Podcasts about Theological studies

Sarah Holliday is a writer and editor with a passion for biblical truth. Formerly a reporter for the Family Research Council and The Washington Stand, Sarah authored articles and news scripts, hosted the daily news brief, and appeared on various podcasts and interviews. Sarah is a graduate of Boise State University with a degree in Creative Writing & Narrative Arts. She also has a certificate in Theological Studies from Reformation Bible College located in Sanford, FL.  Sarah continues to write on pro-life issues, religious liberty, bioethics, and the intersection of faith and culture — seeking to bring journalistic rigor and gospel-centered hope to every conversation. In this podcast, Sarah describes how, in college, God called her to learn more about why she should trust the truths of the Bible and to share these truths in love with those around her. That led to her attending Reformation Bible College and then beginning to work at Family Research Council. She totally loves communicating truth in a loving and persuasive manner. When asked what the American Church most desperately needs, Sarah shared how, compared to so many Christ-followers in other nations, we American Christians can tend to lose focus on what are God's top priorities for His followers. We can feel we are entitled to comfort and no pain, when the Bible makes it clear that trials and pain and even persecution are a normal part of our lives as Christ's followers. Sarah concluded the podcast by praying for us American Christians to be totally surrendered to our Lord who gave His all for us.

Check out Big Gears for Little Ears here. For additional materials connected to biblical theology visit jasonderouchie.com or handstotheplow.org.

Artificial intelligence can generate outlines, summaries, illustrations, and sermon-like content in seconds. But should preachers use it? And if so, how?In this episode of the Expositors Collective podcast, Mike Neglia hosts a live panel discussion with Bob Franquiz, Pilgrim Benham, Ryan Marr, and Alan Stoddard on AI, ChatGPT, pastoral integrity, and the future of sermon preparation.Rather than simply asking whether AI can save time, the panel presses into deeper questions. What happens to the preacher when the work of sermon preparation is delegated to a machine? Can technology glorify God, or can it train us to depend less on prayer, study, Scripture, and the Holy Spirit? Where might AI serve as a limited tool, and where does it become a dangerous substitute?Pilgrim Benham reflects on the moral weight of technology and warns against treating tools as spiritually neutral. Ryan Marr offers a thoughtful, contrarian perspective on the formative effects of AI in the life of the preacher. Bob Franquiz speaks to the limits of ChatGPT, reminding listeners that AI can generate words quickly, but it cannot pastor people, carry a burden, or replace the preacher's communion with God in the text. Mike Neglia also suggests a narrow and cautious way AI might be used after a sermon draft is mostly complete, as a tool for clarification rather than creation.The central concern of this conversation is not fear of technology, but faithfulness in ministry. Preachers are called to study, pray, think, shepherd, and proclaim. AI may assist with certain tasks, but it cannot replace the spiritual and pastoral work of preaching.This conversation was recorded at an Expositors Collective preacher training event in St Petersburg, Florida.As a sidebar, the panel also ends with discussion on mentoring relationships, spotting future leaders, "overpreparing" early in ministry, the value of reading while you are young, and the difficult question every preacher faces: how do you know when a sermon is actually done?Featured guestsBob Franquiz is the Founding and Senior Pastor of Calvary Fellowship in Miramar, Florida. He is the author of seven books, including Pull: Making Your Church Magnetic and Begin: First Steps for the Journey of Faith. Before entering pastoral ministry, Bob played guitar for the Christian hardcore band Strongarm, often regarded as one of the most influential Christian metal bands of its era. Prior to planting Calvary Fellowship, he served as an assistant pastor at Calvary Chapel Fort Lauderdale. Bob holds a Ph.D. in Bible Exposition from Liberty University and a master's degree in theological studies from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. He and his wife, Carey, have been married since 1997 and have three children: Mia, Alexander, and Olivia.Pilgrim Benham has planted churches and pastored since 2002. He is the Dean of Students at Calvary Chapel Bible College, an instructor, and serves on the pastoral team at WestChurch in Bradenton, Florida. Pilgrim loves equipping the saints and also does sermon coaching when not enjoying Florida's beaches.Ryan Marr is the Lead Pastor of Calvary Chapel St Petersburg, where he has served in pastoral ministry since 2004. He holds an M.A. in Biblical and Theological Studies from Western Seminary, and brings years of experience in preaching, leadership, and local church ministry.Dr Alan Stoddard is the lead pastor of Imagine Church in Granbury, Texas, and is part of the Expositors Collective leadership team.AI and the Preacher's Calling - Dr Paul Hoffman : https://open.spotify.com/episode/4Fsx7d2iGUXh2oUcQOnyYG?si=9157ccf1a9144cac The Perils and Possibilities of ChatGPT - Nick Cady and Mike Neglia: https://open.spotify.com/episode/2oTViQSw1a641dsMqfyMOO?si=6f3cc77c796d4174Connect:For information about our upcoming training events visit ExpositorsCollective.com Join our private Facebook group to continue the conversation: https://www.facebook.com/groups/ExpositorsCollective

Joanna Whaley has lived in Southeast Michigan her whole life and is now running for State Representative for House District 2 to serve her community. She earned her Bacherlor's Degree in Arts Management from Eastern Michigan University, attended the University of Michigan for Clinical Pastoral Education and a Clinical Pastoral Education Residency, and received her Master of Arts in Theology and Theological Studies from Wartburg Theological Seminary. As a transgender woman running to represent every member of the district, a clinical spiritual care provider in local hospitals, and a parent, some of her top issues include civil liberties, economic fairness, healthcare access, and public safety. Joanna and her family make their home in Detroit, Michigan. 

Have a comment? Send us a text! (We read all of them but can't reply). Email us: Will@faithfulpoliticspodcast.comHow is Christian nationalism showing up inside the U.S. military chaplaincy, and why does it matter for religious freedom?In this episode, Will talks with Leigh Larson, a theologian, Air Force veteran, public scholar, and founder of Follow the Leighder. Larson's research focuses on Christian nationalism in U.S. military chaplaincy, giving her both personal experience and academic grounding for this conversation.Military chaplains serve at one of the most complicated intersections of church and state. They are religious leaders inside a government institution, but their job is supposed to protect the spiritual care of every service member, including people of different faiths and no faith at all.Larson explains how chaplains are trained, why endorsing bodies and faith codes matter, and what happens when spiritual care shifts toward proselytizing or political theology. The conversation covers religious pluralism, Wiccan and humanist recognition, Cold War civil religion, post-9/11 evangelical influence, and the growing concern over Christian nationalism inside military culture. Relevant Links & ResourcesFollow the Leighder: https://www.followtheleighder.com/Follow the Leighder Substack: https://followtheleighder.substack.com/Guest BioLeigh Larson is a theologian, veteran, and public scholar, and the creator and host of Follow the Leighder, a multi-platform society and culture brand reaching 245K+ followers across five platforms.She holds a Master of Theological Studies from Phillips Theological Seminary, where her thesis examined Christian Nationalism in US military chaplaincy through original research including 22 interview subjects and a 116-response survey. She is a 2025–2026 Disciples of Christ HELM Global Theological Fellow (one of nine selected nationally) and a 2025 Stone-Campbell Journal Graduate Essay Finalist. During her first year of seminary, she served in the United States Air Force Reserve as a Chaplain Candidate and Second Lieutenant. She holds a BA in International Relations from the University of Texas at Austin, where she was both a Presidential Scholar and Jefferson Scholar.When she is not recording or writing, Leigh is somewhere on the road with her dog, Professor Huckleberry.Support the show

Theology, love, and Howard Thurman are the focus of this conversation with my colleague, the Rev. Dr. Kathryn House.Link to the recording of Howard Thurman reading his work, “Meditations of the Heart,” part of the Howard Thurman Collection in the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University Libraries https://digitallibrary.bu.edu/readings-meditations-heart-part-1-2Text referenced: Love at the Center: Unitarian Universalist Theologies, editor Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt https://uuabookstore.org/products/love-at-the-centerRev. Kathryn House, Ph.D., is Assistant Professor of Leadership Studies and Practical Theology and Chair of the Rev. Dr. Lee Barker Professorship of Leadership Studies at Meadville Lombard Theological School. She was previously Visiting Assistant Professor of Practical Theology and a Louisville Institute Postdoctoral Fellow at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. House received her BA in Religion from Duke University and her MDiv. and PhD in Theological Studies from Boston University School of Theology. House is ordained in the American Baptist Churches, USA and affiliated with the Alliance of Baptists.House is co-editor, with Dr. Sara Moslener, of "Purity Culture and its Discontents," a special issue of Theology and Sexuality. She has also contributed chapters to Trauma and Lived Religion: Transcending the Ordinary (Palgrave Macmillan) and Faithfully Feminist: Jewish, Christian, and Muslim Feminists on Why We Stay (White Cloud Press), and her writing has been published in journals such as Perspectives in Religious Studies, Pastoral Psychology, and American Baptist Quarterly. Her current book project, an expansion of her dissertation, The Afterlife of White Evangelical Purity Culture: Wounds, Legacies, and Impacts, investigates the theological scaffolding of white evangelical purity culture and its continuing impact on American religious and political life.Her teaching and scholarship are generated at intersections of leadership studies, trauma-informed pastoral and spiritual care, and liberation theologies. She serves on the steering committee for the Ecclesial Practices Unit of the American Academy of Religion and on the Advisory Committee of the Wabash Center for Teaching and Learning in Theology and Religion. She is also an active member of the National Association of Baptist Professors of Religion (NABPR) and NABPR Region-at-Large.__________________________Thank you for listening. Many Windows: Conversations on Ministry is a production of Meadville Lombard Theological School. Theme music is “Destination” by Justhea. This episode is produced by Jules Taylor.(Justhea: spoti.fi/2NycVfd and apple.co/3u51z2V)

Welcome to Walking the Way. My name is Ray, and I really want to say thank you to everyone for listening in as we continue to explore what it means to have a regular rhythm of worship.  CreditsOpening PrayerAdapted from The Abingdon Worship Annual 2009, © 2008 Abingdon Press. Posted on the Ministry Matters website. http://www.ministrymatters.com/Bible verseJeremiah 52:13Thought for the dayRay BorrettOlga Y Fabrikant-Burke, Jeremiah 52 in the Context of the Book of Jeremiah. By HENK DE WAARD, The Journal of Theological Studies, Volume 73, Issue 1, April 2022, Pages 271–273, https://doi.org/10.1093/jts/flac039Bible PassageJeremiah 52Holman Christian Standard Bible® (HCSB®). Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.Prayer Handbookprayer handbook WTW 2026.pdfSupporting Walking the WayIf you want to support Walking the Way, please go to: https://ko-fi.com/S6S4WXLBBor you can subscribe to the channel: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/walkingtheway/subscribeTo contact Ray: Please leave a comment or a review. I want to find out what people think and how we make it better.www.rayborrett.co.ukwalkingthewaypodcast@outlook.comwww.instagram.com/walkingtheway1

Jaws of Justice Radio investigates how we can achieve justice from a system of laws deeply rooted in economic, social and political inequality.  We want to dispel misconceptions created by the news and entertainment industry, politicians and our educational system. We hope you will listen. Host Bev Livingston opens our hour speaking with Bishop Saundra McFadden-Weaver.  They are going to tell listeners about Prison Ministry, feeding homeless people and proving the support which benefit reentry and impacted persons as they transition from incarceration to a very different life. Life in prison is defined by a severe lack of personal choices.  For example, while held by law enforcement, a person has no choice of the company they share their life. A person's name and choices is stripped away. Life outside, or "reentry," challenges formerly incarcerated individuals with the heavy stigma of a criminal record which can restrict access to jobs, housing, and civic participation. Many return to distressed communities, making successful social integration difficult. Bishop Saundra McFadden-Weaver was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, graduating from Lincoln High School, then moving on to higher learning she holds a B.S in Agricultural Science, a Masters in Theological Studies, and a Doctorate in Pastoral Theology.  Bishop McFadden-Weaver has been Councilwoman of Kansas City, MO 3rd District, Missouri Victims Advocate for Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), served in Prison Ministries, headed the call to regulate Bounty Hunters and saw to it that change came to the Federal Laws governing Bounty Hunters. She has stood with Ad Hoc Against Crime, championed victims' rights, sat in for civil rights, and fought for women's rights. She has served as the proud pastor of Community Fellowship of Jesus Christ for more than 20 years and is looking forward to many more. In the second part of our hour, Jaws of Justice host, Terri Wilke, and a new volunteer, Justice Johnson, will talk about the status of the Kansas City Missouri jail and the Jackson County jail.  Listeners are aware that new jails are being built, staffed and filled.  The community needs to be aware of the what is planned and consider how the job can best be accomplished. After all, we are paying for it. On Jaws of Justice, we examine how to find justice in our society.  Justice will not be served until those who are unaffected are as outraged as those who are.  

Check out the Theology in the Raw Patreon Community for bonus episodes, event footage and more! Dr. Jennifer Powell McNutt has a Ph.D. from St. Andrews University and is the Franklin S. Dyrness Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Wheaton College. She's the author of several books, including her most recent: The Mary We Forgot: What the Apostle to the Apostles Teaches the Church Today.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Don't be put off by all of Jennifer McNutt's impressive credentials. Besides being a brilliant scholar and theologian, Jennifer is engaging, delightful, and deeply inspiring. You will love hearing her story and her passion for Jesus.Featured Resource:The Mary We Forgot: What the Apostle to the Apostles Can Teach the Church Todayby Dr. Jennifer Powell McNutt (Brazos, 2024)2025 ECPA Book of the Year FinalistAbout Dr. Jennifer Powell McNutt:Dr. Jennifer Powell McNutt holds the Dyrness Chair of Biblical and Theological Studies and serves as Professor of Theology and History of Christianity at Wheaton College's Litfin Divinity School. She is an award-winning professor, author, and internationally recognized speaker on theology, church history, and Scripture.Her book, The Mary We Forgot, invites the church to reconsider the biblical witness of Mary Magdalene and what her life and testimony reveal about faithfulness to Jesus. Jennifer and her husband, Rev. Dr. David McNutt, serve in the Presbyterian church and co-founded McNuttshell Ministries.

Welcome back to A History of Christian Theology! In this episode, Chad sits down with Dr. Kelly M. Kapic, Professor of Theological Studies at Covenant College, to discuss his award-winning book Christian Life, published by Zondervan Academic as part of the New Studies in Dogmatics series.What does it actually mean to live as a Christian? Although the phrase "Christian life" is used constantly in churches and classrooms, its theological foundation often goes unexamined. Dr. Kapic argues that the Christian life is, first and foremost, a response to the love of the triune God — flowing from God toward us and drawing us back into communion with him. Central to his account is the incarnate Son, who loved the Father for us, weaving our fragmented prayers and imperfect devotion into his own perfect faithfulness.Chad and Dr. Kapic explore the theological foundations of Christian living, the role of the church and corporate worship in shaping the believer, and what it means to be united to Christ by the Spirit. It's a rich, accessible conversation at the intersection of systematic theology and everyday faith.Dr. Kapic holds a PhD in Systematic and Historical Theology from King's College, University of London, and has authored or edited over fifteen books. Christian Life received the 2025 Award of Distinction from The Gospel Coalition and an Honorable Mention from the Southwestern Journal of Theology.

Don't be put off by all of Jennifer McNutt's impressive credentials. Besides being a brilliant scholar and theologian, Jennifer is engaging, delightful, and deeply inspiring. You will love hearing her story and her passion for Jesus.Featured Resource:The Mary We Forgot: What the Apostle to the Apostles Can Teach the Church Todayby Dr. Jennifer Powell McNutt (Brazos, 2024)2025 ECPA Book of the Year FinalistAbout Dr. Jennifer Powell McNutt:Dr. Jennifer Powell McNutt holds the Dyrness Chair of Biblical and Theological Studies and serves as Professor of Theology and History of Christianity at Wheaton College's Litfin Divinity School. She is an award-winning professor, author, and internationally recognized speaker on theology, church history, and Scripture.Her book, The Mary We Forgot, invites the church to reconsider the biblical witness of Mary Magdalene and what her life and testimony reveal about faithfulness to Jesus. Jennifer and her husband, Rev. Dr. David McNutt, serve in the Presbyterian church and co-founded McNuttshell Ministries

An AI-generated image of US President Trump depicted as Jesus and an anti-Pope Leo rant on Truth Social has made shockwaves throughout America's Christian community - even for its Republican and far-right members. Host Maria Kestane speaks to André Gagné, a professor and the Chair of the Department of Theological Studies at Concordia University to break down why Trump has made the Pope his latest target, how the Trump administration has mobilized the Christian faith to justify its agenda, and whether or not religious members of his base are drawing the line. We love feedback at The Big Story, as well as suggestions for future episodes. You can find us:Through email at hello@thebigstorypodcast.ca Or @thebigstory.bsky.social on Bluesky

This Week in the Nation’s Capital… GUEST Greg Clugston … SRN News White House Correspondent. When the Journey Hurts: Finding Healing in Suffering for Heart, Mind and Soul (new book) … GUEST Dr Kelly Kapic … Professor of Theological Studies at Covenant College, Lookout Mountain, GA.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Emma Waters is a Policy Analyst in the Center for Technology and the Human Person at The Heritage Foundation. Her work focuses on family, biotechnology, and reproductive medicine. She is a co-author of "A Future for the Family: A New Technology Agenda for the Right" statement at First Things and received The Hill's inaugural 2026 "Top 50 Women Shaping Policy" award. Her first book, Lead Like Jael, will be released with Skyhorse Publishing in 2026. Emma graduated Valedictorian at Lee University with a B.S. in Political Science and a B.A. in Biblical and Theological Studies. She is currently pursuing a Master of Public Policy at The Catholic University of America. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two daughters. Find more from Emma: X (emlwaters): https://x.com/emlwaters Instagram (@emlwaters_): https://www.instagram.com/emlwaters_/ Connect with me: Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tammy.m.peterson Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TammyPetersonPodcast TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@tammypetersonpodcast Twitter: https://twitter.com/Tammy1Peterson Rumble: https://rumble.com/c/TammyPetersonPodcast

Today's speaker is Dr. Zach Bowden, Chief of Staff and Assistant Professor of Theological Studies at Cedarville University. Dr. Bowden concludes the series, "Exodus: Our God Saves," looking at chapter 40. He teaches that the glory of God is not an abstract notion, but rather, it is for us, and shines forth in the forgiveness of sins.

John Shackelford currently serves as the Executive Director of Eagle Ranch, succeedingEddie Staub, Eagle Ranch's Founder, in July 2021. In his role, John is ultimatelyresponsible for leading the Staff in accomplishing the Ranch's mission to restore andrenew children and families in relational crisis.Originally from Orlando, Florida, John graduated from Wheaton College (Illinois) in2011 with degrees in Business/Economics and Theological Studies. John also playedbasketball at Wheaton and served as team captain his senior year.Prior to Eagle Ranch, John and his wife and children lived in Atlanta as he worked for10 years at Chick-fil-A Inc. in the corporate Marketing department. In his most recentrole, he led Chick-fil-A's Brand Planning team, responsible for the communicationsplanning and marketing of new products, among other duties. He was previously TeamLeader for the Sponsorships and Events marketing team, leading national partnershipswith ESPN, the Chick-fil-A Peach Bowl, and the Chick-fil-A College Football Hall ofFame. Additionally, John helped start the national Chick-fil-A Leader Academyprogram and Chick-fil-A's fleet of food trucks.John and his wife, Stephanie, have three children and live with a portion of EagleRanch's staff on the ministry's almost 500-acre campus.About Eagle RanchEagle Ranch is a Christ-centered nonprofit organization that takes a whole familyapproach to restoring and renewing relationships for children and families. Our aim isto provide renewal through restored relationships, practical resources and hope for amore flourishing future. From humble beginnings as a residential children's program, Eagle Ranch's serviceshave expanded to include family assessments, a day school program, outpatientcounseling, parenting resources and other offerings to help families heal brokennessand gain tools for long-term success.For more information, visit EagleRanch.org.

Guest Bio: Brenda Palmer is an author, preacher, and podcaster with a passion for helping others encounter Jesus in transformative ways. She is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Biblical and Theological Studies at Denver Seminary. As the visionary behind Come Alive Collective, a movement dedicated to hosting nationwide Bible studies and worship nights, Brenda believes life unfolds when we surrender to God's plan. Whether she's creating content, leading Bible studies, or preaching the gospel, Brenda's mission is clear: to inspire others to say yes to God's call.  Show Summary: Are you the type of person that needs to know the plan before you commit to something? Do you find yourself saying no when you don't know the details? Or are you always saying yes to any invitation? For anyone, following God's calling often leads to unexpected opportunities. On this episode of God Hears Her, join hosts Eryn Eddy Adkins and Vivian Mabuni as they learn from Brenda Palmer how saying yes to God can completely alter the course of your life.   Notes and Quotes:  “That moment made me want to pursue a God who wouldn't change His mind even when I wanted Him to. Even when I tried to do what I thought was the worst things I could ever do to disqualify Him from calling me.” —Brenda Palmer  “When you are high achieving, rest feels like a betrayal to the assignment.” —Brenda Palmer  “There is a level of patience that comes with desperation. When I don't have another option but to sit and wait—even if I feel like I'm not hearing—I can still sense that He's here. I'm not getting any answers or relief but there's a trust that I have in the God He's been that gives me the capacity to wait when I feel like He's not saying anything.” —Brenda Palmer  “To bring Him into it [your situation] is saying ‘whatever you decide, whatever you think is best, could you condition my heart to be okay with that?' Because if not, it's still a place of entitlement.” —Brenda Palmer   Verses:  Psalm 139  Matthew 6:25-34  Proverbs 3:5-6  1 Corinthians 1:9  Related Episodes:  GHH Ep 95 - God's Good Plans with Teresa Swanstrom Anderson: https://godhearsher.org/podcast/gods-good-plans/ GHH Ep 169 - Learning to Surrender with Tara Sun: https://godhearsher.org/podcast/learning-to-surrender/  Links:  God Hears Her website: https://go.odb.org/ghh191  Subscribe to the God Hears Her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GodHearsHerODBM Brenda Palmer's website: https://www.iambrendapalmer.com/ Episode 218 Bible Study PDF: https://xvetrm.files.cmp.optimizely.com/download/assets/GHH+Podcast_EP218.pdf/6d7695aa31e411f19db3ae78bff3c806 

Today, Aaron, Mike, and special guest Maria Baer celebrate a massive Supreme Court victory for the First Amendment and biblical truth. With their 8-1 ruling in favor of therapist Kaley Chiles, the Court struck a blow against the Left’s 15-year crusade to ban so-called "conversion therapy" and muzzle Christian counselors. Listen to this episode of The Narrative to hear how the radical lobby uses state power to embrace evil and alienate children from reality and truth. After the news, Heritage Foundation Policy Analyst Emma Waters joins the hosts to shatter the modern "girl boss" and "tradwife" delusions with her new book, Lead Like Jael. Emma breaks down how the biblical story of Jael provides a new blueprint for women to cultivate uniquely feminine virtues like shrewdness and discernment in a culture that treats womanhood and motherhood as liabilities. From exposing the "toxic empathy" of the radical Left to calling out the Church’s own failure to articulate the goodness of marriage, Emma shares how a productive, Christ-centered home is the ultimate weapon against an enemy that always attacks the family first. More about Emma Waters Emma Waters is a Policy Analyst in the Center for Technology and the Human Person at The Heritage Foundation. Her work focuses on family, biotechnology, and reproductive medicine. She is a co-author of “A Future for the Family: A New Technology Agenda for the Right” statement at First Things. Her first book, Lead Like Jael, was released with Skyhorse Publishing in early 2026. Emma graduated Valedictorian at Lee University with a B.S. in Political Science and a B.A. in Biblical and Theological Studies. She is currently pursuing a Master of Public Policy at The Catholic University of America. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband and two daughters. Want to Go Deeper? On Saturday, April 11, Center for Christian Virtue will host our 2026 Columbus Celebration Gala. We're excited to welcome our keynote speaker, Scott Jennings, who is CNN's senior conservative voice and one of the sharpest commentators in the national spotlight. He's known for his clarity, conviction, and humor, and Scott brings decades of experience at the crossroads of politics and media, including serving in the George W. Bush White House and key roles in multiple presidential and Senate campaigns. It's going to be an elegant evening where you'll enjoy an incredible dinner followed by visionary keynotes exploring the path forward for the future of Ohio and America. Get your tickets or secure your table today at CCV.org/ColumbusGala.

Today's speaker is Dr. Ched Spellman, Professor of Biblical and Theological Studies at Cedarville University. In today's message, we reflect on the way Scripture allows us to remember our own rescue. Dr. Spellman looks at the final Passover of the old covenant, in Luke 22.

The book of Ecclesiastes has puzzled readers for millennia with its unflinching observations about absurdity, meaninglessness, vanity, and futility. Biblical scholar Jesse Peterson joins Evan Rosa to discuss his book, Qoheleth and the Philosophy of Value, bringing contemporary philosophy into dialogue with this ancient text and reflecting on what happens when a sage confronts the gap between expectation and reality. "Can you view your work, your toil, not just as a means to a further end? Can you rather turn to simply enjoy the work itself?" Together they discuss the distinction between meaning and value, why Qoheleth denies lasting significance while affirming joy, the harm of death and the death of memory, Ecclesiastes and Camus's absurdism, and the book's surprising message about enjoyment as an intrinsic good. Episode Highlights "I think what's at the heart of the Book of Ecclesiastes is just to say, maybe not, maybe there isn't a direct line between what you do and what the result will be." "It's not just that you'll physically die, but meaning that you've accrued in your life, if there was such a thing, that dies with you." "In this moment of working on what I'm working on, whatever it is, I am fully alive." "You have a little piece of the pie, and just own it. Absorb yourself into whatever that may be." "Can you view your work, your toil, not just as a means to a further end? Can you rather turn to simply enjoy the work itself?" About Jesse Peterson Jesse Peterson is an Assistant Professor of Biblical Studies in the School of Theology and Honors Program at George Fox University. He previously taught at Purdue University, Fordham University, and St. John's University. He earned a PhD in Hebrew Bible from Durham University (UK), an MDiv from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, and a BA in music and Jewish studies from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities. His work on Ecclesiastes has appeared in Harvard Theological Review, Vetus Testamentum, and the Journal of Theological Studies. He is the author of Qoheleth and the Philosophy of Value (Cambridge University Press). Helpful Links and Resources Qoheleth and the Philosophy of Value, by Jesse Peterson https://www.cambridge.org/core/books/qoheleth-and-the-philosophy-of-value/877B040C17EE8B9DD60174DEC7C306F7 Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience, Mihaly Csikszentmihalyi: https://www.amazon.com/Flow-Psychology-Experience-Perennial-Classics/dp/0061339202 Featured music by the Jesse Peterson Quartet https://jessepetersonquartet.bandcamp.com/album/man-of-the-earth Show Notes The most philosophical book in the Bible Bringing Ecclesiastes into dialogue with contemporary philosophy of value Jaco Gericke's Hebrew Bible and Philosophy of Religion as catalyst Authorship: why scholars date Ecclesiastes to the 3rd century BCE The Solomonic persona and the epilogue problem Amal (toil) and yitron (gain): does life add up? Qoheleth as businessman: commercial language for philosophy Three theories of meaning: subjectivism, consequentialism, intersubjectivism "Maybe there isn't a direct line between what you do and what the result will be" Brueggemann's orientation, disorientation, new orientation The absurd: expectation vs. reality, linking Qoheleth to Camus "Meaning that you've accrued in your life, if there was such a thing, that dies with you" The same fate for all: wise and foolish, human and animal Epicurus and the harm of death Hebrew anthropology: dust plus life-breath, no afterlife The carpe diem passages: "Go eat your bread with joy" Joy as robust, not narcotic—enjoying toil as an end in itself "In this moment of working on what I'm working on, I am fully alive" Csikszentmihalyi's Flow and the autotelic experience "Just own it. Absorb yourself into whatever that may be." #Ecclesiastes #Qoheleth #PhilosophyOfValue #MeaningInLife #BiblicalStudies #HebrewBible #WisdomLiterature #CarpeDiem #Absurdity #ForTheLifeOfTheWorld Production Notes This podcast featured Jesse Peterson Edited and Produced by Evan Rosa Hosted by Evan Rosa Production Assistance by Noah Senthil A Production of the Yale Center for Faith & Culture at Yale Divinity School https://faith.yale.edu/about Support For the Life of the World podcast by giving to the Yale Center for Faith & Culture: https://faith.yale.edu/give

In this episode, we're joined by Prof. Kelly M. Kapic (PhD, King's College, University of London), who is Professor of Theological Studies at Covenant College, and the author of several books, including the book that we're discussing in this episode, Christian Life (as part of the New Studies in Dogmatics series published by Zondervan Academic). Over the course of our conversation, we discuss Kelly Kapic's aims to ground his theology of the Christian life in the Triune God, insisting that a theology of Christian life is necessarily theological. We also address how the particulars of Christian life pertain to universals, which helps to situate the topic in relation to various cultural and contextual settings. To round out the conversation, Prof. Kapic also highlights one of his main emphases that Christian life as a response to God begins with the Messiah's response to God first. From there flows the ecclesial gathering of Christ followers whose Christian life is bound up in our relations to one another, but also to God and to creation. Team members on the episode from The Two Cities include: Dr. John Anthony Dunne and Stephanie Kate Judd. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

The first six days of the war with Iran have cost more than $11.3 billion, and 140 US troops have been injured, according to Pentagon officials. Tom Nichols, professor emeritus at the U.S. Naval War College and staff writer at The Atlantic, joins Russell, Mike and Clarissa to discuss military strategy and the costs of war. Since President Trump's inauguration, border crossings at the US's southern border have slowed. Bri Stensrud from Women of Welcome joins talk about how women are responding to the immigration policies of the Trump administration. Then, CT's Bonnie Kristian stops by to discuss the reordering of the global Anglican church, and how to think about evangelicals' approach to staying in or leaving a church or denomination. ABOUT THE GUESTS: Tom Nichols is a staff writer at The Atlantic and an author of the Atlantic Daily newsletter. He is a professor emeritus of national-security affairs at the US Naval War College, where he taught for 25 years, and an instructor at the Harvard Extension School. He has served as a legislative aide in the Massachusetts House and the US Senate. His books include The Death of Expertise and Our Own Worst Enemy: The Assault From Within on Modern Democracy. Bri Stensrud is an author, human dignity advocate, and the Director of Women of Welcome. Her passion is to equip the Church to engage more consistently and tangibly in holistic human dignity issues. Bri holds a Masters of Biblical & Theological Studies from Dallas Theological Seminary and has authored two books: Start with Welcome: The Journey toward a Confident and Compassionate Immigration Conversation, and a children's book: The Biggest Best Light: Shining God's Light into the World Around You. Bonnie Kristian is the deputy editor at Christianity Today. She is the author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today. Her writing has been published at outlets including The New York Times, The Week, USA Today, CNN, Politico, and others. GO DEEPER WITH THE BULLETIN: Join the conversation at our Substack. Find us on YouTube. Rate and review the show in your podcast app of choice. ABOUT THE BULLETIN: The Bulletin is a twice-weekly politics and current events show from Christianity Today moderated by Clarissa Moll, with senior commentary from Russell Moore (Christianity Today's editor-at-large and columnist) and Mike Cosper (senior contributor). Each week, the show explores current events and breaking news and shares a Christian perspective on issues that are shaping our world. We also offer special one-on-one conversations with writers, artists, and thought leaders whose impact on the world brings important significance to a Christian worldview, like Bono, Sharon McMahon, Harrison Scott Key, Frank Bruni, and more. The Bulletin listeners get 25% off CT. Go to https://orderct.com/THEBULLETIN to learn more. “The Bulletin” is a production of Christianity Today Producer: Clarissa Moll Associate Producer: Alexa Burke Editing and Mix: Kevin Morris Graphic Design: Rick Szuecs Music: Dan Phelps Executive Producer: Erik Petrik Senior Producer: Matt Stevens Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

Are we born sinful?When did sin enter the world?How is Jesus sinless if he was fully human?Support this show!! : https://www.bibspeak.com/#donateGrab your free gift: the top 10 most misunderstood Biblical verses: https://info.bibspeak.com/10-verses-clarifiedJoin the newsletter (I only send 2 emails a week): https://www.bibspeak.com/#newsletterShop Dwell L'abel 15% off using the discount code BIBSPEAK15 https://go.dwell-label.com/bibspeakDownload Logos Bible Software for your own personal study: http://logos.com/biblicallyspeakingSign up for Riverside: https://www.riverside.fm/?utm_campaig...Use Manychat to automate a quick DM! It's great for sending links fast.https://manychat.partnerlinks.io/nd14879vojabStan.Store—way better than Linktree! It lets me share links, grow my email list, and host all my podcast stuff in one place.https://join.stan.store/biblicallyspeakingSupport this show!! : https://www.bibspeak.com/#donate Dr. Hans Madueme serves as an Associate Professor of Theological Studies at Covenant College in Lookout Mountain, GA. He received his PhD from Trinity Evangelical Divinity School. While at TEDS, he was the managing director of the Henry Center for Theological Understanding.He has co-edited several books, including Adam, the Fall, and Original Sinand Reading Christian Theology in the Protestant Tradition. He is also theauthor of Defending Sin: A Response to the Challenges of Evolution and the Natural Sciences and Does Science Make God Irrelevant. He is the author of numerous articles, including this recent one from Crossway that you will find helpful and encouraging.Recommended reading inspired by this episode:

Meggan Watterson joins Glennon and Abby for an urgent, unfiltered conversation about how to stay human in infuriating times. They discuss sacred rage as a form of love, why trusting our inner knowing matters more than ever, and what it means to stop waiting for institutions—or men—to tell us we're worthy. They also unpack the moment we're in—from the Epstein files and Deepak Chopra's presence in them to the misogyny behind the U.S. Men's Hockey Team's comments about the women's team—and ask what women do when the systems meant to protect people fail. Plus: Meggan shares the historical acts of resistance inspiring her right now, the story of Mary Magdalene and believing women (and ourselves), and the question guiding her days: How do women pray when the world is on fire? For more We Can Do Hard Things with Meggan Watterson, check out:  Women's Voices So Dangerous They Buried Them About Meggan: Meggan Watterson is the author of The Girl Who Baptized Herself and the Wall Street Journal bestselling Mary Magdalene Revealed. She is a feminist theologian with a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary at Columbia University. She leads a global online spiritual community, The House of Mary Magdalene, to study the scripture left out of the Christian canon like The Gospel of Mary and The Acts of Paul and Thecla.  Follow We Can Do Hard Things on:  Instagram — ⁠https://www.instagram.com/wecandohardthings⁠ TikTok — ⁠https://www.tiktok.com/@wecandohardthingsshow⁠

Join us for a conversation with Jonathan Arnold, an Associate Dean and an Associate Professor of Theological Studies at Cedarville University.

In this episode , Caleb Lenard engages with Kelly Kapic (PhD, King's College) Professor of Theological Studies at Covenant College to discuss his book on the theology of Christian life. They explore the essence of Christian life as a response to God's love, the importance of understanding the Trinity, and the role of the church in nurturing faith. Dr. Kapic emphasizes the need to avoid false dichotomies in theology, the relationship between law and gospel, and the significance of communal worship in experiencing God's presence.Resources: Christian Life by Kelly KapicCommunion with the Triune God by John OwenFriendship with God: A Path to Deeper Fellowship with the Father, Son, and Spirit by Mike Mckinley

We're thrilled to be joined by Jen Oshman today as we consider our next chunk in John's gospel, and specifically what it looks like to heed Jesus' warning that his disciples will be hated in this world. Jen has been in women's ministry for over two decades on three continents. She's the author of Enough About Me,  Cultural Counterfeits, and It's Good to be a Girl. She's the Director of Women's Ministry in her local church, pursuing her Masters of Theological Studies, and the mother of four daughters.

Laine Walters Young is the Assistant Director of the Cal Turner Program for Moral Leadership in the Professions at Vanderbilt University. She received her PhD from Vanderbilt in Religion, Psychology and Culture, and considers herself a feminist care ethicist working at the intersection of psychology and ethics. She has experience in non-profit administration as well as a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School where she studied Religion in Public Life, storytelling, and the possibilities of pluralism.  At the Cal Turner Program, she directs the interprofessional student fellowship at Vanderbilt, a group of masters-level students who journey together over a year to deepen their moral awareness and gain leadership skill. Thank you to Sacred Writes for the support! Visit Sacred Writes: https://www.sacred-writes.org/  

In this workshop from the 2024 Rooted Conference, Bradley Blaylock explores the role of apologetics in youth ministry—not just as content, but as a teaching posture. He outlines approaches to help leaders raise apologetic issues naturally, equipping students to think biblically about their faith. Bradley serves as a Professor of Theological Studies at Highlands College in Birmingham, AL. He and his wife live in Birmingham with their adorable children. Bradley is a PhD student at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary studying the Philosophy of Religion. Two Simple Shifts for Teaching Apologetics in Youth Ministry by Bradley Blaylock Youth Pastor, Your Students Need Apologetics by Bradley Blaylock Follow @therootedministry on Instagram for more updates Register for Rooted 2026 Conference in Nashville Follow @therootedministry on Instagram for more updates andSubscribe to Youth Ministry Unscripted wherever you listen to podcasts

On today's episode, Matushka Melissa interviews Presbytera Jennifer Souza about the new Orthodox homeschool health class being offered by the Classical Learning Resource Center often known as CLRC. The course features presentations by well known and respected Orthodox clergy and scholars. Early enrollment will be for live classes and is a unique opportunity to help shape the recorded classes that will be offered later. For more information, visit: https://www.clrconline.com/orthodox-health-course-for-parents/ About today's guest: Presvytera Jennifer Souza is a classical teacher and curriculum developer with over 17 years of teaching experience. Jennifer completed her BA in Interdisciplinary Studies & English from Belmont Abbey College, is a CiRCE certified Classical Teacher, and is currently pursuing her Masters in Theological Studies, with a concentration in Patristics & Pedagogy, at Hellenic College Holy Cross. She has taught humanities, logic, writing, rhetoric, and the fine arts since 2009. She is the founder of Eastern Orthodox Charlotte Mason Homeschoolers Facebook group, was a contributing author for The Lost Tools of Writing Level 1, published by The CiRCE Institute, and is the former co-host of The Classical Homeschool Podcast. Her research interests include Classical Rhetoric, Classical Pedagogy, The Liberal Arts, Literature, Letters, and Fine Art Studies, The Intersection of Education and Healing, Education and Pedagogy through the lives and writings of the Saints, Patristic Fathers, and Iconography.

In this new episode, host Diana welcomes back guest Jake Doberenz, who shares updates on his life since his last appearance in Season 2. They discuss Jake's new podcast 'Christianity Without Compromise,' his new Substack, and his middle-grade book series 'Super Jake.' The conversation delves into Jake's personal challenges, including a difficult divorce and the loss of his father, and how his faith journey and mental health were affected. They also cover topics such as Christian nationalism, tribalism, and the importance of returning to a Jesus-centered Christianity. Jake emphasizes the value of listening and learning from diverse perspectives as a path to spiritual and personal growth. 00:00 Introduction and Sponsor Message 00:47 Welcome to the Podcast 01:28 Introducing Jake Dorin 01:50 Jake's New Ventures 02:51 Technical Difficulties and Housekeeping 03:33 Jake's Return to the Show 04:13 Jake's Journey and Challenges 13:45 Support Systems and Church Reactions 20:16 Jake's Writing Journey 26:21 Introduction to the Podcast's Mission 26:41 Focusing on Jesus-Centered Christianity 27:50 Challenges and Pushback 28:45 The Call to Smash Idols 29:38 Diverse Conversations and Controversial Topics 31:34 Personal Growth and Education 39:01 Christian Nationalism and Its Dangers 45:04 Reflecting on History and Moving Forward 48:07 Final Thoughts and Advice 50:36 Conclusion and Farewell   Jakedoberenz.com for all things Jake! I am a writer, speaker, minister, coach, and creative thinker living in Oklahoma City, OK. I have earned my Master of Theological Studies at Oklahoma Christian University, the same place I earned my Bachelor's degree in Bible with a minor in Communication Studies. I write fiction and nonfiction in a variety of mediums, including poetry, short stories, books, stage plays, academic essays, and devotionals. I also venture out into other mediums, like podcasts and video. My favorite topics of choice to discuss and write about (though always changing) include: Christian writing, helping people understand the Bible better, Christian identity, theology of technology and social media, use of humor in faith messages, how to get young people back in church, and a Christian response to culture.   Website: https://dswministries.org Subscribe to the podcast: https://dswministries.org/subscribe-to-podcast/ Social media links: Join our Private Wounds of the Faithful FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1603903730020136 Twitter: https://twitter.com/DswMinistries YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxgIpWVQCmjqog0PMK4khDw/playlists Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dswministries/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DSW-Ministries-230135337033879 Keep in touch with me! Email subscribe to get my handpicked list of the best resources for abuse survivors! https://thoughtful-composer-4268.ck.page #abuse #trauma Affiliate links: Our Sponsor: 753 Academy: https://www.753academy.com/ Can't travel to The Holy Land right now? The next best thing is Walking The Bible Lands! Get a free video sample of the Bible lands here! https://www.walkingthebiblelands.com/a/18410/hN8u6LQP An easy way to help my ministry: https://dswministries.org/product/buy-me-a-cup-of-tea/ A donation link: https://dswministries.org/donate/   Jake Doberenz [00:00:00] Special thanks to 7 5 3 Academy for sponsoring this episode. No matter where you are in your fitness and health journey, they've got you covered. They specialize in helping you exceed your health and fitness goals, whether that is losing body fat, gaining muscle, or nutritional coaching to match your fitness levels. They do it all with a written guarantee for results so you don't waste time and money on a program that doesn't exceed your goals. There are martial arts programs. Specialize in anti-bullying programs for kids to combat proven Filipino martial arts. They take a holistic, fun, and innovative approach that simply works. Sign up for your free class now. It's 7 5 3 academy.com. Find the link in the show notes. Welcome to the Wounds of the Faithful Podcast, brought to you by DSW Ministries. Your host is singer songwriter, speaker and domestic violence advocate, [00:01:00] Diana. She is passionate about helping survivors in the church heal from domestic violence and abuse and trauma. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counseling or qualified medical help. Now here is Diana. Hello everyone. How are you guys today? This is one of our new episodes. We have Jake Dorin back on the show. He was on season two and I did rebroadcast, the first interview that I had with him. So please go back and listen to that. It is fantastic and there's a lot of new things going on with Jake. He has a new podcast, which is called Christianity Without Compromise. He also has a new substack, [00:02:00] that is fabulous. He is written a book, super Jake and a second book. Super Jake and Cool Kenny. So that's a fictional book. Got remarried recently and there's a lot of here to talk about that is very timely for today. I just love his podcast. It is really great. He talks about, current topics that affect the church. And so I'm not gonna do too much intro because, like I said, you can listen to the original podcast interview from, last time. I've got lots of questions for him. I don't really have a script today. I'm just gonna go with the flow as to, what he wants to talk about. Um, a couple housekeeping things. I had some computer problems, some internet problems, and so I [00:03:00] was this afternoon switching out my computer in my studio with my laptop, so I didn't have to do the podcast on my cell phone. Um, this camera isn't as wonderful as my other one, and the sound isn't as wonderful, but I'm gonna try and fix the sound part post-production. But this is gonna be a fantastic show, perfect for the new year. So I hope that you will enjoy my second conversation with Jake Doberenz. Alright, welcome back to the show from season two. Jake, do thanks for coming on the show again. Of course, of course. I'm glad you'll have me all these seasons later. That's, that's really fun. It's cool. Yeah. There's a lot of things that have happened since, you were on the show, so I was glad that you were looking to be a [00:04:00] guest again, and, definitely wanted you to come back and share what you've been up to since then, some exciting things, and then some contemplative things that you've experienced. So remind the folks , what you're all about. Oh, what I'm all about. I mean, the formats change, but I've always just been trying to communicate Christian truth to people, you know, through podcasts, through books, through plays, like whatever the, the medium changes all the time. I just think Jesus is pretty cool and I want people to know him better and, um, I want people to know the real Jesus and not, there's a bunch of posers running around. Don't know if you knew that, but I want people to encounter the real thing. So, I mean, that's who, that's what I'm all about. Since the last time we've talked, I've probably started and also abandoned like a hundred projects, you know, that's just my nature. Fortunately, and [00:05:00] unfortunately, well, I was a big fan of your creatively Christian mm-hmm. Podcast. I was a guest on there with Andrea. Yeah. And I really enjoyed that being a musician and everything, and a creative myself. I understand that you're not doing that anymore, right? Yeah. That one's not, active anymore. I handed that off to Brandon. Brandon was one of our anchor hosts there on the show. He still posts about the show sometimes, and, uh, he has all the rights and access to the material. And so episodes still get shared and still get listens to. I think stopped, early, like 23, or 24, man, I don't know. The years have blurred together. But I still get notifications of people wanting to be guests on that show or, you know, some, something like good pods will say, Hey, this is ranked in the top for Christian, you know, arts and stuff. I'm like, whoa, it's crazy. So it [00:06:00] still gets traction even though we're not actively publishing, which is definitely fun. Wow. And you. Have this new podcast, Christianity Without Compromise, which I am like fan number two. Jake, I just absolutely love this podcast, I know you had it branded as Smashing Idols, which actually liked that title. Oh. Or did you decide to change it? Well, I decided to change it because it's a cool title, but I would tell that to people and they'd be like, I, what is that? Huh? What's going on here? Um, and so I wanted a fit of a couple keywords in there. I wanted to be very clear. It was about Christianity and Christian stuff. So a little bit to get found better. I mean, that was a lot of it. Mm-hmm. It get understood a little bit better. Um, but we're still this pretty much the same mission. We're smashing the idols. We're trying to bring the church back to kind of a faithful Christian witness. Right. And that means, hey, there are some idols in the [00:07:00] way. We're just gonna, move them and sometimes get a hammer out and start smashing 'em. 'cause we gotta get those out of the way to get back to the real deal. I totally agree. Yeah. When you are on here in season two. You went through some really difficult times of your life and I wanted to have you share with our audience, what you've learned in, those tough times and what was your relationship with the Lord and how he helped you through that. Whatever you're comfortable sharing with us. Yeah, I mean, since then I've had my job more than a year, uh, my job, period of life, right? But before we catch everybody up, I want people to understand, like, I had a relatively more or less comfortable life. I grew up in the church. My, my parents stayed together. It wasn't perfect, but they stayed together and didn't really have anybody like die or leave in my [00:08:00] world. Like it wasn't bad. And then I grow up and become an adult human person. I graduate college and then it was a little bit downhill from there. I think we're on the Upward Hill part, but it went downhill from there. So, after college, I got married to somebody who I loved and thought loved me, and things were pretty good. Um, until a time where she just decided, I don't want to invest in this relationship anymore. I don't wanna do this thing anymore. And there were a variety of reasons for that, that I won't get into. That's something that she decided, but. Did the whole marriage counseling thing. And ultimately it comes to a point in counseling like that where there's a decision. We've spent six weeks or whatever picking apart all the problems. Now are you gonna change? Are we gonna do something about [00:09:00] it? Are we gonna fix it? And her answer was, I'm good. I don't think so. See you later. Um, and so that was a difficult year. It ended up being about a year from there, so the actual divorce papers were signed. And that was not a fun time in my life. For sure, obviously for people that have gone through any kind of broken relationships like that. Just not good. I struggled a lot, you know, you mentioned the faith journey kind of thing. Like I believed. God wanted to save my marriage. I did pretty much everything I could as a human being to save that. I did. I read all the books. I, I literally read maybe 30 marriage books. I, did counseling, you know, individual therapy, virtual therapy I talked to experts in saving marriages and marriages and crisis. I spent a good chunk of money, as kind of this [00:10:00] last ditch effort going to this conference that we both attended virtually that was supposed to kind of help get us talking and heal some things. None of that worked. And that was really challenging because I said, well, doesn't God want marriages to stay together? Isn't that what God's all about? Like, that would be God's preference, surely. Right? Um. God doesn't override free will, very often. And so that's what happened. Like people made choices and it was a eye-opening time of, like other people in the world can just make whatever choices they want and sometimes you cannot control them, right? You, you, you can't, you don't have a say. And we have to just deal with that. We have to accept that to some extent. You know, I am proud of the progress that I made and the things I did to better myself. And so I can sleep easy, so to speak, knowing that like I did my part. But. [00:11:00] There was no happy ending to that necessarily. And then pretty much shortly after that, my dad died unexpectedly. And so again, it was this, this job thing, right? It just like one after another. And, things kind of fell apart. Uh, and losing a marriage, losing a father, they for better or for worse put, put things in perspective. And so while those weren't, um, good things, like I can't call them objectively good, there was good that came out of that, I became a better. A better person. I'm just full stop. I like to think I'm a better person than I was last time I was on the show here. I am absolutely healthier spiritually, mentally, and all the ways, like I did the work in myself. It doesn't mean I'm a perfect human being, you know, still a process, but I am at a better [00:12:00] point. And, I'm remarried now. I found somebody who really likes me and she's not going anywhere. And, we put in the work together and doesn't mean things are perfect, but, we both recognize that, that we are imperfect and we're just gonna do our best each day. And if there's a problem, we're gonna address it and not hide it for, you know, three years kind of thing. Mm-hmm. And, uh, it's good. So that's been the journey, right? Literally the darkest times. I mean there was a brief moment in that darkness that the holiday after my dad died and I had gotten divorced and my dad died in the same year, I felt for the first time, like thoughts of ending it all. And those were fleeting. I didn't think that very often, but it was just like too much. But I crawled, my way out of the darkness, [00:13:00] and things. Better on the other side. Uh, so that's my story and I'm, uh, I'm sticking to it. Oh, well thank you for being so transparent. And it's not easy to say those hard times. And, I think that a lot of people listening can relate to what you just said and have been through divorce and no matter who's ended the relationship, it was mm-hmm. Ending for a reason and they question God's will. Yeah. And whether God's mad at them or the church is not supportive of them. Yeah, that was one of my questions. How did your church, respond to the divorce? Did you felt like you were cared for, or did you feel judged in any way? Or what was that like? Well, I'm gonna make a generalization [00:14:00] here, that I've noted before. my more conservative Christian Church friends didn't ever want to talk about it. They weren't gonna bring it up. They we're gonna say anything. I'm like, surely, you know, you've heard through the grapevine, you saw something, you realized who's missing in the picture. Like, you know, but they wouldn't bring it up. Uncomfortable, wouldn't talk about it. Now my more, what I'll call progressive Christian friends. They were talking about, oh, come on. You know, Jake, it's fine. Like second marriages are better. Who cares about her? Move on, man. Life can be so much great on the other side, which I mean, I get what they were trying to do, but that's not what I want to hear either. And then weirdly, um, some of my atheist friends, like coworkers and things of that nature, they were just like, man, that sucks. Like, that's tough. That's [00:15:00] terrible. And so I got a lot of my actual support from the atheists. And again, generalizations here. Like there were Christians that were g like, yeah. But um, a lot of people in the church just didn't wanna have that conversation or if they were gonna have that conversation. They wanted to go too much into the, rainbows and sunshine on the other side. But that's not what I wanted to hear. Mm-hmm. A lot of people thought I was crazy for trying to save my marriage for hoping, for wanting, everybody can make their own different choices there in relationships that are in crisis. In that point. For me, I stuck it out, basically until my dad died, where that was like in a weird way, kind of just a, a way for me to move on and say, I'm gonna focus. Like when, [00:16:00] when your life can literally just be cut short, I need to move on. I'm going to go. A new direction kind of thing. But yeah, people were strange. People acted, strangely. So I don't think I was judged or condemned. Not to my face. Nothing that I ever heard. The only thing that was judged weirdly was me, sticking it out. Mm-hmm. Trying to save that marriage. Some people did not like that, including some close friends got mad at me because they're like, well, how dare you? She doesn't want it. How dare you try to pursue, try to make this better? And that's a tough one. I mean, I think it's a little harsh and crazy to be mad at me for wanting to fix it. Yeah. And again, it comes down to yeah, you need two people. So if the two people aren't on board here. Well that can't be saved. And that's how it ended up happening. Well, I went through my own divorce, as you know, and Uhhuh I [00:17:00] on my second marriage and they church crucified me. Wow. I mean it was, very negative and very judgmental. And I did try to save the marriage. I dragged him to three different marriage counselors and Yeah, of course. Suffered a lot of abuse for 13 years and he didn't wanna save the marriage when we were together. And, I'm not gonna force somebody. For somebody to change or to repent, you can't, it's like, well you, yeah. And I'm sorry that the church didn't support me and the church decided, they were going to make me either go back to my husband or, I couldn't be part of the church anymore. It's like, no, not going. Yeah, that's insane. I'm not going back, I'm not going back to an unrepentant, husband. Mm-hmm. I'm glad that you had a good experience. Although a little strange, but you didn't seem to be ostracized or [00:18:00] gossiped about? Not to my face. I mean, yeah. Not to your face, you know, they can, I guess see what they want, but. Well, I was doing some preaching at some churches and like doing stuff like that and, I was afraid that I was gonna lose those positions. I didn't, and maybe this is a gender thing that comes into play here, but it was like, well, she decided to leave, so you're fine, you're off the hook or something like that. Some people wanted to know whose fault was it? And I'm like, well, I wasn't perfect here. There was reasons she wanted out, but at the end of the day, she was the one wanting out. So I, and this doesn't make it better or more comfortable, but I feel like there were some people in the church that were like, well, as long as it's her fault, as long as it's something. But, I don't know. I still struggled with all the. Biblical stuff myself, I gave myself enough guilt. They were quote [00:19:00] bible verses at me, right and left. Ugh. And you know, I couldn't, that's tough. Quote, goodness, couldn't get married again, blah, blah, blah. Right. You know, all the verses and, a lot of my listeners have gone through that, the same kind of negative, judgmental stuff. But glad you came out on the other side with the, um, would you call it depression when your dad died, when you momentarily wanted to Yeah. End it all. Yeah. I was briefly on antidepressants. I needed medical intervention to get out of that, as well as other coping skills and things of that nature. So, yeah. And there's no shame in that, which. A lot of people in my mending the soul groups and those that are listening here, they were shamed for going and getting some mental health, help, stating that you only need the Bible and you just need to pray more, and you don't need any of that other stuff to, get over depression. And that [00:20:00] is really so wrong, you know? Yeah. Yeah. We do need medication sometimes. Maybe not forever, but there is no sin in getting medical help. Amen. Absolutely. Well, we'll probably get onto a lighter topic here. You, uh, wrote. Were they young adult books? The Super Jake series? They're middle grade. So your 9, 10, 11, 12 year olds. That's who it's for. That's a fun age. I remember being that in that group and I did a lot of reading. Oh, me too. At Wish they had Super Jake and Cool Kenny. Yeah. When I was that age. Now just to be honest, I haven't read those books, but could you, tell the folks about your book? You're a natural writer. Is that one of your strengths or did you develop that? Fifth grade, I'm writing stories and things like that. I fell in love with the craft of storytelling, of writing. And so I'm better than I was at writing than I was in fifth [00:21:00] grade. So like, I have improved for sure. Well, when it comes to things I gotta do before I die, like this is, was one of those projects, because I had created this alter ego character, super Jake. Created him in third grade originally and started telling stories in fifth grade. It was my first creative work, right? The reason, you know, leads to creatively Christian, all the other creative endeavors that I would go to. This was my first like, love of storytelling all came from Super Jake, who was a alter ego version of myself, who was a superhero who could shoot ice cream out of his hands, because of course, that's the power when you're. You know, a 10-year-old. Shoots ice cream outta his hands. Um, and so over the years, like I, I struggled with how to tell the story or if to tell the story. I had this weird period of life where I was like, everything I have to do is Christian. So I can't tell that story because it's not [00:22:00] quote unquote Christian. There's no come to Jesus moment at the end, or he's not converting the atheist. And I said, well, you know, what I'm actually doing with these stories. What actually happened was the bad guys are elements of culture, of toxic culture. In the first book, you know, it's the bad guy at the fashion police. And, he's trying to tell everybody to be cool. You gotta dress this way, that's what you gotta do. And then, super Jake combats that with ice cream, with quips and jokes and words and, you know, and so there is no, come to Jesus moment, but. I am still trying to train specifically young boys, but any young reader who might take a look, I'm trying to train them into a better way of viewing things. The second one deals with toxic masculinity. Like the bad guy is all about, you know, men gotta lift weights and we gotta be all tough and, disrespect women and stuff like that. And so, I tackled [00:23:00] those cultural items. Oh, I wish I had super Jake when I was in grade school. 'cause Yeah. Um, I wasn't very popular because I didn't wear the designer clothes. I had the no name brands and I got picked on and bullied. And I wish I had super Jake to come to the rescue for me. Exactly. I know we all do. What could cool Kenny do? That was, his brother? Yeah. Right? The brother. Yeah. My brother, weirdly, coincidentally, happens to be named Kenny as well. Just real crazy coincidence. But, he has the, what's called prehensile hair so his hair can like grow and grab stuff and move around and things like that. So just wild, crazy powers. And, the book series makes fun of that. Like they're very self-aware that these are kind of weird powers. Maybe not the best crime fighting powers that you could ever think of, but that's the humor of it. And then you gotta be very creative. It's hard for me to be creative enough to be like, [00:24:00] okay, shooting scoops of ice cream in his hands. How could that actually save the day? So it's a good challenge for me. And you'll have to read the books to find out what happens. You'll have to read the books. Yep. I gotta get to, to finishing that series. I've been slacking, but there's a couple books out already. Yeah. And so you guys can definitely find those on, right? Amazon? Yeah. All the places Amazon, well, the listeners get good books for kids to read that are clean and have some messages and some fun at the same time. Yeah. We do have your substack that you, said is not new. I have very few people that I subscribe to on Substack because I love to read, but I have only, you know, that's right. I, not enough hours in the day to read everything. You should see my stack of books on my nightstand. Yeah. But you have a fantastic substack that I subscribe to and it goes great with your podcast and your [00:25:00] writing. In college, I minored in communication studies. 'cause I was very interested not just in the knowledge, but how do we communicate this, how do I get this across effectively? So I try to use that in my writing and my podcast. You, whatever I'm doing, I'm, I want you to understand the message the best. So I'm very picky about what words I use and when I do line breaks in spaces anyway, that's just stuff I nerd out about. I like to write, but I'm not that good at it, but I have to really, really work at it. I'm sure in your MDiv you're gonna be writing some stuff, so I've already been warned about that. You're gonna be writing a lot. Oh, you're gonna write some stuff? Yeah, it'll be great. Yeah. Spell check. I'm a good speller, and good at grammar and stuff. I have it in my head what I wanna say, but it never comes out the way I want it to come out. I gotcha. Do you have that struggle? Probably not. I do sometimes. That's why I just throw it out there and I rearrange later. Yeah. Yeah. So I definitely recommend, if you're not on substack, there's some really [00:26:00] great writers on there and people like Jake that, care about Jesus. So we did, mention your podcast. I really wanna talk about your amazing, amazing guests. You really knock it out of the park like every time. I think there's only one guest that I didn't agree with . Okay. I just turned it off 'cause I did not agree with what they were saying. But you have some amazing topics and I love that it's, a podcast for Christians weary of shallow faith in culture, war, religion. Oh my goodness. That is so perfectly worded. And bring us back to Jesus centered Christianity. I absolutely love that. Because it is about Jesus. It's not all this other junk around it. Exactly. Yeah, yeah, yeah. That we call Christianity, it's churchianity. [00:27:00] And just going back to Jesus is what I tell the survivors listening, my people, in my groups, when you're trying to reconstruct, right? Like, well, what do I do? What do I believe? Well, this is what I tell 'em is go back to Jesus. What was Jesus doing? And you talk about that quite a bit on your show. We're going to get rid of all the fluff and the legalism. You list the prosperity gospel, the purity culture, toxic church leadership, obsession with sin and hell, politics mixed in with the gospel. Mm-hmm. And so we need to get away from those things and come back to Christ alone. Yeah. Besides our current culture right now, why did you decide to do this podcast? Because, you're really, [00:28:00] right in the middle of the war zone when you come out and say these things. Hmm. Yeah. I guess I'm just a glutton for punishment or something. Right? Like, just love for people to be mad at me online. It's my favorite thing. Um, I get some pushback. Uh, when I started investing more, putting more stuff on YouTube. Obviously on YouTube you can get comments and then I see some comments of people that are like, oh, this guest is a Marxist, blah, blah, blah. You know, terrible sinner person. I'm like, did you listen to, what are you talking about, man? Jake, a Marxist? I'm like, whatever. No. Um, so sometimes I'm like reading comprehension. We need to work on that 'cause or listening comprehension. 'cause what are you guys saying? I mean it started as just a general kind of theology project. I wanted to podcast about fun topics that I cared about and then, the closest I have ever felt to hearing the audible voice of God [00:29:00] was this concept of smashing idols. This idea of be a Gideon, who, who smashes idols in the night, and has his dad defend him. Whole fun little story. And that was like a calling of God. Like this was like, this is what you're supposed to be doing, Jake. And so I followed that. I listened to that. I started focusing a little bit more on, cleaning up the church. Like you said, we're cluttered, so let's clean this extra stuff up. Let's get back to the essentials here, the basic stuff. And so yeah, it puts me into a fun spot. Where I get to have all those conversations that you mentioned. Many of those conversations I don't agree with either. We have people on all different sides of the spectrum. Well, not all sides of the spectrum. There are some sides. We're not gonna touch those sides. But we have a lot of different perspectives and things of that nature. And so I try to select guests that are gonna be more charitable and more, given us something to think about in trying to strip away stuff [00:30:00] to point us to Jesus. So, listen to some of these titles, religious Certainty and being the only one saved. Ooh. That was Scott Lloyd. Crotch Christianity misses the Gospel and yes, I did laugh at that. I thought that was a funny episode. Yeah. People hate when I say the word crotch, but you know, it's fine. Oh yes. I got a good giggle. Six in the morning when I'm on my way to work. Um, no king, but Christ rethinking State, Craig Hargus. Mm-hmm. Why I'm not a creationist anymore. That was very interesting, Jake. I listened to that very intently. The Bible is not an informational book book, which, um, I've learned that the hard way, uh, in my reconstruction. Can the Bible be an idol? Ooh, look, look at you, Jake. You're really stirring the pot now. Oh yeah. The [00:31:00] dangers of Christian nationalism and tribalism. You had Scott McKnight on Deconstruction. That was mm-hmm. Probably the first podcast I listened to and it was absolutely fantastic. Scott is amazing. Oh, and I agreed with everything that he said. I'm gonna get some of his books, Oh yeah. Yeah. Comment on some of these topics here. About the Bible's not an informational book. You've got an Miv, right? Uh, MTS Master of Theology. MM okay. So I real, what I really like about you, Jake, is that you are very transparent with, okay. I've made a lot of mistakes as a Christian in that I thought I knew everything. I thought that, I had all my beliefs set in this little box, and if anybody, challenges my box, then they were, a heretic. And, I'm super [00:32:00] Christian. Let me tell you, I was that person too. Mm-hmm. I was like that when I was in my old. Mm-hmm. I thought, wow, this guy gets it. And you're like, oh, until I went to seminary and then, uh, some of the professors took me down a peg or two. Oh, yeah. And, showed you some things. Yeah. Tell us about that. Yeah. I mean, you mentioned it, like for me, I went to college thinking I already knew the answers, but I was like, yeah, but I still have to have the degrees just to get the next job, blah, blah, blah. And really just was opened up to a world that I didn't really know that well, apparently. And just encountering diversity of thought was really important. And at its best, that's what higher education, education of any kind is supposed to do. Tell you there are some other way. Yeah. Okay. You know, two plus two equals four. But a lot of things in the world, there's like some [00:33:00] different perspectives, different angles here and things of that nature. And so kind of kicking and screaming like, uh, God brought me through education and said, Jake, yo, you don't know everything. You actually know very little things. And, um, I was humbled through that process Now. Education absolutely can lead many people to be more prideful, to be more puffed up, to be like, oh, I know everything now because I have a degree. I was a lucky case. Or it did the opposite. I still like to think I know a couple things. You know, the Bible study at church. I'm like, yeah, but have you guys considered the Greek word means? But, you know, occasionally there's still that. But I was privileged that I had professors that were, that, you know, they were Christians, they were teaching Bible and theology and they were gracious to young 20 something Jake, and we're willing to walk through [00:34:00] with him and to take his questions and. I was introduced, ultimately while I was studying the Bible. Interesting. Like as an information book, like I have my degree in the academic study of the Bible. The professors made sure I was still having encounter with Jesus, and that was the key there. It's as much as I love digging into the deep stuff about scripture, and there's so much depth, there's so many different little things you go into, you know, I like the weird parts. Give, gimme the Leviticus or whatever. Let's get weird here, you know? But, I didn't lose sight of, the real star of the story, Jesus. Mm-hmm. And, and ultimately it is Jesus. That is the truest revelation of God and not the Bible. The Bible witnesses to Jesus. But the Bible is not the main star. It is Jesus. Um, and I. Was able to realize that, and that opened up everything [00:35:00] that made me a more charitable person. It made me nicer, right? Mm-hmm. Because I didn't think I knew all the answers. So suddenly fruits of the spirit, I had the spirit because the fruits were coming out in a way they were not before. Because I had a spirit of hatred and division and rightness. Uh, not a super helpful one. So I was privileged, I was lucky. It still took me a couple years, and I am always, aware of that. I don't think anybody should change their mind overnight, like the creationist one, for instance. Um, mm-hmm. I don't expect anybody to listen to that one episode and have their whole world change maybe. But I just wanna start a conversation. Because change takes time. I took years and my homework was literally reading the Bible. Like when you're a Bible major, that's your homework. So for other people, if it takes some years, that's okay. I get it. Let's wrestle through this stuff. But as [00:36:00] we wrestle, just like when Jacob wrestled with God, you're gonna probably get a limp. You're gonna, there's something that's gonna happen here. You're gonna be changed. You're gonna get a new name. You're gonna, in his case, at least in Jacob's case, so I say let's wrestle, but be prepared to be changed here. You're not gonna be the same. Yes, I definitely, when I came out of my first marriage and had a change denominations. Yeah, I was the same mindset. 'cause I did my undergraduate and I was a missionary for 15 years and, you know, I did know a lot about the Bible, but , as you say, there's a lot that I didn't know and I had to go to another church and then I find out that, okay, this is, a church that my previous denomination said was, liberal or Sure. They were not real Christians. Their backslidden or whatever because they used a guitar in the [00:37:00] worship service. Or they, have differing beliefs in what Bible they use and mm-hmm. Or the girls wear pants. Oh goodness. The, but the first time I go into these other churches looking for a new place to serve and heal. God just hit me upside the head with a two by four and just like, look, this person here loves Jesus and serves me. So I had gone through a lot of, oh, there's other legitimate beliefs. I'm married to somebody that does not believe in the rapture. So that was, very different for me. I always thought all Christians believed in the rapture. Uh, the creationist part, I can't really ignore science. But I think what's important is that we believe, yes, God created the earth. Yes, God created man, whether it was a million years or if it was [00:38:00] 10,000 years. The important part is that I believe that God is the center of, that. It's all the details in between i'm kind of undecided. I'm still, working through all of that. We're still figuring it out. So I was glad that you brought those topics up in your podcast. You gotta be open to, okay, God, you're gonna show me what the truth is and what is non-negotiable and what is okay, we can differ on some things. Right? And I am starting in a week, going back to seminary for my M div. I didn't get to learn Greek or Hebrew the first go around, so I'm excited about that part. Good luck. Yeah. I like languages. I've already been through the humility part and God put me down a peg or two, so I think I'm on the right path to, receive some things from the professors. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. You know, God bless your professors, who were so patient with you. Oh, they're the best. Yeah. That's all I can ask [00:39:00] for. And now like I said, we don't really talk about politics on the show, but, the dangers of Christian nationalism and tribalism. it's like we're all in these different camps and they're all our enemies 'cause we're in our tribe and we don't go outside our tribe and Yeah, don't talk to anybody else, you know? Unpack that a little for us 'cause you explained that so well. Oh man. Yeah. There is, there's a movement. I mean, we're talking in America specifically, but not only in America. Not only in America of any stretch of the imaginations of Christians who are feeling, the loss of power and privilege, right? Because undeniably Christians don't have the same place in, uh, many governments that they used to. That's an undeniable fact. Oh, mm-hmm. Totally agree. It's not the same. I'm in the Bible belt, there's still a church in every corner, but still it's not the same thing. It was 50 years ago. I wasn't alive 50 years ago, but [00:40:00] from what I understand, a hundred years ago, nobody was alive that long ago. Probably that listened to the show could be wrong. Um, things are different. Sure. Right. And so there is a movement of people that say, we need to, we need to get back to what was, a place when Christianity was more normalized, had that power and privilege when it made sense to pray at a football game or something, when that was just a kind of a part of the culture. And some of that is not necessarily bad. I'm always careful when I talk about Christian nationalism. Christian nationalism isn't Christians, spreading their faith or Christians having political opinions, but there comes a point when you have this nationalism, this tribalism, when it's just kind of this ugly mix of Christian values with American values, sometimes with some kind of, uh, white [00:41:00] supremacy kind of things mixed in. And the kind of cake that comes out of this recipe is just not what Jesus wants from us. It's not close to the gospel, which talks about, peacemaking and is very pro humility and not taking power. And the Jesus we encounter in scripture is very much about the least of these, not so much about let me protect my rights or my privileges and things like that. That's something Christians need to wrestle with. What are we engaging for? Are we. Engaging for what's best for me or what's best for, the person on the street or the person who just doesn't have anything or doesn't have the same, opportunities as us. Who are we fighting for when it comes to things in the political realm? And so then, yeah, that's kind of Christian nationalism. In a nutshell, it's a, it's this project to, to take [00:42:00] over and to make things much more friendly to Christianity. And to be clear, like I do actually think the world would be better if everybody was Christian, but I don't want everybody to be Christian by the point of a sword . Or because it's politically advantageous or better for business. That's not why I want somebody to encounter Jesus, because that's not how we encounter Jesus. And this isn't new. I mean, the church. The church, capital C Church has had some, a real trouble over history If, uh, you ever, looked into history, not some good moment. There was some really bad moments in church history. Yeah. And those bad moments happened because, a church got in bed with Empire and they said, well, the king will serve God. When a lot of times it was God, quote unquote, serving the king, serving the emperor and getting whatever agenda he wanted. I don't like these people. Well, God told me to do this, or [00:43:00] whatever. And it got ugly and bad and a lot of people died, which should have been red flag number one when a lot of people die. Probably not at all the way of Jesus. So we talk about that a lot on the show, in different fashions. We, talk about politics a lot. Um, unfortunately. I don't love all the politics talk, but it's something we have to have. It's something that's important, because it affects real people. Yes. And, my brothers and sisters in Christ are going after some of these movements that are making more people, I think, fall away from Jesus because they say, hold on. I read in the Bible this Jesus guy love him. But those Christians are not talking like Jesus. They're not acting like Jesus. They want to create laws that aren't like Jesus. What's going on here? Um. So, you know, I had a stint in college ministry. I've talked to a lot of young people and you know what, [00:44:00] why the young people are leaving. It's the Christians. I hear the same story every time. It's not, well, Richard Dawkins had this great argument for evolution. That's not why they're leaving. Mm-hmm. I've heard like it's the, Christians supporting this genocide in this country, or, the Christians taking away the rights of this particular group or the racist or sexist language over here. That's why, and that's really sad. And I want people to encounter that Christianity without compromise. Right. Really that's Jesus centered. And I think if we discover that, I think people will like that. And I think Jesus is pretty cool. We all gotta recognize that there's a lot of cool things about faith, but we have just cluttered it with idols and with, stuff that maybe is true but is not the most important thing to, to press somebody on. And that makes me a little disappointed to use [00:45:00] that term. And sometimes it makes me quite angry. So, yeah. Do you know who David Barton is? David Barton. I, that name is not ringing a bell. Well, he is like a pseudo historian. He made all of these, videos about how the nation was founded and it was pretty much a whitewashing of, colonial history and how wonderful the pilgrims were and had dinner with the, Native Americans and Right. It was founded on Christian principles, and this is a Christian nation. Maybe some of that is true, but a lot of his books and, reels that he made were not substantiated by actual historians. So he goes to all these churches and talks about our, founder's history. They were all Bible believing Christians, and we have to get back to our Bible roots. I've been reading a lot of history. Because my mother's [00:46:00] Cherokee, and I'm reading about my heritage. And no, we were not founded on Christianity or biblical principles. There were a lot of, genocide. The Native Americans were almost exterminated. Of course we know about the slave trade. The slaves, they went through horrible, horrible things. we had, imperialism, stealing people's land, taking whatever they want and murdering whoever gets in their way. So Christian nationalism is very, dangerous because it takes away the truth. And marginalized people get seriously hurt. Maybe that was their intent to build it on Christian principles, but that's not what happened. And we don't wanna whitewash history. We don't want to pretend that stuff didn't happen. That we have to take ownership of that as a country. And I don't see that happening right now. It's like, okay, you're gonna try [00:47:00] and take change history. You can't change it and pretend it wasn't there. Or learn from it, you know? Well, I definitely know work like his for sure. Yeah. And one of the things I try to, I don't just wanna put people down, poke holes into things, when it comes to something like this, whether you believed any of that or not. We always can discover the truth and we can change and we can make things better. Wherever the nation has been or is going. Maybe not the best direction that we're going in, but I believe we can always turn as a people, as individuals, we can always change and go back to Jesus. I never wanna leave it on the downers, what I'm trying to say. Right, right. Yeah. Um, so I just wanted to throw that in there. Uh, we can change, we can get back on track. I believe it. Yeah. I, there's definitely, things we can learn from our past and try and make mm-hmm. The world [00:48:00] a better place. Whatever part of the world we're in, we're we can influence our corner. Amen. Absolutely. For Jesus. Well, we've talked about a lot of stuff. We're all over the map today, but yeah. I love, loved what you said, what you shared with us, and, just going back and forth on things. And, I know you have your one question you always ask at the end of your show. I'm not gonna steal your idea, but, do you have any advice for my audience that's listening, some closing thoughts, that you can give them? Yeah. Um, that's very funny. I briefly thought about it. I wonder if she's gonna throw this back at me. A lot of my guests at the end of the show have a version of this. Um, but even if it wasn't popular, I would say something similar. I think we just need to listen more. We need to learn to listen. I think that's gonna help us spiritually. I think it's gonna help us. You know, as human beings in the world, I wanna challenge people to practice that discipline of [00:49:00] listening. I'm a talker, right? I have a podcast. I do have other people talk a lot on my podcast though. So that's a great time for me to practice listening. But I want to, oh, jump in and, Nope, nope. I just think, yeah, we can all practice listening a little bit more. Strike up a conversation with somebody different than you and just listen and not try to refute them, right? That's the old, that should be the old you. That was certainly the old me who is like, thinking of the argument in my head, how I'm gonna refute them, and not caring about them as a human being, not actually listening to the words they say. So, honestly, the most practical thing I can do is listen more. It's just gonna help us be better human beings. And I think as we learn to listen to people more, I think we're also going to hear god much more clearly. Right. We are going to be, if we're not transformed by the patterns of this world, as Romans twelves tells us, the rest of that verse is so that you'll know the will of God do not be transformed by the patterns of this world. But be but by the renewing of your mind. I'm butchering it out, but [00:50:00] all the parts are there. They, the point there is, we will know the will of God when we're not engaging in the patterns of the world. And one of these patterns of the world is talking more and not listening. So listen up everybody. Well I appreciate that. I appreciate you coming back onto the show. Yeah. You are invited any time to come back and talk about whatever you want. I'll come back in season, I don't know, 10, 12, whatever you to yeah. Whatever I make it to. There we go. Well, God bless you and hope you New Year. Yeah, thank you I sure hope that you enjoyed Jake Doberenz. He is a wonderful speaker, wonderful human being. We talked about doing what we call a podcast swap. So. I will be on Jake's show, uh, sometime in the future, within the next month or two, and I'll be telling my story and maybe talking about some of the [00:51:00] idols that I had to deal with and the idols that I need to smash. But you can reach out to Jake on his website that has all things. Jake, that will be jakedoberenz.com. This will all be in the show notes, but you can see all of the different Ministries that he has. The things that we talked about. So you can learn about his podcast, his substack writing, his books the Super Jake series. And he does preaching, and teaching in, other churches or conferences. Listen to his podcast on all of the major, platforms that you're familiar with. His email is contact@jakedober.com. Reach out to him if he can be of any help to you. Thanks for being here with us. [00:52:00] We will see you next time God bless and bye for now. Thank you for listening to the Wounds of the Faithful Podcast. If this episode has been helpful to you, please hit the subscribe button and tell a friend. You could connect with us at DSW Ministries dot org where you'll find our blog, along with our Facebook, Twitter, and our YouTube channel links. Hope to see you next week.

Michael Ramos is passionate about the human side of leadership, helping others understand both the science and the art behind leading well. While leadership principles may be universal, he believes the expression of leadership is deeply personal—and most powerful when rooted in servant-hearted influence.Raised by parents who modeled servant leadership and shaped by nine years in the Army National Guard—including service in a Ranger and LRRP unit—Michael developed a lifelong commitment to building strong teams and resilient leaders. He holds a degree in Communications and Marketing from Central Michigan University and a Master's in Theological Studies from the International School of Theology. With additional experience in crisis management and security training for organizations and houses of worship, Michael brings both practical insight and spiritual depth to leadership conversations.

Wes Huff is a Canadian Christian apologist, theologian, and public speaker specializing in the reliability of ancient biblical manuscripts and the defense of the Christian worldview. Born in Multan, Pakistan, to missionary parents, he spent his early childhood in the Middle East before returning to Canada, growing up in a diverse environment exposed to various worldviews. At age 11, Huff was diagnosed with acute transverse myelitis, a rare neurological condition that paralyzed him from the waist down for about a month, followed by a full recovery that doctors described as medically inexplicable. An aspiring athlete and former student participant in track and field, he is married to Melissa and father to four children. Huff holds a Bachelor of Arts in sociology from York University, a Master of Theological Studies from Tyndale University, and is currently pursuing a PhD in New Testament studies at the University of Toronto's Wycliffe College, with a primary focus on the history of ancient biblical manuscripts, textual transmission, and the development of the biblical canon. As Vice President for Apologetics Canada, Huff speaks regularly at churches, universities, conferences, and interfaith events across North America, addressing topics such as the historical reliability of the New Testament, the formation of the biblical canon, and responses to skeptical objections. Huff also runs an active YouTube channel under his own name, producing debates, lectures, and short videos on apologetics and biblical history, which has grown rapidly to approach hundreds of thousands of subscribers. Shawn Ryan Show Sponsors: If you're serious about selling to the Department of War, go to https://SBIRAdvisors.com and mention Shawn Ryan for your first month free. Control Body Odor ANYWHERE with @shop.mando and get 20% off + free shipping with promo code SRS at shopmando.com! #mandopod Go to https://calderalab.com/SRS. Use code SRS for 20% off your first order. Ready to upgrade your eyewear? Check them out at https://roka.com and use code SRS for 20% off sitewide. Wes Huff Links: YT - https://www.youtube.com/@WesHuff IG - https://www.instagram.com/wesley_huff WEB - https://www.wesleyhuff.com APC - https://apologeticscanada.com In March Wes will be giving a Can I Trust The Bible tour at The Museum of the Bible, go to https://www.museumofthebible.org and use code SHAWN25 for a special discount. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

JJ graduated from Hampden-Sydney College with a BA degree in Systematic Theology and Deconstructive Postmodern Philosophy and from Harvard Divinity School with a MTS (Masters of Theological Studies) degree in Second Temple Judaism and the Pseudepigrapha. He has immersed himself in the study of Second Temple Judaism, Semitic Philology, and Japanese cultural studies for two decades. He is currently working on a book documenting the rise and causes for Judaism developing dualism and developing an automated translator/transliterator for Ge'ez or Classical Ethiopic.More:Websitehttps://www.southerndemonology.comLinkedIn URLhttps://www.linkedin.com/in/jjjohnsonFacebook URLhttps://www.facebook.com/southerndemonologyTwitter URLhttps://www.twitter.com/southdemonologyYouTube URLhttps://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8wOaVLlZ3wwFQdApWF96ewInstagramhttps://www.instagram.com/southerndemonologyFollow DIOTALK Podcast:Follow Us on Instagram:- @mr.dreaminspireobtainhttps://www.instagram.com/mr.dreaminspireobtain/- @dreaminspireobtain:https://www.instagram.com/dreaminspireobtain?igsh=c2RxbDI3N2U1eGdi@diotalkpodcast:https://www.instagram.com/diotalkpodcast?igsh=cXk2dnBydmFpdHhlFacebook:https://www.facebook.com/DiomarkKingDiaz?mibextid=ZbWKwLLink Tree: https://linktr.ee/dreaminspireobtain- Apple podcast: 886 7637 8599 https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/d-i-o-talk-podcast/id1562933810?uo=4Spotify:https://open.spotify.com/show/54SDtx0CFJ58FfpDoSg4BzRumble: https://rumble.com/c/c-6758037Store:https://spreadshop-admin.spreadshirt.com/DIOTALKSHOP/

John Anderson speaks with Wes Huff and Dan Paterson about the striking cultural shift among younger generations towards a renewed search for meaning, transcendence, and moral grounding. They reflect on disillusionment with secular narratives and the renewed interest in Christianity as a source of lifelong direction and purpose. Huff and Paterson explore the impact of numerous online role models for young men, including Joe Rogan, Jordan Peterson and Andrew Tate. This is a conversation that questions whether modern society can sustain itself without a deeper moral and spiritual foundation. Wes Huff is the Vice President for Apologetics Canada and has participated in public dialogues, debates, and interfaith events on issues of belief and religion around the world. Huff holds a BA in sociology from York University, a Masters of Theological Studies from Tyndale University, and is currently doing a PhD in New Testament at the University of Toronto's Wycliffe College. Dan Paterson is the founder Questioning Christianity. He has experience as a pastor, lecturer, and public speaker, having studied Theology and Apologetics in Australia and at Oxford. Paterson speaks regularly to audiences across the belief spectrum on how the gospel connects to life's biggest questions, and on the popular objections to the Christian faith.

Welcome to the Pinkleton Pull-Aside Podcast. On this podcast, let's step aside from our busy lives to have fun, fascinating life-giving conversation with inspiring authors, pastors, sports personalities and other influencers, leaders and followers. Sit back, grab some coffee, or head down the road and let's get the good and the gold from today's guest. Our host is Jeff Pinkleton, Executive Director of the Gathering of the Miami Valley, where their mission is to connect men to men, and men to God. You can reach Jeff at GatheringMV.org or find him on Facebook at The Gathering of the Miami Valley.Amy Seiffert is an author, speaker, pastor, wife, and co-ringmaster to her circus of three kids. She grew up listening to the clamorous keys of her father's typewriter. Writing, humor, puns, rhymes, and communication were just a regular part of her life.Having loved and studied literature and writing in high school and college—once Amy was introduced to Jesus—the Bible became her favorite text to explore. She joined staff with Cru at BGSU after graduating college and began teaching and speaking about God's word regularly.  Through many face plants and mud slides in Amy's life, God opened doors to begin to write books and to travel and speak, inviting others to discover grace in their daily lives. She is attending Denver Seminary pursuing a Masters In Biblical and Theological Studies. Amy is also one of the pastors at Soma City Church in Toledo, OH. Her family has walked through infertility, depression, anxiety, a Crohn's disease diagnosis, an ADHD diagnosis, and several other valleys and mountain tops. As they keep walking whatever path God has them on next, her hope is to use humor and storytelling to anchor them in the truth that God is with us, for us, in us, and working through us.

In this week's episode, Caleb is joined by Samuel Parkison (PhD, Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary) Associate Professor of Theological Studies at Gulf Theological Seminary in the United Arab Emirates to discuss his new book The Fountain of Life: Contemplating the Aseity of God.Resources:The Fountain of Life: Contemplating the Aseity of God by Sam ParkisonThe Existence and Attributes of God by Stephen CharnockReformed Dogmatics, Vol. 2: God and Creation by Herman Bavinck

Shownotes  Take your business to the next level with my FREE VITA Coaching Checklist Exactly what the "witch wound" is and where it lives in your body The one thing Layla would change in the Catholic teachings Why spiritual lies live inside our bodies as self-hatred How spirituality impacts our ability to be a sexual being  What most people still don't understand about Mary Magdalene   Bio Meggan Watterson is the Wall Street Journal bestselling author of Mary Magdalene Revealed.  She is a feminist theologian with a Master of Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School and a Master of Divinity from Union Theological Seminary.    Meggan is the founder of The House of Mary Magdalene, a spiritual community that studies the sacred texts left out of the traditional canon and practices the soul-voice meditation.    Her work has appeared in media outlets such as The New York Times, The New Yorker, HuffPost, TEDxWomen, and Marie Claire.    Meggan's most recent book, The Girl Who Baptized Herself, was recommended by Glennon Doyle in ELLE as "the book that kept me up way too late."   You can follow Meggan's work on Instagram and find her books, meditations, and offerings on her website. Follow Layla!

In this episode, Diana's special guest Jake Doberenz, founder of Theophany Media and host of the Creatively Christian podcast, shares his expertise on effective Bible study. The discussion covers essential principles of biblical interpretation, the importance of studying scripture in community, and approaches to understanding difficult passages. Listeners are also guided on selecting appropriate Bible translations and utilizing various online resources, ensuring a comprehensive and balanced approach to scripture study. The episode concludes with a prayer for listeners' spiritual journey and their engagement with the scriptures. Bio: Jake Doberenz isn't one thing. He identifies as a polymath, a Renaissance man, or a multipotentialite–one interest or specialty can't contain him. But enough of the third-person. I am a writer, speaker, minister, and creative thinker living in Oklahoma City, OK with my wife Samantha. My most significant role is the founder and president of Theophany Media, a Christian education company dedicated to helping Christians engage with culture through new media. I have earned my Master of Theological Studies at Oklahoma Christian University, the same place I earned my Bachelor's degree in Bible with a minor in Communication Studies. I also worked at my alma mater as a Resident Director and Bible TA. I write fiction and nonfiction in a variety of mediums, including poetry, short stories, books, stage plays, academic essays, and devotionals. I also venture out into other mediums, like podcasts and video. My favorite topics of choice to discuss and write about (though always changing) include: creating Christian art, helping people understand the Bible better, Christian identity, theology of social media, use of humor in faith messages, superheroes and theology, and a Christian response to culture. If you want to see his progress, achievements, and appearances sign up for the newsletter so you'll never miss an update! website: Home – Jake Doberenz 00:00 Introduction and Sponsor Message 00:47 Welcome to the Podcast 01:44 Introducing the Guest: Jake Doberenz 02:43 Jake's Background and Interests 05:56 Jake's Teaching Journey 10:46 Bible Study for Abuse Survivors 13:25 Choosing the Right Bible Translation 18:42 Understanding the Bible Without Knowing Greek or Hebrew 21:34 Basic Rules of Bible Interpretation 25:43 Embracing Uncomfortable Bible Stories 26:47 Using Jesus as a Lens for Interpretation 30:54 The Importance of Community in Bible Study 34:14 Red Flags in Spiritual Leadership 37:02 Recommended Bible Study Resources 41:33 Exploring Different Perspectives 44:58 Connecting with the Speaker 46:29 Closing Prayer and Final Thoughts   Website: https://dswministries.org Subscribe to the podcast: https://dswministries.org/subscribe-to-podcast/ Social media links: Join our Private Wounds of the Faithful FB Group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/1603903730020136 Twitter: https://twitter.com/DswMinistries YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCxgIpWVQCmjqog0PMK4khDw/playlists Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/dswministries/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/DSW-Ministries-230135337033879 Keep in touch with me! Email subscribe to get my handpicked list of the best resources for abuse survivors! https://thoughtful-composer-4268.ck.page #abuse #trauma Affiliate links: Our Sponsor: 753 Academy: https://www.753academy.com/ Can't travel to The Holy Land right now? The next best thing is Walking The Bible Lands! Get a free video sample of the Bible lands here! https://www.walkingthebiblelands.com/a/18410/hN8u6LQP An easy way to help my ministry: https://dswministries.org/product/buy-me-a-cup-of-tea/ A donation link: https://dswministries.org/donate/ Jake Doberenz [00:00:00] Special thanks to 7 5 3 Academy for sponsoring this episode. No matter where you are in your fitness and health journey, they've got you covered. They specialize in helping you exceed your health and fitness goals, whether that is losing body fat, gaining muscle, or nutritional coaching to match your fitness levels. They do it all with a written guarantee for results so you don't waste time and money on a program that doesn't exceed your goals. There are martial arts programs. Specialize in anti-bullying programs for kids to combat proven Filipino martial arts. They take a holistic, fun, and innovative approach that simply works. Sign up for your free class now. It's 7 5 3 academy.com. Find the link in the show notes. Welcome to the Wounds of the Faithful Podcast, brought to you by DSW Ministries. Your host is singer songwriter, speaker and domestic violence advocate, [00:01:00] Diana . She is passionate about helping survivors in the church heal from domestic violence and abuse and trauma. This podcast is not a substitute for professional counseling or qualified medical help. Now here is Diana. Hey there, everybody. Come on in, set for a spell. How are you guys doing? I appreciate your support in listening to the podcast, and I hope that you are enjoying some really encouraging words and practical things for you to do your own Bible study and read the word of God for yourself. We have a new guest on the show now I'm very familiar with his podcast, creatively Christian. I've been on his podcast. His show has a few different interviewers. And so [00:02:00] Andrea Sandifer, who you guys know that was on the show, she interviewed me on her show. And our guest today, Jake Doberenz, the man behind that podcast, he is a funny guy. He likes to bring humor from the Bible. And I've been reading his blog and following his newsletters. And his Facebook group. So I thought he would be a great addition to the podcast , and I think you're gonna love him. I'm gonna tell you a little bit about him. He has a lot of interest here, so here we go. Jake, Doberenz isn't one thing. He identifies as a polymath, a renaissance man or a multipotentialite. One interest or specialty, can't contain him. So he [00:03:00] says of himself, but enough of the third person. I'm a writer, speaker, minister, and creative thinker, living in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. My most significant role is the founder and president of Theophany Media. A Christian education company dedicated to helping Christians engage with culture through new media. I have earned my Master of Theological studies at Oklahoma Christian University, the same place I earned my bachelor's degree in Bible with a minor in communication studies. I also worked at my alma matter as a resident director and bible ta. I write fiction and nonfiction in a variety of mediums, including poetry, short stories, books, stage plays, academic essays, and [00:04:00] devotionals. I also venture out into other mediums like podcasts and video, my favorite topics of choice to discuss and write about. Although always changing, include creating Christian art, helping people understand the Bible better. Christian identity, theology of social media, use of humor in faith messages, super heroes and theology, any Christian response to culture. So this is gonna be awesome. So I hope that you enjoy my conversation with Jake Doberenz. Please welcome to the show, Jake Doberenz. Thanks for coming on today. Sure thing, anytime. I'm glad to be here. I really enjoyed being on your [00:05:00] podcast, A creatively Christian, and Andrea interviewed me and then she was on my podcast and I follow your Facebook group and get your. Very humorous email newsletter. And so I thought you were the perfect fit to come on to the podcast. And you're a bible geek like me, and you have a different perspective on life. In the Bible, you find humor in the Bible, which a lot of people don't find the Bible very funny. So welcome to the show. Yeah, I'm glad to be here providing some humor and quite possibly even some wisdom and intelligent comments. We'll see if we get to that part. So you haven't been on the podcast before, so. Tell the folks a little bit about yourself and your family. Okay? Yeah. Always a fun question because where do you [00:06:00] start? Where do you end? But yeah. I am in Oklahoma City right now. I'm an Oregon native and got stuck in Oklahoma. Stuck sounds too negative, but I got planted here. That sounds better. I got my bachelor's degree in biblical studies with a minor in communication studies. I have a Master's of Theological studies and for a while I was kind of going down the Bible professor route. That was gonna be my thing. And it's not like completely off the table right now, but it is not my chief kind of path anymore because there are not a lot of jobs in that area and there's a lot of different things there that make it quite challenging. A lot of schooling, a lot of debt for maybe not so much reward, but we'll see what the future brings. I am still flexing my desires to write and teach. That has always been what I wanted to do, even when the subject changed, even when it [00:07:00] was cat psychology or whatever, I always wanted to write and teach and so I'm still doing that in in different ways. I'm certainly still using my degrees, even though I'll be going into teaching middle school geography this year. Ooh, kind of a new adventure. Add some more skills and weird things on my resume. That's kind of how I do it. So geography. Cool. I think that's me. Yeah. Yeah. That's very brave. Middle school, that particular age, did you pick the age group you were teaching or did they just kind of throw you in there? I applied to high school and middle school. I wasn't going to do anybody under middle school and the high school jobs never called me back. And the, I got some different offerings on the middle school side of thing, so I said, okay, that's what you want me to do. God, I will walk into this wilderness. And then they gave me some kind of choices between, and I chose sixth grade specifically, so I'll be with, with sixth graders. [00:08:00] They, uh, we still have some childlike heart and wonder. They're not so jaded like they get when they're a little older, but they're just mature enough where you can start to get a little more serious. So good age. Hmm. I liked sixth grade. It was a good year. We'll be praying for you either way, because that's a lot of work and mm-hmm. But geography's cool. I like Bible geography. Ever since I went to Israel in 2019. How different reading the Bible is when you've been to those places. Have you been to Israel? I haven't. No, I haven't. Yeah. If you're into geography, you would really love going to Israel for obvious reasons, of course, but geography, it just makes the Bible come alive when you've been to the place where Jesus put legion into the herd of pigs and over the cliff. Sure. And I've been to that cliff, and so you can see it now in your head. It's awesome. Or you've been on the Sea of [00:09:00] Galilee and you can actually imagine Jesus walking on the water and because been in the boat. So, yeah, I'm just getting into being interested in geography right now. There you go. Yeah. Cool. What would you say is your particular specialty as far as Bible goes? Yeah. I did my master's thesis on Paul's view of spiritual formation, specifically from one Corinthians chapter three, verse three. Four, just around there. So that's a very specific kind of thing. Most of my training has actually been more on the New Testament side. Specifically Paul, I've done a lot of more academic work with the use of children as a metaphor in the Bible. I've done work with that in both Paul and the Gospels. Sexuality in the New Testament has been something I've kind of explored. [00:10:00] Nowadays though, I have more of theological interests and I'm asking some different kinds of questions. You don't divorce theology from the Bible, but they're just different kinds of questions and different kinds of, and ways and sources for that. But in terms of Bible, yeah, a lot of studying Paul and a lot of thinking about sort of how he makes arguments and specifically like in that thesis, it was all about how he used this metaphor about. Being an infant in Christ, what does all that mean? And how does that reflect how we grow as people? And so I've gone down those kind of rabbit trails a lot my my day. That's really interesting. A Paul's usually a favorite Bible character. Most people, though you can, you never go wrong with the Apostle Paul now. So today we're talking about Bible study for abuse survivors. And reason why we're doing this is because when we've gone through abuse, usually there's some spiritual [00:11:00] abuse involved and we want to distance ourself from God because we've experienced that spiritual abuse and that affects our relationship with God. And a lot of people once they leave or get out of the abuse. Then they're like, okay, I don't wanna read the Bible, I don't wanna pray, and I don't wanna go to church anymore. I don't trust anybody. But I'm trying to encourage on this podcast to come and if you have questions, let's talk about the questions. So, so I've kind of answered my own question, why should we study the Bible for ourselves? But what would you say to that or add to that? Yeah, I think what I would add to that is that, um, one thing that our teachers or pastors or scholars don't have is that they're not you. You are yourself and you come with your experiences and you come [00:12:00] with your own personality and identity, and you are gonna often pick up things that other people might miss, or you're gonna just sort of focus on things more realize as a thread of a theme or something like that. We, we shouldn't come to the Bible biased necessarily, or with too many preconceived notions. 'cause then the text starts to say what we want it to say. That's not what I'm saying. But we do bring ourselves to the text and we have to admit that like, I'm not reading this in a vacuum. I'm reading this because of who I am and what I've experienced and all these things like that. And I think that's really powerful. And I think the Bible is, it's strong enough to take it. Like it's not about pulling whatever meaning you want from it, like I said, but it is about seeing things that are hidden in this multi-layered onion like text here that has so much stuff in it that we can't expect. Even a really smart [00:13:00] guy to just know everything. So yeah, we gotta study the Bible for ourselves. We gotta do our own digging and our own reading. See what we can find. Yeah, I like that answer. Bringing yourself to the table that's. Different than what somebody else would bring to the table. So let's start with something everybody asks about. When it comes to Bible study, you go to the bookstore and you're trying to pick out a Bible, and there's a gazillion different Bible versions out there, and too many versions, in my opinion. Which one do I pick? Does it matter? At the end of the day, it probably doesn't matter. There are those that are better than others, and I'm the term better here. You can use that in different ways. I'm using the term better as in. More accurate to the text, although, hey, we are translating language here. [00:14:00] Translation is an art, not a science, which makes us a little uncomfortable. We can still get that meaning across. You're a, you're an artist and you're a creative. You can still communicate accurately and faithfully even through a song or something like that. And so in the same way, translation is a little bit of an art form and there are people that have to choose certain words, and I think this means that. So yeah, there are some that are more quote unquote scholarly and others that are more paraphrased, like the message, or it's something like the amplified Bible that is just trying to sort of squeeze some more possible meaning out there by becoming like glorified the Sorut. So you got some different options. Most readings are probably not gonna hurt you, at least. As long as you understand like kind of what's going on here. I know in the past the King James has had the word unicorns in it and that that threw some people off and then later we're like, actually we should have translated that. Like Gazelle was not supposed to be translated unicorn. So [00:15:00] okay, we can get some things here that might throw some people off, but as long as we kind of give some grace to the translators, something like the King James is older and we have some different data. We have some older manuscripts that we're pulling from now. So yeah, it's gonna be a little bit more closer to what the originals were saying kind of thing. So yeah, there are those considerations, but I don't think you're gonna make or break your faith if you read the ESV over the NRSV or something like that. Yeah, well I came from a camp that, uh, they were very definitive in what Bible you should read and which ones you should not read and Sure. And they were very dogmatic in that I've changed my stance since then. Because I've actually dug into that sort of thing that okay, you, so you're saying that most of the mainline translations out there, we will still get the main [00:16:00] point of what Bio was trying to say. Right. Yeah, I don't know any that are too left field and crazy or something like that. There are versions, like, I could be wrong about this, but I think the Jehovah's Witness has versions of the Bible that seem to play a little fast and loose with some things and have cut out some different stuff. So obviously I wouldn't necessarily recommend that for Christians. The only other thing I would say is make sure a bunch of different people were involved. Most translations are. Large groups of people. And then you have things like I mentioned the message that Eugene Peterson did, it was just him, but he wasn't necessarily trying to make a definitive thing. That's more of a paraphrase translation, which is like a devotional rather than something to study. So there are just different uses for all these different things. There are, I could go into the weeds. My dad used to own a Christian bookstore. Oh. And so you have your thought for thought translations and then you have your word for word. And [00:17:00] some people think word for word is better because it's more accurate. But the thing, the problem is the Bible might literally say X, but when we translate that word to today, it makes no sense because language is weird like that. And then so the thought for thought is going to be more of an interpretation, but they're trying to say, okay, but what this is trying to say is this and, and here's a thought that you can digest and that makes sense to you. So it's just kind of what you want, but thanks to the internet. In fact, on another screen here, I have pulled up Bible gateway.com. That's what I use a lot. You can look through all sorts of different translations and compare and contrast. If I really wanted to study with more than one, it's legal in most states, so go for it. It's funny you mentioned the message because that was my first Bible when I got saved. My okay friend that I met in high school, I told her I had gotten saved and I didn't have a Bible, and she gave me the message, which [00:18:00] was her Bible, and I loved it. Oh yeah. I highlighted that thing and Oh yeah. And I just tore it up with underlining and I couldn't wait to read it. And then of course you get to Bible college and they tear it out of your hands, so yeah. But yeah, I like the ESV today. I have. A really nice archeology study Bible I bought and I've, I've read the King James most of my Christian life. And switching to another translation was really eye-opening. All this different stuff that I hadn't seen before just popped out, like I didn't know the Bible said that. Wow. It's pretty neat. So along the same lines, do we have to be a Greek and Hebrew scholar to understand the Bible? I hope not because I struggled through Greek and barely made that alive, and so languages are not my strong [00:19:00] suit. Uh, but I think the answer is of course, no. You don't have to be. It depends on what kind of study you're doing, and I probably should have mentioned that earlier, but there's a way to look at the Bible in an academic, scholarly way, and there are some Christians that. Think that's wrong or bad? I don't think it's bad. It's just one way to look at it. When I am in scholarship, when I'm writing this college paper, I am, I have to kind of slice and dice it and I'm doing a work that an atheist could do. It's that kind of work. But then there's another way to look at the Bible that is much more pastorally or for spiritual formation, the kind of thing that treats the text as sacred that an atheist can't do. So if you're doing the academic work, it really helps to know the words because you're trying to get as precise as possible and getting into there. But luckily for us, other people have done the work for us and we have these English translations, so woo. You don't need to know Hebrew and Coin a Greek and [00:20:00] a little bit of Aramic and like Daniel or whatever. Like we don't have to know that because somebody else has done the work for us. And I mentioned already like. There's a lot of people involved in a Bible translation, not just one guy. It's, a lot of people have done this work and they've argued and yelled at each other and come to some conclusions to say, this is the best we can do right now. This is what we got. So, yeah, we don't have to, we don't have to be language PS so, woo. Lucky. Yes. Yeah. I mean, I'm a language geek. I love languages. Personally, I speak two languages besides English, but I haven't taken any Greek or, or Hebrew, maybe someday, but they didn't cover that in my Bible college. But it's good that we already have the tools online that, hey, this is a translation for that word in. There's really no, no real argument about it is there along mainline denominations. Yeah. Most people probably aren't gonna tell you. You have to know all those languages unless somebody there. There are groups of people that would say [00:21:00] the only inspired text of the Bible is the actual original Greek and Hebrew. And so our English translations are not inspired. But that's a minority view. That's not super common. Yeah. Yeah. The most people can understand. The inspiration still comes through, even when it's translating different languages. The word of gods for the whole world, not just those that can speak actually dead languages that nobody speaks today like Latin. Yeah. So now we're gonna get into the nitty gritty here. Okay. When we are sitting down with our Bible and we're deciding to. Study a passage of scripture or maybe a book. What are some basic rules of interpretation? Now we use the fancy big word hermeneutics, but like the basic ones that you really shouldn't ignore in order to. Do a proper Bible study. This is one that gets definitely drilled [00:22:00] into in Bible school and in other contexts, but it's that actual, it's a word context like context is key. Context is king, and one of the best things we can do is zoom out. So if we're looking at a particular scripture. Like one verse, we zoom out to the chapter. Those headings or whatever aren't like God inspired or whatever, but they're helpful to kind of see what the flow of things are. Then we can zoom out to the book level and sometimes zoom out to the biblical level and things like that. But that is always key. Sometimes we get into trouble thinking that the Bible is just like, the whole thing is like Proverbs, where everything's just disconnected and you got these good one-liners and they're fun and they're good zingers, but most of it is some kind of story or, and Paul, I mentioned that being some of my background, Paul's letters are arguments they build on top of each other, and so you can see if we're trying to look at something wild like. One [00:23:00] Corinthians 14 or something, we can understand it because by just kind of going a little backwards and Oh, okay. So that's always really important. And a lot of times authors in the Bible will also tell us kind of their themes and tell us what they really want us to get across. The gospel of John, for instance, is written so that we may believe Luke talks about writing in a, an orderly account of things. So we have some of these statements that if we zoom out a little bit, oh, okay, we can make sense of this in light of that. And so different things like that. But we could go all day into the hermeneutics and then the other fancy word, X of Jesus and that kind of stuff. But at the end of the day, a tool anybody can use is something I learned in elementary school when there was a hard word. It was called rat read around the text. Read around the text. Ooh, that's the acronym there. And that just helps us understand, wait, what is going on? What does Paul mean when he says this? Why is [00:24:00] this guy saying this in judges? Let's take a look. What else is going on here? So it's just a great tool that anybody can use be if they can just zoom out a little bit and read the rest of the Bible and the rest of the passage. Everybody gives a different answer to that question. Now, obviously when we read the Bible, we come upon these passages or some of the stories that are either difficult to understand or it's a topic that we don't wanna deal with. It's really hard to swallow. Like a lot of times it's the genocide passages, of course. Mm-hmm. And or similar things like that. What do we do when we encounter those passages? Yeah. There are also passages that are sometimes called, and the genocide fits into this, but passages called texts of terror. A lot of passages about different abuse situation, and [00:25:00] I won't go into all of those, but I'm sure a lot of us can come up with some things that mm-hmm. Can be triggering in the Bible that seem just really messed up and stuff like that. So I think what's important, first of all is we recognize the, the gut feeling, the awkwardness talk to the beginning about how I see humor in the Bible and I do, I think there are some things in the Bible that we should laugh at. It's actually hilarious. Tell us about what Jonah gets swallowed by a big fish. That's funny. You should be laughing. And it's hilarious that he wants this city destroyed and he's supposed to be a prophet of God and he's not doing his job description and stuff like that. So like. When it's funny, we should laugh and when it's not funny, when it's uncomfortable, we should be okay being uncomfortable. I, I remember when I did college ministry for a time, we talked about the story of, oh man, I can't remember if it's Eli, I think it's Elijah. [00:26:00] And when they make fun of him for being bald and he calls these, she bears to attack these 40 youths, and he, this kid would kid could not get over it. He's like, why is this in the Bible? This is ridiculous. And I just tried to help him. Yeah, let's feel that first. Let's feel that, oh boy, we got some emotions here. So step one, I think it's totally okay to feel those things and then we can do some digging. Again, it's that zooming out. Let's look at the context here. Let's look what's going on there. A lot of times I think some of these texts of terror or uncomfortable texts, um. Sometimes they're not as bad when we look at it through maybe a historical lens or something, but sometimes we can't just justify them really nice and neatly, like some of the stuff about genocide. So ultimately, I have to go back to Jesus because. Jesus is the ultimate expression of God. It is the best [00:27:00] lens into the divine that we've ever seen. It's through this person of Jesus. And so sometimes we got to use our Jesus magnifying glass and look over the scripture and say, that's awkward. I don't like that very much. This makes me, this triggers me. This is, uh, but we put Jesus over and say, but through Christ, we don't have to live like that. We can recognize that there. There are plenty of examples of what not to do in the Bible. Jesus calls us to a different way and Jesus shows us that some things that maybe people thought were really godly and divine at certain points were not. So at the end of the day when things make us uncomfortable, I say feel it. But then ultimately, let's just go back. What does Jesus say? And if Jesus words are kind of. Don't seem to jive with this other crazy stuff going on here. Let's just, let's follow Jesus over some of this, [00:28:00] this other uncomfortable things. Hmm. So it's probably not a satisfying answer, but that's kind of like the point, like we try too hard sometimes to wrap everything in a pretty bow, but sometimes we just can't. With the Bible, the Bible is complicated and that's what makes it powerful. It's not always so neat and tidy and doesn't always make you feel good. It is a like Christ. It is both human, fully human and fully divine. And in that there's some awkward tension. There are some, there are human emotions and human things that that bleed through the divine pages of scripture. I appreciate the honest answer and yeah, I think that was a great answer. It was just reading through the patriarchs and wow, you just wrap your head around how much they messed up. And that's not how God wanted us to live. That's just an example of God just lets [00:29:00] everybody see how these people messed up. But still, God used them in a mighty way. God still gave them grace and forgiveness and love and mercy. I was just on Twitter and that's a dangerous place is Christian Twitter. Oh my goodness. And there was a big thread about some people, they didn't believe that Jesus was the same God as the God of the Old Testament. They cut the line because they thought Jesus over here in the New Testament, his attribute seems so different than. The God of the Old Testament. I don't necessarily agree with that, but that was an interesting concept. That's how they dealt with those horrible stories. I'm just gonna just trust in Jesus and just believe in Jesus and throw everything else away. Yeah. That's a heresy in the second century that, um, yeah. You know, unfortunately haven't quite gotten rid of completely, but is that's what that's called still alive and, [00:30:00] yeah. Oh, that's what you call it. Okay. There's your little fun little historical theology trivia, but yeah, there's probably a word for it. But that goes into my next question is how do you study the Bible and read it and make sure that you're not slipping into some heretical teaching, because I personally know some people that they believe some stuff that's way off base that nobody else. And mainline Christianity believes in, but they're like quoting Bible verses and taking them outta context. How do we avoid going down that path? Yeah, yeah. I had a youth minister who used to joke that if you wanted to, he could justify kicking babies across the room from scripture. Like that was just his wild example because yeah, people can kind of justify the whole gambit of things. So I think now we talked about why it's important to study the Bible for yourself. [00:31:00] At the same time though, I think this living, breathing scripture. Is something that we must read through community. You can do your own work, do your own prep, but ultimately the Bible belongs to all of us. And so we need to read in community. And that can mean your pastors and teachers and your scholars. It can also mean your neighbor and your friend and your kids and your mom and your cousin from a couple states away. But it can also mean dead people, not like seance or whatever, but like, um-ing, you know, read these old preachers and read the church fathers and the church mothers and like, we got 2000 years of Christian history here. There's some wild stuff, but there's some good stuff too. So I say we read scripture in community and you come to your own conclusions. Don't just copy paste whatever Mr. X, Y, Z says, but. What do they [00:32:00] think? And when we start looking at, oh, Christians have kind of seemed to think this for a long time, probably a direction we should lean in. I don't know. I guess people could be wrong, but the way the spirit works I think is a lot of times through community. And it's a way to check, it's a checks and balance for ourselves. So I think that sometimes we can get a little, a little wild with our own interpretations, but we bring in other people. What do you think? Did you see this too? Is this accurate? Is this, does this fit in with historical context of first century Palestine? Or whatever kind of questions you want to ask community. So that's flesh and blood people, but that's also books and podcasts and all sorts of things. I just think we're made to be together. And honestly, when I studied Paul's view of spiritual formation for my thesis, I didn't get to dive into it too much, but what I kept coming across is spiritual formation is not a. You on your own [00:33:00] kind of thing. It is something that happens with people who are this great cloud of witnesses that is cheering you on and it's helping you out. So I think that's a great way to kind of check, check ourselves, and then of course, use your brain. Let's be logical here that scripture probably not actually talking about America because it was written 3000 years ago. I don't know. Thank you. Um, so, so stuff like that, we gotta use our brains. Yeah. I like when you talk about community, because I think, and I've seen this before people go off the rails, is that they're isolating themselves. Mm-hmm. They don't wanna go to church because they don't trust, they don't trust people that they've been hurt. But even if we can't drag ourselves to church just yet in our healing process, yeah. There are other ways to create community and checks and balances. So that's a really good point. We really don't want [00:34:00] to be that guy that started his own denomination on a couple bible verses. Yeah, we got plenty of denominations. I think we're set for a little bit, so let's just chill out for now. Yeah, that's crazy. So like if we're in a community, we're under our Bible teacher or a pastor or Sunday school class, what would be like a red flag that would put your antennas up? Hey, you may wanna check this out for this preacher teacher saying is not a good thing. Are there any like red flags that you would look for? I think arrogance is definitely a big red flag. Ooh, good one. And that is how you get into spiritual, spiritually abusive situations. Definitely. And what I mean by arrogance is people that are not willing to be corrected, not willing to admit the wrong, not willing to learn. I was privileged to have professors where I was getting my Bible degrees. People with [00:35:00] PhDs from the prestigious British universities who would listen to student comments and be like, that's really interesting. Or, heard it like that. Tell me more about that. And one of my Hebrew Bible professors spoke like nine languages. Most of those are dead ones. And still he's curious to know what these 20-year-old college students are thinking. Which is wild because he is way smarter than us. But he is. These guys were adopting this posture of, I can learn from anybody here. I want your perspective. And I could be wrong. We gotta have some things where we have a firm foundation and where we don't sway. We absolutely have to have those. There are some people these days that I think sort of lean too heavily into the wishy-washy. It depends on the day, what I'm feeling, cafeteria style Christianity. We can't do that. But we also can't go over here where it's, I figured it out when I was 30 years old, when I was 40 years old, and now I'm like, [00:36:00] done. I'm done learning. Got it right. I to be the only one to get it right. And that's how denominations start, right? Ooh, everybody else got it wrong all the time. Now I'm right. So that's dangerous. So let's learn from people who are themselves. Learners who are willing to be challenged and to ask questions and wanna know your take on things. I know from being in ministry settings that oftentimes I am the guy with the more Bible degrees than most people in the room. But then there'll be these 70-year-old church ladies who have lived this and they've been in the Bible their whole life. I can learn from them. Mm-hmm. They have something to say, even though they've never read the text in Greek. They have something to add to the conversation. Mm-hmm. So we need to be learners. I love that. That is so awesome and so very true. The Holy Spirit speaks to each of us individually and gives us different [00:37:00] lessons and we can share those lessons. Now, you as a scholarly person, you must have some favorite resources that you use to study the bible. Can you recommend some specific resources that are maybe easy to use? Yeah, there's a couple websites, Bible gateway, I mentioned that already. They have. Some free commentaries and bible encyclopedias and things kind of on the sidebar there. So as you're looking to scripture, you could glorify and study Bible or have access to chunks from different commentaries. And for a while, while I was doing some more preaching, I actually did the paid, there's a kind of a paid version that it was like five bucks a month or something really cheap like that. It just got access to more things so I can have the scripture here and then all my resources next to it. And that was handy. Bible hub.com is also another one. [00:38:00] Um, that one's especially good if you do wanna look at the language stuff, knowing that you're not a scholar, you can say, but what is that Greek word? And you can click on it and it will show you the definitions, show you other places in scripture it's used. You can kind of get a feel for that. So that's a really good one for people who are not, who don't know the languages or. Like me who always needed help with my Greek homework or something like that. So yeah, those come to mind. But man, like we are, we at our fingertips. There's a lot of good stuff out there. A lot of bad stuff, no doubt. But there are podcasts and all sorts of books and there's just, there's a lot of good stuff there. Wouldn't even know where to begin, just sort of thinking broadly. But I think Bible gateway, Bible hub, easy. Anybody can access those for free. And you don't necessarily need a giant library or really expensive commentary sets 'cause they're really expensive. Yeah. That's why my parents get me one commentary for my birthday and [00:39:00] for Christmas each year. And so in 50 years I'll have the full set or whatever. That's not true. That's, it'll actually probably be. I can't do the math however it takes to get 66 books. But anyway. Wow. All I had in bible college that we were allowed to have is Matthew Henry commentary, which is kind of on the dry side. Yeah. Most Bible professors would pass out hearing you say that. It's not bad stuff, but bad, but it's not, it's not easy to read it's thing, let's just say. Yeah. And we were allowed to read Weirs, BE'S books. It's a pretty good series about where I came from. John MacArthur's commentaries were like hearsay. Oh, okay. The Baptist didn't like the, at least the churches that I was in, they didn't like MacArthur's stuff, but, and I had the actual strong concordance. I still own that's, yeah, sure. So sort of a free way to get that, besides if you don't want to get a giant [00:40:00] volume. Yeah. I like to read the physical books too. Sure. Nothing, not knocking the physical. But yeah, if people are on a budget, yeah, people are on a budget and you can't go and buy those big, huge coffee table books. Or if you're near a Christian university, see if you can get a library card that's, they have tons of stuff. I can walk in there and there are a whole shelf of like Genesis commentaries or whatever. It could be information overload. But also I can, I'll pick up a couple different volumes of different perspectives and I'll read what they each have to say about the verse or chapter I'm dealing with and I can kind of synthesize a conclusion. And that's how you do it. Yeah. I'll also mention, I, we were allowed to. Listen on the radio, Jay Vernon McGee and yeah, he was definitely expository. He [00:41:00] would go verse by verse and go through the entire Bible verse by verse, which I thought was really good. And I don't agree with everything he said, but that's the way I learned a lot of stuff was through verse by verse radio program back in the day. Mm. I'm dating myself, aren't I? It's all good here. All good. No, we talked a lot about a bunch of different stuff. Is there anything about Bible study that we didn't talk about that you would like to mention? I know there's so much, uh, yeah, I just touched on it a little bit, but I kind of wanna bring it back. Look at different views than yours. If you are really charismatic, then look at something that's not quite charismatic, or if you are. I won't go. I'll skip all those differences. You know what? You are read some of the stuff that's a little different. Stuff that challenges you. That's how we grow. That's how we grow, [00:42:00] is to hear something a little different. And the thing is, you're not required to believe it. Right. You can just read it and at least know what they're saying. I know in my Christian upbringing, and not necessarily I was intentional, but I only knew my side of the argument. Or if I knew somebody else's argument, it was this straw man version that was just not accurate. And then I, you go to the big wide world and be like, oh wait, there are lots of different views. And those people are actually smart and they have things to say about this, but somebody else is the opposite and they're also a smart person. What's going on? It's just good to expose ourselves to different things. In most cases we could, we, you can choose your own boundaries and things like that. Mm-hmm. It doesn't mean if you're studying something in the Old Testament, you have to read the Jewish and the Muslim and the Mormon view of what. It doesn't mean you have to go there, but just check out some different things. Have your favorite commentaries. Do it, but every once in a while [00:43:00] peek into your, your local heretic and see what they have to say. I dunno, maybe not a heretic, somebody who's a little different. You, you, your istic. Yeah. Our last guest was talking about Calvinism and stuff, but yeah, doesn, excellent suggestion because I definitely was in my own camp for many years until I got out of my abusive situation and started looking into other views and I have since changed nothing major. I didn't change any major views, but I realized that okay, there are other Godly people. Now I see they can use scripture to defend their position too. And there's a little bit of wiggle room in there for sure. Sure. For different viewpoints. I went and did a study and looked at somebody else's view on a tertiary argument. Sure. Tertiary doctrine. It's not a doctrine of the faith, but [00:44:00] something that's very important and it's like, okay, I'm not gonna be judgmental. And that was hard for me to change my viewpoint. Yeah, yeah. But they gave me really great scriptural evidence. So yeah, that's kind of a sideline, but you made excellent point. But anyway, I appreciate you sharing all this valuable information and your view, viewpoint, and it's fascinating. Everybody has different answers for these questions. I've asked everybody the same questions. Right. And they're all giving me different answers, which I think that's very helpful. Oh yeah. Yeah. Very helpful. Yeah, getting people exposed to different things and again, like I am me and you are you, and we're different. And that's the point. Like we all come together with our different focuses and our different backgrounds and knowledge, and together we are the body of Christ. Amen. And that's beautiful. So tell the folks [00:45:00] how people can connect with you and you have resources and maybe if they wanna play stump the Bible teacher, they can email you. Yeah, you can find that all about me@jakedobern.com. D-O-B-E-R-E-N-Z as in zebra. And that's kind of my home base on the interwebs. If you do jake dovers.com/email, you can get on my email list that was mentioned earlier where I talk about. Funny stories from my life that have spiritual points, and I bring out spiritual points from that. And yeah, you can definitely contact me through social media or email, and that's all on my website there. So I'll let you track me down and tell me how wrong I am and all of that kind of stuff. That's fun. It comes with the territory, so totally okay with that. And then lastly, I do a bunch of work with Christian creatives, with Fiani [00:46:00] Media, and as was mentioned, I produce the Creatively Christian podcast. So I would love for you to check that out if that's kind of your thing, if that's your area. Yeah. You guys have a real great variety of guests on that show. It's not just one particular kind of art. You guys represent a lot of different ones, which is fun. Oh yeah. And we're trying to get more variety all the time. Awesome. Now. I don't usually have guests pray on the show, but would you pray for our listeners in their journey in the scriptures? Of course. Let's go ahead and pray. Heavenly God, we come to you in prayer on this podcast episode and we ask that whoever's listening now in the future, in a couple years, where wherever we are, that, that we can be receptive to how you speak to us through scripture and through our [00:47:00] communities that help us see scripture. Let the spirit guide us as we dive into this sacred but sometimes confusing and complicated documents. Lord, I ask that you give us the wisdom to be able to rightly divide your word and to remain faithful even when our own preferences might wanna lean in a different direction. Lord, thank you so much for the ministry of this podcast. We pray that people continue to have healing and continue to find themselves in a better place, both in the world and with you spiritually. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen. Thank you so much for coming on the show. God bless you. Sure thing. God bless you. Thank you for listening to the Wounds of the Faithful Podcast. If this episode has been helpful [00:48:00] to you, please hit the subscribe button and tell a friend. You could connect with us at DSW Ministries dot org where you'll find our blog, along with our Facebook, Twitter, and our YouTube channel links. Hope to see you next week.

In today's chapel, Dr. Trent Rogers continues the series in the Book of Exodus, entitled "Exodus: Our God Saves." Dr. Rogers declares from Exodus 19 that we must understand who God is in order to worship Him rightly. Dr. Rogers serves as Dean of the School of Biblical and Theological Studies at Cedarville University.

Guest Bio: Kelly Minter is passionate about God's Word and believes it permeates all of life. The personal healing and steadfast hope she's found in the pages of Scripture fuel her passion to connect God's Word to our everyday lives. When she's not writing or teaching, you can find her tending her garden, taking a walk with friends, cooking for her nieces and nephews, riding a boat down the Amazon River, or walking through a Moldovan village with Justice & Mercy International. Kelly holds a Master's degree in Biblical and Theological Studies from Denver Seminary.  Show Summary: When was the last time things didn't go as you had planned? Often, we come up with a path for our life that doesn't work out the way we thought it would. Kelly Minter wanted to be a successful worship singer, but she eventually realized that was not what God had in store for her. Join hosts Elisa Morgan and Vivian Mabuni as they explore how to trust and worship God—even when He changes our plans—during this God Hears Her conversation.   Notes and Quotes:  “The Lord has not wasted any of this journey.” —Kelly Minter  “Worship in many respects is anything we do throughout the day for the glory of the Lord and in service of Him.” —Kelly Minter  “Part of this walk is that there's going to be some hardship in this life and that's not a mistake, that's part of the road that we're called to walk.” —Kelly Minter  “Idolatry is an issue when anything becomes God other than Jesus.” —Kelly Minter  “While we're walking in something difficult, we have an opportunity to put our faith in Him and to worship Him in the middle of it.” —Kelly Minter  Verses:  The Book of Exodus - Moses leading Israel out of Egypt Romans 12:1 1 Peter 2:19-21 Matthew 1:21  Related Episodes:  GHH Ep 181 – Nothing Is Wasted with Jennifer DiVita: https://godhearsher.org/podcast/nothing-is-wasted/ GHH Ep 202 – Your Everyday Purpose: https://godhearsher.org/podcast/your-everyday-purpose/  Links:  Kelly Minter's website: https://kellyminter.com/ God Hears Her website: https://go.odb.org/ghh191  Subscribe to the God Hears Her YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@GodHearsHerODBM Explore more: https://www.odbm.org/en/discovery-series/change-following-god-through-lifes-crossroads/change-introduction

Bench Press and Biblical Truth: The Strength of Dr. Trent RogersDr. Trent Rogers doesn't fit the stereotype of a Bible professor and college dean. Sure, he's got the credentials — a doctorate in New Testament, years of pastoral experience, and a deep love for Scripture. But he also once bench-pressed 670 pounds, setting a world record. That same drive to be the best shapes everything he does, from the classroom to his leadership at Cedarville University.Trent's path to academic ministry wasn't direct. He started with a degree in ancient and classical Greek from Wabash College, aiming to read the New Testament in its original form. He imagined life in church ministry, not on a college campus. In fact, when he joined Grace Baptist Church in Cedarville, he ranked “college ministry” dead last on his list of preferences.But God had different plans.When the college ministry volunteer stepped away, Trent unexpectedly stepped in — and what began as a reluctant assignment quickly became a passion. He discovered students who were eager to grow, ask meaningful questions, and pursue Christ with conviction. Their hunger for direction and truth stirred something in him. Over the next five years, not only did his heart change, but so did the direction of his calling.Today, as Dean of the School of Biblical and Theological Studies, Trent brings the same passion to shaping students as he once brought to training with elite athletes. Before Cedarville, he worked as a personal trainer in Chicago, coaching everyone from businessmen to NFL stars like Devin Hester. Whether he's teaching Greek, launching academic programs, or designing a personal fitness regimen, his goal remains the same: to do it well and purposefully.What began as reluctance has become calling. Now, Trent leads with clarity, compassion, and a deep belief in Cedarville's mission to equip students for a lifetime of faithful service.To hear more of his story, check out the Cedarville Stories podcast.https://share.transistor.fm/s/4ce82391https://youtu.be/26dd7nqxTj8 

Adventures of Rabbah & Friends offers a new reader-centered approach to some of the Talmud's most challenging stories. The Talmud contains about two pages of some of the strangest tales in the rabbinic corpus. For centuries people have scratched their head over what they mean and why they are there. In his new book, James Adam Redfield illustrates how these tales have interacted with diverse interpretive frameworks from ancient myth to modern mysticism. By reevaluating conventional assumptions about coherence, authority, and tradition, the book redefines how stories can function in the Talmud, reorients the study of rabbinic literature around practices of reading and reception, and opens pathways for connecting the Talmud with broader conversations in the study of literature. Redfield's analysis of the vibrant dialogue between many voices in this literary tradition—storytellers, editors, performers, transmitters, commentators, anthologizers, and more—reveals their diverse and original contributions to the art of interpretation in Jewish culture. Rich appendixes revealing the stories' reception in late ancient exegesis, medieval responsa, and early modern ethical and mystical commentaries make this volume a valuable specialist resource, while its lively prose is accessible for a wider audience of students and humanities scholars. In this episode we discuss these themes and more. James Adam Redfield is Associate Professor of Jewish Anthropology and Hermeneutics in the Department of Theological Studies at Saint Louis University and Visiting Associate Professor in Jewish Civilization and the History of European Civilization at the University of Chicago. He is the coeditor with Sergey Dolgopolski of Talmud /and/ Philosophy (2024) and the translator and editor of Mikhah Yosef Berdichevsky's Yiddish stories published in From a Distant Relation (2021). Rabbi Marc Katz is the Senior Rabbi of Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield NJ. He is the author of Yochanan's Gamble: Judaism's Pragmatic Approach to Life (JPS) Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices Support our show by becoming a premium member! https://newbooksnetwork.supportingcast.fm/new-books-network

Scott interviews William Van Wagenen about some of the horrific crimes taking place in Syria now that Bin Ladenite Islamists have taken over the country. They explore some of these stories and discuss the level of attention these are getting in the Western press and the broader geopolitical context behind this consequential regime change. Discussed on the show: Creative Chaos: Inside the CIA's Covert War to Topple the Syrian Government by William Van Wagenen “The Alawite women taken as sex slaves in Syria” (The Spectator) “Inside Syria's state-backed cover-up of Alawite women's kidnappings” (The Cradle) William Van Wagenen is the author of Creative Chaos: Inside the CIA's Covert War to Topple the Syrian Government. He has a BA in German literature From Brigham Young University and an MA in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. You can read his other writings on Syria for the Libertarian Institute here. Follow him on Twitter @wvanwagenen Audio cleaned up with the Podsworth app:  https://podsworth.com Use code HORTON50 for 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com to clean up your voice recordings, sound like a pro, and also support the Scott Horton Show! For more on Scott's work: Check out The Libertarian Institute:  https://www.libertarianinstitute.org Check out Scott's other show, Provoked, with Darryl Cooper https://youtube.com/@Provoked_Show Read Scott's books: Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine https://amzn.to/47jMtg7 (The audiobook of Provoked is being published in sections at https://scotthortonshow.com) Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism: https://amzn.to/3tgMCdw Fool's Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan https://amzn.to/3HRufs0 Follow Scott on X @scotthortonshow And check out Scott's full interview archives: https://scotthorton.org/all-interviews This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Incorporated https://rrbi.co Moon Does Artisan Coffee https://scotthorton.org/coffee; Tom Woods' Liberty Classroom https://www.libertyclassroom.com/dap/a/?a=1616 and Dissident Media https://dissidentmedia.com You can also support Scott's work by making a one-time or recurring donation at https://scotthorton.org/donate/ https://scotthortonshow.com or https://patreon.com/scotthortonshow Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

 Download Audio. Scott interviews William Van Wagenen about some of the horrific crimes taking place in Syria now that Bin Ladenite Islamists have taken over the country. They explore some of these stories and discuss the level of attention these are getting in the Western press and the broader geopolitical context behind this consequential regime change. Discussed on the show: Creative Chaos: Inside the CIA's Covert War to Topple the Syrian Government by William Van Wagenen “The Alawite women taken as sex slaves in Syria” (The Spectator) “Inside Syria's state-backed cover-up of Alawite women's kidnappings” (The Cradle) William Van Wagenen is the author of Creative Chaos: Inside the CIA's Covert War to Topple the Syrian Government. He has a BA in German literature From Brigham Young University and an MA in Theological Studies from Harvard Divinity School. You can read his other writings on Syria for the Libertarian Institute here. Follow him on Twitter @wvanwagenen Audio cleaned up with the Podsworth app: https://podsworth.com Use code HORTON50 for 50% off your first order at Podsworth.com to clean up your voice recordings, sound like a pro, and also support the Scott Horton Show! For more on Scott's work: Check out The Libertarian Institute: https://www.libertarianinstitute.org Check out Scott's other show, Provoked, with Darryl Cooper https://youtube.com/@Provoked_Show Read Scott's books: Provoked: How Washington Started the New Cold War with Russia and the Catastrophe in Ukraine https://amzn.to/47jMtg7 (The audiobook of Provoked is being published in sections at https://scotthortonshow.com) Enough Already: Time to End the War on Terrorism: https://amzn.to/3tgMCdw Fool's Errand: Time to End the War in Afghanistan https://amzn.to/3HRufs0 Follow Scott on X @scotthortonshow And check out Scott's full interview archives: https://scotthorton.org/all-interviews This episode of the Scott Horton Show is sponsored by: Roberts and Roberts Brokerage Incorporated https://rrbi.co Moon Does Artisan Coffee https://scotthorton.org/coffee; Tom Woods' Liberty Classroom https://www.libertyclassroom.com/dap/a/?a=1616 and Dissident Media https://dissidentmedia.com You can also support Scott's work by making a one-time or recurring donation at https://scotthorton.org/donate/ https://scotthortonshow.com or https://patreon.com/scotthortonshow

On this episode of Finding Something Real, we are joined with homicide detective, J. Warner Wallace. He has become a dear friend to the podcast and has great insight on making the case for Christ. We are also joined with our co-host, Sarah.   Sarah shares her genuine questions about faith. Even though she is Christian, she still deals with doubt. Questions that she feel we will never fully know the answers to. J. Warner Wallace asks compelling questions to reframe our perspective on addressing doubt and hard theological questions.    J. Warner Wallace is a Dateline featured cold-case homicide detective, popular national speaker and best-selling author. He continues to consult on cold-case investigations while serving as a Senior Fellow at the Colson Center for Christian Worldview. He is also an adjunct professor of apologetics at Talbot School of Theology (Biola University), Gateway Seminary, and Southern Evangelical Seminary, and a faculty member at Summit Ministries. J. Warner became a Christ-follower at the age of thirty-five after investigating the claims of the New Testament gospels using his skill set as a detective. He eventually earned a Master's Degree in Theological Studies from Gateway Seminary.   We hope you enjoy this week's episode!     - -- -- -- --    LINKS   Dealing with Grief and Church Hurt with Jason Schmidt   How to Love People in Truth and Love with Drew Berryessa   The Difference Jesus Makes - Frankie's Story   Season 8 - First Episode       Listen on: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2MuVWFbZzue3ZLgCtIJGzB Apple Podcast: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/finding-something-real-podcast/id1481017856     Follow us on:  Instagram: finding_something_real Facebook: Finding Something REAL with Janell Wood Tiktok: @findingsomethingreal Youtube: Finding Something REAL with Janell Wood    

In this episode, Dan Hugger speaks with Anthony Bradley, Distinguished Research Fellow at the Acton Institute and research professor of Interdisciplinary and Theological Studies at Kuyper College. They discuss Anthony's new book, God at Work: Loving God and Neighbor Through the Book of Exodus. Why is Exodus such a great evangelistic conversation starter? What human emotions drive […]

The Myth of Good Christian Parenting is available to pre-order now on Amazon, reserve your copy today! Join the Theology in the Raw community on Patreon to watch our "Extra Innings" conversation on whether parents should spank their kids. Marissa Franks Burt (MA in Theological Studies, Columbia International University) is a novelist, editor, teacher, and cohost of the At Home with the Lectionary and In the Church Library podcasts. She lives in a small town in Washington's Snoqualmie Valley with her husband, six children, and heaps of books. Kelsey Kramer McGinnis (PhD, University of Iowa) is a musicologist, educator, and correspondent for Christianity Today, writing on worship practices and Christian subculture. She is an adjunct professor at Grand View University in Des Moines and previously worked at the University of Iowa Center for Human Rights. Marissa & Kelsey cohost the podcast In The Church Library where they discuss print resources. And they coauthored the book The Myth of Good Christian Parenting: How False Promises Betrayed a Generation of Evangelical Families, which is the topic of our conversation. Link to pre-order bonuses. Link to download of the introduction and first chapter. Order from Baker for guaranteed release day deliverySee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Christian Nationalism is now a hot topic in the United States. It is not a religious movement articulating the love and teachings of Jesus as they relate to public policy. Rather, it is a political movement that bears little resemblance the teachings of the gospels - healing the sick, feeding the hungry, helping the poor, and being good to the stranger seem to have fallen by the wayside - and promotes the message that Christianity should take precedence over all other religions in this country. Its Seven Mountains Mandate is a rather chilling repudiation of religious freedom. My video today is a conversation with public theologian Brandan Robertson, in which he gives answers to many of the questions I've had about this movement. Who are they? What do they stand for? What is their connection to far right wing conservative politics? And what is their plan for America's future? A genuinely progressive Christianity, harkening back to the love of Jesus and its relevance to our individual as well as collective lives, is being powerfully articulated by such speakers as Robertson. Thankfully, progressive Christians are not quiet right now. Their numbers are growing, and they're speaking up. I hope you find the interview interesting. It's critically important that we understand what's going on. Rev. Brandan Robertson is a noted author, activist, and public theologian, dedicated to exploring the intersections of spirituality, sexuality, and social justice. He serves as the Pastor of Sunnyside Reformed Church in New York City and is the founder and Executive Director of The Devout Foundation. Known as the “TikTok Pastor,” Robertson's inclusive theological content has garnered 10 million views. He has authored, contributed to, or edited 23 books, including the INDIES Book of the Year finalist True Inclusion. His work has been featured in TIME Magazine, CNN, and The Washington Post. Robertson is a sought-after speaker who regularly presents at prestigious platforms like The White House and Oxford University, continuing to inspire and challenge audiences around the world. Robertson acquired a Bachelor of Arts in Pastoral Ministry and Biblical Studies from Moody Bible Institute, an Master of Theological Study from Iliff School of Theology, and an Master of Arts in Political Science and Public Administration from Eastern Illinois University. He's presently pursuing a PhD in Biblical Studies at Drew University. He currently resides in New York City.  Subscribe to Marianne's Substack: MarianneWilliamson.Susbtack.com