Podcasts about sower

In this episode of Space for Life, Tommy and Joe dive deep into one of the most overlooked drivers of personal transformation: the environment you build around your life. Instead of focusing on tips, hacks, or quick fixes, they explore how habits, self-coaching, meaningful relationships, and spiritual spaciousness create the kind of “rich soil” where long-term growth actually happens.Drawing from the Parable of the Sower, Tommy unpacks four types of “soil environments” and shows how they mirror the spiritual, emotional, and practical conditions we create in our lives. The conversation moves through the role of spaciousness, the discomfort that often precedes growth, why self-reflection is essential, and the four kinds of people every person needs around them.If you want deeper relationships, meaningful progress, and a spiritual life that actually transforms you — this episode will help you create the conditions where real growth can finally take root.Key TakeawaysCreating the right environment is more important than any single growth tactic.The Parable of the Sower offers a framework for understanding how environment impacts growth.The three major components of a growth environment are habits, self-coaching, and people.Spaciousness is the foundational habit that enables reflection, listening, and deeper living.Weekly and quarterly rhythms create structure for long-term transformation.Growth requires a willingness to step outside your comfort zone.Self-coaching begins with listening — to patterns, emotions, circumstances, and God.Four kinds of people accelerate growth: mentors, mentees, soul friends, and prophets.A “prophet” (your Nathan) is someone with permission to speak hard truth into your life.ResourcesTommy's Book: Space to Breathe AgainSpace for Life Episode: “30 Minutes to Your Best Week”Space for Life Episode: “The Art of Journaling”Space for Life Episode: "What's the Big Deal About Margin?"Space for Life Episode: "What's a Spacious Life?"0:00 Intro1:46 Why Environment Matters4:26 Parable of the Sower9:42 Four Types of Soil12:49 Three Elements of Growth16:43 Habits of Spaciousness25:06 Weekly + Long-Term Rhythms32:57 Self Coaching + Reflection41:50 People of Growth45:22 4 Types of People You Need in Your Life55:48 Finding Your NathanLove the show? Subscribe, rate, review, and share! http://tommythompson.org

Minister to Married Young Adults and The4 Venue Pastor, Brad Talbert, explores the four types of hearts that receive God's word differently revealed in Jesus' parable of the sower. The hard heart has no room for spiritual truth to penetrate. The shallow heart receives God's word with initial joy but falls away when difficulties arise. The crowded heart allows worries and material concerns to choke out spiritual growth. The fruitful heart hears, understands, and responds to God's word, producing abundant spiritual fruit. Rather than representing different types of people, these hearts reflect our spiritual condition in different seasons of life.

Do I have a real faith in Jesus that can withstand the trials and tests that fill this life?

Do I have a real faith in Jesus that can withstand the trials and tests that fill this life?

Your heart is always growing something—but the question is what. In this compelling message, Pastor George Sawyer walks us through Jesus' Parable of the Sower in Mark 4 and reveals how the condition of the soil in our hearts determines whether we grow, drift, or miss what God wants to produce in us.We explore four spiritual conditions—those in danger, those running out of time, those drifting, and those living with purpose—and discover how each one responds to the seed of God's Word. Pastor Sawyer challenges us to confront hard places, shallow roots, competing priorities, and the thorns that choke out spiritual growth.This message is a timely call to prepare your heart, break up hardened ground, and cultivate gratitude, obedience, and faith as you step into a new season. If you're ready to grow deeper, bear fruit, and experience real transformation, this teaching will guide you toward a life rooted in God's truth and revival.00:00 – Identifying Four Groups00:34 – Understanding the Concept of Seed01:45 – The Parable of the Sower03:08 – Why Soil Matters: The Condition of the Heart05:41 – Preparing for a New Year With Faith12:29 – Warning Signs of a Hardened Heart18:20 – The Need for Deep Spiritual Roots21:34 – The Battle With Thorns and Distractions22:28 – The Call to Make a Difference26:36 – The Power of Gratitude27:34 – The Parable of the Unforgiving Servant34:08 – Living a Transformed Life37:52 – Embracing Revival and Hope

Romans 8:28-30 — The doctrine of the perseverance of the saints is a contested doctrine. Those who hold to the cherished doctrine of assurance must acknowledge the difficult objections posed and not ignore them. Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones recognizes this and serves as a positive example of an exegete who does not shy away from engaging the most often-cited Scriptures that seem to contradict his personal beliefs. In a manner that not only demonstrates a responsible handling of Scripture, he also demonstrates humility in his exegetical task. In this message on Romans 8:28–30 titled “The Biblical Way,” Dr. Lloyd-Jones outlines his principles of interpretation. He encourages interpreters of the Bible to operate on the principle of Scripture alone. Rather than allowing philosophy to govern one's interpretation, he argues that the Christian should allow Scripture to interpret Scripture. Furthermore, one should start with the unambiguous “proof texts” and then deal with the difficult texts in light of the clear statements. He applies these interpretive principles as he works through famous passages like the Parable of the Sower, Hebrews 6, and 2 Peter 2. Listen as Dr. Lloyd-Jones lays out interpretive principles that all Christians should implement in their personal study of sacred Scripture. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/603/29?v=20251111

This is part 1 of my 3-part conversation with my brother Justin. He studied up on the Parable of the Sower to preach at his home church, and this first discussion is all about what types of things make certain people reject God. Is your heart open to God's messages? Or is it hard as a rock because of things that have happened in this life?

But first, you'll hear some stories of how God has protected us miraculously in our lives. My Christian band's Insta is @BinleyWorship My pop music's Insta is @HopefulAndrea For links to this podcast on all podcast platforms, visit www.DevotionsWithDre.com To check out my singing course, Always Find Your Note, click this link: https://hopefulpop.com/course-always-find-your-note To support this podcast, click this link: https://binley.band/support To sign up for the email list and receive your exclusive summary of the book of Revelation, click this link: https://mailchi.mp/ecdaef4e6333/binley

Ogni Giovedì Doom Sower hosted by dj Jean Pierre dalle 21:00 alle 22:30 Every Thursday Doom Sower hosted by dj Jean Pierre from 09:00 pm to 10:30 pm (CET)

Send us a text This week Greg sat down with Eric Tuffensam. Eric is the Owner of Moonlight Studios, member of the band Sower, and Founder of Biblical Indie Rock. They discussed his time touring with a major label, writing and producing music, and the future for music studios with the wave of AI music on the horizon. Enjoy! Click HERE for your free consultation with Dominion Wealth Strategists Click HERE for the best cigars 1689 Cigars has to offer! Click HERE for your complete seating and furnishing needs from K&K Furnishing Covenant Real Estate: "Confidence from Contract to Close" Facebook: Dead Men Walking PodcastYoutube: Dead Men Walking PodcastInstagram: @DeadMenWalkingPodcastTwitter X: @RealDMWPodcastExclusive Content: PubTV AppSupport the show Get your free consultation with Dominion Wealth Strategists today! The only distinctly reformed wealth company! CLICK HERE! 1689 Cigars: The absolute best cigars on earth! Check out out the Dead Men Walking snarky merch HERE! Build something for God's glory through Covenant Real Estate! Greg Moore Jr. can help you buy, sell, and invest! Call him at (734) 731-GREG or visit www.covenant.realestate

Send us a textThis week Greg sat down with Eric Tuffendsam. Eric is the Owner of Moonlight Studios, member of the band Sower, and Founder of Biblical Indie Rock. They discussed his time touring with a major label, writing and producing music, and the future for music studios with the wave of AI music on the horizon. Enjoy! Click HERE for your free consultation with Dominion Wealth Strategists Click HERE for the best cigars 1689 Cigars has to offer! Click HERE for your complete seating and furnishing needs from K&K Furnishing Covenant Real Estate: "Confidence from Contract to Close" Facebook: Dead Men Walking PodcastYoutube: Dead Men Walking PodcastInstagram: @DeadMenWalkingPodcastTwitter X: @RealDMWPodcastExclusive Content: PubTV App

Send us a text This week Greg sat down with Eric Tuffensam. Eric is the Owner of Moonlight Studios, member of the band Sower, and Founder of Biblical Indie Rock. They discussed his time touring with a major label, writing and producing music, and the future for music studios with the wave of AI music on the horizon. Enjoy! Click HERE for your free consultation with Dominion Wealth Strategists Click HERE for the best cigars 1689 Cigars has to offer! Click HERE for your complete seating and furnishing needs from K&K Furnishing Covenant Real Estate: "Confidence from Contract to Close" Facebook: Dead Men Walking PodcastYoutube: Dead Men Walking PodcastInstagram: @DeadMenWalkingPodcastTwitter X: @RealDMWPodcastExclusive Content: PubTV AppSupport the show Get your free consultation with Dominion Wealth Strategists today! The only distinctly reformed wealth company! CLICK HERE! 1689 Cigars: The absolute best cigars on earth! Check out out the Dead Men Walking snarky merch HERE! Build something for God's glory through Covenant Real Estate! Greg Moore Jr. can help you buy, sell, and invest! Call him at (734) 731-GREG or visit www.covenant.realestate

Join us as Pastor Broc Jahnke unpacks the Parable of the Sower and invites us to take an honest look at the condition of our hearts. Through Jesus' own words in this story, we're reminded that real spiritual growth starts on the inside. It's a timely encouragement to return to Jesus, pay attention to what's shaping our hearts, and step into a deeper, healthier life with Him.

"Behold, a Sower went out to sow…" Matthew 3:3

Will It Be Peace or Persecution? (1) (audio) David Eells – 11/23/25 The short answer is: It depends on what you need to be ready to face the Lord. Some of this report is bad news. I suggest you pray for God's people and against the threats. I want to share two parables of Babylon. New York City has been known to be a Babylon. Also, the United States has been known as a type of Babylon. The lesser is a warning to the greater. As we can see, Zohran Mamdani, who is clearly representing Muslims, who lies and most of what he promised cannot come to pass. He is apparently by his own words a communist. There is proof out there that the vote count has once again been manipulated. The political left is clearly believing that this is their ticket to get back into power, which is waking people up. Zohran's intern has explained that electing him is part of a Jihad and holy war. This is obviously a call to all the hidden forces of Islam and communists to come to his aid. New York City will draw like a magnet these forces to come to them and join their political, legal, and law enforcement to support him. Lawlessness will be legalized there; crime will be rampant. Exactly what we see in the invasion of Europe and Scandinavia are being established in NY. However factious leftists are by far the greatest threat to the whole country. Tribulation and persecution for Christians will also manifest. It is ordained of God because “Christianity” is not Christian. Revival is coming because of persecution. Obama has joined himself to Zohran as an advisor, for Zoran has no political experience. Obama has been prophesied as an Alexander the Great to overthrow the US. (Of which we will speak of later.) He has acknowledged this but thinks it to be a great thing. We are going through repeats of history, which must happen as the scripture has said in Ecc.1:9 That which hath been is that which shall be; and that which hath been done is that which shall be done: and there is no new thing under the sun. Three succeeding empires of history are being repeated. We have been under the DS leftist Babylonian Empire. This was and is being conquered by Cyrus/Trump of the Medo-Persian Empire. We are preparing to go under the Grecian Empire of Alexander the Great. You are seeing the preparation for this one now. It will end with the mark of the beast in Revelation 13. These are not sudden changes but a fading in and a fading out. Preparations must be made. The sooner Christians will become disciples of Christ, Who is the Word, the sooner God will have mercy, and we will escape some of this. The camel's head is in the tent; the body follows. Get out of the big sin cities; judgment will fall there. Brain drain and economic collapse will come to NY. Low IQ will follow the leftist policies, as we can see already. Last I heard over 350 police have fled and Mamdani has said he will replace them with social workers. How does this work when they face people with guns? Most of the crime in the US is in these blue cities. Natural and unnatural catastrophes will come there.  New age foolishness is all through the Alliance, NESARA, GCR, movement. They call it the “Golden Age” and “thousand years of peace and prosperity.” But it will be cut short because the Book of Revelation now comes with its tribulation wilderness, as Israel found out when they came out of Egypt with their gold in their pockets. They ground it up and threw it in the river; it was so valuable. While it lasts, it will help get the gospel to the world, and the end will come.  Where does the Book of Revelation declare we are going? Rev.12:1 And a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman (The worldwide Church) arrayed with the sun(/Son), and the moon (reflecting the light of the sun/Son) under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars (knowledge from the 12 apostles); 2 and she was with child; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered. 3 And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold, a great red (communist) dragon, having seven heads (The worldwide seed of the 7 biblical beasts who ruled God's people) and ten horns (The worldwide 10 continental divisions of the earth. The dragon was the god of Babylon, which is now worldwide.), and upon his heads seven diadems. 4 And his tail draweth the third part of the stars of heaven (The falling away of 1/3 of the seed of Abraham according to faith, which God said was as the stars.), and did cast them to the earth (lost their place in heaven): and the dragon standeth before the woman that is about to be delivered, that when she is delivered he may devour her child. 5 And she was delivered of a son, a man child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and unto his throne. 6 And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that there they (the man-child body) may nourish her a thousand two hundred and threescore days (As their type Jesus did). 7 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and his angels; 8 and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven. 9 And the great dragon was cast down, the old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast down to the earth, and his angels were cast down with him. 10 And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of his Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, who accuseth them before our God day and night. 11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death. 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe for the earth and for the sea: because the devil is gone down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time. 13 And when the dragon saw that he was cast down to the earth, he persecuted the woman that brought forth the man-child. (through fake Christianity and left wing communist Islam) 14 And there were given to the woman the two wings of the great eagle (man-child overcomers), that she might fly into the wilderness unto her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time (Man-child feeds her for 1st 31/2 years of wilderness trib as it was with the disciples of Jesus.), from the face of the serpent. 15 And the serpent cast out of his mouth after the woman water as a river, that he might cause her to be carried away by the stream. 16 And the earth helped the woman, and the earth opened her mouth and swallowed up the river which the dragon cast out of his mouth. (Jesus gave us the Living waters of His Word and the devil gives us the killing waters of the beast.) 17 And the dragon waxed wroth with the woman, and went away to make war with the rest of her seed, that keep the commandments of God, and hold the testimony of Jesus: (Then the dragon becomes a worldwide beast who hates the saints and creates the mark to get rid of them.) Rev.13:1 and he stood upon the sand of the sea. And I saw a beast coming up out of the sea, having ten horns and seven heads, and on his horns ten diadems, and upon his heads names of blasphemy. (They become their own god as men always do.) … 4 and they worshipped the dragon, because he gave his authority unto the beast; and they worshipped the beast, saying, Who is like unto the beast? and who is able to war with him? (Because it is a one world order and army.)… 7 And it was given unto him to make war with the saints, and to overcome them: and there was given to him authority over every tribe and people and tongue and nation. 8 And all that dwell on the earth shall worship him, every one whose name hath not been written from the foundation of the world in the book of life of the Lamb that hath been slain. Then they repeat Emperor Constantine's solution. Because the Empire was divided by antichrist religions, they created a different kind of beast; a one-world religion to force people to worship the political beast, a form of patriotism and pledge of allegiance. … 11 And I saw another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like unto a lamb (A false Jesus), and he spake as a dragon. 12 And he exerciseth all the authority of the first beast in his sight. And he maketh the earth and them that dwell therein to worship the first beast, whose death-stroke was healed. 13 And he doeth great signs, that he should even make fire to come down out of heaven (DEW weapons) upon the earth in the sight of men. 14 And he deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by reason of the signs which it was given him to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast who hath the stroke of the sword and lived. (Cyrus/Trump is killing the beast and they will resurrect it.) 15 And it was given unto him to give breath (Greek: spirit) to it, even to the image of the beast, that the image of the beast should both speak (The image of the beast is the people as in Daniels vision), and cause that as many as should not worship the image of the beast should be killed. (As it was with Daniel and the three Hebrews) 16 And he causeth all (All the lost people are identified as the beast by its mark), the small and the great, and the rich and the poor, and the free and the bond, that there be given them a mark on their right hand (works), or upon their forehead (mind); 17 and that no man should be able to buy or to sell, save he that hath the mark, even the name of the beast (Name meaning, the nature, character, and authority of the beast or the flesh) or the number of his name. 18 Here is wisdom. He that hath understanding, let him count the number of the beast; for it is the number of a man: and his number is Six hundred and sixty and six. (666) Paul said if we walk after the flesh we must die. Whereas the next verse speaks of the man-child company who will lead the people to have the name, meaning the nature, character, and authority of the Lord in their mind and works.) 14:1 And I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on the mount Zion, and with him a hundred and forty and four thousand (Man-child body), having his name, and the name of his Father, written on their foreheads. … 4 These are they that were not defiled with women (the sects or denominations of men); for they are virgins (receiving no seed of man but the Lord as the Parable of the Sower says). These are they that follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were purchased from among men, to be the firstfruits unto God and unto the Lamb. 5 And in their mouth was found no lie: they are without blemish. (Notice, they do not believe or speak the lies of religion. The truth will set us free.)   Obama Conquers US, Then Dies? David Eells - 2008 Obama Assassinated Rick Sergent - 07/15/2008, 08/24/2008 I say this with great reluctance. I was visiting my friend Mary in Indiana on 7/15/08. I was in her kitchen, at the table. I heard in my spirit, “Obama will be assassinated.” This really brought sorrow to my spirit… I struggled about going public with this. Then on 8/24/08 I was talking on the phone with a friend about that three-year-old missing girl in Florida when I saw a vision of a round tombstone and Obama's name was on it. That made me decide to share this.   Obama Inaugurated and Assassinated Eve Brast - 07/19/2008 As I watched Mr. Obama give a speech, I looked left down the street and had an open vision of his inauguration outside another government building with another crowd around him. It was still dark in this dream and in the open vision, also. (He is acting as another president in darkness and gathering his army.) I felt and thought “tragedy” when I looked at him. The next word that came to my mind was “assassination.” I thought to myself, “It is a shame he will be sacrificed and doesn't even know it.” Will Barack Obama conquer the great eagle of Babylon, as a type of the U.S., and then use it to conquer Persia (Cyrus/Trump), just as Alexander the Great conquered Persia before he died? Will he conquer Cyrus/Trump? Will this bring in the tribulation and persecution of the saints? Robert I. Holmes said the following: In 1999, as I prepared to travel to the US on ministry, the Lord gave me a very unusual prophetic word. He said that, “In the days of Babylon (the U.S.), when her walls stood wide and her leaders stood tall, her defenses were strong and her campaigns victorious, Alexander the Great (Obama) came and defeated her. In the same way, my Alexander will stand in the very midst of the United States of America”. I believe that God's “Alexander” is Barack Obama. He has now stood in the middle of America, and declared his victory speech in Grant Park in Chicago. (He and his “family” were all dressed in red and black, the colors of anarchy.) There, he prophetically declared, “Change has come to America”, and “The American Empire is coming to an end”. Obama is Sunni and Iran is Shiite. I believe they will be successful, at least initially. It was that way with Iraq, too. Amos's revelation seems to confirm this. I also do not rule out that Obama will use surrogates like Israel to do this and then claim some innocence. This is his favorite form of warfare. Amos Scaggs heard on 3/09/06: “We are going to invade Iran on three fronts with an overwhelming force and be victorious.” (At least Israel and the U.S. did a lot to take down the Islamic regime in 2025.) Also, on 3/07/06, he heard: “We broke their code -- The enemy.” According to type in Jeremiah 25, there are only two times the U.S. could conquer Iran. Jer.25:9 behold, I will send and take all the families of the north, saith Jehovah, and [I will send] unto Nebuchadrezzar the king of Babylon (U.S.), my servant, and will bring them against this land, and against the inhabitants thereof, and against all these nations round about (Middle East); and I will utterly destroy them, and make them an astonishment, and a hissing, and perpetual desolations. (This has been happening by using nation against nation and ethnic group against ethnic group.) 25:12 And it shall come to pass, when seventy years are accomplished, that I will punish the king of Babylon, and that nation, saith Jehovah, for their iniquity, and the land of the Chaldeans; and I will make it desolate for ever. (Babylon Deep State has been mostly destroyed by Cyrus/Trump.) The Lord showed me that in this 70 years the U.S. will be trampling the Middle East. The list of nations that are conquered during this time are in Jeremiah 25:17-26, and the last verse is when Babylon, as a type of the Deep State U.S., falls. The last on the list before Babylon is Elam or Iran, along with the Medes and the kings of the north. This is the only time in the list Iran is conquered, unless it is conquered to some extent before this seven-year tribulation list of wars. This is what I believe will happen, since the last war seems to be mixed with the kings of the north, which is probably Russia and company, and since this is the time Babylon fell, too. Also, I do not believe Obama will live to the end of the tribulation because of all the assassination dreams. This is what I wrote years before the U.S. struck Iran. “So, I think that the U.S. will in some form strike Iran before the tribulation (This came to pass by taking out their nuclear capabilities and arming Israel to do the job.) and help cause the tribulation covenant, as we will see below.” In Daniel's vision, he was in Elam (Persia/Iran) and saw the Medo-Persian (Cyrus, identified as Trump) Ram pushing westward. Dan.8:2 And I saw in the vision; now it was so, that when I saw, I was in Shushan the palace, which is in the province of Elam (Persia/Cyrus/Trump); and I saw in the vision, and I was by the river Ulai. 3 Then I lifted up mine eyes, and saw, and, behold, there stood before the river a ram which had two horns (Medo-Persians – Cyrus/Trump): and the two horns were high; but one was higher than the other, and the higher came up last. 4 I saw the ram pushing westward, and northward and southward; and no beasts could stand before him, neither was there any that could deliver out of his hand; but he did according to his will, and magnified himself. (Yep, that's him) Then, Daniel saw a he-goat (Alexander/Obama) that flies over the face of the whole earth without touching the ground (Using the airforce) 5 And as I was considering, behold, a he-goat (originally Alexander the Great's Grecian Empire - Second fulfillment - Barak Obama's U.S. Empire) came from the west over the face of the whole earth, and touched not the ground: and the goat had a notable horn between his eyes. 6 And he came to the ram that had the two horns, which I saw standing before the river, and ran upon him in the fury of his power. 7 And I saw him come close unto the ram, and he was moved with anger against him, and smote the ram, and brake his two horns; and there was no power in the ram to stand before him; but he cast him down to the ground, and trampled upon him; and there was none that could deliver the ram out of his hand. 8 And the he-goat magnified himself exceedingly: and when he was strong, the great horn was broken. (Obama will possibly be assassinated according to many dreams, and that would be after he as Alexander brings down Cyrus/Trumps empire. Several attempts have failed so far.) Michael Hare asked the Lord on 4/19/15, “Where are we now?” and then received: Dan.7:6 After this I beheld, and, lo, another, like a leopard, which had upon its back four wings of a bird; the beast had also four heads; and dominion was given to it. We knew this was Alexander the Great's kingdom, which was divided up by 4 generals at his death, and it reminded us of this revelation. Obama is ordained of God to judge apostate Christianity in America and wake up her sleeping multitudes to truly seek the Lord. Prophetically, the next thing Daniel describes in type is the saints in tribulation in the time of Antiochus Epiphanes (8:9-14), a type of the Beast. It is possible that this attack on Medo-Persia/Cyrus/Trump would bring the tribulation. Dan.8:9 And out of one of them came forth a little horn, which waxed exceeding great, toward the south, and toward the east, and toward the glorious [land]. (The saints are God's glorious land now according to scripture.) 10 And it waxed great, even to the host of heaven; and some of the host and of the stars it cast down to the ground, and trampled upon them. (The beast will cause a great falling away through the mark of the beast.) 11 Yea, it magnified itself, even to the prince of the host (The High Priest, Jesus); and it took away from him the continual [burnt-offering] (the crucified life), and the place of his sanctuary was cast down. 12 And the host was given over [to it] together with the continual [burnt-offering] through transgression; and it cast down truth to the ground (fits), and it did [its pleasure] and prospered. This describes the great persecution against Christians who have a continual burnt offering through offering up their beastly flesh as a living sacrifice in the fiery trials. The mark will bring an end of this sacrifice for many apostate Christians and they will be cast down as the sanctuary of God and the seed of Abraham by faith, who are identified as the stars of heaven by God.   The Perfect Storm in the Middle East: ISIS, Iran, Saudi, Egypt Avi Lipkin - 03/04/2015 Some points made in this video - 4/07/15 Avi's wife Rachael works for Israel listening to Arab broadcasts, since she knows the language. Here are some things she heard: President Obama was in Egypt in 2009 and he swore to the Prime Minister he was a Muslim, that his father was a Muslim, that his stepfather was a Muslim, and that he was raised in a mosque. On January 19, 2010, he said, “I swear what I am going to do with Israel”. (Meaning to destroy Israel.) Rachael picks up other broadcasts in which she heard where the Saudis said Obama have three commands from the Saudis: Command #1: To destroy the Shiite regime in Iran. That will be done by Israel. (Happening) Command #2: Destroy Israel. I.e., let Iran and Israel duke it out. (Happened) Israel attacks Iran and they destroy each other; destroy two birds with one stone. (Iran deal to destroy Israel announced on ominous date) Command #3: Make America a Muslim country. The plan is to bring tens of millions of Muslims into the United States. (There appears to be plenty of proof of this statement on Muslim broadcasts: Unscreened Muslims are flooding the U.S. by over 100,000 a year. 190 U.S. cities chosen by the Administration for invasion by Muslims. ISIS is in the US and will attack. Will ISIS Attack on American Soil Soon? Avi's comments: When things get really bad, Obama will be on the Muslim side. He is working with Iran now to push Israel into a corner where they will have to defend themselves. ISIS was born primarily by Saudi, Turkey, and the American backing of these Sunnis. Avi says what will end up being a perfect storm when Shiites attack Saudi Arabia from Yemen (the south)(done) and ISIS attacks them from the north. But ISIS hates the royalty because their morality copies the West. Egypt will come in from the west to save the royals. And Avi wonders if it might become so bad for the Saudi royalty that they will ask Israel to attack from the north. Considering the things truly coming on the world what Kind of person should we be? Luk.21:34 But take heed to yourselves, lest haply your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting, and drunkenness, and cares of this life, and that day come on you suddenly as a snare: 35 for so shall it come upon all them that dwell on the face of all the earth. 36 But watch ye at every season, making supplication, that ye may prevail to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man. 2Pe 3:11 Seeing that these things are thus all to be dissolved, what manner of persons ought ye to be in all holy living and godliness, 12 looking for and earnestly desiring the coming of the day of God, by reason of which the heavens being on fire shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat? 13 But, according to his promise, we look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. 14 Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye look for these things, give diligence that ye may be found in peace, without spot and blameless in his sight. 15 And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you; 16 as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; wherein are some things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unstedfast wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction. 17 Ye therefore, beloved, knowing these things beforehand, beware lest, being carried away with the error of the wicked, ye fall from your own steadfastness. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ. To him be the glory both now and for ever. Amen.   Fleeing Bradon @ Last Days – 11/10/25 (David's notes in red) Brandon pieced together two previous video clips from 7/21/25 and 7/17/25 about what he sees in New York prior to the November election and its outcome. Portions of transcript: “…I see a mass exodus of all the rich people leaving New York because of the decisions that will be made in the future. (November elections) I saw New York City on fire. There were fires throughout the city. I could see the Statue of Liberty, and I saw smoke rolling all around the atmosphere above it. Even at her neck level, there was fire and smoke from inside the city, and I could see the flames burning.” The Lord said, “The seed is the ballot. For when they vote a wrong person into power, they vote corruption into power, and the seeds they sow for corruption bring forth a reprobate mind in the city.” “For seed time and harvest never ceases. For it is whatsoever man sows, that will he also reap.” He said, “There's a time to live and there's a time to die. There's a time to sew and there's a time to reap. A time to plant and a time to harvest.” He was saying this because they had sown in this way. And the Lord showed me David Wilkerson's face, and He said, “Remember what he said. Go and look at what he said. I gave a word to him. I spoke a prophetic warning through David Wilkerson years ago. Go find it and study it. I want you to hear what he prophesied would happen as people vote in the wrong people.” This is the prophetic word from David Wilkerson: “I stood in this pulpit two weeks ago, and it took every bit of Holy Ghost courage He could give me to say what I had to say. But I have felt this for weeks. I believe that New York City is in for 30 days of chastisement, such as America has never seen in any American city. I see at least a thousand fires burning in every burrow. Every business that's on the brink right now, deciding whether to move out of the city, will move. There's a hemorrhage already, and the economic base is collapsing. We're a third-world city already. I don't care what Mayor Dinkens says. It's a third-world city. We have a murder every hour on the hour now. A major crime every 20 seconds. This is a murder city. And I believe that we're going to see such chaos and anarchy in New York City coming. I don't know when, but I don't think it's too far off. And I don't know what's going to set it off. There will be no planes, trains, or anything coming into this city for probably two weeks. And all those who have money and are able to will escape. And New York City, our crown city, because of its absolute rebellion against God, its absolute sinfulness and wickedness, is going to be chastised. And this is God! He could have sent hydrogen bombs from Russia before this, and society would have collapsed and wiped us off the map. But no, He gives us warnings. He slaps our wrist and says, “Look, I'm talking to you.” And that's what AIDS is. It's a message. All of these calamities are messages. And God's saying, ‘Wake up.'” Brandon says, “I feel like that word is exactly what I saw. I saw thousands of fires burning inside New York. I saw a mass exodus of people leaving New York, but it would become a ruinous heap. There was judgment set in; I'm telling y'all folks, it was bad. People were leaving New York City, and I saw them going south.” The Lord spoke to me, and He said, “Mystery Babylon is coming.” And that is probably very controversial to many because a lot of people believe differently about who Mystery Babylon is. But the Lord spoke to me specifically about New York. And He said, “It's coming.” I saw Gavin Newsom's time is coming up. I saw former President Biden getting ready to go home soon. I saw him being buried; he's old, right? Everybody's going to die, right? But the Lord said it's coming. We also pray over Trump and his kids because if they can't get to him, they try to get to what he loves the most, his kids and grandkids. These people want revenge for their leaders in Iran. There's an enemy within. We must pray for an uncovering and turning on the light, exposing the cockroaches who are in our nation. Next clip: “I see people making big decisions. Relocation, relocation, relocation. This is a lot of people moving from the East Coast to the central area, like the Chicago area, and all around Ohio. They're being stirred on the East Coast, moving down [south]. Big decisions will be made around New York… “ Darkness is trying to set in. Great Mystery Babylon! It will be like a dark blanket will blanket over them. If they choose this man, I see a dark blanket blanketing, and people will flee. I hear the word, “Flee, flee, flee...” They will leave by the tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands. People, I see them fleeing as he's voted in. People will know that this is the end. Well, Father, you know, if he'll be voted in or not. I'm seeing that it is going to happen. He said, “No, they still have a choice. They have a choice to vote.” The Lord held up a veil, and I don't see the outcome. But I see the outcome if they vote this way concerning this man. I see a dark, dark cloud, like a dark blanket over them. And I see financial structures falling. I see the financial institution, all the money falling. I see them fleeing the city. It's like a mass migration and people fleeing from certain areas.   Crime Will Skyrocket  InfoWARS – 11/10/25 (David's notes in red) Mamdani Says He'll Replace Fleeing NY Cops with Social Workers by Raw Egg Nationalist, November 10th, 2025 New York's socialist mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani has said he's not bothered about facing a backlash from the city's police department, as he reiterated his plan to use social workers to carry out law-enforcement duties instead. (I would not be surprised if he got some of these people killed.) Mamdani was in Puerto Rico on Friday for a meeting of New York politicians when he spoke to reporters and said the increase in the numbers of police officers leaving the force is a clear sign his radical policies are needed. Mamdani seems confused as to why police have started leaving the force at a rate of 350 per month during his campaign. Promises to fix this with a plan for a Department of Community Safety… which he campaigned on. pic.twitter.com/cwnUDT6iun — Libby Emmons (@libbyemmons) November 8, 2025 Transcript: “I'm not worried about the backlash. What I'm worried about, frankly, is the continuation of a retention crisis that we've seen only deepen during the course of this campaign,” Mamdani said. “When we began, there were about 200 officers leaving a month, and by the end of the campaign, it was about 350. And a lot of that has to do with the fact that we've asked police officers for far too long to do much more than just police work. We've asked them to be responding to the mental health crisis and the homelessness crisis (OMG), and that's why we're going to create a Department of Community Safety that will be tasked with accomplishing those facts and allowing police officers to be police officers.” Mamdani has enjoyed a fraught relationship with New York's police force since announcing his run for mayor. Like many radical leftists, he has called for “abolishing the police,” and during the campaign he promised sweeping reform of law-enforcement, including bail reform. Senior police figures have been vocal in their criticism of him. “If you put a guy like him in there, our people are going to get hurt, and nobody's going to want the job. It's going to put recruitment back five more steps,” NYPD Detectives' Endowment Association president Scott Munro said in a statement to The New York Post in June. “I've had guys call me and say, ‘If he wins, I'm quitting,'” a police source also told the outlet “It's just weird that New York City would vote for him. I know he's not here for the police.” During his visit to Puerto Rico, Mamdani visited a local mosque and was greeted with loud chants of “Allahu Akhbar”—”God is great!” Footage of Mamdani's visit was posted to social media. He delivered a speech in which he focused on major aspects of his radical campaign, including “economic justice” and “exploitation,” and invoked radical figures, including Malcolm X. He also helped distribute meals at the mosque after Friday prayers. Zohran Mamdani won the mayoral race last Tuesday, defeating former state governor Andrew Cuomo, who ran as an independent, and Republican candidate Curtis Sliwa. Mamdani was widely predicted to win the race. He has promised a radical socialist program, including criminal-justice reform, rent controls and increased taxes for white neighborhoods, and is also rumored to want to turn New York into a national “sanctuary” for gender-realignment surgery. Infowars reported yesterday that a GOP lawmaker has proposed a new “Mamdani Act” to limit federal funding for New York while Zohran Mamdani is mayor. The legislation, which will be introduced by Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), is called the Moving American Money Distant from Anti-National Interests Act, or the “MAMDANI Act” for short. The short bill, just two pages long, states “notwithstanding any other provision of law, during any period in which Zohran Mamdani is mayor of New York, New York… any unobligated Federal funds available” for the city “are hereby rescinded” and “no Federal funds may be obligated or expended for any purpose to New York, New York.”   The Coming Coup d'état Rick Sergent - 07/18/2012 (David's notes in red) Wednesday night, I had a vision. I saw President Obama. He was at a desk. For whatever reason, it did not look like the one in the Oval Office. It seemed to be a smaller room. He was sitting at this desk and stood up when this military man came in. He appeared to be a general. He had stars on his shoulders. He did not look like a U.S. military man. On each shoulder was a red patch. He also had a red patch or mark on the front of his military cap. (It could symbolize the U.S. military submitting to a socialist, Marxist, communist-type government.) The president started to talk, and the general just listened. When the president stood up, he took and raised his left hand and made a fist. He first appeared to slam his fist on the desk. The Lord seemed to zoom me in for a closer look. He had not slammed his fist on the desk, but rather a black Bible on the desk. (The Koran calls Christians and Jews “The people of the Book”. This suggests he will deal harshly with them.) At the time he did this, he said these words to the general: “The people must know that I am the one in control here! We must have boots on the ground to every major city in this country. In smaller cities and towns, the police must know to uphold this law!” The general just nodded his head in acknowledgement and saluted, then left. The vision ended. (This speaks of the coming of martial law when the Constitution and law of the land are overturned, and the US will be ruled by executive order. This could also speak of enforcing Islamic Sharia law.) Quran references At-Taubah 9:29-30 about killing the Jews and the Christians: YUSUFALI: Fight those who believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, nor hold that forbidden which hath been forbidden by Allah and His Messenger, nor acknowledge the religion of Truth, (even if they are) of the People of the Book, until they pay the Jizya (Muslim tax) with willing submission, and feel themselves subdued. PICKTHAL: Fight against such of those who have been given the Scripture as they believe not in Allah nor the Last Day, and forbid not that which Allah hath forbidden by His messenger, and follow not the Religion of Truth, until they pay the tribute readily, being brought low. SHAKIR: Fight those who do not believe in Allah, nor in the latter day, nor do they prohibit what Allah and His Messenger have prohibited, nor follow the religion of truth, out of those who have been given the Book, until they pay the tax in acknowledgment of superiority and they are in a state of subjection. More on Sharia Law in the Obama Care Bill and paying the tax or Jizya or tribute spoken of above. A diktat is a settlement imposed on a conquered people. >Beat Obama Committee deciphers stealth Sharia law in Obamacare God turned the U.S. over to this coup because it turned down His peace, love and grace to be saved. Christians are guilty because they have given few examples of true Christianity to the world. Now a cross awaits.   Communism in the White House Dream Winnie Osegueda – 4/22/24 (David's notes in red) I had this vivid dream yesterday when I took a nap, and I was thinking about it and praying about it. Then this morning, I heard Missy bring up the many Chinese people coming through our border and the communists in our government, and I thought there could be a correlation with this dream. I dreamt that I was in front of what looked like the White House, except in my dream, there was an outdoor balcony with a staircase. At the top of the staircase was an Asian couple (who I believe were Chinese) (or representing the Chinese Communists) who were just newly elected to be President and First Lady of the United States (Will this begin in NYC?). They were a young couple, and they seemed pretty surprised to be elected. They were told that the people voted for them. The young Chinese man was a little shorter than the woman, who was wearing a sleeveless white dress and had long, flowing black hair. At first, the couple looked normal, but when I looked up again, the Chinese man's face was now painted bright red; he almost looked like a cartoonish version of Satan (communists?) Suddenly, I was now an observer from the top of the stairs/balcony as if I could see through the eyes of the Chinese woman, and from the top of the stairs, I saw a flood of Chinese people now rushing up the steps of the White House. It seemed to be that this Chinese man and woman being elected opened the floodgates for all these other Chinese people to come in. (This is happening, and the cops and Christians are fleeing NYC.) I began to weep.   The Red Dragon of Revelation 12 Invading Then I looked across the field and saw Obama on another balcony, located across from, but slightly to the left of where I and the couple were standing. I heard Obama say that if the couple would not do it, he would, as he could see there was some hesitation on the woman's part. I believe he meant that he would take over and do the job if they could not, or would not, get the job done. Obama seemed desperate. I could see that he desperately still desired to rule and be President, and really didn't want to let go. He was crouching down trying to get attention by putting his hands through the bars of the balcony. And then I woke up. End of dream. I asked the Lord for a verse by faith at random and received: Jer.5:13 (12-18 for context) They have denied the Lord, and said, It is not he; neither shall evil come upon us; neither shall we see sword nor famine: 13 and the prophets shall become wind, and the word is not in them: thus shall it be done unto them 14 Wherefore thus saith the Lord, the God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them. 15 Lo, I will bring a nation upon you from far, O house of Israel, saith the Lord: it is a mighty nation, it is an ancient nation, a nation whose language thou knowest not, neither understandest what they say. 16 Their quiver is an open sepulchre, they are all mighty men. 17 And they shall eat up thy harvest, and thy bread, which thy sons and thy daughters should eat; they shall eat up thy flocks and thy herds; they shall eat up thy vines and thy fig-trees; they shall beat down thy fortified cities, wherein thou trustest, with the sword. 18 But even in those days, saith the Lord, I will not make a full end with you. Psa.56:4 (4-9 for context) In God (I will praise his word), In God have I put my trust, I will not be afraid; What can flesh do unto me? 5 All the day long they wrest my words: All their thoughts are against me for evil. 6 They gather themselves together, they hide themselves, They mark my steps, Even as they have waited for my soul. 7 Shall they escape by iniquity? In anger cast down the peoples, O God. 8 Thou numberest my wanderings: Put thou my tears into thy bottle; Are they not in thy book? 9 Then shall mine enemies turn back in the day that I call: This I know, that God is for me.   Obama Wants to be Worshiped as a God.  Debbie Horton 11/7/25 When Obama was running the first time, or maybe right after he was “elected,” I had a dream that made no sense to me, so I didn't send it in. The main part I recall is that on the subway steps in NYC (BTW some stations are several levels deep), on each landing, there were votive candles burning, but instead of a picture of the Virgin Mary or Jesus, there was a picture of Obama. People were worshiping him. BTW, the subway appeared to be almost empty and shabby and was very dimly lit.   The Trail of Tears Marie Kelton – 11/6/25 (David's notes in red) (We are now native Americans and the trail of tears is a warning to us that history repeats.) During lunch, I went to the Sequoia museum, and I saw on the sign that it said, “The Trail of Tears”. But I didn't think anything of it. As I was eating lunch, the sign came back to my mind, and I asked the Lord, “Oh, is this where the Trail of Tears happened?” All of a sudden, I heard what sounded like native American chanting and drumming. I had an open vision. Native Americans were walking on the gravel trail that was before me. I saw snow on the ground, and there were native Americans covered with brown blankets. There was a Confederate soldier behind the line of native Americans, and I guess one was walking too slowly because he pushed the native American to hurry up and walk faster. Behind the Confederate soldier was a native American man wearing a native American outfit with long pants and a long-sleeved shirt. He was beating a double-sided drum that was in front of him, attached to his chest with powwow drumsticks in both of his hands. Then I had another open vision while looking in the field of native Americans in a circle, and one was dancing by a fire wearing the native American war bonnet. A little way behind them was a bunch of teepees. And I saw Native Americans working outside with their children. And then I heard the Lord say, “They served the creature rather than the Creator.” (Like many Americans) Rom.1:24-25: “Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves: for that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen.” I looked it up on the internet because I wanted to know why the Confederate soldier was in the vision. I learned that the Confederates didn't have anything to do with the Trail of Tears. The Confederacy was formed some years later, but that Trail of Tears influence had caused a division among the Native American tribes, and some of the native American tribes took part in the Civil War becoming allies with the Confederates, the treaties were made with them.   Left, Then Right, Fall Rick Sergent - November 2009 (David's notes in red) I saw a vision of President Obama's face in the foreground. In the background was the White House. There were red numbers floating and circling around his head. The numbers were 666. (The apostle Paul said the spirit of antichrist is already in the world.) I then saw what appeared to be three puffs of white smoke coming from the LEFT SIDE of the outside of the White House. The smoke came straight up, one after the other, three times. I then saw another vision of Nancy Pelosi. She was standing on a platform inside a building. There were many people in what appeared to be a large room. In the vision, I was standing in front of her, toward her left side. I did not see how many people were behind me. Then, all of a sudden, I saw Nancy Pelosi's head get rocked to the right side from an unseen force from the LEFT SIDE. Her head then bounced off her right shoulder and came up, then she crumpled down on the floor. The vision then ended. (She has become a liability to the Left for the Right have all the info on her J-6 deception.) That night, I had a dream. Nancy Pelosi was in the newspaper. I just knew it was an obituary. Even though I did not see the words, I felt in the dream that she was dead. (It appears she was a promoter of the J6 deception to take out Trump.) Then I woke up. Later on, my youngest son, Jeremy, came over the next day and said, “Dad, I had a dream and we were in it. We tried to tell people we were in the tribulation, but nobody would believe us, Dad”. (Even after the trib starts pre-tribbers will be denying it.) This vision and dream were pretty heavy on me, and finally I felt released to share this. I'm not going to try to interpret this. It may be literal or symbolic, as in political suicide(s) -- three puffs of smoke (three leftist leaders ???) I have my own idea, but I'd rather not say. Note from David: 11/15/10 update: Rick's vision appears to have been right on. Possibly, this means three key leaders committed political suicide by going against what the overwhelming majority of Americans wanted with their socialistic agenda. There certainly was a purge. Even the left realizes that they overstepped and asked Nancy Pelosi to step aside now. I'll leave it to you to decide who the most important three were. Update 2025: Could it be the leftist leaders pushing the government shutdown? I believe from past revelations that the left's fall is temporary, and what will follow could be something like this: The NWO crowd, who started all these wars for their own power grab, will sacrifice their right wing, who, with the Christians who supported them, will be blamed for getting us into these wars. It appears the 9/11 false flag from the right is being revealed more publicly so that the next false flag from the left will be blamed on the right and the Christian “terrorists” who supported it. The NWO has been spreading literature and hatred against the right for some time, using the word “terrorists” even in memos to civil authorities and police. Obama has made steps to clear the way for them to go after Bush and the right wing for war crimes. Christians will be persecuted for their support. The next strike on the U.S. will hasten this. Tribulation is coming soon after a terrible war. Most won't believe it is the tribulation.   Civil War Is Coming Mary Dooley - 01/07/2009 (David's notes in red) In the dream, I was standing at a crossroads that was close to the beach, in that I could clearly see the open sky over the ocean in front of me. (I had asked God to tell me if I had any fruit before I went to sleep, and had the dream and at the crossroads where I was standing, I was next to a fruit stand. If I had to quantify the amount, I'd say it was 60% my height. (I am going for the 100-fold.) To my right, I could see that there was a battle in the air, as I could see the smoke from the jets. To my left, two planes that were unlike any I have ever seen (and I have seen quite a few since 1988, living on or near military bases), they were speeding at low level toward the battle. (A battle for the “air waves” between left and right, first politically and then physically.) I knew in the dream that they were Turkish. They were totally black. (Turkey fell out with Israel over the Gaza war and is pushing the left more to the left, if that's possible, concerning their support for Israel. They have also threatened Israel if they move against the puppets of the Iranians. The first nation to fall to the new Babylon one world order was Israel [Jer.25:17,18,29], which is also a type for Christianity.) Next, from the left again, something was coming in the air. It was something big and black, with black smoke coming out from it in all directions. As it got closer, I could see something orange on its nose. Then I realized it was a black airship or blimp, (notice both sides are in darkness) and the orange thing on the nose was a jack-o-lantern. (This represents Halloween, Babylon DS's “Satan's birthday”, when the Celts say the living are closest to the dead and the forces of darkness are at work) The eyes, nose and mouth were orange because the inside of the airship was on fire. As the airship passed in front of me, I saw that it was slowing down and being totally consumed internally, as the orange flames were destroying it quickly. It stopped in front of me and fell into the ocean. (There is a battle going on for the “airwaves” before the physical battle. The left has used many inventions to shoot down the conservatives' command of the “airwaves”. On a more natural level, blimps cannot compete with jets, which are weapons. They are clumsy, slow, lack power and are relics of the past for warfare. This spiritually describes the badly outmatched right-wing when the U.S. is turned over to chastening by the communists and Islamists. The right have plenty of evidence of their evil but are slow to enforce it. The conservative Babylonish Christian movement that is rising up to “take the nation back” from the left wing who is trying to kill everybody with their weapons to have control. Vax, chemtrails, poison in food and water and animals we eat, engineered hurricanes, earthquakes, Satanism rising, etc. Other 9/11's are coming from the Left, and the blame will be put on the Right in part because so much proof is coming forward of the Bush administration's part in the first 9/11 that they will be blamed for this, too, by the left and the left-wing media. Like the Kirk assassination and threats against Tucker and other right wing influencers. The left is putting the blame on the right-wing Christian defenders of Israel, while they slaughter Gaza. This causes anger against Christians.) I felt like I should run to higher ground because the airship was so big, and I was so close that it might cause a big wave to hit me (This will bring great persecution to the Christians), so I ran upstairs into one of the nearby, rather short buildings behind me. (Christians will no doubt need to get to the High and Holy Ground of Scriptural foundation to escape this coming disaster from the division of America. The scriptures declare that militant Christians will lose this battle badly in the eyes of the world. Crucifixions are coming for those who need them. The Pharisees laughed at Jesus, thinking He lost on the cross. Listen to U.S. Covenant & Civil War) Now I knew I was on a Navy base, as I went up about one or two stories and an enlisted man in uniform was leaning back in his chair, with his hands behind his head, rather unconcerned. He was at the back end of what looked to be a small movie theatre, with the screen to my left. No one was in the room but the enlisted man who, from where he was sitting, would probably be the person running the projector. I told him what had happened, and he said, “Yes, my father was on that airship.” I was surprised at how unmoved he was. (A younger left-wing generation that has rebelled against the conservative morals and constitutional respect of the forefathers will show no mercy or pity on them in the coming civil war. An antichrist spirit is sweeping the world, much like anti-Semitism during the Nazi era. A great backlash against the Christians will come from this. The Left will have complete control over the media, typed by the movie projector, to bring a worldwide persecution of Christianity. Most Christians will not believe that this is of God to bring back true Christianity through persecution and revival. Read Sovereign God for rest and peace.) Next, I was outside at the crossroads again. (Crossroads here represents a fateful change for the future.) Now I could see that there was a convoy, almost like a parade, coming home from the direction of the air battle. I got the impression they were victorious, as they did not even appear tired or dirty, more like inspection-ready. They were sitting in tiers, like bleachers, on top of a vehicle bringing them back to the base. They were in camouflage uniforms, wearing dark glasses and holding flags. (These are hiding from the truth willfully; hiding from the Son, behind patriotism.) The flags were full-size and easy to see, as each person had a flag and held it stretched out in front of him. The flags were stiff, like posters, and they were held on each end. (The flags were stiff, cheap fakes of what the real flag that was blown by the wind stood for. Also, this is a “false flag” banner of victory over the right-wing and Christians.) Now I could see that the flags were distinctly Confederate, and the convoy was taking the curve in the road to their left. There were only two choices at this intersection: curve sharply to the left, or sharply to the right. I did not see anyone going to the right. (The conservative/religious right will lose badly. The rebels against our forefathers' morality will win. The country will turn sharply to the left, where the goats go in Jesus' parable. Like the Confederate rebels, their interest is to cast off any moral or constitutional restraint and keep black men, as a type of those who walk in darkness, or sinners, in bondage. Like the confederates, their money will also be worthless.) End of dream. On the 11th of January, I was at work. A Christian patient was about to leave when suddenly she remembered that her teenage daughter had a dream that night. She said an angel took her into the air, where there was a tremendous air battle going on, and it was so loud and disturbing that she covered her ears, and then the angel brought her back to her bed. She then woke her mom up to tell her and was crying because it was so disturbing, and she is only 16. I told her mom about my dream. (The argument between right and left will get very loud, polarizing the country and tearing it apart.) About three days after this, I called my very good friend, Ellen. I told her that I had had a dream that I wanted to tell her. She stopped me and said she just had one, and so she told me her dream first. She said that she was caught in the middle of a war that was about to start. She said she was trying to find cover behind a house, and that the battle was about to begin, and she was trying to help a little girl find cover, too. I asked her what kind of battle -- as in modern, or something from the past. She said, “It's a revolutionary...no, it's a civil war”. I believe this Civil War will escalate from the war of words over the “air” waves to physical weapons sometime soon. The negative rhetoric is causing people, especially leftists, to go crazy Many say guns will be needed if others fail to submit to their principles. Communists and Islamists are already this way. Polarization is everywhere. If you, as a Christian, think God has called you to fight and kill, you desperately need to read The Sword or the Cross? and listen to the Honor the king? series. Many Christians are victims of neglecting their Bibles and their consciences. Remember, if a man's ways please the Lord, He makes his enemies to be at peace with him. Obviously God is raising up a beast to bring Christians to their cross. God is not pleased with “Christianity” as a whole and is therefore bringing the beast to conquer her, as history repeats.   Civil War in the USA? The Visions 1/21/13 - Andrew Strom (David's notes in red; hyperlinks added) Before the recent US election and “gun” controversy, many would have laughed at the idea of a Civil War or similar conflict in America. I guess it is not quite so “laughable” now. I got a lot of nasty and bitter personal attacks aimed at me last week over my article, Do Christians Love Guns? People accused me of all kinds of twisted motivations for publishing such a thing. But the honest truth is that I am genuinely concerned. Concerned for a country that I love and a people that I love. I feel many Christians are being driven into a great anger that can only result in grief. Perhaps when you read the prophecies below, you will understand my concern. I truly would hate to see any of my friends caught up in such a conflict. Here are the visions: Kenny Atnip (Jan 2013)- “Some time ago, God showed me and some others that America would enter an internal war. You can call it a civil war, or revolutionary war, or anything you like, but it is coming. God showed me plainly that many Christians would be tempted to be part of a war against the government and that this war would be part of his judgment on the U.S.A. and we should not get involved. The current government's actions are because of God's judgment, so he who resists this government resists God's ordinance. Global war is coming as well, and America will be attacked, and after all of these things, I saw a time of peace again in the land. America will be humbled and once again look to God as its provider and defender. The message to Christians here in America is the same that Jeremiah told to Judah- Submit to God's judgment and it will go well for you, resist and it will cost some their lives and others their freedom.”... Hans Petter (June 2008)- “I started to see a movie in the spirit. In the First Act, Obama was elected as president, and he was the door opener for the next thing that happened. Dark skies came over the USA with thunderstorms. People were fighting against each other in the streets. Tires and cars were burning in the streets. People were really suffering, screaming for help and they had nothing to eat or a home. It was a hard time. The cities were burning. I saw a gap start to split the nation. It started in California (The “wild” fires for their “land grab” (Palisades fire), for their “Smart Cities” and the DS-funded, Antifa led riots, destroying Los Angeles and other blue cities.) moved forward across the nation and ended up by the East Coast, north of New York. (Civil War) Act 2. Then people started to pray for help and ask for help from Jesus. I saw two eagles (prophets) that came flying from the east and behind came Jesus. Healing came to USA and Jesus restored the cities and people's lives.” (Man-child ministry) Darren Smith (June 2009)- “Last night, while praying before I went to bed, the Lord gave me a vision that really rattled me. In the vision, I saw this land split into four parts, with each one under its own flag. Each region had terrible destruction, and many people were dead. As I looked over the destruction, I was crying, and the Lord asked me, “Why are you crying over the fall of Babylon? As a matter of fact, why have you been praying for the healing of Babylon?” In this vision, I didn't have an answer and the Lord opened a scroll and started reading off the indictments against our country, but before each one He clearly called the USA Babylon. The list was long and to the point, with such points as the killing of several generations of unborn children. Besides this charge, He added that these babies had been sacrificed to the god of self. The list also included greed, idolatry, pride, fornication, and many others, so many that I could not even read them all. As I looked at the list of charges, I was overwhelmed and broken by the fact that we live every day in a nation that is so far removed from God and in total opposition to the Kingdom of God, yet we are comfortable here. We have become just like Lot living in Sodom; the prosperity that the nation offers us has blinded us from the evil that rules this land. We complain about how bad it is, but still stay attached to it with every ounce of strength we have. The Lord told me to look at the nation as He sees it, not through my eyes but through His. I could not look too long before I had to agree and repent of loving Babylon. Once I repented, the Lord told me to prepare for the fall as time is running out. I must preach the Gospel of the Kingdom, not the Gospel of America. America is already judged; the time of shaking is now and will increase rapidly.”... 'Journey' (Jan 2013)- “I too believe that the United States is headed for a civil war or something to that nature. I have friends who are in the “Patriot” movement, so I hear of things happening that the media will never report. In a nutshell, here is my conclusion to what I hear. There have been hundreds of thousands of assault rifles sold in the past year. There have been laws and rules put into force against assault rifles. Why would this conflict be?... A move to rile up the people has been put into play. Arm the people and then make laws to make them revolt against the Government. The underlying purpose is actually to cause the individual states to secede from the union... Divide and conquer is the idea”. Kenny Atnip - “Civil War in U.S”. (Dec 2010)- “My 16-year-old daughter, Maryann, had a dream a few days ago. She dreamed of civil war against the current government. The scene was very chaotic, and those in rebellion to the government were going house to house, forcing any and all men to join with them. Many of us Christians were in hiding, not willing to join in a rebellion against the government. She awoke in the middle of the night with a strong taste of blood in her mouth. Her 13-year-old sister, Aimee, woke up as well and immediately asked her what was wrong. The 16-year-old said that she had the taste of blood in her mouth, to which the 13-year-old asked, “Were you dreaming of war?” Somehow, she knew that she was dreaming of war. Last November, my three-year-old son, Jeremiah, slept with Mom and Dad. He awoke at 5:30 AM yelling, “War is coming ... people are dying ... people are crying to God”. He has no idea what these things are. It woke me up from a dead sleep, and I sat up and looked at him. He was wide awake... We will have 5 years of terror and turmoil beginning very soon... I believe the government will begin rounding up people who are on a list. If we are on that list, don't resist or run; God sends some away to protect them. God will vindicate the righteous in his time”. Donald replies, “Kenny- that advice is the same as that given to the Israelites. Don't resist when King Nebuchadnezzar comes to take you away. If you go willingly, you will be established in a foreign land; if you resist you will die. (We may or may not actually die, but our lives could become so miserable that we will wish we would die). Good advice for all of us at this unsettling time”. 'Journey' replies- “Yes, Kenny, Good advice. It is better to serve God while in captivity than to die resisting His purpose. God is doing this to the Church because of their pride and arrogance. God is humbling His Church”.

Secular - A woman was worried about her husband who had recently joined the church. She told the pastor, "He's becoming too religious. He wants me to give away my jewelry, sell my expensive car, and donate all our savings to the church!" The pastor paused and asked, "Are you sure he's praying, or is…

We continue our series in the Gospel According to Mark—Kingdom Come, God's Reign in a Chaotic World. This week Mark records for us what many scholars would agree is one of the most significant parables that Jesus ever gave. Known as the Parable of the Soils, it is the first of several parables that Jesus offers in Mark, that reveal for us and those in that day, how one might enter the Kingdom of God, what the Kingdom of God is like and finally, how the Kingdom of God inaugurated in Jesus grows! Read Mark 4:1-20 in advance to prepare for the message, and remember to bring your Study Guides!

Gospel song,health talk,sermon.

In the final episode of "The Mystery of Seeds," Duane Sheriff concludes his teaching on the Parable of the Sower from Mark Chapter 4, reviewing the four types of ground which represent the conditions of our hearts. Jesus called this parable foundational. By understanding this parable, we can connect with other biblical truths.The Word of God, as seed, faces hurdles in bearing fruit due to hardened hearts, offense from tribulation, and life's distractions such as worry and the deceitfulness of riches. Satan's deliberate strategy is to steal God's Word from our hearts. Be quick to repent from sin to keep our hearts soft, guard against offense that opens the door for the enemy, and cast our cares upon the Lord. When we cultivate good ground—hearts that hear, accept, and act on God's Word—we can expect a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundredfold return on God's precious seed.The Mystery of Seeds - Duane Sheriff Ministries

Listen to Fr. Timothy's Sunday sermon.www.stsa.church

La parábola del sembrador (The Parable of the Sower, 1993) de Octavia E. Butler es una novela de ficción especulativa. En ella conocemos a Lauran, una adolescente que tiene hiperempatía, lo hace que sienta todo lo que lo ve que sienten los demás. Ella y su familia tratan de sobrevivir en una pequeña comunidad que trata de protegerse de un mundo que está sumergido en el caos, donde el clima ha cambiado y la sociedad se cae a pedazos.   Acompáñanos en este episodio para descubrir de qué trata este libro y qué tiene de bueno y de malo.   Música de entrada y salida: The Consouls - Arashi no Saxophone 2 (The King of Fighters '96) Funk Cover. Encuentra toda la música de The Counsouls en https://theconsouls.com/    Contesta la encuesta: https://alaaventura.net/encuesta/    ¡Obtén hasta dos meses de servicios gratis en Libsyn al iniciar tu podcast! Usa el código AVENTURA en al registrarte en http://libsyn.com    Contacto www.alaaventura.net/contacto  www.facebook.com/alaaventurapodcast  Twitter: @alaaventura  jboscomendoza@gmail.com   Ayuda a hacer posible este podcast a través de Patreon http://wwww.patreon.com/alaaventura  O compra el libro del que hablamos este episodio http://www.alaaventura.net/libros   

Welcome to One Bright Book! Join our hosts Rebecca, Frances, and Dorian as they discuss I WHO HAVE NEVER KNOWN MEN by Jacqueline Harpman, translated from the French by Ros Schwartz, and chat about their current reading. For our next episode, we will be joined by book critic Sam Sacks for our fourth (!!!) annual most anticipated books episode. We will each come to the table with three books that we are excited to see published in 2026. Will we duplicate each other's choices? Will each of have enough choices in reserve to pivot if necessary? Will someone cheat and present more than three selections? These are questions that we love to pretend to care about each year. We hope you join us for what has become a highlight of our podcasting year! Want to support the show? Visit us at Bookshop.org or click on the links below and buy some books! Books Mentioned: I Who Have Never Known Men by Jacqueline Harpman, translated from the French by Ros Schwartz Orlanda by Jacqueline Harpman, translated from the French by Ros Schwartz Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro Frankenstein by Mary Shelley The Wall by Marlen Haushofer, translated from the German by Shaun Whiteside Bear by Marian Engel The Road by Cormac McCarthy The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood Parable of the Sower by Octavia E Butler Shadow Ticket by Thomas Pynchon Long Distance by Aysegül Savas Ugliness by Moshtari Hilal, translated from the German by Elizabeth Lauffer Electric Spark: The Enigma of Dame Muriel by Frances Wilson Like a Cat Loves a Bird: The Nine Lives of Muriel Spark by James Bailey A Dark Corner by Celia Dale Sheep's Clothing by Celia Dale The Face of Trespass by Ruth Rendell Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe You might also be interested in: The Yale Review. Further resources and links are available on our website at onebrightbook.com. Browse our bookshelves at Bookshop.org. Comments? Write us at onebrightmail at gmail Find us on Bluesky at https://bsky.app/profile/onebrightbook.bsky.social Frances: https://bsky.app/profile/nonsuchbook.bsky.social Dorian: https://bsky.app/profile/ds228.bsky.social Rebecca: https://bsky.app/profile/ofbooksandbikes.bsky.social Dorian's blog: https://eigermonchjungfrau.blog/ Rebecca's newsletter: https://readingindie.substack.com/ Our theme music was composed and performed by Owen Maitzen. You can find more of his music here: https://soundcloud.com/omaitzen.

Fr. Kyrillos Ibrahim- Homily for the 1st Sunday of Hatour. In the reading for the Parable of the Sower, our Lord rejoices in revealing to His disciples the "mysteries of the Kingdom." The saints are the best witnesses to the reality and proximity of the Kingdom. We reflect on the life of a great contemporary saint, Anba Mina of Girga, commemorated this month. Click the icon below to listen.

“A Sower went out to sow his seed…” Luke 8:5

Series: The Gospel of Mark Speaker: Drew Zuehlke Hope Community Church - Columbia Heights Discussion Guide For more resources or to learn more about Hope Heights, visit hopecc.com/heights.

Jesus told parables as a means of teaching spiritual truths. A parable, though a simple story reveals Kingdom truths. The Parable of the Sower is a key to understanding all of Jesus' parables. This is a teaching on understanding this KEY parable. 

I recently heard a theologian say that he has stopped trying to discern whether people he meets and knows are believers by asking them, “Are you saved?” Instead, he asks them this question: “Is Christ living in you?” He explained this switch by saying that many people today look back on a particular church service or camp experience where they raised their hand or went forward at the invitation to commit their lives to Christ. Sadly, while they no longer pursue a relationship with Christ, they believe that they are indeed Christians. Rather than falling on the good soil we read about in the Parable of the Sower, these are seeds that have fallen on the stony soil where the initial joy fades quickly and withers under pressure. This distinction should drive us to nurture our kids into understanding that the Christian life is not captured in a momentary decision, but is marked by a life of sanctification, where every square inch of their lives is lived with gratitude to the glory of God!

Not everything that grows in the field comes from the same seed. In Matthew 13, Jesus teaches that the kingdom of God is both hidden and growing—real faith develops quietly, even in the middle of confusion, counterfeits, and chaos. In this message, we discover what it means to truly see God's kingdom, grow faithfully among the weeds, and trust the Sower's timing. The seed is still good. The harvest is still coming. God isn't panicked—He's patient, and His kingdom is advancing even when it's hidden beneath the surface. Keep listening. Keep growing. Keep trusting. The weeds won't last forever, but the wheat will.

Discover how the parables of Jesus serve as a means to reveal the hearts of listeners, separating those with faith from those without. See also how the parables solidify what's been revealed in the heart. This episode especially looks at the Parable of the Sower, Jesus' explanation to His disciples, and the prophecy from Isaiah, shedding light on the purpose behind His teaching approach. Gain insights into the contrasting reactions to Jesus' ministry, the concept of spiritual blindness, and the importance of cultivating a receptive heart to Jesus.Support the showRead along with us in the Bible Brief App! Try the Bible Brief book for an offline experience!Get your free Bible Timeline with the 10 Steps: Timeline LinkSupport the show: Tap here to become a monthly supporter!Review the show: Tap here!Want to go deeper?...Download the Bible Brief App!iPhone: App Store LinkAndroid: Play Store LinkWant a physical book? Check out "Bible Brief" by our founder!Amazon: Amazon LinkWebsite: biblebrief.orgInstagram: @biblelitTwitter: @bible_litFacebook: @biblelitEmail the Show: biblebrief@biblelit.org Want to learn the Bible languages (Greek & Hebrew)? Check out ou...

In light of a series of miracles in our readings for today, Fr. Mike focuses on our Lord's compassion and our call to be merciful, as he is. He emphasizes the beauty of God's mercy and his offering of it despite our unworthiness. He also strikes a balance between the goodness of humanity as God's creation and our brokenness due to original sin. Today's readings are Luke 6-8 and Proverbs 26:1-3. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

In this episode, Cynthia sits down with Kevin Greeson, author of Sowing With Intent, to explore the Parable of the Sower—arguably Jesus' most foundational teaching on spiritual multiplication. Drawing from decades of church planting experience across South Asia, Kevin shares transformative insights into this often misunderstood parable, revealing its deep relevance for anyone seeking to expand the Kingdom of God. Whether you're a ministry leader or simply curious about the power of intentional discipleship, this conversation will challenge and inspire.

Parable of the Sower

In this week's episode of An Apprenticeship to Jesus: Gospel of Mark Study, Nick Oyler guides you through Mark chapter 4, exploring the powerful Parable of the Sower and Jesus' teaching on the Lamp under a Basket. Discover what it means to be good soil, how to guard your heart from distractions, and why Jesus often spoke in parables. This episode offers practical discipleship insights, thought-provoking discussion questions, and encouragement for your spiritual growth. Whether you're studying alone or with a small group, you'll be challenged to hear God's Word, accept it, and bear fruit in your daily life.

Mike Grechko explores the signs of Christian maturity and how every believer is called to grow beyond spiritual infancy. Drawing from Luke 8: The Parable of the Sower and Hebrews 5:12–14, he shows that true discipleship means living God's Word with purpose and helping others do the same.

Christ Manifested in Us (1) (audio) David Eells - 11/5/25 A Manifestation is About to Take Place Abigail P. – 2/14/25 1Jn 4:2  Hereby know ye the Spirit of God: every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God:  Word from the Lord: “I come in Flesh. This is a part of life that you must confess and come to terms with. I come in your flesh, yes in your hearts and minds but also in all parts of your flesh. Do you truly understand this? The ones that have spent many hours with Me meditating on My Word will understand and it is their job to turn you around. You will understand when the power and might from on high descends. These will be the misunderstood, the rejected in society, the illiterate and others who have had Me in their hearts but have not been known by the world. They will not turn against Me and will do My desire. They are NOT ashamed to speak My Name and call it how it is. These are My wise sheep that have followed Me. You will not know them unless you TRULY know My Voice. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. 1Pe 4:11  if any man speaketh, speaking as it were oracles of God They are about to come forth within weeks. They will stand before Me and bow at the sound of My Name. Do you know them? Will you see them for the humble servants that they have become? They are not flashy, smooth, and slick-talking prophets. They are humble servants who have copped a lot of abuse from the ‘churches.' THIS IS OVER My full power and anointing will be upon them in full display. Do not reject such ones. They have My Covering, they are Anointed and the devil knows this; he will try to attack them. Thus, be safe under the shelter of My Wings. The full anointing of My People will come forth and they will be radiant in a picture. You will be able to see them and the blessing I have poured out on them. They are My Chosen Few. Be My Anointed Child, with Grace and Endurance. That is all My Child 1Jn 4:3  and every spirit that confesseth not Jesus is not of God: and this is the spirit of the antichrist, whereof ye have heard that it cometh; and now it is in the world already.  Ephesians 3:16-17 that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man; 17  that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love,  Joh 14:17  even the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive; for it beholdeth him not, neither knoweth him: ye know him; for he abideth with you, and shall be in you.  Rom 8:19  For the earnest expectation of the creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God.    30-, 60- & 100-Fold Paths Anonymous - 10/25/2007 (David's notes in red) I saw three different groups of believers (star glory: 30-fold; moon glory: 60-fold; sun glory: 100-fold) and we had to decide which pathway we all wanted to take. There was a very huge boulder or rock, like what you see in a mountain. (Representing Jesus and the Kingdom of God.) There were three pathways to choose from to go to the other side. The first was to take a pathway around the rock, which looked fairly flat, on level sandy ground. This pathway looked off-white, exactly like the sand you see on some beaches. (This represents the easy way on the flesh and is not the crucified life and may not bear fruit much beyond 30-fold or star glory. It is from this place that many will fall away. This may represent the born-again in spirit, but not completely crucified in the soul, life. Many avoid fiery trials that burn up the flesh by not walking in the steps of Jesus. The garment for such an individual if they did not fall away would be off-white, reflecting their works. To many, the rock is too great to hope to walk on, reflecting their immature understanding of the Gospel and God's plan of recreating Christ in us. These choose the unstable, impure, off-white sand of man's traditions on which to stand. As Jesus said, the house on sand will fall.) The second path was to climb up that rock. The steps were carved out of the rock and it was a steep and high climb. (This represents walking in the steps already set in stone by the Word, which is also standing on the rock of Christ's Word. This will bear more fruit even to 60-fold or moon glory but some important things are not emphasized on this path.) The third path was to enter into a very narrow opening into that rock and walk down steep steps also carved out of the rock. (This is also standing on the rock in the steps of the Word. It suggests more the abiding in the cleft of the rock of safety by entering into Christ's suffering through death to self, spiritually beneath the earth. Through this method we can transverse the fullness of moon glory and enter 100-fold or Sun glory, Christlikeness.) We were all outside that rock, looking at these 3 paths and deciding which pathway to take. This place had grass and trees and was flourishing and not barren. The pathway into the rock was directly in front of us. The pathway climbing the rock was to my left (from the rock's perspective, it would have been right (representing those who walk more as sheep on Jesus' right) and the pathway going around the rock was to my right (from the rock's perspective, it would have been left (representing those who walk more as goats on Jesus' left). Both of these paths were detours to the straight pathway into the rock. (Which is God's perfect will -- His chosen path, which few will find.) We could view all believers taking the different pathways. The vast majority turned to my right (the rock's left) because that way seemed bright, flat and sure, which could be easily negotiated. (“There is a way that seemeth right unto man” but is really left unto God. Many are comfortable with the worldly “Christian” life where discipleship is considered unattainable, unnecessary or something that has passed away.) There were some turning to my left to climb the rock. Again it was bright and the steps seemed visibly carved out from the rock, though the ascent was very steep and the height was frightening. (This is the life of faith without the emphasis of the crucified life.) However, the pathway into the rock was not as visible as the pathway outside; it seemed the scariest. (Because it represents ‘self' being swallowed up by the life of Christ through death to the old man and walking by faith.) I saw one believer from my church wearing white, calling me to follow her. Most took the pathway around the rock, whilst there were very few people who climbed on top of the rock or went into the rock. (It is always a few who take the best paths.) The believer from my church started climbing the rock. I did not follow her but went into the rock. (We cannot follow others' individual path or that of the churches. God has a scriptural plan for each of us.) One could not see the steps before you -- you had to descend by faith, but as you descended, it got easier and I remember thinking that from the outside it looked like a difficult, narrow, dark and unknown pathway, but when you walk by faith, God's grace is sufficient to hold your footing in the steep descent. I felt tremendous confidence and joy whilst going on my journey; it was not scary. (The descent represents death to self, buried with Jesus. The more we die to self the easier life becomes because we have more of Christ and less of us.) This path was not taken by most people and the dream ended here. The two paths: to the right of the rock mountain and into the rock mountain. Both point out scriptural needs in our lives and paths in which the most glorious will major. The easy path of star glory is the one the greatest falling away will come from. (Rev.6:13) and the stars of the heaven fell unto the earth, as a fig tree casteth her unripe figs when she is shaken of a great wind. And (12:4) And his tail draweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth… When I shared this interpretation with [“Anonymous”] she had just received this confirmation from the Lord: “I too was told that this is the 30-fold pathway where a lot of people will fall.”   God's New Creation K. H.- 9/14/2008 (David's notes in red) The night before I had this dream, I was making my first plum cake. I watched my mom the last time she made it, and it was my turn to make it. To my amazement, God then used that knowledge in this dream: I saw these enormous hands with a large piece of dough in them, which the Spirit then let me know that I was seeing God's hands and that the dough represented each one of us. As the dream continued, I watched God add all the ingredients to the dough. He let me know that each ingredient represented the gifts, talents and abilities that He has equipped each one of us with to be used for His glory. He then showed me that from the beginning, He knew which ingredients each one of us needed and if one were to be left out, we would be incomplete. God then revealed to me that this is why it is so important for His saints to use everything that He has given them for His glory and purpose. After all the ingredients were added, God started kneading the dough in order to mold and shape it. As He shaped the piece of dough into a uniform ball of dough, the Spirit showed me that this represented God creating each one of us in His image, in His likeness. He then told me that this process of “kneading” began from the moment that He knit us in our mother's womb and would only be complete when we, the dough, surrendered all that it had to give for the uniform dough to be formed. I felt this represented us denying ourselves, taking up our cross and following the Lord. Then God began to roll the dough out on the baking sheet and began to place all of the plums in their ordained spots and He then took a step back and let it rise. The Spirit revealed to me that the rolled out dough represented the crushing of our old life, the plums represented the fruit from the trials, persecutions and sufferings we would go through as followers of Christ, and when God took a step back to let the dough rise that represented God allowing us to be tested in those trials, persecutions and sufferings so the leaven of the Word could do its work in us. (Leaven is used negatively in some parables, but in some it is the true Word of the Kingdom, as in Mat.13:33 Another parable spake he unto them; The kingdom of heaven is like unto leaven, which a woman took, and hid in three measures of meal (spirit, soul, and body), till it was all leavened.) As the dough rose, some of the plums fell off, which the Spirit revealed that those fallen plums represented the times that we: do not glorify God with the ingredients He has equipped us with; do not glorify Him with the plums that He brings us through and/or do not allow Him to use the plums to bring us to our cross. After the plums fell off the dough, God pushed His hands down into the cake and placed each one of the plums back where they had been placed in the beginning. The Spirit then revealed to me that this represented us humbling ourselves before God, which then allowed Him to once again use all of the gifts, talents, abilities, trials, persecutions, and sufferings to glorify Himself in us. When I woke up I was in awe of what God had shown me and it touched me that He used something, like making a plum cake, that I knew how much love and work went into making. I was speechless! Praise God! I was then reminded of the scripture in Isaiah 64:8, which says But now, O Lord, thou art our Father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand.   Man-child Resurrects Fruit in the Wilderness E. D. - 11/22/2007 (David's notes in red) In a dream, David Eells called me and said he was coming to my area to visit the brethren. (David here represents the David Man-child reformers.) I called other friends and they told me that they knew because David had called them also; so we started calling everybody else and the word spread. We started getting calls from brethren we didn't even know from other states, asking if they could come too. The local fellowship decided to rent out a restored three-story mansion with many rooms to accommodate the brethren who were coming. When David arrived, he started teaching us in the main parlor of the mansion, where there must have been more than 50 adults (remember this 50), plus all their children. He taught us from the word all day long, and then David said, “I am very tired now and need to go to sleep”, so we showed him to his room. (This represents a lapse of time where the Man-child slept as Jesus did. He will awaken or come back in our day at the latter rain, as He said, for a marriage feast as we will see.) Back in the parlor, it occurred to us that we never offered David breakfast, lunch or dinner; so we knocked on his door and said that we were preparing a feast for him; would he like to attend? He said he would love to attend. So the group sent me to the grocery store to buy supplies. I went to the second story of the house, climbed out of the window onto the roof, and jumped to the ground; a drop of more than 25 feet, but I was not hurt. Then I went to a very large supermarket that was very white with bright lights, to buy all manner of breads, meats, and fruits and vegetables. As I went to the register to pay, I noticed a bottle of wine, and I thought in my head, “This one bottle of wine will be enough for 100 people”; (Jesus, the Man-child type, at the marriage feast, multiplied the wine, representing His blood or life.) so I bought it too, and returned to the mansion, walking through the front door. So the brethren made the feast and we all sat together, all the adults and their children and David Eells, each of us, all on throne-like chairs at a huge table; and we were eating and drinking and rejoicing in the Lord together. Then we all went to sleep for the night. (Feasting on the body and blood of Christ will bring us all to a sleep and awakening or a death and resurrection.) The next morning, David came into the parlor and said, “Greetings brethren”, but we all ignored him; we were huddled around the children, particularly around one child who was dying. Whose child it was, I don't know. Then someone said, “What was the point of the Lord sending you here if He's going to kill our children?” (This is almost a quote from the woman concerning Elijah resurrecting her son as we will see. He had prophesied this fruit to her and now it appeared he was taking him back.) David said, “It will not be so”. And I heard a voice that said, “I will bless those who blessed him, and curse those who cursed him”. (The accusation to Elijah and David was wrong.) And David rushed over to the child, laid his hands on him, and prayed in tongues over the child. The rest of the parents repeated the same thing David did over their own children. The child revived and everybody was relieved. (A type of the Man-child resurrecting the fruit of the woman in the wilderness tribulation.) Then David said, “I hope you all have learned something through this. I have to go now, but I will return to you. (What did we learn? Jesus, the Man-child, left but will return in the corporate Man-child reformers to resurrect the woman Church's fruit.) Continue steadfast in prayer together”. We all said “Amen”. (Col.4:2 Continue steadfastly in prayer, watching therein with thanksgiving.) David here represents Elijah the Man-child who had spoken about a famine at the beginning of chapter 17, symbolizing the beginning of the tribulation seven years of famine interpreted by Joseph to pharaoh. 1 Kings 17:1 And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead, said unto Ahab, As Jehovah, the God of Israel, liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word. After this, during the famine, the widow woman fed Elijah in the first three years of the tribulation, just like the brethren in this dream fed David. The widow represents those whose apostate leadership is dead and they now follow the Man-child. Here, Elijah multiplied the meal and oil so that the widow had a continuous supply during the wilderness famine just as Jesus the Man-child multiplied the needs of the woman church in the wilderness. This is similar to E.D. thinking that the bottle of wine was going to stretch a long way to feed 100 people. Going through the second-story window to be fed represents 60-fold fruit. We are the house individually and corporately to be perfected: spirit - 30, soul - 60 (the second-story), and body -100. Then we see a very similar story concerning the resurrection of the children. Those who had blessed Elijah and David as types of the Man-child were blessed to have their fruit sustained in the famine, for as God said in the dream, “I will bless those who blessed him, and curse those who cursed him”. Verse 17 And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. 18 And she said unto Elijah, What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? thou art come unto me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son! (This is as in the dream above. Also, in these days the woman church has been born again with initial fruit that was lost under dead religious teachings.)19 And he said unto her, Give me thy son. And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the chamber, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. (Bringing her fruit into the rest through the true gospel.) 20 And he cried unto Jehovah, and said, O Jehovah my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son? 21 And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto Jehovah, and said, O Jehovah my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again. 22 And Jehovah hearkened unto the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. 23 And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother; and Elijah said, See, thy son liveth. 24 And the woman said to Elijah, Now I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of Jehovah in thy mouth is truth. Both Elijah and David did not accept that the fruit of God's own would die during a famine of the Word. The proof that Elijah was “a man of God” was that he resurrected the widow's fruit during the famine. The verse after that chapter shows that after the widow's son was resurrected, the third year of a famine came. 1Ki.18:1 And it came to pass after many days, that the word of Jehovah came to Elijah, in the third year, saying, Go, show thyself unto Ahab; and I will send rain upon the earth. 2 And Elijah went to show himself unto Ahab. And the famine was sore in Samaria. At this time, Jezebel the harlot was killing the prophets, symbolizing the two witnesses, making this the coming second half of the tribulation. 4 for it was so, when Jezebel cut off the prophets of Jehovah, that Obadiah took a hundred prophets, and hid them by fifty in a cave, and fed them with bread and water. In this dream there was wine enough for 100 people but there were only 50 adults in that particular house. Notice the prophets were in two groups of fifty, symbolizing two witnesses. In the rest of this chapter, Ahab, king of the 10 apostate tribes (10-horned beast) was ridden by Jezebel the harlot, who had all the false prophets fed from her table. As the true woman of God fed the true prophets so the false woman fed the false prophets.   Resurrection Earthquakes Divide the Country Deb Horton - 11/19/2015 (David's notes in red) In my dream, I was warning people about a coming earthquake but they were pretty much ignoring me and really, I wasn't very urgent about it myself at that point. During the whole dream, I kept looking for a sign that the quake was imminent and the way I did that was by repeatedly going to a place “upstairs” somehow (Representing abiding in Heavenly places is to be abiding IN Christ Jesus where everything is provided, even revelation, as in this case. Eph.1:3 Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with every spiritual blessing in the heavenly places in Christ:), and checking on the alignment of four flat slabs of concrete where they came together. (The four different slabs are the four groups who received the seed of the Sower, but only one brought forth fruit. We are supposed to be living stones. 1Pe.2:5 Ye also, as living stones, are built up a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.) The concrete slabs were laid in a square and formed a square, like a sidewalk; (i.e., they were “foursquare”.) Rev.21:16 And the city (Which John said was the bride and whose head is the Man-child) lieth foursquare, and the length thereof is as great as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs: the length and the breadth and the height thereof are equal. Each time I went “upstairs” to wherever it was I went, I looked at the center of the slabs where they came together in the middle and made an “X” or cross. (It was the cross where Jesus was lifted up. He said, “If I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men unto me”. The cross was their common union, the Church.) Finally, the last time I checked the center, I saw that one of the four slabs, the one at the top right, had raised up at the center just under ½ inch. Not the whole slab was raised, just the center of the slab, so that slab was now slightly canted at an angle. (The verse I received today actually fits with the center of the slab being raised up. Jer.31:6 ... Arise ye, and let us go up to Zion unto Jehovah our God.) That means the other three slabs were no longer foursquare (rejected from the Bride), but the slab that was raised up was the only part that was still a square. (A square is a standard for buildings like a chief corner stone and this city is a building that is being born from above like the bride and is a standard to the rest of the Church.) Word received: Gen.49:26 The blessings of thy father Have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: They shall be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. (Joseph was a type of the Man-child ministry and was “raised up” as the head of the bride, as David was. Jesus was raised up as head of the bride. The highest of the right will rise above their brethren to be chosen. Jesus, as the Man-child type said, “If I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men unto me” - This happened when Jesus was crucified and died and then came the earthquake. The Man-child has been going through crucifixion for many years. Their resurrection to the throne and anointing is now near. When Jesus was resurrected, as a type of the Man-child reformers, a great earthquake happened. Mat. 28:1 Now late on the sabbath day, as it began to dawn toward the first day of the week, came Mary Magdalene and the other Mary to see the sepulchre. 2 And behold, there was a great earthquake; for an angel of the Lord descended from heaven, and came and rolled away the stone, and sat upon it.  I believe the great earthquake will be the New Madrid at the spiritual resurrection and anointing of the Man-child in whom Jesus lives by Word and Spirit.) Jesus is also the chief cornerstone. Eph.2:20 being built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the chief corner stone; 1Pe.2:6 Because it is contained in scripture, Behold, I lay in Zion a chief corner stone (the one raised up), elect, precious: And he that believeth on him shall not be put to shame. Many Christians do not yet believe on the Jesus of the Bible. As such, they are about to be put to shame. Jesus is the stone that the builders rejected and will once again be “lifted up,” like He is in the Man-child ministry coming now. Mat.21:42 Jesus saith unto them, Did ye never read in the scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner; This was from the Lord, And it is marvelous in our eyes? 1Pe.2:7 For you therefore that believe is the preciousness: but for such as disbelieve, The stone which the builders rejected, The same was made the head of the corner. As types, Moses, Joseph, David, and Jesus were persecuted by their own brethren and rejected by these builders and were lifted up to become their head.) That made me excited because now I knew that the quake was coming and that the slab was going to be raised up and completely separated from the others by the quake. (Our dreams and the Word have already told us the Lord will come manifested in the Man-child ministry by the latter rain and the transforming of the Word of God. And this will happen at the great earthquakes. The New Madrid will split the country but not as bad as has been prophesied because of God's mercy.) I ran downstairs and started telling people with great urgency, “This is it. You have to get ready. The quake is coming”. I think I also told people that there wasn't time to do more than grab a few things. (When the Man-child is anointed, it will be time to run to the wilderness tribulation behind Him.) Word received: Eph.3:14 For this cause I bow my knees unto the Father, 15 from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named, 16 that he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, that ye may be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inward man; 17 that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, 18 may be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, 19 and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye may be filled unto all the fulness of God. 1Ti.6:12 Fight the good fight of the faith, lay hold on the life eternal, whereunto thou wast called, and didst confess the good confession in the sight of many witnesses. But there still didn't seem to be many people who did more than look at me. (Few will have eyes to see or ears to hear but the things that come will get their attention. Their anointed ministry will bring attention.) I asked the Lord if the dream meant anything, for Him to give me an earthquake verse. Here's what I received by faith at random: Luk.23:48 And all the multitudes that came together to this sight, when they beheld the things that were done, returned smiting their breasts. (They saw the crucifixion of Jesus in this text and saw it as a travesty of justice and a shame to God's people. Exactly as in this text, this was the time of the rending of the veil of the temple in verse 45 and the earthquake. Mat.27:50 And Jesus cried again with a loud voice, and yielded up his spirit. 51 And behold, the veil of the temple was rent in two from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake; and the rocks were rent. This death quake was a sign of the larger earthquake at the resurrection.) Here it is in context: Luk.23:44 And it was now about the sixth hour, and a darkness came over the whole land until the ninth hour (the three hours of darkness which brings the quake), 45 the sun's light failing: and the veil of the temple was rent in the midst. 46 And Jesus, crying with a loud voice, said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit: and having said this, he gave up the ghost. Jesus said, “If I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men unto me” -This is where the earthquake happens and the great earthquake happens at the resurrection. 47 And when the centurion saw what was done, he glorified God, saying, Certainly this was a righteous man. 48 And all the multitudes that came together to this sight, when they beheld the things that were done, returned smiting their breasts. 49 And all his acquaintance, and the women that followed with him from Galilee, stood afar off, seeing these things.   I AM Your God of the Impossible Debbie Fenske 10/6/2025 Listen to Me, My children. I AM the God of the impossible. And I say to you, My children, called to be My highly anointed ones. All things you have learned from Me, and heard from My servant, David, things I have given him to speak and to do that have come to pass, and things I have given him to speak and to do, yet have not come to pass, are My doing, and My plan. I make no mistakes. Believe in Me! All that has come about, things that nominal and unbelieving Christians would not dare to believe, have all been My plans, even before the beginning of time. I AM your God who has chosen you, and many more, to hear and to receive and believe, to use you mightily in prayer and great spiritual warfare. Am I not the only God, the only God of the impossible? I Am your God who does things, allows things to be, and to take place all for My purposes for My Elect and My Kingdom, for My great Name. Things too impossible for the unbelieving, unregenerated mind to even receive. You know this is a war against Satan himself, our enemy. And all those he has taken over are as he is. Evil. Doing evil, corrupt and revolting deeds of darkness. But I see it all. And I reveal it all to those whom I choose to reveal it to. I have chosen to reveal it to David. And I have revealed it to you through him, My servant David. You must continue to have strong belief. Do not question. Take everything directly to prayer if you have an inkling of a question. Any questioning left open in reasoning of your mind is an open door for the enemy to answer you and to draw you away from all I have called you to be a part of, which is being by Me, and My true, worthy, holy and anointed Bride and Manchild on this earth, to fight with Me in this mighty end-time work in setting captives free, bringing many into My Eternal Kingdom. Stay in the realm of belief and faith in what I Am accomplishing right now. There is so much more. I know what I Am doing in this end-time scene. It is I Who moves Trump in all he has accomplished. And things that he has not been able to accomplish have not been by mistake. Nothing is by mistake with what I Am doing. Everything that I dictate to him to do, or to not do, is My plan. And everything I dictate to My servant, David, and move him to do, or to not do, is My plan, My voice to him. He has been faithful, allowing Me to be voice to him in so many ways. I Am not through with him yet. Nor am I through with Trump and all of his and our enemies. Right now, I've laid them wide open and bare, weaklings who think they are so strong. So, My children see all things with the end in view, being a part of the end in view, which is My Eternal Kingdom. You all are part of this end-time plan. Behold, I Am making all things new.

In this thought-provoking episode, Cynthia Anderson and Tim Walker dive deep into the Parable of the Sower, uncovering its strategic relevance for today's Church. Tim, author of Sowing With Intent, challenges listeners to rethink how we measure success in ministry—moving beyond organizational growth to personal, relational multiplication. Together, they explore: How to identify gospel gaps and reach the least engaged. Why rapid addition isn't enough—and how to pursue rapid multiplication. The critical role of ordinary believers in fulfilling the Great Commission. The power of oikos—your natural relational network—in building authentic community. How Western independence and post-Covid isolation have created a unique opportunity for the Church to offer connection and unity. Practical ways to find Persons of Peace and build bridges into new relational spaces. A fresh framework for engaging the lost: See it, Seize it, Shape it.

Spiritual growth doesn't happen by accident—it happens in the soil of your heart. In this message from Matthew 13:1–23, Jesus tells the Parable of the Sower, revealing how the same seed—the Word of God—produces different results depending on the condition of the soil. We dig into what it means to prepare your heart for God's Word, to grow deep roots that endure life's storms, and to cultivate a faith that bears lasting fruit. Whether you're in a season of planting, pruning, or perseverance, God is doing "dirt work" in you—turning hard ground into good soil that produces a harvest of faith, hope, and love. Don't just hear the Word. Let it take root.

Today, I am joined by my good friends Jonathan Allen Wright and Eric Tuffendsam from Sower and we discuss the recent events in the Christian music industry, all the good and the bad, and we give our thoughts on where the CCM industry is at and where we think it's going.Support Jonathan Allen Wright: https://linktr.ee/jonathanawrightSupport Sower: https://www.sowerproject.com/Support me on Patreon and watch The Bonus Tracks at: https://www.patreon.com/c/imcliffordtodayWant your music on our Spotlight segment? Submit it here:https://forms.gle/YFsEUTjcVku1h1aTANew Sherwood Forest music!New single "Feed My Lambs" featuring Saint of Pine Hills: https://sherwoodforest.bandcamp.com/track/feed-my-lambsThe Wingfeather Saga: Season One Commentary: https://cliffordclose.bandcamp.com/album/the-wingfeather-saga-season-one-commentaryMy first line of merch! https://im-clifford-today.myspreadshop.com/New episode every other Monday 12pm CST.Follow the I'm Clifford Today Show on any podcast platform! https://anchor.fm/imcliffordtodayFollow me on Twitch! https://www.twitch.tv/imcliffordtodayMy clips and highlights channel: https://www.youtube.com/@ImClippordToday My gaming channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCH0vEbkItCajSezxh3JjejwCheck out the Podwood Forecast! https://anchor.fm/podwoodforecastCheck out my "Cliff's Picks" Spotify playlist!https://open.spotify.com/playlist/137H5LBYkA9GX4Jqq7vk0s?si=aa64e4163083420fLeave a like and a comment! Subscribe for more content like this: https://www.youtube.com/ImCliffordTodayFollow my X: www.x.com/imcliffordtodayLike my Book of Faces: https://www.facebook.com/imcliffordtoday[00:00:00] – Intro[00:00:57] – Housekeeping[00:18:32] – A conversation with Jonathan and Eric[00:25:45] – Discussing the Superbowl Halftime show[00:43:54] – A shift in the CCM industry[00:58:21] – Christian record labels[01:14:37] – The Michael Tait Situation[01:29:38] – Faith and industry[01:38:55] – Forrest Frank: the next Keith Green?[02:05:42] – Eric's Christian Halftime Show prediction[02:18:15] – Concluding thoughts[02:30:38] – Outro

River of Life is an inter-denominational, interracial, Spirit-filled church located in the heart of Wakulla County, Florida. We share the sermons from our services in the hopes they'll reach others determined to worship God in spirit and truth.

River of Life is an inter-denominational, interracial, Spirit-filled church located in the heart of Wakulla County, Florida. We share the sermons from our services in the hopes they'll reach others determined to worship God in spirit and truth.

 I'm so excited to say that today's guest on the Great Women Artist Podcast is the esteemed curator, writer, broadcaster and cultural trailblazer, Ekow Eshun. Born in North-west London in 1968, Eshun has been at the forefront of creative culture for decades. Writing across subjects and presenting documentaries, Eshun has curated groundbreaking exhibitions. From the 2022 In the Black Fantastic, at the Hayward in London – to The Time Is Always Now, a study of the Black figure and its representation in contemporary art, that began at London's National Portrait Gallery, and has since travelled across the US. The author of multiple books: in 2006, he published his memoir: “Black Gold of the Sun: Searching for Home in England and Africa” an exploration of identity and race, that sees Eshun travelling through Ghana in search of his roots. And in 2024, The Strangers, a stunning work of creative nonfiction that tells the story of five pioneering Black men set against a vivid backdrop of art, culture, and resistance. So for this special episode we are going to deep dive into the women writers and artists who have influenced his life and career, including Morrison, the pioneering science fiction writer, Octavia E. Butler, Kenyan-American artist Wangechi Mutu, the Rotterdam based artist Ellen Gallagher, and photographer Liz Johnson Artur. Because, as Eshun himself says, “The great thing about working with artists is they don't walk a straight line or think along linear paths; they think in patterns, allowing us to approach long-established conversations from a novel perspective.” Octavia E. Butler (1947–2006) Hilary Mantel (1952–2022) Wangechi Mutu (b.1972) Ellen Gallagher (b.1965) Liz Johnson Artur (1964) Toni Morrison (1931–2019) Exhibitions mentioned: In the Black Fantastic, 2022, Hayward Gallery, London: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/venues/hayward-gallery/past-exhibitions/in-the-black-fantastic/ The Time Is Always Now, 2024-present, touring: https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/exhibitions/2024/the-time-is-always-now The Clearing, space Un gallery, Tokyo, November 2025; https://www.artweektokyo.com/en/institution-gallery/space-un/ Books mentioned: Octavia Butler - Parable of the Sower (1993) https://www.waterstones.com/book/parable-of-the-sower/octavia-e-butler/9781472263667 Octavia Butler - XenoGenesis trilogy; Dawn (1987), Adulthood Rites (1988), and Imago (1989) https://www.octaviabutler.com/xenogenesis-series Hilary Mantel - The Wolf Hall trilogy; Wolf Hall (2009), Bring Up the Bodies (2012), and The Mirror & the Light (2020) https://www.waterstones.com/book/wolf-hall/hilary-mantel/9780008381691 Ekow Eshun - Black Gold of the Sun: Searching for Home in England and Africa (2006): https://www.waterstones.com/book/9780141010960?sv1=affiliate&sv_campaign_id=117976&awc=3787_1761656125_d069bd054bf50de1a9bfc45991a52d17&utm_source=117976&utm_medium=affiliate&utm_campaign=Penguin+Books Ekow Eshun - The Strangers (2024): https://www.waterstones.com/book/the-strangers/ekow-eshun/9780241990698 Herman Melville - Moby Dick (1851) https://www.waterstones.com/book/moby-dick/herman-melville/andrew-delbanco/9780142437247 Toni Morrison - Beloved (1987) https://www.waterstones.com/book/beloved/toni-morrison/9780099760115

Pace McKee | Mark 4:1-20 Want more information about First Evangelical Church? firstevan.org/connect Website: firstevan.org 
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In this profound episode of the Reformed Brotherhood, Tony Arsenal and Jesse Schwamb delve deeply into the Parable of the Tares (Matthew 13:24-30), exploring its implications for Christian assurance. Building on their previous discussion, they examine how this parable speaks to the mixed nature of the visible church, the sovereignty of Christ over His kingdom, and most significantly, the doctrine of assurance. Through careful theological reflection, the hosts unpack how true believers can find solid ground for assurance not in their own works or fruit-checking, but in the promises of Christ and the testimony of the Holy Spirit. This episode offers both encouragement for those struggling with doubts and a sobering challenge to those resting in false assurance. Key Takeaways The Parable of the Tares teaches that the visible church will be mixed until the final judgment, containing both true believers (wheat) and false professors (tares) who may appear outwardly similar. True assurance is not based primarily on good works but on the promises of Christ, the inward testimony of the Holy Spirit, and the evidences of grace in our lives. False assurance is a real danger, as many who think they belong to Christ will discover at the final judgment that they never truly knew Him. The Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 18) provides a helpful framework for understanding biblical assurance as the proper possession of every Christian. Christ's role as the divine Master of the house (the world) and Lord of the angels is subtly yet powerfully affirmed in this parable, grounding our assurance in His sovereignty. Good works are the fruit of assurance, not its cause—when we are secure in our salvation, we are freed to serve Christ joyfully rather than anxiously trying to earn assurance. The final judgment will bring perfect clarity, revealing what was hidden and separating the wheat from the tares with divine precision that humans cannot achieve now. The Doctrine of Assurance: Reformed Understanding The Reformed tradition has always emphasized that believers can and should have assurance of their salvation—a conviction recovered during the Reformation in contrast to Rome's teaching. As Tony noted when reading from the Westminster Confession of Faith (Chapter 18), this assurance is "not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a fallible hope, but an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation." This assurance rests on three pillars: the promises of God in Scripture, the inward evidence of grace, and the testimony of the Holy Spirit witnessing with our spirit. What makes this understanding particularly comforting is that it shifts the foundation of assurance away from our performance to God's faithfulness. While self-examination has its place, the Reformed understanding recognizes that looking too intensely at our own hearts and works can lead either to despair or to false confidence. Instead, we're directed to look primarily to Christ and His finished work, finding in Him the anchor for our souls. The Problem of False Assurance One of the most sobering aspects of the Parable of the Tares is its implicit warning about false assurance. Just as the tares resemble wheat until maturity reveals their true nature, many professing Christians may outwardly appear to belong to Christ while inwardly remaining unregenerate. As Jesse observed, "The tares typically live under false assurance. They may attend church, confess belief, appear righteous, yet their hearts are unregenerate. Their faith is maybe historical, it's not saving, it could be intellectual, but it's not spiritual." This echoes Jesus' warning in Matthew 7 that many will say to Him, "Lord, Lord," but will hear the devastating response, "I never knew you." The parable teaches us that this self-deception is not always conscious hypocrisy but often the result of spiritual blindness. As Jesse noted, referencing Romans 1, Ephesians 4, and 1 Corinthians 2, the unregenerate are "not merely ignorant, they're blinded... to the spiritual truth by nature and by Satan." This understanding should prompt humble self-examination while simultaneously driving us to depend not on our own discernment but on Christ's perfect knowledge and saving work. Memorable Quotes "Assurance is the believer's arc where he sits Noah alike quiets and still in the midst of all distractions and destructions, commotions and confusions." - Thomas Brooks, quoted by Jesse Schwamb "When we are confessing, repenting, seeking like our status in Christ because of Christ, then we have confidence that we are in fact part of the children of God. When everything is stripped away from us and all we're crying out is only and completely and solely and unequivocally Jesus Christ, then I think we have great reason to understand that we should be confident in our assurance." - Jesse Schwamb "The sacrifice and the service that a husband performs for his wife, whom he loves and trusts and is committed to and knows that she's faithful and committed to him, that is not causing that faithfulness. It's not causing that trust and that love. It is the outcome and the outflow of it." - Tony Arsenal on how good works flow from assurance rather than cause it Resources Mentioned Scripture: Matthew 13:24-30, Matthew 7:21-23, Romans 1, Ephesians 4, 1 Corinthians 2, 2 Timothy 3:5 Westminster Confession of Faith: Chapter 18 "Of Assurance of Grace and Salvation" Thomas Brooks: "Precious Remedies Against Satan's Devices" YouTube Channel: My Wild Backyard Khan Academy: Educational resource recommended during "Affirmations and Denials" segment Full Transcript Jesse Schwamb: Welcome to episode 466 of the Reform the Brotherhood. I'm Jesse. Tony Arsenal: And I'm Tony. And this is the podcast with ears to hear. Hey brother. Jesse Schwamb: Hey brother. We're going back to the farm again. Can't stop. Won't stop. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. I'm stoked. [00:01:02] Discussion on the Parable of the Tears Tony Arsenal: The last week's discussion was interesting and I think, um, it's gonna be nice to sort of round it out and talk about some things you might not think about, uh, when you first read this parable. So I'm, I'm pretty excited. Jesse Schwamb: Oh, what a tease that is. So if you're wondering what Tony's talking about, we're hanging out. In Matthew 13, we are just really enjoying these teachings of Jesus. And they are shocking and they're challenging, and they're encouraging, and they're awesome, of course. And so we're gonna be finishing out the Parable of the Tears and you need to go back and listen to the previous conversation. This, this is all set up because we have some unfinished business. We didn't talk about the eschatological implications. We have this really big this, this matza ball hanging over us. So to speak, which was the, do the TAs in this parable even know that they are tarry, that they are the TAs? And so in this parable, the disciples learn that the kingdom itself, God's kingdom, the kingdom that Jesus is enumerating and explaining and bringing into being, they are learning that it's gonna be mixed in character. So that's correcting this expectation that the kingdom would be perfectly pure and would have, would evolve righteous rule over all of the unrighteous world. And so it's a little bit shocking that Jesus says, listen, they're gonna be. Tears within the wheats that is in the world, the seed that God himself, the sun has planted and that they're gonna exist side by side for a long time. And so we, they have to wait patiently and give ourselves to building up the wheats as the sons of the kingdom and be careful in their judgment, not to harm those who are believers. We covered a lot of that last week, but left so much unsaid we couldn't even fit it in. This is gonna be jam packed, so I'm gonna stop giving the tees instead start moving us into affirmations and denials. [00:02:45] Affirmations and Denials Jesse Schwamb: It's of course that time in our conversation where we either affirm with something really like or we think is undervalued or we deny against something that we don't really like or is a little overvalued. So as I usually say to you, Tony, what have you got for us? [00:03:00] YouTube Channel Recommendation: My Wild Backyard Tony Arsenal: I am affirming a YouTube channel. Um, I, I think the algorithm goes through these cycles where it wants me to learn about bugs and things because I get Okay, like videos about bugs. And so I'm, I'm interested. There's been this, uh, channel that's been coming up on my algorithm lately called My Wild Backyard, and it, it's a guy, he's like an entomologist. He seems like a, a like a legit academic, but what he does is he basically goes through and he talks about different bugs, creepy crawlies, looks at like snakes, all that kinds of stuff. It seems like his wheelhouse is the stuff that can kill you or hurt you pretty bad. Nice. But, um, it's interesting and it's. It's good educational content. It's, you know, it's not sensationalized, it's not, uh, it's not dramatized. Um, it's very real. There's occasionally an instance where he, he's not, sometimes he will intentionally get bit or stung by an, uh, by an animal to show you what it does. So he can experience and explain what he's experiencing. And sometimes he just accidentally gets bit or stung. And so those are some of the most interesting ones. So like, for example, just looking at his, his channel, his most recent, um, his most recent video is called The most venomous Desert Creatures in the US ranked the one previous was. The world's most terrifying arachni isn't a spider. And then previous to that was what happens if a giant centipede bites you? So it's interesting stuff. If you are one of those people that likes bugs and likes creepy crawlies and things, um, this is definitely the channel for you if you're not one of those people. I actually think this probably is the channel for you too. 'cause it kind of demystifies a lot of this stuff. Um. You know, for example, he, he will commonly point out that, um, spiders don't wanna bite you and they just wanna leave you alone. And, and as long as you leave them alone, even, even something like a black widow, which people are terrified of, and I think, right, rightfully so. I mean, they can be scary. Those can be scary bites. He'll, he'll handle those, no problem. And as long as he's not like putting downward pressure on them, uh, they have no interest in biting, they really just want to get away. So even seeing that kind of stuff, I think can help demystify and, and sort of, uh, make it a little bit easier. So my Wild Backyard, he can find it on YouTube. Um, he's safe for kids. He's not, he's not cussing even. I mean, I think occasionally when he gets bit on accident, you might, you know, you might have a beep here or there, but, um, he's not, he's not regularly swearing or things like that. And he does a pretty good job of adding that stuff out. Jesse Schwamb: What a great title for that, isn't it? This, yeah. Confluence of your backyard. That space that seems domesticated is also stealing its own. Right. Wild. And there's a be Yeah. Both those things coming together. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. It, it's interesting stuff and it's really good. I mean, it's really compelling videography. He does a good job of taking good photos. You'll see insects that you usually won't see, or spiders you usually won't see. Um, so yeah, it's cool. Check it out. [00:05:51] Discussion on Spiders and Creepy Crawlies Jesse Schwamb: What are you, uh, yeah, I myself would like to become more comfortable with the arachni variety. If only be, I mean, I don't know. It's, it's a weird creature, so my instinct is to be like, kill them all. And then if I can't find them and I know they're around, then we just burn everything that we own. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Jesse Schwamb: They just can't sink into the ground fast enough. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. There's something about the way they move, like their, their bodies don't move the way you would anticipate them to. Right. And it freaks, it just weirds out human sensibilities, so. Right. Jesse Schwamb: They're also like, I find them to be very surprising. Often. It's not kind of a, a very like, kind of measured welcome into your life. It's like you just go to get in the shower and there's a giant spider. Yeah. Oh yeah. Although I guess that spider, he's, he or she's probably like, whoa, where'd you come from? You know, like, yeah. He's like, I was just taking a Tony Arsenal: shower. You know what's interesting? Um, I saw another video was on a different channel, um, like common jumping spiders. Yeah. Which there are like hundreds of species of common jumping spiders. Jesse Schwamb: True. Tony Arsenal: Um, but spiders and jumping spiders specifically, actually you can form almost like a pet bond with, so like the, that jumping spider that like lives in your house and sees you every day. He, he probably knows who you are and is like, comfortable with you. And they've done studies that like you can actually domesticate jumping spiders, so they're not as foreign and alien as you might think. Although they certainly do look a little bit strange and weird. And the way their bodies move is almost designed to weird out people like it just the skinness, like the way their legs skitter and move it, it just is, it's, it triggers something very primal in us to That's wild. Be weirded out by it. Yeah. Jesse Schwamb: It's wild. I love it. That's a good, a affirmation. I'm definitely gonna check that out. I, any, anything? I really want to know what the, what like the terrifying arachni is. That's not a spider. Tony Arsenal: It's a, well, it's called a camel spider, but it's not really a spider. Oh, Jesse Schwamb: I know what you're talking about. That is kind of terrifying. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. They, they actually don't have any venom. Um, yeah. Check out the video. I mean, it, it was a good video. Um, but yeah, they're freaky looking and, um, but even that, like he was handling it No problem. Yeah. Like it wasn't, it wasn't aggressive with him once Wow. Once it figured out it wasn't, he wasn't trying to hurt him and, and that it couldn't eat him. Um, it, it just sort of like hung out until he let it go. So Jesse Schwamb: yeah, just be careful if you watch it one before bed or while in bed. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Probably not right before bed. Yeah. You'll, you'll get the creepy crawlies all night. Jesse Schwamb: I love it. But there's something somewhat. Like invigorating about that isn't there? Like it's, it's kind of a natural, just like kind of holy respect for the world that God has created, that they're these features that are so different, so wild, so interesting and a little bit frightening, but in the sense that we just draw off from them because they're so different than what we are. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Jesse Schwamb: And you know, again, there's places you would be happy to see them, but maybe your bathtub or like shooting out, like, you know, like where you live, the jumping spiders are legit and they will just pop out on you, you know? Yeah. You're just doing your own thing and then all of a sudden they're popping out. I think part of that is just that what, what gets me is like them just, you know, like I remember in my basement here, once one popped out from a rafter and then I was holding, happened to be holding up broom. My instinct just naturally was to hit it. I hit it with the broom and it went across the room and fell on an empty box and sounded like a silver dollar had hit the box. Like it was just a massive, I mean, again, like, it's like fish stories, like it's a massive spider. It was a big spider. Yeah. But you just don't expect to, to see that kind of thing. Or maybe, maybe I should, but anything that moves in that way, and again, like centipedes, man, forget it. We have those too, like in our basement. Like the long ones. Oh yeah. Yeah. That thing will come like squiggling down the wall at you, like eye level and you just wanna run up the stairs screaming like a little girl. Tony Arsenal: Yeah, you do run up the stairs screaming like a little girl. It's not that you want to, it's that usually you do. I don't mean like you specifically, although probably you specifically. Yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. There's, yeah, you just react. Well, j Jesse enough freaking out. I mean, we're getting close to Halloween, so I suppose it's appropriate, but, uh, enough of that. What are you affirming or denying today? Jesse Schwamb: Once again, without like any coordination, mine is not unlike yours. I know you and I, we talk about the world in which we live, which God has created, and this lovely command, this ammunition to take dominion over that. And one of the things I appreciate about our conversations is I think you and I often have maybe not like a novel. Kinda perspective on that, but one that I don't hear talked about often and that is this idea of taking dominion over what it is possible to know and to appropriate, and then to apply onto wisdom. [00:10:27] Affirmation: Khan Academy Jesse Schwamb: And so my information is in that realm. It's another form of taking ownership of what's in the wild of knowledge that you can possess. And again, equal parts. What an amazing time to be alive. So I'm affirming with the website, Khan Academy, which I'm sure many are familiar with. And this website offers like. Thousands of hours. Uh, and materials of free instructional videos, practice exercises, quizzes, all these like really bespoke, personalized learning modules you can create for topics like math, science, computing, economics, history, art. I think it goes like even starting at like. Elementary age all the way up into like early college can help you study for things like the SAT, the LSAT AP courses, and I was revisiting it. I have an open account with them that I keep in love and I go back to it from time to time. And I was working on some stuff where I wanted to rehearse some knowledge in like the calculus space, do some things by hand, which I haven't done. And I was just like, I'm blown away at how good this stuff is. And it's all for free. I mean, you should donate if you. You get something from this because it's a nonprofit, but the fact that there are these amazing instructional videos out there that can help us get a better understanding of either things we already know and we can rehearse the knowledge or to learn something brand new essentially for free. But somebody's done all the hard work to curate a pedagogy for you. Honestly, this is incredible. So if you haven't looked at that website in a long time or maybe ever, and you might be thinking, what, what do I really wanna learn? Lemme tell you. There's a lot of interesting stuff there and it's so approachable and it's such a good website for teaching. And if you have children in particular, even if you're looking for help, either helping them with their own coursework or maybe to have like kind of a tutor on the side, this is so good. So I can't say enough good things recently about Khan Academy 'cause it's been so helpful to me and super fun to like just sit and have your own paced study and in the private and comfort of your own home or your desk at work or wherever it is that you need to learn it. To be able to have somebody teach you some things, to do a little practice exercises, and then to go on to the world and to apply the things you've learned. Ah, it's so good. Tony Arsenal: Nice. Yeah, I've, I've never done anything with Khan Academy. I'll have to check it out. There's, um, there's some skills of needing to brush up on, uh, at work that I am probably not gonna be able to find in my normal channels, so I'll have to see if there is anything going on there. Um, but yeah, that's, that's good stuff. And it's free. Love freestyle. It's, and of course, like Jesse Schwamb: things like this are legion. So whatever it is, whatever your discipline or your field of study or work is, there's probably something out there and, uh, might, I humbly maybe encourage you to, if you use something like that and it's funded by donations, it's worth giving, I think, because again, it's just an amazing opportunity to take dominion over the knowledge that God has placed into the world and then to use it for something. I mean, I suppose even if all it is is you just wanna learn more about, like for me, I, I find like the subjects of, of math and science, like just endlessly fascinating and like the computing section I was looking at, I, I don't know much about like programming per se, but there is such a beauty. Like these underlying principles, like the, the organization of the world and the first level principles of like physics for instance, are just like baffling in the most glorious kind of way. How they all come together. So having somebody like teach you at a very like simplistic level, but allow you to grasp those concepts makes you just appreciate it leads me to doxology a lot when I see these things. So in a weird way, it ends up becoming maybe not a weird way and the right way. It becomes worship as often as I'm sitting at my desk and working through like a practice problem on like, you know, partial differential equation or, or derivatives is what I was working on today. And ah, it's just so good. I don't know, maybe I'm the only one. I, it's not be super nerdy, but you, are you ever like at your desk studying something? And it might not be like theological per se, but you just have a moment where you're overcome with some kind of worship. Do you know what I'm talking about? Tony Arsenal: Yeah, I, um, this we're the nerdiest people on the planet, but let's Jesse Schwamb: do it. Um, Tony Arsenal: when I find a really fun, interesting. Uh, Excel formula and I can get it to work right. Uh, and it, and then it just like everything unlocks. Like, I feel like I've unlocked all the knowledge in the universe. Um, but yeah, I hear you like the, the Excel thing is, is interesting to me because, like, math is just the description. Like it's just the fabric of reality is just the way we describe reality. But the fact that we can do basically just take math and do all these amazing things with it, uh, in a spreadsheet is really, uh, drives me to praise. Like I said, that's super nerdy, but it is. Oh, you're speaking my language. Jesse Schwamb: I, we have never understood each other better than just this moment right now. We, we had some real talk and, uh, a real moment. Tony Arsenal: Yes. Welcome to the Reformed math cast. Jesse Schwamb: We're so glad that you're here. Tony Arsenal: Yes. We're not gonna do any one plus one plus one equals one kinds of heretical math in, up in here. Jesse Schwamb: No. Tony Arsenal: Well, Jesse, I have a feeling that, excuse me. Wow. Jesse Schwamb: We don't edit anything out. Listen, I'm choked up too. It's it, listen, love ones just so emotional. The moment Tony and I are having it. We're gonna try our best right now to pivot to go into this text, but it's, it's tough because we were just really having something, something special. You got, you got to see there. But thank you for trying to Tony Arsenal: cover for me for that big cough. Jesse Schwamb: This is like presuppositional editing. You know, we don't actually do anything in post. It's not ex anti editing. It's, it's literally presuppositional. [00:15:52] Theological Discussion on Assurance Jesse Schwamb: But to that end, we are in Matthew 13. This is the main course. This is the reason why we're here. There's lots of reasons to worship, and one of them is to come before and admire and love our God who has given us his specific revelation and this incredible teaching of his son. And that's why we're hanging out in Matthew 13. So let me read, because we have just a couple of really sentences here, this really short parable and that way it'll catch us up and then we can just launch right back into we're, we're basically like, we're already in the rocket. Like we're in the stratosphere. We're, we're taking it all the way now. So this is Matthew chapter 13. Come hang out here. It's in the 24th verse. And this is what we find written for us. This is the word of the Lord. He put another parable before them saying. The Kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field. But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the weeds and went away. So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also, and the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds? He said to them, an enemy has done this. So the servant said to him, then, do you want us to go and gather them? But he said, no less than gathering the weeds, you root up the weed along with them. Let both grow until the harvest. And at harvest time, I will tell the reapers, gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but to gather the wheat into my barn. Tony Arsenal: That's good stuff. That's good stuff. Um, you know, we, we covered most of. I don't know, what do you wanna call it? The first order reading of the parable last week. Jesse Schwamb: Right. Tony Arsenal: On one level, the parable, uh, as Christ explains it, uh, a little bit down further in the chapter is extremely straightforward. It's almost out, it's almost an allegory. Each, each element of the parable has a, a, a figure that it's representing. And the main purpose of the story is that the world and specifically the church, um, is going to be a mixed body until the last days, until the end of time. And so there's, there's the Sons of God or the Sons of the Kingdom, uh, and then there's the sons of the evil one. And we talked a lot about how. These two figures in the parable, the, the, the weeds or the tears? Um, tears is a better word because it's a specific kind of, uh, specific kind of weed that looks very much like wheat at its immature stages. Right. And you can't actually discern the difference readily, uh, until the weed and the wheat has grown up next to each other. Um, and so, so part of the parable is that. The, the sons of the kingdom and the sons of the enemy, or the sons of the evil one, they don't look all that different in their early stages. And it's not until the sort of end culmination of their lives and the end culmination of things that they're able to be discerned and then therefore, um, the, the sons of the devil are, are reaped and they go off to their eternal judgment and the sons of the kingdom are, uh, are harvested and they go off to their eternal reward. What we wanted to talk about, and part of the reason that we split this into two episodes. Is that we sort of found ourselves spiraling or spiraling around a question about, uh, sort of about assurance, right? And false assurance, true assurance. And there is an eschatological element to this parable that I, I think we probably should at least touch on as we we go through it. Um, but I wanted to just read, um, it's been a little while since we've read the Westminster Confession on the show. So I wanted to read a little bit from the Westminster Confession. Um, this is from chapter 18, which is called of assurance of grace and salvation. This is sort of the answer to Jesse's question. Do the, do the tears know their tears or, or could they possibly think that their wheat? So this is, uh, section one of chapter eight. It says, although hypocrites and other unregenerate men may vainly deceive themselves with false hopes and carnal presuppositions or presumptions of being in favor with God in the state of salvation. Which hope of their shall perish yet such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus and love him in sincerity, endeavoring to walk in all good conscience before him may in this life be certainly assured that they are in a state of grace and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed. And so we, in the reform tradition at least, which is where we find ourselves in the reform tradition, um, we would affirm that people can. Deceive themselves into believing that they're in proper relation with God. Jesse Schwamb: Right? Tony Arsenal: And so it's not the case that, uh, that the weeds always know they're weeds or think they're weeds. It's not even the case. And this was part of the parable. It's not even the case that the weeds can be easily distinguished even by themselves from, uh, from the weeds. So there is this call, uh, and this is a biblical call. There's a call to seek out assurance and to lay claim to it. That I think is, is worth talking about. But it's not as straightforward as simple proposition as like, yeah, I'm confident. Like it's not just like, right, it's not just mustering up confidence. There's more to it than that. So that's what I wanted to start with, with this parable is just maybe talking through that assurance. 'cause I, I would hate for us to go through this parable. And sort of leave people with maybe you're a weed and you don't know it. 'cause that's not right. That's not the biblical picture of assurance. Um, that's the, that's the Roman Catholic picture of assurance that like, yeah, there's no such thing as assurance and people might not realize, but assurance of salvation is actually one of the, one of the primary things that was recovered particularly by the Reformed in the Reformation. Um, and so I think we, we often sort of overlook it as maybe a secondary thing. Um, but it really is a significant doctrine, a significant feature of reformed theology. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah. I'm glad you said that because it is a, is a clear reminder. It's a clearing call as the performers put forth that it is. Under like the purview of the Christian to be able to claim the assurance by the blood of Christ in the application of the Holy Spirit in a way that's like fully orbed and fully stopped. So you can contrast that with, and really what was coming outta Catholicism or Rome at the time. And I was just speaking with a dear brother this past week who. Grew up in the Catholic church and he was recounting how his entire religious experience, even his entire relationship, if we can call it that in a kind of colloquial sense with God, was built around this sense of deep-seated guilt and lack of true performance, such that like assurance always seemed like this really vague concept that was never really fully manifested in anything that he did. Even while the church was saying, if you do these things, if you perform this way, if you ensure that you're taking care of your immortal sins and that you're seeking confession for all the venial stuff as well, that somehow you'll be made right, or sufficiently right. But if not, don't worry about it. There's always purgatory, but there'd be some earning that you'd have to accomplish there. Everywhere along the way. He just felt beaten down. So contrasting that with what we have here. I don't believe, as you're saying, Tony, that's Jesus' intention here to somehow beat up the sheep. I, I think it is, to correct something of what's being said about the world in which we live, but it's at the same time to say that there are some that are the TAs is to say there are some that are the children of God, right? That there are some that are fully crisply, clearly identified and securely resting in that identity without any kind of nervous or anxious energy that it might fall out of that state with God that, that in fact their identity is secure. And as I've been thinking about this this week, I, I'm totally with you because I think part of this just falls, the warning here is there's a little bit of the adventures in Romans one here that's waiting for us, that I like what you said about this idea of, of self deception and maybe like a. Subpart to this question would be, are the, are the terrors always nefarious in their lack of understanding? So we might say there's some that are purposely disruptive, that the enemy himself is, is promulgating or trying to bring forward his destruction, his chaos by way of these tears. But are, are there even a subgroup or another group, uh, co-terminus group or, you know, one in the same hierarchy where there's just a lot of self deception? I, I think that's probably where I fall in terms of just trying to explain that. Yes, I think it was present here is a real quantity, a real identity where they're self-deceived. Imagining themselves to be part of God's people, yet lacking that true saving faith. And this just, I'm gonna go in a couple places where I think everybody would expect in the scriptures, if we go to like Ephesians four, they're darkened and they're understanding alienated from the life of God because of the ignorance that is in them. And one Corinthians, when Paul writes, the natural person does not accept the things of the spirit of God, and he's not able to understand them because they're spiritually discerned. And then the book that follows the God of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers. And of course then like everything in Romans one, so I bring all that up because E, even at the end, we're gonna get there, the Es, this eschatological reality when you know God is separating out the sheep and the goats. Still, we find this kind of same trope happening there. But the unregenerate, what I'm reading from this. Importantly is that the unregenerate, they're not merely ignorant, they're blinded, as we all were on point to the spiritual truth. Yeah. By nature and by Satan. That that is also his jam. He loves to blind, to lie, to kill, steal, and destroy. So thus, even if they're outwardly belonging to the church, they're outwardly belonging to the world. They're outwardly belonging to some kind of profession. They cannot perceive the reality of their lost condition apart from divine illumination. Who can, that might be stating the obvious, but I think that's like what we're getting after here. I I, I don't know if there's like any kind of like conspiracy here. It's simply that that is the natural state of affairs. So why wouldn't we expect that to be reflected again in the world and that side by side, we're gonna find that shoulder to shoulder. We are, there are the children of God, and there are those that remain blind and ignorant to the truth. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. And, and you know, it, again, I, I, um, I don't know why I'm surprised. Uh, I certainly shouldn't be surprised. Um. But Matthew is like a masterful storyteller Yeah. Here, right. He's a masterful, um, editor and narrator. Um, and he's, he's put together here, of course, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Um, and, and there's some good reason to think in the text we're not gonna get too, in the nitty gritty here, there's some good reason to think in the text that Christ actually delivered these parables as a set as well. So it's not just, it's not just Matthew coating these, although it could be. Um, but it, it seems like these were all delivered probably as like a common set of parables. And the reason I say that is because when we start to look at this parable and the one we previously went through, the parable of the soils, um, or the parable of the sower. Um, what we see is the answer to your question of why do some people, you know, why are some people deceived? Well, yes, there is secondary causation. The devil deceives them. They blind themselves. They, you know, suppress the, the, the truth and right unrighteousness. But on a, on a primary causation level, um, God is the one who is identi, is, is identifying who will be the sons of the, you know, devil and the sons of the kingdom. Mm-hmm. This is another, and yet another example of election is that the, the good sower sowed good seed, and the good seed was the elect and the enemy. Although in God's sovereignty, God is the one who determines this. The enemy is the one who sows the reprobate. Right? So all, all men. Star, and this is, I, I guess I didn't really intend to go here, but this is good evidence in my mind for, um, infra laps, Arianism versus super laps. Arianism, right infra laps, arianism or sub lapse. Arianism would say that God decrees, uh, to permit the fall and then he decrees to redeem some out of the fall, right? Logically speaking, not temporally speaking. Super laps. Arianism, which is the minority. It's the smaller portion of, of the historic tradition, although modern times, I think it's a little bit louder and a little bit more vocal, but super relapses. Arianism would argue that God, um, decrees. Sort of the, the decree of election and reprobation is logically prior to the decree of the fall. And so in, in that former or in the super laps area model, the fall becomes a means by which the reprobate are justly condemned. Not, um, not the cause of their condemnation, but a way to sort of justify the fact that they will be separated from God, right? Because of their reprobate. [00:28:36] Exploring the Parable of the Wheat and the Tares Tony Arsenal: I know that there's, there's probably some super lab streams that would nuance that differently and some that are probably just screaming straw man, uh, in a coffee shop somewhere and, and people are thinking you're crazy. Um, but by and large, that's actually a rel, a relatively accepted, um, explanation of it. There are certainly potential problems with, uh, sub, sub lapse agonism as well. But in this, in this parable, what we see is the people who are, um, who are elect, are sowed into the field and the people who are reprobate are also sowed into the field. And so God saves the people who are sewed into the field that are, they elect, he saves them out of this now mixed world by waiting and allowing them to grow up next to the reprobate, um, in sort of this mixed world setting. And then he redeems them out of that. Um, and, and, and so we have to sort of remember. Although it is a pretty strict, sort of allegorical type of parable, it's still a parable. So we shouldn't, we shouldn't always draw like direct one-to-one comparisons here. It's making a theological point, but, um, but it's important for us to re remember that, that it is ultimately, it is God who determines who is the elected and who is not. But it's, it's our sin. It's the devil deceiving us. It's the secondary causes that are responsible for the sons of the devil, right? It, the, the men come to the, to the sower and say, who is done this? He says it was an enemy. Jesse Schwamb: Right? Right. Tony Arsenal: He doesn't say like, well, actually I put the seed there and so, you know, I'm, I, it's not an equal distribution. He's not sowing good seed and bad seed. He sows the good seed and the devil sows the bad seed. [00:30:24] Theological Implications and Assurance Tony Arsenal: Um, and, and that's a, I think that's an important theological point to make. And as far as assurance goes. We, we can't depend on our ability to perceive or sort of like discern election in a raw sense, right? We have to observe certain kinds of realities around us. Um, and, and primarily we have to depend on the mercy and, and saving faith that God gives us. That's right. Um, you know, our, our assurance of faith does not primarily come from fruit checking. Um, we have to do that. It's important, we're commanded to do it, and it serves as an important secondary evidence. But a, a, a person who wants to find assurance. Of salvation should first and foremost look to the promises of Christ and then depend on them. Um, and, and so that's, I think all of that's kind of wrapped up into this parable. It's, it's, it's amazing to me that we're only like two parables in, and we're already, you know, we're already talking about super lapse arianism and sub lapse arianism, and it's, it's amazing. I, I love this. I'm loving this series so far, and we're barely scratching the surface. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, it's all there. I think you're right to call that out. It strikes me, like, as you were speaking, it really just hit me higher that I think you're right. Really the foundation on this, like the hidden foundation is assurance and it's that assurance which splits the groups, or at least divides them, or it gives us, again, like the distinct, kind, discrete compartments or components of each of them. So. Again, I think it's help saying, 'cause we wanna be encouraging. That's, that's our whole point here is when the Apostle Peter says, be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and choosing of you. That herein we have the scripture saying to us, time and time again, be sure of what God has done in your life. Be confident in that very thing. And so if assurance is, as we're saying, that's the argument hypothesis we're making. That's the critical thing here. [00:32:11] False Assurance and True Faith Jesse Schwamb: Then the division between the children of God and the children of the devil is false versus true assurance. So the tears, I think what we're saying here, basically they typically live under false asserts. They may attend church, confess, belief, appear righteous, yet their hearts are unregenerate. Their faith is maybe historical. It's not saving, it could be intellectual, but it's not spiritual. And of course, like just a few chapters before this, we hope those famous verses where Jesus himself drops the bomb and says, listen, many of you, he's talking to the people, the, the disciples around him, the crowds that we're gathering and thronging all about. He says, many of you're gonna say to me, Lord, Lord, do we not prophesy your name? Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Jesse Schwamb: And then I will declare to them, I never knew you depart from me. These are not people who knew they were false, they thought they belonged to Christ. Their shock on judgment day is gonna reveal this profound self-deception. And that self-deception is wrapped up in a false type of assurance, a false righteousness. So I think one of the things that we can really come to terms with and grab a hold of is the fact that when we are. Confessing, repenting seeking like our status in Christ because of Christ. Then we have confidence that we are in fact part of the children of God. When everything is stripped away from us and all we're crying out is only and completely and solely and unequivocally, Jesus Christ, then I think we have great reason to understand that we should be confident in our assurance. [00:33:38] Historical Perspectives on Assurance Jesse Schwamb: You know, I was reading this week from Thomas Brooks and did incidentally come across this, a quote, an assurance and reminded me of this passage, and here's what he writes. You know, of course he's writing in like 16 hundreds, like mid 16 hundreds. It's wild, of course, but we shouldn't be surprised that what you're about to hear sounds like it could have been written today for us. In this conversation, but, uh, he writes, assurance is the believer's arc where he sits Noah alike quiets and still in the midst of all distractions and destructions, commotions and confusions. However, most Christians live between fears and hopes and hang, as it were, between heaven and hell. Sometimes they hope that their state is good. At other times they fear that their state is bad. Now they hope that all is well and that it shall go well. Well with them forever. Then they fear that they shall perish by the hand of such corruption or by the prevalency of such and such temptation. They're like a ship and a storm tossed here and there, and. I think that he's right about that. And I think the challenge there is to get away from that. I love where it starts, where he says, what wonderful turn of phrase assurance is the believer's arc or Noah, like, you know, we're sitting and the commotion, the destructions, the commotion, the confusions of all the world. That's why to get this right, to be encouraged by this passage, to be challenged by it is so critical because we're all looking for that arc. We all want to know that God has in fact arrested us so completely that no matter what befalls us, that everything, as we talked about before, all of our, all of the world, in fact is subservient to our salvation. But that's a real thing that cannot be snatched away from us because God has ordained it and intended it, built it, created it, and brought it to pass. And so I think that's all like in this passage, it's all the thing that's being called us to. So. I, I don't want us to get like too hung up. It's a good question, I think to ask and answer like we were trying to talk about here, but you're right. If we focus too much just on the like, let's gaff for these tears. Who are they? Like let's people's, like Readers Digest in People's magazine these tears. Like who are they? Do we have a list of them? Who do we think they are? How could it be me? Is it really me? Am I, am I anxious about that? Really what we should be saying is following what Peter calls us to do that is to be all the more diligent to make certain about his calling and his choosing. So even there like our emphasis and focus, isn't it like you're saying Tony about like, let me do some fruit inventory. I got like a lot of good bananas. I got a lot of ripe pears. Like, look at the tree. This, this is good. Even there, the emphasis is to turn our eyes on Jesus, as it were, and to make certain about his work, his calling and his choosing of us. And I think when we do that, we're falling down in worship and in yielding and submission to him, rightfully acknowledging that the righteousness of Christ is the one that is always in every way alien to us and imputed. And that is what makes us sons and daughters of God, that good seed sown by Jesus himself. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. Yeah. I just wanna read, I wanna um, round out a few more paragraphs here out of the Westminster confession because I do think, you know, when we even talk about assurance, we're not even always all saying the exact same thing. And I think that's important because when we talk about assurance of faith, we need to be understanding that this is the rightful, not only the rightful possession of all Christians, but it's the rightful responsibility of all Christians to seek it. So here's, here's section two of that same chapter. It says, this certainty referring to assurance. This certainty is not a bare conjectural and probable persuasion grounded upon a, a fallible hope, but an infallible assurance of faith founded upon the divine truth of the promises of salvation, the inward evidence of those graces unto which these promises are made, the testimony of the spirit of adoption, witnessing with our hearts that we are the children of God, which spirit is the earnest of our inheritance, whereby we are sealed to the day of redemption. So. One of the, the things that I think is, is important here is people read this and say the inward evidences of those graces unto which these promises are made. They read that and they think that it's referring to like good work and like spiritual renewal, but it's, it's not, it's the inward evidence of those graces unto which of the promises are made. So it's this inner, inner renewal. It's the spirit testifying to our spirit. And then, um, chapter, uh, section three here, it says. This infallible assurance doth not so belong to the essence of faith, but that a true believer may wait long and conflict with many difficulties before he be partaker of it, yet being enabled by the Spirit to know the things which are freely given of God. He may without extraordinary revelation there, right there is response to Roman Catholicism in the right use of ordinary means at attain there unto. And therefore, it is the duty of everyone to give all diligence, to make his calling and election. Sure. And thereby his heart may be enlarged in peace and in joy in the Holy Ghost, in love and thankfulness to God and in strength and cheerfulness in the duties of obedience. The proper fruits of this assurance so far is it from inclining men to looseness? Right. [00:38:53] The Role of Good Works in Assurance Tony Arsenal: So we often hear and and I, I think there are good, um, there are good reformed Christians that put. The emphasis of assurance on, or they, they put an overemphasis, in my opinion, on how good works function within our assurance. Right. They, they often will ask us to look to our good fruit as sort of, not the grounding, but as a strong evidence. But at least in terms of the confession here, the cheerfulness in the duties of obedience is the fruit of assurance. Jesse Schwamb: That's right. Not Tony Arsenal: the cause or grounding of assurance. So rather than, this is what this last line says. It says so far, is it from inclining? Mental looseness assurance should drive us to obedience and fruitfulness in Christ. And so yes, it is in a certain sense an evidence because if that fruitfulness and obedience is absent from our lives, there's a good reason for us to question whether this infallible assurance is present in our lives. But the assurance is what drives us to this obedience. Um. You know, like, I think you could use the analogy of like a married couple. A married couple who is very secure in their relationship and in their, uh, love for one another and their faithfulness to each other is more likely to cheerfully serve and submit to each other and to respect each other and to sacrifice for each other than a couple that's maybe not so sure that the other person has their best interest in mind. That's or maybe isn't so sure that this thing is gonna work out. I think that's the same thing, like the sacrifice and the service that a husband, uh, performs for his wife, whom he loves and trusts and is committed to and knows that she's faithful and committed to him. That is not causing that faithfulness. It's not causing that trust and that love. It is the outcome and the outflow of it. It's good evidence that that love exists, but it's not caused by it. And assurance here is the same kind of dynamic assurance is not. We can't assure ourselves of our salvation by doing good works. No matter how many good works you do, there are lots and lots of people who are not saved and who will not be saved, who do perfectly good works in appearance. Right. They have the, the outward appearance of godliness, but lack its power. Right, right. Out of right outta Paul, writing to Timothy there. Yes. So that's, that's important for us as we continue to parse all this out, is yes, the fruit is present. Yes. The wheat is to, is discernible from the tears by its final, fruitful status. Right? It grows up to be grain, which is fruitful rather than weeds and tears, which are only good to be burned, but it is not the fruit that causes it to be wheat. It's wheat that causes the fruit to grow. If, if it wasn't wheat, it wouldn't grow fruit, not because the fruit makes it grain, but because it is in fact wheat to start with. Jesse Schwamb: Right. Yeah, that's right on. So I think like by summation we're kind of saying. At least the answer to this question. You know, do the tears know that they're tears? Yes and no. Some do, some don't. I think, yes, there are some that are gonna be consciously hypocritical, willfully rejecting Christ while pretending for worldly gain. I think that's, that's certainly plain to see. And at the same time, do the tears know the tears? Sometimes? No. There's self deceived under spiritual blindness and they have some kind of false assurance. And this idea of, again, coming in repentance before God and seeking humbly to submit to him is I think one of those signs of that kind of true assurance, not a false assurance. And you already stole where I was thinking of Tony by going to Second Timothy again. Thomas Brooks in precious remedies against Saint's device is one of like the best. Books ever. I know that he's really outspoken. He loves to harp on the fact that one of Satan's most effective snares is to make men and women content with a form of godliness without its power. Yeah. And that's often what we're talking about here, I think, is that Satan loves to fish in the shallow waters a profession. And really that can happen in any kind of church or religious culture, that there is this shallowness where that loves religious appearance, prayer, knowledge fellowship, but not the Christ behind them. And so whether we're looking to somebody like Brooks or Jonathan Edwards and we're trying to parse out what are our true affections, not in a way again, that somehow leans well, I feel enough, then somehow that justifies, not inwardly, but again, definitely trying to understand our conviction for conversion tears. For repentance that. Really what we're after is not like just the blessings of Christ, but Christ himself, which I think really leads us to this eschatological perspective then to round all everything out because you know, we talked about before, there's an old phrase, it's like everywhere. A lot of people talk in heaven. Not everybody's going there. And so this idea of like, people will talk about be so great to be there and it's sometimes this, the heaven that they speak of is like absent Christ, you know, as if like, if Christ wasn't there, at least in their perspective, it still wouldn't be half bad. And so I think that does lead us to understand what is this in gathering? What is this? You know, bringing everything into the barn and burning everything else up. And like you just said, if at the beginning you cannot tell the injurious weed aside from that beautiful kernel of wheat that's coming up, but if in the end you can see what's happening in the end, then that brings us all to consummation. What does it mean in this parable? Tony Arsenal: Yeah. [00:44:19] Eschatological Judgment and Assurance Tony Arsenal: And, and I think this actually sort of forces us to grapple a little bit with, with another sort of persnickety feature of this parable that, that I think, I think personally sometimes gets overlooked is we are very quick to talk about this parable to be about the church. And it is. Right. And, and there's reasons to talk like that. But when Christ explains the parable, he doesn't say the field is the church. He says the field is the world. Right. And so we have to, we have to, we have to do a little bit of, um. We have to do a little bit of hermeneutics to understand that this is also speaking of the church, right? It's not as though the church is some hermetically sealed off body that the dynamics of the world and the, the weed and the tears like that, that doesn't happen in the church. But when we talk about the end of the age here, he says the son of man will send his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom. All causes of sin in all lawbreakers. Right? So, so the, the final eschatological judgment, it's all encompassing. And I dunno, maybe I'm, maybe I'm becoming a little bit post mill with this, um, the, the world is already the Kingdom of Christ. Right? Right. That's right. It, it's not, it's not just the church on earth that is the kingdom of Christ. And so when we talk about this eschatological reaping, um, what we see is, is very straightforward. There are those who are, uh, who belong to Christ, who were sown by him into the world, who were, uh, were tended by him, who were protected by him, who he intended to harvest from the very beginning, right? The good sower sows good seed into the field, and that good seed is and necessarily will be wheat. It's not as though, um, it's not as though, and again, this is one of those ways where like the parables sometimes, uh, are telling a little bit of a different story. Even though they're sharing some themes in the first parable, in the parable of the sower, he sows the same seed into the world. But the seed in that first parable is not the, is not the person receiving the seed. The seed is the one is the word of God. Yes. And so the word of God is sewn promiscuously, even to those who will be hard soil and who will be rocky soil and have thorns. The word of God is, is sewn to all of those people. Across the whole world in this parable. The seed that is the good seed that is sown is and always was going to be weed that was, or wheat, which was going to grow into fruitfulness and be gathered into the barn. Right? That was a foregone conclusion. The, the, when the sower decided to sow seed, all of that said he is the one who did that. He's the one that chose that. He's the one that will bring us to completion, right? And then also the ones that are not of his kingdom, the sons of the devil, they will also be reaped at the end. Actually we'll be reaped before the, you know, they'll be reaped and gathered and, and tossed into the furnace before the sons of the kingdom are gathered together. Jesse Schwamb: Right. Tony Arsenal: So it, again, this is a parable and even though this is Christ's explanation of the parable, I don't think that Christ was intending to give us like a strict timeline. Right. I don't think he was encouraging us to draw a chart and try to map out where this all happens in order. Um, I do think it's relevant that, that, at least in the explanation of this parable, I mentioned it last week, that, that the rap, the rapture is actually the wicked being raptured. They're the ones that are gathered and taken out of the world and cast into the fiery furnace before the, before the righteous are gathered together and, and brought into Christ Barn. Jesse Schwamb: Yeah, there's a great unmasking that's happening here in this final stage. I mean, that's critically the point. I think there's a lot of stuff we could talk about open handedly and kind of hypothesize or theorize what it means. But what is plain, I think, is that there's this unmasking, this unveiling of the reality of the light of Christ's perfect judgment. But that judgment is for both parties Here it is coming and what was hidden beneath outward religion or more, a facade is gonna be revealed with eternal clarity. That's just the reality. It is coming. So in some ways it pairs. I think at least well in this, well purposely of course in this teaching because Jesus is saying, hold on, like we talked about last time. Do this is not for you to judge. You are ill-equipped. You are not skilled enough to discern this. And therefore though, you wanna go in hot and get spicy and try to throw out all the weeds. Wait for the right time. Wait for the one like you're saying, Tony has from all of eternity past intended for it to be this way. Super intending his will over all things in the casting of the seed. And as we say, Philippians, of course, finishing that good work, which was started, he will finish. It is God's two finish again. And so he says, listen, that day is coming. There's gonna be a great unmasking. Uh, get ready for it. And the scriptures bear witness to that in so many other ways. So. There's such a journey in these like handful of verses, isn't there? I mean, it's really wild. The things that not like we come up with or we read into the text, but as we sit in it a little bit, as we just spend even a cursory amount of time letting it pour over us, that we find there's like a conviction in a weight in these things that are beyond just the story and beyond just even like the illustrations themselves. What we find is, again, it's as if Jesus himself in his brilliance, of course, through the power of the Holy Spirit, is illuminating the mind in the spirit to open up our conception, understanding of the kingdom of God by bringing it to us through his perspective in our own terms, of course, which is both our language and like the context of the world in which we live, and that simple example of farming and seed. And again, even just that there are these interest weeds that look like wheat. I went on this like rabbit hole this week and did a lot of research on like tears and Yeah, like especially people in like the Midwest United States who like know a lot more about agriculture than I do have a lot to say about this. It's not just like we shouldn't be surprised like. Isn't it incredible that like there are actually weeds out there that look like, yeah, it's a brilliance of just knowing that this teaching is so finely tuned. Like we can even just talk about that. Like the world is finely tuned. This teaching is so finely tuned to these grant theological principles that we can at one point be children and appropriate them enough and assume them into our own intellectual capacity so that we can trust in them. And yet even as like adults with like, let's say like the greatest gift of intellectual capacity, still find that we cannot get to the bottom of them because they're so deep. They draw us into these really, really grand vistas or really like extremely deep cold theological waters. And I just find. That I am in awe then of what Jesus is saying here because there's a truth for us in assurance that we ought to clinging to. And there's also like stuff that we should come back to. We shouldn't just stop it here and put it out of our minds until the next time we, we want to just be stimulated by something that's interesting or that we want to just grab somebody and shake them cage style, cage two style and say like, look at this great thing that I just learned about this, this particular parable. But instead, there's so much here for us to meditate on. And in that, I think rather than the Christian finding fear in this parable, what they should find is great comfort. We should be Noah alike sitting in the ark saying, it is well with my soul. And our reason for that is because we know God has cast a seed through his son Jesus Christ. And to be a child, a child of God is the greatest thing in all the universe. Tony Arsenal: Yeah. And I, I think that, um, transitions nicely to, uh, I'll make this point quick because we're coming up on time here. Um. [00:52:04] Christ's Divinity and Sovereignty Tony Arsenal: The other little subtle thing that Christ does here in this parable is he, he absolutely asserts his divinity and sovereignty overall creation. Jesse Schwamb: That's right. Yep. Tony Arsenal: Right. It, it's almost like a throw. There's a couple little like lines that are almost throwaway lines, right in the, the first, the beginning of the parable here. Um, the parable itself, uh, he says, um, the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed into a field. And then he says, um, the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, right? And then when he interprets the parable, he says, well, the, the servants are, the field is the world, right? So he's the master of the world, and the servants are the angels. So he's the master of the angels. And then if, if there was any doubt left in your mind. Says in verse 41, the son of man will send his angels. That's right. And they will gather out of his kingdom, which is the world, all the causes of sin and all lawbreakers, and throw them into the fiery furnace. Right? So we have this, this robust picture that there is election. The the good sower sows good seed into the world, and the good seed will necessarily grow into wheat and will be preserved and protected and ultimately harvest Well, why can we have assurance that that will be the case? Well, because the master of the house is the son of man who is the Lord of the universe and the creator of all things. And his angels do his will. That's right. So, so the whole thing is all wrapped up. Why can we have assurance? Because God is a good God and Christ is a good savior, and the savior of the world is the creator of the universe, right? If any of those facts were not true. Then we couldn't have assurance. If God wasn't good, then maybe he's lying. If Christ wasn't the savior of the world or the God of the universe, the creator of the universe, then he wasn't worthy to be the one who saves. All of this is wrapped up in the parables, and this is what's so exciting about the parables. In most of the instances that we look up, especially of the sort of longer parables, these kinds of dynamics are there where it's not just a simple story making a simple point, it is making one primary point. Usually there's one primary point that a, that a parable is making. But in order to make that primary point, there's all these supporting points and supporting things that have to be the case. If the, if the good sower was not the master of the house and a, a competent, uh, a competent landowner who knew the difference between wheat and weeds, even at the early stage, right? His, his servants go and go, what happened? What's with all of these weeds? They can tell the difference somehow, Jesse Schwamb: right? Tony Arsenal: He's immediately able to go, well, this was an enemy. Jesse Schwamb: That's right. Tony Arsenal: And while they're bumbling around going, should we go rip it all up and start over? He is like, no, no, no, no. Just wait until, wait until it all grows up together. And when that happens, the Reapers will come and they'll take care of it and they'll do it in my direction, right? Because he's competent, he's the savior, he's the creator, he's the good master, he is the good sower. Um, we can be confi

Jesus explains why the Gospel yields such different results through the Parable of the Sower. The focus is not on the quality of the soil (the human heart), but on the life-creating power of the Seed, which is the Word of God. The parable shows how this powerful Word is received or rejected in a fallen world, revealing that where faith takes root, it is the Seed of the Gospel, not the goodness of the ground, that does the saving work.  The Rev. David Boisclair, senior pastor at Our Redeemer Lutheran Church in Overland, MO, joins the Rev. Dr. Phil Booe to study Matthew 13:1-23.  To learn more about Our Redeemer, visit ourredeemerstl.org. The Gospel of Matthew bridges Old and New Testaments, presenting Jesus as the promised Messiah who fulfills the Law we could never keep and establishes His kingdom of grace for all nations. Written by a tax collector transformed by pure grace, Matthew reveals Christ as the true Son of David and Emmanuel (God with us) who challenges us with the crushing demands of the Law in His Sermon on the Mount to the sweet comfort of the Gospel in His death and resurrection. From royal genealogy to glorious resurrection, this verse-by-verse study proclaims the One who conquered sin, death, and the devil for us, now delivering forgiveness, life, and salvation through Word and Sacrament as He remains with His church always, even to the end of the age.  Thy Strong Word, hosted by Rev. Dr. Phil Booe, pastor of St. John Lutheran Church of Luverne, MN, reveals the light of our salvation in Christ through study of God's Word, breaking our darkness with His redeeming light. Each weekday, two pastors fix our eyes on Jesus by considering Holy Scripture, verse by verse, in order to be strengthened in the Word and be equipped to faithfully serve in our daily vocations. Submit comments or questions to: thystrongword@kfuo.org.

Wednesday, 22 October 2025   who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it. Matthew 13:46   “who, having found one highly valued pearl, having departed, he has sold all – as many as he had, and he purchased it” (CG).   In the previous verse, Jesus began the parable of the Pearl of Great Price. That continues with the words, “who, having found one highly valued pearl.”   A new word, polutimos, highly valued, is seen. It is derived from polus, much or many, and timé, a value. Thus, this signifies something of great value, a large sum of money, great honors, etc. Continuing, Jesus says, “having departed, he has sold all.”   Another new word is seen, pipraskó, to dispose of as merchandise or into slavery. One can see him taking his wares and selling them so that he has enough to make the purchase of this one pearl. He sold, “as many as he had, and he purchased it.”   The pearl merchant was willing to make this complete exchange to obtain this single pearl, knowing its value was more than what he already possessed. He saw the object, he understood its immense value, and he was willing to give up all else to obtain it.   As with the previous parable, this cannot be speaking merely of salvation during this dispensation, as pretty much every commentary states. If it is, the lesson would have to be stretched to the utmost extreme.   It is Jesus who purchased our salvation for us (1 Corinthians 6:20, 7:23, Ephesians 1:14, etc.), not the other way around. The parable follows the same pattern as noted in the previous parable –   *Another parable He near-set them, saying, “It is likened, the kingdom of the heavens, to a man having sown good seed in his field.” *Again, the kingdom of the heavens, it is like treasure having been concealed in the field, which a man, having found, he concealed... * Again, the kingdom of the heavens, it is like a man, a merchant...   Jesus is the merchant. In this case, a pearl merchant. The pearl is the effect of the gospel, meaning those who live by faith, trusting the Lord alone for their salvation. This is why Paul could say that even Abraham was included in the gospel –   “And the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ‘In you all the nations shall be blessed.' 9 So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.” Galatians 3:8, 9   It explains why the “gospel” could be preached to Israel even before Jesus completed His work (as in Matthew 4:23, etc.). Jesus was willing to give up all He had to make this purchase –   “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus, 6 who, being in the form of God, did not consider it robbery to be equal with God, 7 but made Himself of no reputation, taking the form of a bondservant, and coming in the likeness of men. 8 And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross.”  Philippians 2:5-8   It is through this that He made His purchase. This is just what it says, using the same Greek word, in 1 Corinthians 7:23, “You have been purchased [agorazó] at a price” (NAB).   A point about pearls should be considered. They are taken from shellfish, something deemed unclean under the Law of Moses. The point is that in a world full of unclean individuals, either for being condemned apart from the law or those who are condemned because of the law, God is looking for those of faith.   These comprise the pearl that is precious in God's eyes. It is not those who are self-boasting and proud of their deeds under the law that God is pleased with. God has set the parameters, and He has confirmed them in His use of metaphor. Be sure to be a person of faith. This is what God is most pleased with.   Life application: As with the previous parable, this analysis bucks against almost all others. The scholar John Gill (1697-1771) seems to have figured this out, but what he penned is otherwise pretty much ignored.   But it is unthinkable to equate what is offered freely to believers with what is stated here. It is Jesus who does the work. It is we who are prized above all in His eyes. For whatever unimaginable reason, the Bible reveals it is so. Even David struggled with this –   “What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him?” Psalm 8:4   We cannot do a change-up switcheroo in the subject of these parables without coming to a faulty conclusion about what is being said. Jesus clearly stated in Matthew 13:37 that the Sower is the Son of Man.   Taking these two parables and changing the subject confuses the lessons. Jesus is the reason for Scripture's presentation. We are the reason Jesus came. Were it not so, He would have no need to depart heaven, giving up all. There would be no point in it.   Instead of trying to earn God's favor through the incorrectly taught explanation of these parables, stop and consider your value to God when you believe the gospel. How can it be that He would find those of faith so precious? And yet, it is so.   When you feel that you are lacking value, all you need to do is remember what Jesus Christ was willing to do to purchase you back from Satan's power. Be assured and be reassured that you, because of your faith in Him, are a part of the pearl of great price.   This perfectly describes why the gates of the New Jerusalem are pearls, as noted in Revelation 21:21. They are a reminder of this fact.   Heavenly Father, we cannot imagine what our value is in relation to what Jesus was willing to give up in order to buy us back to You. Whatever it is, may we be people of ongoing faith, accepting that You have done it and so it must be. Thank You for the care and attention that You have lavished upon us. Amen.

Part two of the Mysterious Kingdom Parables series examines the Parable of the Sower and the different types of soil where the seed fell. The mystery revealed in this message centers on the response of an unconverted world to the Word of God. Can you see it?

The thorns in Luke press and threaten. They are the self-referential swarm posing as a flock: the so-called “community” that gathers to its own voice, circling death, mistaking its stench for sweetness, even as it strangles the one bearing the seed.These are the thorns.But the roots are of another kind. They spring up from the seed itself. A daughter of Israel, fruit of the Master's vine, afflicted for twelve years, who cannot live apart from him. She is not self-referential. She does not reach out to harm, nor to press her point, nor to insist upon herself. Though she is a daughter, she does not presume the right to cross the boundary set by what is sacred. She does not assume she is equal, much less above.The threat that governs this boundary is the same one given to the priest in the wilderness:“The outsider who draws near shall be put to death.” (Numbers 3:10, 38; 17:13).It is the earth of creation itself under his Command. Life and death hinge on reference to him, which becomes submission. Absent reference, submission collapses into the “crowd of thorns”—the ʿedah swarming carrion, the lynch mob, the beloved neo-pagan “community.” The priest stands at the edge of that body: assigned to draw near, yet living under the same threat that borders the sanctuary. For proximity to what is holy is not possession of it. To approach on one's own terms is to perish; to be drawn near in obedience is to live.Pressure exposes the heart of this law. In Numbers, Balaam's donkey pressed his foot against the wall because she saw what he could not. The pressure revealed the blindness of the man and the sight of the donkey. In Luke, the crowd presses upon Jesus, but he perceives what they cannot: the deliberate touch of the one who steps forward in faith. The same pressure that blinds the self-referential reveals the one who truly sees.The thorns in Luke do not understand this law. They confuse nearness with ownership and approach with entitlement. Like the outsider who encroaches upon the altar, they rush forward without Command: pressing, consuming, swarming as if circling carrion. Their nearness is self-initiated; therefore, they take life.But the daughter, like the biblical root sprung from the seed of the Sower, is drawn near by the Command. She approaches not to take but to receive. Unlike the thorns, she does not presume to cross the boundary by “right.” She draws near as an offering, not as an invader.Now she stands in the center, and he is her circumference: her shield in the time of strife.Hear, O daughter of Israel: draw near and see.Do not be afraid.The Lord is your Shepherd.This week, I discuss Luke 8:43-45.8:43 And a woman who had suffered from a discharge of blood for twelve years, and could not be healed by anyone, came [προσελθοῦσα / ק-ר-ב (qof-resh-bet)] up behind him and touched [ἥψατο / ק-ר-ב (qof-resh-bet)] the fringe of his cloak, and immediately her discharge of blood stopped. 45 And Jesus said, “Who is the one who touched [ἁψάμενός / ק-ר-ב (qof-resh-bet)] me?” And while they were all denying it, Peter said, “Master, the people are crowding and pressing [ἀποθλίβουσιν / ל-ח-ץ (lamed-ḥet-ṣade)] in on you.”ק-ר-ב (qof-resh-bet) / ق-ر-ب (qāf-rāʾ-bāʾ )ἅπτω (hapto)“So you shall appoint Aaron and his sons that they may keep their priesthood, but the outsider who comes near [הקרב (ha-qareb)] shall be put to death.” (Numbers 3:10)“But those who were to camp before the tabernacle eastward, before the tent of meeting toward the sunrise, were Moses and Aaron and his sons, performing the duties of the sanctuary for the obligation of the sons of Israel; but the outsider who comes near [הקרב (ha-qareb)] shall be put to death.” (Numbers 3:38)“Everyone who comes near [הקרב (ha-qareb)], who comes near [הקרב (ha-qareb)] to the tabernacle of the Lord, must die. Are we to perish completely?” (Numbers 17:13)In Numbers 3:10, 3:38, and 17:13, the Hebrew term הקרב (ha-qareb), from the root ק-ר-ב (qof-resh-bet), “to draw near, approach”, defines the law of approach that governs creation. The warning that “the outsider who draws near shall be put to death” does not protect tribe, identity, or privilege; it names the biblical principle of the open field itself.The sanctuary, like God's field, is an open expanse, not an enclosure. Yet, his Command governs its openness. Life exists only by reference to his instruction. His Command orders the heavens and the earth.The priest stands at the edge of God's field, where hearing and obedience hold the ground together. To cross without hearing is to move without reference, to “gather” for God's judgment; to press, as the thorns do, devouring what cannot be possessed. The danger is not in being outside, but in stepping forward on one's own terms, mistaking freedom for ownership. Even the appointed priest lives under this sentence. Closeness is not possession. The clearest lexical example of this in Luke is Judas:“While he was still speaking, behold, a crowd came, and the one called Judas, one of the twelve, was preceding them; and he approached [ἤγγισεν engisen / ק-ר-ב] Jesus to kiss him.” (22:47)Judas embodies unauthorized closeness, the New Testament fulfillment of הקרב (ha-qareb) in Numbers: the one who draws near and dies. Luke 22:47 is the clearest example of a self-referential disciple.The tabernacle, like the open field, is the earth of creation under his Command: its boundaries invisible yet absolute, its center defined by hearing. To be drawn near by instruction is to live within the Lord's circumference; to come near unbidden is to dissolve into dust. Life and death hinge upon reference within the open field of his Command.προσέρχομαι (proserchomai)“Then the daughters of Zelophehad, the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, from the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph, came near [ותקרבנה (wattiqrabnah)]; and these are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, and Hoglah, and Milcah, and Tirzah.” (Numbers 27:1)Here, ק-ר-ב (qof-resh-bet) indicates a rare instance of righteous petition. In Numbers, the daughters of Zelophehad step forward to the entrance of the tent: not to make a claim, but to submit. This reflects the function of the root itself, in which the one who draws near becomes interfunctional with the offering. Their nearness stands in sharp contrast to the ʿedah of Korah, who also “came near” (yiqrebu) and were swallowed by the earth. Where the rebellious qareb ends in death, the obedient qareb bears fruit: law and inheritance take root and blossom through submission. Their approach reveals the womb of nearness, rightly ordered by the Command—an approach that gives life rather than takes it.

Matthew 13:1-23 - The Sower and the Seed | Kingdom Come Bible Study Part 24 by Tim Hatch

Frankenstein by Mary Shelley (1818) vs Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (1993)