Podcasts about spiritual discernment

Purpose Statement: Many of us love the church because some of our most wonderful experiences occur among God's people. Many hate the church because some of our most difficult experiences occur among God's people in church. We love gathering together and worshipping our Savior with our brothers and sisters in Christ, and we have powerful memories of doing so over the years. How do we view our experience in church? Is church a spectator experience or worshipful experience? What are some non-negotiable realities for the church? Authority of Scripture; A commitment to Worship; Doctrinal Clarity; Spiritual Discernment; Holiness; Discipleship; Godly Leadership; Love; Service; and Evangelism.

Send a textIn this episode, Iggy and Mike are joined by special guest Zach Rippey for an action-packed conversation as they break down some of the biggest headlines and cultural moments through a biblical lens. From major entertainment moments to political statements and viral news stories, the conversation moves quickly and covers a wide range of topics that many Christians are wrestling with right now.As the discussion unfolds, the focus stays on how believers should think, respond, and stay grounded in truth when the news cycle feels overwhelming. Rather than getting caught up in the noise, this episode points back to a bigger picture — reminding viewers where real hope and confidence should be placed.If you've been trying to make sense of the culture, the headlines, and what it all means for your faith, this is a conversation you won't want to miss.For more info on the Subbi Project and how to help, check out:https://suubiproject.orgWe release new conversations every Thursday 

Send a textThere is a flood of Christian-sounding advice about marriage circulating online right now—but not all of it is rooted in truth. In this bold episode, Chelsey issues a strong warning against false teachers who are twisting Scripture to make sin seem acceptable, especially in marriage.She shares a disturbing example of a “Christian coach” encouraging wives to support their husbands in porn addiction… and why that advice is not just misleading—it's demonic.You'll hear:Why discernment is critical in this age of coaching and “Christian counseling”What Scripture actually says about sin, repentance, and spiritual leadershipThe difference between grace and tolerance—and why compassion doesn't mean enablingHow to test every teaching (yes, even this one) against the Word and by the SpiritWhat holy, Spirit-led marriage looks like in contrast to cultural compromiseThis is your call to wake up, cut off what leads to sin, and rebuild your marriage God's way—grounded in the Word, not the world. Support the showChelsey Holm | the Wife Coach "I help Christian wives surrender fully, live Spirit-led, and be set apart according to God's design in marriage, motherhood, and life."Ready for a next step? If this episode stirred something deeper and you're ready to move from insight into surrender, I created a short guided experience called From Awareness to Surrender. This mini course includes three short teachings, a guided exercise, and a prayer recorded over you to help you stop cycling and start responding differently—rooted in surrender, not striving.

In a world obsessed with symbolism, conspiracy, and surface-level truth, the stage — from the Super Bowl to Grammy podiums — tells us something deeper is happening. From Jelly Roll's Grammys testimony about Jesus being “for everybody” to public figures like Nicki Minaj speaking on faith and religious freedom, the cultural spotlight is shining on Christian identity in unexpected places. But does platform and proclamation equal spiritual truth?Join us as we explore:• Why people are hungry for meaning and searching down endless rabbit holes• How the world stage functions as spiritual theatre• What it means when celebrity figures talk faith — and why discernment matters• Decoding of Superbowl 60Whether you're a believer seeking clarity or a curious listener navigating today's cultural narrative, this episode helps you see beyond the surface — and keep your eyes on what truly matters.Amy is a Christian counselor- to book a session:⁠https://www.biblicalguidancecounseling.com⁠Amy's online Bible studies:https://rumble.com/c/BibleStudywithEyesontherightIG:https://www.instagram.com/eyesontherightpodcast/?hl=enIG :⁠https://www.instagram.com/eyesontheright4.0/?hl=en⁠⁠⁠⁠https://theanastasiaco.com⁠⁠⁠ - Faith based company (gifts/apparel)CODE: EYESONTHERIGHT⁠⁠https://convictionco.com⁠⁠ - Faith based bold apparelCODE: EYESONTHERIGHT

This week on Slightly Spiritual, we're diving into spiritual curses, hexes, and TikTok “witches” and why Cindy doesn't really believe in them, how the wellness process shapes spiritual discernment, and why you don't need a label to be intuitive (you probably already are)! We shift into signs from the universe: Ali's story about asking for a sign and getting something for free, a very specific dog leash moment, 222, and why signs tend to arrive when you least expect them Then it's Super Bowl energy- Paige in a Super Bowl ad, our favorite commercials (yes, Ben Affleck x Dunkin'), honest reactions to the ads and halftime show, and the collective moment of realizing we've never felt older (Ricky Martin forever). We also talk AI and discernment, why we were actually relieved there wasn't a flood of AI-generated Super Bowl ads, and discuss AI "creators and musicians".

Sometimes we know exactly what God is asking us to do—and still struggle to take the next step. In this episode, I share a clip from my session at the Make the Move conference, reflecting on a season when God called me to step away from a ministry role and all the ways I tried to avoid obeying. As you listen, I invite you to consider where you might be hesitating, and to bring that resistance honestly before the Lord.   >> Get Your Personalized Journaling Guide (PDF) http://lovedoesthat.org/journalguide   RELATED EPISODES: ·       Episode 24: An Example in Spiritual Discernment and Decision Making: Going "All In" With Love Does That ·       Episode 172: Trusting God Through Obedience: A Conversation with Neil Broere ·       Episode 44: Why is Change So Hard? Understanding the Change Process and What That Means for Being Healed and Helping Others ______ >> Free Journaling Workshop: 3 ways to encounter God on the pages of your journal http://lovedoesthat.org/journalingworkshop >> Journal Gently Program: 8 week writing program to start healing from grief and trauma http://lovedoesthat.org/journalgently  >> Book Kari as a speaker for your next event: http://lovedoesthat.org/speaking

Jim Osman continues his examination of false teachers in 2 Peter 2, focusing on their perversions and moral corruption. Opening with a sobering account of the Mike Bickle scandal and how charismatic leaders failed to discern his true character despite decades of abuse, Osman demonstrates why Peter's warnings remain urgent for today's church. He exposes three defining characteristics of false teachers: they are shameless in their debauchery, sensual in their unrestrained lust, and seductive in how they bait unstable souls. Osman explains how these teachers have eyes full of adultery and hearts trained in greed—applying the same discipline to their wickedness that athletes apply to their sport. He reveals how false teachers exploit people's desires for prosperity, sexual license, and spiritual pride to lure them into destructive heresies. The message includes a passionate call for believers to apply diligence in pursuing holiness and grounding themselves in truth, so they won't become easy marks for those who promise freedom while enslaving others in corruption. Osman shows that when false teachers fall into sexual scandal, it shouldn't surprise us—Peter warned us this is their nature and their consistent pattern throughout church history.  ★ Support this podcast ★

Do you use discernment when dealing with spirituality and the dark traps we can fall into? In this episode, you hear everything I have learnt about spiritual discernment in regards to dark and demonic entities and their tricks of the trade to manipulate us in situations and opportunities.  You get the 3 keys to how to use it and 5 main outcomes when you adopt spiritual discernment.Send us a textTRANSCRIPT AVAILABLE: https://perfectlyparanormal.buzzsprout.com/2126749Click on the link above, choose your episode & click on transcript, enjoy :)LIKE THIS EPISODE? Follow and leave a review on Apple Podcasthttps://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/perfectly-paranormal/id1669474568SHARE YOUR PARANORMAL STORY: Email Anna: spiritualbeing44@gmail.com and your stories can be included in my podcast. Names are changed to protect your privacy. PARANORMAL AND FULL HOUSE CLEANSING:Visit my website: https://www.spiritualbe-ing.com.au/services/house-healing/MORE PARANORMAL INFORMATIONMy Youtube Channel playlist: The Spooky Stuff @paranormalspecialistMY BOOK - THE DARKNESS AROUND USA definitive guide to understanding dark beings & why they are here: Available on Amazon.com.au - type - The Darkness Around Us Anna SchmidtINTRO AND OUTRO MUSIC: Pixabay.com - Deep in the dell by Geoff Harvey, Creepy whispering by Raspberry Tickle Creepy music box by Modification1089, Terror...

Pastor Tim teaches how to recognize the “fingerprints” of the enemy—offense, unbelief, spiritual blindness, lies, and limitation—through Jesus' first return to Nazareth in Mark 6. Learn how to respond by fixing your eyes on Jesus and praying for the release of God's will and freedom from the traps of the deceiver.⛪️ To invest in the ministry of My Church Winnipeg and invest into the lives of others through giving click here: https://mychurchwinnipeg.ca/give

In today's episode, I'm walking you through three short but powerful stories from 2 Kings chapters 4 through 6 that reveal something we all need to be reminded of: Nothing that concerns you is too small for God's attention. We're looking at poison in a pot, not enough food to feed a group of people, and a borrowed axe head that sinks to the bottom of the water. On the surface, these may seem like minor issues. But Scripture shows us again and again that God is deeply involved in the details of our lives... not just the big, life-altering moments. These are personal miracles. And that's exactly why they matter. In this episode, I want to encourage you that God sees what you're facing, He cares about what concerns you, and He is willing to move on your behalf... even when the situation feels small, frustrating, or inconvenient. Scripture Focus 2 Kings 4:38–412 Kings 4:42–442 Kings 6:1–7Psalm 138:81 Peter 5:7Hebrews 4:16Ephesians 3:20 Chapters: 00:00 God Cares About Your Concerns17:21 God's Care and Provision23:24 God's Sovereignty Over Nature30:05 Spiritual Discernment in Action41:02 Understanding Prophetic Authority About your host: Jaime Luce' testimony has daunting personal mountains and treacherous financial valleys. She was trapped in day-to-day stress and couldn't see a way forward. But how she started is not how she finished! And she wants you to know God has a plan for your life too, no matter how tough it seems. Today, Jaime has been married to the love of her life for almost three decades, owns two companies, and has become an author and podcaster. God's way is always the blessed way! Free chapter of Jaime's new book: You Don't Need Money, You Just Need God: https://jaimeluce.com/book/ Connect: Website: https://jaimeluce.comFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/jaime.luces.pageInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jaime_luce/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jaime-luce-00395691/

1 John 4:1-6 New International Version   4 Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, because many false prophets have gone out into the world. 2 This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit that acknowledges that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, 3 but every spirit that does not acknowledge Jesus is not from God. This is the spirit of the antichrist, which you have heard is coming and even now is already in the world. 4 You, dear children, are from God and have overcome them, because the one who is in you is greater than the one who is in the world. 5 They are from the world and therefore speak from the viewpoint of the world, and the world listens to them. 6 We are from God, and whoever knows God listens to us; but whoever is not from God does not listen to us. This is how we recognize the Spirit of truth and the spirit of falsehood.

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Jim Osman returns to 2 Peter 2 with a hard-hitting examination of false teachers and their defining characteristics. In verses 10-13, Peter paints a vivid portrait of those who infiltrate the church with destructive heresies, and Osman carefully unpacks what makes these teachers so dangerous. The passage reveals three striking indicators of their pride: they are insolent in their blasphemy of spiritual beings, irrational like animals driven by instinct, and ignorant of the very subjects they claim to master. Osman draws sobering parallels to modern movements within evangelicalism—from female preachers who defy biblical teaching roles to charismatic "demon slayers" who mock spiritual authorities with reckless presumption. He explains why even holy angels refuse to revile fallen demons, yet these false teachers rush in where angels fear to tread. The message includes practical guidance on identifying these teachers by their specific behaviors and attitudes, showing how Scripture equips believers to mark and avoid those who would lead them astray. Osman's exposition demonstrates that false teachers are not difficult to spot when measured against Peter's clear biblical criteria. ★ Support this podcast ★

In this deeply transformative session, TLINASSIA bridges science and spirituality to guide individuals toward soul connection, inner sovereignty, and higher consciousness. Born in the Caribbean, where spirituality is a natural part of daily life, her early spiritual awareness evolved alongside a rigorous academic path in medicine. Currently studying psychiatry in France, TLINASSIA offers a rare perspective that integrates medical knowledge with multidimensional spiritual insight. She shares her journey working with starseeds, light beings, and higher-dimensional intelligence, while addressing discernment, energetic interference, and the importance of reconnecting directly with one's own soul. The session culminates in a powerful guided meditation and light-body activation, where participants learn to shift awareness, enter the heart vortex, and commune with their soul—described as the most reliable guide, directly connected to Source. This presentation empowers seekers to reclaim inner authority, awaken their true nature, and navigate reality from a place of clarity and alignment.

This bonus episode of #lifewithoutbaggage looks at the following themes.0:33" - 2:00" What is Spiritual Discernment?2:00" Why/When do we need spiritual discernment?3:45" What is the difference between judgment and discernment?10:10" How can we develop spiritual discernment?

Draw Near is still here—and this episode is all about returning to our "why." After a season of being in and out, adjusting rhythms, and letting life take its course, we wanted to speak honestly about where Draw Near is right now and how God has been gently guiding us forward. This episode invites you into our discernment, hope, and trust. Rooted in Isaiah 42:3, we reflect on the image of the Servant who does not break a bruised reed or extinguish a dimly burning wick. These words have shaped how we understand this season; It has not been a failure or fading, but as a time of careful tending. Jesus knows how to work with what is fragile. He repairs without rushing and restores without pressure. We share how this passage has helped us see the recent shifts in Draw Near as an invitation to listen more closely, allowing the Spirit to breathe life into the work in more sustainable ways. The mission remains. The vision endures. What's changing is the rhythm. If you've ever wondered whether something good was slipping away—or whether a quieter season meant God was less present—this episode is for you. Book Fred and/or Kara to speak by visiting the Draw Near "booking page (https://www.drawnear.me/booking)." Click here (https://www.patreon.com/c/drawnear/membership) to become a patron! Patrons are essentially "sponsors" and co-producers or Draw Near as it could not happen without them. "Like" and follow us on Facebook! (https://www.facebook.com/fredandkara). Follow us on Instagram (https://www.instagram.com/fredandkara/)! Subscribe to Draw Near YOUTUBE Channel Here (https://www.youtube.com/@fredandkara). Who are "Fred and Kara?" Find out by visiting our home page. (https://www.drawnear.me/) Like our podcast? Hit that “subscribe” button AND the notification button/bell to know when new episodes are posted! Give us a rating! Leave a review! Tell your friends! Even more, pray for us! Draw Near Theme © Fred Shellabarger & Kara Kardell

The World | Straight BibleWhat does the Bible actually mean when it says “love not the world”?In this episode of Straight Bible, we break down the biblical definition of “the world” — not as nature or people, but as systems, structures, and orders that stand in opposition to God. Using Scripture alone, we examine how the Bible contrasts the world system with the Kingdom of God, and why Christians are called to live in the world but not of it.We cover:The biblical meaning of cosmos vs aionWhy the world's systems are broken by designLust of the flesh, lust of the eyes, and pride of lifeThe danger of mixing the world into the churchWhy Christianity is not about reforming systems—but new birthHow wealth, poverty, and comfort can both become spiritual trapsWhat it truly means to be a pilgrim, stranger, and citizen of another kingdomThis is not opinion. This is not church culture. This is Scripture interpreting Scripture.If you've ever struggled with how to live faithfully in a corrupt world system, this episode will sharpen your understanding and reset your priorities.Listen on Spotify and Apple Podcasts via the Nephilim Death Squad feed.Patreon (Watch Live episodes, early & ad free): https://www.patreon.com/NephilimDeathSquadWebsite & Merch: https://nephilimdeathsquad.comListen/Watch:Audio Podcast: nephilimdeathsquad.carrd.co/  YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@NephilimDeathSquadX: https://twitter.com/NephilimDSquadInstagram: https://instagram.com/nephilimdeathsquadFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/share/1AscxBNoH4/ Contact: chroniclesnds@gmail.com TopLobsta:X: https://twitter.com/TopLobstaInstagram: https://instagram.com/TopLobstaMerch: https://TopLobsta.comRaven:X: https://twitter.com/DavidLCorboInstagram: https://instagram.com/ravenofndsMatt Hepner – The Standard Coffee:Instagram: @thestandardcoffeeWebsite: https://www.thestandardclcl.com/ Sponsors/Affiliates:Weld Protein Energy Drink: ​​Drink WeldLittle Palm Coconut Water: Little PalmMilk & Honey Coffee co: Milk & HoneyEllas Popcorn: ellaspopcorn.comRife Tech – https://realsrifetechnology.com/ (Code: NEPHILIM for 10% off)Purge Store – https://purgestore.com/ (Code: NEPHILIM for 10% off)Credits:Intro Animation: @jslashr on XMusic: @Dallas_spitfire on X | https://gmbpod.com/ 00:00 Introduction: Broken Systems in America01:07 Personal Journey with Faith and the World04:35 Experiences with Different Church Communities06:29 Defining the World in Biblical Terms10:22 The Lust of the Flesh, Eyes, and Pride of Life12:24 The Story of Jericho and the Cursed Things27:59 Lessons from the Parable of the Sower34:10 The Flow of Money and Financial Discipline34:53 Struggles of the Poor and Financial Decision Making35:45 Generational Poverty and Financial Balance37:25 The Love of Money and Spiritual Reflection40:01 Personal Journey: From Construction to Sales42:58 Balancing Wealth and Spirituality45:25 Scriptural Guidance on Worldly Temptations59:10 Meditation and Biblical Prosperity01:03:30 Spiritual Discernment and Worldly Blindness01:05:08 Understanding the God of This World01:07:04 The Story of Samuel and Israel's Demand for a King01:09:26 The 501(c)(3) Church and Modern Kings01:18:24 Jesus' Temptation and the God of This World01:27:39 Faith as the Victory Over the World01:30:13 Wisdom from Above vs. Worldly WisdomBecome a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/nephilim-death-squad-biblical-conspiracy--6389018/support.☠️ Nephilim Death Squad — New episodes 5x/week.Join our Patreon for early access, bonus shows & the private Telegram hive.Subscribe on YouTube & Rumble, follow @NephilimDSquad on X/Instagram, grab merch at toplobsta.com. Questions/bookings: chroniclesnds@gmail.com — Stay dangerous.

Sermon: Spiritual Discernment • Romans 12:1–2Why Discernment Breaks Down1. We Replace Trust with Control2. We Organize for Efficiency, Not Attentiveness3. We Lose the Expectation That God Acts. God as the subject with an active verb: • Acts 13:2, 4 • Acts 16:14 • Mark 1:2 • Acts 2:47 • Acts 15:8 • 1 Corinthians 3:6 • Romans 8:14 • Ephesians 2:10Raising the Sails: Giving the Spirit Bandwidth(Not Techniques, But a rule of Life)1. Prayer as Togetherness2. Table Fellowship as Discernment Space • Luke–Acts (hospitality of God on others' terms) • Luke 10 (people of peace)3. Availability to Disruption • Acts 13:1–2Postures and PracticesPosture 1: Waiting • Psalm 4:4Posture 2: Witnessing • Deuteronomy 4:5–7Posture 3: Practice, Practice, Practice • Hebrews 5:13–14 • 1 Corinthians 2:14Some highlights and follow up questions: • Discernment is not a technique we apply; it is a way of life we inhabit. • The church does not discover its identity before mission—it discovers it in mission. • We often build oars to move the church by our own strength instead of raising sails to catch the Spirit's wind. • When growth becomes our driving question, experiencing the living God quietly moves to the back burner. • When God is no longer the subject of our sentences, we become functional atheists. • The Holy Spirit is already at work ahead of us; discernment is learning to notice and join Him. His will be done. • Discernment rarely happens in isolation; it emerges in shared life. Shared tables are often the Spirit's preferred classroom, where God's hospitality is experienced and the gospel is witnessed tangibly. • Discernment costs us control, efficiency, and predictability. • The life required to discern the Spirit is the life of the church.Where have we been rowing harder instead of raising our sails?What areas of our life or church are driven more by anxiety, control, or efficiency than trust and attentiveness and response to His calling?What would it look like for God to be the subject of our sentences again?Where do we expect God to act—and where have we quietly stopped expecting Him to show up?What postures and practices are giving the Holy Spirit real bandwidth in our shared life?

Beginning the Journey: An Introduction to the Gospel of John with Dr. David L. MathewsonSeason Three of Divine Table Talk opens with a rich and thoughtful introduction to the Gospel of John, featuring special guest David L. Mathewson, PhD. Dr. Mathewson—associate professor of New Testament at Denver Seminary—guides Jamie and Jane through the purpose, structure, and theological depth of John's Gospel.Together, they explore why John is written “that you may believe,” how its language and themes shape our understanding of Jesus, and what makes this Gospel uniquely formative for faith and discipleship. This episode sets the foundation for the year ahead, inviting listeners to slow down, read deeply, and encounter Jesus not just as a teacher—but as the Word made flesh.Whether you're new to studying Scripture or ready to go deeper, this conversation will equip and inspire you as we begin our journey through John together.____________________________________Connect with Dr. David Mathewson:Website: https://denverseminary.edu/directory/mathewson-phd-david-lEmail David: EMAILConnect with Jamie:Website: www.jamieklusacek.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/jamieklusacekConnect with Jane:Website: www.janewwilliams.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/janewwilliams____________________________________ Get Jamie's Newest Book:Living Loved: An 8-week Journey to Living Fully Loved

Message from Helen Oyegoke on January 8, 2026

Are AI and blockchain proof that Bible prophecy is coming true? In this episode, we dive deep into the controversial topic of the Mark of the Beast, exploring whether today's technology could fulfill the prophetic visions of Revelation. Discover the real dangers, spiritual implications, and pressing questions every believer and skeptic should be asking about the future.Welcome to Season 6 Episode 20 of the podcast. Subscribe to the Allison Park Leadership Podcast for more culture-creating conversations.Podcasts: https://www.allisonparkleadershipnetwork.com/podcastInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/allisonparkleadershippodcast/#podcast #christianpodcast #christian #christianity #faith #discussionsLinkTree:https://linktr.ee/AllisonParkLeadershipNetworkEmail:Jeffl@allisonparkchurch.comDavel@allisonparkchurch.comInstagram:@Jeffleake11@Dave.Leake

Become a supporter of this podcast: https://www.spreaker.com/podcast/your-daily-portion-with-l-david-harris--2912188/support.About Your Daily PortionYour Daily Portion with L. David Harris is a Bible-centered teaching ministry committed to helping people engage Scripture daily with clarity and purpose. This program is a service of Your Daily Portion Ministries, Inc., and is made possible through the faithful support of listeners and viewers.If this teaching blesses you, consider supporting the work so it can continue reaching others around the world through radio, podcasts, and digital platforms.Support the ministry:

Awakening doesn't always feel expansive.Often, it feels disorienting — like heightened sensitivity without a clear center.In this episode, we explore spiritual discernment during times of awakening and transition. How to tell the difference between intuition and overwhelm, truth and projection, expansion and avoidance.We look at why the last years have felt foggy for so many people, and what's changing as we move into a new cycle that asks for less abstraction and more embodiment — spirituality that can actually be lived, not just understood.You'll hear a grounded, plain-language exploration of Neptune moving from Pisces into Aries, and what this shift asks of us: clarity, responsibility, and action that the nervous system can truly hold.We also draw on Rudolf Steiner's insights around balance — noticing when we drift into spiritual inflation on one side, or rigid control on the other — and how the body often knows the correction before the mind does.This episode connects discernment to attachment patterns and boundaries, helping you sense when you're leaving yourself, outsourcing authority, or armouring — and how to come back gently, without shame.You'll leave with:• body cues for clarity• simple questions for grounding• practical ways to stay centered during awakening• a steadier relationship with your own sensitivityThis is an invitation into mature spirituality — rooted, honest, and embodied.If this supports you, consider following the show, sharing it with someone deep in their process, or leaving a review so these conversations can reach the people who need them.Alyssa's IG: @wildfemininerise Work With Alyssa:Final Shedding : Stepping into the Fire Somatic Breathwork Journey Sedona Retreat 2026

How do you know if something is actually good for you? Why do we keep making decisions that hurt us, even when we know better? In this teaching, we explore Proverbs 27:7 and Psalm 23:3 to uncover a powerful biblical truth about decision-making and spiritual hunger.The Bible reveals that when your soul is satisfied by God, unhealthy choices lose their appeal. But when your soul is hungry, even bitter things can seem sweet. This message explains how God restores your soul—your mind, will, and emotions—and why that restoration makes it easier to walk away from temptation and confusion.If you've struggled with poor decisions, emotional exhaustion, or constant temptation, this teaching will bring clarity, peace, and hope. Learn how letting God satisfy your soul changes everything and leads to a more stable, fulfilling lif

This episode of Uncommon Sense with Ginny Robinson takes a hard look at the growing contradictions surrounding Erika Kirk and the direction of TPUSA's AmFest (or should I say IsFest). From Charlie Kirk's own recorded warnings about bad cultural role models to TPUSA turning around and platforming those very same celebrities (Nicki Minaj included) whose lifestyles openly contradict Christian teaching, the hypocrisy is no longer ignorable.We're breaking down how moral inconsistency, pop-culture appeasement, and ideological confusion are rotting the conservative movement from the inside out. America First cannot exist without Christianity first—not as a buzzword, not as branding, but as the moral and cultural foundation of who we are. And right now, we are watching our spiritual and national identity slip away in real time.When so-called Christian leaders blur lines, excuse the very behavior they once condemned, and choose influence over truth, they don't just lose credibility, they lose the plot (and they lose the people who trusted them).This episode is a call for honesty, consistency, and real conservative leadership rooted in the Christian values they claim to stand for. Not clout, not platforms, and not sinful worldliness.We don't need people playing leaders.We need actual leadership.—https://www.bible.com/

We're back with another AMA for this liminal, reflective space between Christmas and the New Year—a time when big questions tend to surface. In this episode, Alyson and I respond to a wide range of listener-submitted questions that span the deeply practical, the philosophical, and the cosmic.We start with a sweeping question about what the next 50 years may hold for humanity, exploring themes like consciousness evolution, polarity, technology, AI, sovereignty, and whether progress is actually accelerating—or fragmenting us further. That conversation opens into reflections on free will, self-governance, spiritual maturity, and how discernment becomes essential in an increasingly noisy world.From there, we shift gears into more specific listener curiosities, including how I've experimented with tools like NuCalm, meditation stacking, and sound frequencies—and what to be mindful of when working with altered states or nervous system regulation. We also unpack questions around longevity, quality of life versus lifespan, and why equanimity may be one of the most underrated spiritual skills of our time.As always, the AMA format invites real-time exploration, tangents, humor, and unexpected insights—from road rage and nervous system dysregulation to regenerative agriculture, ethical food choices, and how small daily decisions reflect much larger spiritual principles.Thank you to everyone who submitted questions. These episodes are shaped by your curiosity, your honesty, and your willingness to ask what's real. Keep them coming—we're listening.Get Alyson's Animal Power book and deck, plus free guided drumming shamanic journey to meet your power animal, at alysoncharles.com/animalpower.DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only and not intended for diagnosing or treating illnesses. The hosts disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects from using the information presented. Consult your healthcare provider before using referenced products. This podcast may include paid endorsements.THIS SHOW IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY:APOLLO NEURO | Improve sleep, focus, and calm with the Apollo wearable. Get $90 off with code LUKE at apolloneuro.com/lukeBON CHARGE | Save 25% on BON CHARGE's entire product line through December 31, 2025 at boncharge.comQUANTUM UPGRADE | Get a 15-day free trial with code LUKE15 at lukestorey.com/quantumupgradeBIOPTIMIZERS | You can use the code LUKE15 for 15% off at bioptimizers.com/lukeMORE ABOUT THIS EPISODE:(00:00:00) Holiday Energy, Sacred Traditions, & the Consciousness of Trees(00:17:53) Predictions for the Next 50 Years: AI, Sovereignty, & the Polarity Test(00:49:11) NuCalm Stacking, Meditation Experiments, & Audio “Hacks”(00:56:04) Latest Discoveries: Ethical Wild Meat, Ceremonial Cacao, & CBD That Actually Works(01:19:14) The Fork in the Road: When to Lean In, When to Step Away(01:53:08) Humility, Recovery, and the Long Arc of HealingResources:• Website:

In this episode, we explore two of the most mind-bending and controversial topics of our time: the nature of the cosmos and the truth behind so-called “contact.” These themes—drawn from Mark Gober's books An End to the Upside Down Cosmos and An End to Upside Down Contact—take us straight into the heart of scientific assumptions, cultural conditioning, and what it really means to seek truth in a world built on inherited narratives.Mark and I dig into why foundational claims about cosmology, physics, and even medicine may not be supported by direct evidence, and how easily our collective worldview can be shaped by unexamined premises. From the Big Bang, dark matter, and the globe model to NASA imagery, eclipses, and observational anomalies, we break down what can actually be verified—and what cannot. The goal isn't to replace one belief system with another, but to follow a disciplined, evidence-based approach that challenges dogma on all sides.We also explore why questioning these topics triggers such strong reactions. Mark explains how career investment, identity, compartmentalization, and cultural reinforcement keep people aligned with consensus models—even when contradictions are hiding in plain sight. The conversation moves beyond physics into consciousness, spirituality, and the possibility that confusion about where we live may be part of a much larger, long-running strategy to disconnect humanity from its inherent power. If you're curious, skeptical, or simply hungry for deeper clarity in a world drowning in assumptions, this episode will challenge your perspective in the best possible way.DISCLAIMER: This podcast is for educational purposes only and not intended for diagnosing or treating illnesses. The hosts disclaim responsibility for any adverse effects from using the information presented. Consult your healthcare provider before using referenced products. This podcast may include paid endorsements.THIS SHOW IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY:BON CHARGE | Go to boncharge.com to save 25% off everything sitewide. LEELA QUANTUM TECH | Go to lukestorey.com/leelaq and use code LUKE10 for 10% off their product line.JUST THRIVE | Head to justthrivehealth.com and use code LUKE20 to save 20%.BEAM MINERALS | Use code LUKE for 20% off your order at beamminerals.com/lukeMORE ABOUT THIS EPISODE:(00:00:00) Kicking Off the Deep Dive into Cosmos & Contact(00:35:29) The Motives Behind Cosmic Misdirection(00:46:12) The “Seeing Too Far” Problem & Other Observable Anomalies(01:05:40) The Antarctica Puzzle & Why Exploration Restrictions Matter(01:30:42) Interdimensional Beings, UAPs, & the Consciousness Puzzle(02:00:07) Following the Muse, Spiritual Discernment, & Not Getting DupedResources:• Website: markgober.com • Instagram: instagram.com/markgober_author • Facebook: facebook.com/markgoberauthor...

Feeling stuck and longing for clarity? I invite you to take a moment to pause, pray, and discern where God is calling you. Today's guest, Lisa Kelly, leadership coach, author of The Spiritual Path, and expert in Ignatian spirituality, shares an Ignatian-inspired process that helps you slow down, notice what's stirring in your heart, and make choices with clarity and peace. If you've ever wondered, “Where is God leading me?” this conversation will give you hope and courage for the road ahead. [02:29] Lisa's Faith Journey and Education [06:54] Discovering the Ignatian Associates [09:43] Living in the Dominican Republic [13:42] Writing 'The Spiritual Path' [18:52] The Cycle of Growth: A Tool for Discernment [30:08] Understanding Consolation and Desolation [33:42] Markers of Desolation [35:33] Discerning Priority Relationships [37:51] The Importance of Environmental Relationships [39:52] Practical Goal Setting and Relationships [46:56] Personal Testimonies and Reflections [51:20] Leadership and Communal Discernment [57:06] Final Thoughts and Resources Check out LaStorta (https://www.lastorta.org/) or contact Lisa (mailto:lisa.kelly@lastorta.org). Also, register for the Spiritual Path Retreat (https://christthekingpriory.com/retreats-schedule/the-spiritual-path-embarking-upon-the-journey-of-a-lifetime-lisa-kelly-ma-steve-titus-jd-phd). For more practical advice and experiences from real people sharing their mission with the world, go to https://equip.archomaha.org/podcast/. A Production of the Archdiocese of Omaha Editor: Taylor Schroll (ForteCatholic.com)

Why is the Epstein client list still hidden? Why has there been no real justice for Charlie Kirk? And why is America expected to stay tied at the hip with Israel, no matter the cost to our own citizens?And are all of these things somehow connected?Let's break down the layers of corruption, the political cowardice protecting the powerful, and the urgent need for transparency, accountability, and national independence.--https://www.bible.com/

This Sunday is the beginning of Advent, a season of preparation in the church calendar before we celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas. Each week of this season follows a theme, and for this Sunday it is hope. Biblical hope is anchored in a God who does not change, who keeps His promises, and who is coming again to rule and redeem. On this cold, snowy night we are reminded that the light of Christ has come to be with us and break through the darkness. While we cannot be together this Sunday to acknowledge that light and proclaim our hope in Christ as a body, we are grateful for the technology that allows us to share an abbreviated worship experience with each of you. The service includes song, prayer, and a word from 1 John 4 delivered by Young Adults Minister & Director, Jon Nuenke. May the Lord graciously be with you in the midst of these unique circumstances. Speaker: Minister & Director of Young Adult Ministry, Jon Nuenke Passage: 1 John 4:1-3 This was recorded live in Grand Rapids, MI on November 29, 2025

This Sunday is the beginning of Advent, a season of preparation in the church calendar before we celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas. Each week of this season follows a theme, and for this Sunday it is hope. Biblical hope is anchored in a God who does not change, who keeps His promises, and who is coming again to rule and redeem. On this cold, snowy night we are reminded that the light of Christ has come to be with us and break through the darkness. While we cannot be together this Sunday to acknowledge that light and proclaim our hope in Christ as a body, we are grateful for the technology that allows us to share an abbreviated worship experience with each of you. The service includes song, prayer, and a word from 1 John 4 delivered by Young Adults Minister & Director, Jon Nuenke. May the Lord graciously be with you in the midst of these unique circumstances. Speaker: Minister & Director of Young Adult Ministry, Jon Nuenke Passage: 1 John 4:1-3 This was recorded live in Grand Rapids, MI on November 29, 2025

This Sunday is the beginning of Advent, a season of preparation in the church calendar before we celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas. Each week of this season follows a theme, and for this Sunday it is hope. Biblical hope is anchored in a God who does not change, who keeps His promises, and who is coming again to rule and redeem. On this cold, snowy night we are reminded that the light of Christ has come to be with us and break through the darkness. While we cannot be together this Sunday to acknowledge that light and proclaim our hope in Christ as a body, we are grateful for the technology that allows us to share an abbreviated worship experience with each of you. The service includes song, prayer, and a word from 1 John 4 delivered by Young Adults Minister & Director, Jon Nuenke. May the Lord graciously be with you in the midst of these unique circumstances. Speaker: Minister & Director of Young Adult Ministry, Jon Nuenke Passage: 1 John 4:1-3 This was recorded live in Grand Rapids, MI on November 29, 2025

This Sunday is the beginning of Advent, a season of preparation in the church calendar before we celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas. Each week of this season follows a theme, and for this Sunday it is hope. Biblical hope is anchored in a God who does not change, who keeps His promises, and who is coming again to rule and redeem. On this cold, snowy night we are reminded that the light of Christ has come to be with us and break through the darkness. While we cannot be together this Sunday to acknowledge that light and proclaim our hope in Christ as a body, we are grateful for the technology that allows us to share an abbreviated worship experience with each of you. The service includes song, prayer, and a word from 1 John 4 delivered by Young Adults Minister & Director, Jon Nuenke. May the Lord graciously be with you in the midst of these unique circumstances. Speaker: Minister & Director of Young Adult Ministry, Jon Nuenke Passage: 1 John 4:1-3 This was recorded live in Grand Rapids, MI on November 29, 2025

This Sunday is the beginning of Advent, a season of preparation in the church calendar before we celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas. Each week of this season follows a theme, and for this Sunday it is hope. Biblical hope is anchored in a God who does not change, who keeps His promises, and who is coming again to rule and redeem. On this cold, snowy night we are reminded that the light of Christ has come to be with us and break through the darkness. While we cannot be together this Sunday to acknowledge that light and proclaim our hope in Christ as a body, we are grateful for the technology that allows us to share an abbreviated worship experience with each of you. The service includes song, prayer, and a word from 1 John 4 delivered by Young Adults Minister & Director, Jon Nuenke. May the Lord graciously be with you in the midst of these unique circumstances. Speaker: Minister & Director of Young Adult Ministry, Jon Nuenke Passage: 1 John 4:1-3 This was recorded live in Grand Rapids, MI on November 29, 2025

This Sunday is the beginning of Advent, a season of preparation in the church calendar before we celebrate the birth of Jesus at Christmas. Each week of this season follows a theme, and for this Sunday it is hope. Biblical hope is anchored in a God who does not change, who keeps His promises, and who is coming again to rule and redeem. On this cold, snowy night we are reminded that the light of Christ has come to be with us and break through the darkness. While we cannot be together this Sunday to acknowledge that light and proclaim our hope in Christ as a body, we are grateful for the technology that allows us to share an abbreviated worship experience with each of you. The service includes song, prayer, and a word from 1 John 4 delivered by Young Adults Minister & Director, Jon Nuenke. May the Lord graciously be with you in the midst of these unique circumstances. Speaker: Minister & Director of Young Adult Ministry, Jon Nuenke Passage: 1 John 4:1-3 This was recorded live in Grand Rapids, MI on November 29, 2025

Questions? Comments? Text Us!In this week's episode of Jerry & Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue, Jerry L. Martin and Abigail L. Rosenthal explore how God communicates through intuition, dreams, insights, and the quiet promptings that redirect a life. Their conversation speaks directly to listeners who wonder why God can feel hidden and how to recognize a true divine nudge.Jerry reflects on the moment he heard the message “Your work here is over,” a turning point that led him away from a successful Washington career and toward writing God: An Autobiography. He describes how inner guidance can be unmistakable even when it arrives without logic or explanation.Abigail offers her own powerful experiences, including years of divine absence in her twenties, a visionary encounter with angelic presence and prophecy, and the moral resolve that shaped her effort to remove a predatory figure from her temple. She shows how spiritual experience intersects with honor, justice, and courage in real life.Together, Jerry and Abigail consider why divine guidance is unpredictable, how intuition challenges rational analysis, and how spiritual communication reshapes our understanding of calling and purpose. They reflect on timing, prophecy, and the ways God works through both silence and intervention.The episode also turns toward women's lives, agency, vulnerability, and the limits of second-wave feminism. Abigail reflects on what she feels called to now, and Jerry considers how her insights continue the larger spiritual and philosophical journey they share. This intimate dialogue weaves together spiritual autobiography, lived philosophy, and honest testimony. Other Series:The podcast began with the Dramatic Adaptation of the book and now has several series:The Life Wisdom Project – Spiritual insights on living a wiser, more meaningful life.From God to Jerry to You – Divine messages and breakthroughs for seekers.Two Philosophers Wrestle With God – A dialogue on God, truth, and reason.Jerry & Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue – Love, faith, and divine presence in partnership.What's Your Spiritual Story – Real stories of people changed by encounters with God.What's On Our Mind – Reflections from Jerry and Scott on recent episodes.What's On Your Mind – Listener questions, divine answers, and open dialogue. Stay ConnectedRead the book: God: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher at godanautobiography.com or AmazonShare your questions and reflections: questions@godanautobiography.comShare Your Story | Site | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

"I have to talk to you guys today about something I don't want to talk to you about."

Questions? Comments? Text Us!In this week's episode of God: An Autobiography, The Podcast, Jerry L. Martin explores one of the most practical and urgent spiritual questions we face: How do we know what we're meant to do with our lives—and how do we tell when God is guiding us?Drawing on the Hindu concepts of dharma and swadharma, Jerry explains the difference between our role-based responsibilities and our deeply personal calling; the tasks that “have your name on them.” From there, he turns to the heart of the episode: a clear, four-step method God gave him for recognizing divine communication in daily life.You'll learn how God speaks through prayer, dreams, intuition, hunches, insights, and inner signals, and how to prepare yourself to receive that guidance. Jerry breaks down each step—listening, heeding, openness of heart, and sensitive attunement—as a real spiritual practice you can begin using today.Whether you're discerning a big life decision or simply trying to stay more connected to the sacred in everyday moments, this episode offers an accessible, experiential path for SBNR seekers looking to deepen their relationship with the Divine.Listen in as Jerry shares how your search for God meets God's search for you, and how the relationship unfolds from there.Other Series:The podcast began with the Dramatic Adaptation of the book and now has several series:The Life Wisdom Project – Spiritual insights on living a wiser, more meaningful life.From God to Jerry to You – Divine messages and breakthroughs for seekers.Two Philosophers Wrestle With God – A dialogue on God, truth, and reason.Jerry & Abigail: An Intimate Dialogue – Love, faith, and divine presence in partnership.What's Your Spiritual Story – Real stories of people changed by encounters with God.What's On Our Mind – Reflections from Jerry and Scott on recent episodes.What's On Your Mind – Listener questions, divine answers, and open dialogue. Stay ConnectedRead the book: God: An Autobiography, As Told to a Philosopher at godanautobiography.com or AmazonShare your questions and reflections: questions@godanautobiography.comSubscribe and listen free wherever you get podcastsShare Your Story | Site | Facebook | Instagram | Twitter | YouTube

In this profound continuation of their conversation, Dr. Alisa Whyte and The Woke Prophet journey even deeper into the mysteries of spiritual awakening and the unseen forces influencing our world. This episode uncovers the hidden meanings behind words, names, and common phrases — revealing how language shapes identity, spiritual authority, and the way we interpret reality.Thomas shares powerful insights into angels, demons, and the spiritual battlefield humanity navigates daily. Together, they explore the concept of the rapture, the importance of discernment, and the invisible forces attempting to influence individuals and society.Their discussion also emphasizes why fasting is essential for spiritual clarity, how service elevates the soul, and the need to remain spiritually grounded in a world filled with deception and distraction. They also address the presence of witches, occult energies, and Illuminati influence — equipping listeners with greater awareness and spiritual resilience.This episode is a powerful exploration for anyone ready to understand the deeper truths behind spiritual warfare, consciousness, and divine purpose.Connect With The Woke Prophet (Thomas Jones)

Today we're trashing feminism some more, because it obviously deserves it. Feminism is not only unbiblical, it's extremely destructive for all of society. We'll talk about why Christian podcasters like Allie Beth Stuckey shouldn't defend their feminism while claiming to follow Christ, and why Christianity itself is a patriarchy, by God's design. It's time for biblical men to stop waiting for permission from feminists and take back the authority God gave them. We'll also discuss more of the Trump administration's mistakes, including this ridiculous new 50-year mortgage idea that proves how far from wisdom our leaders have fallen.

In this revealing episode, Meghan Farner and guest Michelle Stone explore the roots of polygamy in Latter-day Saint history, asking whether it truly originated with God or with men. Together they uncover scriptural context, historical distortions, and the divine truth about feminine worth.

Pastor Jim explores Romans 16 and the call to be wise toward what is good and innocent toward what is evil. Jim challenges the common tendency to focus on external behavior by pointing upstream to the source: belief. False gospels and counterfeit teachings often creep in subtly, creating division and temptation while masquerading as righteousness. Jim reminds listeners that wise belief in the true gospel of Jesus produces lasting fruit and unity, while false gospels elevate performance and foster pride. Through cultural examples and personal reflection, he urges the church to remain anchored in the gospel of grace, not distracted by legalism or religious noise. To spot what is evil, we must first know what is good—and what is good is the gospel.

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

This episode contains sensitive topics, including addiction and pornography. Listener discretion is advised.Chaos often feels like it's pulling us in a thousand directions. But what if, at its core, it was actually a master class — an invitation to learn discernment and return to our inner truth?In this week's episode of A Psychic's Story, spiritual teacher and content creator Taylor Perkins joins Nichole to share his personal journey of awakening and the lessons he's learned about navigating illusion and reclaiming power.Taylor opens up about growing up in a strict religious household and the cognitive dissonance that shaped his early years. He recounts the powerful moment as a teenager when he felt consumed by divine love — a turning point that awakened him to the reality that Source energy has always been within.Taylor and Nichole also explore:Reality as a mirror — how our beliefs, energy, and patterns reflect back to us in the physical world.Chaos as curriculum — why contrast and confusion are essential for spiritual evolution and why discernment matters more now than ever.Breaking loops — understanding repetitive patterns in our lives and how to shift them with awareness and compassion.Expansion over perfection — why striving for flawlessness keeps us stuck, and how embracing expansion allows for real freedom and growth.Integration — remembering that the answers aren't outside of us. The spiritual path is about self-sourcing truth and reclaiming sovereignty.Taylor's message is that discernment is not just a skill — it's a way of remembering who you truly are in the middle of a chaotic world.You can reach Taylor by following him on Instagram @iamtaylorperkins or on TikTok @mrcultdaddyIf you or someone you love is struggling with addiction, know you're not alone. Free, confidential help is available:SAMHSA Helpline (U.S.) – 1-800-662-HELP (4357)SMART Recovery – smartrecovery.orgSAA (Sex Addicts Anonymous) – saa-recovery.orgFor listeners outside the U.S., please check local hotlines and support services in your area.To connect with Nichole or join The Psychic Club, visit apsychicsstory.com.If you'd like to further support the podcast, please subscribe to it and/or:FOLLOW @apsychicsstory on Instagram. BOOK a session with Nichole.SIGN-UP to the newsletter for updates.JOIN Patreon for exclusive, ad-free content. BECOME A MEMBER of The Psychic Club.This podcast is intended to inspire you on your personal journey to inner peace. The podcast host, co-hosts or guests are not psychologists or medical doctors and do not offer any professional health or medical advice. If you are suffering from any psychological or medical conditions, please seek help from a qualified health professional. Support the show