Podcasts about second kings

This morning, Rev. Sheridan Irick preaches from the Hebrew book of Second Kings, chapter 5, verses 1 through 14. Live steamed from the sanctuary of Mayflower Congregational UCC Church in Oklahoma City.

* 2 Kings: The divided kingdom is symptomatic of Israel's separation from God. In the northern kingdom, the prophet Elijah passing on the mantle of his ministry, along with a double blessing from God, to Elisha. With the defeat of Moab, and the mocking of Syria's blinded army, God's covenant people had opportunity after opportunity to thrive. Instead, their sin brought judgment. Ahab's sons were killed after his wicked widow Jezebel was thrown out of a window to her death. In the southern kingdom of Judah, the sole surviving son of the royal family became king, but eventually Joash too was murdered. After Elisha died, Israel and Judah fought, with rampant paganism in the north so weakening the ten tribes that they were carried carried away captive by the Assyrians. Meanwhile down south, the more benevolent reigns of kings like Azariah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah only postponed God's judgment until Nebuchadnezzar carried away Judah in the Babylonian captivity. Lessons abound in Second Kings. Available on MP3-CD or download.   BEL SUBSCRIPTIONS: Please consider one of our monthly subscriptions that will not only help support BEL, but they also promote better understanding of the Bible and may equip you to more effectively reach those around you. Monthly Sermons: Enjoy all of Bob's sermons from the month on Sermon Video DVD, great also to watch with the family. Or, get these on Sermon Audio CDs which are standard audio Compact Discs that will play on any CD player including the one in your car. Or get them on a single Sermon MP3-CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer.Monthly Bible Studies: Enjoy the Scriptures with Bob's Monthly Bible Study DVDs, great too for a small group Bible study. Or get these teachings on a single Monthly Bible Study Audio MP3- CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer.Monthly Topical Videos: Coming to your mailbox, you'll get a Monthly Topical DVD to enjoy one of Bob's great videos specially selected to be entertaining and to teach about life from a biblical worldview.Monthly Best of Bob Shows: Every month our crew selects the eight best BEL shows of the month and for the folks who might have missed some of them, we mail them out on the Best of Bob MP3-CD.Monthly BEL TV Classics: Enjoy Bob Enyart's timeless, popular TV show delivered to your home on the Monthly BEL TV Classics DVDs with great audio and video clarity thanks to our state-of-the-art mastering from the studio-quality Sony beta tapes to DVD!Monthly Donation: For folks who just want to make sure that Bob Enyart Live stays on the air, please consider making a pledge in the form of a Monthly Donation.

* 2 Kings: The divided kingdom is symptomatic of Israel's separation from God. In the northern kingdom, the prophet Elijah passing on the mantle of his ministry, along with a double blessing from God, to Elisha. With the defeat of Moab, and the mocking of Syria's blinded army, God's covenant people had opportunity after opportunity to thrive. Instead, their sin brought judgment. Ahab's sons were killed after his wicked widow Jezebel was thrown out of a window to her death. In the southern kingdom of Judah, the sole surviving son of the royal family became king, but eventually Joash too was murdered. After Elisha died, Israel and Judah fought, with rampant paganism in the north so weakening the ten tribes that they were carried carried away captive by the Assyrians. Meanwhile down south, the more benevolent reigns of kings like Azariah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah only postponed God's judgment until Nebuchadnezzar carried away Judah in the Babylonian captivity. Lessons abound in Second Kings. Available on MP3-CD or download.   BEL SUBSCRIPTIONS: Please consider one of our monthly subscriptions that will not only help support BEL, but they also promote better understanding of the Bible and may equip you to more effectively reach those around you. Monthly Sermons: Enjoy all of Bob's sermons from the month on Sermon Video DVD, great also to watch with the family. Or, get these on Sermon Audio CDs which are standard audio Compact Discs that will play on any CD player including the one in your car. Or get them on a single Sermon MP3-CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer.Monthly Bible Studies: Enjoy the Scriptures with Bob's Monthly Bible Study DVDs, great too for a small group Bible study. Or get these teachings on a single Monthly Bible Study Audio MP3- CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer.Monthly Topical Videos: Coming to your mailbox, you'll get a Monthly Topical DVD to enjoy one of Bob's great videos specially selected to be entertaining and to teach about life from a biblical worldview.Monthly Best of Bob Shows: Every month our crew selects the eight best BEL shows of the month and for the folks who might have missed some of them, we mail them out on the Best of Bob MP3-CD.Monthly BEL TV Classics: Enjoy Bob Enyart's timeless, popular TV show delivered to your home on the Monthly BEL TV Classics DVDs with great audio and video clarity thanks to our state-of-the-art mastering from the studio-quality Sony beta tapes to DVD!Monthly Donation: For folks who just want to make sure that Bob Enyart Live stays on the air, please consider making a pledge in the form of a Monthly Donation.

* 2 Kings: The divided kingdom is symptomatic of Israel's separation from God. In the northern kingdom, the prophet Elijah passing on the mantle of his ministry, along with a double blessing from God, to Elisha. With the defeat of Moab, and the mocking of Syria's blinded army, God's covenant people had opportunity after opportunity to thrive. Instead, their sin brought judgment. Ahab's sons were killed after his wicked widow Jezebel was thrown out of a window to her death. In the southern kingdom of Judah, the sole surviving son of the royal family became king, but eventually Joash too was murdered. After Elisha died, Israel and Judah fought, with rampant paganism in the north so weakening the ten tribes that they were carried carried away captive by the Assyrians. Meanwhile down south, the more benevolent reigns of kings like Azariah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah only postponed God's judgment until Nebuchadnezzar carried away Judah in the Babylonian captivity. Lessons abound in Second Kings. Available on MP3-CD or download.   BEL SUBSCRIPTIONS: Please consider one of our monthly subscriptions that will not only help support BEL, but they also promote better understanding of the Bible and may equip you to more effectively reach those around you. Monthly Sermons: Enjoy all of Bob's sermons from the month on Sermon Video DVD, great also to watch with the family. Or, get these on Sermon Audio CDs which are standard audio Compact Discs that will play on any CD player including the one in your car. Or get them on a single Sermon MP3-CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer.Monthly Bible Studies: Enjoy the Scriptures with Bob's Monthly Bible Study DVDs, great too for a small group Bible study. Or get these teachings on a single Monthly Bible Study Audio MP3- CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer.Monthly Topical Videos: Coming to your mailbox, you'll get a Monthly Topical DVD to enjoy one of Bob's great videos specially selected to be entertaining and to teach about life from a biblical worldview.Monthly Best of Bob Shows: Every month our crew selects the eight best BEL shows of the month and for the folks who might have missed some of them, we mail them out on the Best of Bob MP3-CD.Monthly BEL TV Classics: Enjoy Bob Enyart's timeless, popular TV show delivered to your home on the Monthly BEL TV Classics DVDs with great audio and video clarity thanks to our state-of-the-art mastering from the studio-quality Sony beta tapes to DVD!Monthly Donation: For folks who just want to make sure that Bob Enyart Live stays on the air, please consider making a pledge in the form of a Monthly Donation.

* 2 Kings: The divided kingdom is symptomatic of Israel's separation from God. In the northern kingdom, the prophet Elijah passing on the mantle of his ministry, along with a double blessing from God, to Elisha. With the defeat of Moab, and the mocking of Syria's blinded army, God's covenant people had opportunity after opportunity to thrive. Instead, their sin brought judgment. Ahab's sons were killed after his wicked widow Jezebel was thrown out of a window to her death. In the southern kingdom of Judah, the sole surviving son of the royal family became king, but eventually Joash too was murdered. After Elisha died, Israel and Judah fought, with rampant paganism in the north so weakening the ten tribes that they were carried carried away captive by the Assyrians. Meanwhile down south, the more benevolent reigns of kings like Azariah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah only postponed God's judgment until Nebuchadnezzar carried away Judah in the Babylonian captivity. Lessons abound in Second Kings. Available on MP3-CD or download.   BEL SUBSCRIPTIONS: Please consider one of our monthly subscriptions that will not only help support BEL, but they also promote better understanding of the Bible and may equip you to more effectively reach those around you. Monthly Sermons: Enjoy all of Bob's sermons from the month on Sermon Video DVD, great also to watch with the family. Or, get these on Sermon Audio CDs which are standard audio Compact Discs that will play on any CD player including the one in your car. Or get them on a single Sermon MP3-CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer.Monthly Bible Studies: Enjoy the Scriptures with Bob's Monthly Bible Study DVDs, great too for a small group Bible study. Or get these teachings on a single Monthly Bible Study Audio MP3- CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer.Monthly Topical Videos: Coming to your mailbox, you'll get a Monthly Topical DVD to enjoy one of Bob's great videos specially selected to be entertaining and to teach about life from a biblical worldview.Monthly Best of Bob Shows: Every month our crew selects the eight best BEL shows of the month and for the folks who might have missed some of them, we mail them out on the Best of Bob MP3-CD.Monthly BEL TV Classics: Enjoy Bob Enyart's timeless, popular TV show delivered to your home on the Monthly BEL TV Classics DVDs with great audio and video clarity thanks to our state-of-the-art mastering from the studio-quality Sony beta tapes to DVD!Monthly Donation: For folks who just want to make sure that Bob Enyart Live stays on the air, please consider making a pledge in the form of a Monthly Donation.

Mass Readings for 28th Sunday in Ordinary Time - October 12, 2025 Reading 1, Second Kings 5:14-17 Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 98:1, 2-3, 3-4 Reading 2, Second Timothy 2:8-13 Gospel, Luke 17:11-19

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: 2 Kings 25; 2 Chronicles 36; Jeremiah 40-41; Revelation 12 Click HERE to give! Get Free App Here! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark on this year-long voyage through the Bible, and let each day's passage uplift and inspire you. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome back to the Daily Radio Bible! In today's episode, we journey through one of the most dramatic and heartbreaking moments in Israel's history. Host Hunter, your daily Bible reading coach, guides us through the fall of Jerusalem, the exile of God's people, and the unwavering faith of Jeremiah in the midst of devastation. We'll read from Second Kings, Second Chronicles, Jeremiah, and a thrilling vision from Revelation. This episode doesn't just recount ancient stories—it shines a light on how we're called to be faithful, loving witnesses even when life feels like it's in ruins. Hunter invites us to reflect on what it means to remain steadfast and hopeful, drawing strength from prayer and from the assurance that God's love is present with us, no matter where we find ourselves. Plus, you'll hear uplifting voicemails from listeners all around the globe, reminding us that we're all in this together. So, settle in as we read, reflect, and pray, remembering that even when the world seems broken, we are called and loved by God. Let's get started! TODAY'S DEVOTION: Their worst nightmare came true. Now they are living—if you want to call it that—among the ruins. It's a post-apocalyptic nightmare. Their worst fears have shown up on their front door. And yet here, in the midst of this horrendous tragedy, Jeremiah, whose name means “appointed,” “raised up by God,” remains. Somehow Jeremiah is still there. Taken out of the well where he had been left for dead, he resurfaces to find that all has been lost, just as he predicted: the temple, the palace, the walls—Jerusalem—all in ruins. And yet Jeremiah, the one who was appointed, the one who was raised up by God, is still there. Like Jeremiah, God's called us to such a time as this—to be faithful witnesses and to remain as Jeremiah did, to be faithful, to be loving lights, and to proclaim God's kingdom even among the ruins. We live in a world at war, and where the walls have fallen down, ours is not to charge into the fray and try to seize as much power as we can, like Ishmael son of Nethaniah did. The weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through God to pull down strongholds. The warfare of the world tears down others in order to be lifted up, but God's way is to lift up those who have been torn down. Let's join Jeremiah. Like Jeremiah, you have been appointed, raised up by God for a time like this—to faithfully, lovingly lift up those who are left among the ruins. That's the prayer that I have for my own soul. That's the prayer that I have for my family, for my wife, and my daughters, and my son. And that's the prayer that I have for you. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: Lord God Almighty and everlasting father you have brought us in safety to this new day preserve us with your Mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose  through Jesus Christ Our Lord amen.   Oh God you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you, and find you. Bring the nations into your fold, pour out your Spirit on all flesh, and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord, Amen.   And now Lord,  make me an instrument of your peace.  Where there is hatred let me sow love. Where there is injury, pardon.  Where there is doubt, faith. Where there is despair, hope.  Where there is darkness, light.  And where there is sadness,  Joy.  Oh Lord grant that I might not seek to be consoled as to console. To be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love.  For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned, it is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life.  Amen And now as our Lord has taught us we are bold to pray... Our Father who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name, thy kingdom come thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven, give us this day our daily bread, and forgive us our tresspasses as we forgive those who trespass against us, and lead us not unto temptation, but deliver us from evil, for thine is the Kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen. Loving God, we give you thanks for restoring us in your image. And nourishing us with spiritual food, now send us forth as forgiven people, healed and renewed, that we may proclaim your love to the world, and continue in the risen life of Christ.  Amen.  OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation.   Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL  

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: 2 Kings 4-5; Psalm 83; 1 Timothy 2 Click HERE to give! Get Free App Here! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark on this year-long voyage through the Bible, and let each day's passage uplift and inspire you. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible! In today's episode—June 20th, 2025—we journey through Second Kings, chapters 4 and 5, Psalm 83, and First Timothy, chapter 2. Host Hunter guides us through powerful stories of miracles, faith, and God's provision. We'll hear about Elisha's compassion as he brings hope to a struggling widow, restores life to a grieving mother's child, purifies a poisoned meal, and heals the mighty Naaman of leprosy. As we reflect on these acts, we see vivid foreshadowings of Christ—the one true Mediator who brings life and reconciliation. Alongside these narratives, we explore prayers from Psalm 83 and mindful instructions from First Timothy on worship, prayer, and living a godly life. Join us as we open our hearts to what the Spirit is saying, seek God's presence in prayer, and are reminded—no matter where we are or what we face—that we are deeply loved. TODAY'S DEVOTION: There is only one man who can make things right. The woman of Shunam knew this deep in her soul. In her hour of loss and grief, when her boy had died, she didn't want just anyone—she sought after the man of God. Gehazi, Elisha's servant, or anyone else simply wouldn't do. She believed, against all hope, that somehow this one man could bring her son back to life, could set things right that had gone terribly wrong. And Elisha did something unexpected. He went up to the lifeless boy, stretched himself out face to face, hand to hand, eye to eye over the child. It is as if Elisha was absorbing the death of the boy into himself so that the child could be restored to life. What a powerful image—a man of God bridging the gap between death and life. But this isn't just about one miracle centuries ago. It's a living picture pointing forward to another man who would come and absorb death—not just for one boy, but for the whole world. Jesus, the true Man of God, stepped into our story. He absorbed our sin, our sorrow, our death into himself upon the cross. He defeated death, and with tender care, draws us into his life—face to face, hand to hand, eye to eye. In him, we experience resurrection even now, the beginning of eternal life. Paul, in today's reading, reminds us: “For there is one God and one mediator who can reconcile God and humanity—the man Christ Jesus. He gave his life to purchase freedom for everyone.” Jesus stands alone as the One who can bridge the gap, the only One able to make things right between us and God. His resurrection life is offered to us. His victory over death is our hope, our foundation, our future. May God open our eyes to see that death has been defeated. May we recognize the One who stands before us, calling us into a resurrected life—today and always. That's the prayer I have for my own soul. That's the prayer I have for my family, for my wife and my daughters and my son. And that's the prayer I have for you. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: Almighty and ever loving God you have brought us to the light of a new morning. Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of your Holy Spirit that we may walk this day in peace. Guard our steps from temptation. Shield us from the weight of fear and shame, and lead us deeper into the joy of your presence through Jesus Christ, our Lord. Amen. O Christ, light of the nations, shine in every place where shadows dwell. Call the scattered home, heal the wounds of division and gather all people into the communion of your grace. May the knowledge of the Lord cover the earth as the waters cover the sea. Amen. And our Lord, make my hands ready for mercy. Make my eyes quick to see the hurting, my ears open to the cry of the lonely, and my feet swift. To bring good news. Let me seek to bless, not to be noticed, to serve, not to be praised, to forgive, not to hold back. For in your way is life, in your mercy is healing, and in your love is the peace this world cannot give. Amen. And now, as our Lord has taught us, we are bold to pray. Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation.   Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL  

Click here for the DRB Daily Sign Up form! TODAY'S SCRIPTURE: 2 Kings 1-3; Psalm 82; 1 Timothy 1 Click HERE to give! Get Free App Here! One Year Bible Podcast: Join Hunter and Heather Barnes on 'The Daily Radio Bible' for a daily 20-minute spiritual journey. Engage with scripture readings, heartfelt devotionals, and collective prayers that draw you into the heart of God's love. Embark on this year-long voyage through the Bible, and let each day's passage uplift and inspire you. TODAY'S EPISODE: Welcome to the Daily Radio Bible! In today's episode, join Hunter as we journey together through the Bible on this 19th day of June. We'll dive into the dramatic stories of Second Kings chapters 1-3, witness Elijah's fiery encounters and miraculous departure, and see Elisha step into his prophetic calling. We'll also spend time in Psalm 82, where God calls us to justice and compassion, and move into the New Testament with First Timothy chapter 1, where Paul reminds us not to miss the heart of the gospel—a life transformed by love, pure conscience, and genuine faith. Hunter shares encouraging reflections on letting God's Spirit shape us from the inside out, rather than getting lost in meaningless debates or empty rule-keeping. We'll close with heartfelt prayers for peace, gratitude, and strength for the day ahead. So grab your Bible, take a deep breath, and let's immerse ourselves in God's Word and presence together. TODAY'S DEVOTION: Don't Miss the Point We are so prone to miss the point when we misapply the law. It can lead us into a life of pride and arrogance or self-loathing and despair. Engaging with the law in this way, as Hunter reminds us, can become a colossal exercise in missing the point. When we seek to justify ourselves by keeping the law or becoming experts in its letters, we actually miss the underlying message and purpose. That's exactly what Paul points out in his letter to Timothy—some people have veered from the simple truth, spending their days in meaningless discussions that add nothing to a life of faith (see 1 Timothy 1:6). They had turned away from the simple gospel, the good news that is received by faith and fills our hearts with love, cleanses our conscience, and makes us new. Paul reemphasizes this in verse 5: “The purpose of my instruction is that all believers would be filled with love that comes from a pure heart, a clear conscience, and genuine faith.” This, Hunter says, is the real deal—this is the point. This is the work that God alone can do as his Spirit abides in his people. Through the Spirit's presence, God brings about a new heart, a clean conscience, and a new life. And we need to remember: that's a gift. It isn't something we can attain by mastering the law. True change comes not from our proficiency or expertise, but from the Master's presence in our lives. As we surrender, as we let the Master master us, God reclaims that which was lost. That's the power and the gift of the gospel, the very truth Paul is unashamed to proclaim. Living in the reality of Christ in you means you're not missing out on love, generosity, or peace—they are yours. And in receiving them, you'll have something beautiful to offer this world. That's a prayer Hunter has for his own soul, for his family, and for you: that we may not miss the point, but instead receive the love of God, a clean conscience, and a new life in Christ. May it be so. TODAY'S PRAYERS: Lord God Almighty and everlasting Father, you have brought us in safety to this new day. Preserve us with your mighty power that we might not fall into sin or be overcome by adversity. And in all we do, direct us to the fulfilling of your purpose. Through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. O God, you have made of one blood all the peoples of the earth and sent your blessed son to preach peace to those who are far and those who are near. Grant that people everywhere may seek after you and find you. Bring the nations into your fold. Pour out your spirit on all flesh and hasten the coming of your kingdom through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. And now, Lord, make me an instrument of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me sow love; where there is injury, pardon; where there is doubt, faith; where there is despair, hope; where there is darkness, light; and where there is sadness, joy. O Lord, grant that I might not seek so much to be consoled as to console, to be understood as to understand, to be loved as to love. For it is in the giving that we receive, in the pardoning that we are pardoned. It is in the dying that we are born unto eternal life. Amen. And now, as our Lord has taught us, we are bold to pray: Our Father, who art in heaven, hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come, thy will be done on earth as it is in heaven. Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil. For thine is the kingdom, and the power and the glory, forever and ever. Amen. OUR WEBSITE: www.dailyradiobible.com We are reading through the New Living Translation.   Leave us a voicemail HERE: https://www.speakpipe.com/dailyradiobible Subscribe to us at YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@Dailyradiobible/featured OTHER PODCASTS: Listen with Apple Podcast DAILY BIBLE FOR KIDS DAILY PSALMS DAILY PROVERBS DAILY LECTIONARY DAILY CHRONOLOGICAL  

Pastor Jim transitions from First Kings into Second Kings, highlighting how the divided kingdom of Israel and Judah reflects the spiritual fractures that led to exile. He contrasts the partial faithfulness of King Jehoshaphat with the outright rebellion of King Ahaziah, showing how both compromise and idolatry have consequences. Through Elijah's confrontation with Ahaziah and the powerful reminder that “there is a God in Israel,” Jim calls listeners to examine where they turn in distress, and to respond to God's word with repentance rather than resistance.

There's a physical world all around us. It's very real to us because we can see it with our own eyes. But there's also a spiritual world as well, that is just as real! Problem is we can't see what's going on in this hidden spiritual realm. So today on Abounding Grace pastor Ed Taylor is going to challenge us to start praying, Lord open our eyes to see what we cannot see! That's actually a prayer of Elisha in Second Kings chapter six. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/302/29

CAUTION!I've been studying through First and Second Kings in the Bible.  It's amazing to me of all the kings that did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.  It still seems today that many haven't learned from the biblical history the cautions of what has happened for wrongdoing without repentance.

This week's episode is a little different. We've made it to the end of the book of Second Kings, and boy were there a lot of kings! It would be nearly impossible to name all the kings we went through, and don't worry there's no test at the end. Today we are starting something new, thank you for joining us as we tackle the books of First and Second Chronicles.  Welcome to the Village Kids Podcast. Our bite-sized story podcast is a fun way to learn truths from the Bible in a fun story format. Tune in every week for a new episode on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you get your favourite podcasts.

Welcome to Day 2441 of Wisdom-Trek, and thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom – Theology Thursday – Promise Undelivered? – I Dare You Not To Bore Me With The Bible Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2441 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2441 of our Trek. The Purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Today is the eighteenth lesson in our segment, Theology Thursday. Utilizing excerpts from a book titled: I Dare You Not To Bore Me With The Bible written by Hebrew Bible scholar and professor the late Dr. Michael S Heiser, we will invest a couple of years going through the entire Bible, exploring short Biblical lessons that you may not have received in Bible classes or Church. The Bible is a wonderful book. Its pages reveal the epic story of God's redemption of humankind and the long, bitter conflict against evil. Yet it's also a book that seems strange to us. While God's Word was written for us, it wasn't written to us. Today, our lesson is, Promise Undelivered? When exposed to evil, we might doubt God's presence. Soldiers' accounts and memoirs often recall times of doubt as they grappled with war atrocity and, ultimately, the struggle between good and evil. While Scripture is clear that good will triumph, it also says evil will win its share of battles. Second Kings 3 records a war event where evil won. Yahweh Takes Sides Second Kings 3 describes the rebellion of Moab, led by its king, Mesha, against the monarch of the northern kingdom of Israel, King Jehoram (3:5). Like his father Ahab, Jehoram solicited King Jehoshaphat of Judah (the southern kingdom) for assistance against his enemy (3:7). They were joined by the king of Edom (3:9). The invasion route—“by way of the wilderness of Edom”—is critical to the storyline. Edom was the territory settled by the descendants of the red-haired Esau (Gen 25:25: 36:1, 8). “Edom,” a play on the word adorn (DIN, “red”), was epitomized by the reddish soil and rock of its wilderness. By taking a circuitous approach to Moab, the invading armies must cross desert terrain without water (3:9). Jehoshaphat called the wilderness wandering prophet Elisha for advice (3:11-12). After a testy response to Jehoshaphat's plea (3:13-14), Elisha received word from Yahweh: God would supply the armies with water (3:16-17). It would appear—without rain—in a streambed that was presently bone dry. Elisha had even better news: “This is a light thing in the sight of the Lord. He will also give the Moabites into your hand” (3:18). No Faith, No Gain When they arrived at the place of battle, the Moabite soldiers were fooled by the pools of water that appeared red against the ground and the sun's reflection (3:21-22). They assumed it was blood and that invading armies (often enemies themselves) had erupted in battle against each other (3:23). When the Moabites approached to strip and plunder the dead, they were ambushed by the invading armies. In desperation, the king of Moab committed a horrible...

Mass Readings for 17th Sunday in Ordinary Time: July 28, 2024 Reading 1, Second Kings 4:42-44 Responsorial Psalm, Psalms 145:10-11, 15-16, 17-18 Reading 2, Ephesians 4:1-6 Gospel, John 6:1-15

* 2 Kings: The divided kingdom is symptomatic of Israel's separation from God. In the northern kingdom, the prophet Elijah passing on the mantle of his ministry, along with a double blessing from God, to Elisha. With the defeat of Moab, and the mocking of Syria's blinded army, God's covenant people had opportunity after opportunity to thrive. Instead, their sin brought judgment. Ahab's sons were killed after his wicked widow Jezebel was thrown out of a window to her death. In the southern kingdom of Judah, the sole surviving son of the royal family became king, but eventually Joash too was murdered. After Elisha died, Israel and Judah fought, with rampant paganism in the north so weakening the ten tribes that they were carried carried away captive by the Assyrians. Meanwhile down south, the more benevolent reigns of kings like Azariah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah only postponed God's judgment until Nebuchadnezzar carried away Judah in the Babylonian captivity. Lessons abound in Second Kings. Available on MP3-CD or download. BEL SUBSCRIPTIONS Monthly Audio & Video Downloads: Now you can subscribe to monthly sermons, Bible studies or topical videos in download form.  Monthly Sermons: Enjoy all of Bob's sermons from the month on Sermon Video DVDs, great also to watch with the family. Or, get these on Sermon Audio CDs which are standard audio Compact Discs that will play on any CD player including the one in your car. Or get them on a single Sermon MP3-CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer. Monthly Bible Studies: Enjoy the Scriptures with Bob's Monthly Bible Study DVDs, great too for a small group Bible study. Or get these teachings on a single Monthly Bible Study Audio MP3- CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer. Monthly Topical Videos: Coming to your mailbox, you'll get a Monthly Topical DVD to enjoy one of Bob's great videos specially selected to be entertaining and to teach about life from a biblical worldview. Monthly Best of Bob Shows: Every month our crew selects the eight best BEL shows of the month and for the folks who might have missed some of them, we mail them out on the Best of Bob MP3-CD. Monthly BEL TV Classics: Enjoy Bob Enyart's timeless, popular TV show delivered to your home on the Monthly BEL TV Classics DVDs with great audio and video clarity thanks to our state-of-the-art mastering from the studio-quality Sony beta tapes to DVD! Monthly Donation: For folks who just want to make sure that Bob Enyart Live stays on the air, please consider making a pledge in the form of a Monthly Donation.

* 2 Kings: The divided kingdom is symptomatic of Israel's separation from God. In the northern kingdom, the prophet Elijah passing on the mantle of his ministry, along with a double blessing from God, to Elisha. With the defeat of Moab, and the mocking of Syria's blinded army, God's covenant people had opportunity after opportunity to thrive. Instead, their sin brought judgment. Ahab's sons were killed after his wicked widow Jezebel was thrown out of a window to her death. In the southern kingdom of Judah, the sole surviving son of the royal family became king, but eventually Joash too was murdered. After Elisha died, Israel and Judah fought, with rampant paganism in the north so weakening the ten tribes that they were carried carried away captive by the Assyrians. Meanwhile down south, the more benevolent reigns of kings like Azariah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah only postponed God's judgment until Nebuchadnezzar carried away Judah in the Babylonian captivity. Lessons abound in Second Kings. Available on MP3-CD or download. BEL SUBSCRIPTIONS Monthly Audio & Video Downloads: Now you can subscribe to monthly sermons, Bible studies or topical videos in download form.  Monthly Sermons: Enjoy all of Bob's sermons from the month on Sermon Video DVDs, great also to watch with the family. Or, get these on Sermon Audio CDs which are standard audio Compact Discs that will play on any CD player including the one in your car. Or get them on a single Sermon MP3-CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer. Monthly Bible Studies: Enjoy the Scriptures with Bob's Monthly Bible Study DVDs, great too for a small group Bible study. Or get these teachings on a single Monthly Bible Study Audio MP3- CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer. Monthly Topical Videos: Coming to your mailbox, you'll get a Monthly Topical DVD to enjoy one of Bob's great videos specially selected to be entertaining and to teach about life from a biblical worldview. Monthly Best of Bob Shows: Every month our crew selects the eight best BEL shows of the month and for the folks who might have missed some of them, we mail them out on the Best of Bob MP3-CD. Monthly BEL TV Classics: Enjoy Bob Enyart's timeless, popular TV show delivered to your home on the Monthly BEL TV Classics DVDs with great audio and video clarity thanks to our state-of-the-art mastering from the studio-quality Sony beta tapes to DVD! Monthly Donation: For folks who just want to make sure that Bob Enyart Live stays on the air, please consider making a pledge in the form of a Monthly Donation.

* 2 Kings: The divided kingdom is symptomatic of Israel's separation from God. In the northern kingdom, the prophet Elijah passing on the mantle of his ministry, along with a double blessing from God, to Elisha. With the defeat of Moab, and the mocking of Syria's blinded army, God's covenant people had opportunity after opportunity to thrive. Instead, their sin brought judgment. Ahab's sons were killed after his wicked widow Jezebel was thrown out of a window to her death. In the southern kingdom of Judah, the sole surviving son of the royal family became king, but eventually Joash too was murdered. After Elisha died, Israel and Judah fought, with rampant paganism in the north so weakening the ten tribes that they were carried carried away captive by the Assyrians. Meanwhile down south, the more benevolent reigns of kings like Azariah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah only postponed God's judgment until Nebuchadnezzar carried away Judah in the Babylonian captivity. Lessons abound in Second Kings. Available on MP3-CD or download. BEL SUBSCRIPTIONS Monthly Audio & Video Downloads: Now you can subscribe to monthly sermons, Bible studies or topical videos in download form.  Monthly Sermons: Enjoy all of Bob's sermons from the month on Sermon Video DVDs, great also to watch with the family. Or, get these on Sermon Audio CDs which are standard audio Compact Discs that will play on any CD player including the one in your car. Or get them on a single Sermon MP3-CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer. Monthly Bible Studies: Enjoy the Scriptures with Bob's Monthly Bible Study DVDs, great too for a small group Bible study. Or get these teachings on a single Monthly Bible Study Audio MP3- CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer. Monthly Topical Videos: Coming to your mailbox, you'll get a Monthly Topical DVD to enjoy one of Bob's great videos specially selected to be entertaining and to teach about life from a biblical worldview. Monthly Best of Bob Shows: Every month our crew selects the eight best BEL shows of the month and for the folks who might have missed some of them, we mail them out on the Best of Bob MP3-CD. Monthly BEL TV Classics: Enjoy Bob Enyart's timeless, popular TV show delivered to your home on the Monthly BEL TV Classics DVDs with great audio and video clarity thanks to our state-of-the-art mastering from the studio-quality Sony beta tapes to DVD! Monthly Donation: For folks who just want to make sure that Bob Enyart Live stays on the air, please consider making a pledge in the form of a Monthly Donation.

* 2 Kings: The divided kingdom is symptomatic of Israel's separation from God. In the northern kingdom, the prophet Elijah passing on the mantle of his ministry, along with a double blessing from God, to Elisha. With the defeat of Moab, and the mocking of Syria's blinded army, God's covenant people had opportunity after opportunity to thrive. Instead, their sin brought judgment. Ahab's sons were killed after his wicked widow Jezebel was thrown out of a window to her death. In the southern kingdom of Judah, the sole surviving son of the royal family became king, but eventually Joash too was murdered. After Elisha died, Israel and Judah fought, with rampant paganism in the north so weakening the ten tribes that they were carried carried away captive by the Assyrians. Meanwhile down south, the more benevolent reigns of kings like Azariah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah only postponed God's judgment until Nebuchadnezzar carried away Judah in the Babylonian captivity. Lessons abound in Second Kings. Available on MP3-CD or download. BEL SUBSCRIPTIONS Monthly Audio & Video Downloads: Now you can subscribe to monthly sermons, Bible studies or topical videos in download form.  Monthly Sermons: Enjoy all of Bob's sermons from the month on Sermon Video DVDs, great also to watch with the family. Or, get these on Sermon Audio CDs which are standard audio Compact Discs that will play on any CD player including the one in your car. Or get them on a single Sermon MP3-CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer. Monthly Bible Studies: Enjoy the Scriptures with Bob's Monthly Bible Study DVDs, great too for a small group Bible study. Or get these teachings on a single Monthly Bible Study Audio MP3- CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer. Monthly Topical Videos: Coming to your mailbox, you'll get a Monthly Topical DVD to enjoy one of Bob's great videos specially selected to be entertaining and to teach about life from a biblical worldview. Monthly Best of Bob Shows: Every month our crew selects the eight best BEL shows of the month and for the folks who might have missed some of them, we mail them out on the Best of Bob MP3-CD. Monthly BEL TV Classics: Enjoy Bob Enyart's timeless, popular TV show delivered to your home on the Monthly BEL TV Classics DVDs with great audio and video clarity thanks to our state-of-the-art mastering from the studio-quality Sony beta tapes to DVD! Monthly Donation: For folks who just want to make sure that Bob Enyart Live stays on the air, please consider making a pledge in the form of a Monthly Donation.

Today's episode features Jonathan and Sy talking with Pastor Rasool Berry. They discuss:-        The importance of acknowledging and understanding your own and your community's power-        The social and spiritual forces behind the opposition to CRT or DEI (or whatever they're calling it today)-        Pastor Berry's incredible documentary about Juneteenth and Christian faith-        When to leave communities that push back against racial justice-        And after the interview, Sy and Jonathan reflect on the work it takes to pass on a tradition like Juneteenth well, and the truly, literally unbelievable levels of ignorance whiteness creates in people-        Plus, they discuss the Daniel Perry pardon, and the threads that connect it to the Donald Trump convictionsMentioned in the Episode-        Our anthology - Keeping the Faith: Reflections on Politics and Christianity in the era of Trump and Beyond-        An abridged version of Pastor Berry's article from the anthology.-        His subsequent article, “Uncritical Race Theory”-        The documentary Juneteenth: Faith and Freedom-        Resources for screening Juneteenth and inviting speakers involved with the film-        The soundtrack for Juneteenth-        Pastor Berry's podcast, Where Ya From?-        The article on Daniel Perry Sy put in our newsletter-        The Texas Monthly article about how legally unusual Perry's pardon wasCredits-        Follow KTF Press on Facebook, Instagram, and Threads. Subscribe to get our bonus episodes and other benefits at KTFPress.com.-        Follow host Jonathan Walton on Facebook Instagram, and Threads.-        Follow host Sy Hoekstra on Mastodon.-        Our theme song is “Citizens” by Jon Guerra – listen to the whole song on Spotify.-        Our podcast art is by Robyn Burgess – follow her and see her other work on Instagram.-        Transcripts by Joyce Ambale and Sy Hoekstra.-        Production by Sy Hoekstra and our incredible subscribersTranscript[An acoustic guitar softly plays six notes, the first three ascending and the last three descending – F#, B#, E, D#, B – with a keyboard pad playing the note B in the background. Both fade out as Jonathan Walton says “This is a KTF Press podcast.”]Rasool Berry: There was a lot of nicknames and still are for Juneteenth. One was Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, but Jubilee Day. And when I discovered that, that's when I said we got to get involved in this process. Because you mean to tell me that these formerly enslaved people at a time when it was illegal to read, that they understood enough of the story that they picked out this festival, that it was this reordering of society, the kingdom of heaven coming back to earth. And in the context of this, of their faith, they saw God doing a jubilee in their lives?[The song “Citizens” by Jon Guerra fades in. Lyrics: “I need to know there is justice/ That it will roll in abundance/ And that you're building a city/ Where we arrive as immigrants/ And you call us citizens/ And you welcome us as children home.” The song fades out.]IntroductionSy Hoekstra: Welcome to Shake the Dust, seeking Jesus, confronting injustice. I'm Sy Hoekstra.Jonathan Walton: And I'm Jonathan Walton. Today, hear us talk to Pastor Rasool Berry about his thoughts on the movement against CRT, or DEI, or whatever the term for the moment is right now when you listen to this. We're also [laughs] going to talk about his incredible feature length documentary called Juneteenth: Faith and Freedom, which is available for free on YouTube right now. And then after the interview, hear our thoughts on the pardon of Daniel Perry and the conviction of Donald Trump in our segment, Which Tab Is Still Open?Sy Hoekstra: The 34 convictions of Donald Trump.Jonathan Walton: All of them.Sy Hoekstra: All of them [laughs]. We're going to talk about each one individually…Jonathan Walton: Exactly.Sy Hoekstra: …the specific business record that he destroyed, whatever.Jonathan Walton: [laughs].Sy Hoekstra: Don't be afraid, we're not going to do that. By the way, I said at the end of last week that the guest this week was going to be Brandi Miller, and then we realized that we had to do the episode that was about Juneteenth before Juneteenth. So Brandi Miller's going to be in two weeks from now. And this time [laughs], it's Pastor Rasool Berry.Before we get to that, just a reminder, we need your subscriptions. Please go to ktfpress.com and become a paid subscriber on our Substack. Your support sustains what we do, and we need that support from you right now. We've been doing this as a side project for a long time, and like we've been saying, if we want this show to continue past this season, we need to get a lot more subscribers so that we can keep doing this work, but not for free as much as we've been doing it.So go and subscribe. That gets you all the bonus episodes of this show, which there are many, many of at this point. And then it also gets you access to our new monthly subscriber conversations that we're doing. Jonathan and I will be having video chats with you to talk about all the different kinds of things that we talk about on this show, answer some questions, just have a good time. And if you cannot afford a subscription, if money's the only obstacle, just write to us at info@ktfpress.com. We will give you a free or discounted subscription, no questions asked. But if you can afford it, please, ktfpress.com. Become a paid subscriber. We need your support now.Jonathan Walton: Pastor Rasool Berry serves as teaching pastor at The Bridge Church in Brooklyn, New York. He's also the director of partnerships and content development with Our Daily Bread Ministries. Pastor Berry graduated from the University of Pennsylvania with a bachelor's degree in Africana Studies and Sociology. He's also the host of the Where Ya From? podcast sponsored by Christianity Today, and the writer, producer and host of Juneteenth: Faith and Freedom. Let's get to it. Here's the interview.[the intro piano music from “Citizens” by Jon Guerra plays briefly and then fades out.]Sy Hoekstra: Pastor, thank you so much for joining us on Shake the Dust today.Rasool Berry: Oh, well, I'm glad to be here with you all, back at it again, Keeping the Faith.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah. Yes, exactly [laughter].Jonathan Walton: Amen. Amen.The Importance of “Mapping” PowerSy Hoekstra: So, you wrote this fantastic essay for… so, well, actually, it was originally for your blog, I think, and then we kind of took it and adapted it for the anthology. And it was about critical race theory, and you broke down a lot of the history and sort of the complex intellectual background of it and everything. But you talked specifically about something that you said, critical race theory and the Bible and the Black Christian tradition in the US all help us do something really important, and that thing is mapping power. Can you talk to us a little bit about what power mapping is and what the importance of it is?Rasool Berry: Yeah. I first kind of got wind of that framework when we were launching a justice ministry at our church. And two friends Gabby, Dr. Gabby Cudjoe Wilkes and her husband, Dr. Andrew Wilkes, who do a lot of great work with justice, actually walked our church through thinking about mapping power in our church as a way of evaluating what types of justice initiatives did it make sense for us to engage in, in light of what we had in the room. And so for instance, when I was in my church in Indiana, a lot of the parishioners worked at Lilly who's headquarters is in Indiana. And so when they decided to do something for the community, they ended up opening up a clinic in the church building, which still exists and serves the local community, because they all had medical backgrounds.So when they do mission work, they do mission work with a medical component, because that's a effective way of mapping power. Where our church in Brooklyn average age is about 28, 29 and they're more artsy. So we're not opening up clinics, you know what I mean? But what we can do is events that help inspire and help engage with people. And then eventually with our pastor's leadership started something called Pray March Act, which looks to be a place to mobilize churches around issues of justice in New York City. So what is oftentimes overlooked in Christian spaces, and I really am indebted to Andy Crouch and his book, Playing God: Redeeming the Gift of Power, for really surfacing the need for us to have a theology of power.That this is something that oftentimes especially evangelical churches, or more kind of Bible oriented or people kind of churches, there's a sense in which we don't know how to think about power. And I believe, I suspect this is one of the reasons why the church has been so susceptible to issues like sexual abuse, to egregious theft in money, is because we are not really conditioned to think about power, which is really ironic because the scriptures really do point to… I mean, we literally have two books, First and Second Kings, and those books are pointing to you have the king, this king was a good king, and it impacted the kingdom of Israel this way. This king was a bad king, and then this is what happened.And so it's wired in the text, right? Amy Sherman in her book, Kingdom Calling, Dr. Amy Sherman points to this when she points to the proverb that says, “when the righteous prosper, the city rejoices.” And it's this idea, when she says righteous, she's not thinking about it in the kind of traditional pietistic aspect of righteousness, but she's talking about “tzedakah” in the Hebrew, which has this connotation of justice. Because when people who are put in positions of power and influence, when they do right by the people underneath them when they do right, that people celebrate. Versus when there's somebody who's a tyrant that's in office, the people groan because there's that sense of they recognize we've mapped power dynamics, and somebody who's going to do ill is going to have a disproportionate impact on all of us.And so power mapping is bringing to surface the awareness of what is it that we have in the room. And it's also a very humbling way of being aware of our own power, right? Like how do I show up as a man in a space, in certain things? Like I know if I get up and I'm about to preach that there's some different dynamics depending on who I'm talking to in a room. Like if I'm in a predominantly Black context that's younger, then the locks might actually kind of give me some street cred. Like, oh, that's kind of cool. But if I'm in a older, traditional space, looking younger is going to be more of a uphill climb to say, okay, what's this guy coming at? And if I'm in a White space, versus but I also recognize that when our sisters come up, that there's a whole different type of power mapping situation.And so all of these things are helpful in being aware of how we show up and how that matters. And Andy's kind of thesis is that unlike the kind of post Nietzschean postmodern suspicion and critical view of power that only sees it as a negative, that God has actually given us and ordained us to exert influence and power in redemptive ways. But we can only do that if we map it, if we're aware of it, and if we use it in a way that's not just for our own self or comfort or glory, but for those who we're called to serve.Sy Hoekstra: Can I ask, just for some like to get specific on one thing, because I'm not sure this would be intuitive to everyone. You said if we map power, then we might not end up in the same situations that we are with, like abuse scandals in the church?Rasool Berry: Yeah. Yep.Sy Hoekstra: And I think I… where my mind goes is I think we would react differently to the abuse scandal. I don't know if the abuse scandals themselves would… those happen unfortunately. But I think where the power mapping might come in, is where so many people are then just deferring to whatever the person in, the pastor's narrative is. Is that kind of what you're talking about, like the reaction?Rasool Berry: I think it's on both sides.Sy Hoekstra: You do? Okay.Rasool Berry: Yeah, because for instance, if I am aware, very aware of power dynamics with children and adults, I would see the value in a practice of not leaving an adult in a space with a child by themselves.Sy Hoekstra: Oh, I see. You might put systems in place ahead of time. Yeah, yeah.Rasool Berry: Right. So there's the sense in which we can put policies in place that recognize… it's the same thing why we put the labeling system on kids when they check into childcare, right? Like you put the little label so that some random person can't just come and pick them up because a kid can't defend themselves. Or they may not have the capacity to understand what's going on if somebody just random comes up and says, “Hey, your mom and your dad told me to come get you,” and then they believe that. And so we have systems that we put in place to recognize those power dynamics. And I think unfortunately, that in a lot of our church context and culture there's an overly naive sense of, and really sometimes idolatrous view of pastors and leaders that essentially say, well, they're good and they're godly people, so there isn't a need for accountability, or there isn't a need for, you know…And so no, it's like, well, in the same way that we have trustees in certain churches, or there's a elders board, depending on what your church polity is, that polity should reflect a sense of accountability and transparency so that there is an awareness on the front end as well as on the backend that when it does come to bring people into account, that there's also an awareness of a power dynamic at play there too.Jonathan Walton: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense especially when [laughs] we throw those things out, all we have are the systems of hierarchy and social dominance that exist to define what power is, right?Rasool Berry: Right.Jonathan Walton: So the train just keeps going.The Social and Spiritual Forces behind the Fight against CRT/DEIJonathan Walton: So leaning into that a little bit, you wrote an essay focusing on CRT power mapping and things like that. But it feels like nobody in the Trump camp really had an idea of what CRT was, and it didn't even really matter to them what it was.Rasool Berry: Right.Jonathan Walton: So what do you think is at the core of what's going on with White people when they reject CRT or DEI or whatever the—conscious—whatever the term would be?Rasool Berry: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: What do you think the underlying concern is?Rasool Berry: Well, you know, after… and it's so funny because when I wrote that first piece, I wrote it as a way… [laughs] I wrote it just to get it off my chest. And in my mind, almost nobody was going to read it because it was like a 20-something minute read, and I just didn't care because I was just like, “I'm getting this off my chest,” and this is the last I'm going to say about it. Like I thought that was going to be just this thing, just so I can point people to, if anybody asks. I did not intend, nor did I think that it was only going to kind of position me as this person that people were listening to and reading and resonating with about it. So that was funny. But then what ended up happening, and especially after I was on the unbelievable? podcast with Justin Brierley, kind of in this debate format with Neil Shenvi, who's kind of been one of the most outspoken evangelical Christian critics of critical race theory. Critics is probably too mild of a term, kind of a…Jonathan Walton: Antagonist.Rasool Berry: Antagonist, even stronger. Like this doomsday prophet who says that, who's warning against the complete erosion of biblical norms because of the Trojan Horse, in his mind, of critical race theory. In the midst of that conversation, that kind of elevated, it was one of their top 10 episodes of the entire year, and it just kind of got me into these spaces where I was engaging more and more. And I kind of sat back and reflected, and I had a few more interactions with Neil on Twitter. And I ended up writing a separate piece called “Uncritical Race Theory.” And the reason why I did that, is I went back and I was curious about what kind of insights I could get from previous instances of the way that there were being controversies surrounding race in America in the church, and how the church talked about those debates.So I went back and I read The Civil War as a Theological Crisis by Mark Noll, who looked at and examined the actual debates during the time of the antebellum period of pro-slavery Christians and anti-slavery Christians, and he analyzed that. Then I went back and I read The Color of Compromise by Jemar Tisby, who looked at the pro-integrationist and segregationist arguments in the church. And what I found was that there was incredible symmetry between what was argued in each of those instances, going all the way back to the 1800s, to the 1960s, to now, and there were two things that emerged. The first was that the primary response from those who were supportive of slavery in the 1800s, or those who were supportive of segregation in the 1960s was to claim first of all, that the opposing view were not biblically faithful, or were not even concerned about biblical fidelity.So this is different than other types of discussions where we could say, even going back to the councils, right? Like when there's some type of, like during the Nicaean Council or something like that, they're debating about how they're understanding the text about certain things. Whereas is Jesus fully God, is he man, is he both? But there's a basic premise that they're both coming at it from different aspects of scriptures. What I noticed in the American context is that there was a denial that the side that was kind of having a more progressive view was even biblically faithful at all.Jonathan Walton: Yeah. Christian.Rasool Berry: The second part is related to the first, is that there was this allegation that there was outside philosophies that was actually shaping this impetus because it wasn't clearly the Bible. So in the 1800s that was the claim, “Oh, you're being influenced by these post-enlightenment ideas.” In the 1960s it was straight up Marxism, communism. You see the signs. “Integration is communism.” Like you see the people protesting with that, and of course the new version of that is kind of the remix of cultural Marxism, or these type of things. And so what I acknowledged in each of those scenarios is that part of the problem is that there is such an uncritical understanding of race that it causes, I think especially those in a dominant culture or those who've been susceptible to the ideologies of White supremacy, which can be White or Black or other, There's a tendency to see any claim that race is a problem as the problem itself because there's an underlying denial of the reality of racial stratification in our society, and the what Bryan Stevenson refers to as the narrative of racial difference or what is more commonly known as White supremacy. So when your default position is that you are introducing a foreign concept into the conversation when you talk about the relevance of race in a scenario, then it causes… that sense of uncritical nature of the reality of race causes you to then look upon with suspicion any claim that there's some type of racial based situation happening. And that is what I call, it is really ironically uncritical race theory. It's the exact opposite of what critical race theory is trying to do.And so I think that that's my take on what's happening. And then I think that's more of the scientific sociological, but then there's also a spiritual. I am a pastor [laughter]. And I have to end with this. I have to end with this, because in some ways I was naively optimistic that there was, if you just reasoned and show people the right analogies or perspectives, then they would, they could be persuaded. But what I have since realized and discovered is that there is a idolatrous synchronization of what we now know of different aspects of White Christian nationalism that is a competing theological position and belief system that is forming these doctrinal positions of what we now kind of look at as American exceptionalism, what we look at as this sense of the status quo being… all the things that are moving toward an authoritarian regime and away from democracy, that that is all solidifying itself as an alternative gospel.And I think that at the end of the day, I'm looking at and grieving about mass apostasy that I'm seeing happening in the church as a result of an unholy alliance of political ideology and Christian symbols, language, and values expressed in this kind of mixed way. And that's what is really being allowed to happen with this unmapped power dynamic, is that people don't even realize that they're now exerting their power to kind of be in this defensive posture to hold up a vision of society that is actually not Christian at all, but that is very much bathed in Christian terms.Jonathan Walton: I want to say a lot back, but we got to keep going, but that was good.Sy Hoekstra: We got to… [laughs]. Yeah. I mean, we could talk forever about what you just said, but we could also talk forever about your documentary. So let's transition to that.Rasool Berry: [laughter] You all are like exercising restraint.Sy Hoekstra: Yes.Jonathan Walton: I am.Rasool Berry: Like, “oh, I want to go there.” I just threw steak in front of the lions [laughter].Why Pastor Berry Made a Documentary about JuneteenthSy Hoekstra: But it's because, I mean, the documentary's interesting in a way... It's sort of like, okay, you've seen this movement of mass apostasy and everything, and you've had all these people tell you you're not faithful. And with this documentary in some ways, you're just sprinting on down the road that you're on. You know what I mean? It's like sort of [laughs], you're just going straightforward like we need to remember our past. We need to learn about power dynamics in American history. So you wrote this—[realizing mistake] wrote— you were involved in, you're the kind of narrator, the interviewer of this documentary Juneteenth: Faith and Freedom. And you went to Galveston and you went to Houston, Texas to learn more about the history of Juneteenth and the communities and the people that shaped the celebration and everything.And I guess I just want to know how this got started and why it was so important for you to engage in what was a very significant project…Rasool Berry: Yeah.Sy Hoekstra: …to teach people about this kind of history that I think the movement against CRT or DEI or whatever is quite actively trying to suppress.Rasool Berry: And these two stories are very much intertwined…Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Jonathan Walton: Absolutely.Rasool Berry: …in ways that I didn't even fully anticipate in some ways. In some ways I knew, in some ways I didn't. But I grew up in Philly, where there was not growing up a significant Juneteenth awareness or celebration or anything like that. So I had heard about it though when I was very young, the concept of it. I had a classmate whose middle name was Galveston, and I was like, “That's a weird name. Why is your middle name Galveston?” [laughter] He told me that it's because his mom had told him about this situation where there were Black people that didn't know they were free for two and a half years after the Emancipation Proclamation. I was like eight years old when I first heard that, but filed that away.It wasn't really until more recent years with the, just massive racial justice movement spurred on by the murders of Tamir Rice and George Floyd and others, Sandra Bland. And so, as that movement started to gin up, conversations about race that I was kind of plugged into, I heard about this 90-something year old woman that was appearing before Congress…Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Rasool Berry: …and challenging them to make Juneteenth a national holiday.Sy Hoekstra: I can't believe you got to interview her. She was amazing.Rasool Berry: Yeah. And I was like, why would a 90-something plus year old woman be like this committed to this? So I started looking into it and realizing, I think both spiritually and socially, that there was incredible potency and opportunity in the recognition, the widespread recognition of Juneteenth. I'll go socially first. Socially, the reality has been the United States has never had a moment where we collectively reflect on the legacy of slavery in our country. And if you do the math, from the first enslaved people that we have documented coming into the States in 1619 until if even if you go to the abolition of slavery in 1865 or 1866 with the ratification of the Thirteenth Amendment, that's about 244 years.If you go from 1865 to now, it's like 159 or so years. So we still have way more time in our society that has been shaped by this most intense version of a caste system and brutal slavery that had global, it literally reshaped the globe. And sometimes we forget. I live in Brooklyn where most of the Black folk are Afro-Caribbean. When you think of Jamaica, you think of Usain Bolt or Bob Marley. Do you realize that all of those people are from Africa, like our African descent people. That like the native people of Jamaica would've been Native Americans. So the legacy of slavery and colonialism has literally reshaped population centers in our world. That's how significant it was.And so to not have a moment to reflect on all of it, the implications of how the legacy still shapes us, but also the progress of what we've seen happen and how we are not in that same place is a missed opportunity. But on the contrary, to put that in place is an opportunity for reflection that I think could really help ground us toward being a more perfect union, toward us being a unified people. Because we're basing it on the same story and information, which increasingly in the age of misinformation and disinformation, that the erosion of us having a shared narrative is really upon us. So I think it's interesting and important from that standpoint. Spiritually, it was even more dynamic because one of the… so there was a lot of nicknames and still are for Juneteenth. One was Emancipation Day, Freedom Day, but Jubilee Day.And when I discovered that, that's when I said, “Okay, Our Daily Bread, we got to get involved in this process.” Because you mean to tell me that these formerly enslaved people at a time when it was illegal to read, primarily because they didn't want people to read the Bible, that they understood enough of the story of the Old Testament, that they picked out this festival in Leviticus 25, this ordinance that God had put in place, that on the Jubilee year, the Sabbath of all Sabbaths, I call it the Super Bowl of Sabbaths [Sy laughs]. Seven years times seven, forty nine years plus one, fifty. That on that day that it was this reordering of society, the kingdom of heaven coming back to earth, which simultaneously anticipates the wickedness and the brokenness of human systems in power, but also projects and casts vision about the kingdom of heaven, which would allow for equity and equality to take place. So debts were forgiven, lands were returned, and people who were in bondage primarily because of debt, that was the main reason back then, they would be set free. And in the context of their faith, they saw God doing the jubilee in their lives. So what that gave was the opportunity for us to talk about and reintroduce in many faith traditions the relationship between spiritual and physical freedom, and see that in the Bible story those things were wedded.What's the major account in the Old Testament is the Exodus account. Like it was both physical and spiritual freedom. And in the same way we see that is why Jesus, when he reveals himself and says, “The kingdom of God is at hand,” notice when John the Baptist starts to waver because he's expecting this conquering king. He's still in prison and he says, “Hey, are you the one or we should expect another?” Jesus points to physical and spiritual aspects of liberation in his response. “Tell John what you see. The blind receive sight. The sick are healed. The gospel is preached. Blessed is the one who is not ashamed of me.” So in the sense of that, what we see elements of the kind of seeds of in the gospel is this aspect of the physical and spiritual liberation being tied together.And that is what Jubilee gives us opportunity to explore and investigate. And I think lastly, seeing the role of the Black church in bringing out that insight, I think is particularly valuable in a time where oftentimes those contributions are overlooked and ignored.Jonathan Walton: Yeah, absolutely. I think being able to watch the documentary was transformative for me. Mainly because I'm 38 years old and it's being produced by people who look and sound and act like me. It's interviewing the people who came before us, trying to speak to the folks that are younger than us. And each generation I think has this, this go around where we have to own our little piece of what and how we're going to take the work forward. You know what I mean?Discerning Whether to Leave Communities that Push back on Discussions about RaceYou interviewed Lecrae in the documentary and he's taken that work forward, right? And you both say that you've had the experiences of believing you are loved and accepted in these White evangelical spaces until you started talking about racial justice issues.And so I feel like there's these moments where we want to take the work forward, and then we're like, “All right, well, this is our moment.” Like Opal was like, “Hey, I'm going to do Juneteenth.” Where now you're like, “I'm going to do something.” [laughs] So I wonder, like for you, when you have to make decisions about how to stay, not to stay or just leave. What is the effect of constantly engaging in that calculus for you?Rasool Berry: Oh, man! It's exhausting to do it. And I think it is valuable to count the cost and realize that sometimes you're best suited to reposition yourself and to find other ways to express that faithfulness. At other times, God is causing you to be a change agent where you are. And I think how to navigate through that is complicated, and I think it's complicated for all of us, for our allies who see the value of racial justice as well as for those of us who are marginalized and experience, not just conceptually or ideologically the need for justice, but experientially all of the things through macro and microaggressions that come up, that weigh and weather us and our psyche, our emotions, our bodies.And I think that it's important to be very spiritually attuned and to practice healthy emotional spirituality as well as, best practices, spiritual disciplines, all the things that have come alongside of what does it mean to follow Jesus. I was recently reflecting on the fact that in the height of Jesus' ministry, when it was on and popping, he's growing, the crowds are growing in number, it says that he went away regularly and left the crowds to be with God. And then the verse right after that, it's in Luke, I can't remember which chapters, I know the verse is 16 and 17. And then it talks about how he had power as a result of going away to do more. And there's this relationship between our needing to rest and to find recovery in the secret place in the quiet place with God in order to have the energy to do more of the work.And that's a lot to hold together, but it's really important because otherwise you can end up being like Moses, who was trying to do justice, but in his own strength at first when he kills the Egyptian, and then he tried to go to his people being like, “Yo, I'm down!” And they're like, “You killed somebody. We don't want to hear from you.”Jonathan Walton: [laughs] Right.Rasool Berry: And then he flees. Because he tried to do it in his own strength. And then when God reveals himself at the bush, now he's totally broken and not even confident at all in himself. And God has to say, “No, the difference is going to be I'm with you.” So I think in my own journey, I've been one of many people who've had to evaluate and calculate where I've been in order to kind of see where there are opportunities to move forward. For instance, I was on staff with Cru for 20 years and then as the opportunities to work with Our Daily Bread, and I remember specifically the podcast Where Ya From?, that we launched and then Christianity Today got connected to it.They were eagerly looking, or at least supporting the idea of us having conversations about faith and culture and race and all these things. Whereas in my previous environment, I felt like that was not something… I didn't even feel like it, I experienced the pullback of talking about those things. So it has actually, by repositioning myself to kind of be able to be in spaces where I can tell these stories and advocate in these ways, it has been a better use of my energy and my time. Now, even in that other space, everything isn't perfect. It's still the same type of challenges that exist anywhere you go in the world where you're a minority in race and racial difference is prominent, but at least it's a opportunity to still do more than I could do maybe in a previous position. And all of us have to make those type of calculations.And I think it's best to do those things in the context of community, not just by yourself, and also with a sense of sobriety of encountering and experiencing God himself. Because at the end of the day, sometimes, I'm going to just say this, sometimes the answer is leave immediately. Get out of there. At other times, God is calling you to stay at least in the short term time. And it's important to be discerning and not just reactive to when is the right situation presenting itself. And the only way I know to do that is by doing it in community, doing it with a sense of healthy rhythms and time to actually hear the still small voice of God.Sy Hoekstra: Amen.Jonathan Walton: Amen.Sy Hoekstra: Because you really can err in either direction. Like some people, “I'm getting out of here right away,” without thinking. Meaning, when you're being reactive, when you're not being discerning…Rasool Berry: Right.Sy Hoekstra: …you can get out right away or you can have the instinct, “No, I'm going to stick it out forever,” even if it's bad for you, and it's not going to accomplish anything.Rasool Berry: Yup, yeah.Jonathan Walton: Yeah. Which I think leans into jumping all the way back the critical versus uncritical.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah [laughs]. There you go.Jonathan Walton: Like if we're not willing to lean into the radical interrogation of the systems and structures around us that inform our decisions each day, we will submit to them unconsciously, whether that be running when we should resist or whether that be resisting where we actually should flee. So yeah, thanks for all that.Where you can Find Pastor Berry's workSy Hoekstra: Yeah. Thank you. Thank you so much. And so we will have links to both of the articles, to the documentary, which is entirely free on YouTube.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: So you're just wasting your life if you're not watching it, really [laughter]. And a couple other things you talked about, we'll have links. But is there anywhere that you want people to go to either follow you or your work online?Rasool Berry: Yeah. So the other thing that what we did with the Juneteenth documentary, because the response was so strong and overwhelming, really, people wanted to host screenings locally. And so we did a few things to make that more possible. So you can actually go on our website experiencevoices.org/Juneteenth. And you can fill out like a form to actually host a screening locally. And we have designed social media so you can market it, posters that you could print out, even discussion questions that you can use to host discussions. And sometimes people invite some of us from the production on site. So I've gone and done, I've been at screenings all the way from California to Texas to Wisconsin and here in New York.So you can reach out to us on that website as well if you're interested in hosting a screening with the director or one of the producers or myself, and we can kind of facilitate that. Also be looking at your local PBS stations. We partnered with PBS to air screenings so far over a hundred local channels.Sy Hoekstra: Oh, wow.Rasool Berry: And have aired it. Now, the PBS version is slightly different because we had to edit it down to fit their hour long format. And so the biggest version is the PBS version doesn't have Lecrae in it [laughs].Sy Hoekstra: Oh no [laughs].Rasool Berry: We had to cut out the four-time Grammy winner. Sorry Lecrae [laughter].Jonathan Walton: Yeah.Rasool Berry: You know what I mean? But it just so happened that way it, that it was the best way to edit it down.Jonathan Walton: You had to keep Opal.Rasool Berry: Had to keep Opal, had to keep Opal [laughter].Sy Hoekstra: I feel like Lecrae would understand that, honestly.Rasool Berry: Yeah, yeah, yeah. He was so gracious. And actually, the other thing that Lecrae did, I had told him that we were working with Sho Baraka, a mutual friend of ours, to do the music. And he said, “Yeah, I heard something about that.” He's like, “I have a song I was going to put on Church Clothes 4, but I feel like it would be a better fit for this. If you're interested, let me know and I can send it to you.” I'm like, “If I'm interested? Yes, I'm interested.” [laughter] Yes. I'll accept this sight unseen. And so he sent us this incredible song that features, well actually is listed as Propaganda's song, but it features Lecrae and Sho Baraka. And you can get the entire Juneteenth: Faith and Freedom soundtrack 13 tracks, poetry, hip hop, gospel, rnb, all on one thing. And wherever you listen to your music, Spotify, Apple Music, anywhere, you can, listen to it, stream it, buy it, and support this movement and this narrative. So yeah. And then personally, just @rasoolb on Instagram, @rasoolberry on, I still call it Twitter [Sy laughs]. So, and we're on Facebook as well. That's where folks can follow me, at rasoolberry.com, website. So thanks for having me.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah, pastor, thank you so much for being here. We really appreciate it.Jonathan Walton: Thanks so much, man.[the intro piano music from “Citizens” by Jon Guerra plays briefly and then fades out.]Reflecting on the InterviewSy Hoekstra: Hey, Jonathan, you know what's really useful, is when in the middle of an interview with one of our guests, we say, “Oh no, we don't have time. We'd really like to get into this, so we have to move on to another subject.” It's really useful when we have these little times that we're doing now after the interview to talk more about the subjects than we did with the guests [laughter]. This works out well for us.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: Why don't you tell everybody what you're thinking after the interview with Pastor Berry?Passing on a Tradition Well Takes Significant WorkJonathan Walton: Yeah. I think the biggest thing for me that I took away among a lot of the nuggets that he… nuggets and like big things that got dropped on me while we were listening, was like the amount of work that he went through to make this film. Like traveling to Galveston. There's a lot in the documentary that reminds me of how much it costs us personally to create things that are moving. To be able to have these conversations, sit down with these people, smell the smells of these folks' homes. That's just a big thing, particularly for me, like not having… I grew up with the Juneteenth story and needing to think through my own traditions and what I'm going to pass to my kids and stuff like that.It's just I'm challenged to do that work so that I have something substantial to pass on to Maya and Everest. And to the folks who listen to the preaching that I give or the stories I write, or the books I'm going to write, just so I can communicate with the same amount of intimacy that he did. So, Sy how about you? What stood out for you?The Literally Unbelievable Racial Ignorance of WhitenessSy Hoekstra: I think what stood out for me was actually right at that point where we said we really wanted to talk more about something, I really did have more thoughts [laughs]. When he was talking about the thing that underlies the fight against CRT and DEI and all that sort of thing. Being just a straight up denial of any sort of racial caste system or racial stratification in our country, I think that point is extremely important. That so much of our disagreements about racial injustice, at least on the intellectual level, not on the emotional and all that kind of thing, the intellectual level that come down to a difference in beliefs about the facts of reality in America. It is literally just do you think racism is happening or not? Because if you do think that it's happening, then everything has to change [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: And there's not a lot of room… you'll have to do a lot more like kind of active denial. A lot more having a very active lack of integrity [laughs] to continue in the way that you're thinking when you believe that there is no racism in America if you find out that there is. Which kind of explains why there's so much resistance to it. But I think one story that sort of illustrates how this dynamic works a little bit that just, this is something that happened to me that this reminded me of. I was an intern right after college at International Justice Mission, and I read Gary Haugen's book, The Good News About Injustice, where the intro to this book is about his childhood growing up in kind of suburban, I think he's outside of Seattle, somewhere in Washington. A suburban Christian home, things were pretty nice and easy and he just did not know anything about injustice or anything in the world. Like oppression, racism, he did not know anything about it. And then the book takes you through how he discovered it and then his theology of what God wants to do about it and what the organization does and all that kind of thing. But just that intro, I remember talking to one of the other interns who was at IJM m when I was there, who was a Black woman who was ordained in the Black Baptist Church and had grown up relatively low income. And I was talking to her about this book because I read that intro and I was like, “yes, I totally resonate with this. This is how I grew up, check, check. That makes sense. I understand all of it.”And it makes sense to a lot of the people who support IJM, which are a lot of suburban White evangelicals. She told me, she read the intro to the book and her immediate reaction was how, there is no way that anyone could possibly be this ignorant. It is not possible [laughs]. And I was like, [pretending to be hurt] “but I was” [laughter]. And there's this wrench in the gear of our conversations about justice where there's a large spectrum of White people who are, some engaging in actual innocent good faith about how much nonsense there is, like how much racism there is in America, and people who are engaging in complete bad faith and have ignored all the things that have been put right in front of them clearly.And it is just very difficult for a lot of people who are not White to understand [laughs] that there are actually… the level of ignorance of a lot of White people is unbelievable, by which I mean it literally cannot be believed by a lot of people. And I don't know, that's just, it is a complication in our conversations about race that doesn't really change what you have to tell people or how seriously you should take your conversations or whatever. It's just a note about what you might need to do to bring people kind of into the fold, by which I mean the fold of the truth [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Yes. This is true of like a lot of White people. And the sad part is that it can also be true of a lot of people of color…Sy Hoekstra: Well, yeah.Jonathan Walton: …who say, “I'm just going to deny, because I haven't experienced.” Or, “We have opted into the system of ignorance and don't want to engage.” And so I'll tell a story. Priscilla was at the airport this week.Sy Hoekstra: Your wife.Jonathan Walton: My wife Priscilla, was at the airport, not a random woman [laughter], was at the airport this week. And someone said, “Yeah, everyone who came to this country, like we're all immigrants.” And Priscilla said, “Actually some people came here as slaves.” Then the person says, “No, that's not true.” And it's like, what do you say to that? When someone just says slavery doesn't exist? And that's literally why we celebrate Juneteenth. So I don't know what this person's going to do on Juneteenth, but when there's a collective narrative and acknowledgement that this happened, and then there's a large group, James Baldwin would say, ignorance plus power is very dangerous.If there's a large group that's ignorant and or like intentionally not engaging, but also has power and privilege and all the things, the benefits of racial stratification without the acknowledgement of the reality of it, which is just a dangerous combination.Sy Hoekstra: So when somebody says something like that, like that didn't happen, people didn't come over here as slaves, I think it is possible that they legitimately don't know that I suppose [laughs], or that they think it's a conspiracy theory or whatever. My guess is, tell me what you think about this. What I would imagine happened there was, “Oh, I never thought about the fact that Black people are not immigrants. And so I'm just going to say no.” Do you know what I mean?Jonathan Walton: Oh yeah. Well, I agree. I think some people even, so let's say like, I write about this in 12 Lies. Ben Carson says that we all came here as immigrants, even if it was in the bottom of a ship. He says that. And I think that is a, to be kind, a gross misrepresentation of the middle passage [laughs], but I see what he's trying to do. He's trying to put Black folks in a narrative that fits in the American narrative so people can, so he's not othered. Because what happens when you acknowledge enslavement is that you have to acknowledge all that. They all come with each other. It's like being at a buffet and there is literally no other menu. Like once you say, once you go in, you can't order one plate. If you talk about slavery, you're opening up all the things and some people just don't want to do that. And that sucks.Sy Hoekstra: Yeah.Which Tab Is Still Open: Daniel PerryJonathan Walton: It's true. And [laughs], I think this feeds into a little bit of this segment [laughs] that we have aptly called Which Tab is Still Open. Because out of all the things in our newsletter and our podcast, there's stuff that comes up for us and it's just still hanging on our desktops, we still talk about it offline. So for Sy, like for you, which one, which tab is still open?Sy Hoekstra: Yeah. We're going to talk about Daniel Perry and Donald Trump today.Jonathan Walton: Fun times.Sy Hoekstra: So I recently had an article in the newsletter that I highlighted as one of my resources, that is about the case of Daniel Perry, which I think kind of flew a little bit under the radar in the fervor of 2020. But he was a known racist, meaning we have now seen truckloads of social media posts and text messages and everything revealing his out and out racism, his fantasies about killing Black Lives Matter protesters, all these kinds of things. Who in the summer of 2020, during those protests, drove his car through a red light into a crowd of protesters. And he did not at that moment hurt anyone, but another, an Air Force vet, Daniel Perry's also a vet, but another Air Force vet named Garrett Foster, walked up to him carrying, openly carrying his, in Texas, legal assault rifle.He didn't point it at Daniel Perry, but he was carrying it. And he knocked on the window and motioned for Perry to roll his window down, and Perry shot him through the window five times and killed him. He was convicted of murder in 2023 by a jury. And the day after he was convicted, governor Greg Abbott republican governor of Texas said that he wanted his case to be reviewed for a full pardon, so that the pardons board could send him a recommendation to do it, which is the legal way that a governor can make a pardon in Texas. And that happened a couple weeks ago. Daniel Perry walked free with all of his civil rights restored, including his right to own firearms.Texas Monthly did some really good reporting on how completely bizarre this pardon is under Texas law, meaning they very clear, they kind of laid out how these pardons typically go. And the law very clearly says that a pardon is not to be considered for anyone who is still in prison, like hasn't finished their sentence, except under very exceptional circumstances, which are usually that like some new evidence of innocence has come to light.Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: And the actual materials that the board reviewed were basically just his defense case where like him arguing that he was doing what he did out of self-defense. He was standing his ground, and that he was afraid of Foster and therefore allowed to use deadly force. In any other case, the remedy for that, if you think that's your defense and you were wrongly denied your defense by the jury is to appeal. Is to go through the appeals to which you have a right as a criminal defendant. And in this case, he became a bit of a conservative cult hero and the governor stepped in to get him out of jail. It was so bizarre. So the weird thing here is, for me at least, for these cases, for the cases surrounding like where someone has been killed either by the police or by an individual, it has always been pretty clear to me which way the case is going.Like if you're someone who's actually taken a, like me, gone to law school, taken a criminal law class, you've studied murder and then like the right to stand your ground and the right to self-defense, and when you can use deadly force, most of these cases are pretty predictable. I knew that the killers of Ahmaud Arbery and Walter Scott and Jordan Davis were going down. I knew that people were going to get off when they got off. Like those were not confusing. And that isn't because the law isn't racist or whatever, it's just the law doesn't take race into account at all. It just completely ignores, it has nothing to do with the cases, according to the law. So it's like this one was stunning.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: Because if it had gone to the appellate judges, the judges who actually are thinking about like the whole system and the precedents that they're setting would say, “Hey, in an open carry state like Texas, we do not want to set a precedent where if someone who is legally, openly carrying a gun walks up to you, you can kill them.” That is not a precedent that they want to set. But this is not an appellate case, so we're not setting that precedent, we're just letting this racist murderer go. That's it.Jonathan Walton: Yes.Sy Hoekstra: And that is like what effectively Greg Abbott and the Board of Pardons in Texas have conspired to do. And I didn't know this was coming actually. I hadn't heard the news that he was calling for the pardon when it happened, but it's wild. And I just kind of wanted to give that additional context and hear what you're thinking about it, Jonathan, and then we'll get into Donald Trump a little bit.Normalizing Punishing Protestors and Lionizing MurderersJonathan Walton: Yeah, I mean, I think first thing for me is like this is a PG podcast. I won't use all the expletives that I would like to use. The reality of like Kyle Rittenhouse lives in Texas now. George Zimmerman, after he killed Trayvon Martin, he was in other altercations with people with guns. So this is not a person or a scenario that is new, which is sad and disappointing. But the reality of an institution stepping into enforce its institutionalized racism, is something that feels new to me in the environment that we're in. And what I mean by that is like, I think we now live in a society that desires for protestors and folks who are resistant to the system that oppresses and marginalizes people, if you believe that is happening.There are individuals and institutions that desire to punish that group of people. It is now normed that that group of people can be punished by anybody.Sy Hoekstra: If you're in the right state.Jonathan Walton: Well, I won't even say the right state, but I almost think if you can get caught in the zeitgeist of a certain media attention, then you will be lauded as someone who did the right thing.Sy Hoekstra: Oh yeah. Even if you might still end up in jail.Jonathan Walton: Even if you might still end up in jail, like you'll become a hero. And so the circumstances have been created where protesters can be punished by regular members of society, and then their quote- unquote punishment could be pardoned in the court of public opinion, and so much so you could end up being pardoned by the institution. There are going to be more protests on campus. There are going to be more protests in light of Trump's conviction and potential election. The chances of political violence and protests are very high, highly probable there're going to be thunderstorms. And what we're saying is like, let's give everybody lightning bolts [Sy laughs]. And we all know if this is a racially stratified society, which it is, if it's a class stratified society, which it is, then we will end up with things like Donald Trump getting convicted and becoming president.Sy Hoekstra: And the racial stratification is important to remember because people have pointed out, if there had been a Trump rally and someone had been killed, that like, not a chance that Greg Abbott does any of this, right?Jonathan Walton: The hallmark of White American folk religion is hypocrisy. If this were a person of color, there's no way that they would've got pardoned for shooting someone at a protest.The Criminal Legal System was Exceptionally Kind to Donald TrumpSy Hoekstra: And this is the connection to the Donald Trump case [laughs].Jonathan Walton: Right.Sy Hoekstra: Because despite the fact that he was convicted, he has been treated throughout this process in a way that no poor or BIPOC would, like no poor person or any BIPOC would ever be treated by the New York State courts. I can tell you that from experience [laughter] as an actual attorney in New York state. Donald Trump had 10 separate violations of a gag order, like he was held in contempt by the court and required to pay some money, which is significant, but nobody does that and doesn't spend some time in jail unless they are rich and famous and White. It was shocking to watch the amount of dancing around him and his comfort that the system does. And this is, pastor Berry mentioned Bryan Stevenson, another Bryan Stevenson quote.I've mentioned, we've mentioned Brian Stevenson so many times on this show [laughter]. But it's true. One of the things he says all the time is that the system treats you better if you're rich and White and guilty than if you're poor and BIPOC and innocent.Jonathan Walton: Yeah.Sy Hoekstra: And, that's the demonstration. So the Trump indictments happened when we're recording this yesterday. Or the convictions, I mean. And in terms of what it'll do to the election, probably not much. In terms of what it'll like [laughs], like Jonathan was just saying, like this is the situation that we're in here. We don't have a lot of political analysis to bring you about this case because I don't think there's much political analysis to do except to continue to point out over and over again that this is not the way that people are treated by the criminal justice system. This is an exception to what is otherwise the rule.Outro and OuttakeOkay. I think we're going to end there. Thank you all so much for joining us today. Our theme song, as always is “Citizens” by John Guerra. Our podcast Art is by Robyn Burgess. Transcripts by Joyce Ambale. And thank you all so much for joining us. Jonathan, thanks for being here. We will see you all again in two weeks.[The song “Citizens” by Jon Guerra fades in. Lyrics: “I need to know there is justice/ That it will roll in abundance/ And that you're building a city/ Where we arrive as immigrants/ And you call us citizens/ And you welcome us as children home.” The song fades out.]Jonathan Walton: Yeah, I think the biggest thing for me was like the amount of work that he went through to make this film. I'm challenged to do that work so that I have something substantial to pass on to Maya and Everest, just so I can communicate with the same amount of intimacy that he did.Sy Hoekstra: So now you're going to go make a documentary about Juneteenth, is what you're saying?Jonathan Walton: [deep exhale, and Sy laughs] At least a reel [laughter].Sy Hoekstra: A reel… yeah, those are pretty much the same I'd say. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.ktfpress.com/subscribe

Today, Pastor Al Dagel revisits Second Kings with a quick look at the gist of the Book from 15 years ago, to show that the truth of God's Word never changes or loses power.

This episode of 'Let's Talk' introduces a new series on living with pain, beginning with a discussion on a biblical narrative from 2 Kings Chapter 4, verses 1-7. The host, Daniel Collins, flying solo for this episode, explores the story of a widow's plea to Elisha for help to save her two sons from being taken by a creditor as bondsmen due to her deceased husband's debts. The episode delves into the concept of the 'sons of the prophets,' young men trained by prophets in Old Testament times, to provide context for the widow's situation. The host reflects on the widow's multifaceted pain, including emotional, spiritual, maternal anguish, physical, and financial pain, drawing parallels to challenges listeners might face. The episode concludes with the first step to overcoming overwhelming situations: seeking help and looking for a turnaround, using the widow's action of crying out to Elisha as an example. The Host promises to explore the second step, submitting to guidance, in the next episode. 00:00 Welcome to a New Format and Series Introduction 00:13 Diving into Scripture: The Story of Second Kings 4 01:56 Understanding the Sons of the Prophets 03:55 Exploring the Multifaceted Pain of a Widow 08:00 Seeking Solutions: The Widow's Cry for Help 08:58 Wrapping Up and Looking Ahead --- Send in a voice message: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/gnbc/message

Join Dr. Michael Youssef for the next encouraging episode of LEADING THE WAY . He takes you to the book of Second Kings for a close-up look at what led to Elisha???s victory over an overwhelming enemy! Plan to listen! (2 Kings 6)Support the show: https://au.ltw.org/See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

In Part 2 of the series, “Improving Our Serve”, this sermon focuses on the account of Naaman the Syrian general recorded in Second Kings, Chapter 5, verse 1 -15.  Despite his position of power and prominence in the Syrian nation, military renown, and wealth, Naaman was a leper.  His visit to the prophet Elisha in Israel began with the faithful witness of a Jewish slave girl and culminated in healing and spiritual wholeness as he experienced firsthand the awesome power of God.  Naaman became a witness too!   

CAUTION!I've been studying through First and Second Kings in the Bible.  It's amazing to me of all the kings that did that which was evil in the sight of the Lord.  It still seems today that many haven't learned from the biblical history the cautions of what has happened for wrongdoing without repentance.

Today we pick up where we left off in our series, In the Volume of the Book. It's a 20 week through the Bible study that emphasizes prophecy! For the next few programs we'll speed through First and Second Kings and First and Second Chronicles. And yes, even these books contain prophecy! To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1459/29

It's Thursday, January 11th, A.D. 2024. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark Vietnam imprisoned or put on home detention 258 people International Christian Concern reports that Vietnamese Christians feature prominently in a recent report from Defend the Defenders. The report found that Vietnam has imprisoned or put on home detention 258 prisoners of conscience. Each of them faced harassment, arrest, and imprisonment for exercising free speech and religion. The targets for persecution include religious leaders.  One example is Mr. Trần Văn Bang. The Christian leader is serving four years in prison. He has opposed communism in Vietnam and openly shared his faith in Christ. Vietnam is ranked 25th on the Open Doors' World Watch List of nations where it is most difficult to be a Christian. Jesus said in Matthew 10:32, “Whoever confesses Me before men, him I will also confess before My Father who is in Heaven.” Christians are leaving India for United Kingdom The Guardian reports that churches in the United Kingdom are getting a boost from Christians migrating from India.  Over the last decade, Christian identification has fallen from nearly 60% of the U.K. population to under 50%. Meanwhile, the number of Indian Christians in the country has surged from 135,000 to over 225,000.  Local pastors report Indian families also have large numbers of children who tend to show more interest in religion than British young people. Biden rolls back conscience protections Yesterday, the Biden administration continued to role back conscience protections for Americans. Under the Obama administration, the Department of Health and Human Services issued a mandate forcing employers to pay for abortifacients in their health insurance plans. However, religious organizations were able to get exemptions after challenging the mandate in court. And the Trump administration expanded these exemptions to businesses.  The latest rule from Health and Human Services Secretary Xavier Becerra claims to balance respect for religious beliefs and a so-called “right” to contraception.  Tom McClusky with CatholicVote commented, “Is this a win for religious freedom? I'd say it could have been much worse. The onslaught of public protest prevented HHS from sending us back to 2011. But the rule definitely leaves Americans at the mercy of Becerra's whims – and whether he feels that the protections we do have are even worth enforcing.” U.S. House approves $1.6 trillion spending deal U.S. Congressional leaders agreed to a $1.6 trillion spending deal Sunday ahead of a potential government shutdown later this month. The agreement includes nearly $900 billion in defense spending and over $700 billion in non-defense discretionary spending. Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson and Democrat Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer negotiated the deal. The agreement accelerates $20 billion in cuts to funding for the Internal Revenue Service and rescinds $6 billion in unspent pandemic aid.  However, conservatives with the House Freedom Caucus  criticized the deal for too much spending, calling it a “total failure.” 20% of office space is vacant Moody's Analytics reports 20% of office space in big U.S. cities was unleased at the end of last year. It's the highest number on record for commercial buildings. Working from home has become more common since the COVID-19 pandemic. However, Moody's also noted the 1970s and 1980s saw overbuilding in the commercial space. Texas had the top three cities for office vacancy rates: Houston, Dallas, and Austin. Scientists confirm destruction of Biblical city of Gath And finally, scientists from several universities in Israel believe they have confirmed the destruction of a Biblical city as described in Second Kings. Chapter 12:17 says, “Then Hazael king of Syria went up, and fought against Gath, and took it: and Hazael set his face to go up to Jerusalem.” Researchers identified the city of Tell es-Safi as the Biblical city of Gath occupied by the Philistines. In fact, Goliath, the giant, was from Gath.  Previously, scientists believed bricks from a wall in the ancient city were kiln-fired before construction. But, thanks to the technology of thermal demagnetization, researchers discovered the bricks were most likely burned in a destructive event, aligning with the Biblical account.  Professor Aren Maeir at Bar-Ilan University said, “Our findings are important for determining the intensity of the fire and the scope of destruction in Gath — the largest and most powerful city in the land at the time — and also for understanding construction practices in the region.” Close And that's The Worldview in 5 Minutes on this Thursday, January 11th in the year of our Lord 2024. Subscribe by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Or get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.

Today pastor James picks up where we left off in our series, In the Volume of the Book. It's a 20 week through the Bible study that emphasizes prophecy! For the next few weeks we'll speed through First and Second Kings and First and Second Chronicles. And yes, even these books contain prophecy! To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1459/29

We continue our look at the Hosea Generation as we dive into the story of Hosea, a prophet commanded by God to marry a prostitute, reflecting on the symbolic significance of their first child, Jezreel and its connection to the Hosea generation - a group of passionate people consumed by their love for the Lord. This narrative parallels with the tale of Jehu from Second Kings, a king anointed to bring God's wrath upon Ahab's dynasty. Drawing on these ancient stories, we reflect on the evangelical mission that echoes in the lives of modern-day Christians.But our conversation doesn't stop there. We also confront a perennial confusion within Christianity - the complex relationship between faith and works. Many profess faith in Jesus outwardly yet harbor distance in their hearts. Through Proverbs, we illuminate how mercy and truth are God's tools to clear this confusion. Join us as we uncover how God invites us into a deeper understanding of faith and works, and how this wisdom will bring about a more fruitful ministry.The Redeeming Love Bible Broadcast is a ministry of Grace Baptist Tabernacle. We're excited to be under construction on a brand new building in our hometown of King, NC. Please continue to share these episodes, and please consider coming to visit our church. We are excited and expectant for you to come!

Join us as we chat all things First and Second Kings. Honestly, between summer schedules and the content of these books, we both struggled to get through them. But as always, God spoke to us in different ways and we share our insights from these books in this episode. This podcast is brought to you by Lutheran Counseling Services in Winter Park, FL. @lutherancounselingservicesfl @itsoktonotbeokpodcast lcsfl.com

In this episode of Coffee and Prayer, our devotions are found in Matthew chapter 13-16, Second Kings chapter 25 and First Chronicles chapter 1-3. We talk about getting what you want and not being mad at God when it's not what you expected. I talk about how God cares about you and He hasn't forgotten about you. We discuss how many of us know our history. Lastly, we chat about life being more than just bread. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coffeeandprayer/support

Join host Tamra Andress in The F.I.T. in Faith Podcast, a place where faith, identity, and truth intersect. In a world filled with rules, regulations, and the pursuit of personal agendas, Tamra invites you to dive deeper into a conversation about genuine freedom, liberty, and the pursuit of spiritual happiness. Drawing inspiration from her ride in Spain, biblical teachings, and the timeless message of Acts and Second Kings, Tamra explores the concept of breaking free from the shackles that bind us and embracing the liberty found in Christ. Through passionate discussions, personal insights, and a touch of saucy revelation, Tamra walks you through the journey from rules and religion to genuine relationship and liberty. She unpacks the divine favor experienced by those who step into the realm of God's grace, regardless of past mistakes or societal norms. By examining the struggles of historical kings and relating them to the challenges of modern life, Tamra sheds light on the ultimate freedom we can find when we let go of ego and embrace a life aligned with the Holy Spirit. Discover how the principles of liberty, identity, and relationship shape our understanding of faith, calling, and purpose. Join Tamra on a mission to empower you to break free from false ideologies, embrace your true identity, and light up the world with the torch of divine freedom. Tune in to The F.I.T. in Faith Podcast for thought-provoking conversations, spiritual insights, and a fresh perspective on what it truly means to live in the freedom that Christ offers. Open your ears, open your heart, and let Tamra Andress guide you on a journey toward a life liberated by faith. ⁉️ Have a faith & or biz question you'd like to have me answer? Feel free to write it, along with your honest review on Apple Podcasts - I'll share you and give you the answer in an upcoming episode!

In today's episode of Coffee and Prayer our devotions are found in Matthew chapters 9-12 and Second Kings chapters 21-24. We talk about being where God wants us and moving when He calls. We discussed sitting with sinners, the power of this book and how if He calls you to it, He will equip you for it. We discussed the importance of cleaning house by periodically, reflecting on your life and asking yourself some important questions. Lastly, we analyze if we're missing the miracle that's happening in front of us because of our own religiosity and we discuss the unforgivable sin. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coffeeandprayer/support

In today's episode of Coffee and Prayer, our devotions are found in Matthew chapter 5-8 and Second Kings chapter 17-20. We talk about God taking our mess and turning it to miracles. We discuss going against the grain and how it's up to us to be the change that we want to see in this world. Lastly, we talk about prayer and how it matters. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coffeeandprayer/support

In this episode of Coffee and Prayer our devotions are found in Matthew chapter 1-4 and Second Kings chapter 13-16. We asked the question, who are you following? Those who can't before you or God? And we talk about breaking generational curses. We talk about pride and humility. And we discussed being spiritual, but not submitted to a relationship with God. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coffeeandprayer/support

In this episode of Coffee and Prayer our devotions are found in Second Kings chapter 9-12 and Revelation chapter 19-22. We talk about God's promises and not being half hearted when following our Lord. We discussed being used by God but not being in fellowship with Him. We also talk about finishing well and how God‘s plan is always greater than ours. --- Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/coffeeandprayer/support

In this episode of COFFEE and PRAYER our devotions are found in Revelation chapter 14-18 and Second Kings chapter 4-8. We talk about measuring your faith and missing your miracle. We discuss complaining, and how God is able to do the impossible. Lastly, we touch on how God is a God of restoration and how it's not wise to be unequally yoked.

In today's episode of Coffee and Prayer, our devotions come from Revelation chapter 9-13, First Kings chapter 21-22 and Second Kings chapter 1-3. We talk about how it is never too late and you're not too far gone for the love of God. We discuss where we should turn in the face of death, tragedy, rebellion, and life. We also talk about God's love, protection, and preparation.

What if you could get a comprehensive understanding of slavery in the Bible from a historical perspective? Today's deep-dive session offers just that. We navigate through the complex subject of servitude, analyzing the Hebrew words 'ebed' and 'abad' and their translated meaning in various Biblical passages. We also examine the different types of bondslave arrangements during Biblical times. We shed light on how the Mosaic Law not only addressed servitude but also directly prohibited all people from being kidnapped and sold into slavery.Ever wondered how concepts like dowries, bride prices, and voluntary slavery played out in the ancient world? Be prepared for some thought-provoking insights. In today's session, we scrutinize the cultural backdrop that shaped views on marriage and slavery during Biblical times. We bring to light how customs like dowries and bride prices, often seen as survival mechanisms, were prevalent in the ancient world. We draw examples from notable Biblical figure Jacob, who voluntarily became a bond slave, elucidating the stark contrast between the options available in ancient times and now.Our exploration doesn't stop there. We delve deeper into the biblical perspective on slavery, discussing the issue of kidnapping in the ancient world and why the Mosaic Law prevented it. We look at instances like in Second Kings 4:1, where a family was debt-bonded and the creditor seized the family members as a bond slave. Our episode is more than a dry historical account. It's a journey that takes you back in time, provoking thought and offering perspectives that enlighten your understanding of a sensitive issue that is used by modern critics, skeptics, and scoffers to divide people. We've woven together historical facts with Biblical teachings and cultural understandings, creating a tapestry that promises to challenge your assumptions and broaden your perspective. Tune in and be prepared to see the ancient world in its proper context.All of the "Slavery" three part series are recommended for anyone facing skeptics, and atheists attempting to twist Scripture's clear meaning. This series is a must for students headed to college campuses where scoffers lay in wait to try and confuse a young Christian's understanding of God and their faith. Support the show

* 2 Kings: The divided kingdom is symptomatic of Israel's separation from God. In the northern kingdom, the prophet Elijah passing on the mantle of his ministry, along with a double blessing from God, to Elisha. With the defeat of Moab, and the mocking of Syria's blinded army, God's covenant people had opportunity after opportunity to thrive. Instead, their sin brought judgment. Ahab's sons were killed after his wicked widow Jezebel was thrown out of a window to her death. In the southern kingdom of Judah, the sole surviving son of the royal family became king, but eventually Joash too was murdered. After Elisha died, Israel and Judah fought, with rampant paganism in the north so weakening the ten tribes that they were carried carried away captive by the Assyrians. Meanwhile down south, the more benevolent reigns of kings like Azariah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah only postponed God's judgment until Nebuchadnezzar carried away Judah in the Babylonian captivity. Lessons abound in Second Kings. Available on MP3-CD or download. BEL SUBSCRIPTIONS Monthly Audio & Video Downloads: Now you can subscribe to monthly sermons, Bible studies or topical videos in download form.  Monthly Sermons: Enjoy all of Bob's sermons from the month on Sermon Video DVDs, great also to watch with the family. Or, get these on Sermon Audio CDs which are standard audio Compact Discs that will play on any CD player including the one in your car. Or get them on a single Sermon MP3-CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer. Monthly Bible Studies: Enjoy the Scriptures with Bob's Monthly Bible Study DVDs, great too for a small group Bible study. Or get these teachings on a single Monthly Bible Study Audio MP3- CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer. Monthly Topical Videos: Coming to your mailbox, you'll get a Monthly Topical DVD to enjoy one of Bob's great videos specially selected to be entertaining and to teach about life from a biblical worldview. Monthly Best of Bob Shows: Every month our crew selects the eight best BEL shows of the month and for the folks who might have missed some of them, we mail them out on the Best of Bob MP3-CD. Monthly BEL TV Classics: Enjoy Bob Enyart's timeless, popular TV show delivered to your home on the Monthly BEL TV Classics DVDs with great audio and video clarity thanks to our state-of-the-art mastering from the studio-quality Sony beta tapes to DVD! Monthly Donation: For folks who just want to make sure that Bob Enyart Live stays on the air, please consider making a pledge in the form of a Monthly Donation.

* 2 Kings: The divided kingdom is symptomatic of Israel's separation from God. In the northern kingdom, the prophet Elijah passing on the mantle of his ministry, along with a double blessing from God, to Elisha. With the defeat of Moab, and the mocking of Syria's blinded army, God's covenant people had opportunity after opportunity to thrive. Instead, their sin brought judgment. Ahab's sons were killed after his wicked widow Jezebel was thrown out of a window to her death. In the southern kingdom of Judah, the sole surviving son of the royal family became king, but eventually Joash too was murdered. After Elisha died, Israel and Judah fought, with rampant paganism in the north so weakening the ten tribes that they were carried carried away captive by the Assyrians. Meanwhile down south, the more benevolent reigns of kings like Azariah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah only postponed God's judgment until Nebuchadnezzar carried away Judah in the Babylonian captivity. Lessons abound in Second Kings. Available on MP3-CD or download. BEL SUBSCRIPTIONS Monthly Audio & Video Downloads: Now you can subscribe to monthly sermons, Bible studies or topical videos in download form.  Monthly Sermons: Enjoy all of Bob's sermons from the month on Sermon Video DVDs, great also to watch with the family. Or, get these on Sermon Audio CDs which are standard audio Compact Discs that will play on any CD player including the one in your car. Or get them on a single Sermon MP3-CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer.Monthly Bible Studies: Enjoy the Scriptures with Bob's Monthly Bible Study DVDs, great too for a small group Bible study. Or get these teachings on a single Monthly Bible Study Audio MP3- CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer.Monthly Topical Videos: Coming to your mailbox, you'll get a Monthly Topical DVD to enjoy one of Bob's great videos specially selected to be entertaining and to teach about life from a biblical worldview.Monthly Best of Bob Shows: Every month our crew selects the eight best BEL shows of the month and for the folks who might have missed some of them, we mail them out on the Best of Bob MP3-CD.Monthly BEL TV Classics: Enjoy Bob Enyart's timeless, popular TV show delivered to your home on the Monthly BEL TV Classics DVDs with great audio and video clarity thanks to our state-of-the-art mastering from the studio-quality Sony beta tapes to DVD!Monthly Donation: For folks who just want to make sure that Bob Enyart Live stays on the air, please consider making a pledge in the form of a Monthly Donation.  

* 2 Kings: The divided kingdom is symptomatic of Israel's separation from God. In the northern kingdom, the prophet Elijah passing on the mantle of his ministry, along with a double blessing from God, to Elisha. With the defeat of Moab, and the mocking of Syria's blinded army, God's covenant people had opportunity after opportunity to thrive. Instead, their sin brought judgment. Ahab's sons were killed after his wicked widow Jezebel was thrown out of a window to her death. In the southern kingdom of Judah, the sole surviving son of the royal family became king, but eventually Joash too was murdered. After Elisha died, Israel and Judah fought, with rampant paganism in the north so weakening the ten tribes that they were carried carried away captive by the Assyrians. Meanwhile down south, the more benevolent reigns of kings like Azariah, Jotham, Hezekiah, and Josiah only postponed God's judgment until Nebuchadnezzar carried away Judah in the Babylonian captivity. Lessons abound in Second Kings. Available on MP3-CD or download. BEL SUBSCRIPTIONS Monthly Audio & Video Downloads: Now you can subscribe to monthly sermons, Bible studies or topical videos in download form.  Monthly Sermons: Enjoy all of Bob's sermons from the month on Sermon Video DVDs, great also to watch with the family. Or, get these on Sermon Audio CDs which are standard audio Compact Discs that will play on any CD player including the one in your car. Or get them on a single Sermon MP3-CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer. Monthly Bible Studies: Enjoy the Scriptures with Bob's Monthly Bible Study DVDs, great too for a small group Bible study. Or get these teachings on a single Monthly Bible Study Audio MP3- CD which will play on an MP3 player, in a DVD player, or in your computer. Monthly Topical Videos: Coming to your mailbox, you'll get a Monthly Topical DVD to enjoy one of Bob's great videos specially selected to be entertaining and to teach about life from a biblical worldview. Monthly Best of Bob Shows: Every month our crew selects the eight best BEL shows of the month and for the folks who might have missed some of them, we mail them out on the Best of Bob MP3-CD. Monthly BEL TV Classics: Enjoy Bob Enyart's timeless, popular TV show delivered to your home on the Monthly BEL TV Classics DVDs with great audio and video clarity thanks to our state-of-the-art mastering from the studio-quality Sony beta tapes to DVD! Monthly Donation: For folks who just want to make sure that Bob Enyart Live stays on the air, please consider making a pledge in the form of a Monthly Donation.  

On this this week's edition of One Single Story, Pastors Stephen Mizell, Jay Rivenbark, and Chris Rexroad discuss the themes of the Book of Second Kings. Are there different levels of evil? How is it measured? What things does God consider evil? Is it better to suffer a long protracted demise or a sudden one when it comes to God's judgment? Does God still send “disaster” upon individuals or groups of people who willfully disobey him? What triggers the anger of God? In addition to the obviously named sins, verse 9 says they had done things secretly that were not pleasing to the Lord. Which is more tempting and which is more dangerous, the secret or the obvious sins? What kind of warnings does the Lord send today? Why did God leave Judah? Does God still send “lions” to destroy non-worshippers? 

We're on a journey through the Bible. We'll speed through First and Second Samuel, and First and Second Kings today. And a pattern begins to emerge. When people seek the Lord, He blesses them. When they walk away from the Lord, He curses them. Through this study you'll see why it's so important that we obey the Word of the Lord. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/1459/29

The Book of Second Kings, Chapter Four, verses one through seven introduces a desperate mother facing suffocating debt.  The choke hold on her life was tightening because of the real threat that her two sons could be forced into slavery to satisfy her creditors.  She cried out to the Prophet Elisha who challenged her faith.  A miracle occurred that allowed her to pay her debts and live on the rest.  Her breakthrough began with the question, “What do you have in the house?” This sermon explores four responses to that searching question.  

How can an entire nation return to God? One repentant soul at a time. The book of Second Kings is partially a tale of Israel's rebellion against God. The nation first becomes divided into two kingdoms. For most of that four hundred year period, with very few exceptions, both kingdoms did evil in the sight of the Lord. And ultimately, Israel was taken into captivity. Ron takes us back to this period in Israel's history next, as he continues his teaching series, “Route 66: The Ultimate Road Trip Through The Bible.” --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/something-good-radio/support

God is not mocked. As a man sows he also shall reap. It's true of individuals. It's also true of nations. Well, after the reign of King Solomon, and partly due to the latter stages of his reign, the nation of Israel divided into two kingdoms, and with few exceptions, every king, and by extension, the inhabitants themselves, did evil in the sight of the Lord. What are some practical applications for us today? Find out next, as Ron continues his teaching series, “Route 66: The Ultimate Road Trip Through The Bible.” --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/something-good-radio/support

While preaching at the historic Galilee Baptist Church in St. Louis, Missouri, one of the city's storied congregations, Dr. Stubblefield shares a message from Second Kings, Chapter 6.  The prophet Elisha miraculously recovers an axe that had slipped off the handle and plunged into the waters of the Jordan River.  The user of the axe panicked because the axe was “borrowed.”  When we lose our edge in life, marriage or ministry, God can work a miracle in our lives too.  

2 Kings 5:1 There's nothing like sitting before an open Bible, with an open heart, asking that the Lord might breathe upon the text and illuminate one's understanding.  Ah, to have those rhema moments where the text of Scripture seems to leap from the page, where the Word of God is comprehended from His Spirit to our spirit, there's nothing that compares like unto it.  Fasten your seatbelt, as we go for a ride through chapter 5 of the Book of Second Kings to learn lessons from the life of Naaman the Syrian.

How can an entire nation return to God? One repentant soul at a time. The book of Second Kings is partially a tale of Israel's rebellion against God. The nation first becomes divided into two kingdoms. For most of that four hundred year period, with very few exceptions, both kingdoms did evil in the sight of the Lord. And ultimately, Israel was taken into captivity. Ron takes us back to this period in Israel's history next, as he continues his teaching series, “Route 66: The Ultimate Road Trip Through The Bible.” --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/something-good-radio/support