Wholly Buyable

In jealous rage, God will consume the whole earth with fire, and all life will end suddenly in a catastrophic end time event for the planet. No one living in Jerusalem at the time the prophet Zephaniah is writing can say they haven’t been warned, but, there is hope. There is still time for Judah's people to turn things around, get a grip, humble themselves before God and try and do the right...

In dramatic poetic language, the prophet Habakkuk describes a furious God bestriding the earth, shaking mountains and hills and firing arrows of lighting to create rivers and seas. He then passes his pen to the prophet Zephaniah whose verses direct God’s fury at Jewish leaders who have not only abandoned God, but who have placed their faith in pagan deities, an act of treachery which God will not...

Before the nation of Judah has even fallen, the prophet Nahum announces the future destruction of its formidable and seemingly unstoppable enemy, Babylon. No punches are pulled as the prophet describes the terror that will rain down on this ancient Near Eastern superpower. Then, the prophet Habakkuk takes the floor, and registers his outrage that God is using the godless Babylonians to punish the...

Judah’s wealthy elite are violent, and the ordinary people are liars, and this is why God has begun to ruin them.  They will eat but never feel that they have had enough. They will store up wealth only to have their treasures plundered by enemy soldiers. They will plant and harvest but never see the fruit of their labour. Punishment is coming, Micah tells readers, but the good times will return an...

Incredibly, a man who lives almost two centuries before the Jews of Judah are defeated then exiled to Babylon, has a vision. In it, he hears God telling him exactly what will happen to his people. What makes Micah's prediction even more impressive is that he seems to know what happens next. Not only will a remnant of the Jews survive, they will be given a ruler who appears to be none other th...

Israel and Judah's leaders hate good and love evil. They tear the skin and flesh from people’s bones, eat their flesh, smash their bones and butcher them like meat for the pot. But punishment is coming. Their ancestral land will be ploughed like a field, Jerusalem will become rubble and the hill on which the temple sits will be overgrown with weeds.  But Micah's words are not a warning,...

Given it's one of the most famous stories in the Bible, if not literature, Jonah's story needs little introduction. But most people who know that Jonah is swallowed alive forget that he not only accomplishes his mission, but brings about the largest mass conversion in the Bible. Much of it while absolutely furious! Written and produced by Chas Bayfield Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawki...

As Amos' book ends, Israel's renegade Jews are told there is nowhere to hide. God will send a monster to hunt them out of the sea, he will smoke them out of mountain caves and snatch them out of the sky. Attention then turns to the prophet Obadiah who, it's fair to say, is less than happy with Judah's neighbour, Edom. Obadiah is a short book but a feisty one, and few diatribes...

In a morally bankrupt Israel, a priest orders the shepherd-prophet Amos to take his message of doom back to Judah. “Earn your bread there and do your prophesying there,” he tells him. The man sees Amos' words as counter-cultural and offensive. Telling Israel's spiritual leaders that they are wrong is treasonous, he says, as if patriotism trumps actually following God. It's a powerfu...

“ The swift will not escape, the strong will not muster their strength, and the warrior will not save his life. The archer will not stand his ground, the fleet-footed soldier will not get away, and the horseman will not save his life. Even the bravest warriors will flee naked on that day.” These are tough words from an Old Testament prophet, and the Jews of Israel and Judah have a simple choice: t...

The land may have ben scourged by a locust swarm but punishment will not last, the prophet Joel says. God will drive the hordes or insects into the Dead Sea and wine will flow from Israel's mountains. The shepherd Amos then takes the prophet's baton and immediately launches into a withering diatribe against Israel's neighbours. Woe abounds. Written and produced by Chas Bayfield Musi...

Given how central Israel is to the Bible, it seems at best avoidant to not attempt to put this ancient nation - and its present day iteration - in context. No politics or agenda, just a bit of history that allows listeners to understand Israel's biblical origin story, and what happened next. Written and produced by Chas Bayfield Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music Cover art by Lisa Go...

It's n0t too late for Israel's Jews to turn back to God and abandon the idols and other pagan deities who they have been worshipping themselves. To help them reach that decision, Hosea paints a terrifying future where Israel faces utter devastation. He then hands the baton to the prophet Joel whose predictions are even bleaker. Joel describes a catastrophic locust swarm that will decimat...

If the Old Testament prophet Hosea is known for anything, it is because God orders him to marry a "promiscuous woman". And though this action dominates the early part of Hosea's book, it is not even referred to in the later chapters.  The marriage is simply a teachable moment to alert Israel's Jews of the danger of worshipping gods that aren't God, but it is the tragedy th...

The narrative moves on from Hosea and his promiscuous wife to a full on diatribe  against Israel. The nation is ruled by adulterers whose sins burn like an oven so hot that it doesn't need stoking for over two hours. God is furious with his people, particularly those in charge of everyone's spirituality, and Hosea spells out the punishments they can expect from God.  There will be conseq...

A man is told by God to find himself a promiscuous woman as a wife. Not only that, he names their children as warnings to wayward Israel. This isn't the kind of story that springs to mind when people think of the Bible, but here at Wholly Buyable, if it's in the book, it's in the podcast. Written and produced by Chas Bayfield Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music Cover art by...

The prophet Daniel receives an epic account of the future from a terrifying angel. Detailed predictions spanning centuries of Near Eastern history pour from the angel's mouth, and incredibly, almost every one of these can be mapped against real historical events. If true, these are some of the most incredible prophecies ever recorded. Written and produced by Chas Bayfield Music by Michael Aul...

Now an old man, the prophet Daniel is blindsided by a terrifying angelic visitor as he stands by a Persian river. The angel delivers a bewildering message that maps geopolitical developments in the Ancient Near East. If the message was indeed given to Daniel in the sixth century BC, it contains some of the most accurate prophecy ever recorded. Futurology nerds have been trying to figure out the ma...

In one of the most famous stories in the Bible, if not literature, a Jewish exile from Judah who has risen to power in the Babylonian regime is thrown into a pit filled with ravenous lions.  Written and produced by Chas Bayfield Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music Cover art by Lisa Goff E: contact@whollybuyable.com X: Wholly Buyable Podcast

When Babylon's tyrannical king, Nebuchadnezzar erects a giant golden effigy and expects everyone in his kingdom to worship it, there is pushback, especially from Daniel's companions from Judah, Shadrach, Meshach and Abednigo.  Threatened by death in a furnace if they do not bow down to the golden god, the men have a difficult choice to make: compromise their faith, or die horribly. Writt...

The last of the great prophecty books begins. With its pin sharp predictions and epic action sequences, Daniel's book has transcended the Bible. The man thrown to the lions has long been part of popular culture, but there is far more to Daniel's story than his face-off against apex predators. Written and produced by Chas Bayfield Music by Michael Auld and Jon Hawkins Music Cover art by L...

Having spent multiple chapters taking down notes for the design of Jerusalem's new temple, Ezekiel sees a dramatic vision of a great river flowing from beneath the building. A river so fast and wide that after less than a mile, it is impossible to swim across.  The prophet then believes he hears God telling him the tribal boundaries of a new Israel. Unsurprisingly, Ezekiel's book continu...

Bible experts have long been confused as to why the chapters at the end of the Book of Ezekiel go into such granular detail about a building which, over 2500 years later, has yet to be constructed. It's one of the marvels of the Bible, and sits surprisingly comfortably in a book that has a man lie on one side for over a year, who is ordered to cook on a fire made from his own poo, whose wife...

After detailing a formidable future enemy of Israel whose ultimate and catastrophic defeat will demonstrate God's power, Ezekiel's book segues into design specifications for a future Jerusalem temple. If ever a book in the Bible sung to its own tune, it's this one.  Fans of floor plans and structural measurements will have an absolute ball with this episode. Written and produced by...

The toe bone's connected to the foot bone. The foot bone's connected to the heel bone In one of the most famous passages from the Old Testament, the prophet Ezekiel sees a valley strewn with dry bones.  Bones which, thanks to the Spirit of God, reform to become a living breathing army. The Valley of the Dry Bones is one of the Bible's absolute gems. Written and produced by Chas Bayf...