Episodes
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Most Christians are regularly outwitted by Satan, and most Christians have no idea about his schemes- his devices- his designs.
We like to blame Satan for a lot of problems in life. The degradation of society, the strife in our families, the flat tire I got last Tuesday, whatever happened to Marvel after EndgameâŠ
And I think itâs a fair question to ask: what the heck is this guyâs problem? Whatâs his deal? How does he expect to possibly defeat God? Whatâs his master plan?
I find Satan to be weird, and Iâd like to understand what heâs doing throughout the Bible.
Turn to Genesis 3, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - Introduction
2:50 - Genesis 3-4
6:50 - Genesis 5-6
11:00 - Genesis 12
15:00 - II Samuel 7
21:30 - Closing Thoughts
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
If youâre intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. Iâm so glad youâre here- donât forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!
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I received a thought-provoking message from one of our listeners this week: Alana writes in:
I find it interesting in Acts 14 when the crowd claim that Paul and Barnabas are Zeus and Hermes that Paul and Barnabas do not deny that Zeus and Hermes exist. That Paul and Barnabas simply point out that they are only mortal men.
Now, thereâs a couple ways you could read Paulâs deflection in this story, which weâll study through in a moment. This took place in Lystra, where there was a temple of Zeus worship, and it ends with sacrifices being offered to him.
One way to read Paulâs comment is that heâs just ignoring Zeus as an irrelevant idol. Another way to read it is that Zeus is real. That despite the idols and temple of Zeus being meaningless structures, perhaps there is a spiritual entity behind them.
In fact, I Corinthians 10 even tells us that sacrifices to idols are offered to demons.
I find this to be weird, and Iâd like to explore why itâs in the Bible.
Turn to Acts 14, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - Introduction
2:20 - The Context in Acts 14
8:00 - The Identity of Zeus
18:15 - Next Time and Mailbag
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
If youâre intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. Iâm so glad youâre here- donât forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!
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Episodes manquant?
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Where do demons like to hang out?
You know, other than the DMV, the Grammy Awards, or in that sauce they put in Chipotle wraps.
Where would you go- or perhaps a better way to say it, where should you avoid- if you want to stay away from demons?
Well if you asked the writers of the Bible, they had an idea about where demons liked to congregate. I mean, certainly you can find a demon just about anywhere. But what locations of the earth were considered the domain of demons?
Jesus made a strange (almost off-handed) comment in
Matthew 12:43, where He said:
When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, he goes through dry places, seeking rest, and finds none.
So what did Jesus mean about demons- AKA unclean spirits- who go through dry, waterless places when they are cast out of a human?
I find this to be weird, and Iâd like to explore why itâs in the Bible.
Turn to Matthew 12, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - Introduction
2:45 - The Context
4:45 - Unholy Ground
10:00 - Kingdom Authority
18:20 - Next Time and Closing Thoughts
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
If youâre intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. Iâm so glad youâre here- donât forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!
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Naaman the Syrian had it going on. A great job, a great reputation, all the money he needed- oh, and he had leprosy.
In those days, this was a death sentence.
In those days, a great job, a powerful position, favor with kings, all the money in the world, none of it meant anything if you had leprosy- because if you had leprosy, you were gonna die.
Desperate for an answer, Naaman travels to the land of Israel to meet with a certain miracle-worker named the prophet Elisha. But then, in one of the most amazing stories in the Bible, Naaman is totally cleansed and allowed to return home to Syria. Heâs getting a second chance at life. And all he asks for after that are a couple of jars to take home some dirt with him.
Wait, what? Dirt?
I mean, weâve all been souvenir shopping when we went somewhere special, or when we wanted to take a memory home with us. But why did Naaman request to take some dirt home with him?
I find this to be weird, and Iâd like to explore why itâs in the Bible.
Turn to II Kings 5, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - Iâve Got a Jar of Dirt
10:22 - Holy Dirt
15:45 - Mailbag and Next Time
17:10 - Closing Thoughts
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
If youâre intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. Iâm so glad youâre here- donât forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!
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Todayâs lesson is too important to wait.
And I almost didnât do it. Because these verses that weâre studying today are going to come up again in the book of Enoch, and Iâm planning on starting a book of Enoch series here on the podcast early next year. And so you might hear some of this information repeated again in a few months, and I almost didnât create todayâs lesson so that I wouldnât be repetitive.
But itâs just way too important not to tell you this today, because it has the potential to revolutionize your prayer life. And it gives us some very practical application to this series of episodes weâve been doing about spiritual warfare and demons for the past few months.
I mean, why spend all this time learning about the capabilities of spiritual beings like demons if we donât also learn about the capabilities we have as Christians to stop them?
So in Matthew 16, Jesus informs His followers about the spiritual authority that we have.
He says In verse 19
I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven.
But this terminology has not shown up in the Bible before, so what in the world does it mean?
I find this to be weird, and Iâd like to explore why itâs in the Bible.
Turn to Matthew 16, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - Intro
2:20 - The Declaration of Who Jesus Is
6:50 - Wrong Theories About Binding and Loosing
9:45 - The Right Theory on Binding and Loosing
14:35 - How to Land on the Right Theory
16:45 - Change How You Pray
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
If youâre intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. Iâm so glad youâre here- donât forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!
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There is a parable which I believe is not technically a parable- I believe itâs a true story- called The Rich Man and Lazarus. Jesus tells this story in Luke 16. And thereâs a lot of strange things you could point out about this story, but what always sticks out to me is where Lazarus goes when he dies in this story.
Luke 16:22
So it was that the beggar died, and was carried by the angels to Abrahamâs bosom.
And as you read the story, you find that a rich man died and went to a fiery place of torment called hades, but the beggar named Lazarus went to a better place called Abrahamâs Bosom.
Now, weâve all heard of going to heaven and hell when we die. And I donât believe in purgatory. But what is Abrahamâs Bosom?
And Iâll do you one better, where is Abrahamâs Bosom?
And Iâll do you one better, why is Abrahamâs Bosom in the Bible?
Weâll answer all these questions today, because I find this to be weird, and Iâd like to explore why itâs in the Bible.
Turn to Isaiah 14, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - Intro
1:10 - Sheol
7:00 - Abrahamâs Bosom
11:00 - Luke 16, The Rich Man and Lazarus
18:00 - Closing Thoughts
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
If youâre intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. Iâm so glad youâre here- donât forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!
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The devil really really doesnât want you to listen to todayâs episode. Because this is going to blow the door wide open on one of Satanâs schemes that he uses to try and make us ineffective as Christians. But, Iâll also tell you how to overcome it.
Last year, one of my pastor friends who was preaching through the book of Daniel and came across the strange story in chapter 10. And he commented that he didnât know how he was going to teach it.
And I was like, âwhat you do mean, how youâre going to teach it? You just teach it. You read what it says and make sure everyone understand it.â
But I understand what he meant. Daniel 10 is weird. It deals with something we donât hear about a lot in the spiritual realm.
But just because we donât hear about it doesnât mean it doesnât happen every day. Itâs a weird thing to us, but a totally normal thing in the spirit.
In Daniel 10, it says that demons and fallen angels actually have a way to stop our prayers. That God can even hear our prayers, send an answer, and that Satan can stop it before the answer comes to us. Believe it or not, thatâs something that devils can interfere with.
I find this to be weird, and Iâd like to explore why itâs in the Bible.
Turn to Daniel 10, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - Intro
1:30 - Daniel 10, Wrestling with Angels
6:00 - The Prince of Persia
8:25 - Demons Can Disrupt Our Prayers
11:00 - Mailbag
13:25 - Keep Praying and Donât Give Up
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
If youâre intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. Iâm so glad youâre here- donât forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!
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It was a dark and moonless night when King Saul, cloaked in fear and despair, wandered the desolate wilderness of Mount Gilboa. His once-mighty heart had grown heavy, for the Lord had turned silentâno dreams, no prophets, no answers. His enemies, the Philistines, loomed at his doorstep, and without divine guidance, Saul felt utterly forsaken.
Desperation drove the king to a forbidden path, one he had condemned in years past. He had ordered all the mediums and spiritists to be cast out of Israel, for the Lord forbade such practices. But now, Saul himself sought a mediumâa woman who dwelled in the shadowed village of En Dor â known to whisper with the dead.
Did you know the Bible has a ghost story? Saul visits a woman known as a medium or a necromancer. A practice forbidden in Old Testament law, and still to this day. In fact, in the Old Testament, doing this resulted in the death penalty.
You might say, ânow ghosts arenât real. Once you die, you go to heaven or hell. You canât drop back in and grab a cup of coffee with the living.â
And yet, as youâll hear in a few minutes, Saulâs plan seems to work, and the ghost of a long-dead prophet is brought up from the grave.
Or is it all a demonic trick?
I find this to be weird, and Iâd like to explore why itâs in the Bible.
Turn to I Samuel 28, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - The Ghost of En Dor
5:45 - Real or Fake?
9:30 - Was it Actually Saul? Or a Demon?
18:30 - Vote
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
If youâre intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. Iâm so glad youâre here- donât forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!
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Iâve been doing this podcast for about a year now and I canât believe I havenât done an episode about this yet.
Today, weâre going to be talking about territorial spirits. And that phrase refers to the fact that spirits are assigned to certain sectors of the earth.
Many Bible-readers arenât aware of this little tidbit about how the spiritual realm works, and you may question whether this is in the Bible.
In fact, itâs ALL THROUGH the Bible. We just encountered one place last week when we were studying the demoniac of Mark 5. This was the guy who had a âLegionâ of demons within him, and Jesus ends up casting the demons into the pigs.
Whatâs really strange, though, is a request from the demons not to be sent out of that territory. This was a spiritually dark place known as the Gadarenes- or some translations may say the Gerasenes.
Mark 5:10 said
And he [and this is the demon-possessed man] begged him earnestly not to send them out of the country.
In other words, the demoniac begged Jesus earnestly not to send the demons out of the country.
Why were the demons so intent on staying within this location?
I find this to be weird, and Iâd like to explore why itâs in the Bible.
Turn to Genesis 11, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - Introduction
1:45 - The Deuteronomy 32 Worldview
10:00 - The Rest of the Bible
13:00 - Next Time and Mailbag
14:44 - Closing Thoughts
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
If youâre intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. Iâm so glad youâre here- donât forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!
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Weâre going to continue our foray into demonology today, and weâll wrap up this story of Jesus and the demoniac of Mark 5.
If youâre not familiar with this story, itâs the guy who lived among the tombs and could break chains with his bare hands.
This is the guy who said âI am Legion, for we are many.â There were potentially thousands of demons within this man.
And this is the story that ends with Jesus sending those demons out of the man and into a herd of pigs. Who then promptly run off a cliff into a lake a drown themselves.
But itâs super strange to me that He grants their request. Jesus doesnât work for a radio station. Why is He taking requests? And of all people to grant a request, why does He do it with these demons?
And what about the poor pig farmer who lost his whole livelihood that day? And did anyone call PETA to lodge a complaint about this Jewish exorcist who was wrecking the GDP of the Gadarenes?
Thereâs a lot of questions that come up in this story, and Iâll answer as many of them as I can today on this episode.
Turn to Mark 5, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - Introduction
1:45 - The Context
5:35 - Where did the pigs come from?
9:20 - Entering the Pigs
17:30 - Next Time and Mailbag
20:20 - Creating a Witness
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
If youâre intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. Iâm so glad youâre here- donât forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!
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It was the week before Halloween in the fall of 1988 when Bill Scott picked up the phone at his job at a Christian radio station and his life was never the same.
What follows is a story of demonic possession, deliverance, and a long list of what to do and what NOT to do when standing up to the powers of darkness.
Iâve been doing a series on the abilities of demons here on this podcast. Bill joins me today to share his story with my listeners here. Itâs going to add some insight and depth to your understanding of spiritual warfare. But let me warn you: parts of his interview will rock your world, get a little scary, and a lot weird.
So if youâre ready, letâs get weird.
Find Bill's book right here: https://www.amazon.com/Day-Satan-Called-Encounter-Possession/dp/0892968982/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=
The Day Satan Called: A True Encounter with Demon Possession and Exorcism. Available in paperback and on Kindle.If you want to get in touch with me (Luke Taylor), my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
If youâre intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. Iâm so glad youâre here- donât forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!
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Welcome back to Demonology class.
I didnât have this class in the school of ministry that I attended for three years.
Iâve never heard of a Bible college offering a class in exorcism.
Iâve never heard of a seminary giving a degree in demonology.
And yet, when Jesus gave His disciples a job to do, He said to preach the Kingdom, heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers, and cast out demons. Now, I donât know about you, but most of those things are not a part of my weekly walk with God.
I learned about preaching the Kingdom. That other stuff just kinda comes up once in a while. And even though we read about demons being cast out on almost every page of the four Gospels, most Christians have never studied how it works.
And if you do talk about it too much, you get branded a weirdo.
But is it weird for a Christian to do the stuff the Bible talks about? Or is it more weird if we donât?
Turn to Mark 5, and letâs get normal.
0:00 - Introduction
1:20 - Schizophrenic Behavior
4:25 - Demons Know Jesus
6:40 - Demons Have a Day of Judgment
12:35 - Finding Out a Demonâs Name
19:00 - A Demon of Cigarettes?
27:00 - Next
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
If youâre intrigued by strange Bible stories, uncovering Bible mysteries, or learning about unusual biblical teachings, this podcast is for you! Dive deep into weird Bible facts, biblical controversies, and the supernatural in the Bible, while exploring the hidden stories of the Bible you may have never heard. Get a fresh perspective as we explain the Bible in ways that challenge the norm and uncover the unexpected. Iâm so glad youâre here- donât forget to SUBSCRIBE so that you never miss an episode!
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I remember being a younger Christian and sharing a meal with a couple of older pastors, who got to talking about a Bible story of demon possession. It may have been the one weâre in today, actually.
And one of them just mentioned, quite offhandedly, that of course, demon-possessed people in the Bible were actually just dealing with sickness and mental issues. And the other quickly agreed.
And I was like, a teenager at the time, and these were two longtime pastors, older men- I think they were Lutherans- so I didnât say anything. I figured I must have misunderstood them, I didnât want to look like an idiot, so I kept my mouth shut.
But I had been raised Pentecostal. And I had no idea back then that some Christians didnât really believe in the existence of demons. That they had alternative interpretations of all these passages where demons manifest, possess people, speak to Jesus or the apostles, inflict physical problems and sickness on people- and I had no idea that some Christians denied what the Bible clearly taught about evil spiritual beings.
So Iâm not going to let you remain ignorant today. The Bible says that demons are real, and theyâre capable of doing things in the physical world, and the things they can doâŠare weird.
And Iâd like to explore what the Bible has to say about them.
Turn to Mark 5, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - Introduction
1:40 - The Study of Demons
6:25 - The Powers of Demons (Super-Strength)
12:15 - Surrounded by Death
20:45 - Next Time
24:00 - Mailbag
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
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I said it on the first episode of this podcast: if youâre a modern Christian living in a westernized country, youâre weird. Youâre living in a very weird time and weird place in human history.
Because we are taught to accept rational, scientific explanations for things. Weâre told that if you canât find it in a test tube or with a telescope or see it with your own two eyes, then it probably doesnât exist.
Most people, and perhaps even most western Christians, have absolutely no concept of a spiritual battle taking place around them at all times. No awareness of angels and demons.
Most Christians might be aware that yeah, there are spiritual forces that exist; but they never really think about them outside of church. Once Monday morning hits, most Christians often give no more thought to the spiritual realm than your average atheist.
I find this to be weird, and Iâd like to explore what the Bible has to say about spiritual reality.
Turn to II Kings 6, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - Introduction
1:30 - Behind-the-Scenes Code
4:00 - Elisha and Gehazi
8:15 - Your Eyes Can Deceive You
13:00 - Gehaziâs Eyes Opened
20:30 - Next Time
22:45 - All Around Elisha
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
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The Bible has some hard commandments in it. âDo everything without worrying or complaining.â âForgive 70x7 times.â âBe content in all circumstances.â âThou shalt not covet thy neighborâs wifi.â âThou shalt not boil a young goat in its motherâs milk.â
Iâm sure Iâm not the only person out there who struggles with these.
OK, maybe that last one was kind of a joke. That actually is in the Bible, and itâs a weird thing in the Bible, but thatâs not the weird thing I want to focus on today. Maybe weâll circle back to it in a future episode.
No, the thing I want to focus on today, and perhaps a harder instruction than all those others, is a command found in
I Timothy 2:1-2
First of all, then, I urge that supplications, prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings be made for all people, 2 for kings and all who are in high positions, that we may lead a peaceful and quiet life, godly and dignified in every way.
Wait a minute, what? Weâre supposed to pray for our leaders? That wouldnât include presidents I donât like, would it?
Well, it says âfor kings and all who are in high positions.â
So perhaps presidents, then. But not the bad presidents, right? Not the evil and wicked rulers who sometimes get into power over us? God surely couldnât be telling us to pray for THEM, right?
I find this to be weird, and Iâd like to explore why itâs in the Bible.
Turn to II Kings 6, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - Introduction
2:00 - Ben-Hadad and Elisha
5:55 - Who Was Jehoram?
7:55 - Supplications and Prayers for Leaders
12:15 - Intercessions
16:25 - Thanksgiving
20:20 - Mailbag
22:45 - Closing Thoughts
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
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The raising of Lazarus. The 10 Plagues in Egypt. Walking on Water. Feeding the 5,000.
There are lots of miracle in the stories that are pretty well-known, even by non-Christians. Most of them are done by Jesus, but Moses and Elijah have their fair share as well.
But thereâs a miracle in II Kings 6 thatâs just a bit harder to categorize. Itâs not nearly as dramatic as other miracles; it doesnât solve a problem that seems nearly as dire as something like parting the Red Sea to save all the Israelites. And it can leave us scratching our heads wondering what itâs even doing in the Bible.
II kings 6:5-7 has this story of some men chopping down trees by a river
5 But as one was felling a log, his axe head fell into the water, and he cried out, âAlas, my master! It was borrowed.â 6 Then the man of God said, âWhere did it fall?â When he showed him the place, he cut off a stick and threw it in there and made the iron float. 7 And he said, âTake it up.â So he reached out his hand and took it.
So a man is distressed that he broke an ax, so Elisha throws a stick in the water, which makes the iron ax head float back up to the surface. A miracle, sureâŠbut kind of mundane compared to the rest.
In fact, another element of this story Iâd like to study today is that Elisha is only given a limited amount of miracles to do, and this is how he chooses to use one of them.
I find this to be weird, and Iâd like to explore why itâs in the Bible.
Turn to II Kings 6, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - Introduction
2:00 - A Double Anointing
5:25 - A Wasted Anointing?
7:25 - The Context
12:20 - So What Does it Mean?
14:45 - Next Time
16:45 - The God of Everything
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
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Most of us would agree that God and Satan are about as different as you can get. That they are such polar opposites that it would be virtually impossible to confuse one with the other. That it would be tantamount to heresy to try to compare the two.
And yet, thereâs a mystery to the identity of the figure called the âGod of this Worldâ in II Corinthians chapter 4.
Verse 4 of that chapter says
In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
So, the conventional wisdom or assumption that most Christians make is that the âgod of this worldâ must be Satan. The reason being, this figure is said right here to be blinding the minds of unbelievers to prevent them from hearing the Gospel. Sounds like a not-good thing to do, right?
However- that raises the question: if unbelievers have had their minds blinded by Satan, then how is it their fault that the donât obey the Gospel? How can God hold it against them that they donât believe if itâs not their fault?
And is it really true that Satan would have the power to blind people to Godâs truth?
But then if itâs not Satan, if itâs actually God, then that raises another question: why would God blind people to the truth about Himself?
Itâs not clear-cut any way you look at it. And itâs strange that this one mysterious figure could potentially either be God or Satan.
That kind of mistake isnât like mixing up the ranch dressing with the caesar dressing. This is like mixing up the ranch dressing with boiling hot lava that melts your face off. It shouldnât be that hard to figure outâŠyet it kinda is.
I find this to be weird, and Iâd like to explore why itâs in the Bible.
Turn to II Corinthians 4, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - Introduction
2:30 - The Context
5:15 - Is it Satan?
10:40 - is it God?
16:45 - Hardenings and Delusions
20:20 - The Abandonment Wrath of God
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
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Last week I was discussing a weird story about Moses in Exodus 4, I came across another pretty odd verse that generates some confusion among Christians: Exodus 4:21.
Now, I didnât want to stop and analyze that verse because it would have taken me on a rabbit trail, and I was already trying to talk about a different weird thing, and I would have had to go down a weird-ception of weird-within-a-weird. So I decided to come back to it this week.
And what does Exodus 4:21 say? Well, itâs as Moses is on his way back to Egypt, and God says
(Exodus 4:21)
âWhen you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the miracles that I have put in your power. But I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.
So thatâs strange because it raises the question of whether Pharaoh even had a choice about how everything was going to play out. Because if you know the story, Pharaoh doesnât want to let the people go, and he pays a pretty steep price for it.
And yet Pharaoh never relents. All throughout the story, his heart is harder than your grandmaâs fruit cake at Christmas.
But this claim that God would harden Pharaohâs heart makes it seem like Pharaoh wasnât even really able to let the people go if he wanted to. So what gives? Did Pharaoh have free will?
And perhaps more importantly to us: do you and I have free will?
I find this to be weird, and Iâd like to explore why itâs in the Bible.
Turn to Exodus 4, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - Introduction
1:40 - What is a Hard Heart?
5:20 - God vs Pharaoh
8:40 - Is Anyone at Fault?
12:40 - Next Time
14:25 - Would God Harden our Hearts?
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
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So, a funny thing happened on the way to Egypt after Moses spoke to the burning bush.
Something you have probably never heard about.
Even if you have read it before, this is such a bizarre paragraph of Scripture that you probably just read right on through without stopping to dwell on it.
When most of us tell the story of Moses, we start with his origins in the Nile River, how he was born an Israelite slave and how he came to be raised in Pharaohâs palace, how he killed a man and ran away into the wilderness, how he got married to Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro. How one day he talked to a Burning Bush who said He was God and told Moses to go back to Egypt and âLet My People Go.â And as we tell the story, he went back to Egypt and started doing the 10 Plagues and you know the rest.
Or do you? Because there was another really odd moment that happened in the midst of that that nobody ever talks about. Itâs right after Moses has just been talking to the burning bush, and heâs returning to Egypt.
Exodus 4:24
24 At a lodging place on the way the Lord met him and sought to put him to death.
Woah, what? The Lord wanted to kill Moses? Moses hasnât even done anything yet. Like, God sent him back to Egypt, Moses seems to be doing what God said, Moses has been in ministry for like 5 minutes, and yet already he has blown it so bad that God wants Moses killed.
And then what happens next seems like a complete non-sequitur.
Verses 25
25 Then Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son's foreskin and touched Moses' feet with it and said, âSurely you are a bridegroom of blood to me!â
This is perhaps one of the strangest turns of events throughout the entire Bible.
And after this little event, thereâs not really any explanation given. Moses goes to meet Aaron and they go to meet Pharaoh and the story takes off from there. And this little interlude on the way back to Egypt from Jethroâs place often gets forgotten about in the grand and epic story of Moses.
This didnât come up in the Charlton Heston 10 Commandments movie.
This wasnât a scene in The Prince of Egypt.
This didnât even end up in the Veggie Tales version of the story.
(And Iâm sure Junior Asparagus was extremely grateful about that).
So why did God want to literally kill Moses 5 minutes into his ministry before he even got into Egypt? And why did his wife follow that up with circumcising her son and calling Moses a bridegroom of blood?
I find this to be awkwardâŠand kinda grossâŠand weirdâŠand Iâd like to explore why itâs in the Bible.
Turn to Exodus 4, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - Introduction
3:00 - Reviewing the Context
8:15 - A Tale of Three Sons
16:55 - Families Need Spiritual Leadership
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
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When I first got into ministry, I didnât know what to do with I Kings 13. I knew God must be trying to communicate something from this story, but I couldnât figure out what. So many things didnât line up with my preconceptions.
You have a couple of prophets in this story. Now, in almost every Old Testament story with a prophet of God, they are the good guy. What they do is usually the heroic or brave thing. Theyâre usually the one setting the example for us.
In this story, the prophets are not too brilliant. Theyâre great at hearing God. Not so great at the follow-through. And this story can leave us scratching our heads, wondering what the lesson was in all this.
But as I said, it confused me when I first got into ministry and serious Bible study, because I wasnât sure what to do with it. After a while, I think I figured out what God is saying here and what Heâs saying to us today.
So I couldnât have been happier to get this email from Alana at my church. It said: Iâd love to learn more about 1 Kings 13. Itâs such an odd story.
Totally agree. I find this story to be weird, and Iâd like to explore why itâs in the Bible.
Turn to I Kings 13, and letâs get weird.
0:00 - Introduction
1:30 - Roscoe the Young Prophet
8:00 - Cletus the Old Prophet
17:15 - The Young Prophetâs Fate
20:30 - Next Time
22:00 - Closing Thoughts
If you want to get in touch, my email is [email protected]
Hosted by Luke Taylor
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