Revelation Episodes

Today we're continuing our journey through one of the most important themes in all of Scripture: the temple. When most Christians hear the word temple, they think of a building in Jerusalem. Some think of Solomon's Temple. Others think of a future temple still waiting to be built. But what if the story begins much earlier than that? What if the temple was never primarily about a building at all? In this series, we're tracing the temple from its very beginning, following the thread from Eden th...

You can read the Bible as a historical text, but if you do that, you’ll be hard-pressed to explain several passages that God-fearing people are often pressed with. One such question that often goes unanswered is how a loving God can command the utter destruction of entire races. One such example: Deuteronomy 20:16-18 - However, in the cities of the nations the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance, do not leave alive anything that breathes. 17 Completely destroy them—the Hittites, Amorit...

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...

In our last study, we addressed the question of the rapture head-on. This taught me a lesson that I sometimes forget. Read the text! Understand the context. It seems that no matter what denomination and no matter how well-versed the pastor is, the theory of the rapture changes like changing the channel on the television. The pastor is the news anchor. If you don’t like CNN’s version, flip over to Fox. If you don’t like Fox’s version, flip over to MSNBC. Nobody seems to be reporting the event. Th...

Probably nothing is debated more among Christians than the Rapture. I was just watching a sermon by Pastor David Jeremiah, and I think even he is caught up in the systems developed to predict and explain the rapture of the church. Frankly, while I love this pastor and, like so many others, I think he gets it wrong on this issue. Full disclosure. If you follow me through this podcast, from the beginning, I present all the angles. It is really a hard question, and if you rely on Pastors and Teach...

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 unde...

I think we are on the cusp of a buzzword becoming reality. Ray Kurzweil predicted the singularity to happen around 2030. I think he was right about the substance; he was wrong about the when (but not by much). The (technological) singularity is a hypothetical point when artificial intelligence surpasses human intelligence, triggering rapid, self‑accelerating technological change that fundamentally transforms society and human life. The inspiration for this discussion came from a video by Wes R...

Yesterday we talked about: “The serpent we built.” This is the other side of the coin, now looking at the shepherd we follow. It derives from the exact same conversation we had with the Berean Teacher application about the Serpent We Built. We’ve entered an era in which we’re getting our guidance from AI - WAY BEYOND what to buy and what website we're looking for. You've heard people say this, I'm sure: “I absolutely know this is true! I saw it on the internet". Some say it tongue-in-cheek but m...

The Serpent We Built is an article developed for our Berean Teacher series. As you may have learned from recent episodes in this series: We used our Berean Teacher application and uploaded discussions and videos from a number of sources to get the Berean Teacher (an application confined to the scriptures) to weigh in on the recent news and topics submitted by our audience. The idea was to cover as much from all sides of the discussion as possible and then let the Berean Teacher respond with a co...

If you’re watching some of the biggest YouTube channels, or at least the biggest ones I watch - Chase Hughes, Steven Bartlett, Tom Bilyeu, the Why Files, and more, across the board, you are going to run into almost a universal consensus that we are living in a simulation. We decided to pit this theory against scripture using our Berean software. The Berean application was written to avoid the affirming nature of AI chats. The explicit instruction is that if I say something contrary to scripture...

This was a tough podcast to study for. The journey to Calvary is depicted in all four gospels, and each provides detail that paints a grueling picture of suffering. What you immediately notice about Jesus is not the agony of his suffering but his outreach and concern for the men doing this - and for His Mother. There is mockery from everywhere, even from the criminals beside him. When you bear the weight of this scene and see what Jesus is doing for all of those lining the path to see Him crucif...

As we leave Matthew 24, we leave with a warning. I'm multitasking right now in front of a YouTube video by John Barnett. If you're not familiar, he spends every waking moment in his online ministry discussing End Times. And he is REALLY GOOD at it though admittedly; I waver on dispensational theology and pretribulation rapture stuff. That said, that is is an interpretation no false prophecy and we as Christians should know the difference and not throw the baby out with the bathwater. John's teac...

There are a LOT of books written about Matthew Chapter 24. This podcast is NOT the last word on the subject. It is a perspective, and we think one worth noting. Look, the discussion of End Times sells books! It gets clicks. But the question to ask is how it will change your perspective today. I think the beauty of prophecy is in the not knowing. It draws you to the text. It is human nature to want to know. But if Jesus had said His return happens Easter Sunday in the year 2253 (or whatever, pic...

Today, we challenge traditional dispensational rapture theory. You've heard of or seen the rapture movies. There are five "Left Behind" movies. Here's a list: The Left Behind Franchise (All Versions): Both the original Kirk Cameron trilogy and the Nicolas Cage reboot are the most famous examples. They show the world immediately plunging into chaos as the Antichrist rises following the mass disappearance. The "A Thief in the Night Series": This classic series is a quintessential pre-trib...

Everyone is always looking for the major everts in prophetic literature. We've talked about prophetic compression before - the concept of two prophetic events that are spread out over time but stated very close together in biblical prophecy. When looking far into the future, you can see the peaks of the mountains, but you can't necessarily tell how far apart they are. [there are several examples within the source to draw from]. Today, we wanted to address prophetic compression from a differen...

On our Red-Letter journey, we just stepped onto the ground of Matthew 24. This is where many modern wannabe prophets will hang their hat and create grandiose predictions about raptures and end times and date setting and all that. Spoiler alert, we are not trying to figure out when the end of the world will come. I think about this when people ask me why I don't want to go there. First, I can't deny that I have gone that. I have. But I think about this as a reason why I don't. I used to work in ...

I don't know how I would have felt as a Jew in the audience on the temple court when Jesus was giving those scathing indictments to the Pharisees that we've been covering. But it got me to thinking about our Christian - Jewish relationships today. Israel and the United States have been solid political allies for sure. But that's politics! Typically, even our own church leaders don't go much beyond the political support and as long as you can proudly say "I stand with Israel", you are on solid gr...

Ok, if you want to know why we call this Podcast Rabbit Holes, you're about to follow how my brain works! I started today covering the last three woes and that ends in another lament by Jesus over Jerusalem. That got me wondering about the judgement that fell in AD 70. Then I thought, well, I don't really know what happened to the Jews after that. I know somehow, they survived, but how? So I followed that track all the way to 1948 where the Israel becomes a nation state. Then I think, ok, so why...

Ok, I certainly didn't think this is where the conversation was going. I'm an American! Money is a good thing right? Well, the more I dig, the more I discover. The more my eyes are open. I'll be the first to admit that this deep dive caught me off guard and I'm supposed to be the one producing the podcast! What we arrived probably takes 4 years of economics undergrad study and boils it down to a 30-minute indictment of money in the world. In our last deep dive, we saw Jesus completely dismantle...

Jesus didn't have a GPS, he had something better. He had ancient prophecy. And at this point in the journey, Jesus is the only one who can see the destination. The other disciples are blind and fearful. They are marching right where they think they ought not be traveling. Notes for Marching on the Roadmap Through Prophecy Episode Link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/marching-on-the-roadmap-through-prophecy/

As I continue to ponder John 8:21-30, my mind was connecting the meaning of all that we have discovered up to this point in our red-letter journey. Walking chronologically with Jesus through the gospels helps afford you the same maturity of thoughts and ideas that the disciples would have been going through. It's only fitting that each encounter feels more deeply meaningful. I like to consider myself the 15th disciple. Matthias was the 13th replacing Judas. Paul, the 14th and the rest, you, m...

What happens if man creates a system that does not depend on man? This is a more direct discussion leading to tomorrows podcast. I'll let you ponder it. No notes today, this is just a short intro. Episode link: https://www.rabbitholesandmeditations.com/creating-a-non-dependent-creation/

So, I walked into today's program preparation like every other day. But something clicked and given the context of where we are in scripture, I just didn't expect it. Earlier today, I did a study on the history leading up to the birth of Jesus. Then, on a completely unrelated part of scripture, that study became relevant. It wasn't the central theme, but it was a key component. But that was only part of it. As I'm reading, I'm watching how divine orchestration plays out. And it is there that ...

I've been working with AI daily for a couple of years. I use it in my work to augment the digital capabilities of my business. I use it to create this podcast. I've seen the amazing things it can do, and I've been down rabbit holes that have caused me to wake up to AI's inherent flaws. If you were to take a poll among senior AI engineers and developers, the overwhelming consensus is that AI will be the end of humanity. We take a look at this and discuss something that none of these AI guys ar...