, and Lauren Kassell, eds. Reproduction: Antiquity to the Present Day. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2018.Wiesner-Hanks, Merry E., and Mathew Kuefler, eds. The Cambridge World History of Sexualities. Vol. 2, Systems of Thought and Belief. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2024.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. 

The Timing of the Gog and Magog War by Chris White on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/Timing-Gog-Magog-War-Revelation/dp/B0HBN1X1RB False Christ by Chris White on Amazon:https://www.amazon.com/False-Christ-Antichrist-Jewish-Messiah/dp/0991232925 One of the most widely accepted teachings in modern Bible prophecy is that the Antichrist will arise from a revived Roman Empire. But does the Bible actually teach that? In this episode, Chris White takes … Continue reading "Will the Antichrist Come from a Revived Roman Empire?"

Outline: “Power Encounters” I. Opening and Introduction Welcome, blessing, and encouragement to the congregation. Emphasis on being part of a church family. Lighthearted interaction with the congregation. Encouragement to bring physical Bibles rather than relying solely on phones. Avoid distractions from texting and social media. Introduction of the sermon title: “Power Encounters.” II. What Is a Power Encounter? A power encounter is described as experiencing God's power in a real and tangible way. It moves beyond intellectual or philosophical arguments into an experience of God's authority. Biblical power encounters demonstrate Jesus Christ's authority over spiritual forces. The Book of Acts provides examples of God's power confronting darkness, wickedness, and demonic oppression. III. The Reality of Spiritual Battle The sermon identifies an ongoing conflict between: Light and darkness. Truth and deception. Good and evil. Holiness and sin. Christians are encouraged to recognize that spiritual opposition exists. Personal example: A church prayer gathering for the nation was met with opposition from an atheist organization. Main point: As the church moves forward, the preacher believes spiritual opposition will attempt to resist its progress. Christians should not respond with fear but with awareness and preparation. IV. Being Forewarned and Forearmed Reference to 2 Corinthians 2:11: Christians should not be ignorant of the enemy's devices. Warning signs are presented as preparation rather than reasons for fear. Ephesians 6:10: “Be strong in the Lord and in the power of His might.” The believer's strength comes from: God. God's Word. God's presence. Spiritual battles cannot ultimately be fought through human strength. V. The Purpose and Message of Acts Acts records the beginning and expansion of the Christian church. The Gospel spreads: From Jerusalem. Throughout the Roman Empire. Ultimately toward the nations. Paul continues preaching even while imprisoned. The church's mission is to proclaim the Gospel. The Gospel offers: Forgiveness of sins. A new relationship with God. A transformed life. The Gospel continues despite opposition. VI. Dependence on the Holy Spirit The church's work depends completely on the Holy Spirit. God uses ordinary people to accomplish extraordinary things. The disciples' transformation illustrates this: Before Pentecost: fear, self-doubt, shame, and hiding. After receiving the Holy Spirit: boldness, conviction, and courage. Central question: What made the difference? Answer: The power of the Holy Spirit. VII. Spiritual Power for Spiritual Battles Believers need spiritual power to: Serve God. Serve the church. Witness to Jesus. Face spiritual opposition. Psalm 144:1 is used to describe God training believers for spiritual battle. Spiritual strength and victory are developed through: Scripture. Prayer. Learning to operate spiritually. VIII. Fighting From a Place of Victory Christians are encouraged not to fight from a mindset of defeat. Instead, they should recognize the victory already accomplished through Christ. Illustration: the preacher's childhood baseball team His team was undefeated. Although he was not the strongest player, he had confidence because he knew astrong team was behind him. He pitched a one-hit game. Application: Confidence comes from knowing who is behind you. Christians can face spiritual battles because Christ has already won the victory. IX. Christ's Victory Over Spiritual Powers Colossians 2 is used to explain Christ's victory. Christ: Removed the record of sin. Nailed it to the cross. Disarmed principalities and powers. Triumphed over them. The cross appeared to be defeat but ultimately represented Christ's victory. Because Christ has victory, believers can fight from a position of victory rather than defeat. X. The Power of the Holy Spirit vs. Human Wisdom 1 Corinthians 2 is introduced. Paul emphasizes that his ministry did not depend on: Human wisdom. Persuasive speech. Intellectual ability. Instead, it depended upon: Demonstration of the Spirit. God's power. The goal is for faith to rest in God's power rather than human wisdom. XI. Personal Encounter With God The preacher encourages listeners to experience God personally. Personal experience is presented as something that cannot easily be argued away. The emphasis is not on: Emotionalism. Fanaticism. Sensationalism. Rather, the emphasis is on a genuine personal encounter with the living God. XII. Keep Moving Forward Believers are encouraged not to stop serving because of: Hurt. Offense. Betrayal. Disappointment. Discussion of “church hurt.” The church is made up of imperfect people. Jesus is the only perfect person. God works through imperfect people who can understand and sympathize with oneanother. Main exhortation: Keep serving. Keep coming. Keep giving. Keep helping. Keep blessing. Keep moving forward. Illustration: Things that stop moving eventually weaken, deteriorate, or become unusable. Spiritual growth likewise requires continued movement, even if it is only a small step. XIII. God's Presence and Manifestation God is described as omnipresent—present everywhere. However, the preacher distinguishes God's general presence from moments when God makes His presence especially evident. The early church experienced God in a powerful and tangible way. Christianity is presented as more than doctrinal statements: It is a living relationship with God. It involves experiencing His presence. XIV. Three Results of a Power Encounter 1. Reality God's presence and power make His reality tangible. 1 Corinthians 2: faith should rest in God's power. Luke 24:32: the disciples' hearts “burned” as Jesus opened the Scriptures. The preacher desires listeners to experience a similar spiritual awakening. Psalm 34:8: “Taste and see that the Lord is good.” Faith is presented as something to be personally experienced, not merely intellectually observed. Worship creates an atmosphere for people to seek God's presence. 2. Refreshment Spiritual encounters bring renewal and refreshing. Acts is referenced regarding “times of refreshing” from God's presence. Believers can become weary through: Spiritual battles. Job difficulties. Sickness. Discouragement. Old patterns of thinking. God's presence provides renewed strength. Key idea: New levels require new strength. 3. Restoration God restores the soul. The preacher connects restoration with bringing something back to its proper condition—and ultimately making it better. God can restore: Joy. Peace. Spiritual strength. What has been lost or stolen. Believers are encouraged to seek a fresh touch from God. XV. Closing Prayer and Invitation The congregation is asked to stand. The worship team returns. Prayer for: The Holy Spirit's presence. Hunger and thirst for God. Spiritual strength. Refreshment. Awareness of spiritual opposition. Congregants are invited to: Leave their seats. Pray. Kneel. Seek the Holy Spirit. Receive prayer from the ministry/prayer team. Final emphasis: “Lord, I need Your Holy Spirit.” “Lord, I need Your touch.” Central Message Believers should seek a personal encounter with the power of the Holy Spirit, recognize that Christ has already won the victory, and continue moving forward in faith, receiving God's strength, refreshment, and restoration.

The Book of ACTS continues the story of Christianity and is the fifth book of the New Testament. It recounts the founding of the Christian Church and the spread of its message across the Roman Empire. Breathe Bible Audio CD available at https://amzn.to/3CPRa4x The Acts of the Apostles book available at https://amzn.to/3M6sTId Historical Jesus books available at https://amzn.to/43rnYbq ENJOY Ad-Free content, Bonus episodes, and Extra materials when joining our growing community on https://patreon.com/markvinet SUPPORT this channel by purchasing any product on Amazon using this FREE entry LINK https://amzn.to/3POlrUD (Amazon gives us credit at NO extra charge to you). Mark's video channel: https://youtube.com/c/TIMELINE_MarkVinet Website: https://markvinet.com/podcast Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mark.vinet.9 X (twitter): https://twitter.com/HistoricalJesu Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/denarynovels Mark's Books: https://amzn.to/3k8qrGM Audio credits: Breathe Bible podcast (LifeAudio Podcast Network, Salem Web Network). Audio excerpts reproduced under the Fair Use (Fair Dealings) Legal Doctrine for purposes such as criticism, comment, teaching, education, scholarship, research and news reporting.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

The sermon explores the Christian concept of living a life for Jesus Christ, using the Apostle Paul's experiences as a primary example. Referencing James, Acts, and Philippians, the Matt emphasizes that believers should consider all trials as opportunities for joy and spiritual growth. The sermon details Paul's imprisonment, highlighting how his dire circumstances were providentially used by God to advance the gospel within the Roman Empire, reaching even "Caesar's household" (Philippians 4:21). The core message is that a believer's faithful and joyful response to suffering, exemplified by Paul and historical figures like John Bunyan, can lead to fruitful evangelism and embolden fellow believers. The congregation is urged to emulate Paul—and ultimately Christ—by embracing courageous witness, trusting God's providence, and actively supporting the church's missionary partnerships.1. The Christian Response to Trials and SufferingConsidering Trials as Joy: Referencing the Book of James, the speaker commands believers to consider all trials "pure joy," which equips them for spiritual growth and witness.Paul's Example of Faithfulness: The Apostle Paul is presented as an example of faith, who boldly pursued God's call regardless of his circumstances ("to live is Christ, and to die is gain").God's Purpose in Suffering: All events in a believer's life, including suffering, have a divine purpose. Believers should trust God and look for opportunities to serve rather than turning to self-pity.Relying on the Holy Spirit: Believers are encouraged to rely on the Holy Spirit for endurance and joy during hard times, rather than their own strength.2. The Narrative of Paul's Imprisonment (Acts 21–28)The Prophecy of Agabus and Paul's Resolve: In Acts 21, the prophet Agabus foretells Paul's arrest in Jerusalem. Despite pleas, Paul remains resolute, ready to die for Jesus.Arrest in Jerusalem: Paul is falsely accused by Jews, attacked by a mob, and arrested by the Roman commander, which saves his life.God's Providence in Paul's Incarceration: Paul's four-year imprisonment was providentially used by God to advance the gospel into the Roman Empire. During this time, he wrote the prison epistles (Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon).3. The Impact of Paul's Faithful Suffering (Philippians 1)Gospel Advancement Through Imprisonment: Paul writes that his circumstances led to the "greater progress of the gospel" (Philippians 1:12). His chains became "well known throughout the whole Praetorian Guard" (Philippians 1:13) and to "everyone else." His imprisonment gave him a captive audience with the elite imperial guard, allowing the gospel to penetrate the headquarters of Rome and reach "Caesar's household" (Philippians 4:21).Fruitful Evangelism through Submission: A believer's faithful response to suffering produces fruitful evangelism. Paul's authentic, selfless testimony led many guards to saving faith.A Faithful Testimony Emboldens Fellow Believers: Paul's steadfastness in suffering gave other Christians "far more courage to speak the word of God without fear" (Philippians 1:14). This principle is applied to Heritage Church, reminding them that their faithfulness can encourage others.4. Christ as the Ultimate Model (Philippians 2:5–11)Christ's Humility and Exaltation: Paul points to Christ, who emptied Himself, became a slave, and was obedient to death on a cross, after which God highly exalted Him.Gospel-Centered Orientation: The gospel is about what Jesus has done. In Him, believers become His bondservants and live with an assured hope of eternal life, enabling courageous conviction in suffering.5. Mission Partnerships and SupportCurrent Partnerships: Heritage Church partners with the Slavic Gospel Association (SGA), missionaries in Israel, a ministry to Chechen Russians in the Bashkir Republic, Nepal.Contexts and Challenges: These ministries face societal and governmental opposition, particularly in Nepal, which is increasingly resistant to Christian missions.Congregational Roles: The congregation is called to support these missions through financial giving and informed prayer, with updates available on the church's missionary wall.6. Exhortation to Imitate Paul's ExampleCall to Action: Citing Philippians 4:17, the speaker calls the church to follow Paul's example of faithfulness, trusting that God uses it to bless others.Observational Influence and Courage: Just as believers observing Paul grew more confident, the congregation should not underestimate how God can use their circumstances to embolden others and advance the gospel.7. Historical Example: John Bunyan's Endurance and ImpactPersecution and Imprisonment: John Bunyan, a Dissenter preacher, was imprisoned for over 12 years in 17th-century England for preaching without a Church of England license.Ministry from Prison and Legacy: From prison, he continued to preach and wrote Pilgrim's Progress, the second most widespread book after the Bible.Societal Impact: Bunyan's faithfulness contributed to the momentum of the English Reformation, influencing the 1689 Act of Toleration, which granted freedom of worship to dissenters.8. Hope, Joy, and Witness in SufferingEschatological Hope: Scripture assures a day when suffering will cease. Believers can have a pure, confident joy in Jesus amidst trials, which serves as a witness to the world.Providence and Application: God is always at work within believers' circumstances. The congregation is urged to live faithfully and share God's word, knowing their pursuits will be blessed for His glory.

At the time that Marcus Aurelius became emperor in 161, the Roman Empire had enjoyed nearly two centuries of relative peace and prosperity. Over the 19 years of his reign, he would be forced to contend with a cascading sequence of wars, plague, natural disasters and civil conflict that gravely undermined the stability of the empire. Bibliography Amon, Hermann. The Roman Empire Third Century Crisis. Brill, 2026 Ando, Clifford. Imperial Rome, AD 193 to 284: The Critical Century. Edinburgh University Press, 2012. Brown, Peter. The World of Late Antiquity. AD 150-750. W.W. Norton & Company, 1989. Bowman, Alan K., Peter Garnsey, and Averil Cameron. The Cambridge Ancient History. Vol 12, The Crisis of Empire, A.D. 193-337. Cambridge University Press, 2008.  Dio, Cassius. The Roman History. Translated by Earnest Cary and Herbert B. Foster. Vol. 1-9. Loeb Classical Library and Harvard University Press, 1924.  Gibbon, Edward. The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Vol. 1-3.  Alfred A. Knopf, 1993 Harper, Kyle. The Fate of Rome: Climate, Disease and the End of an Empire. Princeton University Press, 2017. Herodian. History of the Roman Empire: From the Death of Marcus Aurelius to the Accession of Gordian III. Translated by Edward C. Echols. University of California Press, 1961. Lewis, Naphtali and Reinhold, Meyer. Roman Civilization: Selected Readings. Vol. II, Columbia University Press, 1990. Potter, David S. The Roman Empire at Bay, AD 180-395. Routledge, 2004. Southern, Pat. The Roman Empire from Severus to Constantine. Routledge, 2001. Cover Image: Detail of the ‘Ludovisi Battle Sarcophagus.' Dated to 250-260 CE, currently on display in the Museo Nazionale Romano. Opening Theme: Symphony No. 9 in E minor, "From the New World", Op. 95, B. 178 by Antonín Dvořák.  Closing Theme: Movement II of “Pines of Rome.” Composed by Otto Respighi. Recording of 1959 performance by the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, conducted by Fritz Reiner. 

➡️ Watch the full ad-free interview on PATREON: https://www.patreon.com/DecodingGeopolitics➡️ Sign up to my free geopolitics newsletter: https://decodinggeopolitics.substack.com/This is a conversation with Peter Heather - a professor of history at the King's College London and the world's leading authority on the fall of the Roman Empire. Now this might sound a bit random since this is a podcast about contemporary geopolitics but Peter has recently written a book that takes his expertise much further. He makes an argument that all great empires of history go through the exact same cycle of rise and fall - including the present day American empire. And that just like Rome it's fall is caused by the same thing that made it a superpower in the first place - and that just like for Rome, it's now on a swift and inevitable fall down. It's a fascinating argument and one of my favorite discussions that provides a great framework for how to think about today - and what it is that we are - unfortunately - heading towards.

September 18, 324 CE. Victory at the Battle of Chrysopolis makes Constantine sole ruler of the Roman Empire. This episode originally aired in 2025. Support the show! Join Into History for ad-free listening and more. History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.

Abide: Staying Connected to Jesus with Jeannie Cunnion – John 15In Episode 152 of Divine Table Talk, Jamie and Jane welcome back author and Bible teacher Jeannie Cunnion for a powerful conversation about one of the central invitations of John 15: Abide in Me.What does it actually look like to abide in Jesus—not just during quiet time or Bible study, but in the middle of busy schedules, difficult seasons, relationships, parenting, work, and everyday life?Together, Jamie, Jane, and Jeannie explore the difference between striving for God and staying connected to God. They unpack Jesus' picture of the Vine and the branches, why fruit is the result of abiding rather than performing, and how we can recognize when we've begun trying to produce in our own strength.They also talk honestly about pruning, surrender, intimacy with Jesus, and learning to remain in His love when God seems to be cutting away things we thought we needed.John 15 reminds us that Jesus isn't asking us to manufacture more fruit. He's inviting us to stay close to the Vine.If you've been tired from striving, questioning a season of pruning, or simply longing for deeper intimacy with Jesus, pull up a chair. This conversation is an invitation to stop performing—and start abiding.Reflection Question: Am I trying to produce fruit for Jesus—or am I staying close enough to Him that fruit becomes the natural result?____________________________________Connect with Jeannie Cunnion:Website: https://www.jeanniecunnion.com/____________________________________Connect with Jamie:Website: www.jamieklusacek.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamieklusacekConnect with Jane:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/janewwilliams____________________________________ Get Jamie's Newest Book:Living Loved: An 8-week Journey to Living Fully Loved

What if Revelation’s beast with the fatal wound was not a prediction of a future global apocalypse, but a powerful image rooted in the chaos of first-century Rome? This episode examines Nero’s death, the Year of the Four Emperors, the terrifying Nero Redivivus legend, and Vespasian’s rise to power. By comparing Revelation’s imagery with the near-collapse and dramatic recovery of the Roman Empire, it presents a historically grounded case that the beast’s “deadly wound” and healing were realities the original audience would have immediately understood.

What if Revelation's beast with the fatal wound was not a prediction of a future global apocalypse, but a powerful image rooted in the chaos of first-century Rome? This episode examines Nero's death, the Year of the Four Emperors, the terrifying Nero Redivivus legend, and Vespasian's rise to power. By comparing Revelation's imagery with the near-collapse and dramatic recovery of the Roman Empire, it presents a historically grounded case that the beast's “deadly wound” and healing were realities the original audience would have immediately understood.Watch all of our videos and subscribe to our channel for the latest content >HereHere

What if Revelation’s beast with the fatal wound was not a prediction of a future global apocalypse, but a powerful image rooted in the chaos of first-century Rome? This episode examines Nero’s death, the Year of the Four Emperors, the terrifying Nero Redivivus legend, and Vespasian’s rise to power. By comparing Revelation’s imagery with the near-collapse and dramatic recovery of the Roman Empire, it presents a historically grounded case that the beast’s “deadly wound” and healing were realities the original audience would have immediately understood.

The Romans have gone down as some of the greatest perverts of all time. But what really went on inside a Roman orgy? Joining Kate to get behind the bacchanalia is fan-favourite Emma Southon whose new book is Servus: How Slavery Made the Roman Empire.This episode was edited by Tim Arstall. The producer was Stuart Beckwith. The senior producer was Freddy Chick.Sign up to History Hit for hundreds of hours of original documentaries, with a new release every week and ad-free podcasts. Sign up at https://www.historyhit.com/subscribe.You can take part in our listener survey here.All music from Epidemic Sounds.Subscribe to the new Betwixt The Sheets YouTube channel here: https://www.youtube.com/@BetwixtTheSheetsPodcastBetwixt the Sheets: History of Sex, Scandal & Society is a History Hit podcast.History Hit is part of Little Dot Studios, a Certified B Corp™Voting is now open for the Listener's Choice Award at this year's Podcast Awards! UK & Ireland listeners please place your vote on the Spotify mobile app here: https://open.spotify.com/s/xhg6PJa Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Keith welcomes back macroeconomist Richard Duncan of Macro Watch to examine where mortgage rates are headed and what's driving them there.  Duncan explains how the U.S. shifted from capitalism to what he calls "creditism" after the dollar left gold in 1971, and why today's AI investment boom, rising defense spending, and a $40 trillion national debt are all pointing inflation and interest rates in the same direction.  He also makes the case for rental property on land as a long-term inflation hedge, and answers a question many have asked: if the government can print currency, why does it collect taxes?  Episode Page: GetRichEducation.com/623 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREinvestmentcoach.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE  or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments.  For predictable 10-12% quarterly returns, visit FreedomFamilyInvestments.com/GRE or text  FAMILY to 66866  Join Mid South Home Buyers' one-time, free live webinar featuring Keith Weinhold on September 30 at GetRichEducation.com/MidSouth to learn how Memphis' economic expansion could create new real estate investment opportunities, and have your questions answered in real time. Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search "how to leave an Apple Podcasts review"  For advertising inquiries, visit: GetRichEducation.com/ad Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— GREletter.com  Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Complete episode transcript:   Keith Weinhold  0:01   Welcome to GRE. I'm your host Keith Weinhold. You're going to get a good idea of where future mortgage rates are headed as we're talking to one of the world's most brilliant macroeconomists today. Will AI be more inflationary or deflationary? And the profundity of how we're on the brink of moving into a completely new economic system today on Get Rich Education. What if I told you that one of America's strongest cash flow real estate markets is also becoming the new brains and brawn behind AI? That city is Memphis, believe it or not. In September 30th, we're going to show you why the smart money is paying attention now, along with an investing opportunity you won't want to miss. Join me, Terry Kerr and Matthew Van Horn of Mid South Home Buyers, the largest turnkey company in Memphis with more than 6000 homes under management, for a free live webinar the likes of which I've never done before. We're going to look at what billions in new investment could mean for jobs, housing demand, neighborhood appreciation, and your portfolio. Everyone who attends live will also get exclusive access to the best deal terms Mid South has ever offered. Reserve your free seat at getricheducation.com/midsouth again. that september 30. Don't say we didn't tell you. Save your spot at getricheducation.com/midsouth.   Speaker 1  1:34   You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is Get Rich Education.   Keith Weinhold  1:50   Welcome to GRE from Lancaster, Pennsylvania, to Lancaster, California, and across 188 nations worldwide. I'm Keith Weinhold. You're listening to Get Rich Education, and I really appreciate that you're here. Yes, those two cities, though spelled the same, are pronounced differently. Framing this entire episode today with our brilliant guest, you'll learn which direction future mortgage rates are probably going to move, and it's decidedly either going to be higher or lower. You'll get a clear answer. Now I've said that trying to predict mortgage rates definitively is foolish. We're only talking about probabilities today. Look, have you ever wondered if the government can just print its own currency? Then why do they have to collect taxes from us. We're going to get that answer today. Back in 1971, the U.S. economy left a system of capitalism, in fact, and embarked on a journey of creditism as defined by today's guest. Well, now we're about to leave creditism. You'll learn what is poised to replace it, and it is an AI-fueled answer. You know, to prep you with some context today, I've said it here before. But when you start talking about the enormity of a national economy, the words billion and trillion start to get thrown around a lot. A trillion seconds ago, you know how long ago that was. That takes you further back than the Roman Empire, because a trillion seconds is 31,700 years. Well, 31,700 years ago, that is just about as far back as when the plains of Europe were being roamed by Neanderthals. Yeah, that was a trillion seconds ago. Coming up on the show here, the man who wrote the book on the Pareto principle 30 years ago. That's the 80-20 principle, where 20% of your effort yields 80% of the results. We'll talk to him and learn how those insights can improve your life on a different upcoming episode.   Keith Weinhold  4:08   Here, the book Rich Dad Poor Dad was originally written by two authors. One of those two was Robert Kiyosaki. We had Kiyosaki on the show here with us in June, and by the way, the New York Post recently wrote an article, and they cited the Get Rich Education podcast in how Kiyosaki revealed on the show here that he is 1.2 billion dollars in debt. You can find that in the September 1st edition of the New York Post. That's the June 1st episode of the Get Rich Education podcast that they're citing. Well, a lot of people they don't know who the other author of Rich Dad Poor Dad is, but we're going to have her here with us on the show soon. So some really fascinating episodes coming up. Let's meet today's guest. Returning this week is one of the foremost macroeconomic minds in the world. He was this show's first ever guest nearly 12 years ago on episode seven. A prolific author, he publishes the popular video series Macro Watch at RichardDuncaneconomics.com, and he's really influential. For example, not long ago, he presented his economic policy proposals to congressional members of the House Ways and Means Committee. Hey, it's a warm Get Rich Education. Welcome back to the incomparable Richard Duncan.   Richard Duncan  5:39   Thank you, Keith. Thank you for having me back on.   Keith Weinhold  5:42   I don't know if you and the audience are ready for this. This is some perspective. It recently made news when the U.S. hit its national public debt milestone of $40 trillion. When Richard made his GRE debut here in November of 2014, it was $18 trillion. That national debt has more than doubled since you were first here, Richard.   Richard Duncan  6:07   That's right. The government has been playing probably the leading role in keeping the economy growing, and a couple of times since then has played the sole role in preventing a new Great Depression in the aftermath of the crisis of 2008 and during COVID, it's the massive government budget deficits, often more than a trillion dollars a year. Last couple of years, it's been 1.8 trillion dollars. That's been driving the economy, and whenever it needs some additional support, the Fed steps in and creates a few trillion dollars here and there, and combined they've been keeping the economy growing and, in fact, booming. And wealth has absolutely exploded as a result of the government spending and the Fed money creation. In 2008, the total wealth of all the Americans net worth $60 trillion. Now, it's tripled to $180 trillion. That that is a direct result of the government's intervention through budget deficits and paper money creation by the Fed.   Keith Weinhold  7:14   I will call that the world's least desirable investment portfolio minus 40 t. That is one way to think about it, but when you bring up interventionism, you know something I shared with the audience about a month ago, Richard. It is just remarkable to think about all the crises we've had just since 2020. We had COVID, we had Russia's invasion of Ukraine, we had Israel, Gaza. We had tariffs. Now we've got the war in Iran, and what is the result of all this? Largely due to government interventionism. Oh, both the stock market and real estate market in the U.S. are near all-time highs.   Richard Duncan  7:54   Who would have imagined? But things work very differently now than they did in the old days when money was backed by gold, and the Fed and the government played a much smaller role in the economy. It's a different world now. That was capitalism. This is creditism. Our new economic system is driven by credit growth, and whenever necessary, the government steps in with massive budget deficits, and the Fed steps in with massive money creation to make sure that credit keeps expanding and the economy keeps growing, because if credit doesn't keep expanding, if it even dips a little bit like it started to in 2009, then the whole bubble implodes and we repeat the 1930s Great Depression, probably followed by what happened in the 1940s.   Keith Weinhold  8:39   This is interesting. When you were first here 12 years ago. You talked about how society isn't so much capitalism that it's creditism, and you expounded on that. And before we're done, I know that we have now morphed into a new ism, post-creditism that Richard is going to share with us, it's fascinating. But Richard, since you were last here, the Iran War is new. It's been going on for over six months now. So I'd like to get your thoughts on that, and principally, if the Iran War is going to create lasting inflation or only a temporary energy spike. What are your thoughts?   Richard Duncan  9:20   Let's broaden this out. I know that your listeners are very interested in in real estate, and of course that's very impacted by interest rates. And interest rates are impacted, of course, primarily by inflation. So it is true that the Iran war is pushing up energy prices, and that's pushing up inflation. It's not just Iran alone. Before that, we had trade tariffs, and that's pushing up inflation. And on top of that, we've simultaneously got this extraordinary AI investment boom, and the investment by the hyperscalers is just mind-boggling. The four biggest hyperscalers-Amazon, Alphabet, Microsoft, and Meta-they're expected just the four of them to invest something close to $750 billion this year. 750 billion, just four of them. Now, to put that into perspective, the U.S. military, in one year, the most recent year, only spends half that much on procurement and research and development, roughly 320 billion. You've got these four hyperscalers spending twice as much as the U.S. military does on procurement and research and development. That is just hard to wrap your mind around, and of course, that's pushing up everything from the cost of memory chips to electrical equipment, the cost of electricity itself, power generation equipment, and all the kinds of materials that go into building data centers. So that's another source of inflation. And then there is this wealth effect that I just referred to a minute ago. Wealth has tripled from $60 trillion to $180 trillion since 2008. All that wealth is giving a lot of rich people a lot of money to spend on a very large scale, and that also is inflationary. So all of those things are inflationary, and none of them seem to be going away in the immediate future. Now, on top of that, the inflation is not the only thing that is affecting the interest rates. Other things are affecting the interest rates as well. For instance, the budget deficit this year looks like the U.S. budget deficit is going to be quite close to $2 trillion. So that will be $2 trillion of government borrowing, and this doesn't look like it's going to go down anytime soon either. President Trump is requesting $1.5 trillion for the total defense budget in fiscal year 2027, which starts in October. That's up from just $900 billion in fiscal year 2025, so that's a huge increase in military spending, which makes the percent-   Keith Weinhold  9:20   Increase plus, y   Richard Duncan  10:52   Going to keep growing, and that spending will be inflationary as well. But so the government is going to have to borrow, so the demand for money from the government is enormous, and as I've just mentioned, because of the AI boon, the hyperscalers and many of the other companies in the AI industry or related to the AI industry, they're also tapping the bond market on a very large scale. So demand for borrowing from these AI-related companies, the demand is pushing up interest rates. This is not directly related to inflation, so you've got a lot of demand for borrowing from the government and from the private sector related to artificial intelligence primarily. So that's on the demand side for money, and on the supply side, well, the United States is not making a lot of new friends these days. We seem to be losing friends pretty quickly, and many of the people who were very enthusiastic about buying American government bonds in the past are becoming increasingly reluctant to do so. Most of them still are. Most of them don't really have any viable options, but on the margin, there are fewer friendly buyers of our debt, and so fewer people willing to buy the debt also puts upward pressure on U.S. interest rates. So recently, the 30-year U.S. government bond hit a 19-year high at 5.33% That's a very high number, and this has spooked the Treasury Department. Treasury Secretary Besant has begun doing some very unusual things that suggest that he's very concerned. He has helped stop the yen from weakening by selling some euros that the U.S. government owned and buying yen. He did this to make the yen stronger, and this meant that Japan wouldn't have to sell its U.S. government bonds in order to have dollars to use to buy yen to make the yen stronger. So that was a strange move.   Richard Duncan  9:20   And then more recently, he's announced that the Treasury Department is going to start buying twice as many long-dated bonds as it has been doing. Each operation now, the Treasury Department has been buying $2 billion worth of bonds at the long end and financing it with short-term borrowing. So borrowing at the short end, the say two-year bonds, which have a much lower interest rate, and using that money to buy 10 or 30-year bonds that have a higher interest rate, in order to push up the bond prices and push down the bond yields at the long end, to try to hold down the 30-year bond yield and the 10-year bond yield, which of course directly affects the mortgage. This is beginning to seem like there's some degree of, well, let's call it perhaps not panic, but deep concern in the Treasury about how high interest rates in the U.S. are going, and just moving forward with this idea, all of these pressures, the inflationary pressures are not likely to go away anytime soon. The demand for borrowing is not going to go away anytime soon. So there's going to continue to be this upward pressure on interest rates. And I think ultimately, what we are going to see is another big round of quantitative easing from the Fed. The Fed is going to have to step back in and announce that it's going to create a great deal of money one more time, and use that money that it creates to buy government bonds to push up their price and to drive down their yield. And we shouldn't forget that already the Fed is currently printing, creating money. It launched a new program. What is it called? Reserve management purchases. This was a program they announced in December last year, where they were just going to create some money and inject bank reserves into the financial system, so that they could manage reserves at a good level, so everyone would have plenty of liquidity. Just since December, they have created $210 billion. This is kind of going under the radar, but $210 billion since December is not an insignificant amount of money.   Richard Duncan  14:49   If the budget deficit this year turns out to be 2 trillion, then that's financing 10% of the government's budget deficit, right? More than 10% So we've already got a significant amount of money creation by the Fed going on currently, and that's not enough to prevent the yields from moving sharply higher. So I think what we're going to get is another much bigger round of quantitative easing in the not too distant future, and that's going to have a lot of ramifications.   Keith Weinhold  17:00   That's a really interesting insight, and Richard, one word keeps popping into my head as we have this discussion. Okay, inflationary pressure correlates with higher interest rates, sure, but how much are these high bond yields, which flow right over to our mortgage rates, a result of an erosion in trust. I'm thinking about trust   Richard Duncan  17:24   to some degree, yes, but not overwhelmingly. The reality is, at the end of the day, there is a certain amount of money in the world that has to be invested somewhere, and that is the most important fact to understand. There is a pool of money; it keeps getting larger, and it has to go somewhere. And U.S. government bonds are considered the safest place for it to go. For instance, the United States has a very large trade deficit with the rest of the world. For the last two years, the current account deficit, which is more or less the trade deficit, has been 1.2 trillion dollars a year. It's easier to understand it as a trade deficit. That's been throwing off 1.2 trillion dollars into the surplus countries. The surplus countries sell things in the United States, countries like China and Vietnam and all the others. They sell things in the United States that they make at home. They get paid in dollars. They take their dollars back home to China and Vietnam and all the other countries, and what do they do with the dollars? They own dollars. They've got to do something with those dollars. They're getting 1.2 trillion more dollars every year. Now, the thing they do with it primarily is they buy treasury bonds with it, and so there is an inherent and growing demand for treasury bonds. You may be thinking, okay, they could take those dollars and they could convert them into euros. That's true, they could, but whoever they buy the euros from, they then own dollars, and they would need to buy U.S. dollar-denominated assets with them. The main driver behind the buying of Treasury bonds is just the fact that there are so many dollars in the world, an increasing amount of dollars outside the United States that need to be invested in U.S. dollar-denominated assets. People can lose confidence in "quote unquote, but what are they going to do with their dollars? It has to go somewhere, and so it ultimately ends up going round and round, and an enormous amount of it ends up in U.S. Treasury bonds, and that's not going to change so long as the U.S. has a very large trade deficit with the rest of the world. The rest of the world is going to keep accumulating dollars for that reason, and they're going to keep accumulating Treasury bonds for that reason.   Keith Weinhold  19:44   Well, what do these effects mean for real estate, Richard? I mean, which force you think will ultimately win for housing here with this increased inflationary pressure? Is it more of a damaged affordability problem, or do we see rising? Placement costs that continue to help float real estate values up.   Richard Duncan  20:05   Real estate prices, home prices, have not been performing very well over the last year to two. Pretty flat, unlike in prior years, immediately after COVID when they were booming. I suppose that's what we're going to continue to see for some time. If interest rates remain high, the affordability is not there. But if we do get this new round of quantitative easing, which I think is a real possibility, then that will effectively push down the interest rates, making home affordability better. And at the same time, by creating more money, that does push up asset prices across the board. So over the long run, I do believe that real estate is a very good investment, and also it can be a very good investment from the point of view of providing diversity in your portfolio. I'd like to focus in particular on it can be an inflation hedge. So, if you buy a house and use a say a 30-year fixed mortgage, and then we or a 15-year fixed mortgage to pay for a significant part of that purchase, and then we do get inflation, then the inflation eats away your mortgage. Your mortgage evaporates because of the inflation, so in that way you're somewhat protected from the risk of future inflation by having inflation destroys your debt. In other words, so that helps. So I do believe that buying houses, I think rental income is a very good investment, particularly houses on a piece of land buy the house with a fixed rate mortgage. You rent out the house, and over 10 to 15 years, the house pays for itself, and it keeps appreciating in value over time. Decade after decade, it will become increasingly valuable over the long run, and you'll have also a supply cash flow, and you'll have this inflation hedge that I just described. So I think owning rental property that is on land, I'm not so keen on buying condos. There's no limit as to how many condos can be built in the air, but there is a limited amount of land in the world, and so land is as good as gold because if gold goes up; the land will also go up for the same reasons. So I think owning rental property is a very important part of having a broadly diversified portfolio, which is usually the best thing for most people to do to have a broadly diversified investment portfolio.    Keith Weinhold  22:37   Yeah, in this era of both war and increased interventionism, yeah, we still have a resource here, real estate that is scarce, that is necessary, and is built with this basket of goods and commodities constituting that replacement cost.   Richard Duncan  22:53   I agree.   Keith Weinhold  22:55   Well, Richard and I have a lot more to talk about when we come back, including what phase of the economy that we're in post-creditism and a lot more. You're listening to Get Rich Education. Our guest is the publisher of Macro Watch, Richard Duncan. I'm your host, Keith Weinhold.   Keith Weinhold  23:12   What if you got your mortgage loans the same place I get mine? You sure can at Ridge Lending Group NMLS 42056. They provided GRE listeners with more loans than anyone because Ridge specializes in investment property. They'll help you build a long-term plan for growing your real estate empire with leverage. Start your prequal and even chat directly with President Caeli Ridge while it's on your mind. Start at ridgelendinggroup.com. That's ridgelendinggroup.com. Let me ask you something: If you've worked hard to build wealth, is your money positioned to actually support your goals? A lot of accredited investors leave capital sitting in cash because it feels safe, but inflation and missed income opportunities can quietly erode its value. Freedom Family Investments offers freedom notes for investors seeking structured income backed by real estate. It's a straightforward approach built on real assets, not speculation. In full disclosure, I'm an investor myself. What I like is that their team walks you through how it all works, so you can decide if it aligns with your portfolio and income goals. Every investment carries risk, and nothing is guaranteed. But with a track record of consistent, on-time investor payouts, they built real credibility. Go to freedomfamilyinvestments.com to book a clarity call, or text family 266866. That's family 266866.   Robert Helms  24:44   Hey everybody, it's Robert Helms of the Real Estate Guys Radio Program. So glad you found Keith Weinhold and Get Rich Education. Don't play your daydream.   Keith Weinhold  25:04   Welcome back to Get Rich Education. I'm your host Keith Weinhold. We're talking with Richard Duncan. Check out him and his work at RichardDuncanEconomics.com. So much interesting stuff has happened in the macroeconomic world since we last had him here with the Iran War, with the AI arms race heating up, and with hitting that milestone of $40 trillion in total public national debt. Which, by the way, that $40 trillion-that is more than the combined debt of Germany, Japan, France, Italy, the UK, and Canada. That's basically the entire rest of the G7 just to try to get your head wrapped around that $40 trillion number, and you know, Richard, when it comes to the government, their income and their expenses and their assets in their debt, some wonder, including me, if the government can just print its own currency, then why must they collect taxes from us?   Richard Duncan  26:04   Okay, well, to understand the answer to that question, it's necessary to understand that it wasn't always possible for the government to print its own currency. Up until 1968, 1971, the Fed was legally required to back the dollars it created with gold, and the United States had the obligation to allow other countries to convert the dollars they accumulated into U.S. gold. So up until then, that wasn't a possibility for the government to finance its spending by money printing. And so, over the centuries that preceded, the government would tax the people to obtain the money that it needs for spending. So imagine today: here we are. The government now is spending about $7 trillion a year, and its tax revenues are about $5 trillion a year. So if it suddenly said, "Okay, we're not going to tax anyone anymore, that would mean that people would have an extra $5 trillion to spend, and if the people started spending $5 trillion, we would have hyperinflation, because there's only a limited amount of industrial capacity in the United States, or even in the world for that matter. It couldn't absorb a $5 trillion of additional spending from households and businesses, so it's not that they can't technically create the money as much money as they want to pay for everything they want. The constraint is not money creation technically; it's the inflation that it would produce if they just stopped taxing everyone and just created money instead. So that's the reason they can't.   Keith Weinhold  27:46   Just slowly taper it away and give people some income tax relief. Why can't they do that?   Richard Duncan  27:52   Well, that's what they've been doing. Taxes are far lower now than they were under when President Reagan took office, and that's one of the reasons we have $40 trillion in debt.   Keith Weinhold  28:03   Okay, but that is how the income and expenses look on an annual basis, right, Richard? This is how I think of it. Like the United States basically has 5 trillion in annual income, much of it from personal tax collection, and 7 trillion in annual expenses. That's how we get to the annual deficit of about 2 trillion, which rolls into that $40 trillion of overall debt.   Richard Duncan  28:30   That's right. What you said is correct. But we would have much more than $5 trillion income from taxes had the government not reduced the tax rate so often and so radically, starting in the early 1980s under President Reagan, if taxes hadn't been cut so sharply, we wouldn't have a two-trillion-dollar budget deficit, $40 trillion of government debt. So they've already been tapering the amount that they tax by cutting tax rates very sharply over the last decades,   Keith Weinhold  29:02   I guess a lot of people, admittedly me included, haven't been thinking about it that way. Maybe because it's painful, and I do write checks to the IRS. But when we talk about this propensity for continued inflation, one component of this is what's happening with the AI arms race, and I know you've looked at this closely. You know, because one thing I think about is, well, wait, will the AI arms race actually be deflationary over time because it lowers production costs and makes us more efficient, or is it going to be inflationary because it requires enormous capital and electricity and infrastructure in the building of these data centers. So you know I can see it going either way with the AI arms race, inflationary or deflationary. But since you studied it a lot, including talking about it on macrowatch, tell us more about the AI arms race and what this all means, Richard.   Richard Duncan  29:59   So yes. On your point that you just made, in the short term, it looks like the AI boom is going to be inflationary. Yeah, it's driving up electricity prices, land prices, and all of the things that we discussed before. Everything that goes into making artificial intelligence intelligence, including memory chips, which drive up the cost of your iPhone and iPad. So it's inflationary in the short run, but over the long run, it could probably and probably will be quite disinflationary or even deflationary. I think that's several years away. Now, moving on to the next question, the AI arms race. I think it's very helpful to understand the world around us by putting it in the context of how our economic system has evolved since dollars ceased to be backed by gold. 1968, the Fed was no longer required to back dollars with gold. 1971, President Nixon said, "Sorry, Europe, we we said we would let you convert your dollars into gold, but we changed our mind and you can't. So after that, there was no longer any gold backing for the dollar, and here are a list of things that have happened as a result of that change. Our huge trade deficits couldn't have happened if the dollars were backed by gold. The huge budget deficits that we have couldn't have happened. The Fed couldn't have created trillions of dollars through quantitative easing. Inflation rate has fallen from the 1980s, from the the mid teens to well below the Fed's 2% inflation target for most of the last 20 years, and wealth in the United States has exploded, as I mentioned, from 60 trillion to 180 trillion. That wouldn't have happened if dollars had remained backed by gold because credit has exploded. Total debt or total credit, two sides of the same coin. Total debt in the U.S. It's government debt, household debt, corporate debt, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac debt, all the debt. It first went through $1 trillion in 1960. Now it's 110 trillion. So 110 times increase in my lifetime in total debt. That wouldn't have happened if dollars had remained backed by gold, and because of all of that credit expansion and the massive trade deficits we had with the rest of the world through globalization occurred, and that allowed Asia to industrialize, and Asia wouldn't be industrialized as it is now. China wouldn't be an economic superpower as it is now had dollars remained backed by gold, because it wouldn't have been able to grow through export-led growth. And so, China, instead of looking like it does today, it would look like it did in 1970, basically being a very poor third world country, and globalization has pulled hundreds of millions of people out of poverty.   Richard Duncan  32:47   They would still be in poverty had dollars remained backed by gold. The Soviet Union probably would still be around because the U.S. under President Reagan wouldn't have been able to to spend so much on the military that it bankrupted the Soviet Union trying to keep up with us, and finally, China wouldn't be the national security threat that it's become now because it wouldn't have had a trade surplus and it wouldn't have had any economic growth to speak of for the last 50 years. That's the world that we're living in now. The world we live in now is the direct result of dollars no longer being backed by gold, and to understand the world around us, you have to understand that that's the starting point. Now, coming to your question, this explosion of wealth that has been created under the system that I call creditism-we did have capitalism. It was driven by saving and investment, Capital accumulation, hence capitalism and investment that drove capitalism. That's not how our system works. Our system is driven by credit creation and consumption, and more credit creation and more consumption. That's creditism. It used to be driven by private sector credit growth, but the private sector became too heavily indebted in 2008, and they blew up, and that almost resulted in the complete collapse and bankruptcy of every bank in the United States and probably most of the banks around the world as well. So the government had to step in, and since that time, it's been government borrowing primarily.   Richard Duncan  34:17   This driven creditism and kept credit expanding with the help of the Fed, so this has been the evolution of creditism and has produced extraordinary amounts of wealth. So it's had two consequences that we need to focus in on now. For one, I've mentioned already, it turned China into an economic superpower, which is now on the verge of overtaking us, not just economically, but also technologically and militarily, it's become an extreme national security threat to the United States. But the second thing that has occurred, the creation of all of this wealth has provided the funds that have allowed a. Technological revolution to occur so quickly, this AI revolution that we're now living through, that is the direct result of the ample liquidity that has been created and flowing around the world, originating largely from the Fed's printing press and the government's budget deficits. That's created trillions and trillions and trillions of dollars of wealth that wouldn't have existed otherwise, and that wealth has gone into funding this development of data centers and the technology that's created the artificial intelligence. Now we are experiencing this AI revolution, and it's become quite apparent to everyone that whoever wins the AI arms race is going to rule the world. We're on the verge of machines becoming more intelligent than humans, and then after that point, through self-training and self-improvement, going on 24 hours a day, they're going to become exponentially more intelligent than humans very quickly, so whoever wins this race is going to have dominance of every other country in the world. So, as creditism has evolved, it has created a national security threat in China and has created artificial intelligence. And as a result of the two combined, we now have this artificial intelligence arms race with the United States that must win. That's why President Trump is calling for a 1.5 trillion dollar defense budget.   Richard Duncan  36:30   So this is one of the main themes that MacroWatch has been focused on this year. I've done a series of videos on the new defense spending boom, looking in one video at the traditional titans of defense like Lockheed Martin, RTX, Boeing, in another video looking at the new up-and-coming Silicon Valley challengers in the defense industry, companies like Andrel, Palantir, and most important of all, SpaceX. This is now the driving force in the economy. the The absolute necessity of winning this AI arms race is going to require much greater government spending on the military, and it's going to require what we're seeing extraordinary amounts of money being invested in developing artificial intelligence because whoever gets there first wins, and whoever doesn't is going to be subjugated by the winner. So that's where we are. So that brings us up to we've been discussing the change from capitalism into creditism, and we've seen how creditism has evolved from being first driven by private sector credit to later being driven by government sector borrowing and spending, now leading to this AI arms race, which I think we're now moving toward a different kind of economic system beyond creditism. So let me back up just a minute and say that economic systems are best defined by the constraints that limit what they can do. So we've been talking about capitalism. Capitalism's main constraint was the requirement that money be backed by gold, and when that constraint, when that gold-backed money constraint was removed, the constraint was gone. The economic system evolved into a different kind of economic system. Creditism has created extraordinary amounts of wealth and growth since early 1970s. This is not the first time economic systems have evolved. If you look back through history, there have been many different kinds of economic systems. They've all been defined by the constraints that binded what they could do. If you go back to hunter-gatherer economic system, that economic system was constrained because the people didn't have tools for cultivation or any way to store the food that they created for long-term storage, but once they developed that those tools and the ability to store food, those constraints were removed and they evolved into a different kind of economic system. Ultimately, into feudalism. Feudalism was an economic system that was constrained by very poor roads, so there was very little transportation. There were no banks, so no banking system or credit, and there was very limited legal social mobility.   Richard Duncan  39:28   But eventually, cities developed, and because of cities, trade flourished, and that removed the constraints that had defined feudalism. Okay, so fast forward, capitalism was constrained by gold-backed money. When gold was removed, we moved into creditism. Now here we are in creditism, late-stage creditism, and we're seeing this phenomenal expansion of artificial intelligence. So every economic system throughout history has. Had two constraints in common. There have been labor constraints, a limited labor supply, and there has been the constraint of limited human intelligence. We're now, thanks to artificial intelligence, on the verge of removing those two constraints that have limited every economic system up until today, when artificial intelligence is embedded in humanoid robots, that's going to remove the labor constraint. We will no longer have any labor constraint. Robots will be able to produce all the labor and then some that's required. So there goes the labor constraint, and when we hit superintelligence, that's going to remove the constraint of human intelligence that has bound economic systems. So those have been the two primary binding constraints on every economic system so far, and they're just now about to be removed by artificial intelligence. We're moving into a new era without intelligence constraints and without labor constraints, and this is going to radically change everything. When those constraints are removed, creditism is going to evolve into an economic system that's no longer driven by credit creation. It's going to be driven by intelligence creation, knowledge creation, or an explosion of cognition. So I call the new system that we're moving toward cognitism, because rather than being driven by credit as creditism is, it's going to be driven by exponential expansion of intelligence or cognition, and it's probably going to create undreamt of wealth, but it's going to completely change from bottom to top everything about the world and society and social relations that exist today, and that is what we're very quickly moving into over the next 10 to 20 years. That that's where we're going to go, and I believe it deserves a new name. So I've coined the term cognitism to describe this new economic system. The post-creditism world is cognitivism.   Keith Weinhold  42:12   Wow, this is massive. Ever since we met, you talked about creditism, and really, that's the economic system that we live in, not capitalism, so we're on the brink again of moving from creditism into cognitivism, because oftentimes these forces and their change are defined by having the constraints removed, and we're on the brink of removing the labor constraint and the human intelligence restraint from creditism to move us into cognitivism over the next 10 or 20 years. I'm just reviewing what you said as I'm thinking this through, Richard. Talk to us at least a little about what the ramifications are for us, just everyday people and investors with this cognitimism economic system.   Richard Duncan  43:02   It's very difficult to guess what the consequences are going to be. They're going to be not only economic, but they're going to very quickly become political, and the political consequences are difficult to guess how they will play out. But it does look like when robots can do all the manual labor, and machines can do all of the intellectual work on a much more accurately, much more rapidly, much more flawlessly than humans can. There won't be any need for humans to have work unless legislation is in place to ensure that they do, and if they don't have work, then they're going to not have any income. And if they don't have any income, they're going to start being very unhappy, and they're going to start rioting, and governments are going to begin to fall, and we don't know how that's going to play out. So there's going to have to be arrangements made to ensure that people do have enough income to benefit from all of the extraordinary wealth that could be created through limitless labor and limitless intelligence, but to work in a way that can satisfy our wildest dreams and beyond our wildest dreams is going to be a matter of restructuring the political economy, if you will, to ensure that people benefit from this technological revolution that is now speeding up.   Keith Weinhold  44:30   Yeah, I would say all we do know is we don't know and how it's going to turn out. But you know whether it's been tractors replacing horses or whether it's been the advent of the assembly line, or whether it's been the advent of the internet, people always say it's going to destroy net jobs, and historically, it really hasn't.   Richard Duncan  44:53   You're right, but the replacement of horses with automobiles didn't really work out so well for the horses.   Keith Weinhold  45:00   So, is there any way we can think about this in order to stay nimble as investors and everyday people, Richard? As we move into cognitism.   Richard Duncan  45:10   Absolutely, everyone needs to subscribe to Macro Watch, and they'll be able to follow it very closely there as I map it out as it unfolds from month to month.   Keith Weinhold  45:22   They should, and it's fascinating, and you've really been on the cutting edge of that. Tell us more about subscribing to Macro Watch, something that a lot of listeners should be interested in.   Richard Duncan  45:33   So my background is has been in finance. I started working in Hong Kong in 1986 as a securities analyst, I later on became an economist and then a strategist. I worked for the World Bank for a couple of years in Washington. I was the head of global investment strategy in London for ABN AMRO Asset Management. So my background is in finance, and I have spent most of my career living in Asia for the last 40 years, primarily in Asia. Along the way, I've written four books. The first one was the Dollar Crisis back in 2003. The most recent one was The Money Revolution in 2023. So my background is in finance. But 13 years ago, I launched Macro Watch. Macro Watch is a video newsletter. Every couple of weeks, I upload a new video. It's essentially me making a PowerPoint presentation discussing something important happening in the global economy and how that's likely to impact asset prices. So it's essentially become a compendium of the global economy. Essentially, everything that has happened in the last 13 years at the macro level that matters is discussed in these macro watch videos. For instance, there is a complete history of everything the Federal Reserve has done since it was founded in 1913. There is a complete description of government debt from the beginning, the increase in government debt and budget deficits. It explains things like how the Fed actually creates money, what are bank reserves, what is Japanese monetary policy, what is European monetary policy. All the major macroeconomic developments are described there and are available to subscribers every two weeks. They upload a new video, and so if your listeners would like to check it out, my website is richarddunkeneconomics.com. That's richarduneconomics.com, and if they'd like to subscribe, hit the subscribe button. And I'd like to offer everyone a 50% subscription discount.   Keith Weinhold  47:36   Thank you.   Richard Duncan  47:36   They'll be prompted to put in a discount coupon code if they use the discount code GRE, like Get Rich Education, they can subscribe at a 50% discount. They'll find it very affordable, and at the very least, they can sign up for my free blog while they're there, and they can follow my work that way.    Keith Weinhold  47:57   It is fascinating the AI arms race poised to have us completely change economic systems from criticism to cognitism. Richard, is there any last thing that you would like to leave us with? Whether it has something else to do with AI, maybe I didn't think about asking you, or something with the Iran war and the inflation, or anything else in the economy. Any last thought for what we should do or be aware of?   Richard Duncan  48:24   One thing, of course, I think is very important is for everyone to learn to use AI as much as they possibly can. It's easy to use, and it will teach you how to use it. And as we evolve into this new world is going to be crucial to make use of this most important tool humanity has ever had-the ability to use AI. This suddenly gives you access to all the world's knowledge. All you have to do is ask, and it will tell you in a very friendly way. So, by being able to use AI, you'll be in a much better position to survive the transition and prosper in the decade ahead.   Keith Weinhold  49:09   That is an actionable way to stay on top of it, Richard. It's been valuable as always. Thanks so much for coming back onto the show.   Richard Duncan  49:16   Thank you, Keith. I've enjoyed it.   Keith Weinhold  49:24   Yeah, keen insights from Richard as always. Yeah, the U.S. sure has been making enemies the past couple years. That could make other nations less likely to buy our debt, and then in turn, it takes higher interest rates in order to attract bond buyers. Well, that in turn increases mortgage rates. But to some extent, other nations have to buy our debt. Richard says that a bigger round of future QE is a distinct possibility. That is code for money printing. That's clearly. Inflationary, but few seem to know we've already been involved in liquidity operations since last December. Whether that's called QE or something else, it is taking more government spending to keep up with the AI race. That's inflationary too. What about that? When horses were replaced with cars. How did it work out for the horse? I don't know if that made it better or worse for the horse. Maybe horses were out of work, but then they got to live free. Will AI make that very predicament apply to humans? Nobody knows. The economic system will have moved from creditism to cognitism when the economy is no longer driven by credit creation but intelligence creation, from RichardDuncanEconomics.com, you can hit the subscribe to MacroWatch button and enter the discount code GRE for a 50% discount. Just about everything that you heard today is poised to drive mortgage rates higher, not lower. Big thanks to Macro Watch Mastermind Richard Duncan today. Next week it's a more real estate centered show. I'm your host Keith Weinhold. Don't quit your daydream.   Speaker 2  51:21   Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal, or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial, or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of Get Rich Education LLC exclusively.   Keith Weinhold  51:49   The preceding program was brought to you by your home for wealth building, getricheduceducation.com  

A goddess offers Odysseus immortality. He says no.Eight years on Calypso's island. Paradise, more or less. And he spends his days sitting on the beach, weeping for a rocky little kingdom he may never see again.Welcome to Part 2 (of 6!) of our series on Homer's great epic.Part 2 covers Books 5 to 8. We finally meet the man himself, and he arrives naked, half drowned, and buried under a pile of leaves. Why would anyone choose death over eternal life? And why does the greatest hero of the age get home on charm rather than force?Follow Odysseus as he builds his own raft, survives Poseidon's wrath, and talks his way into the most powerful household on the island of the Phaeacians. Meet the women who hold the real power: Calypso, the princess Nausicaa, and Queen Arete, honored like no woman of Homer's own day. Plus King Alcinous, and the blind bard Demodocus, whose song brings Odysseus to tears.Christopher Nolan cut three of these four books from his film. They may be the ones that tell you most about who Odysseus really is.Timestamps:00:57 Women, Power and Odysseus03:19 Hermes Visits Calypso05:25 Odysseus Trapped and Weeping06:14 Zeus Orders Release11:03 Calypso's Final Offer14:07 Why Mortality Matters17:45 Raft Building and Agency20:32 Poseidon's Storm and Shipwreck23:29 Phaeacia's Backstory24:10 Nausicaa's Dream28:10 Nausicaa Meets Odysseus30:54 Winning Nausicaa's Trust39:47 Athena Guides Odysseus40:53 Bronze Age Heroic Lens43:48 Arete and Royal Honor46:32 Palace Splendor and Supplication49:19 Clothes Test and Charm52:53 Cleos and the Bard56:12 Feast and Demodocus Song01:02:04 Games and Odysseus Flexes01:06:46 Aphrodite and Ares Trap01:13:03 Gifts and Nausicaa's Farewell01:14:56 Trojan Horse Song and Tears01:22:43 Closing ThoughtsCallouts:Special thanks to Dr. Richard Johnson for his longtime support of the show. You are Caesar and Odysseus's Top Guy!Special thanks also to the team at ZCash, who are building a digital network to transfer money with complete privacy. I've used their wallet Zodl, and it's worth checking out.In tribute to the life and aspirations of Savitha Shanmugasundaram, a University of Texas at Austin honors student who died tragically in the March 1 mass shooting, her parents have established the Savitha Shan Endowed Scholarship at UT Austin. The fund is intended to extend Savitha's legacy by supporting the educational journeys of future UT Austin students. Please consider donating if you can. 

Put On the Lord Jesus Jonathan Parnell Download Romans 13:11–14,“Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you to wake from sleep. For salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 The night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us cast off the works of darkness and put on the armor of light. 13 Let us walk properly as in the daytime, not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” And it was this passage of God's word that once changed a man's life forever — his name was Augustine; he was from North Africa; he lived from the year 354 to 430; and the story of his conversion is the story I wanna tell you this morning as we kick off our new series, “How God Changes a Life.” The plan for this series is to look at four examples throughout church history of when God transformed someone's life through the power of his word. And the reason we're doing this is because we believe that God still does this kind of life-changing work today — my prayer has been that we as a church would be inspired by God's work in the past so that we would expect that same work in the present. And if you're here and you're not yet a Christian — if you're here and you need your life to change — first, I want you to know I'm glad you're here, and you've come to the right place. Whatever you've got going on, I can almost guarantee that Augustine's situation was worse. Let me tell you his story in three parts … We're gonna look at Augustine's context, his crisis, and his change. Part One: ContextAnd we start with the context, or the setting, because this is where every good story starts. The question here is: What kind of world did Augustine live in? Augustine was born in the year 354 in North Africa, which was part of the Roman Empire. This was about 40 years after the Emperor Constantine became a Christian and legalized Christian worship. Up until Constantine, Christians were a persecuted minority, but under his protections the gospel began to spread and the church began to grow. But the world was still a big mess — you could call it a world of conquest and confusion. ConquestIt was a world of conquest because there was constant fighting and enemy invasions, thanks to the barbarians. Now the word “barbarian” is a word in the New Testament. It was the Greek word for Gentiles outside the Greek-speaking world — these were Gentiles who spoke their own languages and maintained their own culture.Now as the Roman Empire expanded, Roman armies conquered a lot of these barbarian tribes, but over time these barbarians starting fighting back. A couple of names you've probably heard before are the Goths and Vandals (the Vikings came a few hundred years later). But the Goths and Vandals were Germanic tribes who fought against Rome. For example, in 410 (when Augustine was 56 years old), the Visigoths sacked Rome (which was a big deal — no foreign army had invaded Rome in over 800 years). This shook the whole world.Then in 430, the year Augustine died, the Vandals laid siege to the City of Hippo where Augustine lived. So while Augustine was on his deathbed, there was an invading army literally outside the walls of his city. And this was his life. This was the world as Augustine knew it — what he would later call the City of Man. It was a world full of conflict and war — Augustine's hope was not in politics. ConfusionBut then, at the same time of these physical threats, there were also layers of ideological confusion. There were all kinds of different worldviews and philosophies and Christian heresies. And one place where all this stuff was most obvious was in the biggest city of North Africa — the city of Carthage. Augustine moved there when he was 17 years old to go to college and study philosophy; it was one of the wealthiest cities in the ancient world; it was a bustling place. And this is where Augustine went off the rails.He later described the city as a “seething cauldron of shameful sex.”So while he was being indoctrinated with all kinds of junk intellectually, he was also indulging in sexual sin. He would go to church, but it was because he was trying to pick up women. He ended up getting a woman pregnant and they had a son, and then spiritually, he went all-in with a cult called Manichaeism. Manichaeism is too much to explain now, but it was basically a fusion religion that was a mix of Buddhism and Bible heresies and other stuff. And it was super weird (They believed tiny particles of Divine Light were trapped inside material things). They rejected the Old Testament, but they did respect the letters of Paul in the New Testament (that'll be important later). But suffice to say, Augustine was confused. He was lost — and I mean bad lost. Like, if you think you have a past … Augustine was a sexually deviant, heretical college philosophy student. He was a very long way from Jesus. But … he had a Christian mother.Christian MotherAugustine's mom was a woman named Monica, she's a big part of his story. We know a lot about her because Augustine wrote a lot about her. He admired his mom deeply. She was a Christian, from a Christian family (she married a man named Patrick, who was a pagan; he didn't become a Christian until right before he died). But Monica raised Augustine in Christian truth, even though he rejected it for years. … His mom never gave up on him. She prayed for him a lot, and she bugged him a lot. I think she would classify as an ancient helicopter mom, but in the best kind of way. When she found out he had embraced Manichaeism, Augustine said she wept for him “more than mothers weep for their children who die” (and he knew that because she probably told him). There's one story of Monica where she kept insisting with a local pastor to meet with Augustine. The pastor wouldn't do it because Augustine wasn't interested. But Monica kept on and on with the pastor … Did you call him? Did you meet with him? Have you seen him? She'd beg this pastor through tears.Finally, this pastor told her:“It is not possible that the son of these tears should perish.” He told her to keep praying. And she did. Monica was an amazing woman, and we all should be grateful for her. And moms in the room, be a great mom like Monica. In our cultural moment, motherhood is scorned. Understand that abortion is not just an attack on children, it's an attack on motherhood too. We see this everywhere. Right now something like half the country is defending a woman who viciously murdered her three children. That's an attack on motherhood. And it's demonic. And we should stand against it with everything we've got. One way to do that is: Moms, be great. Be like Monica.Our world needs great mothers — and if they're not coming from the church, it's not happening. Moms, you have such a high calling! You're making a difference in the world. Be great.Monica was a crucial part of Augustine's context, and her influence was part of what brought him to a crisis.Part Two: CrisisAugustine was smart and he was really good with words. He ended up moving to the city of Milan to become a professor of rhetoric. This was a highly esteemed vocation, and he was living high on the hog. He was moving up the social ladder until he met the pastor of the church in Milan, a man named Ambrose. Augustine would go to church to hear Ambrose preach, and although he still didn't believe, he asked a lot of questions. Eventually, Augustine got connected with Ambrose's mentor, a man named Simplician. And Simplician started mentoring Augustine — and this is pretty fascinating — he inspired Augustine with stories of other people's conversions.One story he told him was of a man who was a philosopher in Rome, who was also from Africa, and this man been drawn to Christianity. Apparently this man read the Bible often and came to consider himself a Christian, but he didn't get baptized (because he thought it was too embarrassing). But then he finally became ashamed that he was ashamed, and he got baptized and declared himself to be a Christian openly. Simplician told Augustine this story (and I imagine he kept clearing his throat the whole time). And this story had an impact on Augustine right as he entered into the darkest time of his life in December 384. Going by his own account, it sounds like he suffered from what we'd call a depression. He was full of despair and doubts. His pursuit of knowledge and prestige, and all his sexual immorality, had left him unfulfilled. He was not happy with his life — which was right. He should not have been happy with his life. There is a such thing as a holy misery. Maybe that's something his mother had prayed for … Y'all ever heard anybody pray like that? I heard people pray that way when I was growing up. I've been in prayer meetings before when somebody would share about a lost family member, and they want God to save them so badly, and so people would pray: God, make so-and-so absolutely miserable until they turn to Jesus!God, don't let them get any rest! Torment them in their dreams! — until they trust Christ! Maybe Monica prayed like that. Because Augustine was in a crisis. The way he was living wasn't working. He was lost and he knew it. And that's the only condition for a changed life — it's not enough to be lost, you gotta know you're lost. You have to know you need help. Augustine knew. Part Three: ChangeAugustine tells this story in a lot of detail in his autobiography, Confessions. I'll try not to get too much in the weeds, but it happened like this:It's a normal day in Milan, and Augustine has a couple of his friends over. (And these are intellectual-types who like to study and share what they've learned.) And one of these friends finds a copy of Paul's letters in a stack of Augustine's books, and he's surprised by this, and so he starts telling Augustine and this other friend about how he had heard that there were a bunch of these men, not far from Milan, who had converted to Christ and their lives had completely changed. They had renounced their careers in the imperial service and committed themselves to studying Scripture and living a quiet life.Well this story wrecks Augustine. After the one friend left, Augustine is overcome with emotion and says to his closer friend who was still with him:What is wrong with us? What is this? What did you hear? Simple folk are taking heaven by storm while we clever people without a heart wallow in the materialist world of flesh and blood. (Confessions, 8.19, Chadwick's translation, p. 26)Then Augustine goes outside to a garden, to be alone. But his friend is so worried about him, he follows him outside. And Augustine is struggling. He's having some kind of breakdown. He's weeping and just a mess and then he hears the voice of a child, chanting: “Take up and read; take up and read.”He hears this, and then he gets up and runs to his copy of Paul's letters. He grabs them and opens to a random page and he reads the first thing he sees … which was in Romans 13 … “… not in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, not in quarreling and jealousy. But put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, to gratify its desires.” (vv. 13–14)And that was it! Augustine was born again. Later he wrote, No further would I read, nor did I need; for instantly, as the sentence ended — by a light, as it were, of security infused into my heart — all the gloom of doubt vanished away. (8.29)And … he lived happily ever after. … Not quite! (It never works that way in this world. This is the City of Man.) Augustine had become a Christian — he was 32 years old and his life had been changed — but the change was only beginning. He baptized, and then soon after became a monk, and eventually became a pastor and later he became one of the most important theologians in church history. And as a theologian one of the most enduring impacts he made was related to the doctrine of conversion. Heart TransformationWhen Augustine read Romans 13:13–14, he had read it before that day in Milan. He had read the words and understood Paul's command, but he lacked the ability in himself to obey it. He had been a divided man.He respected the commands of the gospel, at least with his mind — he knew chastity was a good thing — but he didn't really desire to live that way. His heart wasn't in it. During his wayward years, he had actually prayed to God, “Grant me chastity, but not yet.”That's how Augustine had felt about all six of the prohibitions in Romans 13:13. The apostle Paul says in verse 11 that because of where we are in redemptive history — because Jesus has lived, died, and rose again, and because he's coming back — it's time to wake up and get your life in order. That means you stop living a certain way. Paul names six sins (it's not a comprehensive list, but it's a good list to stop doing). Verse 13, Paul says:No more orgies and drunkenness — stop the slosh parties.No more sexual immorality and sensuality — stop all fornication. No more quarreling and jealously — stop despising your neighbor.This is group-think sin, sexual immortality, and hatred of others.It's fascinating that this list from the First Century world remains a list of besetting sins in our 21st century world … just like it was in Augustine's 5th century world — and look: it's all gotta stop. All of it. But how?By putting on the Lord Jesus Christ. And this is is where Augustine has so much insight. As a theologian, he stressed that our problem as sinners is that we have disordered loves. Our problem is not simply a lack of love for God, but it's that we love lesser things more than God. And we desire and pursue those lesser loves.His biographer Henry Chadwick says it like this: [Augustine's] repeated point is that the object of our love, whether high or low, is the magnet irresistibly drawing us on. He's saying we are all led by our loves, and left to ourselves, this is a bad thing. Because left to ourselves, apart from the grace of God, our loves are broken! — they're all out of whack and so they lead us down all these dead-end roads. If you follow your unconverted heart, you will not end up happy. Augustine had been there and done that. It does not work! And we know it doesn't work!And this is why we need a transformation of the heart! We need God to change us from the inside-out. We need to turn from seeking inferior mirages of beauty to seeking supreme beauty which is God himself. Augustine put it like this. He writes, How sweet all at once it was for me to be rid of those fruitless joys which I had once feared to lose! . . . You [God] drove them from me, you who are the true, the sovereign joy. You drove them from me and you took their place, you who are sweeter than all pleasure … you who outshine all light … you who surpass all honor . . . O Lord my God, my Light, my Wealth, and my Salvation. (Confessions 9.1)Do you see what he's saying? The sinful, lesser things his heart pursued were not merely taken away — they were replaced by God himself, and God himself became his joy. Augustine wrote: Do not think you are dragged to God against your will. The mind is drawn by love which is the source of inexpressible pleasure. There is a pleasure of the heart whose sweetness consists in the bread of heaven … Give me a lover, he feels what I am talking about. Give me a man in a state of desire, of hunger, a traveller thirsty on a desert road who is sighing for the spring at his eternal home; give me a man like that, he knows what I mean. (Chadwick, 156ff)This is the same insight we read 14 centuries later from the Scottish pastor Thomas Chalmers. He calls this the “expulsive power of a new affection.” A greater love conquers the lesser loves.See, we put on the Lord Jesus Christ because we want to. Because we have found in Christ a greater joy than the fleeting pleasures of sin! And that's the miracle. That is the grace of God working through the word of God. This is a changed life. Look, it doesn't mean as Christians we never sin again, but it does mean that we have a truer joy that triumphs over sin. Christian, I want you to know what Paul says in Romans 6, that sin does not have dominion over you!In Christ, you have power over sin because you have the power of a superior pleasure. And that's the only way you're gonna win this battle in the world. You will never love your sin less until you love Jesus more because you know Jesus better. So know him — Know Christ. Seek Christ. Rest in Christ. And may your hearts be restless — miserable, tormented — may our hearts be restless until we find our rest in Christ. That's what brings us to the Table. The TableI realize this morning we are coming from all kinds of different places. Again, if you're here and you're not a Christian, I'm so glad you're here. This morning I invite you to put your faith in Jesus. Right now, turn from your sin and put on the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change your life.And church, brothers and sisters in Christ, we've trusted in Jesus. Let's rest in Jesus this morning. We're not searching anymore. We're not lost. We're home. Let's rest in the love of Christ for us this morning as we remember his gospel.

A self-described "Rome nerd" helps us picture what it was like to live in the Roman Empire and explains how much we can learn about the era from its now 2,000-year-old rubble. Then a tour guide from Bulgaria sings the praises of its cultural capital, Plovdiv — one of the oldest cities in Europe, possibly in the whole world. And listeners share serendipitous stories from their European travels. For more information on Travel with Rick Steves - including episode descriptions, program archives and related details - visit www.ricksteves.com.

Pope Miltiades stood at the turning point when Christianity moved from persecuted religion to legal and politically important force in the Roman Empire. This episode covers Constantine, the Battle of the Milvian Bridge, the Edict of Milan, the Donatist controversy, and the first major steps toward a church tied to imperial power.#HistoryOfThePapacy #ChurchHistory #Constantine #EdictOfMilan #RomanEmpireLet us know what you think about this episode in the comments section below! Don't forget to subscribe to the podcast on the links below and on YouTube! Support the show and listen:Patreon: http://patreon.com/historyofthepapacyBuy me a coffee! https://buymeacoffee.com/historyofthepapacyBuy me a book: http://bit.ly/40ckJ8EYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@thehistoryofthepapacyEmail Us: steve@atozhistorypage.comHow to listen: https://www.atozhistorypage.com/podcastListen on Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7DelfggbL0Au4e3aUyWDaS Music Provided by:"Sonatina in C Minor" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"Funeral March for Brass" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)"Crusade Heavy Perfect Loop" Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com) Agnus Dei X - Bitter Suite Kevin MacLeaod (incomptech.com)Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 Licensehttp://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Patrick begins the episode with a thoughtful listener email about the challenges and frustrations of using AI platforms as a mental health practitioner, sparking a lively back-and-forth with Cyrus about technology, language choices, and the potential for both bias and trickery in artificial intelligence. The conversation widens to the reliability of online content, the dangers of deepfakes, and concerns about truthfulness in an era of rapidly advancing digital tools, all while listeners chime in with their own questions about Church history, faith, and how to respond to those who question Catholic teachings. Throughout, Patrick weaves in moments of humor, personal stories, and historical insights, creating an engaging and thought-provoking journey for listeners seeking clarity and encouragement. Email – Why can a paid AI note-taking tool refuse a therapist’s request to use “husband,” “wife,” “he,” and “she” in her own couple notes, and who decides what language and information AI systems will or won’t allow? (01:19) John - Was St. Peter's Square used as an execution site during the days of the Roman Empire? (23:16) Elijah - What do you think about the downside of AI? Can't AI have a downside? (27:08) Andy - My question is about Jeremiah. Pagans are worshipping the 'Queen of Heaven'. Some accuse Catholics of worshipping Mary because of this in the Bible? How can I respond? (41:08) Richard - Do you agree that just voting for the sake of money is immoral? I think the War in Iran is a good example. (45:17)

Is leadership overrated? That's one simple reading of what Jared Diamond argues in his new book. Asked by Tyler to name the least replaceable leader in human history, Jared declines to name one — not Christ, the Roman Empire having had prophets to spare — and observes that even Genghis Khan happened to be born at an auspicious moment for a conqueror of the steppes. Conditions ripen; somebody turns up. So which leaders do make a difference?   Tyler and Jared debate that question, including conditions what a religious founder needs to succeed, whether destructive leaders matter more than constructive ones, why individual leaders have mattered so little in Papua New Guinea, whether we undervalue preventers, how much Rachel Carson and the Resnicks really mattered, whether Botswana's success will endure, Jared's own place in intellectual history, and what he'd tell an ambitious 25-year-old about how to become consequential. They go on to cover whether New Guineans are smarter, his reasons for why the Industrial Revolution started in England, what he learned from Jim Robinson about natural experiments, why he's more optimistic about the environment than when he wrote Collapse, what he'd do about nuclear risk, the 189 bird species on his street in Los Angeles, why the MacArthur "genius grant" left him depressed for a week, why he's listening to one Bach cantata a week, what he hopes to work on as he enters his nineties, and more. Read a transcript enhanced with helpful links, or watch the full video on YouTube. Recorded August 21st, 2026. Other ways to connect Follow us on X and Instagram Follow Tyler on X Sign up for our newsletter Join our Discord Email us: cowenconvos@mercatus.gmu.edu  Learn more about Conversations with Tyler and other Mercatus Center podcasts here. Timestamps: 00:00:00 - Intro 00:01:11 - On whether any leader is irreplaceable 00:21:35 - On his own replaceability 00:24:55 - On the decline of face-to-face skills 00:29:02 - On intelligence and genetics 00:32:57 - On why the Industrial Revolution began in England 00:36:38 - On environmental optimism 00:41:11 - On nuclear risk and the Dvorak keyboard 00:42:55 - On birdwatching 00:44:07 - On writing and productivity 00:47:06 - On what his parents gave him 00:49:51 - On what comes next 00:51:36 - Outro

The podcast kicks off with Lino talking about the good old days: like the good old Roman Empire - and St Helena. After that, it's time to go cemetery plot shopping. Then, the guys play a round of Catholic Impossible. And the podcast wraps up with Tyler visiting Minnesota!

The Roman Empire shaped much of the ancient world and left a legacy that can still be seen today. This episode explores how Rome grew from a powerful republic into a vast empire, how emperors ruled, and what everyday life was like across Roman territory. Along the way, you'll hear about Roman cities, religion, the military, and law. It's steady and consistent, with no whispering and no sudden changes, just enough to give your mind something to follow as you wind down. Happy sleeping! Read with permission from Roman Empire, Wikipedia (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Roman_Empire), licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0. — Ad-free episodes: ⁠icantsleep.supportingcast.fm⁠Have a topic in mind? ⁠Request a topic⁠ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit ⁠megaphone.fm/adchoices Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

CAPTION 1802 ROMAN WOMEN.Roman Women Reshaping Ancient HistoryEmma Southon, author of A Rome of One's Own: The Forgotten Women of the Roman Empire, Part One: This interview explores early Roman history through the lives of its women, challenging traditional male-dominated narratives. Southon discusses how first-century historians like Livy wrote to flatter Emperor Augustus, shaping historical memory to justify his autocratic rise. The discussion starts with the founding of Rome, highlighting the forced mass kidnapping of the Sabine women and Hersilia's crucial, peacemaking intervention that united warring families. Southon contrasts Hersilia's virtuous legacy with Tarpeia, who betrayed Rome due to a perceived female greed for luxury. The narrative transitions to the Etruscan queen Tanaquil, who helped secure the monarchy, and her ambitious granddaughter Tullia, whose murderous path to the throne exemplified the corruptive nature of unchecked power. Finally, the interview details the tragic story of Lucretia, whose ultimate virtue and sudden suicide after her assault by the king's son became the direct catalyst for Brutus to overthrow the corrupt monarchy and successfully establish the Roman Republic. (1)

CAPTION UNDATEDR, Part Two: This segment covers diverse women of the Roman Empire, beginning with Augustus's highly educated daughter, Julia. Southon describes how Julia was used as a political marrying tool to secure male heirs, including Agrippa and Tiberius, before her public rebellion led to her permanent, harsh exile and ultimate starvation under Tiberius. Moving to Roman Britain, the discussion contrasts Cartimandua's strategic cooperation with the Romans against Boudica's famous, violent rebellion and tragic suicide. Archaeological findings from Pompeii reveal ordinary women like Julia Felix, a wealthy, independent businesswoman who ran a sprawling entertainment and bath complex. Meanwhile, the Vindolanda tablets reveal educated military wives, including Sulpicia Lepidina, organizing active social lives on the hostile northern frontier. Finally, the interview details Perpetua and Felicity, Carthage's famous Christian martyrs who embraced redemptive suffering, defiance, and ultimate execution in the grand arena rather than ever renouncing their devout faith by sacrificing to the polytheistic Roman gods. (2)

CAPTION 1480The Climactic Battle of ActiumBarry Strauss, Part Two: This episode details the climactic 31 BC naval Battle of Actium, which unfolded as a logistical masterpiece orchestrated by Octavian's brilliant admiral, Marcus Agrippa. By capturing the critical supply base of Methone, Agrippa cuts Antony's supply lines, blockading his forces in Greece's malarial swamps. Antony and Cleopatra attempt a breakout by sea. On September 2, Cleopatra escapes with sixty ships carrying Egypt's treasury, and Antony follows, abandoning his army. Despite desperate resistance, Antony's remaining fleet is destroyed with fire arrows. Octavian closes the trap in Alexandria. Believing Cleopatra committed suicide, Antony kills himself; Cleopatra follows in death, using a smuggled cobra. Octavian secures absolute victory by executing Cleopatra's son Caesarion, the rival heir of Julius Caesar. Returning to Rome, Octavian rebrands himself as Augustus, establishing the Roman Empire by masterfully wielding authority over raw power. This victory completely reshapes Mediterranean history, sealing the historic rise of the empire. (2)

CAPTION 1947 CALIFORNIASTREAMING THE MAKING OF THE JOHN BATCHELOR SHOW, 8-9 AM ET, 9-4-2026.This transcript captures a wide-ranging conversation between John Bachelor, Jeff Bliss, and a commentator named Germanicus, focusing on the intersecting natural and social crises facing California and the broader world. The discussion begins with the environmental impact of Hurricane Marie on Southern California's coast, highlighting severe erosion alongside the dangerous, spectacular waves at the wedge. Shifting to urban instability, the speakers detail infrastructure failures in Los Angeles, including water main breaks and the relocation of rotting food following a warehouse fire. Economic concerns are raised through the lens of troubled real estate and the migration of film production away from high-tax states. In the final segment, the dialogue adopts a historical metaphor, comparing modern American leadership struggles and military leadership gaps to the decline of the Roman Empire. This overview contrasts the local struggles of the Golden State with a grim assessment of shifting global power dynamics.

Greg Jenner is joined in ancient Rome by Professor Lucy Grig and comedian Ivo Graham to learn all about Emperor Constantine the Great and the Christianisation of the Roman empire. Born not in Rome but in the Balkans, Constantine's life was shaped by the turbulent politics of the late third century. He grew up as Emperor Diocletian – remembered now as a savage persecutor of Christians – was establishing the Tetrarchy, with four rulers now in control of the empire. One of these was Constantine's father, Constantius. But when Constantius died in York, his son was acclaimed emperor in his place, kicking off a violent civil war. This episode traces Constantine's life, from his childhood through to his elevation as emperor, taking in his extraordinary victory at Milvian Bridge, the vision that allegedly encouraged his conversion to Christianity, and his founding of Constantinople as a New Rome. It also examines his relationship with his mother, later known as Saint Helena, the bloody path he carved to the imperial throne, and his role in the pivotal Council of Nicaea, a landmark event in Christian history. If you're a fan of religious revolutions, bloody Roman power politics, and historical nepo babies, you'll love our episode on Constantine the Great. If you want more Roman rulers, listen to our episodes on the Rise of Julius Caesar, Agrippina the Younger, or Emperor Nero, with Professor Mary Beard and Patton Oswalt. And for more on the Christianisation of the Roman empire, check out our episode on Hypatia of Alexandria. You're Dead To Me is the comedy podcast that takes history seriously. Every episode, Greg Jenner brings together the best names in history and comedy to learn and laugh about the past. Hosted by: Greg Jenner Research by: Auréliane Perrin Written by: Auréliane Perrin, Dr Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow, Dr Emma Nagouse, and Greg Jenner Produced by: Dr Emmie Rose Price-Goodfellow and Greg Jenner Audio Producer: Steve Hankey Production Coordinator: Gill Huggett Senior Producer: Dr Emma Nagouse Executive Editor: Philip Sellars

A global Islamic organization is reportedly funding 5,000 mosques to place 1,000 students each into journalism, law, history, filmmaking, and business, aiming for 50,000 trained operatives across America's most influential institutions within five years. Lance Wallnau breaks down why he believes this is happening, and why the church is losing ground by fighting itself instead of building anything close to it. In this episode, Lance responds to critics questioning the theology behind the 7 Mountains Mandate, then shows how real cultural transformation has actually happened historically, from the early church's rise inside the Roman Empire through education and the apologists, to William Wilberforce and the Clapham Sect dismantling slavery in England. He argues Christians already have a proven model for influence. They just aren't using it, while other movements are executing a coordinated, well funded plan in plain sight. In this episode: * Why critics are wrong to confuse the 7 Mountains Mandate with declaring America a "holy nation," and what the theology actually claims * The Rome parallel that explains why the early church needed more than martyrdom and preaching to actually change an empire * How the Paidia, Rome's education system, became the quiet mechanism Christians used to out-think and outlast a pagan culture * The Wilberforce and Clapham Sect model for turning a grassroots conviction into a decades-long institutional win * The uncomfortable comparison between a 5,000 mosque plan aiming for 50,000 trained professionals in five years and how slowly the church is moving on the same mountains * What it actually takes to turn a local church into an apostolic hub that disciples an entire city, not just a congregation The Lance Wallnau Show 2232: Why Islam Is Winning the Culture War America Isn't Fighting | don't miss this! Listen to more episodes of the Lance Wallnau Show at lancewallnau.com/podcast

September 4, 476 CE. Eleven-year-old emperor Romulus Augustulus is deposed by a barbarian chieftain, ending the Roman Empire in the west forever. This episode originally aired in 2024. Support the show! Join Into History for ad-free listening and more. History Daily is a co-production of Airship and Noiser.Go to HistoryDaily.com for more history, daily.