Rabbit Holes & Meditations - Christian Bible Study

For three thousand years the prophets mocked the idols of the nations with a single taunt: "They have mouths, but they speak not... there is no breath at all in the midst of it" (Psalm 115:5; Habakkuk 2:19). Every idol in history was silent. Then Revelation 13 describes the day the silence ends — an image made by human hands, given breath, that speaks, deceives, and enforces worship. This podcast...

A seed you could lose in the crease of your palm. A tree so large the birds of the air move into its branches. And a quiet, centuries-long argument over what those birds are doing there. Jesus told the Parable of the Mustard Seed to the crowds, and three Gospels carry it. He explained the Sower. He explained the Wheat and the Tares figure by figure, in private, at His disciples’ request. This one...

Jesus explained this parable Himself. Symbol by symbol. And His explanation dismantles the chart on your church wall. The crowd got a story: a man sowed good seed in his field, and while men slept, his enemy came and sowed tares among the wheat, and went his way. The disciples got more. They came to Him privately, in the house, and asked. And He answered with a key no other parable receives. The s...

I won't lie, this gets heavy. I almost didn't publish this episode but decided that this podcast, as much as it is about Christianity and biblical truth, is also about a journey... mine obviously. So I hope it's provocative and mind-bending. For me, going through this was convicting. When I created the article (in the notes), I decided not to push that personal experience into the background. I th...

There is a verse that makes people close their Bibles. Jesus, explaining why He teaches in parables: that seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them (Mark 4:12). Read it plainly. It sounds like He tells stories so people won't understand. So they won't repent. So they won't...

“He knoweth not how.” That is what Jesus says about the man at the center of this parable. A farmer. He plants the seed. He brings in the harvest. And everything that matters in between — the growing — happens without him. By a power he cannot see. Cannot explain. Cannot control. Read that again. The man does not know how. Jesus said this to a crowd that wanted a kingdom they could watch arrive —...

You think you know this one. Four soils. Sunday school flannel-graph. Heard it a hundred times. Jesus says if you get this parable wrong, you get them all wrong. Know ye not this parable? and how then will ye know all parables? (Mark 4:13). His words. This is the key. Misread it and every parable after it breaks in your hands. So look at who He's talking to. Great multitudes on a shoreline — so ma...

Today we go for the Christian jugular. We asked the Berean search app some of the toughest questions about Christianity. Today’s podcast is Straight Up Challenges and Straight Up Answers to Christianity. The challenges. The New Testament is loaded with contradictions. Challenging the necessity of Baptism And the validity of infant Baptism Challenging Christian Exclusivity Science Disproves the Bib...

I created this short story to make a point. >> Julian  I would recommend you read the story first before listening to this podcast. Some who follow this podcast will get it; most people won't get it without the context. Hand the story to someone else but not the commentary (which I'll also post here). This podcast delves into the creative process behind developing the story, and the commenta...

I saw this video, “The Real Reason Fasting Attracts God,” and fed the transcript into the Berean filter to isolate the claims that overstepped the concept of fasting. I’ve always had this question about fasting, so today I used my quiet time to look at the texts called out in the video, to ignore conclusions that sometimes seemed overreaching, and ultimately to establish my own framework for fasti...

A great sermon always leads to a good conversation after church. Then pizza : ). Then home to feed and let the dogs out. But the subject never left my brain. I took a motorcycle ride on which the sermon kept playing back in my head. So back home in quiet time I found myself pondering how the serpent deceived Eve so easily. There was something there nagging at me. That led to the article you have i...

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 fanat...

They were the most religious men in Israel. Jesus called them children throwing a tantrum in the street. Not the sinners. Not the outsiders. The experts — the men who knew the Law cold, who fasted on schedule, who had built their whole lives on getting religion exactly right. He looked straight at them and reached for a picture from a playground. You have probably heard this parable preached soft....

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...

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 th...

This is exciting for us! Today, we launched The Berean Teacher so our listeners can access the same tool we use daily to understand the Bible and find answers to scripture that are supported by scripture. We will be refining this tool to adhere strictly to Berean standards, supporting scripture with scripture, avoiding interpretive traps and doctrine. The tool is not meant to flatter or affirm the...

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...

I know the questions. I was a staunch atheist before I ever took the bible seriously. These will throw any Christian off his game: Where did the dinosaurs come from? Why aren’t pyramids ever mentioned in the bible? Our science dates the earth millions of years before Genesis… how does the Bible explain that? There are monolithic structures that not only pre-date the bible, they pre-date humanity i...

Well, I started right where I should have in our journey tracing events in the bible where God has lived among men. The Israelites are about to construct the first human-built dwelling for God to live among them. I started today with Exodus 25 and didn’t get very far. I got to thinking about the last commandment (thou shalt not covet), about everything God is doing in this moment. I chased those t...

Typically when you embark on a journey to study end times in the bible you’re are bounced between Revelation, Daniel, Ezekiel, Zechariah with a little Matthew 24 and 24. Here, though, in season 5, As we walk through the Bible landing where God interacted with His creation, we are way back at the beginning and whatever the temple of the day was, we’re still seeing the connections leap off the page...

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? I...

I just watched a lengthy interview on Danny Jones podcast of Chris and Emily Bledsoe. the Title is NASA’s Forbidden Alien Study Finds Proof of Spiritual Beings | Chris & Emily Bledsoe. These are two of the most credible people discussing alien encounters I’ve ever seen. The point here is not to debunk their experience. Quite the opposite, I think we should take it very seriously. Included in t...

We are early in our journey tracing the trajectory of God’s direct interaction with his creation. What we’re already discovering is a very tender, very soft entry. God does not land abruptly, he lands softly and leads. Unfortunately, men don’t always listen. Still, as we track through this history, you’ll see the patience, the persistence and the love of a Father for his children. Today, we look a...

Just chillin’ with A.I. today. We may inject these conversations we have with A.I. occasionally into our podcast. One note before you attempt this. Always do it from a grounded position… or you will come away with a firm grip on the unreality you entered the conversation with! That, I believe is one of the dangers of A.I. We treat it as all knowing. You’ll see from this conversation that we do not...

If I'm being honest with you, the last few episodes have been heavy. We've spent a lot of time in some dark corners — the Nephilim, the corrupt powers behind the nations, the idol systems, the way that ancient spiritual machinery shows up in modern institutions, if you know what you're looking for. And I don't regret any of it. I think it's important. I think you need to see it clearly. But I'll t...