Gospels Episodes

If you have followed this podcast for some time, you might detect some discrepancies. And you would be right. I’m not what many would call a seasoned Christian. My journey as a Christian has been but a few short years. Perhaps my life was preparing me for the journey, only God can say, because when I finally embarked on this journey, it was what many would describe as fervent, zealous - even fanatical if you ask some. I have a “four to eight” program (Go to bed at 4 PM, get up at 4 AM, study unt...

Some of the most challenging tests for the Berean Filter app come from religions that don’t negate Jesus but redefine Him. We saw this when we researched the Muslim challenges to Christianity. Today, we looked at the top 5 challenges a Jehovah's Witness would present and fed them into the Berean Search app to test the response. Armed with the response from the Berean Search app, we then turned it around and started asking questions that would make the average Jehovah’s Witness uncomfortable. Unl...

We scoured the web for some of the top objections a Muslim person would raise against Christianity. Then we fed those questions into the Berean Teacher Search App to get a direct scriptural response. This was part of our plan to test the abilities of the Berean Teacher to respond to some of the toughest objections a Christian might face. When the question of lineage comes up, there is something the Berean app initially failed to bring up that completely reframes why Mary's genealogy is so import...

We’ve talked a lot on this podcast about how the internet and AI can lead you astray with one simple strategy: affirmation. Your social media account, all the places you’ve visited online, all the videos you watch, all of it is a reflection of you. Jump into an AI chat, tell it what you're thinking, even if it’s completely wrong, and you’re likely to get the most amazing support to the point where you’re convinced that you could never be wrong on this. It’s worse when there are multiple, but unp...

When you engage with the Bible and the Holy Spirit, you never know where it is going to lead you. This morning, in my quiet time, I sought to understand the relationship between the old temple and the new temple. That led me to seek a deeper understanding of the role of the Holy Spirit. As you dig into these questions, you can't avoid the garden metaphors that are everywhere, so we chased those metaphors. That led to one of the coolest revelations of all. God is Growing a Garden. Well, it all co...

You know, 10 years ago we would see the stories on the front page of the National Enquirer with headlines like: My Dad is an Alien . Now, the people who were once on the fringes of the News headlines are testifying to the US Congress. Americans are bracing themselves for disclosure. So far, there’s a lot of testimony, some pretty interesting videos, and random smartphone videos pepper the web. Whether real or not, it's common. I don’t think it will be long before we are presented real actual und...

This podcast is responding a listener request about reincarnation. During the discussion, we learned a number of things. While addressing the issue of reincarnation, we also found out the following, and I have a feeling this is more common among professed Christians than you might think. These statements are telling. I find it really difficult to read the Bible; it’s just too hard to understand. I’m a good person. I think all people end up in heaven. Bad people come back reincarnated to learn th...

If you’ve ever gone through the interview process of some of the bigger companies, you were probably given some sort of a personality test… even if you didn’t realize it. The tech company I worked for liked Myers-Briggs. We all knew our MTBI, and most of us could ascertain the MTBI of our coworkers in a matter of minutes. As a salesperson, I was trained to ascertain my client's MTBI as quickly as possible and to tailor my responses to what works best within that person’s framework. Yeah… compani...

I don't know about you, but if the four Gospels were identical copies of each other, what would be the point? If four people walk into a courtroom as key eyewitnesses and they deliver exactly the same testimony, what would you think? Why should you expect the eyewitness accounts in the gospels to be any different? As a Christian, I always read knowing that I'm seeing the gospels from different perspectives. If you want to view the Gospels from a single narrative, look up the Gospel harmonies tha...

So, I’m in the midst of writing a book and the first part takes place in Israel and I’m trying, as a Christian, to understand the Bible from a Jewish perspective. IT IS REALLY HARD! I don’t know if it’s just because I have not engaged the scripture so much from that side of the fence or not. In a game of Christian vs. Jew, the Christian ideology seems to make more sense of the text. The Jews have an obstacle that they have to dance around - namely Jesus and the Cross. Notes for Jews and Christia...

We come to the end of John's gospel and find one of the most intimate moments in all of the Gospels. We see Peter at his most vulnerable and Jesus at his most compassionate. Notes for Peters Restoration Episode Link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/peters-restoration/

Now that we have walked through most of the Red Letters in the gospels, we can go back to some of the highlights. The Bible never ceases to amaze me with its depths and revelations. This is why you can read the Bible for your entire life and always find new nuggets hidden in plain sight. Today, we lean on Sam Shamoun to help us with the passage about the woman who was caught in adultery. She was brought before Jesus to trap him. A quick note about Sam Shamoun: What sets him apart is his remarkab...

With yesterday being Tax Day in the US we thought it would be appropriate to dig deeper into the tax trap presented to Jesus. I just did my taxes yesterday. I always wait because I always owe money. After putting in a solid 10 hours just trying to complete the forms and forage through my financial maze, it got me to thinking about how much money really does rule our lives! Often the first thing that comes to mind when you're do your taxes is "I earned this, why isn't it mine?" Then you think abo...

As we were studying the burial of Jesus, this surfaced. We decided to do an entire podcast on it because it was such a cool revelation. Jesus has his footprints all over the Old Testament. But until you connect with it, sometimes, you just kind of read right over it. If you're like me, you read the information about the construction of the Mercy Seat in Exodus with maybe some mild interest. God instructs its construction with such incredible detail. You know it's significant, but in context, you...

One might be inclined to indict Judas for his premeditated betrayal. I think we come at Judas and pre-judge. But I've often considered the idea that Judas's intentions might have been good. I think this because I can't see how a person can walk with Jesus for that long and not think otherwise. Whatever Judas is doing, in his own head, he thinks he's doing the right thing... until he realizes he was wrong. In any case, we can't separate the betrayal of Judas from the denial of Peter and say that ...

After Mark's stark, abrupt end, we turn to the remaining Gospels and harmonize the events that filled out the rest of Sunday. Notes for He's Not Here Episode Link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/hes-not-here/

We are on the other side of the crucifixion. Easter has passed, and on our Red-Letter journey, we come up to what I can only describe as jarring! When you have invested as much time as we have and focused on the harmony of all four gospels, there is something in Mark's last chapter that I've simply highlighted and marked as OPTIONAL. Let's explain. We have added Mike Winger's research and transcript to this Podcast. Mike has done an in-depth study of Mark 16. We summarize his video transcript in...

How many times have you blown over the passage. Yeah, you marveled that Peter heard the rooster crow, which recalls what Jesus told Peter would happen when they were in the upper room. But let's really dig into this. There is so much we can learn from Peter in this moment and the subsequent restoration. Notes for Lovest Thou Me Episode Link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/lovest-thou-me-the-restoration-of-peter/

As you listen to this podcast today, reflect on how little has changed. As I was reading the accounts of the interrogation of Jesus, it struck me how much we could learn just by going back to our roots for justice, for accusation, for testimony. Think about this. We often drag people (via subpoena) to "testify under oath" in the hopes of setting up a perjury trap. Smear campaigns are more than normal; they are part of the system. Leak something to the media - it doesn't have to be true; it just...

I think today's podcast is a helpful example of how we study. I spend a good part of my day in a variety of different resources. This is daily and habitual. In between all of that, I actually retreat to work, which has nothing to do with my biblical studies. My commercial breaks during the day usually return me to my Christian studies. I usually open with a section of the Bible I want to read in the morning. But my brain is saying, " Hey, that's cool - remember this from yesterday or a few days ...

It's been a tough night and it's only just begun. Jesus knows that his disciples are going to go through a lot. What's fascinating here is Jesus is more concerned with his disciples than with Himself. He knows exactly what is to transpire within the next few hours and His concern is for them. Notes and Commentary for Jesus Prays for the Eleven Episode Link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/jesus-prays-for-the-eleven/

Sometimes we tend to think of the cross as the finish line. But Jesus chooses to look past it. I was tempted to call it a speed bump, but it's way more than that. I know we've already discussed Gethsemane so this podcast and the next two occurs out of sequence. It is likely that the prayer in John 17 is before they reach Gethsemane. John Chapter 17 stands alone and while it probably occurs before Jesus retreats to the deeper recesses of Gethsemane, the context reaches beyond Gethsemane, indeed b...

We hear Jesus last words to the eleven before the cross, and Jesus answers the question the disciples are too distraught to ask. For many Christians, even today, the Cross is a mystery that it doesn't need to be. Jesus spells it out. It is proven and acted upon. Today, we go deep into John 16:1-11, asking the questions that Jesus knew were on the disciples' minds, even if they could not see clearly through their tears. Notes for Why Jesus Had To Go Episode Link:

If you can read John 14:4-14 and are not waiting for the same answer to the question that Thomas asks, then I want to talk to you some more! I think we are all taught the theology, but do we grasp the how? Thomas is not weak in his faith. He has spent the last three and a half years and has witnessed the miracles that transform faith to proof bound experiential belief. Thomas is the kind of guy who says I saw it with my own eyes, I know it. He doesn't just believe it, he knows it! I think we are...