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Isaiah 6:1–8 Most people prefer a God who is a little holier than they are—manageable, predictable, and unlikely to make demands. But that is not the God of the Bible. When Isaiah saw the real God—high and lifted up, attended by seraphim—his only response was, “Woe is me!” Pastor Chuck Swindoll opens Isaiah 6:1–8 to reveal a God whose holiness is utterly beyond our comfort zones. Far from paralyzing Isaiah, this vision broke him, cleansed him, and sent him on mission. Discover what a true vision of God's holiness can do in your life.
Most people prefer a God who is a little holier than they are—manageable, predictable, and unlikely to make demands. But that is not the God of the Bible. When Isaiah saw the real God—high and lifted up, attended by seraphim—his only response was, “Woe is me!”Pastor Chuck Swindoll opens Isaiah 6:1–8 to reveal a God whose holiness is utterly beyond our comfort zones. Far from paralysing Isaiah, this vision broke him, cleansed him, and sent him on mission.Discover what a true vision of God's holiness can do in your life.
Most people prefer a God who is a little holier than they are—manageable, predictable, and unlikely to make demands. But that is not the God of the Bible. When Isaiah saw the real God—high and lifted up, attended by seraphim—his only response was, “Woe is me!”Pastor Chuck Swindoll opens Isaiah 6:1–8 to reveal a God whose holiness is utterly beyond our comfort zones. Far from paralyzing Isaiah, this vision broke him, cleansed him, and sent him on mission.Discover what a true vision of God's holiness can do in your life. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/82/29?v=20251111
Isaiah 6:1–8 Most people prefer a God who is a little holier than they are—manageable, predictable, and unlikely to make demands. But that is not the God of the Bible. When Isaiah saw the real God—high and lifted up, attended by seraphim—his only response was, “Woe is me!” Pastor Chuck Swindoll opens Isaiah 6:1–8 to reveal a God whose holiness is utterly beyond our comfort zones. Far from paralyzing Isaiah, this vision broke him, cleansed him, and sent him on mission. Discover what a true vision of God's holiness can do in your life.
Most people prefer a God who is a little holier than they are—manageable, predictable, and unlikely to make demands. But that is not the God of the Bible. When Isaiah saw the real God—high and lifted up, attended by seraphim—his only response was, “Woe is me!”Pastor Chuck Swindoll opens Isaiah 6:1–8 to reveal a God whose holiness is utterly beyond our comfort zones. Far from paralysing Isaiah, this vision broke him, cleansed him, and sent him on mission.Discover what a true vision of God's holiness can do in your life.
Most people prefer a God who is a little holier than they are—manageable, predictable, and unlikely to make demands. But that is not the God of the Bible. When Isaiah saw the real God—high and lifted up, attended by seraphim—his only response was, “Woe is me!”Pastor Chuck Swindoll opens Isaiah 6:1–8 to reveal a God whose holiness is utterly beyond our comfort zones. Far from paralyzing Isaiah, this vision broke him, cleansed him, and sent him on mission.Discover what a true vision of God's holiness can do in your life. To support this ministry financially, visit: https://www.oneplace.com/donate/82/29?v=20251111
In Week 2 of our Summer at Bethlehem series, Student Pastor Spencer Haynes opens up God's Word to share a passage that completely disrupted, challenged, and redirected his life. The power of the Bible is that it doesn't just inform us; it transforms us when we allow it to step out of the pages and into our real-world stories. Preaching from the historic and heavy text of Isaiah 6:1-8, Spencer contrasts modern, emotional consumer Christianity with a true biblical encounter with God. "Send me" sounds exciting, powerful, and amazing in a worship service with great lighting and loud music—until holiness confronts our hidden sin and Jesus actually demands our comfort. This message is a direct challenge to step away from casual faith, stop hiding behind religion, and realize that real biblical calling always follows cleansing.
Talk isn't enough to prove you're going to heaven, but it is enough to send you to hell. Both thoughts are true for the same reason: talking is so easy to do, in fact, it has never been easier. Nearly everything in our lives has made it faster and simpler to talk. We came up with the landline to share voices immediately. Then we made the cell phone so we could have this ability anywhere. Then we made the internet so we could permanently place our voices out there to talk for us even when we are not talking. Now with AI I can build things just by talking. Indeed, what hath man wrought? The way that this promise was presented to us was that all of this communication would be like sending torches into the darkness. Truth as it really was could be revealed for all to see in the flickering digital light. Injustices could be corrected, power could be held accountable, yes, even the gospel could be communicated faster and wider than ever. All of it was and is true. However, as James tells us, the darkness we bear those torches within is a bone-dry forest, branches and leaves everywhere ready to lap up the least spark. It is no wonder that James spends so much time on speech and the tongue, as this is quite a power to steward. The solution isn't to extinguish the torch. How can the Savior known as the Word have silent followers? Woe to us if we preach not the gospel, but woe to us if we do not tame our tongues. The solution that James gives to us is implicit rather than explicit, but the way he details the problem is a useful teaching tool in itself. When I began the process of learning how to drive my mother's day one lesson was this: I was driving a 3 thousand pound death machine to myself and others if I use it improperly. It was a sober start, but it was necessary. I had to come to grips with what I was doing. Today, James gives some us talking lessons with the sobering introduction to begin.
Joseph S. Moore, author of "How to Get Rich in American History: 300 Years of Financial Advice That Worked (& Didn't)," says that America is dealing with "Big Woe" (as in "Woe is me"), but that examining the past makes it clear that "The American Dream is alive and well." Moore points out that what people think is unique today has all been played out in the past, comparing cryptocurrency to the thousands of self-issued currencies that existed before the start of the Civil War, prediction markets to the "bucket shops" of the 1800s and more, but he also notes that the advice that people think "always works" has not actually proven that if you look throughout financial history. "The dynamic, changing economy we live in is evolving," he says, "so hopefully we can learn something from the past to better understand where we are in the present." Kelley Wright, editor at Investment Quality Trends — now celebrating its 60th year, making it one of the longest-running investment newsletters — brings his dividend-with-value focus to the Market Call. Plus, in the ETF of the Week, Todd Rosenbluth, head of research at VettaFi, examines a unique Treasury-focused fund as a way to ride out current rate swings while goosing yields in the ultra-safe portion of your portfolio.
June 1, 2026Today's Reading: Isaiah 6:1-7Daily Lectionary: Ecclesiastes 9:1-17; John 9:24-41“Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” (Isaiah 6:3)In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.It can be easy to read Isaiah chapter six and gloss over just how intense the vision of Isaiah would have been. As the Lord called Isaiah to speak His Word, there is a lot going on. There are the Seraphim with their wings and their flying. There is the shaking of the thresholds at the voice of the One calling. There is the angel with the smoke and the coals. But what might have been the most intense was the realization of those words, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” We don't think of holiness all that much in our day and place. For us, God is sort of a spiritual therapist. He's there for when we might need something. He's sort of in the background, just sort of letting the movie play out as it does. In short, He's a buddy who's there when we need Him, but otherwise He just sort of lets us be. I don't think that's how Isaiah felt standing in the presence of the angels and the company of heaven. I don't think that was the thought floating in his head when the angel brought the coal. In fact, I know it wasn't. How? Because of Isaiah's own words: “And I said: ‘Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!'” Isaiah wasn't excited to see his buddy. He was nervous. Why? Because he knew of his sin. He knew of the sin of his people. He knew that this Lord of hosts, this Yahweh Sabaoth, was holy. He was not sin. He was perfection. He was the perfection that no imperfection can stand before. And so Isaiah was scared. He needed atonement. But that's what the angel brought to Isaiah. He brought it from the altar of the Lord Himself. This thrice holy God is good and perfect. But He is loving. This Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, He is holy and hates sin. But He is loving and desires people to have the cleansing from sin that they would become the objects of His love. You, Christian, are the object of His love. He has sent Jesus to the cross to bear your unholiness. He has sent His Spirit into your heart through the Word, through the promise of Baptism, that you would know that you are His beloved. He has taken your unholiness and poured out His wrath against it on the cross, that He could give you His holiness that you could stand before Him in His heavenly temple forever. Thanks be to God.In the Name + of Jesus. Amen.Holy, Holy, Holy Lord, God of Sabaoth. Heaven and earth are full of thy glory. Hosanna. Save us. Bless us with your holiness, that we would ever remain your beloved and holy children. AmenRev. Matthew Zickler, pastor at Grace Lutheran Church, Western Springs, IL.
Jesus said:“Blessed are you who weep now…”and“Woe to you who laugh now…”Was Jesus against joy?Not at all.In Luke 6, Jesus isn't talking about emotions on the surface—He's talking about the condition of your heart.Can you still feel what God feels?Can you still grieve over sin?Can you still be moved by suffering?Can you still hear the conviction of the Holy Spirit?In this message, we explore:• what Jesus meant by weeping and laughing• how hearts become hardened• the dangers of cultural drift• how King David lost sensitivity to God• and how God restores a broken heart
It's so easy to look at God and come to the conclusion, well I want that part of Him – but not that part. And definitely not that bit. It seems that all too often, we want Him on our terms rather than His. But God just doesn't work that way. Take it Back Have you ever wanted something in life – I mean really, really, really wanted it and then when you finally get it, you just want to give it back? I think we have all experienced that at some point and you know, I think that for some people, it can be the case with God. I know people, lots of people, who hunger to be close to God. I know there are people listening today – maybe you are one of them – and all their lives they have wanted God – whatever that means. But can I tell you something? Even something really good – I mean really, really good like God, well, it can be a shock to the system and the reason is that we have these idealised, unrealistic notions of what that good thing will be like. Take the young woman who wants more than anything else, to be married and she meets her knight in shining armour, she marries him and a year later she is wondering, "What happened to all my ideas of romance 24/7?" Today on the programme we are going to take a look at some people who got God and couldn't wait to give Him back. Now over these last few weeks we have been working our way through the story of Hannah and Eli and his sons in the Book of First Samuel. And the crux of it is that Hannah honours God but Eli and his sons don't and the turning point of the whole story comes in the verse First Samuel – if you have a Bible, grab it, open it up here in First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30. God says: I will honour those who honour Me but those who despise Me, will be treated with contempt. And we have seen how the central reality of that verse has played itself out in the lives of Hannah, who was blessed when she couldn't have a son and she honoured God and God gave her a son Samuel and the opposite is Eli and his sons Hophni and Phinehas who didn't honour God and were greatly punished, in fact they lost their lives because of that. This story plays its self out in the storms of life. I mean Eli, Hophni and Phinehas, they were the priests; they should have been bringing God's people close to God yet they were living life of Riley, as we saw last week on the programme. And God had them killed. They're job was to bring people close to God and yet they were not honouring Him. Instead they had led Israel to a place of defeat. We saw last week in First Samuel chapter 4 where the Philistines attacked, Israel thinks "Oh well, God is always on our side – we will go to battle" and they had a huge defeat – thirty thousand of their soldiers were killed. The Ark of the Covenant, the presence of God itself, was captured by the Philistines. See the Ark of the Covenant was where God actually sat in the midst of His people. You see that in the journey through the Exodus – forty years in the Tent of the Meeting and later on in the temple. The Ark of the Covenant in the Holy of Holies; it is the very presence of God. And strangely, you know, when the Philistines are close to capturing the Ark they kind of realise, with a sense of foreboding, what this is about. It says in First Samuel that: When they learned that the Ark of the Lord had entered the camp of the Israelites, the Philistines were afraid. "A god has come into their camp" they said "we are in trouble. Nothing like that has ever happened before. Woe to us. Who will deliver us from the hand of these mighty gods?" And so it goes on … Well, it turns out that they should have followed their instincts. Today we are going to look and see what happens to the Philistines and to the Israelites when the presence of God comes close to them. Let's have a look at it. If you've got a Bible, open it up at First Samuel chapter 5, we are going to begin the story at verse 1. After the Philistines had captured the Ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod. Then they carried the Ark into Dagon's temple and set it beside Dagon. When the people of Ashdod rose early the next day, there was Dagon, their god, who had fallen flat on his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. They took Dagon and put him back in his place. The following morning when they rose, there was Dagon, fallen on his face on the ground before the Ark of the Lord. His head and hands had been broken off and were lying on the threshold – only his body remained. That is why to this very day, neither the priests of Dagon or any of the others who enter Dagon's temple in Ashdod, step on the threshold. The Lord's hand was heavy upon the people of Ashdod and its vicinity. He brought devastation upon them and afflicted them with tumours. When the men of Ashdod saw what was happening they said "The Ark of the God of Israel mustn't stay here with us because His hand is heavy upon us and upon Dagon our god." So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and ask them "What are we going to do with this Ark of the God of Israel?" And they answered "Have the Ark of the God of Israel moved to Gath." So they moved the Ark of the God of Israel but after they had moved it, the Lord's hand was against that city, throwing it into great panic. He afflicted the people of the city, both young and old, with an outbreak of tumours so they sent the Ark of God on to Ekron. As the Ark of God was entering Ekron, the people of Ekron cried out "They have brought that Ark of the God of Israel around to kill us and our people." So they called together all the rulers of the Philistines and said "Send that Ark of the God of Israel away. Let it go back to its own place or it will kill us and our people," for death had filled the city with panic and God's hand was very heavy upon it. Those who did not die were afflicted with tumours and the outcry of the city went up to heaven. Do you see? The Philistines looked like they had won and yet they take the presence of God; the Ark of the Covenant, they put it in their temple next to their god and Dagon falls down, face down in front of the God of Israel. And the second time his head and his hands are cut off and then wherever they took the Ark of the Covenant, the impact of God, as a captive in their midst, was devastating – they got tumours, we will see later, there were plagues of mice. They had captured God – in human terms, they had won but you know what they had forgotten, in fact they had never realised it in the first place? God is not subject to people – God is not someone you can capture and stick in your temple. He is not someone you can tame and subdue. Why are we talking about this stuff today? Because you and I, deep down, we try and tame and subdue God – we try and swing Him around to our way of thinking; to meet our needs. We put Him in the temple of our choice; we put Him in the town and the city of our choice. You know what happens when we try to do that? We discover exactly what the Philistines discovered – we discover that God is not someone you can push around. "Well, I'll just take this God and He'll bless me whenever I want Him to." Ok, we can't see Him! Our present circumstances perhaps, appear much more powerful than Him but if we want to have our feet on solid ground, amidst the storms of life, (that's what we have been talking about over these last few weeks) we look at this maelstrom of the storm; the battle between the Philistines and the Israelites – thirty thousand Israelites killed because they didn't honour their God. Who appeared to win? Who should have been, according to our simple human expectations, on solid ground? The Philistines – they won the war. They captured Israel's God but who they captured was the God who created the entire universe – not some idol; not some tin pot little god. They captured God and He wrought destruction upon them because they tried to subdue God. So much so they couldn't wait to get rid of Him. Do you get it? When we try to take God by force – force of argument, force of opinion, force of anything – anything that doesn't recognise Him for who He is – watch out! There are so many people playing "church". There are so many people playing at being Christians; playing at religion, putting God here, putting God there. That's not what it is about. As Dagon found out, the only way you honour God is when you bow down before Him because of who He is – the sovereign God, above every name and every power and every authority in heaven and earth. That's what Hannah discovered; that's what Eli discovered; that's what Israel discovered and that's what the Philistines discovered, the hard way. You can't have God on your own terms. You can only have Him on His terms. We Don't Want Him Well, the Philistines finally came to their senses. They realised they couldn't have God on their terms. They had a choice – you either accept God on His terms or you get rid of Him. So they decided to send Him back from whence He came. Now, let's have a look at how they did that. We are going to pick this up in First Samuel – grab your Bible – First Samuel chapter 6, beginning at verse 1 – it's a great story. When the Ark of the Lord had been with the Philistines for seven months, they called for the priests and the diviners and they said "What are we going to do with this Ark of the Lord? Tell us how we should send it back to its place." They answered "If you return the Ark of the God of Israel, don't send it away empty, but by all means, send a guilt offering to Him then you will be healed and you will know why His hand has not been lifted from you." The Philistines ask "What guilt offering should we send Him?" and they replied "Five gold tumours and five gold rats, according to the number of Philistine rulers because the same plague has struck both you and your rulers. Make models of the tumours and of the rats that are destroying the country and pay honour to Israel's God. Perhaps He will lift His hand from you and your gods and your land. Why do you harden your hearts as the Egyptians and the Pharaoh did when He treated them harshly, didn't they send the Israelites out so that they could go their way? Now then, get a new cart ready with two cows that have just calved and have never been yoked. Hitch the cows to the cart but take their calves away and pen them up. Take the Ark of the Lord and put it on the cart and in a chest beside it put the gold objects you are sending back to Him as a guilt offering. Send it on its way but keep watching it. If it goes up to its own territory towards Beth-shemesh then the Lord has brought this great disaster on us. But if it doesn't then we will know that it was not His hand that struck us but all this happened just by chance. So they did that – they took two such cows, hitched them to the cart, penned up their calves. They placed the Ark of the Lord on the cart, along with the chest containing the gold rats and the models of the tumours. Then the cows went straight up towards Beth-shemesh, keeping on the road, lowing all the way. They didn't turn to the right or to the left. The rulers of the Philistines followed them as far as the border of Beth-shemesh It is fascinating stuff! See, these people didn't know God – they got their own pagan spiritual leaders to advise them. Now their system of faith was not one God; that's called mono-theism. No, they believed in many gods; they were poly-theistic. And so they see the God of Israel as just another god on their list who may or may not have power. Now, He clearly does because He has brought all of this destruction on the Philistines. So they devise a test for this God. They get these two milk cows, with their calves. You see there is no way two cows that have just calved are going to leave their calves and these cows have never been yoked. So only God could cause them to go back to Israel, away from their young and that is exactly what ends up happening. They don't turn to the right or the left – they are lowing all the way. They don't want to go but they go and clearly this is an act of God. That's how the Philistines saw it. This is a story about so many people in this world who don't know God. See, they hear about God – it's amazing, God is still speaking. The number of times that I have had a letter or an email that says "You know something – I just happened to flick on the radio or turn to a channel and your programme was on and God spoke to me and changed my life." I'm going to share one of those at the end of this programme – an amazing story of a rebel fighter in Africa who laid down his arms. See, God is still speaking today, all over the place, and He reaches out to us and He ends up in our midst, one way or another, as He did with the Philistines. Remember back, how did the presence of God, the Ark of the Covenant, come to be in the midst of the Philistines? The Philistines fought Israel, Israel hadn't honoured their God – they got defeated by the Philistines big time. Eli the priest and his sons, Hophni and Phinehas were killed in that battle. They expected God to show up like He always did, but He didn't. And it was a sovereign act of the sovereign God to allow defeat to come upon Israel and to allow His presence, the Ark of the Covenant to be captured by the Philistines. God's own decision was to be in the midst of the Philistines those seven months. And they discover that you can't have Him on your own terms, so they give Him back – they send Him packing. That's what I did for many, many years of my life. Every now and then I encountered God. And you see I had my own agenda for my life; I had my own plans. God didn't fit so I would send Him packing. And it seemed like He would like to cause me grief and pain; want me to give up things I didn't want to give up. And time and time again I'd want to hang onto Him on my terms. Let me tell you something – it never, never, never worked so I sent Him packing. I rejected Him like the Philistines. I wonder if that has ever happened in your life. Come on, how much do we want God, but on our terms? Well, I believe this about abortion or I believe that about sexuality or I believe this about the different roles of men and women and when I discover what God has to say about those I say to myself "Well, I can't believe that! No, either I have God on my terms or not at all." Come on, there is a reason that God went to the trouble of recording this story about the Philistines and the Ark of the Covenant and then preserving it for a few thousand years and then broadcasting it on this radio station today. There is a reason! He is speaking to us through His story today. To all those people who would have God on their own terms, He is saying "No, you can't have Me on your terms. You can't capture Me and stick Me in your temple. You can only have Me on My terms." And as we are going to see soon, this problem was not reserved for the Philistines – it's not just for the people who didn't really know God but it was also for God's own people – God's own people who would push Him away. This series that we are going through is called "On Solid Ground". We need solid ground beneath our feet and we are going to discover next, exactly how to get it. When Will We Learn? As I said earlier, the problem wasn't just restricted to the Philistines, sending God packing with those cows with the Ark of the Covenant in tow – it was also a problem that happened with the Israelites. Let's see what happened when the Ark of the Covenant arrives back with Israel - First Samuel chapter 6, beginning at verse 19. The Ark has just wandered down the road with the cows and this is what happened: God struck down some of the men of Beth-shemesh, putting seventy of them to death because they had looked into the Ark of the Lord. The people mourned because of the heavy blow the Lord had dealt them and the men of Beth-shemesh asked "Who can stand in the presence of the Lord, this holy God? To whom will the Ark go up from here?" Then they sent messengers to the people of Kiriath-jearim, saying "The Philistines have returned the Ark of the Lord, come down and take it up to your place." So the men of Kiriath-jearim came and took up the Ark of the Lord. They took it to Abinadab's house on the hill and consecrated Eleazar, the son to guard the Ark of the Lord. See, God is a sovereign God. We get Him on His terms and not ours. And the Israelites dealt casually with God's presence when He came back – they looked upon Him. Now God says "You can't look upon Me and live." How often do we treat the mighty sovereign casually? You and I – we take on God. Can I tell you who is going to win? Not us! Israel was God's people – they should have known better but they didn't. So what was their reaction? The same as the Philistines – "Who can stand in front of this sovereign God. Where are we going to send Him?" They sent God packing and it's a pattern repeated over and over and over again. So what is the answer? What these people needed was some solid ground beneath their feet. What you and I need is some solid ground beneath our feet. Well, that comes next in this story – it's exactly what happened. First Samuel chapter 7, verse 2: It was a long time, twenty years in all, that the Ark remained a Kiriath-jearim and all the people of Israel mourned and sought after the Lord and Samuel the prophet, said to the whole house of Israel "If you are returning to the Lord with all your hearts, then rid yourselves of the foreign gods and the Ashtoreths and commit yourselves to the Lord and serve Him alone and He will deliver you from the hand of the Philistines. So the Israelites put away their Baals and their Ashtoreths and they served the Lord alone. And then Samuel said "Assemble all Israel at Mizpah and I will intercede with the Lord for you." When they had assembled at Mizpah they drew water and poured it out before the Lord. On that day they fasted and they confessed "We have sinned against the Lord." And Samuel was the leader of Israel at Mizpah. When the Philistines heard that Israel had assembled at Mizpah, the rulers of the Philistines came up to attack them and when the Israelites heard of it they were afraid because of the Philistines. They said to Samuel "Don't stop crying out to the Lord our God for us, that He may rescue us from the hand of the Philistines." So Samuel took a suckling lamb, offering it up as a whole burnt offering to the Lord. He cried out to the Lord on Israel's behalf and the Lord answered him. Whilst Samuel was still sacrificing the burnt offering, the Philistines drew near to engage Israel in battle but that day the Lord thundered with a loud thunder against the Philistines and threw them into such a panic that they were routed before Israel. The men of Israel rushed out of Mizpah and pursued the Philistines, slaughtering them along the way to a point below Beth-car. Then Samuel took a stone and set it up between Mizpah and Shen and he named it Ebenezer, saying "Thus far the Lord has helped us." So the Philistines were subdued and did not invade Israelite territory again. Throughout Samuel's lifetime, the hand of the Lord was against the Philistines. From the towns of Ekron to Gath – that the Philistines had captured from Israel - they were restored to Israel and Israel delivered the neighbouring territory from the power of the Philistines and there was peace between Israel and the Amorites. First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30 says this: I will honour those who honour Me but those who despise Me will be treated with contempt. See, that's the place of solid ground – Israel finally got it right here! See, before they had had priests who were sleeping around with prostitutes, priests who were dishonouring God, priests who were plundering the sacrifices of the people to God and God said, "You know something? If your leaders are going to be doing that I am not going to bless you." So Israel fights the Philistines and Israel loses. And so the Ark of the Covenant of God goes to the Philistines and there is devastation there because of the presence of God and they send it back to Israel. And there is devastation there because of the presence of God because everyone was trying to have God on their own terms. Here is the place of solid ground: If you want to return to the Lord with all your heart, put away all your foreign gods. And that is God's Word for you and me today. Put away all your foreign gods – all the other things that you put before God – all the other things that you and I worship – put them away and worship God alone. Come to God on His terms, not ours, because He is the sovereign God. He is the God of the whole universe. He is the God – not just one other god amongst many – He is THE God; the only God and He calls us to worship Him and Him alone. So the people did that and right at the moment they did that, the Philistines were going to attack them again, but this time, the moment they began to honour their God – this verse First Samuel chapter 2, verse 30 – came into their experience. I will honour those who honour Me, but those who despise Me will be treated with contempt. People – that is the place of solid ground. It is the only place of solid ground. God is a sovereign God. He is not my performing puppy and He is not your performing puppy. He is not there to do tricks on our command. He is above us and we are His people and God is calling us today to accept Him on His terms as the sovereign God – just the way Samuel told the people. Samuel said to them "You have got to accept God on His terms" – they did and immediately, when a storm arose, God blessed His people. And that blessing went on for many, many years and their feet were on solid ground.
7 takeaways from this study Guard your heart more than your rituals. Regularly ask: “Am I trembling at God's word, or just going through motions?” (Isaiah 1:11–17; 66:2). Let your practices flow from repentance, justice, and mercy. Treat approach to God as a privilege, not a right. The Levitical pattern of טָהוֹר (tahor, clean) vs. טָמֵא (tame, unclean) reminds you to examine what in your life is “fit” or “unfit” to bring into God's presence — habits, media, speech, relationships. Live as light, not as a mirror of the culture. Israel was called to be a “light to the nations,” not a copy of them (Isaiah 42:6; 49:6). In daily decisions — ethics at work, how you handle conflict, how you speak online — ask, “Am I leading or just blending in?” Hold religious symbols and traditions loosely, but God's character tightly. Isaiah and the idol passages (e.g., Isaiah 44) warn against turning aids into objects of trust. Use traditions, liturgy, and symbols as tools to focus on God, not as things with power in themselves. Expect God to work suddenly after long seasons. Zion's “birth before labor” (Isaiah 66:7–9) teaches that God can move in a moment after years of apparent delay. Stay faithful in “ordinary time” — prayer, Scripture, obedience — so you are ready when He acts quickly. See yourself as part of a priestly calling. If God can take some from the nations as “priests and Levites” (Isaiah 66:21), then every believer has a bridge‑building role. Practically, that means: carry others' burdens, pray for them, and help them “draw near” to God through your words and presence. Read judgment passages as invitations, not just threats. The flood, destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, and Isaiah's warnings all include advance mercy. When you encounter hard texts or hard providences, respond with, “What is God inviting me to change or trust right now?” rather than only fear or speculation. The central claim of Isaiah is simple. God seeks a people whose worship arises from a humble and obedient heart. He restores such a people through His chosen Servant. He then gathers peoples from all nations into one worshiping family in Zion. The language of holiness Leviticus 12 addresses childbirth and resulting ritual impurity. Leviticus 13 addresses the condition often translated as “leprosy,” but much broader in scope. The text uses a cluster of holiness terms. From the root ק־ד־שׁ q-d-sh (to set apart) comes the word קֹדֶשׁ qōdesh (“holy”; set apart). It stands opposite the concept חֹל khol (common; profane). Between these poles stand two further categories. טָהוֹר ṭāhôr (clean; fit to approach God). And טָמֵא ṭāmēʾ (unclean; unfit to approach God). Leviticus teaches a movement from “far” to “near.” The noun קָרְבָּן qorbān (offering; literally “that which draws near”) comes from the root ק־ר־ב q-r-v (to approach). Offerings teach how an unclean or distant person may draw near to the presence of God. This Heaven-directed ritual framework (Exodus 25:9, 40; 26:30; Numbers 8:4; Acts 7:44; Hebrews 8:5) becomes a living parable. It shows how God takes a people from טָמֵא ṭāmēʾ and חֹל ḥol and moves them toward טָהוֹר ṭāhôr and קֹדֶשׁ qōdesh. Isaiah will later apply this pattern to Israel's spiritual condition. The book of Isaiah presents a consistent call for God’s people to embrace genuine worship that flows from humble, obedient hearts rather than empty religious observance. From beginning to end, Isaiah contrasts true devotion with outward ritual that lacks faithfulness. Israel’s failure to fulfill her calling is ultimately answered through the Servant of the LORD, whom Messianic believers recognize as Yeshua the Messiah. Through His work, God brings restoration, redemption, and covenant renewal to His people. A central theme throughout Isaiah is the restoration of Zion. Though nations rise and fall and mighty empires appear powerful for a season, they are temporary in comparison to God’s eternal purposes. Isaiah foresees a time when God will redeem Zion with astonishing power and timing. In Isaiah 66, the imagery of a child being born before labor pains symbolizes a sudden and unexpected act of divine redemption. Yet Scripture also teaches that birth pangs often accompany God’s redemptive work, establishing a pattern in which suffering and restoration are closely linked. The remarkable image of “birth before labor” emphasizes the surprising nature of God’s intervention. His promises are fulfilled according to His timetable, often in ways that surpass human expectations. This theme echoes Yeshua’s teaching that His coming will be like a thief in the night, catching many by surprise. Ultimately, Isaiah’s vision extends beyond Israel alone. God’s purpose is to gather people from every nation, tribe, and language into a worldwide community of worshipers who honor the God of Israel through His Messiah. In the end, Zion’s restoration becomes a blessing to all nations as God’s kingdom is established and His glory fills the earth. Isaiah as an arc Some interpreters describe Isaiah as a χίασμα chíasma (chiasm). This common biblical literary structure mirrors themes between the beginning and end of a passage. Isaiah 1 and Isaiah 66 reflect each other. Isaiah 1 opens with a rebuke of corrupt worship. God rejects sacrifices offered by a people whose hearts remain far from Him: “What are your multiplied sacrifices to Me?” says the LORD. “I have had enough of burnt offerings of rams…” Isaiah 1:11 NASB95 He continues: “Bring your worthless offerings no longer, incense is an abomination to Me. New moon and sabbath, the calling of assemblies—I cannot endure iniquity and the solemn assembly.” Isaiah 1:13 NASB95 Yet the text does not condemn sacrifices as such. It condemns the moral condition behind them. Thus, we see right afterward the beginning of Heaven’s prescription: “Wash yourselves, make yourselves clean; remove the evil of your deeds from My sight. Cease to do evil, learn to do good; seek justice, reprove the ruthless, defend the orphan, plead for the widow.” Isaiah 1:16–17 NASB95 The problem lies not in קָרְבָּנוֹת qorbanot (offerings), but in the לֵבָב lēvāv (heart: mind and emotions) of the people. The sacrifices prescribed in Torah were holy. The problem is that worshipers were simultaneously practicing injustice. Isaiah 66 returns to this issue. It contrasts corrupt religion with humble, trembling reverence. God declares: “But to this one I will look, to him who is humble and contrite of spirit, and who trembles at My word.” Isaiah 66:2 NASB95 The book thus starts and ends with the same concern. God weighs the inner posture of worshipers. Ritual without repentance remains unclean. The Servant of the LORD and Israel's failure Between Isaiah 1 and 66 stands the figure עֶבֶד יְהוָה ʿeved YHWH (servant of the LORD). The servant songs (especially Isaiah 42, 49, 50, and 52:13–53:12) show how God will restore true worship, purify His people, and ultimately gather the nations to Himself through the work of the Servant of the Lord. At times, the servant appears to be Israel itself (Isaiah 41:8–9; 49:3). Yet Israel is also the problem. She has not fulfilled her calling as a holy nation and a light to the nations. “Behold, My Servant, whom I uphold; My chosen one in whom My soul delights. I have put My Spirit upon Him; He will bring forth justice to the nations.” Isaiah 42:1 NASB95 Here the Servant brings מִשְׁפָּט mishpāṭ (justice) to the nations. This language exceeds what Israel, in its disobedience, has done. The Servant realizes Israel's ideal calling. Isaiah 49:6 deepens this role: “I will also make You a light of the nations so that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth.” NASB95 The phrase אוֹר גּוֹיִם ʾōr goyim (light of the nations) recalls Israel's vocation in Exodus 19:6 and is later echoed in Matthew 5:14–16 and Acts 13:47. The servant becomes the concentrated expression of Israel's mission. Isaiah 53 then marks a turning point. The Eved Adonai is connected to Israel but it no Israel, as the Prophet Isaiah's entire ministry rebukes how the people of Israel are failing to serve God properly. The servant bears Israel's iniquities. He takes on the very sicknesses and uncleanness that have filled the preceding chapters. The Eved Adonai is not and was not synonymous with the Jewish people. “But He was pierced through for our transgressions, He was crushed for our iniquities….” Isaiah 53:5 NASB95 “…the LORD has caused the iniquity of us all to fall on Him.” Isaiah 53:6 NASB95 Here the Servant functions as an ultimate קָרְבָּן qorbān (Romans 6:10; Hebrews 7:27; 9:12; 10:10; 1Peter 3:18). He embodies the movement from far to near. He carries the uncleanness of the people and opens the way for restoration. Seeing, hearing and the ‘fear of the LORD’ Isaiah links uncleanness with spiritual blindness and deafness (Isaiah 6:10; 11:3; 32:3; 37:17; 64:4). The prophet sees the LORD and cries: “Woe is me, for I am ruined! Because I am a man of unclean lips.” Isaiah 6:5 NASB95 He lives among a people with טְמֵא שְׂפָתַיִם ṭemēʾ sefatayim (unclean lips). God then cleanses Isaiah's lips with a coal from the altar. This scene parallels Leviticus. What is טָמֵא ṭāmēʾ becomes טָהוֹר ṭāhôr by God's initiative. The prophet may then speak. Isaiah frequently plays with the verb רָאָה rāʾāh (to see). In Leviticus 13, the priest “looks” again and again at the suspect skin condition. The text uses rāʾāh to mark careful discernment. The priest must distinguish between tahor and ṭāmēʾ. Isaiah extends this idea to the heart. Does Israel live as if God “sees” all (Isaiah 29:15; Psalm 14:1; Ezekiel 8:12; 9:9)? Later rabbinic tradition notices a verbal pun between יִרְאָה yirʾāh (fear; reverence) and יִרְאֶה yirʾeh (he sees). The יִרְאַת יְהוָה yirʾat YHWH (fear of the LORD) arises when one knows that God truly sees everything we’re doing. Yeshua alludes repeatedly to Isaiah's diagnosis. In Matthew 13:13–15, He cites Isaiah 6 to explain why He speaks in parables. The people think they see and hear, yet they neither perceive nor repent. In John 9:39–41, He challenges leaders who claim to see but remain blind. The same spiritual uncleanness persists. Corrupt worship and empty religion Isaiah condemns worship that has divorced ritual from righteousness. In Isaiah 1:13–14, God says He hates the people's festivals and new moons. Many have taken this as a repudiation of Torah itself. Yet at the end of the book, the same prophet writes: “‘And it shall be from new moon to new moon and from sabbath to sabbath, all mankind will come to bow down before Me,' says the LORD.” Isaiah 66:23 NASB95 The same festivals now mark universal, purified worship. The problem, then, never lay in Shabbat (Sabbath) or the festivals, nor in sacrifices. The problem lay in those who practiced them without justice, mercy and humility. Earlier in the chapter, the prophet sharpens the rebuke. Proper sacrifices become abominable acts when offered from a corrupt heart: “But he who kills an ox is like one who slays a man; He who sacrifices a lamb is like the one who breaks a dog's neck; He who offers a grain offering is like one who offers swine's blood; He who burns incense is like the one who blesses an idol. As they have chosen their own ways, And their soul delights in their abominations, So I will choose their punishments And will bring on them what they dread. Because I called, but no one answered; I spoke, but they did not listen. And they did evil in My sight And chose that in which I did not delight.”” Isaiah 66:3-4 NASB95 The qobanot remain the same. Yet their spiritual value reverses. Worshipers treat God like a vending machine. They treat offerings like tokens to manipulate blessing. In Levitical terms, they bring a קָרְבָּן qorbān while their לֵבָב lēvāv remains far away. Their approach becomes טָמֵא ṭāmēʾ. Israel's call as light to the nations Isaiah repeatedly returns to Israel's mission among the nations. God did not set Israel apart merely to be different. He appointed Israel as a “kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19:6 NASB95). The priestly role stands at the center. Priests draw near to God and help others draw near as well. Israel, then, should serve as a corporate priesthood for the nations: “I will appoint You as a covenant to the people, as a light to the nations.” Isaiah 42:6 NASB95 In Isaiah 49:6, this light extends “to the end of the earth.” The servant manifests the ideal vocation of Israel: He embodies what a faithful Israel would look like. He restores justice. He brings revelation. He draws people from the nations into the worship of the true God. Yeshua (Jesus) adopts this Servant of the LORD language: “I am the Light of the world.” John 8:12 NASB95 He then says to His disciples: “You are the light of the world.” Matthew 5:14 NASB95 The pattern flows from master to disciples. The Servant as ultimate Israel enables a remnant to share His role. They become אוֹר עוֹלָם ʾōr ʿolam in Him, a light to the world. The nations, vanity and the rise and fall of Empires Isaiah places Israel's story against the backdrop of world empires. Assyria, Babylon, and others rise and fall under God's hand. The nations and their glory are transient. Isaiah 40:6–8 compares humanity to grass that withers, and later in the same chapter makes a similar analogy to empires: “Behold, the nations are like a drop from a bucket…” Isaiah 40:15 NASB95 The word הֶבֶל hevel (vanity; vapor) captures this theme, as in Ecclesiastes. By contrast, God's word stands forever (Isaiah 40:8). Therefore, it is folly for Israel to trade covenant identity for the approval of passing empires. When Israel follows the nations instead of leading them, it loses its priestly calling. Israel was called to be a light to the nations and a leader among the peoples of the earth, demonstrating God’s wisdom and righteousness. Yet too often, the nation followed the ways of the surrounding cultures instead of leading them toward the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. As a result, the Lord raised up foreign powers as instruments of discipline, using them to correct His people and call them back to covenant faithfulness. Idolatry expresses this exchange at its most obvious. Isaiah 44 mocks craftsmen who shape idols and then bow to their own work. He mocks idols fashioned by human hands from the very same wood used to build fires and bake bread. The second commandment forbids such images (Exodus 20:4–5). Israel must not reduce God to the likeness of created things. To do so reverses the proper order and empties worship of truth. These false gods cannot save, speak, or act; they are burdens rather than deliverers. The false gods are made in the image of their creators, while we are made in the image of God Almighty. To worship our own creation is a desecration of God's image in us. Zion: Birth, restoration and surprise Isaiah 66 introduces a striking image of Zion's rebirth. The prophet asks: “Can a land be born in one day? Can a nation be brought forth all at once?” Isaiah 66:8 NASB95 The text amazingly describes a birth that precedes labor pains: “Before she travailed, she brought forth; before her pain came, she gave birth to a boy.” Isaiah 66:7 NASB95 This reversal of normal sequence has drawn commentary across centuries. Many Jewish interpreters see here the sudden redemption of Jerusalem and the rapid return of exiles. Others see a future, climactic restoration. Still others recognize multiple layers — a near-term fulfillment after the Babylonian exile and a further, eschatological horizon. The unifying theme remains clear. Zion is ultimately a work of God. צִיּוֹן Tziyyon does not arise merely from human strategy or political will. God brings it to birth. He asks: “‘Shall I bring to the point of birth and not give delivery?' says the LORD.” Isaiah 66:9 NASB95 Zion's restoration thus follows the same pattern as individual cleansing. God moves what is טָמֵא ṭāmēʾ (unfit to approach the Presence) toward טָהוֹר ṭāhôr (fit to approach). He takes a profaned city and reconstitutes it as קֹדֶשׁ qōdesh. Zion and the nations: From judgment to pilgrimage Earlier in Isaiah, Zion stands under judgment. The city has become corrupt. The temple has turned into a place of empty ceremony. Yet the end of Isaiah presents a transformed picture. Nations now stream to Zion, not to conquer, but to worship. Isaiah 66:19–21 describes a mission outward and a gathering inward. Survivors go “to the distant coastlands” to “declare My glory among the nations” (NASB95). These nations then bring Israel's exiles back “as a grain offering to the LORD” (NASB95). Then comes the shocker of the restoration: “I will also take some of them for priests and for Levites,” says the LORD. Isaiah 66:21 NASB95 Here, cleansed Gentiles are made fit for priestly service. Those once טָמֵא ṭāmēʾ and חֹל khol become טָהוֹר ṭāhôr and קֹדֶשׁ qōdesh. God Himself reassigns their status. This anticipates later language where non‑Israelites become “fellow citizens” and members of God's household (Ephesians 2:11–22 NASB95). Isaiah thus anticipates a priesthood enlarged beyond ethnic Levi. Yet it preserves the priestly pattern. God draws people from afar and gives them access to His presence. Birth pangs, judgment and the Day of the LORD The imagery of birth and labor pains widens into the theme of the “day of the LORD.” Prophets like Joel and Zechariah describe cosmic signs. The sun darkens. The moon turns to blood. Nations gather for judgment. Yeshua engages this imagery in Matthew 24. He lists wars, famines, and earthquakes, then says: “But all these things are merely the beginning of birth pangs.” Matthew 24:8 NASB95 The Greek phrase ὠδίνων ōdinōn (birth pains) parallels the Hebrew חֲבָלִים ḥăvālim. These events signal a coming climax, but they do not yet constitute its fullness. Yeshua also stresses suddenness. He compares the coming of the Son of Man to the days of Noah and Lot (Luke 17:26–30). People ate, drank, married, and conducted business. Judgment then arrived swiftly. Those outside God's refuge “did not understand until the flood came and took them all away” (Matthew 24:39 NASB95). The pattern remains consistent. God often gives extended warnings. Yet when the decisive moment arrives, it still surprises the unprepared. The image of “a thief in the night” (1Thessalonians 5:2 NASB95) fits here. The redemption arrives with both long buildup and sudden impact. In this frame, the birth of Zion before labor pains underscores divine initiative and surprise. New creation, New Jerusalem and lasting transformation From a Messianic Jewish perspective, the relationship between Isaiah 66:7–9, Yeshua's teaching on the “birth pains” (ὠδίν, ōdin) in Matthew 24:8 and Mark 13:8 preceding the coming of the Son of Man, and the rabbinic concept of the “birth pangs of the Messiah” (חבלי משיח, ḥevlei Mashiaḥ) reflects complementary dimensions of the same redemptive process. In the flood narrative, Noah and his family are the minority who remain after divine judgment is executed on a corrupt world. Noah preached to the people for 120 years until God shut the doors of the ark and even after the doors were shut, God waited an additional 7 days before the waters started coming down. While the “taking away” occurs through the floodwaters that remove the majority of humanity, Noah is preserved through the ark and emerges onto a renewed earth. In that sense, the decisive removal is experienced by those who are judged, while Noah's family is “left” to inherit a cleansed world and participate in a new beginning of human history under God's covenant. A similar pattern appears in the account of Lot. Lot and his immediate family are removed from Sodom prior to its destruction, while the cities themselves are “taken away” through fire and brimstone as an act of judgment. Lot tried to warn his in-laws to come with him to safety and they laughed him off. Although Lot and his family are physically led out by the angels, the narrative emphasizes that what remains after judgment is not the old order but a radically transformed landscape. In both accounts, the contrast is between those preserved through judgment and those removed by it, highlighting a consistent biblical theme of separation between the righteous and the judged as God brings about renewal. These are both harbingers of the new heavens and the new earth. Isaiah 65–66 extends this pattern to a cosmic level. God promises “new heavens and a new earth” (Isaiah 65:17; 66:22 NASB95). The old order passes. The new emerges. Revelation 21–22 echoes this vision with the image of the New Jerusalem descending from heaven. In both Isaiah and Revelation, Jerusalem is both a place and a people. It has geographic coordinates, yet it also symbolizes the gathered people of God. The city's restored holiness corresponds to the purified hearts of its inhabitants. The Servant's work and the Spirit's presence make this possible. The Greek term παλιγγενεσία palingenesía (regeneration; Matthew 19:28; Titus 3:5) captures the idea. God does not merely repair. He recreates. He brings about a new beginning that includes both individuals and creation. The role of the Spirit and the ongoing mission The Spirit is Heaven’s continuing presence on Earth. In John 14–16, Yeshua calls the Spirit ὁ παράκλητος ho paráklētos (the Helper; Comforter; Advocate). This term parallels Hebrew נָחַם nāḥam (to comfort), from which מְנַחֵם Menachem (comforter) derives — a name that came to be associated with the Messiah. The Spirit applies the Servant's work to individuals and communities. Romans 8 presents the Spirit as the power who leads believers, intercedes for them, and conforms them to the image of the Son. The same Spirit who inspired Isaiah's vision now drives the mission that Isaiah foretold. He sends emissaries to the nations. He gathers a people who tremble at God's word. Heaven’s search for the humble and contrite In our journey through Scripture we see a coherent message. Leviticus introduces the language of holiness, cleanness, uncleanness, and approach. Isaiah applies that language to the spiritual condition of Israel and the nations. The prophet exposes corrupt worship and empty religion. He then presents the Servant of the LORD as God's answer to Israel's failure. Through the Servant's suffering and vindication, God restores Zion and opens priestly access to the nations. He transforms people from טָמֵא ṭāmēʾ (unfit to approah) to טָהוֹר ṭāhôr (fit), from חֹל khol (profane) to קֹדֶשׁ qōdesh (set apart). He brings forth in a day this new nation of priests for the world. He surprises the world with a redemption that arrives like a birth before labor and like a thief in the night. At the heart of it all lies God's search for a humble and contrite people who tremble at His word (Isaiah 66:2). Their worship, purified by the Servant's work and empowered by the Spirit, fulfills the ancient vision. Zion becomes a light to the nations. And from new moon to new moon and from Sabbath to Sabbath, “all mankind will come to bow down” before the LORD (Isaiah 66:23 NASB95). The post Can a nation be born in a day? Exploring Zion's sudden birth in Scripture (Isaiah 66; Leviticus 12) appeared first on Hallel Fellowship.
The Tribulation: Hell on Earth Our springboard text is Revelation 6:16-17: “And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?” These words, ripped from the throats of kings and great men, rich men and chief captains, mighty men and every bondman and every free man, echo across the shattered landscape of a world in collapse. As the sixth seal bursts open, the sky rolls up like a scroll, mountains and islands are moved out of their places, and the sun turns black as sackcloth while the moon becomes as blood. Men do not cry out for mercy; they scream for the rocks to crush them rather than face the wrath of the Lamb. This is the Tribulation—the seven-year period of divine judgment poured out upon a Christ-rejecting world. It is hell on earth, the time of Jacob's trouble, the great tribulation spoken of by the Lord Jesus in Matthew 24:21 as unparalleled in human history. The book of Revelation, the unveiling of Jesus Christ, lays it bare in vivid, terrifying detail. We will walk through it in the exact prophetic timeline John received, seal by seal, trumpet by trumpet, bowl by bowl, pausing at the parenthetical texts the Holy Spirit inserts to show us the behind-the-scenes reality of salvation and conflict amid the judgments. After the messages to the seven churches in Revelation 1–3, John is caught up through an open door in heaven in chapter 4. There he sees the throne of God, the four living creatures crying “Holy, holy, holy,” and the twenty-four elders casting their crowns. In chapter 5 the Lamb as it had been slain takes the seven-sealed scroll from the right hand of Him who sits on the throne. Heaven explodes in worship: “Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation.” Then, in chapter 6, the Lamb begins to break the seals, and hell on earth is unleashed in perfect, ordered fury. The first seal: Revelation 6:1-2. “And I saw when the Lamb opened one of the seals, and I heard, as it were the noise of thunder, one of the four beasts saying, Come and see. And I saw, and behold a white horse: and he that sat on him had a bow; and a crown was given unto him: and he went forth conquering, and to conquer.” A counterfeit Christ rides forth—the Antichrist—deceiving the nations with a false peace. No arrows yet, only a bow; he conquers through diplomacy and lies before the sword is unsheathed. The world cheers a man of peace who is in reality the man of sin. The second seal: Revelation 6:3-4. “And when he had opened the second seal, I heard the second beast say, Come and see. And there went out another horse that was red: and power was given to him that sat thereon to take peace from the earth, and that they should kill one another: and there was given unto him a great sword.” Global war erupts. The red horse rider turns the planet into a slaughterhouse. Brother against brother, nation against nation—blood flows in rivers as the false peace shatters. The third seal: Revelation 6:5-6. “And when he had opened the third seal, I heard the third beast say, Come and see. And I beheld, and lo a black horse; and he that sat on him had a pair of balances in his hand. And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.” Famine stalks the earth. A day's wages buys only a quart of wheat or three quarts of barley—bare survival. The rich may still afford luxuries, but the masses starve while inflation and scarcity crush the poor. The fourth seal: Revelation 6:7-8. “And when he had opened the fourth seal, I heard the voice of the fourth beast say, Come and see. And I looked, and behold a pale horse: and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him. And power was given unto them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.” One-quarter of the world's population—billions—die in a single stroke from war, famine, plague, and wild beasts turned savage. Death rides with hell at his heels, reaping a harvest so vast the imagination recoils. The fifth seal: Revelation 6:9-11. “And when he had opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of them that were slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held: And they cried with a loud voice, saying, How long, O Lord, holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth? And white robes were given unto every one of them; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little season, until their fellowservants also and their brethren, that should be killed as they were, should be fulfilled.” The martyrs cry from beneath the altar, their blood crying out for vengeance. More will join them—tribulation saints slaughtered for refusing the beast. Then comes the sixth seal, and the parenthetical pause is not yet. The cosmic cataclysm of Revelation 6:12-17: earthquake so violent every mountain and island moves, sun black, moon blood-red, stars falling like untimely figs, sky rolling up like a scroll. Men of every class hide in caves and beg the rocks to fall on them—“from the wrath of the Lamb.” This is only the beginning. Now the first major parenthetical text breaks the chronological flow in Revelation 7. While the judgments continue on earth, heaven reveals two groups preserved and saved amid the horror. First, the 144,000 Jewish evangelists: Revelation 7:4-8. “And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.” Twelve thousand from each tribe—Judah, Reuben, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Manasseh, Simeon, Levi, Issachar, Zebulun, Joseph, Benjamin—sealed on their foreheads with the seal of the living God. These are not the church; they are literal Jews, protected supernaturally so they cannot be harmed by the coming trumpet and bowl judgments. They become the greatest missionary force in history, preaching the everlasting gospel to every nation, kindred, tongue, and people while the world burns. Because of their fearless proclamation—and the ministry of the two witnesses yet to come—an innumerable multitude is saved. Revelation 7:9-17: “After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands… These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Millions upon millions—Gentiles from every corner of the globe—turn to Christ during this hellish time. They endure hunger, thirst, scorching heat, and persecution, yet they stand before the throne, palms waving, singing of salvation. The 144,000 Jewish evangelists and the two witnesses are the instruments God uses to reap this vast harvest even as wrath falls. The seventh seal brings silence in heaven for half an hour—Revelation 8:1—then the seven trumpets. The first four are ecological and cosmic disasters affecting one-third of the earth. First trumpet: Revelation 8:7. “The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.” Burning hail and blood rain down; one-third of the planet's vegetation is incinerated. Second trumpet: Revelation 8:8-9. A burning mountain—perhaps a meteor or volcano—plunges into the sea. One-third of the sea turns to blood, one-third of sea creatures die, one-third of ships are destroyed. Oceans become graveyards. Third trumpet: Revelation 8:10-11. A star named Wormwood falls on one-third of the rivers and springs. Waters turn bitter; “many men died of the waters, because they were made bitter.” Fourth trumpet: Revelation 8:12. One-third of the sun, moon, and stars are struck. The day and night lose one-third of their light. Darkness deepens over the planet. Then an angel flies through heaven crying, “Woe, woe, woe, to the inhabiters of the earth by reason of the other voices of the trumpet of the three angels, which are yet to sound!” The three woes are announced. The fifth trumpet—first woe—Revelation 9:1-12. A star falls, given the key to the bottomless pit. Smoke darkens the sun and air. Locusts pour out—demonic hordes with the power of scorpions. They do not touch grass or trees or those sealed by God, but only the unsealed men. “And to them it was given that they should not kill them, but that they should be tormented five months: and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion, when he striketh a man. And in those days shall men seek death, and shall not find it; and shall desire to die, and death shall flee from them.” Picture it: locusts shaped like battle horses, crowned like gold, faces of men, hair of women, teeth of lions, iron breastplates, wings roaring like chariots, tails with scorpion stings. For five long months men are stung again and again. The agony is unbearable—burning, electric torment that drives them mad. They claw at their flesh, beg for death, but death refuses to come. This is hell on earth, demonic torture let loose by divine permission. Their king is Abaddon—Apollyon—the destroyer. The sixth trumpet—second woe—Revelation 9:13-21. Four angels bound at the Euphrates are loosed for a precise hour, day, month, and year. An army of two hundred million horsemen is released. “And thus I saw the horses in the vision, and them that sat on them, having breastplates of fire, and of jacinth, and brimstone: and the heads of the horses were as the heads of lions; and out of their mouths issued fire and smoke and brimstone. By these three was the third part of men killed…” Fire, smoke, brimstone, and serpent-like tails with heads that wound. One-third of surviving mankind is slaughtered. Yet the rest “repented not of the works of their hands, that they should not worship devils, and idols of gold, and silver, and brass, and stone, and of wood… Neither repented they of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their fornication, nor of their thefts.” Even after billions dead, hearts remain stone. Now the second major parenthetical section: Revelation 10 and 11. A mighty angel with a rainbow crown and feet like pillars of fire stands on sea and land, holding a little open book. John eats it—sweet as honey in the mouth, bitter in the belly. He is told he must prophesy again. Then the temple is measured; the outer court is given to the Gentiles for forty-two months. And the two witnesses appear: Revelation 11:3-12. “And I will give power unto my two witnesses, and they shall prophesy a thousand two hundred and threescore days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees, and the two candlesticks standing before the God of the earth. And if any man will hurt them, fire proceedeth out of their mouth, and devoureth their enemies.” They shut heaven so no rain falls, turn waters to blood, and smite the earth with plagues as often as they will. For 1,260 days they torment the beast's kingdom. Then the beast from the bottomless pit kills them. Their bodies lie in the street of the great city for three and a half days while the world rejoices and sends gifts. But suddenly breath enters them; they stand on their feet. A voice from heaven calls, “Come up hither,” and they ascend in a cloud while their enemies watch. A great earthquake follows, killing seven thousand. The two witnesses—likely Enoch and Elijah or Moses and Elijah—preach, perform miracles, and add to the harvest of souls alongside the 144,000. The seventh trumpet sounds: Revelation 11:15. “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.” Heaven rejoices, but the third woe is still to come in full force. Revelation 12–14 forms the third great parenthetical block, filling in the cosmic and earthly drama. A woman clothed with the sun gives birth to a man child who is caught up to God's throne. The red dragon—Satan—is cast out of heaven with his angels. “Woe to the inhabiters of the earth and of the sea! for the devil is come down unto you, having great wrath, because he knoweth that he hath but a short time.” He persecutes the woman (Israel) who flees to the wilderness for 1,260 days. Then the beast rises from the sea—Revelation 13—the Antichrist, empowered by the dragon, with a healed deadly wound that causes the world to worship him. He blasphemes God for forty-two months and makes war on the saints. The second beast—the false prophet—rises from the earth, performs miracles, makes fire come down from heaven, and forces the world to worship the image of the beast. He causes all to receive a mark in the right hand or forehead—the mark of the beast, 666—without which no one can buy or sell. Those who refuse it are beheaded. Yet amid this, the 144,000 stand with the Lamb on Mount Zion in Revelation 14:1-5, singing a new song no one else can learn—virgins, firstfruits, without guile. Three angels fly through heaven: one preaches the everlasting gospel, another announces Babylon's fall, the third warns with the most terrifying words in Scripture: “If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark… The same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb: And the smoke of their torment ascendeth up for ever and ever.” Then the harvest of the earth—both the reaping of the saved and the grapes of wrath trodden outside the city until blood flows to the horse bridles for two hundred miles. Finally the seven bowls—the last plagues, in which the wrath of God is filled up—Revelation 15–16. These are poured out rapidly, one after another, more intense than anything before. First bowl: Revelation 16:2. Noisome and grievous sores break out on everyone who has the mark of the beast and worships his image. Open, festering ulcers cover their bodies; they cannot sit, cannot lie down, cannot escape the burning pain. Second bowl: Revelation 16:3. The sea becomes as the blood of a dead man; every living soul in the sea dies. The oceans are one vast, stinking cemetery of rotting flesh. Third bowl: Revelation 16:4-7. Rivers and fountains turn to blood. The angel of the waters declares it just: “For they have shed the blood of saints and prophets, and thou hast given them blood to drink; for they are worthy.” Fourth bowl: Revelation 16:8-9. The sun is given power to scorch men with fire. Men are burned with fierce heat. Instead of repenting, they blaspheme the name of God “and they repented not to give him glory.” Fifth bowl: Revelation 16:10-11. The seat of the beast is plunged into darkness. Men gnaw their tongues for pain from the sores and the darkness, yet “they blasphemed the God of heaven because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds.” Sixth bowl: Revelation 16:12-16. The great river Euphrates is dried up, preparing the way for the kings of the east. Unclean spirits like frogs come out of the mouths of the dragon, beast, and false prophet—demonic miracle-workers gathering the armies of the world to Armageddon for the battle of the great day of God Almighty. Seventh bowl: Revelation 16:17-21. “It is done.” Voices, thunders, lightnings, the greatest earthquake in history. Every island flees, mountains disappear. The great city is divided into three parts; the cities of the nations fall. Babylon is remembered before God to receive the cup of the wine of the fierceness of His wrath. And “there fell upon men a great hail out of heaven, every stone about the weight of a talent”—one hundred pounds of ice falling from the sky. Men blaspheme God because the plague of the hail is exceeding great. Revelation 17–18 details the fall of Babylon the great—the religious and commercial system that intoxicated the nations with her fornication and persecuted the saints. She is made desolate, naked, eaten, and burned with fire by the ten kings who once supported her. The merchants of the earth weep over her in one hour her riches are destroyed. All of this is the Tribulation—hell on earth. One-quarter of mankind dead at the fourth seal, another third at the sixth trumpet, billions more from famine, plague, hail, scorching, demonic torment, and war. Yet through it all, the 144,000 sealed Jewish evangelists and the two witnesses proclaim the gospel, and a great multitude no man can number is saved out of the great tribulation, washing their robes white in the blood of the Lamb. Most harden their hearts, refusing to repent even as they gnaw their tongues and scream under the hailstones. The wrath of the Lamb is poured out without mixture—pure, undiluted, terrifying justice. The Tribulation ends with the return of the King in Revelation 19. Heaven opens; the white horse rider—Faithful and True—comes with the armies of heaven to tread the winepress of the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God. The beast and false prophet are cast alive into the lake of fire. Satan is bound. The thousand-year reign begins. But the question remains from our springboard text: “Who shall be able to stand?” Only those whose robes are washed in the blood of the Lamb. The Tribulation is coming. It is the time of God's wrath poured out on a world that has rejected His Son. Yet even in the darkest hour, grace abounds for those who will call upon the name of the Lord. The 144,000 will preach, the two witnesses will testify, and multitudes will be saved. But for those who take the mark and worship the beast, there is only fire and brimstone forever. This is the Tribulation. This is hell on earth. May we heed the warning and be found among those who stand before the throne, palms in hand, singing the song of Moses and the Lamb.
1 Peter 4:7-13 (Be good stewards of God's varied grace.)1 Corinthians 9:16-19, 22-23 (Woe to me if I do not preach the gospel!)
Our Enemies Were Defeated (1) (audio) David Eells – 5/27/26 Saints, our enemies are already defeated, and we enter into and appropriate this promise by faith. Fight every battle like the enemy is conquered. Luk.1:67-75 Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel; For he hath visited and wrought redemption for his people, 69 And hath raised up a horn (a strength or weapon against enemies) of salvation for us In the house of his servant David (This represents Jesus, and now Jesus in the Man-child David reformers.) 70 (As he spake by the mouth of his holy prophets that have been from of old), 71 Salvation from our enemies, and from the hand of all that hate us; (We have already been saved from the wicked enemies because Jesus was cursed for us. Believe and confess this, avoiding willful sin, until it manifests.) 72 To show mercy towards our fathers, And to remember his holy covenant; (It is His covenant to save us from enemies.) 73 The oath which he sware unto Abraham our father, 74 To grant unto us that we being delivered out of the hand of our enemies Should serve him without fear, (We were delivered from the hand of the wicked.) 75 In holiness and righteousness before him all our days. (We were given Jesus' holiness and righteousness, which the wicked refuse in their unforgiveness and judgment of Esau's seed.) I know of the natural fulfillment of this text, but the Lord was showing me a spiritual fulfillment too. Zec.12:1-9 The burden of the word of Jehovah concerning Israel. Thus saith Jehovah, who stretcheth forth the heavens, and layeth the foundation of the earth, and formeth the spirit of man within him: 2 Behold, I will make Jerusalem (The Bride) a cup of reeling unto all the peoples round about, and upon Judah also shall it be in the siege against Jerusalem. (The wicked stagger with hatred for the Bride. The Dragon, shown to be Satan in his world body in Revelation 12, has one consuming desire: to devour the Man-child so he can then devour the Woman. Those of his vessels who proclaim to be Christians besiege them, for they are of the Dragon. Just as their forefathers did to Jesus, the prophets, and the saints, they consider themselves to be doing God a favor. I have been amazed since we heard from God years ago of the parallel between the faction in the Church and the faction in the government. The God of the leftist, communist, anarchist, fornicators, etc., shows the same hatred and uses the same slander against the Trump administration. They are always assured by Satan that they will win because they cheat, but they ultimately will lose, for all the evidence of their perversion, theft, lies, etc., is against them, and all will be revealed. Rev.12:11-12 And they overcame him [the Dragon] because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death. 12 Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe for the earth and for the sea: because the devil is gone down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time. (And remember we wrestle not against flesh and blood but principalities and powers.) Back to Zec.12:3 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will make Jerusalem a burdensome stone for all the peoples; all that burden themselves with it shall be sore wounded; and all the nations of the earth shall be gathered together against it. (The wicked hate the Bride for she is a manifestation of all that sinners hate. She is a manifestation of Jesus who came unto His own and His own received Him not.) 4 In that day, saith Jehovah, I will smite every horse with terror, (The horse represents the strength of the beastly flesh that is harnessed to do man's and therefore Satan's will. They are in terror now because they fear that all of their evil is known and will be (and are being) prosecuted. The faction in both camps of the Dragon is launching one last desperate attempt to destroy their enemy, but God has foretold their end. The Red Sea, Sennacherib, Jehoshaphat, the Northern army, is their end.) I will smite… his rider with madness (Even the average lost man sees their insanity. They can't stop telling on themselves that they are communists, anarchists, racists, murderers, fornicators, etc.); and I will open mine eyes upon the house of Judah, and will smite every horse of the peoples with blindness. (They will not be able to find a way to defeat us or a way out of their predicament.) 5 And the chieftains of Judah shall say in their heart, The inhabitants of Jerusalem are my strength in Jehovah of hosts their God. 6 In that day will I make the chieftains of Judah like a pan of fire among wood, and like a flaming torch among sheaves; and they shall devour all the peoples round about, (Just as David did) on the right hand and on the left; and they of Jerusalem shall yet again dwell in their own place, even in Jerusalem. (David conquered unregenerate Jerusalem, which was called Jebus. The Jebusites were the old man of the land, the wicked who had to be removed so it would become Jerusalem, the Bride. It is coming to pass by the grace of our God.) 7 Jehovah also shall save the tents of Judah first, that the glory of the house of David and the glory of the inhabitants of Jerusalem be not magnified above Judah. 8 In that day shall Jehovah defend the inhabitants of Jerusalem (The Bride, according to John in Revelation.): and he that is feeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David shall be as God, as the angel of Jehovah before them. (What enemy can win when God is in His people by His Word and Spirit?) 9 And it shall come to pass in that day, that I will seek to destroy all the nations that come against Jerusalem. (And so it shall be.) Psa.44:2-8 Thou didst drive out the nations with thy hand; But them thou didst plant: Thou didst afflict the peoples; But them thou didst spread abroad. 3 For they gat not the land in possession by their own sword, Neither did their own arm save them; But thy right hand, and thine arm, and the light of thy countenance, Because thou wast favorable unto them. 4 Thou art my King, O God: Command deliverance for Jacob. 5 Through thee will we push down our adversaries: Through thy name will we tread them under that rise up against us. 6 For I will not trust in my bow, Neither shall my sword save me. 7 But thou hast saved us from our adversaries, And hast put them to shame that hate us. 8 In God have we made our boast all the day long, And we will give thanks unto thy name for ever. Selah. Rom.8:31-37 What then shall we say to these things? If God is for us, who is against us? 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not also with him freely give us all things? 33 Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It is God that justifieth; 34 who is he that condemneth? (Satan, the Dragon, and his body) It is Christ Jesus that died, yea rather, that was raised from the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who also maketh intercession for us. (And who is mightier than the prayers of Jesus for us?) 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? shall tribulation, or anguish, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? 36 Even as it is written, For thy sake we are killed all the day long; We were accounted as sheep for the slaughter. (As the flesh of sheep was sacrificed to bring atonement, so we ourselves must be sacrificed to make us pure before God. The power by which we do this is that of Jesus' sacrifice. He died that we may die to self.) 37 Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. It was said to the Bride, a position that was once forsaken when God's people went into captivity for their sins, but now God is building her again. Isa.54:1-17 Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith Jehovah. 2 Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thy habitations; spare not: lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes. 3 For thou shalt spread abroad on the right hand and on the left; and thy seed shall possess the nations, and make the desolate cities to be inhabited. 4 Fear not; for thou shalt not be ashamed: neither be thou confounded; for thou shalt not be put to shame: for thou shalt forget the shame of thy youth; and the reproach of thy widowhood shalt thou remember no more. 5 For thy Maker is thy husband; Jehovah of hosts is his name: and the Holy One of Israel is thy Redeemer; the God of the whole earth shall he be called. 6 For Jehovah hath called thee as a wife forsaken and grieved in spirit, even a wife of youth, when she is cast off, saith thy God. 7 For a small moment have I forsaken thee (As it was with Jesus, Who said, “My God, My God, why has thou forsaken me” but then resurrection life came into Him); but with great mercies will I gather thee. 8 In overflowing wrath I hid my face from thee for a moment; but with everlasting lovingkindness will I have mercy on thee, saith Jehovah thy Redeemer. 9 For this is as the waters of Noah unto me (The waters of the Word killed the wicked and saved Noah); for as I have sworn that the waters of Noah shall no more go over the earth, so have I sworn that I will not be wroth with thee, nor rebuke thee. 10 For the mountains may depart, and the hills be removed; but my lovingkindness shall not depart from thee, neither shall my covenant of peace be removed, saith Jehovah that hath mercy on thee. 11 O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will set thy stones in fair colors, and lay thy foundations with sapphires. 12 And I will make thy pinnacles of rubies, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy border of precious stones. 13 And all thy children shall be taught of Jehovah; and great shall be the peace of thy children. 14 In righteousness shalt thou be established: thou shalt be far from oppression, for thou shalt not fear; and from terror, for it shall not come near thee. 15 Behold, they may gather together, but not by me: whosoever shall gather together against thee shall fall because of thee. 16 Behold, I have created the smith that bloweth the fire of coals, and bringeth forth a weapon for his work; and I have created the waster to destroy. 17 No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper; and every tongue that shall rise against thee in judgment thou shalt condemn. This is the heritage of the servants of Jehovah, and their righteousness which is of me, saith Jehovah. 1Co.15:57 but thanks be to God, who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ. 58 Wherefore, my beloved brethren, be ye stedfast, unmoveable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your labor is not vain in the Lord. Deu.20:4 for Jehovah your God is he that goeth with you, to fight for you against your enemies, to save you. 2Co.11:13-15 For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, fashioning themselves into apostles of Christ. 14 And no marvel; for even Satan fashioneth himself into an angel of light. 15 It is no great thing therefore if his ministers also fashion themselves as ministers of righteousness, whose end shall be according to their works. 2Co.4:1-6 Therefore seeing we have this ministry, even as we obtained mercy, we faint not: 2 but we have renounced the hidden things of shame, not walking in craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully; but by the manifestation of the truth commending ourselves to every man's conscience in the sight of God. 3 And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled in them that perish: 4 in whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of the unbelieving, that the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, should not dawn upon them. 5 For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus as Lord, and ourselves as your servants for Jesus' sake. 6 Seeing it is God, that said, Light shall shine out of darkness, who shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Even when the reprobates hear this text, they are unmoved. Rom.1:20-2:11 For the invisible things of him since the creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, even his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse: 21 because that, knowing God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks; but became vain in their reasonings, and their senseless heart was darkened. 22 Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools, 23 and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. 24 Wherefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored among themselves: 25 for that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed for ever. Amen. 26 For this cause God gave them up unto vile passions: for their women changed the natural use into that which is against nature: 27 and likewise also the men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their lust one toward another, men with men working unseemliness, and receiving in themselves that recompense of their error which was due. 28 And even as they refused to have God in their knowledge, God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting; 29 being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness; full of envy, murder, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers, 30 backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, 31 without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful: 32 who, knowing the ordinance of God, that they that practise such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also consent with them that practise them. Rom.2:1 Wherefore thou art without excuse, O man, whosoever thou art that judgest: for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest dost practise the same things. … 5 but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God; 6 who will render to every man according to his works: 7 to them that by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life: 8 but unto them that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, shall be wrath and indignation, 9 tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew first, and also of the Greek; 10 but glory and honor and peace to every man that worketh good, to the Jew first, and also to the Greek: 11 for there is no respect of persons with God. Luk.10:17-20 And the seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject unto us in thy name. 18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven. 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall in any wise hurt you. 20 Nevertheless in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. We must take care to fight the demonic enemies. The spiritual enemies that our human enemies have given their lives over to serve. Mar.16:17 And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons... Eph.6:10-18 Finally, be strong in the Lord, and in the strength of his might. (Let the weak say, I am strong) 11 Put on the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For our wrestling is not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities, against the powers, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places. 13 Wherefore take up the whole armor of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and, having done all, to stand. (If you will not stand now, what about the evil day?) 14 Stand therefore, having girded your loins with truth, and having put on the breastplate of righteousness, (We are the righteousness of Christ; we do not have to give in.) 15 and having shod your feet with the preparation of the gospel of peace; 16 withal taking up the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the evil one. (He sends many thoughts into our minds to conquer us, like wrestling with people (the flesh) instead of him. We should have faith in the truth to defend ourselves.) 17 And take the helmet of salvation (And quench the fiery thoughts), and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God: 18 with all prayer and supplication praying at all seasons in the Spirit, and watching thereunto in all perseverance and supplication for all the saints. (Be filled with the Holy Spirit so you can pray in the Spirit.) These spiritual powers are now under the feet of His Body. Eph.1:17-23 that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him; 18 having the eyes of your heart enlightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints, 19 and what the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to that working of the strength of his might 20 which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and made him to sit at his right hand in the heavenly places, 21 far above all rule, and authority, and power, and dominion, and every name that is named, not only in this world, but also in that which is to come: 22 and he put all things in subjection under his feet, and gave him to be head over all things to the church, 23 which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Notice the Lord is the head of the body and He put the enemies under His feet, the lowest member of His body.) Col.2:12-15 having been buried with him in baptism, wherein ye were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead. 13 And you, being dead through your trespasses and the uncircumcision of your flesh, you, I say, did he make alive together with him, having forgiven us all our trespasses; 14 having blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us: and he hath taken it out of the way, nailing it to the cross; 15 having despoiled the principalities and the powers, he made a show of them openly, triumphing over them in it. (To triumph means to celebrate the victory.) Luk.10:1 Now after these things the Lord appointed seventy others, and sent them two and two before his face into every city and place, whither he himself was about to come. ... Luk.17 And the seventy returned with joy, saying, Lord, even the demons are subject unto us in thy name. (They did not have the Holy Spirit at this time, but they were given the authority of the name of Jesus.) 18 And he said unto them, I beheld Satan fallen as lightning from heaven. (They were casting down the dominion of Satan.) 19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents (demons whose poison is in the head = deception) and scorpions (demons whose poison is in the tail = to make you powerless, respectively), and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall in any wise hurt you. (Believe and confess this victory efore the enemy.) 20 Nevertheless in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. (These scorpion spirits come to rob you of justification by faith so that you lose the benefits of Jesus' sacrifice and have to start over to recognize the benefits of the crucifixion. Many are crucifying Jesus afresh.) If you have confessed any sins that you know of, which are the only ones that count, He is faithful and just to forgive you and cleanse you of all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7-9), then you are justified. Then reconciliation is made, and you are to see Jesus in the mirror by faith because, as Paul said, you don't live anymore; Christ lives in you. Gal.2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me. 2Co.3:18 But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord the Spirit. Then you are to reject the condemnation of the devil. If you see yourself in the mirror after you have confessed all sin, you are beating up “Christ in you” just like the faction does. You are crucifying Him afresh. If you are condemning yourself after you confess your sins honestly, you do not believe Jesus, and you will get no grace to overcome. You are beating Him up in you. If you are in willful sin, confess and forsake it and see Jesus in the mirror. Confess His righteousness and holiness are yours, and you don't live anymore. There is no other way to have power from God to defeat self. When the disciples asked, “What must we do to do the works of God?” Jesus said, “Believe on him who He hath sent” … Eve Brast dreamed of wisdom to resist crucifying Jesus on 8-29-20: What I heard the Lord saying was: “Why do you, My people, crucify me afresh continually? For you are indeed crucifying me afresh.” (According to the dream, it is by helping the evil spirits to crucify Jesus.) I thought this dream was just a personal correction, but when I heard the Spirit say, “My people,” and Lexi's interpretation of M. L.'s tongue, He said, “Why are you, My children, forsaking Me for the world?” I knew this dream was a corporate correction to the body. (When we accept what demons say about us instead of what Christ says about us in His promises, we are giving up ground to the demons, we are crucifying Christ in us.) Here's the dream: I was walking through an old western town along the main dirt road with Jesus. He was to my right, and at first, I was happy to be walking next to him. But then I looked up and saw that the whole left side of His face and head had been severely beaten, and He was all bloody. (The wicked deface Christ to others. He is not like them. We should be a revelation of true Christianity.) He had blood stains on his garments, and He looked like He had been dragged through the dirt. I was horrified to see Him like this, and I felt immense pain for Him. And then I became very angry and indignant and asked Him, “Who did this to you?!” He turned and gestured with an open left hand and arm to a group of followers, who were supposed to be His disciples, about 10 to 20 paces behind us, and I looked back at them. They were clamoring at Him and shaking their fists in anger at Him and also at one another. There was much confusion amongst them. (Those from among God's people who fall away to become slanderers, railers, accusers, and haters of the righteous are these. These are the wicked who crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh and put Him to an open shame, but we are exhorted to hold on to the faith and not help them to kill us. Heb.6:1-12 Wherefore leaving the doctrine of the first principles of Christ, let us press on unto perfection; not laying again a foundation of repentance from dead works, and of faith toward God, 2 of the teaching of baptisms, and of laying on of hands, and of resurrection of the dead, and of eternal judgment. 3 And this will we do, if God permit. 4 For as touching those who were once enlightened and tasted of the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Spirit, 5 and tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the age to come, 6 and then fell away, it is impossible to renew them again unto repentance; seeing they crucify to themselves the Son of God afresh, and put him to an open shame. 7 For the land which hath drunk the rain that cometh oft upon it (The Word), and bringeth forth herbs meet for them for whose sake it is also tilled, receiveth blessing from God: 8 but if it beareth thorns and thistles, it is rejected and nigh unto a curse; whose end is to be burned. 9 But, beloved, we are persuaded better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though we thus speak: 10 for God is not unrighteous to forget your work and the love which ye showed toward his name, in that ye ministered unto the saints, and still do minister. 11 And we desire that each one of you may show the same diligence unto the fulness of hope even to the end: 12 that ye be not sluggish, but imitators of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises. Notice the wicked are facing Eve and the Lord. When they accuse you, they are accusing the Lord, as in Mat.25:40 And the King shall answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of these my brethren, even these least, ye did it unto me. (If you accept those spirits' words, you will crucify Christ in you again.) I looked back up at Jesus, and He looked at me with such love in His eyes, but it was mixed with hurt and a questioning look of, “Why did you take part in helping them?” Suddenly, I got the revelation that I had helped these people to drag Jesus through the dirt and crucify Him afresh. I was all at once horrified by this realization, and as I woke up and began to process what I had dreamed. (When do we help the wicked crucify Jesus again? When we accept what their scorpion spirits speak to us of condemnation, accusation, slander, faction, reminding us of our past, instead of believing we were crucified with Christ. Through witchcraft, they send these spirits against the righteous and even those who do not qualify as saints but favor the saints. As the witches are warring against the Trump administration with these lies now, and some are believing them and turning away from truth. Eve asked for prayer from Michael and me. We learned she was believing the condemnation of these spirits, which helps them to crucify Christ in her. So, we reminded her of the good news of grace, and she was cured. We were all forgiven, healed, and delivered from sin.) Luk.11:20-23 But if I by the finger of God cast out demons, then is the kingdom of God come upon you. 21 When the strong man fully armed guardeth his own court, his goods are in peace: (Satan's kingdom) 22 but when a stronger than he shall come upon him, and overcome him (Jesus), he taketh from him his whole armor (Notice: Satan has lost; he has no defense against us.) armor wherein he trusted, and divideth his spoils. (to us) 23 He that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with me scattereth. (We must be plundering Satan's kingdom by faith, or we will flee from the scorpion demons. (Scattereth here is the Greek word “skorpizo” meaning, “to penetrate and put to flight” as a scorpion or a hornet does with its tail to make you run from it, just as the hornet drove the enemies from the Promised Land.) Examples of Scorpion scattering demons: fear, anxiety, rejection, guilt, shame, unbelief, self-pity, discouragement, depression, fear of man, unforgiveness -Mat.18:34-35, condemnation - 1Jo.3:21-22. Examples of the Hornet scattering: Deu.7:20, Jos.24:12, Rev.21:8). If we are running from the demons, they are taking back the ground behind us, crucifying Christ in us. Then we have to return to faith and start all over, taking back that ground Jesus gave us. Consider the nature of these spirits carefully and how, when you accept them, they conquer your faith and justification, and you cannot stand before the demons. You must war with the Sword of the Spirit and use your faith against these and others, or you will not bear fruit. Pray and ask the Lord to help you discern your thoughts. 2Co.10:3-5 For though we walk in the flesh, we do not war according to the flesh 4 (for the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh, but mighty before God to the casting down of strongholds), 5 casting down imaginations, and every high thing that is exalted against the knowledge of God, and bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ; Being subject to God gives us power over the enemy. Jas.4:7 Be subject therefore unto God; but resist the devil, and he will flee from you. How can we be subject to God? 1Jn.1:7-9 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. Jas 5:16 confess therefore your sins one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. The supplication of a righteous man availeth much in its working. Be not deceived, you must repent by faith in the promises, or you cannot enter the kingdom. 1Co.6:9 Or know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with men,10 nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God. 11 And such were some of you: but ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and in the Spirit of our God. We have absolute authority over the demons' lies. Luk.10:19 Behold, I have given you authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions, and over all the power of the enemy: and nothing shall in any wise hurt you. 20 Nevertheless in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rejoice that your names are written in heaven. 21 In that same hour he rejoiced in the Holy Spirit, and said, I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that thou didst hide these things from the wise and understanding, and didst reveal them unto babes: yea, Father; for so it was well-pleasing in thy sight. Mar.16:17 And these signs shall accompany them that believe: in my name shall they cast out demons; they shall speak with new tongues; 18 they shall take up serpents, and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall in no wise hurt them; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. Joh.14:13 And whatsoever ye shall ask in my name, that will I do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son. Col 3:17 And whatsoever ye do, in word or in deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him. Mat.18:19 Again I say unto you, that if two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father who is in heaven. Mar.11:22-25 And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. 23 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou taken up and cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he saith cometh to pass; he shall have it. 24 Therefore I say unto you, All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. 25 And whensoever ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught against any one; that your Father also who is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses. (If you do not forgive, you have no benefits of the Kingdom of God but are under demons.) Mat.6:15 But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. Mat.18:34-35 And his lord was wroth, and delivered him to the tormentors, till he should pay all that was due. 35 So shall also my heavenly Father do unto you, if ye forgive not every one his brother from your hearts. The faction demons refuse to obey this. Col.1:12-13 giving thanks unto the Father, who made us meet (able) to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; 13 who delivered us out of the power of darkness, and translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love; Mat.10:5-8 These twelve Jesus sent forth, and charged them, saying, Go not into any way of the Gentiles, and enter not into any city of the Samaritans: 6 but go rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven is at hand. 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse the lepers, cast out demons: freely ye received, freely give. Mar.7:26-30 Now the woman was a Greek, a Syrophoenician by race. And she besought him that he would cast forth the demon out of her daughter. 27 And he said unto her, Let the children first be filled: for it is not meet to take the children's bread and cast it to the dogs. 28 But she answered and saith unto him, Yea, Lord; even the dogs under the table eat of the children's crumbs. 29 And he said unto her, For this saying go thy way; the demon is gone out of thy daughter. 30 And she went away unto her house, and found the child laid upon the bed, and the demon gone out. Luk.13:11 And behold, a woman that had a spirit of infirmity eighteen years; and she was bowed together, and could in no wise lift herself up. …16 And ought not this woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan had bound, lo, these eighteen years, to have been loosed from this bond on the day of the sabbath? (2Co.7:1) Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God. Mat.28:19 Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit: 20 teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I commanded you: and lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world. Printer-friendly version
Today we will hear a portion of one of the greatest sermons ever spoken. This sermon speaks directly to those who follow Jesus. It is a call to live for the One you value. This living is a radical and different example than the world has ever seen. Join us today as we look at "A Longing for Values." Chapters (00:00:00) - A Longing for Values(00:04:37) - What Do You Value Most in Life? The Blessed Attitude(00:08:17) - Blessed Are the Poor(00:12:26) - And those who Weep(00:15:02) - Jesus Warns His Followers:(00:17:18) - What Do You Value?(00:18:33) - Woe unto You! The Woeful Reward(00:24:55) - Loving the Unlovable(00:29:25) - Pray for Your Enemies(00:36:32) - Clifford Baptist Church Worship
Jesus Followers Will Be Tempted, but God “will not let you be tempted beyond your ability . . . to endure” MESSAGE SUMMARY: You will be tempted again and again, but the temptation itself is not the sin. The sin resides in your grabbing onto the temptation; dwelling on the temptation; and following through on the temptation. Jesus was tempted, and He always faced temptation by quoting scripture to the temptation source. As Jesus tells you about Temptation and sin in Matthew 18:7-8: “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire.". Also, Paul, in 1 Corinthians 10:13, confirms that God will not permit us to be tempted in a manner that we will be unable to resist: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.". You can follow Jesus' example by using scripture to deal with a temptation – there is scripture to deal with every temptation that you may face. TODAY'S PRAYER: Most merciful God I confess that I have sinned against you in thought, word, and deed, by what I have done, and by what I have left undone. I have not loved you with my whole heart; I have not loved my neighbors as myself. I am truly sorry and I humbly repent. For the sake of your son Jesus Christ, have mercy on me and forgive me; that I might delight in your will, and walk in your ways, to the glory of Your Name. Amen. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, because I am filled with the Holy Spirit, I will not be controlled by my Compulsions. Rather, I will walk in the Spirit's fruit of Patience. “The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness and self-control.” (Galatians 5:22f). SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Matthew 4:1-11; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Hebrews 4:14-16; Psalms143:1-12. A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. THIS SUNDAY'S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach's Current Sunday Sermon: “The Day of Pentecost – The Promise Fulfilled ”, at our Website: https://awordfromthelord.org/listen/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB
Jude 5–16 (ESV)5 Now I want to remind you, although you once fully knew it, that Jesus, who saved a people out of the land of Egypt, afterward destroyed those who did not believe. 6 And the angels who did not stay within their own position of authority, but left their proper dwelling, he has kept in eternal chains under gloomy darkness until the judgment of the great day— 7 just as Sodom and Gomorrah and the surrounding cities, which likewise indulged in sexual immorality and pursued unnatural desire, serve as an example by undergoing a punishment of eternal fire.8 Yet in like manner these people also, relying on their dreams, defile the flesh, reject authority, and blaspheme the glorious ones. 9 But when the archangel Michael, contending with the devil, was disputing about the body of Moses, he did not presume to pronounce a blasphemous judgment, but said, “The Lord rebuke you.” 10 But these people blaspheme all that they do not understand, and they are destroyed by all that they, like unreasoning animals, understand instinctively. 11 Woe to them! For they walked in the way of Cain and abandoned themselves for the sake of gain to Balaam's error and perished in Korah's rebellion. 12 These are hidden reefs at your love feasts, as they feast with you without fear,shepherds feeding themselves; waterless clouds, swept along by winds; fruitless trees in late autumn, twice dead, uprooted; 13 wild waves of the sea, casting up the foam of their own shame; wandering stars, for whom the gloom of utter darkness has been reserved forever.14 It was also about these that Enoch, the seventh from Adam, prophesied, saying, “Behold, the Lord comes with ten thousands of his holy ones, 15 to execute judgment on all and to convict all the ungodly of all their deeds of ungodliness that they have committed in such an ungodly way, and of all the harsh things that ungodly sinners have spoken against him.” 16 These are grumblers, malcontents, following their own sinful desires; they are loud-mouthed boasters, showing favoritism to gain advantage.+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++For more information about this group, please visit their website at reformationboise.com. Every weekday at 3:30 am and 7:30 am you can listen to The Gospel for Life on KSPD 94.5 FM and 790 AM Boise's Solid Talk in the Treasure Valley, Idaho, USA.If you have a question, comment, or even a topic suggestion for the Pastors, you can email them. If you enjoy The Gospel for Life, please give us a rating and leave a review wherever you listen to podcasts. That helps us a lot!Phone: (208) 991-3526E-mail: thegospelforlifeidaho@gmail.comPodcast website: https://www.790kspd.com/gospel-for-life/to donate on line https://www.reformationboise.com/donate
We all hunger for something.Approval. Comfort. Success. Relationships. Pleasure. Escape.But Jesus says:“Blessed are you who are hungry now…”and“Woe to you who are full…”Why?Because hunger is not just about your stomach.It's about your soul.In this message from Luke 6, we explore:• what Jesus meant by spiritual hunger• why exhaustion makes us vulnerable• how Esau traded his destiny for temporary satisfaction• why instant gratification destroys purpose• and how only Jesus can truly satisfy the human soul
What if the people we think are “winning” are actually losing?Jesus begins His most famous sermon by completely flipping the scoreboard upside down.“Blessed are the poor…”“Woe to the rich…”But Jesus is not teaching a poverty gospel.He's exposing where we place our security.Do we trust:• money?• success?• comfort?• influence?• ourselves?Or are we completely dependent on God?This message explores:• what “poor in spirit” really means• why self-reliance is spiritually dangerous• Abraham's radical dependence on God• Paul's shocking perspective on life and death• and why the Kingdom of God belongs to those who trust Jesus completely
Thomas Merton said, "Only the man who has had to face despair is really convinced that he needs mercy." But who wants to face despair? Part of aging is moving away from roller coasters and bungee jumping to seek out serene vacations and the quiet confidence of financial independence. We mitigate against all such risks. But that is precisely Merton's point. The illusion of self-attained security deceives us on something profoundly human. We did not make ourselves. We are contingent. And losing sight of our ongoing neediness distorts how we understand all we have and do. In our passage this week, Amos is pressing that very point with God's people. They have lost sight of God, even as they 'worship' him. And nowhere is it clearer than in their apathy toward any who need mercy. What is so destructive about spiritual complacency? And how can we have a healthy despair that leads to real joy? Let's talk about "Woe to the Complacent!" (Amos 5:18-6:14).
“Walking with God in the Highs and Lows of Real Life”Psalm 1201 I call on the Lord in my distress, and he answers me.2 Save me, Lord, from lying lips and from deceitful tongues.3 What will he do to you, and what more besides, you deceitful tongue?4 He will punish you with a warrior's sharp arrows, with burning coals of the broom bush.5 Woe to me that I dwell in Meshek, that I live among the tents of Kedar!6 Too long have I lived among those who hate peace.7 I am for peace; but when I speak, they are for war.CONNECT WITH USIf you have any questions or would like to get to know us further, head over to https://www.triumphlbc.org/connect and fill out our online connection card.ABOUT TRIUMPHTriumph wants to see the life and message of Jesus transform your heart, home, and city. To learn more visit https://www.triumphlbc.org/CONNECT WITH USIf you have any questions or would like to get to know us further, head over to https://www.triumphlbc.org/connect and fill out our online connection card.ABOUT TRIUMPHTriumph wants to see the life and message of Jesus transform your heart, home, and city. To learn more visit https://www.triumphlbc.org/
Doctrines, Part 6: Hope in the Character of God Description: In Part 6 of the Doctrines series, Pastor Eric brings together everything we've learned about God's character and answers a deeply personal question: If God is holy… where does our hope come from? Beginning in Isaiah 6, this message confronts us with the overwhelming holiness of God—a holiness so pure that it exposes our sin completely. Like Isaiah, the only honest response is: “Woe is me, for I am undone.” But that's not where the story ends. Turning to Lamentations 3, Pastor Eric shows how hope is born—not from minimizing sin, but from understanding God's mercy in light of His holiness. His mercies are not occasional—they are constant. Not limited—they are renewed every morning. This episode powerfully connects two truths we often separate: God's holiness reveals the seriousness of our sin God's mercy reveals the depth of His love Through repeated emphasis from Psalms 136—“For His mercy endures forever”—this message drives home a truth we need to hear again and again: God's mercy is not fragile. It is enduring. It is faithful. It is available. Pastor Eric also walks through the pattern of real transformation: A clear view of God's holiness A personal awareness of sin Genuine repentance Cleansing through God's provision A surrendered life of obedience This is not just theology—it's an invitation. Whether you're burdened by sin, discouraged by failure, or struggling to believe God still wants you, this message points you back to the unchanging truth: God's mercy has not run out on you. Key Themes: The holiness of God and the seriousness of sin Why mercy only makes sense in light of holiness God's enduring mercy and daily faithfulness The pattern of repentance and restoration Hope for the broken, the weary, and the failing “His mercy is not diminished by your failure—it endures forever.”
Woe to unrepentant cities
“Woe unto you, when all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers to the false prophets.” (Luke 6:26) It is no compliment to say about a Christian that he has no enemies, for that c... More...
Old Testament Sermons / Speaker:Berry Kercheville Becoming “Good for Nothing” Jeremiah 13 Introduction: Illustrations are quite common in prophetical writings and especially in Jeremiah. When God gives these pictures it forces us to more plainly see our own present condition in his sight. Therefore, God gives us a photograph of how we appear to him when we do not live to glorify him. Chapter 13 gives us two vivid illustrations of how God sees Israel and therefore and warning to us. The Loincloth and Jars Filled with Wine, 13:1-14 The story: Jeremiah is commanded to purchase a loincloth, take it to the Euphrates (or Perath, NET, NIV, about three and a half miles from Anathoth), and bury it, then come back and get it. But when he retrieves it, it is ruined, “good for nothing.” The “loin cloth”— “A short skirt bound tightly around the waist and reaching some way down the thighs.” Linen would the fabric used by the priests (Leviticus 16:4) and likely was worn as an undergarment based on the analogy God used. The symbol of the loincloth is given in verse 11. Just as the loincloth would cling closely to a man's body so it was God's intention that his people cling closely to him and become “a people, a name, a praise, and a glory” to God. Is this the way you see your relationship with God? Notice the word “cling.” This is the same as Genesis 2:24—“a man shall leave his father and mother and cling to his wife.” God is not a casual partnership, or something we do when it is convenient, or a part time effort. It should be evident in every moment of our lives that we are clinging to him. But they refused to listen and therefore they would become to God like the loin cloth, “good for nothing.” Well, what would you do with a pair of underwear that was all rotten with holes in it? Throw it away! Look at yourself. You didn't just happen. You personally were created by God. But notice, not just created, but created to cling to God The question for us is quite obvious: Do we cling closely to the Lord or do we just “put him on” as an occasional “outer apparel?” We should be reminded that everything God has done has been to create “a people, a name, a praise, and a glory.” When we do not dedicate ourselves to that purpose, we are literally good for nothing. No wonder God created Hell. It is like a trash can, a Gehenna garbage dump where what is unusable is cast. Therefore, God is giving us a choice, be a “vessel of honor” or decide to be trash. How did Judah become good for nothing? Pride! Here is where we can get confused. We think pride is simply thinking of ourselves too highly. No, pride has to do with our relationship with God. Verse 10 describes it as “stubbornly following their own heart.” We must read “heart” as our minds. In other words, we do what we want to do. We are like Solomon in Ecclesiastes, seeking and searching whatever our eyes see and desire. Isn't it interesting that homosexuality is promoted by the word Pride? Without even realizing what they have done, we are called upon to be proud of sexual sins. Isaiah said, “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil.” Here's how pride works: Very early in our lives we set a fairly ridged daily life. We get accustomed to it and we like it. We seek and search out things to do that give us some temporary pleasure, things that distract us from our work and fill that empty spot inside of us that we don't like to think about. We begin to think our little worldly idols are the only way to fill emptiness. Our distractions may not always be things that are morally evil, they are just things we like to do. But God is not in the picture. Or maybe a little bit. “Church” can be a good façade to cover up the truth that I just want to live life my way. “Every jar shall be filled with wine” (12-14) The people's response indicated that they thought Jeremiah was telling them something that was obvious. “Of course every jar will be filled with wine! That's what we have been telling you! We will continue to live in prosperity. Babylon can do nothing to us.” But Jeremiah explains it is not the wine of joy they will be filled with, God will fill them with the wine of God's wrath. God will dash them against one another and he will show “no pity or spare or have compassion.” They will be destroyed. That is exactly what God later said the Babylonians would do to them (21:7). Thus God gives us a strong reminder: mercy comes to those who obey God and keep his covenant. In fact, mercy and forgiveness are embedded in the covenant (Jeremiah 31:33-34). There is no mercy outside the covenant! God's Pain Over Judah's Demise (15-17) Vs. 15-16 God pleads with them—“hear, give ear; be not proud.” God is not saying he will stop the coming judgment. No, it's coming. “Give glory to the Lord your God” are the same words Joshua said to Achan. His death was still certain, and so was Judah's. But they could still have an eternal hope if they would give up their ways. Consequences to our sins remain, but we can still find eternal hope. Vs. 17 God's tears. Ezekiel 33:11, “As I live, declares the Lord GOD, I have no pleasure in the death of the wicked, but that the wicked turn from his way and live.” In our weakness and foolishness we may think that our sins are not hurting anyone. Well, that's not true, sin harms everyone around us, but what is especially not considered is that our sin harms God and is painful to God, even to the point of tears. He weeps bitterly for us just as we would for our own children. The Shocking Consequences of Stubborn Pride (18-27) The problem with those who are prideful is they believe they can escape the consequences. “Because the sentence against an evil deed is not executed speedily, the heart of the children of man is fully set to do evil (Ecclesiastes 8:11). “Yep! I'm not doing what I ought to do, but everything is going fine! I'm making good money. No worries!” Then suddenly it happens… 18-19 The king and queen are dethroned. Even the cities of the wilderness are closed up and all Judah is taken into exile. What! That can't be! We were still offering sacrifices. 20-22 “What happened to your beautiful flock? Why are these special allies that you cultivated as friends destroying you?” It happened suddenly, like a woman in labor! But worse, why are we being violated like a woman in a siege? The answer is simple: it is the greatness of your iniquity! When judgment comes, that will always be the answer! 23-27 The inability to change. In spite of God's warning, they cannot change any more than an Ethiopian can change the color of his skin or a leopard his spots. God plainly warns us of the danger of procrastinating a change of lifestyle that is at best mediocre in serving God. The longer we stay in a lifestyle that does not give God our all, the more difficult it is to change. The people of Judah are a perfect example. It became impossible for them to change! We think in our minds, “Oh that can't be so! I'm going to change at some point, I'm just not quite ready.” What we don't realize is how deep in a pit our mind is already. We haven't just dug a little hole when we dabble a bit in sinful activities. Patterns and addictions develop in our brains as we practice sin. Sin detaches us from God. Every day we delay pushes us deeper until we do not know how to escape and no longer have the desire in our heart for God. It is what the Lord meant when he repeatedly accused Israel of having a hard heart and a heart of stone or when Paul referred to having a “calloused” mind (Ephesians 4:21). Wife: “I caught my husband watching porn. He was really sorry, but then I caught him again and again. I don't know what to do; he says he's sorry.” Husband: “I found out my wife has had an affair. She is really ashamed and sorry, and she said it was only once. Should I just forgive her and let it go?” I'm sure we would all say that if there is true repentance, it would be important to save the marriage. That being said, there is something most people do not think about. Those were not little sins that just happened and we should put it behind us. As Paul said, “…the sexually immoral person sins against his own body.” These sins go deep and will be remembered and replayed for years to come. Conclusion: Now listen again to the words: “This evil people, who refuse to hear my words, who stubbornly follow their own heart and have gone after other gods to serve them and worship them, shall be like this loincloth, which is good for nothing.” Pride says, “I can quit my sins; I'm not too deep. What I'm doing is not that bad.” God has an entirely different take! Berry Kercheville The post Jeremiah 13: Becoming Good For Nothing appeared first on Woodland Hills Church of Christ.
Woe unto him that giveth his neighbor drink, that puttiest thy bottle to him.
Part 7 of the series in the book of Isaiah. Woe upon various nations - Egypt, Edom, Arabia, Babylon and even Jerusalem itself - but also hope of a time when Egypt and Assyria will join Judah in worship of God.
Rich Embury’s R3TROGR4D3 returns to CRANK IT LOUD with a Mother’s Day Special
Reposted from Wax Episodic, which you can find at: https://podcastica.com/podcast/wax-episodic — Interesting how with just a simple change of scenery, all the weirdness of this show just kind of disappears. Just kidding, MDR's excursion to the wintery and bleakly beautiful Woe's Hollow was weird as fuck, and we wouldn't want it any other way. We're delighted to be joined this episode by Rachel, who's been granted provisional access to this audio experience. Please enjoy her insights equally. Mentioned: Pluribus — Carol's Trip Bonus Scene: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYmiqh7-Fnw&t=24s Next up on Severance: S2E5 “Trojan's Horse”. Let us know your thoughts! You can email or send a voice message to waffleparty@podcastica.com. Or join our Discord where you can leave comments and chat with hosts and other listeners: https://discord.gg/6WUMt3m3qe Or check out our Podcastica Facebook group, where we put up comment posts for each episode, at facebook.com/groups/podcastica. Show support and get ad-free episodes and a bunch of other cool stuff: patreon.com/jasoncabassi Or go to buymeacoffee.com/cabassi for a one-time donation. Come join our Discord and chat with hosts and other listeners: Don't know what Discord is? It's kind of like a chat forum, our own little private Podcastica space to talk about Severance, Pluribus, Fallout, Welcome to Derry, Alien: Earth, and whatever else we want. It's free, and it's fun. Invitation link: https://discord.gg/6WUMt3m3qe Other shows we cover on this podcast: We cover these other intelligent, engaging, oftentimes delightfully twisted shows: Fallout (Amazon): A crazy retro-futuristic post-apocalyptic melange of wholesomeness and depravity. One of the best looking shows on TV, funny as hell, violent AF (but in a cartoony way), and with a great cast, including Ella Purnell (Yellowjackets) and Walton Goggins (The White Lotus, The Righteous Gemstones). Not to be missed! Hosted by Jason, Kara, and Kasi. Pluribus (Apple TV): Everyone is transformed into a pleasant hive mind — except for Carol (Rhea Seehorn), the most miserable woman on the planet, who must save the world from happiness. It's sounds weird, and it is… in the best way. Created by the great Vince Gilligan, of Breaking Bad and Better Call Saul. Hosted by Jason and Karen! IT: Welcome to Derry (HBO): A fun, scary, and surprisingly great prequel to the 2016 and 2019 IT movies, Pennywise stalks the children of 1962 Derry. A mix of heart, mystery, charm, and some shockingly disturbing Nightmare on Elme Street-esque horror. Cohosted by Shawn of Strange Indeed. Alien: Earth (FX): From the brilliant Noah Hawley (Fargo, Legion), this one really scratches that sci-fi itch. A greedy corporate tech overlord transfers the consciousness of a group of terminally ill children into highly performant synth bodies. And the Xenomorph is in it, too. Also, Tim Olyphant! Hosted by Jason, Kara, and Randy. Check out other podcasts on our network at podcastica.com. Digging our podcast? A quick, free, and easy way to show support and help bump us up in the charts is to give us a rating or a review: On Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/wax-episodic-alien-earth/id1824392797 On Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/7sA66ySwVRIsdzBBdriEGV?si=87f36cd30cc54dc5 Or just search for “Wax Episodic” wherever you get podcasts. Thank you! Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Scripture: Ephesians 6:1–4+ From a Child-Centered Home to a Christ-Centered Home + From Outsourcing to Owning. “All this that we here suffer is through you: you should have taught us the things of God, and did not; you should have restrained us from sin and corrected us, and you did not; you were the means of our original corruption and guiltiness, and yet you never showed any competent care that we might be delivered from it...Woe unto us that we had such carnal and careless parents, and woe unto you that had no more compassion and pity to prevent the everlasting misery of your own children” – Richard Mather, cited in Worldly Saints: The Puritans as They Really Were by Leland Ryken. + From Controlling to Cultivating Proverbs 13:24 NIVProverbs 19:18 NIVPhilippians 2:13 NIV + From Moving Them Out to Sending Them Out. Psalm 127:3–5 NIV
Woe to Us All - Matthew 23 (May 3, 2026) by Michael B. Linton
Alan's Soap https://AlansSoaps.com/ToddHonor John's memory and the legacy he created for Ian and Alan with Alan's Artisan Soaps “John's Favorites” bundle. Get one bar of each of his favorites for only $28.99. Bulwark Capital https://KnowYourRiskPodcast.comBe confident in your portfolio with Bulwark! Schedule your free Know Your Risk Portfolio review. Go to KnowYourRiskPodcast.com today. Renue Healthcare https://Renue.Healthcare/ToddYour journey to a better life starts at Renue Healthcare. Visit https://Renue.Healthcare/Todd Bonefrog https://BonefrogCoffee.com/ToddGet the new limited release, The Sisterhood, created to honor the extraordinary women behind the heroes. Use code TODD at checkout to receive 10% off your first purchase and 15% on subscriptions.LISTEN and SUBSCRIBE at:The Todd Herman Show - Podcast - Apple PodcastsThe Todd Herman Show | Podcast on SpotifyWATCH and SUBSCRIBE at: Todd Herman - The Todd Herman Show - YouTubeWhat is the Whore of Babylon and Who Is Her Pimp? Rep. Tim Burchett Speaks Truth - Faith & FlagHOLY SMOKES: Rep. Tim Burchett just ripped the mask off Washington's insider-trading machine. He says D.C. isn't just a “swamp.”Revelation 18:1-13Lament Over Fallen Babylon18 After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. 2 With a mighty voice he shouted:“‘Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!'[a] She has become a dwelling for demonsand a haunt for every impure spirit, a haunt for every unclean bird, a haunt for every unclean and detestable animal.3 For all the nations have drunk the maddening wine of her adulteries.The kings of the earth committed adultery with her, and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries.”Warning to Escape Babylon's Judgment4 Then I heard another voice from heaven say:“‘Come out of her, my people,'[b] so that you will not share in her sins, so that you will not receive any of her plagues;5 for her sins are piled up to heaven, and God has remembered her crimes.6 Give back to her as she has given; pay her back double for what she has done. Pour her a double portion from her own cup.7 Give her as much torment and grief as the glory and luxury she gave herself.In her heart she boasts, ‘I sit enthroned as queen.I am not a widow;[c] I will never mourn.'8 Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her: death, mourning and famine.She will be consumed by fire, for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.Threefold Woe Over Babylon's Fall9 “When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. 10 Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry:“‘Woe! Woe to you, great city, you mighty city of Babylon!In one hour your doom has come!'11 “The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes anymore— 12 cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; 13 cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and human beings sold as slaves.WOW. The NYT Didn't Lie. Tucker Carlson Actually DID Suggest Trump is The Anti-Christ - Faith & FactsOMG, The NYT asked Trump Deranged psychopath Tucker Carlson why he called Trump thr Anti-christ. Tucker said he didn't say that. They show him the clip of him saying it, and his response is truly that of mental person! What is the End Times Timeline? GotQuestions.Org1. The rapture of the church. Christ comes in the clouds to “snatch away” all those who trust in Him (1 Corinthians 15:52). At this same time, the “dead in Christ” will be resurrected and taken to heaven, too. From our perspective today, this is the next event in the eschatological timeline. The rapture is imminent; no other biblical prophecy needs to be fulfilled before the rapture happens.According to the Book of Revelation and related New Testament eschatology, the appearance of the Antichrist (often referred to as "the Beast") is preceded by several specific prophetic events and societal shifts. 1. The Great Apostasy (Falling Away) Before the "man of lawlessness" is revealed, there must be a significant "falling away" or rebellion against God. This Greek term, apostasia, suggests a global revolt or a mass abandonment of faith among professed believers. 2. Removal of the "Restrainer"Scripture indicates that a force or entity is currently "holding back" the Antichrist. Many scholars, such as those at GotQuestions.org, interpret this restrainer as the Holy Spirit working through the Church. Only when this influence is "taken out of the way"—often associated with the Rapture—can the Antichrist be fully revealed. 3. Rise of the Ten-Kingdom ConfederacyThe Antichrist is prophesied to emerge from a global political structure. In both Daniel and Revelation, this is symbolized by a beast with ten horns, representing ten kings or nations that consolidate their power, creating the vacuum for the Antichrist to seize control. 4. Societal and Global UpheavalAccording to Rick Renner Ministries, the world must reach a state of desperation that makes it "ready" for a charismatic leader promising peace.
All Have Temptation, Which Is Not the Sin; But Jesus Followers Can Resist All Temptation Through Their Faith and Relationship with God MESSAGE SUMMARY: You will be tempted again and again, but the temptation itself is not the sin. The sin resides in your grabbing onto the temptation; dwelling on the temptation; and following through on the temptation. Jesus was tempted, and He {Jesus} always faced temptation by quoting scripture to the temptation source. As Jesus tells you about Temptation and sin in Matthew 18:7-8: “Woe to the world for temptations to sin! For it is necessary that temptations come, but woe to the one by whom the temptation comes! And if your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life crippled or lame than with two hands or two feet to be thrown into the eternal fire.". From James 1:13, we know that God does not create the temptation we face: “Let no one say when he is tempted, ‘I am being tempted by God,' for God cannot be tempted with evil, and he himself tempts no one.". Since all are tempted, it is great to know, from 1 Corinthians 10:13, that Jesus Followers will not be tempted beyond their capability to resist the temptation and act on it through sinning: “No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it." You can follow Jesus' example by using scripture to deal with a temptation – there is scripture to deal with every temptation that you may face. TODAY'S PRAYER: Lord, I come this day inviting you to cut those deeply entrenched chains that keep me from being faithful to my true self in Christ. In doing so, may my life be a blessing to many. In Jesus' name, amen. Scazzero, Peter. Emotionally Healthy Spirituality Day by Day (p. 44). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. TODAY'S AFFIRMATION: Today, I affirm that because I am in Jesus Christ, I will entrust to Him my future. I know whom I have believed, and am convinced that he is able to guard what I have entrusted to him for that day. From 2 Timothy 1:12 SCRIPTURE REFERENCE (ESV): Matthew 4:1-11; 1 Corinthians 10:13; Hebrews 4:14-16; Psalms143:1-12; James 1:13. A WORD FROM THE LORD WEBSITE: www.AWFTL.org. THIS SUNDAY'S AUDIO SERMON: You can listen to Archbishop Beach's Current Sunday Sermon: “Marriage – A Current Assessment (Christ the King Anglican Church; Birmingham, AL)” at our Website: https://awordfromthelord.org/listen/ DONATE TO AWFTL: https://mygiving.secure.force.com/GXDonateNow?id=a0Ui000000DglsqEAB
Matthew Week 133 Matthew 23:25-28 ESV 25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you clean the outside of the cup and the plate, but inside they are full of greed and self-indulgence. 26 You blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup and the plate, that the outside also may be clean. 27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs, which outwardly appear beautiful, but within are full of dead people's bones and all uncleanness. 28 So you also outwardly appear righteous to others, but within you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness. Hebrews 10:14 ESV 14 For by a single offering he has perfected for all time those who are being sanctified. Hebrews 10:24-25 ESV 24 let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, 25 not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near. Hebrews 10:32-39 ESV 32 But recall the former days when, after you were enlightened, you endured a hard struggle with sufferings, 33 sometimes being publicly exposed to reproach and affliction, and sometimes being partners with those so treated. 34 For you had compassion on those in prison, and you joyfully accepted the plundering of your property, since you knew that you yourselves had a better possession and an abiding one. 35 Therefore do not throw away your confidence, which has a great reward. 36 For you have need of endurance, so that when you have done the will of God you may receive what is promised. 37 For, "Yet a little while, and the coming one will come and will not delay; 38 but my righteous one shall live by faith, and if he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him." 39 But we are not of those who shrink back and are destroyed, but of those who have faith and preserve their souls. 1 Corinthians 9:26-27 NASB 95 26 Therefore I run in such a way, as not without aim; I box in such a way, as not beating the air; 27 but I discipline my body and make it my slave, so that, after I have preached to others, I myself will not be disqualified. Numbers 19:16 ESV 16 Whoever in the open field touches someone who was killed with a sword or who died naturally, or touches a human bone or a grave, shall be unclean seven days. 1 Samuel 16:6-7 NASB95 6 When they entered, he looked at Eliab and thought, "Surely the Lord's anointed is before Him." 7 But the Lord said to Samuel, "Do not look at his appearance or at the height of his stature, because I have rejected him; for God sees not as man sees, for man looks at the outward appearance, but the Lord looks at the heart." Isaiah 29:13 NASB95 Then the Lord said, "Because this people draw near with their words And honor Me with their lip service, But they remove their hearts far from Me, And their reverence for Me consists of tradition learned by rote, Isaiah 29:15 NASB95 Woe to those who deeply hide their plans from the Lord, And whose deeds are done in a dark place, And they say, "Who sees us?" or "Who knows us?" Psalm 51:6 NASB95 Behold, You desire truth in the innermost being, And in the hidden part You will make me know wisdom. Psalm 51:10 NASB95 Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me.
Full Text of Readings Friday of the Third Week of Easter Lectionary: 277 The Saint of the day is Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen's Story If a poor man needed some clothing, Fidelis would often give the man the clothes right off his back. Complete generosity to others characterized this saint's life. Born in 1577, Mark Rey became a lawyer who constantly upheld the causes of the poor and oppressed people. Nicknamed “the poor man's lawyer,” Rey soon grew disgusted with the corruption and injustice he saw among his colleagues. He left his law career to become a priest, joining his brother George as a member of the Capuchin Order. Fidelis was his religious name. His wealth was divided between needy seminarians and the poor. As a follower of Saint Francis of Assisi, Fidelis continued his devotion to the weak and needy. During a severe epidemic in a city where he was guardian of a friary, Fidelis cared for and cured many sick soldiers. Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen was appointed head of a group of Capuchins sent to preach against the Calvinists and Zwinglians in Switzerland. Almost certain violence threatened. Those who observed the mission felt that success was more attributable to the prayer of Fidelis during the night than to his sermons and instructions. He was accused of opposing the peasants' national aspirations for independence from Austria. While he was preaching at Seewis, to which he had gone against the advice of his friends, a gun was fired at him, but he escaped unharmed. A Protestant offered to shelter Fidelis, but he declined, saying his life was in God's hands. On the road back, he was set upon by a group of armed men and killed. Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen was canonized in 1746. Fifteen years later he was recognized as a martyr. Reflection Saint Fidelis of Sigmaringen's constant prayer was that he be kept completely faithful to God and not give in to any lukewarmness or apathy. He was often heard to exclaim, “Woe to me if I should prove myself but a halfhearted soldier in the service of my thorn-crowned Captain.” His prayer against apathy, and his concern for the poor and weak make him a saint whose example is valuable today. The modern Church is calling us to follow the example of “the poor man's lawyer” by sharing ourselves and our talents with those less fortunate and by working for justice in the world.Saint of the Day, Copyright Franciscan Media
It's Wednesday, April 22nd, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark and Timothy Reed British Christians get more culture pushback now Christians in the United Kingdom report experiencing greater cultural pressures because of their faith. While 88 percent of Evangelicals feel they can freely live out their faith in the country, a new survey by the Evangelical Alliance United Kingdom found that 48 percent believe it has become harder to practice their faith in public within the past five years. And 35 percent report experiencing non-criminal hostility for their faith in Christ. The survey noted, “For many evangelical Christians, the challenge is less about what the law says and more about how their conviction is perceived and received in an increasingly contested cultural landscape.” British Parliament passed pro-abortion amendments The Parliament of the United Kingdom passed pro-abortion amendments to the crime and policing bill last week. The measure removes criminal liability from women who end the lives of their unborn babies. The bill also gives automatic pardons for women who previously committed such “self-abortions.” Sir Edward Leigh, a conservative Member of Parliament, called this “a terrible indictment of our society that a human life can be taken when it is about to be born, at 39 weeks, and that there should be a free pardon in such a serious case.” Church in Wales approved blessing sexually perverted couples The Church in Wales approved blessings for people living sexually perverted lifestyles last week. Welsh Anglican leaders voted overwhelmingly in favor of the measure. It allows clergy to provide services of blessing for homosexual couples. This follows the denomination's appointment last year of its first openly homosexual archbishop, Cherry Vann, who has a lesbian lover named Wendy Diamond, reported NBC News. Matthew Firth with the Free Church of England said that evangelical Anglicans in Wales will be “devastated today by this departure from the faith and will be looking for biblical alternative episcopal oversight.” Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness.” Should Catholic school staff be required to affirm biblical marriage & sexuality? In the United States, the U.S. Supreme Court announced it will hear another religious freedom case involving two Catholic schools in Colorado. The state excluded the schools from its preschool program for their religious beliefs. Specifically, the schools require staff to hold biblical views on marriage and sexuality. The schools have been challenging the decision since 2023. Nick Reaves, with The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, commented, “After three losses in religious freedom cases at the Supreme Court, Colorado should know better. The Supreme Court has repeatedly held that states cannot exclude families from government benefits because of their faith.” Virginia Democrats asking voters to approve tortured congressional map Virginia is asking voters to approve an outlandish Congressional map. The state, which is narrowly controlled by the Democrat party, is seeking to redistrict Republicans out of five Congressional seats, giving the Democrat party ten seats, while the Republicans would retain only one. Conservatives across the state have stepped up to fight the proposal, and Republican Representative Jen Kiggans stated, “We have a lot of momentum on our side. And as the funding has come in, we've been able to do more educating, more outreach to voters.” Polling shows the referendum as a tossup. Most popular Easter Bible verse on YouVersion The Bible app YouVersion reported its highest level of engagement ever on Resurrection Sunday earlier this month. The most popular verse during Easter season was Matthew 28:6. It says, “He is not here; He has risen, just as He said. Come and see the place where He lay.” Bobby Gruenewald, founder and CEO of YouVersion, said, “Over the last several months, worldwide interest in the Bible has continued to increase. … Seeing people around the world encounter Scripture, many for the first time, is exactly why we do this.” 18-year-old Chick-fil-A employee finds & turns in $9,833 cash And finally, a Chick-fil-A employee in North Carolina found and returned $9,833 in cash earlier this month. Eighteen-year-old Jaydon Cintron discovered two envelopes in the men's restroom during his usual break on the Friday before Resurrection Sunday. Kinston Police Chief Keith Goyette said many people would have taken the money and run with it. But Jaydon turned in the envelopes of cash. He credited his Christian faith for the responsible action. Listen to his interview with WITN. CINTRON: “I just picked it up and I brought it to Human Resources.” REPORTER: “The money was inside two envelopes when he found it. I asked him why he didn't just keep the money for himself.” CINTRON: “That's not what Jesus would have done. That's not what God would have wanted.” REPORTER: “Cintron said his faith guides his thought process.” CINTRON: “Money is useless without character.” Proverbs 11:3 says, "The integrity of the upright guides them, but the unfaithful are destroyed by their duplicity." Close And that's The Worldview on this Wednesday, April 22nd, in the year of our Lord 2026. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:14-16 ESV 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” • • • 1. The Holiness of God defined. • • • Holiness is the sum of all moral excellency, to possess absolute purity of character, undefiled in any way. To be holy is to be set apart, sacred, separate, different than any other. • • • Exodus 15:11 ESV 11 “Who is like you, O Lord, among the gods? Who is like you, majestic in holiness, awesome in glorious deeds, doing wonders? • • • 1 Samuel 2:2 ESV 2 “There is none holy like the Lord: for there is none besides you; there is no rock like our God. • • • 2. The Holiness of God revealed to us. • • • In His works – Psalm 145:17 In His Law – Romans 7:12 In His Prophets – Isaiah 6:1-5 In His Son – Colossians 1:15-20 • • • Psalm 145:17 KJV 17 The LORD is righteous in all his ways, And holy in all his works. • • • Romans 7:12 ESV 12 So the law is holy, and the commandment is holy and righteous and good. • • • Isaiah 6:1-5 ESV 1 In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. 2 Above him stood the seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered his feet, and with two he flew. 3 And one called to another and said: “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” 4 And the foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the house was filled with smoke. 5 And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” • • • Colossians 1:15-20 ESV 15 He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. 16 For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. 17 And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. 18 And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. 19 For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, 20 and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross. • • • 3. The Holiness of God revealed through us. • • • 3a. Positional Holiness • • • 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 ESV 16 Do you not know that you are God's temple and that God's Spirit dwells in you? 17 If anyone destroys God's temple, God will destroy him. For God's temple is holy, and you are that temple. • • • 3b. Practical Holiness • • • 1 Peter 1:14-16 ESV 14 As obedient children, do not be conformed to the passions of your former ignorance, 15 but as he who called you is holy, you also be holy in all your conduct, 16 since it is written, “You shall be holy, for I am holy.” • • • Hebrews 12:14 NLT 14 Work at living in peace with everyone, and work at living a holy life, for those who are not holy will not see the Lord. • • • Ephesians 5:1 ESV 1 Therefore be imitators of God, as beloved children. • • • Application: God's desire for us is to see His holiness and to reflect His holiness in our life.
Matthew Week 132 Matthew 23:23-24 ESV 23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you tithe mint and dill and cumin, and have neglected the weightier matters of the law: justice and mercy and faithfulness. These you ought to have done, without neglecting the others. 24 You blind guides, straining out a gnat and swallowing a camel! Deuteronomy 14:22-23 ESV 22 "You shall tithe all the yield of your seed that comes from the field year by year. 23 And before the Lord your God, in the place that he will choose, to make his name dwell there, you shall eat the tithe of your grain, of your wine, and of your oil, and the firstborn of your herd and flock, that you may learn to fear the Lord your God always. Matthew 9:13 ESV 13 Go and learn what this means: 'I desire mercy, and not sacrifice.' For I came not to call the righteous, but sinners." Micah 6:6-8 ESV 6 "With what shall I come before the Lord, and bow myself before God on high? Shall I come before him with burnt offerings, with calves a year old? 7 Will the Lord be pleased with thousands of rams, with ten thousands of rivers of oil? Shall I give my firstborn for my transgression, the fruit of my body for the sin of my soul?" 8 He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the Lord require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God? 1 Samuel 15:3 ESV 3 Now go and strike Amalek and devote to destruction all that they have. Do not spare them, but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.'" 1 Samuel 15:10-11 ESV 10 The word of the Lord came to Samuel: 11 "I regret that I have made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me and has not performed my commandments." And Samuel was angry, and he cried to the Lord all night. 1 Samuel 15:22 ESV 22 Samuel said, "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. Matthew 7:21-23 ESV 21 "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.22 On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' 23 And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.'
When Jesus said that the end times would be like it was back in the days of Noah, He pointed us back to a world united in rebellion against God, a world ripe for judgment. What most Christians don't realize is that this “return to the days of Noah” has a direct prophetic connection to what's quietly being constructed today under the banner of the The 7 Noahide Laws—a global moral code recognized by the United Nations, the United States and endorsed by people like Ben Shapiro, John Hagee and countless others here in 2026.““Woe unto you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye make clean the outside of the cup and of the platter, but within they are full of extortion and excess.”” Matthew 23:25 (KJB)On this episode of the Prophecy News Podcast, these 7 Noahide Laws may sound harmless—universal ethics for humanity—but behind their smooth language lies a spiritual trap preparing the world for the One World Religion prophesied in Revelation 13. And worse than that, the Noahide Laws come wrapped in a cloak of scripture, they are anything but. For example, when the 7 Noahide Laws are enacted, it will make teaching salvation in Jesus Christ a crime punishable by execution. Rabbinical Judaism is not the Law of Moses, it's not Bible, it was what Jesus preached against during His earthly ministry. It was the reason He flipped over the tables of the moneychangers, and the reason why Jesus called them all hypocrites. We live right now in a highly-charged and global religious society, where the 7 Noahide Laws are waiting in the wings getting ready to make their entrance on the end times stage. We will show you connection the 7 Noahide Laws have with the 7 Mountains Mandate, and how all the activity underway right now in the Middle East foreshadows the soon arrival of Antichrist and the Strong Delusion. Here's a fun fact: in the same year that then-President George H.W. Bush signed the 7 Noahide Laws into US Public Law, 1991, he also declared the soon arrival of the coming New World Order. Here in 2026, God is using Donald Trump is bringing it all to pass. We are living in exciting times!
"Woe to those who manipulate religion and the very name of God for their own military, economic and political gain, dragging that which is sacred into darkness and filth," Leo said during his four-country tour of Africa. "It is a world turned upside down, an exploitation of God's creation that must be denounced and rejected by every honest conscience." Link here Podcast Summary: Pope Fiction This episode is a sharp, passionate, and often humorous conversation about religion, power, and political corruption in the current American moment. Using recent controversies involving Donald Trump, Pete Hegseth, and Pope Leo as a starting point, the three of you explore how Christianity is being manipulated for political gain and how sacred language is used to justify cruelty, nationalism, and violence. A central thread of the episode is grief and disbelief: How did so many faith communities get here? Rebecca especially wrestles with the collapse of theological integrity inside modern evangelicalism, while Jenny situates these distortions within a much longer historical pattern—empire repeatedly co-opting religion for domination. Danielle brings in race, imagery, and whiteness, asking how white depictions of Jesus shape public consciousness and who gets recognized as holy in the first place. The conversation also moves toward accountability. You discuss public figures like Tucker Carlson, Candace Owens, and Marjorie Taylor Greene criticizing Trump, but question whether criticism without confession or repair means anything. What emerges is a larger theme: repentance is not words—it is dismantling harmful systems one helped build. Despite the outrage, the episode holds onto resistance and hope. Danielle names the endurance of oppressed people—“We've been doing this for hundreds of years and we're still here.” Rebecca points to truth-telling traditions, especially from the Black church, as carrying moral clarity in moments when mainstream institutions fail. Jenny reminds listeners that these abuses are ancient, but so is the resistance to them. Overall, this is a podcast about spiritual discernment in a disorienting age: how to recognize counterfeit faith, refuse numbness, and keep one's conscience alive. Well, first I guess I would have to believe that there was or is an actual political dialogue taking place that I could potentially be a part of. And honestly, I'm not sure that I believe that.
JONATHAN D VALDEZ guest mix + new music from SHACKLETON, PLACID ANGELS, KMRU + more, on this ABSTRACT SCIENCE podcast hosted by CHRIS WIDMAN. Special guest JONATHAN D VALDEZ (of NU VISION) is a bassist, producer + DJ, who delivers a jakbeat house mix focused on releases from NATION + DIRTY BLENDS labels ahead of the debut release “The Seed” from NU VISION. WIDMAN follows with an techno, electro + experimental sounds. [aired 17 February 2026 on WLUW-Chicago 88.7FM] >JONATHAN D VALDEZ Nico Babylon – Drum Major – Dirty Blends – 2025 Sanford Zydeco – Buckwheat Beat 4 The Primordial Cult – Dirty Blends – 2025 The Jak & Nico Babylon – This Nasty Possesion – Dirty Blends – 2025 The Jak meets William Kincaid – Psycko Pipez – Dirty Blends – 2025 The Jak Vs Nico Babylon- Roman Romance 4 The DruM kiDz – Dirty Blends – 2025 Mutant Beat Dance – Tuning Within the Maze – Nation – 2022 Nu Vision – R U Serious?!? – Nation – 2026 M.o.m.O.– High Voltage Re-Enactment – Light Sounds Dark – 2015 >CHRIS WIDMAN Silent Servant “Harm In Hand” (Shadows of Death and Desire, Hospital Productions, 2018) pdqb “Quaoar” (Sermons of the Electrofying Messiah, Synaptic Cliffs, 2025) JTC “Infoline (DMX Crew Remix)” (JTC, Bopside, 2016) E.R.P. “Oretha” (Event Related Potential, Down Low Music, 2005) Rob Amboule “Friday Night Shite” (Siltie EP, Craigie Knowes, 2025) Shackleton “The Dream in Fragments” (Euphoria Bound, Woe to the Septic Heart, 2026) 6amsunset “Stranger Call” (Graphical User Interface, Different Circles, 2026) John Beltran, Placid Angles, Tom VR “Tides Alternate”(Canada, Oath, 2026) Kangding Ray “Desierto” (Sirāt – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack, Invada, 2026) Bill Laswell “Space-Time Paradox” (Essential Dub, Nation Music, 2004) KMRU “Blurred (feat. Fennesz)” (Kin, Editions Mego, 2026) Andrew Pekler “Browser Music 2” (Browser Music, 2021) The post absci radio 1409 – jonathan d valdez + chris widman appeared first on abstract science >> future music chicago.
Welcome to Day 2839 of Wisdom-Trek. Thank you for joining me. This is Guthrie Chamberlain, Your Guide to Wisdom. Day 2839 – "The Twelve" and Their Marching Orders – Luke 6:12-49 Wisdom-Trek Podcast Script - Day 2839 Welcome to Wisdom-Trek with Gramps! I am Guthrie Chamberlain, and we are on Day 2839 of our trek. The purpose of Wisdom-Trek is to create a legacy of wisdom, to seek out discernment and insights, and to boldly grow where few have chosen to grow before. Each Tuesday, I will share the messages I have delivered at Putnam Congregational Church this year. This is the sixteenth message in a year-long series covering the Good News as narrated by Luke. Today's message covers Luke six, verses twelve through forty-nine, and is titled “"The Twelve" and Their Marching Orders” . I pray it will be a conduit for learning and encouragement for you. Putnam Church Message – 03/15/2026 Luke's Account of the Good News - “The Twelve and Their Marching Orders” Last week, we continued our study of the ministry of Jesus Christ with a message titled “The Defiant Messiah.” We learned that He is not defiant against the Father. He is defiant against anything that misrepresents the Father. Today, we continue with the sixteenth message in Luke's narrative of the Good News of Jesus Christ in a message titled “The Twelve and Their Marching Orders.” Our Core verses for this week are Luke 6:12-49, found on page 1600 of your Pew Bibles. The Twelve Apostles 12 One of those days Jesus went out to a mountainside to pray, and spent the night praying to God. 13 When morning came, he called his disciples to him and chose twelve of them, whom he also designated apostles: 14 Simon (whom he named Peter), his brother Andrew, James, John, Philip, Bartholomew, 15 Matthew, Thomas, James son of Alphaeus, Simon who was called the Zealot, 16 Judas son of James, and Judas Iscariot, who became a traitor. Blessings and Woes 17 He went down with them and stood on a level place. A large crowd of his disciples was there and a great number of people from all over Judea, from Jerusalem, and from the coastal region around Tyre and Sidon, 18 who had come to hear him and to be healed of their diseases. Those troubled by impure spirits were cured, 19 and the people all tried to touch him, because power was coming from him and healing them all. 20 Looking at his disciples, he said: “Blessed are you who are poor, for yours is the kingdom of God. 21 Blessed are you who hunger now, for you will be satisfied. Blessed are you who weep now, for you will laugh. 22 Blessed are you when people hate you, when they exclude you and insult you and reject your name as evil, because of the Son of Man. 23 “Rejoice in that day and leap for joy, because great is your reward in heaven. For that is how their ancestors treated the prophets. 24 “But woe to you who are rich, for you have already received your comfort. 25 Woe to you who are well fed now, for you will go hungry. Woe to you who laugh now, for you will mourn and weep. 26 Woe to you when everyone speaks well of you, for that is how their ancestors treated the false prophets. Love for Enemies 27 “But to you who are listening I say: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, 28 bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. 29 If someone slaps you on one cheek, turn to them the other also. If someone takes your coat, do not withhold your shirt from them. 30 Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. 31 Do to others as you would have them do to you. 32 “If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them. 33 And if you do good to those who are good to you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners do that. 34 And if you lend to those from whom you expect repayment, what credit is that to you? Even sinners lend to sinners, expecting to be repaid in full. 35 But love your enemies, do good to them, and lend to them without expecting to get anything back. Then your reward will be great, and you will be children of the Most High, because he is kind to the ungrateful and wicked. 36 Be merciful, just as your Father is merciful. Judging Others 37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over, will be poured into your lap. For with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.” 39 He also told them this parable: “Can the blind lead the blind? Will they not both fall into a pit? 40 The student is not above the teacher, but everyone who is fully trained will be like their teacher. 41 “Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother's eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye? 42 How can you say to your brother, ‘Brother, let me take the speck out of your eye,' when you yourself fail to see the plank in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother's eye. A Tree and Its Fruit 43 “No good tree bears bad fruit, nor does a bad tree bear good fruit. 44 Each tree is recognized by its own fruit. People do not pick figs from thornbushes, or grapes from briers. 45 A good man brings good things out of the good stored up in his heart, and an evil man brings evil things out of the evil stored up in his heart. For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of. The Wise and Foolish Builders 46 “Why do you call me, ‘Lord, Lord,' and do not do what I say? 47 As for everyone who comes to me and hears my words and puts them into practice, I will show you what they are like. 48 They are like a man building a house, who dug down deep and laid the foundation on rock. When a flood came, the torrent struck that house but could not shake it, because it was well built. 49 But the one who hears my words and does not put them into practice is like a man who built a house on the ground without a foundation. The moment the torrent struck that house, it collapsed and its destruction was complete.” Opening Prayer Father, thank You for Your Word and for the Lord Jesus Christ, who not only saves us but teaches us how to live as citizens of His kingdom. Open our minds to understand, soften our hearts to receive, and strengthen our wills to obey. Teach us what real discipleship looks like. Guard us from being hearers only and make us doers of Your Word. In Jesus' name, amen. Introduction For a number of years, “discipleship” became a kind of Christian buzzword. Conferences were built around it. Books were written about it. Churches made programs for it. Seminar speakers diagrammed it on whiteboards and filled binders with methods for it. And some of that was very good. Many believers can look back and say, “Somebody poured into me. Somebody noticed me. Somebody taught me not just Bible facts, but how to walk with Christ.” That is a beautiful thing. For me, that would be primarily my parents. But discipleship did not begin in the 1970s. It did not begin in a seminar notebook. It did not begin in a curriculum. It began in the heart of Jesus. And when we come to Luke 6:12–49, we see something crucial: Jesus did not merely gather crowds. / He made disciples. / And He did not merely make disciples in general. / He first chose twelve men, and then He began to shape them for mission. / One thing we don't want to miss as we focus today on the twelve is that there were many others who traveled with Jesus during His ministry, including several women, who assisted in funding the ministry. That matters, because crowds are impressed by miracles,...
Keith explores how long-running social and economic shifts are redefining the American Dream—especially for younger adults who are putting off milestones like moving out, starting families, and buying homes. He connects these trends to today's housing scarcity, elongated renter stage, and what that means for long-term rental demand and real estate investors. Keith also zooms out to place the current moment in the sweep of American history, then welcomes Redfin Chief Economist Dr. Daryl Fairweather for a data-driven conversation on affordability, supply constraints, renting versus owning, and how demographic changes could shape the next wave of opportunities in both ownership and rental markets. Episode Page: GetRichEducation.com/601 For access to properties or free help with a GRE Investment Coach, start here: GREmarketplace.com GRE Free Investment Coaching: GREinvestmentcoach.com Get mortgage loans for investment property: RidgeLendingGroup.com or call 855-74-RIDGE or e-mail: info@RidgeLendingGroup.com Invest with Freedom Family Investments. For predictable 10-12% quarterly returns, visit FreedomFamilyInvestments.com/GRE or text FAMILY to 66866 Unlock truly passive real estate income—visit flockhomes.com/GRE today to see if your properties qualify for a 721 exchange with Flock Homes. Will you please leave a review for the show? I'd be grateful. Search "how to leave an Apple Podcasts review" For advertising inquiries, visit: GetRichEducation.com/ad Best Financial Education: GetRichEducation.com Get our wealth-building newsletter free— GREletter.com Our YouTube Channel: www.youtube.com/c/GetRichEducation Follow us on Instagram: @getricheducation Complete episode transcript: Keith Weinhold 0:01 welcome to GRE I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, learn just how far behind today's 30 year olds are then American history by decade as the nation approaches its 250th birthday. Finally, a conversation about what's next for the housing market with Redfin's chief economist Darrell fairweather today on get rich education. Corey Coates 0:27 Since 2014 the powerful get rich education podcast has created more passive income for people than nearly any other show in the world. This show teaches you how to earn strong returns from passive real estate investing in the best markets without losing your time being a flipper or landlord. Show Host Keith Weinhold writes for both Forbes and Rich Dad advisors and delivers a new show every week since 2014 there's been millions of listener downloads of 188 world nations. He has a list show guests include top selling personal finance author Robert Kiyosaki, get rich education can be heard on every podcast platform, plus it has its own dedicated Apple and Android. Listener phone apps build wealth on the go with the get rich education podcast. Sign up now for the get rich education podcast, or visit get rich education.com Keith Weinhold 1:10 the same place where I get my own mortgage loans is where you can get yours. Ridge lending group and MLS, 42056, they provided our listeners with more loans than anyone because they specialize in income properties. They help you build a long term plan for growing your real estate empire with leverage. Start your prequel and even chat with President chailey Ridge personally, while it's on your mind, start at Ridge lending group.com that's Ridge lending group.com Speaker 1 1:44 You're listening to the show that has created more financial freedom than nearly any show in the world. This is get rich education. Keith Weinhold 1:54 Welcome to get rich Education. I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, the voice of real estate investing since 2014 almost nobody talks about a really important story going on in America today. And I find this really astonishing. I mean, you could almost never think of America the same way again, as you'll hear while you've got these other headlines out there, constantly sucking oxygen out of the room, like decisions from the White House and inflation and wars. One big story. It moves so slowly that it kind of creeps up on you. It is the jaw dropping change in American society over the last 40 years. And then we'll discuss its seismic changes for real estate. And this is sourced from a Census Bureau supplement. It's about how fewer us adults reach typical life milestones by age 30, and this is partly because more adults opt for college than in previous generations. Oh, well, college doesn't sound like such a bad thing. I'll get to that. And by the way, 30 is an age that has come and gone for me, so I've lived through it. We're looking at a period from 1985 to 2025 so 40 years first, it's those that live on their own. In 1985 it was 83% today it's just 67% so then the percentage that don't live on their own and probably live with their parents or roommates, that has doubled. You see even more drastic declines for other milestones since 1985 those that have ever married from 77% down to 45% those that live with a child and the responsibility that this entails that's fallen from 59% down to 36% and those that own a home 48 down to 29% and again, this is for all 30 year olds since 1985 this steady, sliding, relentless decline of those who live on their own, are married, have a child, or own a home, is pretty stunning, and this is inside the most powerful nation on Earth. And here's the thing, this pattern from about 40 years ago, it unabatedly crosses through booms and busts and bubbles and bailouts, sort of like it didn't even notice those things. Somewhat ironically, what's grown during this time is the percentage that have a bachelor's degree. It's gone from 25 up to 43% so therefore, here we. Are. We've got this generation that's better educated than ever, and yet more of them are stuck down on the launch pad. It's like we built better rockets yet we can't light the fuse. And before I help you make sense of this and tell you what I believe the main force behind it to be, you just got to consider what an unfathomable aberration this has all become. At age 25 James Madison was the key architect of the US Constitution. A lot of constitution signers were in their 20s and 30s. At age 21 Steve Jobs started Apple in a garage at 20 Bill Gates co founded Microsoft at 19 Mark Zuckerberg built Facebook in a dorm room. And sure, some of these are exceptional examples, but these people committed early, and then they figured it out on the fly. Keith Weinhold 5:59 Well, what about women? The US birth rate has hit an all time record low, because today, nearly half of 30 year old women are still child free. Okay, so some of this is logical. You can connect a few dots here more time in school, yeah, all right, that means later marriages and later kids. Sure, student debt that equals financial Gravity Boots that keep you in place. Urban living means smaller spaces. But when you stack all this together, like I just laid out later, it's not just later anymore. It is really later. That is the huge change that really startles you when you put all of this together and again, remember, over this same time span, 1985 to today, I've mentioned before how the average age of the first time homebuyer has ballooned from 29 up to 40. I mean 40 that can really take some time to sink in. And again, that's just the average in high cost housing areas. This number could be 45 or higher. I mean, sheesh, the starter home is now like a midlife purchase, and it's made right around the time that your back starts to make decisions for you, consider where we are here now, the term home ownership that is increasingly linked to older people. Those things home ownership and older people are increasingly synonymous terms. Now, owning a home, it's like a luxury good for the already established. I mean, it is pretty jaw dropping. And one contributor to these friends is the lack of available housing supply, still a 60 to 70% collapse in some populous northeast states, but really something like that. That's just a small thing. When you amalgamate it all together, it's become cultural really. The bigger trend that underlies this decline in meeting life milestones at age 30 is that long term true inflation exceeds wage increases over the decades, but there are big social shifts too. And by the way, I left my parents home for good at age 23 and some surely do so younger than I did marriage and children, they are the classic triggers to buy a house, and the longer that these type of milestones get postponed, the more likely people are to favor then flexibility over committing to a mortgage, and this then means that there is an elongated renter stage of life. Renters are no longer just passing through they're no longer just graduated from college, renting a year or two and then buying a home. Instead, they are planting flags and really pounding in stakes. And there are countless surveys that show that renters value the ability of being able to relocate without the hassle of having to sell a house. And on top of all of these trends as America ages overall, something really interesting starts to happen. This is why single family rentals have really begun to shine over the past few years, and why you had this Advent and popularity of new build and build to rent rental properties coming onto the market because single families give people the feeling of home and space and privacy and a backyard for the dog, but yet at the same time, it's commitment light, a lighter version. Now apartments benefit too, of course, and for investors, this isn't just. The trend, this is a long term tailwind, fewer life transitions. It means more stable occupancy and longer renter life cycles that lead to fewer turnovers and vacancies and repairs, so less churn, more consistency and better predictability. So the bottom line here is that this delay of life milestones, it's not subtle. It is pretty seismic, and increasingly people say that the American dream no longer even includes home ownership. Demography is destiny, and they must rent from you. And here at GRE we invest like these trends are real, but I really want to emphasize that this elongated renter stage of life really is a long term, long tail phenomenon. And I want to emphasize that because, like I said last week, in the short term, we really aren't seeing any significant rent increases due to that affordability constraint. Now we're nearly five years after America had a big wave of consumer inflation, and that really hurt kind of people this age that I'm talking about, people in their 20s and 30s, that really hurt them the most because they don't own assets that compound with the concurrent asset price inflation, they only had to deal with the bad stuff, the consumer price inflation. Keith Weinhold 11:30 And as America approaches its 250th birthday, let's think about how this era compares to other decades. And by the way, do you know what a 250th anniversary is called? I put a line about this in my newsletter that I sent you the other day. It is called a semiquincentennial, or, I guess, semi quincentennial. I don't think that anyone's going to be using that word after the fireworks. Semiquincentennial. That sounds like a word that an Economic Committee came up with during a recession to kind of mask a worse problem or something. I suppose that the etymology makes sense. If you break it down, quincentennial would be 500 and semi would be half of 500 in any case, as you try to compare this American era to others, listen to this from the parallel truth. This is about three minutes long, and then I'll come back to comment. It's America by decade, starting all the way back in the 1770s This is a decent summary here, although it can get unnecessarily gloomy at times. Speaker 2 12:41 Imagine you could live in the United States one decade at a time, not the America you see in movies, not the America in textbooks, but the real America. Let's start with the 1770s the decade of independence. This is not a freedom story, yet. It's a war story. Most people are farmers, roads are mud, medicine is almost nothing. And if you're a young man, your future is simple, fight or starve. Then came the 1800s The decade of expansion. America is still small, but it's hungry, new land, new states, New promises, but there is also growing slavery. Native tribes are being pushed out, and the country is quietly building a conflict it can't avoid. Now it's the 1860s the decade America almost died. There is civil war, Brother versus brother. Cities are burning. If you lived here, you didn't watch history, you survived it. Next is the 1900s The decade of industrial America, factories, railroads, steel, oil. The country becomes a machine. Cities explode with workers, but life is brutal, long hours, dirty air, child labor, you might earn money, but you will pay with your health. It's the 1920s now, the decade of jazz and madness. This is America's first big party decade, cars, radio, Hollywood. Everyone thinks the future is unstoppable. Then came the 1930s the decade the party ended. The Great Depression happens, banks collapse and jobs disappear. People line up for bread. A man with a suit could be broke in one week. This decade teaches America one lesson, that money is not real until it's in your hand. It's the 1940s now the decade America became the world's boss. World War Two turns the US into the world's factory. While Europe is burning, America is building. And when the war ends, America comes out richer than anyone in history. It's the 1950s the decade of the American dream, suburbs, big houses, one salary supports a whole family, TV dinners, new cars, new highways. This is the decade America sells the world the idea of perfect life. Next came 1960s the decade of rebellion, civil rights, Vietnam assassinations, the country feels like it's splitting. You could be hopeful or terrified, sometimes both in the same week, 1970s was the decade the system started breaking, oil crisis, inflation, crime rate, and in 1971 America quietly changes money forever. The dollar stops being backed by gold. From this point onward, America runs on trust. It. The 1980s the decade of Wall Street, America, big business, big spending. The stock market becomes religion. America looks confident again, but the middle class starts weakening slowly. Then came the 1990s the decade America felt unstoppable. The Soviet Union has collapsed and the US feels untouchable. The internet is born. This is the decade where Americans truly believe that they have won. It's the 2000s now the decade of shock, 911, wars, fear, surveillance, then 2008 hits, banks crash, housing collapses, and America learns something painful. The people who caused the crisis don't pay for it. It's the 2000s and 10s, the decade of the digital trap. Social media becomes reality, politics becomes war. Everyone is online, but nobody feels connected. The economy recovers, but normal people don't. And finally, it's the 2020s. The decade, chaos became normal. Pandemic changes everything. Supply chains are collapsing, inflation returns, AI arrives and trust collapses. And by 2026 America is still rich, but it feels exhausted. People are working harder, owning less, and trusting nobody. And the strangest part is that America didn't collapse. It just slowly became a different country, not through invasion, not through revolution, but through decades of small changes that added up to a completely new reality. So the real question is, if you could choose one decade to live in? Which one would you pick? Keith Weinhold 16:22 Yeah, which decade would you pick to live in? A lot of people say the 1950s where we had, like they touched on there the post war boom and how one salary could support an entire household. Some people say the 1990s because the Cold War ended, we had the start of Wide Internet use, and it's before you had these stark political divisions where people started to put party ahead of country. Now some people would probably say, Are you kidding me? I'd rather live in this decade right here. I can work from home more easily than I ever could have before. And I think you can make valid cases for all of those things. And speaking of this era, a quarter just ended, and we do this quarterly at most. It's our asset class rundown. Year over year, national home prices are only up about half of 1% per the nar 1% Case Shiller and totality, single family rent index shows just 1.3% rent growth. That's year over year. This quarter, the s, p5 100 was down 5% stocks of all types are down largely to the Iran war. The yield on the 10 year treasury note rose from 4.1 up to 4.3% due to higher inflation expectations. Why does that matter so much? That's what influences 30 year mortgage rates, which also rose from 6.2 up to 6.5% West Texas Intermediate oil prices soared from 59 bucks to over 100 last quarter. Gold hit an all time high of 5400 bucks in the quarter, and then fell to about 4600 by the end of the quarter. Other precious metals hit their all time peak. Bitcoin fell from 88k down to 68k That's the asset class rundown. I'll return with Redfin's chief economist, Dr Darrell fairweather and more. I'm Keith Weinhold. You're listening to get rich education. Keith Weinhold 18:18 Let me throw out a simple idea. Sometimes doing nothing with your money is actually a decision. Leaving it parked might feel safe, but over time, purchasing power changes. So the conversation isn't about chasing returns, it's about intentionally placing money somewhere. Freedom, family investments works in real estate people use every day. Housing, senior communities, essential properties, things tied to living and not trends. Their freedom notes offering is built for accredited investors looking for structured income backed by real assets, not speculation. I am an investor with them myself. The Freedom team makes themselves available to walk through their approach, structure and operating philosophy so you can ask questions and determine alignment before moving forward. While past performance doesn't guarantee future results, their historical operating philosophy has yielded 100% investor payouts backed by over 20 years of experience. If you want clarity before making any moves, book a clarity call@freedomfamilyinvestments.com or text family to 66 866, text the word family to 66 866, Keith Weinhold 19:41 flock homes helps you retire from real estate and landlording, whether it's one problem, property or your whole portfolio through a 721, exchange, deferring your capital gains tax and depreciation recapture, it's a strategy long used by the ultra wealthy. Now. Mom and Pop landlords can 721, the residential real estate request your initial valuation, see if your properties qualify@flockhomes.com slash GRE, that's F, l, O, C, K, homes.com/gre. Robert Helms 20:16 Everybody. It's Robert Helms of the real estate guys radio program, so glad you found Keith Weinhold and get rich education, don't quit your Daydream. Keith Weinhold 20:35 This week's guest is the chief economist of Redfin during the housing crisis. She worked at the Boston Fed, studying why homeowners enter foreclosure. Since 2023 she served at the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas. She holds her BS from MIT, and she really knows her way around campuses, because she received her Master's and PhD in Economics at the University of Chicago, where she specialized in behavioral economics, that's interesting. Welcome to GRE. Darrell fairweather, Daryl Fairweather 21:06 thank you for having me. Keith Weinhold 21:08 Hey, Daryl. I'd like to get to some of the statistics later in the things that Redfin does and compiles, but tell us about the behavioral side of the housing market that's often so interesting and evencounterintuitive Daryl Fairweather 21:22 yeah, one of the most interesting things about the housing market is that people get really emotional when making this huge financial decision. It's something that people don't have a lot of practice with. Most people maybe buy a home once or twice in their whole life. There's so much social weight that's put on it. It's the American dream. There's a lot of family pressure, and there's a lot of hurting behavior that can happen. People get swept up in the moment. Maybe they overbid on a home, or maybe they miss out because other people are avoiding the housing market. So it's a really interesting place to both study psychology and economics. Keith Weinhold 21:56 Sure, most homeowners are just inexperienced at this whole thing. Yeah, behavioral economics, it really has this strong gravity in real estate. Maybe something that you've said touches on what I call the Zestimate illusion. A lot of times, sellers anchor their price to not just the Zillow estimate, but sometimes even the peak sale price in the whole neighborhood, and that's what they think that they should get for their home? Daryl Fairweather 22:21 Yeah, that does happen quite a bit. And I don't think a lot of people realize how much those estimates can move once a home is listed. The list price tends to move that estimate quite a lot. So it's not a fact. And those estimates don't really know many details about the home, like what upgrades might have happened, or what internally is happening within the home, like if people have gotten new appliances or gotten a new air conditioning system, it doesn't really take those things into account. So you shouldn't just anchor off of the Redfin estimate. You should definitely talk to an agent. Look at the comps. The comps can tell you a lot in terms of what homes have sold for recently, and then track your local market in terms of whether it is going up in value or down in value, because those comps might be a little bit stale, and you have to adjust for where the market is right now. Keith Weinhold 23:06 There's some really good points there. And when I think of the behavioral side of economics in the real estate market, another nascent thing that comes to mind Darrell, is the rate shock paralysis that really set in in America in 2022 mortgage rates are still historically on the low side. But few people think about it that way. They're really swayed by the recency bias Daryl Fairweather 23:31 yes. And one thing to take into account, though, is how much home prices have gone up since the last time rates were this high. So if you're looking at the monthly mortgage payment and how much that is compared to people's monthly incomes, it is quite expensive to buy a home. In most metros, you cannot afford to buy a home on the local median income. There's only maybe four metros that are in the middle of the country where it's still affordable to buy a home on a middle class salary. So combined the rate and the price those mortgage payments are still quite expensive, although they have gotten slightly more affordable since last year because rates are slightly lower than last year, they did come up a bit with, you know, oil prices coming up, but still, compared to last year, rates are a bit lower and a bit more affordable to get a home. Keith Weinhold 24:13 And of course, all this is besides the point that those 2021, mortgage rates, they were born out of a collapsing economy, and I don't think that we really want that either. But yes, to your point about affordability, that's been such a buzzword in the housing market for quite a while, and for good reason. It wasn't very long ago that we reached a 40 year low in affordability. Can you tell us about what can improve affordability next? Darrell or what's most likely to happen? For example, it seems like insurance rate increases have really leveled off. Daryl Fairweather 24:50 Yes, the reason why affordability is so bad, especially in coastal cities, the places that have the most opportunities, is because of a lack of supply. Existing homeowners, they are fine. They like when their home goes up in value, but it really is a problem for first time homebuyers, when prices just keep climbing and when new housing gets proposed, it's often the existing homeowners who are blocking that housing from getting built, and so supply is constrained. You can see this very clearly in a place like San Francisco, which had a huge economic boom in the 2010s yet housing did not keep up with all of the job opportunities that were coming to the area, and when you have all these people moving in with higher incomes, it drives up prices when there isn't adequate supply. You take Austin as another example. Austin had a huge boom during the pandemic, but supply responded. Builders built, there was a lot of development that happened, and as a result, prices came right back down. They're still above where they were pre pandemic, but nowhere near the heights that we saw back in 2021 so it just goes to show that when you allow supply to get built, it does help keep prices more moderate and keep things more affordable. Keith Weinhold 25:59 Yes, and nimbyism is rampant, is consumer inflation or some of the other big forces out there, for sure, but yes, this national dearth of supply something that's existed even well before the pandemic, for example, it's bounced back somewhat, but still not quite enough, and it's really part of what, in my opinion, has helped support housing prices, even when mortgage rates tripled back in 2022 Can you tell us more what you believe about the future of housing supply with all the data that you do with there at Redfin Daryl, Daryl Fairweather 26:37 housing supply improved a bit during the pandemic, but we're still far below What we need in order to make housing more accessible to middle class people. But there are new challenges that are coming. One that you mentioned is insurance. Insurance costs are going up. So even if you have a fixed rate mortgage and you've locked that in, you still have to worry about the rising cost of ownership because of insurance costs are going up. Property taxes are going up in many places, and maintenance costs are increasing. So that is going to make home ownership, and just the cost of ownership in general, whether you're an investor or an owner occupant, more expensive moving forward. And that's going to vary depending on where you are. There going to be some parts of the country where insurance goes up much faster, like in Florida, and other parts where insurance will probably be more stable like in the Midwest and Great Lakes region. So it's important now even more so to really research the neighborhood, research the home, and figure out how those expenses could increase in the future. Keith Weinhold 27:32 Yeah, here we are in this housing market where, you know, Darrell, I think of it in a lot of ways, is, you know, maybe for three years now, we've largely been stuck in the mud, much of it due to lower supply, where we have a lower overall proportion of both buyers and sellers. Daryl Fairweather 27:48 Yeah, what's happening right now is really an hangover from the pandemic, because so many people locked in 3% mortgage rates during the pandemic, and if those homeowners were to sell and buy again. Even if they bought the same priced home, they would end up paying more in their monthly mortgage payment because of how much higher mortgage rates are, and that's holding back supply quite significantly. It's the reason why prices have not come down despite rates going up, is because the higher rates are holding back both demand and supply at the same time, and contributing to the overall lack of inventory that's out there, Keith Weinhold 28:24 this aberration where we have a big proportion of American homeowners living in homes where if they tried to repurchase that home at today's terms, they couldn't even do it. To your point about people not wanting to move, and that's a big reason why they almost can't. They might pay more in rent elsewhere for a like property if they were to sell what they own, if those still locked in terms and Darrell here, I think, you know, our audience is largely real estate investors, a lot of them investing in one to four unit properties. So with what you're seeing there at Redfin. And I think a lot of us know that, yeah, rent growth has been pretty slow as well. What do you see for rents in 2026 and perhaps 2027 Daryl Fairweather 29:08 originally, when we went to go do our predictions for 2026 we said that rents were going to increase this year. Now, I think that rents will continue to stay flat, and that's because there's still a lack of demand for for sale housing. People are staying in the rental market, but people are overall tightening their budgets because they're worried about the economy. They're worried about inflation. So if they can, you know, get roommates or live with family, they're going to choose to do that to keep their overall expenses lower, which will reduce demand for both for sale housing and for rental housing. And I think a lot of home sellers, they've tried to sell their homes. We saw many people try to sell their homes last year and then end up delisting their homes, and they're trying again. We saw more of those people come back in January, but I think those people are going to continue to kind of try to test the market, be a bit disappointed that there isn't enough demand, and then some of. Up for sale housing will end up as rental housing. Just driving around my neighborhood, I see so many rental signs on single family homes that I never saw before, almost more for rent signs, and I'm seeing for sale signs, so that added inventory from these accidental landlords who would like to move but don't want to give up their mortgage rate is going to increase the supply of single family rentals, and that will mean more competition for those investors that are trying to rent out the homes. Keith Weinhold 30:27 Talk to us about rental occupancy. That's something that we're seeing at a historic low in apartment buildings, for one thing. But can you talk to us about what you see for future occupancy levels of both residential one to fours and apartments. Going forward, Daryl Fairweather 30:43 a lot of new supply came online during the pandemic, especially in places that build a lot of condos. Many one bedroom or zero bedroom condos got built, and then those are really difficult to rent out, because, you know, they're just not that attractive. We really have more of a shortage of types of housing that's appropriate for families and those one bedroom units that are really targeted at like affluent young people. There aren't that many affluent people right now, so they're they're difficult to rent out. I think that trend is pretty much over. We're not seeing too many more condos being developed because the condos that were developed during the pandemic are still having trouble finding owners or finding renters in those apartment buildings. Now, I think we're going to start to see an uptick in single family rental vacancy, because I think a lot of those people who would like to sell their homes are having trouble selling their homes because of how mortgage rates are and how skittish people are about making a commitment to ownership right now, and they're going to alternatively try to rent out those and that will mean more availability of those rentals and not as much pressure on rents to go up in that segment of the market. Keith Weinhold 31:51 Woe for the builder that targeted young, affluent types, they don't really exist so much anymore. That's really pretty interesting. Well, Darrell, do you have any last thoughts overall about the housing market? Maybe something I didn't think about asking you that's really important, whether that's for an investor or a prospective homeowner. Daryl Fairweather 32:12 Yeah, I think if I was an investor right now, I would be paying attention to what economists and housing people call the silver tsunami that's older generations starting to sell their homes. We did a study recently that showed that people who are 70 years and above have as much wealth and housing as middle aged people, which is the first time that group has exceeded in terms of the wealth that they hold. And if you're 70 plus, there's definitely a clock ticking on how long you're going to stay in that home, which means that a lot of new inventory will become available in those homes. They probably need work. They probably need some renovations, and that could be a really great opportunity for an investor to buy a home that maybe has been neglected for a while because it's been a senior living in there who hasn't been really keeping it up to date. You can renovate it and perhaps sell it again to a younger buyer by doing some updates and make a nice profit there. Speaker 3 33:03 Oh, well, Daryl, this has been a great update laced with plenty of practical things that someone can actually do. Do you have a resource you'd like to share in case our audience would like to connect? Daryl Fairweather 33:16 Yes, you can find me basically on any social media channel. I'd recommend checking you out on YouTube to start. And then if you would like data on what's happening in your local housing market, you can check out the Redfin data center. Just Google Redfin data center, it'll bring you right there. And you can find lots of local data on your market, Keith Weinhold 33:34 Daryl Fairweather. It's been great having you here on the show. Daryl Fairweather 33:37 Thank you. Keith Weinhold 33:44 Yeah, insightful material from Dr Darrell fairweather today, no end to the housing scarcity in sight. She says, rents continue to stay flat, partly due to this accidental landlord. They didn't plan to be a landlord, but they need to move and yet they don't want to sell the single family home that they got with a good owner occupied financing a few years ago. And the reason that's a headwind for single family investors, because it keeps more rental supply on the market. Last week, I touched on how you should not expect rent increases in the near term, I own a lot of single family rentals myself, and I am not getting rent increases. It's not so much that single family vacancies are high now, but apartment building vacancies are high. That fact alone that actually does hurt the single family rental market a little, because even though a renter might desire a single family, and maybe you think, Well, an apartment couldn't compete with that feeling. But yet, if an apartment is so much cheaper than the single family, and they often are now, well then that renter will go for the cheap apartment instead the one. You can think of Redfin is that they're part Zillow, part real estate agent, and part data company, and they can give you early signals on things like buyer demand and price direction and days on market, those types of indicators. So for the latest housing market research and news, you can do a search for the Redfin data center, and then for Daryl, start on YouTube. You can follow her on x at fairweather PhD, thanks to Dr Darrell fairweather today, until next week, I'm your host. Keith Weinhold, don't quit your Daydream. Speaker 5 35:36 Nothing on this show should be considered specific, personal or professional advice. Please consult an appropriate tax, legal, real estate, financial or business professional for individualized advice. Opinions of guests are their own. Information is not guaranteed. All investment strategies have the potential for profit or loss. The host is operating on behalf of get rich Education LLC, exclusively to Keith Weinhold 35:56 the preceding program was brought to you by your home for wealth, building, get richeducation.com
It's Wednesday, April 8th, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark and Adam McManus Hindu nationalists attacked two pastors in India Hindu nationalists attacked two pastors in India last week ahead of Resurrection Sunday. The pastors were distributing Christian literature in a village in Karnataka State. The Hindu nationalists verbally abused the pastors before physically assaulting them and taking their literature. One of the pastors, aged 60, required emergency medical care after the attack. He told International Christian Concern, “We would have been killed if police had not intervened in time. The police eventually arrived at the scene, rescued us, and took us to the hospital for treatment.” India's new census In other India-related news, the country began the world's largest census last week. The year-long census will collect information from the country's 1.4 billion citizens. India conducted its last census back in 2011. Since then, the country surpassed China as the world's most populated nation. For the first time in decades, India's census will ask people what caste they belong to. The census already includes questions about religion. Religious freedom groups warn the government could use these data points to discriminate against religious minorities like Christians. 55% of Russians do not attend church The Russian research organization Levada Centre published a new survey on church attendance in the country. A record 55% of respondents said they do not attend religious services. That's up 11 percentage points since last year. The lack of church attendance was particularly common among men, young people, and students. Only 16% of respondents said they attend services at least once a month. Trump announced 2-week suspension of Iran attack At 5:32pm ET on April 7th, President Donald Trump shared a major update on Truth Social about the war with Iran. He wrote, “Based on conversations with [Pakistani] Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and [Pakistani] Field Marshal Asim Munir and wherein they requested that I hold off the destructive force being sent tonight to Iran, and subject to the Islamic Republic of Iran agreeing to the COMPLETE, IMMEDIATE, and SAFE OPENING of the Strait of Hormuz, I agree to suspend the bombing and attack of Iran for a period of two weeks. “This will be a double-sided CEASEFIRE! The reason for doing so is that we have already met and exceeded all military objectives, and are very far along with a definitive agreement concerning long-term PEACE with Iran, and PEACE in the Middle East.” President Trump concluded with these words. “On behalf of the United States of America, as President, and also representing the countries of the Middle East, it is an honor to have this long-term problem close to resolution.” Vice President Vance: “Very shortly, this war is going to conclude” Vice President J.D. Vance, who was meeting with Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán in Hungary, said the war in Iran is coming to an end soon, reports Real Clear Politics. Listen. VANCE: “First of all, the United States has largely accomplished its military objectives. There are still some things that we'd like to do, for example, on Iranian ability to manufacture weapons that we'd like to do a little bit more work on militarily. But fundamentally, the military objectives of the United States have been completed. “So, that means, as the President has said, very shortly, this war is going to conclude. And I think the nature of the conclusion is ultimately up to the Iranians. “I think there really are two pathways. I'm oversimplifying this a little bit, but I think pathway one is where the Iranians decide they're going to be a normal country. They're not going to fund terrorism anymore. They're going to be part of the world system of commerce and exchange, and that's going to mean much better things for them economically. It's going to mean better things for the peace and safety of the world. That's option A. Okay? “Option B is that the Iranians don't come to [the] table and they stay committed to terrorism, to terrorizing their neighbors, not just Israel, but of course, their Arab neighbors too. Then, the economic situation in Iran is going to continue to be very, very bad, and frankly, it will probably get worse.” California dropped prosecution of undercover pro-life videographer In the United States, California finally dropped its prosecution of pro-lifer David Daleiden. The undercover journalist is the president and founder of The Center for Medical Progress. In 2015, the group exposed Planned Parenthood's illegal sale of baby body parts. Daleiden faced years of legal battles since then. He posted a statement on X last week, saying, “As promised, the final charge has been DISMISSED and the case completely expunged.” Court: California must pay $4.5 million over gender confusion case In other Golden State news, California must pay $4.5 million in a case involving its promotion of gender confusion in public schools. The state passed a law in 2024 that prohibited schools from informing parents if their child identified with a sexually perverted lifestyle. On Monday, a U.S. District Court ruled in favor of teachers and parents who challenged the law. Peter Breen with the Thomas More Society commented on the victory. He said, “California threw everything it had at this case. It lost at summary judgment, lost at the Supreme Court, and now Californians will foot the bill for their government officials' refusal to respect the fundamental rights of families.” Isaiah 10:1 says, “Woe to those who decree unrighteous decrees, who write misfortune, which they have prescribed.” 29% of Americans believe revival will happen within the year A new survey from the Barna Group found a growing share of Americans believe a spiritual revival is coming. Twenty-nine percent of U.S. adults believe a revival is likely to happen in the next 12 months. That number rose to 38 percent among Gen Z, those between the ages of 14 and 29. Top reasons respondents gave for why a revival might happen included prayer, younger generations turning to God, and the search for meaning and purpose. David Kinnaman, CEO of Barna, said, “The research doesn't predict a revival. … Yet, it reveals something worth paying attention to: a large number of Americans believe one is possible—and for younger adults especially, that belief is being forged in some of the most difficult circumstances of their lives.” Trump called Christ's resurrection “the most glorious miracle in all of time!” And finally, President Donald Trump delivered a message to Christians around the world over Easter weekend. In fact, he quoted John 3:16 in his message. TRUMP: “This Holy Week, I'm proud to join with Christians across the country, and around the world, to celebrate the most glorious miracle in all of time: the resurrection of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. “In His life, Christ displayed true humility. In His death, He modeled true love. And in His resurrection from the tomb, He proved that even death itself will not silence those who place their trust in Almighty God. As it says in Gospel of John, ‘For God so loved the world that He gave His only Son for whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Wednesday, April 8th, in the year of our Lord 2026. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.
It's Wednesday, April 1st, A.D. 2026. This is The Worldview in 5 Minutes heard on 140 radio stations and at www.TheWorldview.com. I'm Adam McManus. (Adam@TheWorldview.com) By Jonathan Clark and Timothy Reed Muslim Nigerians killed 53 people on Palm Sunday Muslim gunmen in Nigeria killed 53 people in a predominantly Christian area on Palm Sunday, reports the Baptist Press. The attackers arrived in a van, killing men, women, and children and wounding dozens more. A local Christian told Morning Star News, “We saw the terrorists coming down from their vehicle with guns. … Within seconds from alighting from their vehicle, we heard gunshots. They were shooting at anyone in sight. Many have been killed, and I feel so heartbroken.” Daniel Okoh, president of the Christian Association of Nigeria, said, “Nigerians are tired of mourning. Nigerians are tired of statements. Nigerians want to see action. Those responsible for this atrocity must be found, arrested and made to face justice; swiftly and decisively. Anything less will only deepen the sense that life in our country is no longer protected.” Please pray for our persecuted brothers and sisters in Christ in Nigeria. YouGov retracts British religious study YouGov retracted it's “Quiet Revival” study last week. The 2024 study suggested a rise in church attendance in Britain, especially among young people. However, after an investigation, YouGov said the survey sample was faulty. The U.K.-based Bible Society commissioned the study. The organization noted, “YouGov's error does not mean that all of the findings were wrong. It means that we cannot reliably support those findings on the basis of this survey.” YouGov plans to conduct new research with the Bible Society on religiosity in the United Kingdom. U.S. Army raises recruitment age to 42 The U.S. Army has raised its max recruitment age from 35 to 42. This comes as the United States has had trouble meeting its recruitment standards in recent years. Part of the reason for the change? American youth are not ready to fight in the military. ABC News reports that, “The Pentagon has estimated that only 23% of young Americans (between the ages of 17 and 24) are eligible to serve. Much of this is due to academic performance on the military's SAT-style entrance test, obesity, and criminal records.” Judge rules against Biden's COVID-era censorship U.S. District Judge Terry Doughty has ruled in favor of the State of Missouri in the Missouri vs. Biden free speech case. The case centered around the Biden administration's censorship of free speech and silencing of opposition through Big Tech platforms. The judge ruled that the U.S. Surgeon General, the Centers for Disease Control, and the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency are barred from threatening social media companies with retaliation for not censoring what they deem to be misinformation. Trump to Planned Parenthood: No more Title X grants! The Trump administration announced this is the last year that Planned Parenthood will receive Title X grants from the federal government. White House spokesman Kush Desai told The Daily Wire, “The administration has issued the fifth and final year of Title X grants that were locked in place during the Biden presidency. … Title X funds cannot be used for abortions by law and … the Administration remains committed to realigning the Title X program with the President's pro-life and pro-family agenda going forward.” However, pro-life leaders are criticizing the administration for the additional year of funding to the abortion giant. NBA player cut for expressing Christian beliefs A professional basketball team cut one of their players on Monday for expressing his Christian beliefs. Jaden Ivey played in the NBA for the Chicago Bulls. He recently described Homosexual Pride Month as a celebration of unrighteousness. Listen. IVEY: “The world can proclaim LGBTQ, right? They proclaim Pride Month and the NBA. They show it to the world. They say, ‘Come join us for Pride Month to celebrate unrighteousness.'” The Chicago Bulls described Ivey's conduct as “detrimental to the team.” Send a polite, yet firm 2-sentence letter of complaint. Coach Billy Donovan, 1901 W. Madison Street, Chicago, IL 60612. Isaiah 5:20 says, “Woe to those who call evil good, and good evil; who put darkness for light, and light for darkness.” Basketball invented by Christian chaplain in 1891 And finally, men's college basketball teams are competing for the national championship in the March Madness tournament. What many do not know about the popular sport is that it was invented by a Christian named James Naismith. He was a Christian chaplain and sports coach. Naismith invented basketball in 1891 while serving at the YMCA International Training School in Massachusetts. He started the sport in order to evangelize young men. Basketball spread as far as China by 1895 thanks to YMCA missionaries. Naismith said his goal was to “win men for the Master through the gym.” In Matthew 4:19, Jesus said, “Follow Me, and I will make you fishers of men.” Close And that's The Worldview on this Wednesday, April 1st, in the year of our Lord 2026. Follow us on X or subscribe for free by Spotify, Amazon Music, or by iTunes or email to our unique Christian newscast at www.TheWorldview.com. Plus, you can get the Generations app through Google Play or The App Store. I'm Adam McManus (Adam@TheWorldview.com). Seize the day for Jesus Christ.
Far Left Code Pink activists did a poverty safari of Cuba, celebrating Communism while partying at their hotel. A hotel with electricity, while the rest of the city was in a blackout. Woe to the hypocrites. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Far Left Code Pink activists did a poverty safari of Cuba, celebrating Communism while partying at their hotel. A hotel with electricity, while the rest of the city was in a blackout. Woe to the hypocrites. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
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