Let's take a trip back in time. Let's go back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, when early Christians were trying to figure out and codify what Christianity really was! The apostles defined it pretty clearly. It was all about Jesus! He was the Son of God - God incarnate - God come in human flesh! He lived - died - rose again bodily from the dead, and rules the world through the presence and power of the Holy Spirit! That narrative was offensive to the modern, sophisticated Greco-Roman philosophical mind. The image of the blood and the humiliating execution of an innocent God-man was barbaric and simplistic. Here come the heresies! Gnosticism led the way! There was not just one God, there were two! There was a good God who was distant and unapproachable, and there was a 2nd God, who was flawed and rebellious. He created a messed-up world - the one we live in. Jesus was a created being, sent by the good God to fix everything. Are you confused yet? It just gets more mind-bending! But this Gnostic thought persisted then, and it persists today! Let's get into this twisted theology and find out why it continues to be so attractive!

Maybe you've heard of it. Maybe you have it memorized. Maybe you have no idea what the Nicene Creed is, or any other creed for that matter! Creeds are statements of faith, but they are so much more! A creed is a line in the sand, a standard of beliefs that are agreed upon, abided by, and ferociously guarded. The Nicene Creed is perhaps the most famous. It arose from a Council called by none other than Constantine himself! It was a crazy time, driven by controversy and fueled by intense debate. In this episode, we look at the content of the creed, but mostly dig deep into the heresy that caused it, and the bizarre events surrounding it!

When we read the Gospel of Matthew, we immediately get bogged down in all of the begets and begottens, so we skip over that part and get to the good stuff! Likewise, when we read the Gospel of Luke, we love to read about Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, and all the magnificence that comes with the Christmas narrative. Then we run into this boring list of who's who and what's what, so we skip over that and run ahead into the action! Not so fast! What if we told you there is a matrix of theology, intentional messaging, and mathematical brilliance lying just under the surface of these mysterious ancestral lists? Trust us! There is so much more than meets the eye! Join us as we plunge through the portal and enter the cryptic world of the genealogy of the Son of God! You don't want to miss this one!

You say you want a revolution, well you know. We all want to change the world! That's the tone of Zecharia's prophetic song! After 9 months of being unable to speak, he names his child John, his mouth is opened, his tongue is loosed, and this incredible song erupts from the depths of his soul! It is a song of revolution, of overthrow, of a coming Messiah who will free them from the oppression of their enemy and restore their land! But the song takes a turn about two-thirds through. It's a different kind of revolution, triggered not by military might, but by the forgiveness of sins! The Sunrise will come, ushering in a wave of peace! What is he prophesying about? That's what we're getting into today. The Sunrise. The branch. The anatole! You're going to have your mind blown at what is revealed in this incredible song!

This is a well-worn passage in the Christmas story found in the Gospel of Luke. Mary is visited by an angel who tells her some amazing and disturbing news. She is going to conceive a child by God and from God who will be the Savior of the world! She is unsettled at first, but her tone changes when she realizes what she's been chosen to do! She breaks out in song! We often see this as a sweet little song sung by a teenage girl who is obedient to the Lord. But there is deep theology in this song. Prophetic truth! These are hardly the words of a 14-year old! Where does she get this language and knowledge that is clearly beyond her years? And what is this song really conveying? This is the Magnificat, and when you dig deeper, your mind will be blown!

Here we go again! This is another conversation that arose out of an intersection between faith and culture. We've talked about the antichrist before. We had a whole episode on it in our Revelation series. But just a few weeks ago, multi-billionaire Peter Thiel gave a series of lectures in an exclusive setting in San Francisco. He fancies himself to be a sort of modern-day futurist. I guess if you have a bazillion dollars, you can call yourself anything you want! He claims to be a person of faith, and in his talks, he referenced the antichrist numerous times! He seems to be low-key obsessed with this idea! This sparked a renewed interest in the public sector, with a barrage of talks, articles, and random social media videos. So, let's get into it! Where did this idea of the antichrist come from? How many times is it referenced in Scripture? Is it a person, or an ideology? When will this antichrist show up? What will he/it do? Who is the antichrist?

This world has gone crazy! It's understandable. We are constantly bombarded with information, events, trends, and disruption. Things move so fast and furiously that we get overwhelmed by conflict and chaos. In the midst of all this, the temptation is to retreat - to go back in time to when life was simpler, slower, easier to navigate. We are seeing trends among younger people. trad-wives, homesteading, organic micro-farms, off-the-grid living. One of the more alarming trends that has popped up recently, ironically, in the Christian atmosphere, is a suggestion that we reimagine how we think about marriage - specifically bringing back polygamy - men having multiple wives! Where is this coming from? For sure, it is in the Bible, but is it the norm, or an accommodation by God in an ancient pagan culture? Where does the newfangled idea of polyamory fit in? Why can't we just leave well enough alone?

You may have heard of this phenomenon by the terms euthanasia, assisted suicide, or physician-assisted suicide. Perhaps you're familiar with the original Dr. Death - Jack Kevorkian. What you may not know is that this is now an established and growing practice in many countries, including ten states in the U.S.! Traditionally, the guidelines and policies surrounding what is now called medical assistance in dying required that a person was in such a condition that there was no hope. Terminal illness, unbearable pain, a few months to live, etc. But several countries, including Canada, are loosening those restrictions to include conditions such as mental illness or mental disorder! And - they are considering extending the opportunity to request this service to people they call mature minors! What is going on? Where will it end? What does the Bible and Christian tradition have to say about all this?