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Dennis Prager Podcasts
A highlight from Dennis & Julie: Exciting versus Enduring
"Hey everybody, Dennis Prager with Julie Hartman, Dennis and Julie. One of my favorite hour and 12 minutes of the week. Me too. Isn't that amazing? Yes. And what's also amazing is that we actually do probably three or four Dennis and Julie's a week that are not recorded because we talk on the phone so often. And sometimes, I don't know if you think this, sometimes when we're done speaking, I'm like, wish that were recorded. Really? Yes. That's an interesting point. But you know what's also great? We are very personal on this show. There's really, I can't think of many things that we talk about privately that we wouldn't talk about publicly. I think people understand that. That's why that guy called me and I've talked about this a lot, said, I have a great word for you Dennis, transparent, because I decided early on in my career that as unnatural as it seems, because people obviously hide parts of their lives from others, I thought I'm going to hide as little as possible. That's why people say to me more often than any other things when strangers meet me, you know, I feel like I really know you and I'm sorry and I say, you do. I can attest to that as someone who knows you off the air as well as on the air, listeners really do know you. It's also just easier being transparent because I can imagine that it's difficult to have to think, oh, did I say that? Should I say this? That's right. It's just kind of your default. It's like it's easier to be faithful than have an affair. Aside from all the moral issues and the hurt of my spouse, all of that stuff, putting aside that they're all real. A major reason not to have an affair is because of the amount of hiding you have to do and lying. It is not possible to have an affair and not become a serial liar. Well, one lie begets another lie, which begets another. It has to. I mean, if you say I was at the doctor's and they say, how was it? And then you go, yeah, let's say your wife runs into the doctor. You know, like it just it's this tangled web of of deceit that's I can imagine difficult to keep up. You know, in that regard, it's amazing how our conversations just developed. So I'm going to say something that will strike people at the outset as odd at best and maybe even bad at worst. So when I meet somebody who's having an affair, because people open up to me, in most instances, my first reaction, I may know more and change my reaction, is I feel bad for them. I obviously feel bad for the spouse, that's a given. But my sense is, and by the way, I believed this when I was your age, well before I was ever married. I sensed that most people who have an affair, it is not because they're bad. And oh my God, I can't believe I'm saying this to you. One of my favorite Bible commentaries is by Richard Elliot Friedman. He is a brilliant scholar, University of California, San Diego now. I think he's at the University of Georgia, a major biblical scholar. And if I say that, you can believe me because I know my Bible. And he's written a commentary on the Torah, which I love. I love it. And obviously I'm writing my own. So I refer to his. Under adultery, in other words, the commandment, thou shalt commit adultery. He wrote, I wish I had the entire, I could find it, but we don't have breaks during Dennis and Julie, but I would like to read it exactly. But he wrote, and I just read this to my synagogue this past Sabbath, I read his line about this. That good people commit adultery, and he italicized good. And I thought that this guy's human. And I've been faithful, so I have no self -interest in this. But to assume that everybody who commits adultery is evil is beyond simplistic. You commit murder, okay, if that's not evil, you could say, well, you could say a good person could commit evil, could commit murder. It's a bit of a stretch. It could happen, but generally speaking, that's not true. But anyway, good people who commit adultery, and by good, I mean the non -serial adulterers people who just go from affair to affair, I have no defense of as a human being. You mean like a one -time thing? Yes, or fell in love. If somebody falls in love with somebody else while married, it usually means there's a lot problematic in the marriage. People in love with their spouse don't fall in love with another spouse. Okay, this is such a good topic, and I want to pause and say what we always say. We had no idea that we were going to discuss this. I love that about this show. It just blossoms. Because it's real. It's real, and it's incredibly spontaneous. Okay, a lot of questions. This is where I'm going to evoke the, what do you call your radio show, the Human Laboratory? This is where this is particularly useful. So most people who tell you about their infidelity, I'm assuming most of them are male? Or is it even? Yes, that's correct. What would you say the percentage is? Of those who tell me? Yes. It's high. It's 75%. Male? Yeah. Okay. And usually, do they tell you that they're unhappy in their marriage? Yeah. And what is the most cited reason for the unhappiness? They don't feel loved by their spouse. Loved in what way? You're tough. I'm not trying to be tough. She is tough. All right. Maybe, okay. You don't want to go there. No, no. There's nowhere I don't want to go. Anyway, even if I don't want to go, I go there. That's true. So, okay. For the record, generally speaking, a man who feels sexually fulfilled with his wife is going to stay faithful. This is so foreign to women that they just have to take my word for it. That's not how women think. Women do not have affairs because they're not sexually fulfilled by their husband. Some might, I fully acknowledge, but they don't feel emotionally fulfilled. That's much more a woman's reason, and I have just as much sympathy for her as for him. It's not, all I'm saying is, and I don't even remember how we got on this, but it's amazing that we did. How did we? Yeah. It's funny. I usually remember the genesis of a subject, but all I'm saying is when I meet people, my first reaction is not, wow, that's evil. If I met a murderer, yeah, or not even a murderer. Frankly, doctors who give hormone blockers to 10 -year -olds are doing evil. I have much more contempt for them than for somebody who had an affair. Okay, so let me ask you this. Let's say you got a call from a guy who was five years into his marriage. He has three or two young children, and he calls you and he goes, Dennis, I am not happy in my marriage. It's not awful, but I'm not happy, and I have my eyes on another woman. What do I do? Do I stay in my marriage that's unhappy, or do I leave because I'm unhappy? I'd say do everything possible to make yourself happy in your marriage, which by the way involves obviously working it through with your wife, but it also involves working it through with yourself. So, I'm a guy's guy. I'm male as as they come. So, men really relate to me. Happily, a lot of women do too, but it's not the same thing. Male -male is not the same as female -male. Okay, so I understand men really well, and I explain men to women. So, both sexes have to adopt the Prager notion of not having too many expectations. I think it's fair to say, nobody says this, because sex is ironic. We have a sexually drenched society, and yet people never talk honestly about it. That is very well said. It's mind -boggling. It's mind -boggling. You're so right, and people get upset when you talk about it. That's right, because I'm honest. So here is something I would say to men, guys, just know you are not going to have the sexual life you fantasized in the vast majority of cases. It's just the way it works. You mean when you get married? Yeah, when you get married. I'm sorry, that's right. I wasn't clear. Yes, when you get married. And therefore, you enjoy what you have. Now, obviously, I'm not going to give it a time factor limit. It's different when you're 25 than when you're 55 or 75. All of that is real. But I remember when I was in high school thinking, wow, to be married, you have this woman anytime you want. Oh, gosh. Such a male thought. Exactly. This was worth the entire broadcast. My comment and your reaction? I think I represent all women. Yes, exactly. Watching and listening. And I represent all men. That's the point. So that was my fantasy in high school. Oh, my God, it must be the greatest possible situation being married. She's there whenever you want her. So men… I just looked at the camera. So men have to understand it's not going to be that way. Are there exceptions? I'm talking in general, of course, there are exceptions to every rule in life. So I really ought to, if I had the time, I would write an advice book to men. Oh, you really should. Who is it? George Gilder wrote that man book? That man book? Sexual Suicide and the Naked Nomad. He deeply influenced me. So, men need to understand… By the way, we all need to understand… I don't know what women's fantasies are about marriage. Her fantasies are not likely to be fully realized either. So it's best probably not to have fantasy… I don't care if you have fantasies, it's fine to have a fantasy life, but in the sense of directing you in your emotional reaction is not a good idea. And in your reality, it can't direct your reality too much. That's right. So I have told men, I'll tell you where I feel for men. And that is, if they're married to a woman, I'm just talking the sexual arena now. If they're married to a woman who doesn't take care of herself physically, that's given the power of looks in the human species, it's the female that attracts the male. I know there are gorgeous men who attract women, but most men are not gorgeous. What attracts women to men is not that they're gorgeous. they're Certainly when reached by age of 30, a high school girl is going to go, Oh God, is he gorgeous? Oh God, you know, that's fine, it's part of life. But one of the biggest ways you show you love your husband is by taking care of yourself physically, trying to look good. And the proof is you tried to look good when you dated. Why did you stop trying once you got married? That's not fair to him. You're right, and it's not fair when men have B .O. and also don't take care of themselves, which I know you recognize. No, of course, but that's not the same thing. The B .O. holds for both, but looking gorgeous or as gorgeous as you can, I mean, looking cute. In peacocks, the male attracts the female. In humans, the female attracts the male. It's just the way it works. And if she succeeds in doing it, he gets aroused and they make the next generation. That is how human sexuality works. I really love what you said a few minutes ago about we live in this over sexualized society that also gets so upset when people like you and me talk about sexual matters, not to overhype our importance, but people who are brave enough to talk about sex within with a Judeo -Christian good values worldview are so valuable. I don't understand. Yeah, but a lot of them do, but they're not real. A lot of the religious people who talk about sexual matters are not rooted in the real world. So what is an example? Masturbation. Wow, welcome to Dennis and Julie. But the proof is nobody feels that they can talk about it. Yes, that's true. I mean, I debated a guy, very religious guy, seen by hundreds of thousands of people on the internet. He said, masturbation is evil. And he's speaking from a religious point of view. Evil? I said, I looked at him and I said, evil? I mean, if he says it's a sin, fine. Every religion has a whole list of sins. But evil? And I challenged him. I said, are you serious? It's evil? I mean, child molestation is evil. Genocide is evil. I know. Masturbation is the charge. Of course it does. So religious, you're right about the Judeo -Christian values perspective. Unfortunately, a lot of religious people have made religion look silly and people have therefore rejected it. You know, you're right. I think a lot of people point to something like that and go, that's just, that's too far for me. It's too far, exactly. It's difficult, the job of being religious, because you obviously want to promote good values, but you also want to be real and recognize that there are certain thoughts and proclivities and actions that a lot of human beings partake in. And so it's about mitigating the, I was going to say mitigating the harm of those, but allowing them to happen as long as they don't go too far or as long as they're not harmful. Yeah, that's right. So people should read a book by an Orthodox rabbi, Shmueli Boteach, who's a well -known rabbi, B -O -T -E -A -C -H, in English, Boteach, but it's pronounced Boteach, and it's called Kosher Sex. It's a great book. That's a good title. Great title. And whole his thesis is, you keep sex within a marriage, but within a marriage, do whatever the hell you want, providing the other person agrees, obviously. And, you know, as raunchy as it may sound to the outsider, if you two agree to it, the only restriction is that it's not with another. You know, God, of course, I forgot my train of thought. I just I really marvel at how real this is. And sometimes when you make these comments, I think, God, he is gutsy. He really goes there. You know, I am gutsy. I want to tell you, this is very revealing about me. People will take it for what it's worth. I decided very early in my life, if I want to do good in this world, that's all I've ever wanted to do. I will not shy away from putting myself out there and knowing I'm going to get slapped. And that's the reason I do it. It's not fun to talk about masturbation, but I know how many people are traumatized by the message you're doing evil. And it makes religion and God look bad, and I don't like that. Mm hmm. And here's the thing, also, it's uncomfortable to acknowledge, but it's the truth. People do the like I mean, this is the whole point of the conversation. People do these things. What are we going to pretend like they don't exist? We have to deal with them. And I think it's cowardly to run away. Look, I have told you, Dennis, that I grew up in a house that didn't talk about these matters. And I'm grateful, actually, because I think there are certain boundaries that ought to be respected. And I there's a time and a place to discuss things like this, but we do have that forum to do it. And I don't understand I don't understand when people deny reality. We are seeing the harm in the United States today of denying reality, including in the sexual arena. I mean, that's this whole hookup culture thing by by contorting reality to make women believe that they want sex as much as men is harming women. Plain and simple it is. Is it uncomfortable to acknowledge the reality of males extreme sexual proclivities? Yes, but we have to because we're seeing the consequences when we don't. So I applaud you. And I do think sometimes I'm like, wow, he he's really going there. He's gutsy. But but people need a good role model for these matters. Well, you don't make a good world if you're not gutsy. True. You can't build a good world on cowardice. And it's so hypocritical because people people have sex. People do these things. And I don't I don't I dislike the people that that are on some kind of moral high ground when they talk about this stuff. It's like, please, you do it to your human being. Don't act like you don't partake in these things that you decry. Right. And some of them probably don't. But my question is, are they better human beings in general? You know, I talked I said to you what Richard Elliott Friedman said, that a lot of people who commit adultery are good people. It's because it's it's weakness more than anything or or something else. I'm not talking about serial adulterers.
The Charlie Kirk Show
The Demonic Influence of Marxist Ideology
"Karl Marx in the mid 1800s wrote a couple books that many of you may or may not be familiar with, Communist Manifesto and Das Kapital. Karl Marx also had some involvement in the occult. There's a whole great amount of literature there. But basically, Karl Marx took demonic ideology and ideas from the enemy that all that God created must be challenged and must be criticized. In fact, direct quote from Marxist writings. You must engage in the ruthless criticism of all that exists. Said simply, Marxists are trained, and this is what happens when you send kids to college, to deconstruct, to pick apart, to complain against anything that exists. And that includes the natural law and the natural order. Now, you're probably starting to connect some dots. Like, oh, well, that makes sense. That's why they're always trying to go after why what is a man and what is a woman. Now, I believe that if the American church spoke more about the first 11 books of Genesis, we'd be in a much better place. I believe that there are eternal answers to so many of our problems in the first 11 books of Genesis that the modern cool kid, the skinny gene church, does not like talking about. They say, oh, it's allegorical. It's the word of God. It's the truth. Now, in the first 11 books of Genesis, the distinctions that our entire existence rely upon are set up. I mentioned this briefly yesterday. The distinctions between God and man, the distinctions between holy and profane, the distinctions between man and woman, the distinctions between good and evil, the distinctions between man and nature, the distinctions between God and nature. So let's focus on that one. Every ancient false pagan religion before Judaism, before the Torah and eventually Christianity, God was in nature, not above nature. You worship the river. You worship the sun. You worship the mountain. This idea that God spoke nature into existence was unheard of in the ancient world. Now, these distinctions are important because that's where we get very basic morality.
Evangelism on SermonAudio
A highlight from Acts 025 - The Spirit's Power
"Okay, well come on in. The water's fine. Good to see you all this evening. And welcome back to our Wednesday night Bible study. We took a summer break. And in the last quarter, we started a study on the book of Acts. Made it all the way through chapter 3. And this morning, not this morning, this evening, if you could locate Acts chapter 4 and verse 1. Sort of to get the cobwebs out. The book of Acts is about the birth and the growth of the church. So in Acts chapter 1, Jesus ascended. In Acts chapter 2, the church is born. Day of Pentecost. In Acts chapter 3, Peter and John heal a lame man. I think he was born lame. He was about 38 years old. And his legs were miraculously restored in Acts 3. Which gave Peter a chance to preach to a crowd. And Peter there condemns 1st century Israel for their rejection of the Messiah. And chapter 3, as you surely could imagine, flows right into chapter 4. Where Peter and John get arrested. So here's an outline of Acts 4. Even going into Acts 5, the Ananias and Sapphira incident. But you have the apostles arrested, verses 1 through 4. The apostles examined by the Sanhedrin. The Sanhedrin is the existing Jewish legal authority, religious authority in 1st century Israel. That's in verses 5 through 12. Then the Sanhedrin makes a decision, verses 13 through 22. And then the apostles go to prayer. And this is a very powerful prayer that they pray in verses 23 through 31. And then the chapter kind of ends with them, the church that is living in their communal arrangement. Which we saw develop in Acts at the end of Acts 2. And that sets the stage very nicely for the first 11 chapters in chapter 5. Because in that communal arrangement, it involved selling your property and giving the proceeds to the church. And there was a couple there, Ananias and Sapphira, who publicly misrepresented their generosity. And they were slain in the Holy Spirit. And when I say slain in the Holy Spirit, that's not a good thing. Okay. And God brought upon them maximum divine discipline. And that had, as we're going to see, a purifying effect on the early church. So anyway, that's kind of the lay of the land that we're moving into this evening. I don't think we'll be able to cover all of this this evening, but we can make a healthy start. First of all, the apostles are arrested. We have an interruption. The reasons for the arrest. The arrest and the results of the arrest. So notice, if you will, Acts chapter 4, verse 1. It says, as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them. So when it says they were speaking to the people, this is in reference to the sermon that Peter primarily was giving in Acts 3. Where they healed a man who was lame, born lame. He knew nothing but the lack of use of his legs for, I think it says, 38 years. And he's miraculously healed, not by Peter and John, but by Jesus through Peter and John. It's just Jesus is exercising his ministry now from the Father's right hand. Through the church, through the apostles. And a big crowd gathers and Peter uses the opportunity to condemn first century Israel. Their decision nationally to reject their own Messiah. So that's what it means there when it says as they were speaking to the people. So as they were speaking to the people, they're now interrupted by the religious authorities. Who are the religious authorities? It says it right there in verse 1 of chapter 4. The priests, the captain of the temple guard, and the Sadducees. So these are religious officials or workers. We have priests, the captain of the temple guard, and another group here called the Sadducees. And easy to remember the Sadducees is the Sadducees were always sad, you see. Sadducees. Basically, the Sadducees were people that if we were to try to parallel them today with somebody, we would call them theological liberals. A theological liberal denies what the Bible says. You know, it denies prophecy, denies miracles, and that kind of thing. And that's who these Sadducees were. The Sadducees only believed in the first five books of Moses. That's all they believed in. They didn't accept the rest of the Old Testament. So that's why when Jesus is talking to them about resurrection, the Sadducees, and the Gospels, he does not quote from Daniel chapter 12, verse 2 to prove resurrection to them. I mean, why didn't he quote Daniel 12, verse 2? Daniel 12, verse 2 is a great verse on future resurrection. It says, many of those who sleep in the dust of the ground will awake, these to everlasting life, but others to everlasting disgrace, to disgrace and everlasting contempt. So why didn't Jesus, when he is arguing with the Sadducees and the Gospels about resurrection, why doesn't he quote that passage? That's a beautiful passage to quote from. Well, the answer is the Sadducees did not accept Daniel as authoritatively coming from God. They only accepted the first five books of the Bible. So it wouldn't do any good to prove resurrection from the Book of Daniel to the Sadducees. So instead, Jesus quotes the Book of Exodus. And I'm getting this from Matthew 22, 32 and 31. Here he's speaking to the Sadducees and it says, but regarding the resurrection of the dead, have you not read what was spoken to you by God? And now he's quoting Exodus. the I am God of Abraham, the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob. He is not the God of the dead, but the living. In other words, he points out that based on the Book of Exodus, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob are alive right now. And he uses that to prove future resurrection. So why would he quote that passage? Because that's one of the books they would accept. He doesn't quote the more obvious passage because the Sadducees did not accept anything other than the Pentateuch, the Torah, the first five books of Hebrew Bible. The Sadducees were also sad, you see, not only because they denied all other scripture outside of Moses, but they denied resurrection. That's why Jesus is debating them about resurrection. They did not believe in angels. Acts 23 and verse 8 says, for the Sadducees say there is no resurrection, nor an angel. Matthew 22 and verse 30 indicates that the Sadducees didn't believe in resurrection. So you're dealing with people that only believed in the first five books of Moses. They didn't believe in angels. They didn't believe in resurrection. So Sadducee is a pretty good name for these people, right? I mean, I would be sad too if I had a limited acceptance of the authority of the totality of what God has revealed. The Sadducees are a little bit different than the Pharisees. In fact, they're a lot different. In the Sadducees, we can analogize them to modern day theological liberals. Pharisees were conservatives, but they were hyper legalists. They brought in, and this goes back to the Babylonian captivity, the Jewish rejection of the Sabbath sent the nation of Israel into the Babylonian captivity for 70 years. And when the nation of Israel came out of that captivity and came back into their homeland, they said to themselves, we're never going to let that happen again. And so they built what we call a fence around the law. Meaning we're going to pass so many laws against breaking the Sabbath that no one will ever think about breaking the Sabbath. So they had all these rules about how you couldn't eat on the Sabbath. You know, you couldn't rescue a man on the Sabbath. All of these things come into the life of Israel through something called Mishnah, and then Talmud, and there were two Talmuds. There was one in the land of Israel. There was a later one developed in what's called the Babylonian Talmud. And this is why Jesus said of the Pharisees, you make null the word of God through your traditions. Because what happened is the tale started to wag the dog. They started to read the law superimposed over the law were a bunch of man -made regulations and restrictions. So when Jesus is dealing with the Pharisees, he's always dealing with this issue. You know, he's feeding his disciples on the Sabbath. Pharisees are upset about that. He's healing people on the Sabbath. Pharisees are upset about that. And what are they upset about? They're upset about the fact that he's not respecting their rules. Where Jesus' point is the tale's wagging the dog. Your rules are being superimposed over God's actual law to the point where you're burying the original intent of the law under layer after layer after layer of man -made regulation. So Jesus, as the Lord of the Sabbath, was always trying to get back to what the Sabbath meant. It was supposed to be a blessing for man. Pharisees are saying, nope, you can't do anything on the Sabbath. You can't heal someone on the Sabbath, even though that's a blessing for man. You can't feed your disciples on the Sabbath, you know, pick crops and that kind of thing on the Sabbath. Even though that's a blessing for man, you're ruining our rules. So that's a little bit of who the Pharisees were. Pharisees are conservative, but they're beyond conservative. They're hyper legalists. Sadducees are just deniers of what the totality of God's word says. The Pharisees are going to be dominant in the synagogue. They had a higher sphere of influence in the synagogue. What was the synagogue? The synagogue were these places that Jews would gather, you know, all over the Greco -Roman world. And they gathered there during a time when there was no temple to go to. Remember the temple, the first temple that Solomon built was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar and wasn't rebuilt until the days of Ezra, Haggai, Zechariah. So what did the Jews do? They would gather in the Greco -Roman world in these places called the synagogue. And the Pharisees were dominant in the synagogue. The Sadducees, as I'm trying to describe it, were dominant in the temple area. So that's why the people that are harassing the apostles in early Acts, really all the way up through Acts chapter 12, are the Sadducees and not the Pharisees. Because the Sadducees had ascendancy in the temple area. In Acts 1 through 12, the early church hadn't spread out yet. And it had a very strong sphere of influence in Jerusalem. So that's why the early church is dealing with the Sadducees, the Sadducees, the Sadducees, the Sadducees, until the Apostle Paul in Acts 13 and 14 goes out on missionary journey number one into southern Galatia. And then you'll start seeing him going to the various synagogues outside the land of Israel. And now the people coming against Paul are not the Sadducees, but now they're the Pharisees. So Sadducees, liberals, Pharisees, legalists. Sadducees dominant in the temple area, Pharisees dominant in the synagogue. Sadducees will be dominant as long as the church has a place of influence in Jerusalem. But the Pharisees as opponents of the church will become dominant as the church spreads out and moves outside the land of Israel. So verse one says, as they were speaking to the people, the priests and the captain of the temple guard and the Sadducees came up to them. That's a little bit about who the Sadducees are and why they are the primary detractors of the church at this particular point. So Peter and John, Peter's conversation that he was having in Acts three, a very effective conversation is interrupted. The reasons for the interruption are given in verse two. It says being, now notice this, not just disturbed, but greatly disturbed. Being greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people and in proclaiming Jesus the resurrection from the dead. So here are these apostles and if you drop over to verse 13 for a minute, you see the way that the religious authorities looked at the apostles. It says, now as they observed the confidence of Peter and John and understood that they were uneducated and untrained men, they were amazed and began to recognize them as having been with Jesus. So what is upsetting to the Sadducees is number one, these apostles are teaching the people and they never went to our Sadducee school. I mean, they don't have a Sadducee degree. In other words, they don't think like we do. I mean, if these apostles thought the way we thought, then they would only accept Moses. They would reject angels. They would reject resurrection. And here are these men who are untrained fishermen teaching the masses there in Acts chapter three. In other words, they don't have the authority to be teaching anybody is how the Sadducees were thinking about the apostles. And what really upset them is they kept talking about Christ's, but starts it with an R, resurrection, proclaiming in Jesus the resurrection from the dead. Now that was really upsetting to the Sadducees because the Sadducees didn't believe in resurrection. And here they're claiming that the man that the nation of Israel just turned over to Rome for execution has risen from the dead and his tomb is empty. That doesn't fit our doctrine. The Sadducees would say to themselves. And this puts the apostles on a collision course with the Sadducees. The moment Peter in Acts 2 24, which is a wonderful sermon, said these words, he became, I think at that point, a marked man by the Sadducees. Peter said, but God, speaking of Jesus, raised him up again, putting an end to the agony of defeat, since it was impossible for him to be held by its power. Peter continues the subject matter in Acts chapter three and that sermon there in verse 15. And it says, but put to death, speaking of Israel, the prince of life, the one whom God raised from the dead. And he says a fact to which we are witnesses. Remember what Paul would say to the Corinthians. Now there's 500 eyewitnesses, 1 Corinthians 15. Check it out for yourself. They've all seen the resurrected Christ. So what they were saying is Israel rejected her own Messiah. That made the Sadducees angry enough. So then they said this Messiah rose from the dead and the Sadducees were upset even more because they didn't believe in future resurrection or any kind of resurrection. That's why when you look at verse two, it says they were being greatly disturbed, not just disturbed, but greatly disturbed because they were teaching the people. Here are these unqualified fishermen teaching doctrines that we, the religious authorities, oppose. Now you put all of this in motion and you can see why they're arrested. And their arrest is described in verse three. So they laid hands on them, that would be Peter and John, put them in jail until the next day for it was already evening. Now, why didn't they put them on trial right then and there? It's part of Jewish law. Jewish law says no trial in the evening hours. The only one that they violated that rule for was who? Jesus, because they couldn't wait to rush him through the judicial system to get him dead as quickly as they could. So they violated everything in their rule book. But here at least they're respecting the rule book and they're not having a trial in the evening hours because that is forbidden by the Mosaic law. And what is the results of all of this thing, all of this? Because we're kind of in the mindset that, oh no, if the mandates come back, which they could, they're talking about it, you know. And Sugar Land Bible Church stays open, which is at least my intention. I mean, I would like to stay open. I don't think a pastor or an elder board has a right to shut down a church because whose church is it? It's God's church. If God wants to shut down a church, it's his church, he's more than capable of doing it. A pastor doesn't have an authority to close down a church. So if all these mandates come back and hypothetically, let's say we stay open, my goodness, what if they come in here and they fine us? What if they come in here and they arrest us? What if they do like they did to that pastor of that Baptist church in Northern California where they actually chained the doors and keep assessing fine after fine after fine against him with an attempt to completely drive the church that he was pastoring, you know, under? You know, what do we do then? Well, this is where Acts chapter four is so instructive.
Dennis Prager Podcasts
A highlight from Is There a Devil?
"You know, I so love this opening theme that I wonder how many people tune into Dennis and Julie just to hear the music. Credit to Richard Friedman. Correct. And his wife, Leslie. Correct on both. I really do. And it puts me in a mood, doesn't it? It's an interesting question. This is so typical of us. I can't believe that I got completely off everything I was going to think about. Can any of our sensory perceptions trigger the emotions that sound does, specifically music, but sound in general? This is so typical of you. And by the way, I love it. It's what makes you unique. Smell, perhaps. I think smell. So I've thought of smell, but it's rare. When I smell a certain... My mom uses Jo Malone perfume, and when I smell that, I think of my mom. And I feel very comforted. It's very powerful. In fact, when I smell it, I think of your mom, too. By the way, this is Dennis and Julie. Welcome. Oh, yeah. Dennis and Julie. Shalom. Let me just go through this. The power of sound is unrivaled in most ways. Not in every way, but I'll give you an example. I'm laughing because I'm laughing at me. I don't know how many people have ever made this experiment, conducted this experiment to speak better English. Watch a horror movie without sound, and it is not one -fifth as scary. That's interesting. Well, you say that the ear is more powerful than the eye. I'd like you to explain why, because I know this Dennis Prager argument, but I forget the reasons. Okay, so I developed this from the credo of Judaism, which is in the Torah, the first five books. Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord alone, or the Lord is one. There are many ways of translating it. The Lord is our God. So that's the credo. Many Jews walked into the gas chambers reciting this phrase. Isn't that the Shema? The Shema, yeah. What does Shema mean? It means hear or listen. So why do they say hear, O Israel? It doesn't say look, O Israel. That's my point. It says hear, O Israel. In that regard, I believe that audio only is in many ways more powerful than audio and video. Why? Because the eye is emotional and the ear is both emotional, like the sounds of a horror movie, and intellectual. The eye is not intellectual. The eye is seduced by beauty in a nanosecond, and it just reacts emotionally. Roger Ailes, the former president of Fox News, he's dead, right? He died? I think he died. Anyway, that doesn't matter at all to the point. He was the former head of Fox News. He was entangled in this sexual harassment scandal, but he did have a knack for identifying talent. And one of his criteria or tests when he was evaluating if he wanted someone to be on the air was to turn the sound off and just watch them without hearing anything. But that makes sense because it's Fox News. It's cable TV. You only have, what, five minutes? So he wanted to make sure that you were visually riveting? Yeah, okay. Well, that's TV. That's TV, exactly. It makes sense for TV, but it sort of supports your point that the eye is not intellectual. I'll give an example. Yes, the intellectual is clear, but even emotionally, like the sound of a horror movie, it's not a horror movie without the sound.
The Refiners Furnace
A highlight from UNCLEAN
"Hi, everyone. Good morning. You're welcome to the Refinance Faunus podcast and we are trusting the Lord to help us understand his word. We also trust him to bring so much light to very that aspect of our lives that we are struggling in and then he will cause his face to shine upon us in the name of Jesus. I hope your weekend is going well. I hope that your week was blessed. I hope that all is working out for you for good. And I also want to believe that sincerely you are growing in God daily. I think I've told us early that this is really it's going to be number one, a very deliberate affair. It's going to be an extremely deliberate action. Yes, it has to be extremely consistent. I mean, it has to be so, so, so, so consistent because the process of transformation is never easy. It's not going to be easy. You know, anyone that told you that this was going to be an easy adventure. I think that person lied too. I think I've said this severely, but we are trusting the Lord that truly our lives will make so much meaning to him, even as he is going to help us get rid of our excesses. Yes. Even as he's going to help us get rid of the old man in us. So child of God today, I came to want to talk about a man actually, not Jesus, but a man that truly was a Christian. A man that, you know, represented Christ to to his generation and to his, his best of abilities. And, you know, I just started coming to share the story with us. We'll see how the Lord is going to help us. Okay. Just hope you understand that there is the Gentile and there is the Jew. Okay. We want to look at this thing practically. Okay. Because Jesus Christ was majorly a Jew. He was from the Hebrew background. Salvation as people in the Jewish religion, the Jewish sect as at that time was only believed to have come for the Jewish or the Jews. Okay. Now follow me carefully. Follow me carefully. You see, if you're not a Jew, if you're not from the Jewish tradition, if you're not from the Hebrew sect, you're not supposed to have anything to do with salvation. And I've told us carefully in my previous episodes that, um, when we're talking about salvation to the Hebrew, I mean the average Jewish man, salvation to him before Christ was, um, like, it take over, like a coup d 'etat. Maybe I should use that word. Yes. It was like a coup d 'etat, like a very serious, um, political, you know, governmental, uh, war. When someone is going to come and fight the existing government, take over the government and then make things easy for his followers. That was the mindset because from prophecy, they interpreted the prophecy wrongly. No one had an accurate understanding about what prophecy was. Everyone was, they were just religious. Yes. They were extremely religious. So when Jesus Christ came to the scene, okay, they were like, they were surprised. What is this that you are telling us? Aren't you supposed to start recruiting boys soldiers? You are the Messiah. That's why it was very hard for somebody to believe that, he is the Messiah. How can you be the Messiah? I am a hundred years of age and you call yourself the Messiah. All I have been believing for the past hundred years is that when the Messiah in court will come, the Messiah is going to do what? You know, take over the political government and you have been existing here for maybe two years. You are here for two years and you have been existing. In fact, you are called what you call the carpenters. You have been existing here. You are not doing any thing in regards to what we believe and then you are telling us you are the Messiah. In fact, highest we have seen is you gathering 12 reckless, you know, disappointed, frustrated men. You call them your disciples. How are we supposed to believe you, sir? Amen. So this was, this was, this was just believe, believe me. This was it. This was it. No one was ready to buy into that idea that, ah, Messiah, you are not recruiting boys. We are not in a training for the takeover. It also defeats the Roman empire. If, if I am sure I understand my prophecy, I hope you know that a Jewish, I mean, an average Jewish man was a student of prophecy. Yes. An average Jewish man had a clear understanding of the Torah. I mean, the book of the law. Yes. He had that clear understanding of what Torah was about. That's why you see a child of five years who will be able to recite the calling David, recite Isaiah, recite Jeremiah, recite Ussiah, pay attention and you'll be blessed. You know, that's why sometimes I look at our generation today and, and you know, a Christian will be in trouble and then, and then doesn't have I mean, spiritual backup. I mean, there's no scriptures. There's no word from his spiritual. And do you know that Jesus Christ was only able to communicate with the teachers of the law at the age of 12, because of his background as a Jewish boy. See, it's not magic, but pay attention. Jesus Christ at the age of five, I mean, I hope you know that Joseph, Jesus's father was a devoted Jew. Pay attention and you'll be blessed. And, and he morally, morally, he had put in a lot of energy on Jesus. So it would have been so impossible for a child at the age of 12 pay attention, not to have that communication skills. I mean, this was, it was normal. I mean, believe me, go, go back to your Bible history. Check. Amen. But there's something about Jesus. I think we have this situation all over. There are people you see and something exceptional just comes on them. That was the situation of Jesus. But I tell you the truth that an average Jewish boy, 10, 12, 5, will be able to recite the Torah. Sometimes when you go into what they call it now, the, what do you call it now? The Muslim sect. Yes. You see their young boys able to, now it's just the same situation, but something came upon Jesus that it made him exceptional. Okay. Pay attention and you'll be blessed. Now we are going somewhere. Okay. So the salvation, the redemption, the Messiah talk and prophecy wasn't really what these guys expected. They saw something different. I think I've said this several in my previous episodes. They saw something extremely different from what they have been expecting or what they have been taught to expect. Amen. So when Jesus came and then told them that he is, or not that he is, people started saying, we have made the Messiah. It was really hard for people to believe, especially the teachers of the law. Are you telling me that those guys didn't want salvation, but they were frustrated at what they were seeing. I'm telling the truth. In fact, they will never believe that someone will be coming to contend with their religious knowledge. Oh God, you are the Messiah. What are you doing, arguing with us? Imagine you are telling me that I am an old wine skin, that there's something called a new wine and a new one was, are you following me? Pay attention and you'll be blessed. So it was so strange. I mean, I mean, the whole thing was so strange and, and you know, an average man would not like contention. So they had to fight Jesus back to back because what they knew all their lives, what they have been taught all their life was extremely different from what they were seeing. Amen. So, so, so, uh, when we talk of salvation, salvation was, was major, majorly for the Jews and the Gentiles. I mean, any other person that is not a Jew, that is not from the Hebrew sect was not even supposed to, I mean, enjoy what salvation is because, because, because the idea of the Roman reign has been an existing thing for a very, I mean, a very long time. So if you're not a Jew, you don't understand what it means to be under the cage of the Roman empire. Pay attention and you'll be blessed. So it was Apostle Paul that came and mean with this accurate knowledge of the word of God and by the revelation of the spirit, he was able to expand that Jesus Christ did not only come for the Jew or from the people from the Hebrew background or the Hebrew or the call it now sect that he came for everybody. And then, and then it went, Oh, the Jews or the Gentiles. So it gave an opportunity for, for the Gentiles to also tap into the multitude of the totality of Jesus Christ. Okay. I hope you're fooling me. Anyways, there's a link, there's a link attached to this podcast episode. So if there are questions, please, you send it via the link and then we will, I'll attend to all your questions by the message of God. Okay. So our podcast episode today will be centralized on Cornelius, Peter and the conversion of Gentiles. Okay. Pay attention and you'll be blessed. So our central text will be act chapter 10 from verse one to two, or we are going to read more than that actually, but our emphasis will be acts chapter 10. So, so in regards to these, you know, the disciples and everything in regards to this very scene that I've been trying to expand, many people pay attention. Many people started having revelations. Many people started having revelations. A lot of people also, a lot of people also had, many people had revelations, you know, what, what, what will I say now? This is it. Okay. This is it. Many people have revelations, but, but, um, uniquely a man by the name Cornelius was recorded. Now I, I hope follow me carefully. I don't want to say a lot of things because I know some people are not going to take it kindly. Okay. But, um, while you, you are able to study your scriptures, you should be begging God to, um, help you, help you expand on some things to you. Okay. Now you won't tell me that it was only, um, one man in his entire generation that had a revelation about now don't, don't be, don't be, don't be religious. Don't be, don't be too, um, prophetic or something. Now people kept wondering, I hope, you know, we'll talk about revelation about dreams. Now it comes in different ways. Okay. Um, a light can fall on someone and what you've been struggling to understand for years, you just understanding it in seconds. Now people get to wonder, is this thing real? What is this thing that the Jewish people are talking about? And people get to wonder, and I think peculiarly, okay, peculiarly, God had to use Cornelius because of the popularity of his position. Pay attention. I've told you separately that for everything that the law will do, I've said this in my previous episodes, if it is not to the end that he be glorified, trust me, there is no need of him doing it. In fact, the God I know will not do it. Okay. Okay. Matthew chapter five talks about your light shining and to what end was that light that men will see and what the end result of the totality of what God will ever want to do is what that is glory be seen. Okay. So you cannot tell me that it was only Cornelius. Okay. Just like you telling me that in the 21st century, there is only one man of God that has seen Jesus. No, no, no, no, no. You can't do that. You can't do that to me. Amen. So a lot of people might have had, but, but Cornelius was recorded because of the peculiarity of what God would have or God wanted to do through Cornelius. Okay. So, um, Act of Gospel chapter 10 speaks about a Gentile who was devoted to God, maybe to other Gentiles, but their devotion to God was not as loud as Cornelius. Now the Bible speaking about Noah is that Noah found favor in the sight of the Lord and that, that, that you could see how the Lord picked interest in Noah because of the peculiarity of his genuineness to God. Okay. A lot of people were there. I know some people will come. No, are you, are you right? No, are you accurate? Are you sure? Some people were doubting. Some were hardly denying. I mean, rejecting the other. Some people were considering. Is it, is it right? So at the end, it was only his family that believed in him. Now pay attention and you'll be blessed. Pay attention. So there was a certain man in Caesarea called Cornelius, a centurion of what was called the Italian regiment, a devout man, and one who pay attention, fear God, and with all his household who give arms generously to people and pray to God always consistency. So Caesarea was a predominant, predominated Roman city on the shores of the Mediterranean in Judea. Okay. So it was the headquarters of the Roman governor of the province of Judea. So archaeologists have discovered a stone from a building in Caesarea inscribed with the name Pontius Pilate as actually not necessary. So Cornelius was an officer in the Roman army, a patriotic Jew. Okay. Of that day would materially dislike or even hate him. Now Cornelius was a Roman, an officer in the Roman army. Okay. A high ranking. I mean, very high ranking officer pay attention. Now, I think I've explained this earlier, Jew. Now Jew had nothing to do with Gentiles. So when we are talking about salvation, it is for the Jew and not for the Gentiles, according to all they know. I think I made, I took my time to explain this. Okay. So Cornelius maybe heard about it. I think, I think I've explained it. He might have been contemplating and you know, you know, is this God, is this God they are talking about Jew? How can they, how big God is this? So as a typical Roman, he had been exposed to Roman gods, Jupiter or God's Zeus, Mars, Venus. I mean, these are the, the varieties of the Roman gods. So he had, he had varieties to choose from. He wanted to serve, but the guy was like, come the God of now God. So this is God. So he was contemplating. And I mean, somehow we paid attention to his spirit and then followed. I think if you want to understand this very phrase, you should go back to my podcast episode on wooing of the spirit. I told you in that episode that for every point in life, you wouldn't say that God is not faithful. No, the spirit had blown so fast to the heart of men. But the question is how many people paid attention to the wooing of the spirits? Okay. So Cornelius paid attention. So he might have been contemplating just like the men in the days of Noah. Some people, some people might have gotten the whispers of the spirit listening to this man, but they were still, do you understand me? They were still not paying attention. How many times will the spirit speak to you, sir, ma? And you're still ignorant. You still choose to be ignorant. Pay attention. Is it but found they had been exposed to the enlightened concept of Judaism and they had become devoutly monetized. Okay. So Cornelius was in the category of what the Jew called Godfarers. Okay. So they actually, Cornelius actually feared God. So these were Gentiles who loved the God of Israel. Pay attention. Now they are heard stories. Remember faith commit by what? Hearing. They are heard. So out of hearing their faith, follow me carefully. They were sympathetic to the, to and supportive to the Jewish faith. Yet they stopped short of becoming full Jews in lifestyle and in circumstances. So Jewish people of that time respected and appreciated these God fearing Gentiles, but they could not share their life and homes food with them because they were still in fact Gentiles and not full Jewish convert. Okay. Now, if you're following you understand that I've been saying this in my previous episode, that it's not about saying to a Jewish man, you can't say you fear God. No, no, no. Have you gone through the process of circumcision? Do you, there's a lot of things, a lot of things. I think, I think one time I was watching a movie and I was like, come, it was a Jewish movie. And one guy, what I call them, a zealot. Yes. That's the name. That's the name they call this guy. A zealot wore an apparel that was actually not, I mean, in the context of the Jewish and a Jewish religious leader was condemning. They had to seize it from the zealot. They had to seize the apparel. Now, now it's that serious that these guys pay attention to details. Okay. How, what you eat, what you say, the things you, that's why these guys did not like John the Baptist because I think, calling a Jew, a viper at that time, man, you have committed a sin. Don't worry, let me not bore you with that. So, so, so they couldn't actually share their life because of the peculiarity of what they were. Okay. So even if these guys feared God, but they won't accept that they truly feared God because they're not actually, you know, they are not like them, they are tradition, they are Jewish converts, I mean fully. So because of the way the life and heart of Cornelius is being described, we see a man who obviously had a real relationship with God. Come, come. These guys had a relationship at the time. Now, oh my God, help me. Oh, I don't, I don't expect to deviate because I've not touched what I want to touch, but I want to pay, I want you to pay attention to this again and again. Now, this man had a relationship with God and how was this relationship established? The Bible says that Cornelius prayed to God always. That takes us back to Luke gospel chapter 18 verse 1. To this end, Jesus made a parable that man ought always to pray and not to fail. Now, all Jesus trying to do, to bring man into sync with God. Now, Jesus came that he will, I mean, realign man to God, but for that realignment to be consistent. Prayer has to be constant. Yes. So Cornelius had a lifestyle of what? Praying always. Now check out the lives of men who could pray always, who were always praying to God. Always they had a life with God. So at the same time, he was not part of the mainstream of the Jewish life. So God sends an angel to tell Cornelius to get Peter. Okay. Now, because of the relationship with God, God had to appear maybe to an angel to Cornelius and then, you know, so let's read about, let's read about chapter 10 verse 3 to 6. About the ninth hour of the day, he saw clearly in a vision an angel of God coming in and saying to him, Cornelius. And when he observed him, he was afraid and said, what is it, Lord? So he said to him, your prayers and your harms have come up for a memorial before God. Ah, I love this. Now send men to Joppa and send for Simon whose surname is Peter. He is lodging with Simon a tanner whose house is by the sea. He will tell you what you must do. So we are not told specifically here that Cornelius was praying about this ninth hour. No. But it was the ninth hour. I mean, what you call three o 'clock that this vision came. So this was a customary time of prayer for Jews. So imagine he was observing these things. So also as Cornelius related incidents to Peter in Acts chapter 10 verse 33, he specifically said he was praying at the ninth hour. So we are not actually sure. So this was not a dream nor did an angel physically appear to Cornelius. Okay. This was not a dream and it was not a physical. So this was a vision that came in the mind's eye of Cornelius at the same time. So it was so vivid that Cornelius would later say a man stood beside me in bright clothing. That's Acts chapter 10 verse 30. When you check, you're going to see that. So it was significant that God spoke to Cornelius directly, even calling him by name. It was so significant that Cornelius responded with a healthy fear of the heavenly and the holy. So this shows that Cornelius had a real relationship.
Evangelism on SermonAudio
A highlight from The Death And Final Days Of Moses
"Welcome to the podcast of First Presbyterian Church of Gulfport, Mississippi. To learn more about our church, our beliefs, and our pastor, please visit fpcgulfport .org. Outside of Jesus Christ, there is no one that has had more of an impact than the man we call Moses. Moses was used to deliver God's people, to bring them the law, and to build the tabernacle. However, in God's time, Moses died. In today's study of Deuteronomy 34, we'll consider the final days of this great man of God. Over the years, Moses had gone up mountains multiple times to meet with God. On a number of different occasions, Moses had ascended a mountain in order to meet with God there. The time we're most familiar with is when he received the Ten Commandments. In today's text, Moses would do what he had done multiple times before. He would go up the mountain, but this time, he would not return. This time, Moses would die upon the mountaintop. Now, what do you think the last thing that Moses saw was? What do you think the last thing he heard was? The last vision that we're going to see as we jump into today's study, the last vision that graced Moses' eyes, it was a look into the Promised Land. God had made promises to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and he renewed those promises across the years. Moses himself had looked forward to this great day, and here on the mountaintop, he beholds that which was promised centuries ago, he beholds the Promised Land. And he sees in that moment that the promises of God are not void, that God can and will do everything that he has said he would do. So Moses looks out, and as he looks out at the Promised Land, dear heavens, it's so much better than where he just came from. Moses had just come out of the wilderness. Moses had just spent 40 years wandering around with the people in the wilderness, and now he looks out and he sees the Promised Land, and it's every bit as good, every bit as great as God had told him. This is truly a land flowing with milk and honey. I don't know what that looks like, but it sounded pretty good, especially in contrast to the wilderness that they came out of. This is a land that was green. We see palm trees in here. This was lush. This was desirable. There was any manner of things about this land that was far superior than that which he had come. So Moses' life, in a sense, had been building to this moment. Moses' ministry had been building to this moment. At one point, God had commissioned Moses to deliver his people from bondage to Pharaoh, to deliver his people. Now, here's the thing. It's true of them, and it's true of us. When God delivers you from something, when God delivers you from one circumstance, he also delivers you to another. You understand that? When God delivers us from one thing, he delivers us to another thing. In the case of the Israelites, the wilderness was not the end game. God delivered them from Pharaoh, and they spent time in the wilderness. But ultimately, he was delivering them to the promised land. So this was the day, this was the moment, this was the time that Moses' entire life and ministry had been building towards. And it all culminated in his own eyes and his own ears as God whispered, This is the land. This is the land. So Moses saw this. Now, as we look at today's text, I want us to be encouraged. You and I too live in the wilderness. We might not recognize that at times, because at times it's fairly nice, at least here locally. And yet this is the wilderness, and God has trained our eyes just as he has trained Moses' eyes to look towards a promised land that awaits, and to have our entire trajectory, our entire life's course, to head towards that day and that location. So in today's text, on the one hand, we're seeing a story of one man beholding the promised land. On the other hand, today's text is a call for us to look forward to that day when we will behold an even greater promised land yet to come. All right, if you would, let's look now, verses one through four. We'll reread these verses and work our way through the balance. Verse one. Then Moses went up from the plains of Moab, which were no great shakes, the plains of Moab, to Mount Nebo, to the top of Pisgah, which is a cross from Jericho. And the Lord showed him all the land of Gilead as far as Dan, which is up towards the north, all of Naphtali, and the land of Ephraim and Manasseh, all the land of Judah as far as the western sea, the south and the plains of the valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees as far as Zoar. Then the Lord said to him, this is the land. This is the land of which I swore, which I promised, which I covenanted with you, to give to Abraham, to Isaac and Jacob, saying, I will give it to your descendants. And I have caused you, caused you, Moses, to see it with your own eyes, but you shall not cross over there. All right, before I unpack these verses, I want us to recall that if you've read through the book of Deuteronomy, you'll see a few chapters earlier in chapter 31, that God had already told Moses what was about to go down. In other words, nothing that's happening here in chapter 34 is a surprise to Moses. He didn't go up to chapter 34 and all of a sudden realize that this was the end. God had told them way back in 31, also in Numbers, he had told them this is what's going to happen. This is the time frame. This is what to expect. So in chapter 31, God told Moses that the end is near and even told them when and where it was going to occur. But he said, go and get your house in order. And so Moses did and he offered all the people a series of blessings and of course a series of warnings as well. And of course he taught the individuals, he spoke to individuals about the things that they needed to do and the time to come and yet he blessed all of those that he had loved and led for all of these years. And when that was complete, when those actions were done, it was time to go up the mountain. And that final action, that ascending, is what we see in verses one through four. Now in verses one through four, the descriptions we have of going from the plains of Moab to Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah, which is across from Jericho, if you're a cartography sort of person, you understand that this meant he literally went to the tallest mountain range and to the tallest peak in that mountain range in order to look out. And from that vantage point, he beheld something he'd wanted to see really his entire life. He looked out and he saw it to the north and the east and the south and to the west, this landscape breathtaking which was greater than anything that he had expected into the distance of the land that God had promised. And as his old eyes took this in, as he took this in, as he filtered this experience, this sensory experience that he was seeing, he hears the word of God whisper to him and said, this is the land. Moses, this is the land. This is the land that I swore to Jacob. You know, there is something cool about those moments in life, however rare they may be, when faith becomes sight, when that which we have believed may be for decades only to find out that God, God has fulfilled it in our time and in our sight. For decades, Moses had been leading by faith. I mean, he'd been in the wilderness. That's all he really had to work with. He'd been leading by faith. Now God had blessed the people. He'd given them the quail and the man and all these different things. God had protected the people and put a hedge around them. Their sandals hadn't worn out despite being in the wilderness. God had protected the people and yet it was just a miserable time. It was miserable for Moses in particular because the people were grumbling all the time. Man alive, if you read anything that the people of Israel did during the book of Exodus or Deuteronomy, what you'll see is that this was a rebellious house. They grumbled and they complained. There was even a point when Moses basically said, God, kill me now because the people, they're just too much for me. I can't take this anymore. I can't take this anymore. So Moses had had this very difficult, very challenging time when he'd been out in the wilderness and yet at this moment, the faith that he'd had for decades, the faith he'd had across all these travels, the faith he'd had even as things were going miserable, the faith he had after day after day of things just being so difficult for him, the faith that he had had that God had sowed in his heart is fully realized and validated in this moment. Moses, this is the land. Everything you've done, all your ministry, it's paid off. You have done what I've asked you to do. You delivered the people from Egypt and you've delivered them to the door of the promised land. Moses had believed for decades that God could and would do exactly this. Moses had believed and had faith even when this world gave him faith, having a faith tested and even critiqued by others. They had critiqued him. They critiqued his faith. They critiqued his leadership. After all this time, he realized that everything God had told them had been true. That's exciting to think that there's a day for you too that'll come when your faith will become sight. There's things right now that you take by faith. Well, here's the good news. God's intention in his time is to validate every ounce of faith you have ever placed in him. There will become a time when faith will become sight just as it was for Moses. Now before we look at verses five through seven, I'll ask us, the promised land of Canaan, that no longer holds as much appeal to us per se. And yet Christ himself, Christ said, hey church, hey new covenant community, there is a promised land that's even better than that one. There's a promised land that awaits. And he introduced that promised land when he was talking to his disciples on the night he was betrayed. He gathers them close when they're anxious and he says, hey, let me tell you a little bit about that promised land. He said this, let not your heart be troubled. You believe in God, believe also in me. In my father's house are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am, there you may be also. Moses worked all his life toward the promised land and toward being the recipient of the promises that God had long made to his forefathers. Well, the promise that Jesus made to the disciples in the church is even greater and it's on our horizon as well. Let's look at verses five through seven. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab, according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Peor, but no one knows his grave to this day. Moses was 120 years old when he died. And his eyes were not dim nor his natural vigor diminished. There has never been, never, never, never, never been a man like Moses. Outside of Christ himself, who had the advantage of being fully God and fully man, outside of Jesus Christ, there's never been a man utilized on this entire planet to do the things that Moses did, to accomplish all that he accomplished. To the degree he's considered the great intercessor, the giver of the old covenant. He delivered God's people. He brought them the law. He helped construct the tabernacle. He led them to the promised land. This is one of the greatest profiles any leader could ever desire. And yet, interestingly, in verse five, he dies. What does that tell you? This is the most important man in the era of his day. In all of the cosmos, there was no man born of woman, no man of flesh and blood that was as critical, you could say, to the kingdom of God and to the working of God's purposes than Moses. And yet, in verse five, Moses died. What does that tell you? It tells me we're all replaceable. It tells me that we all minister for a season, however long that season may or may not be. It's a season. And in God's time, he will raise up others, like Joshua, to continue the work. And therefore, as he continues that work, the glory goes to God and not to man. Scripture refers to Moses as the servant of the Lord. Don't miss that. The greatest character in Moses' story is not Moses. It's God. In God's time, as wonderful and amazing and as just tremendous a human being as Moses was, in God's time, he called him home. Now, did he call him because he looked at Moses and said, oh, Moses, you're looking kinda creaky. Moses, I'm just feeling so bad for you. The arthritis is kicking in. You're just shuffling. Moses, let me do you a favor. Let me call you on back. Enter into your rest. Did you do that? Was Moses in that sort of condition? Well, at 120, I would think he would be, but interestingly, Scripture says that wasn't the case. Scripture says that his eyes had not grown dim. His natural vigor was not diminished. Moses was still at 120 years old at the powerhouse. I hope to be at 50, at 60. He was a powerhouse, and we know he was a powerhouse because he did something that I couldn't do and I don't think we all could do. He went up this mountain at 120 years old. We know that he was capable. We know he wasn't shuffling. We know he wasn't near death because he climbed a mountain in the very text we're looking at. This is a man that God didn't call home because he just couldn't bear to see him falling apart this way. He called him home. Because his time was done and his utility in the eyes of God was complete. That'll be true of us as well. There will come a time when God calls us home and rest assured, he will not do so until he is convinced that our utility, our kingdom utility is complete. Now, here's the thing. We might question that timing. We might say, I could do more. I'd grow more, experience more, what have you. And yet God knows what he's doing and he knew when it was time to call Moses. He knew the time to call Moses was different than the time to call McShane. He knew the time to call Moses was different than the time to call Aaron, which was much earlier. You and I, we have a challenge when it comes to mortality. You know one of the things that's developed and I think it's a 21st century North American sort of thing, the bucket list. You know, I looked across theologians and I said, surely this concept of a bucket list, surely a Turretin, surely Spurgeon, surely Calvin wrote about the bucket list, surely. Not so much. It's something we've developed because we have this idea that with the time we have, we should experience everything we possibly can and do everything we can. And I get that impulse. There's a lot of stuff I wanna do. I just mentioned Bob Ross and violins. There's things we all wanna do. And yet, in God's time, he will call us home. Moses never went water skiing. Moses never ate a chocolate bar. Some things we take for granted. Moses never had a po' boy. There was a lot Moses didn't do. But in God's time, when Moses' season was done, God called him home. And that's okay. We don't understand when God calls our loved ones home. We don't get it, we don't like it. And yet, if we look at what they've meant to us, if we look at how they poured their lives into our own, we rejoice that not only did we know them and experience those benefits then, but we continued to reap the benefits of having known them in the first place. There's the old saying that people don't really die, that they live within us. Well, in this sense, they do. The experiences we've had with them continue to infect and inform us in the most positive sense in the time they had to come. And as an aside, our reunion's not that far off. Our reunion's just around the corner. If we have faith, we'll soon have sight. All right, one last thought in verses five through seven before we look at verses eight through 12. One thing I do not want us to miss. So Moses, he dies. God calls him home. God says your utility is complete. Now enter into your rest. So God calls Moses home. Now with that said, Moses dies. I don't know if he's sitting, standing, what have you, but Moses, he's done. Now, who's up there with him? Anyone? Bueller? God is with him, right? So who buries Moses? God. Look at the text again. Look at verses five through seven. So Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord. And he buried him in a valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Peor, but no one knows his grave to this day. Do you see this? Moses dies, and then God cradles his body. God cradles his body and takes him to his rest. And he takes him to a place where no one will know where the grave site is because people can be weird about relics and the like and go rushing and touching and receiving the blessing. God says, no, no, no, we're not doing that. So God takes him, cradles his body, and he buries him in a location known only to God. There's no more tender picture, at least not many more tender pictures, that I can see with regards to everyone's passing than to see this. See this picture of God cradling the body of Moses. Doing him this service, even in death, to see that he is buried. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. This text bears witness to that. Let's look at verses eight through 12. Verse eight. And the children of Israel wept for Moses in the plains of Moab for 30 days. And so the days of weeping and mourning for Moses ended. Now Joshua the son of Nun was full of the spirit of wisdom, for Moses had laid his hands upon him. And so the children of Israel heeded him and did as the Lord had commanded Moses. But, but since then there has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face. And all the signs and wonders which the Lord had sent him to do in the land of Egypt before Pharaoh, before all his servants, and in all his land, by all that mighty power and all the great terror which Moses performed in the sight of all Israel. You know one of the cruelest ironies of that text? For 30 days they mourned and they grieved, and actually this is a customary thing. We don't know that they were actually mourning and grieving like right there on day 29 and then just stopped on day 30 or what have you. We don't know exactly how this works, but we know this much. While he was alive, the people didn't care for Moses. While he was alive, the people really, really went at Moses. They routinely rebelled and rejected and said who put you in charge? They routinely critiqued his decisions, they critiqued his leadership, they critiqued everything about him. They grumbled and they complained. As we said in Numbers 11, Moses even went to God and he says just take me home, take me home already. I've had my fill of these people. And yet, and yet here's the thing, no one in the camp, no one in the camp of Israel that day remembered a time without his leadership, without Moses being in charge. Moses had been a constant stabilizing force in their presence amidst all their difficulties. And now, now he's gone. That can be challenging for us when we lose those who mean so much to us. We have individuals who have been a constant stabilizing force for so long, they've meant so much to us and in God's time he takes them. And yet, even as God took Moses, even as he cradled his body into the grave, God was not unconcerned with what happened to the people. And so God had raised up for the people a means of leadership, specifically Joshua, who would be no slouch for what it's worth, who would be no slouch. Whatever the case is, even as the people wept, which is a little ironic because they didn't love Moses too much while he was with them, we see that even as they're weeping, God has prepared a new leader. In verse nine, we see that he's raised up Joshua. In his providence, God uses different human instrumentation to do his will. At a certain point, all of us will be called home to glory and God willing, God will have raised up other people, whether it's for this pulpit, for this church, or in Gulfport in the community around us. God is busy, as we've seen in the baptism this morning, building his kingdom and plugging and playing different individuals in at different times. Moses, my servant is dead, I'll raise up Joshua. There was still good news for the people, God had not left them even if Moses had. All right, with our remaining time this morning, I want to briefly reread the eulogy that we see in verses 10 through 12. We talked earlier about Moses with regards to who he was and the powerhouse he was and no one was like Moses. Let me read these verses because they're somewhat unique. God doesn't do this for every prophet or individual in his word. Verse 10 says this, but since then, since that time, there's not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, whom the Lord knew face to face and all the signs and wonders which the Lord had sent him to do in the land of Egypt before Pharaoh, before all his servants and in all his land and by all that mighty power and all that great terror which Moses performed in the sight of Israel. All right, thinking question, who wrote Deuteronomy? Let me ask you a harder question. Who wrote those verses? we Ah, know that Moses wrote the Torah. What's the first book in the Torah? Genesis, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy. We know Moses wrote these books. He celebrated as the author of these books. Moses wrote Deuteronomy and yet who wrote that? But since then, there's not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses whom the Lord knew face to face and then goes on to say about all that he did in the time of Pharaoh. Who wrote these words? Well, many, just as an aside, many believe that Joshua wrote these words. And the reason for that's twofold. Number one, Joshua was used to being Moses' assistant, for lack of a better word. He was used to basically being the guy, the number one, the Spock to his Kirk. He was used to being the guy who would come alongside and help and assist Moses across these years. And it makes some sense that Joshua was the one who wrote this passage given that he was eyewitness to this stuff. He would have certainly been the best, most qualified candidate to write it. Others believe that possibly Ezra, which is a unique thought, but Ezra or other prophets may have been the ones to record them. Well, regardless of who it was that wrote these words, this epitaph, this eulogy here at the end of this book, regardless of who it was that wrote them, we do believe that they're inspired and inerrant and infallible, and their message is this. Moses was one of a kind. The Israelites could not have asked for a better leader even if they didn't recognize it in the time that he was leading them. The Israelites could not have asked for a better intercessor on their behalf, a better deliverer. And yet, just as they would kill the prophets in the years thereafter, they routinely rejected and despised, just hated the very man that God had raised up to bless them. Now, over the centuries, the Israelites would come to see differently. It's funny how that works. Over the centuries, they would come to see differently. Over time, they would come to see Moses as the God -ordained instrument that he was, the great intercessor, the great deliverer, the mediator of the old covenant. In time, they would come to see it, and to prove that they would see it in time, in synagogues, in the synagogues of Christ's time. You know what there was, one of the features of the synagogues? There was a seat. You know what it was called? The seat of Moses, the seat of Moses. In the synagogues, even in Christ's time, they would talk about the seat of Moses, and the point is this, that over the years, they began to understand Moses in ways that they didn't at the time he was leading. They began to revere him. They began to revere him to the point of even in their synagogues, saying that the place, the seat where someone sits in order to read scripture from, the seat where the law is given, we'll call the seat of Moses. Now before I pray this morning, let me ask you, I think a very fascinating, very relevant question. It's actually a question that R .C. Sproul used to ask his students. Here's the question. This really is a thinking cap sort of question. Do you think Moses ever entered into the Promised Land? Now, I'm not using this as a euphemism. I'm not talking about heaven. I'm not talking about that final rest. I mean the literal Promised Land with the dirt and the soil in Canaan. Do you think that Moses ever entered into the Promised Land? Did the feet of Moses ever stand in Canaan? What do you think? All right, hearing both. All right, so here's the answer. Here's the answer. Do you remember in Matthew 17, the event that we call the Mount of Transfiguration, where Jesus Christ goes up a mountain. It's during his public ministry. He goes up this mountain. And when he gets to the top of the mountain, who does Jesus encounter there? Moses and Elijah. In the Mount of Transfiguration, Jesus goes up and he encounters the two titanic men of Israel's history. Elijah, on the one hand, the greatest of the prophets. You could say he typified all of the prophets. But Jesus also encounters Moses there in Canaan on the Mount of Transfiguration, standing amongst him. I think it's kind of fascinating. I think it's awesome that God in Deuteronomy 34 allowed Moses to see the Promised Land just as he'd said. And he said he would die, and he did. And yet how good is God that all those centuries later Moses got to stand there? I think it's interesting to see how God fulfills his promises, sometimes in ways that we don't expect, and sometimes fulfills the desires of our hearts in ways that we don't expect. God had told Moses he would not lead the people in the Canaan. He told him he would die before ever setting foot there. But in time, he gave him the privilege to where stand his eyes once beheld. In God's time, Moses' faith became sight. And I like that that's true in Deuteronomy 34. I also like that it's true in Matthew 17. And I like that it's true of us. Whatever you're clinging to this day, whatever faith is sustaining you to wake up tomorrow and get back at it, whatever faith is sustaining you to go about your jobs, your vocation, your family life in the midst of all the reasons just to stay in bed, know this, your faith will be validated in God's time. There is a day when your faith will become sight. Let's pray. To search through an archive of Dr. Holt's previous sermons, please visit us at fpcgolfport .org, or you can look us up at sermonaudio .com.
Dennis Prager Podcasts
A highlight from Rewriting History
"With the Planet Fitness Black Card, you don't just get a great workout, you get a great Perk Out! Because your membership is packed with perks! For $1 down and $24 .99 a month, you'll get perks like access to any of our 2 ,400 clean and spacious locations. Bring your friend anytime in both workouts with tons of equipment that'll give you that big fitness energy. Relax in the Black Card Spa and more! Workout and Perk Out with the PF Black Card. Join for just $1 down and $24 .99 a month. Join the judgment -free zone today! Deal ends Thursday, August 10th. See you at Home Club for details. Hi everybody! Good to be with you. August 1st. We're well into the second half of 2023. I say the words, but they don't register. So it is. It's a lesson in life. Very revealing piece in the New York Times. The steep cost of Ron DeSantis' vaccine turnabout. Hmm. So the entire, it's a very long piece, front page. And it is about how it was a bad thing when Ron DeSantis opened up restaurants and other places, whereas other states kept them closed. They're very angry that Florida was a freer state than any of the Democrat -run states. They're angry. So the trick is to say, because they were wrong, they crushed small businesses while leaving big businesses richer than ever. That is, all the Democrats succeeded in doing was to make the rich far, far richer and crush the middle class. That is what they did in the pandemic and crush children in schools. They hate DeSantis as much as they hate Trump. They hate Trump personally. They hate DeSantis ideologically. So this is a fascinating thing. So I was thinking, now, I've got to read this piece, even though it's a very long piece. I have to read this piece. Did you read that piece? So, of course, as usual, there's a line that undoes the whole piece way, way into the piece that nobody will read. It's fascinating. I'll read it to you in a moment. So there's a tremendous hatred of the totalitarian hates the freedom lover. That is definitional. The bad hate the good. And it is just, it's a given. DeSantis did such good for his state. I visited Florida when I could not enter a restaurant where I live in California. And I watched people eat with no masks. It was one of the most dramatic American moments of my life. It was like visiting Austria when I used to go to communist countries of Eastern Europe. And I would say, wow, this is freedom again. Wow. So they hate him. And therefore, they smear him. That's what the left does better than anybody and better than anything else it does. It destroys the good, smears the good. So the entire piece is about how poorly Florida performed because it opened up schools and because it opened up restaurants. So now I will read to you from the middle of the piece. It's precious, my friends. It is just precious. The name of the piece is the steep cost of Ron DeSantis's vaccine turnabout. Once a vaccine advocate, the Florida governor lost his enthusiasm for the shot. Before the Delta Wave sent COVID hospitalizations and deaths soaring. This is the subtitle. It's a grim chapter he now leaves out of his rosy retelling of his pandemic response. All right. Now I'm going to read to you one sentence from the middle. All right. Let's go. Let's go. There it is. I would say it's directly in the middle. I don't know how many words are in the piece. It's thousands of words. Overall, the state's death rate during the pandemic, adjusted for age, ended up better than the national average. The entire piece is about how he killed his citizens. I'm not being cute. What am I getting wrong? Why does that not undo the point of the whole piece? If the overall death rate was better than the national average, why did he do wrong? So what do they attribute it to? They're stuck at the New York Times. They had to put in that line because otherwise the piece would be so dishonest that anybody who knew anything about Florida would say it's just dishonest piece. So here's the next sentence. Some public health experts credit the state's robust health system and strong performance in the pandemic's first year or so. Whatever it is, they can't acknowledge this might have been the correct thing to do. Let me read to you one more thing from the piece. Florida was also one of only four states to require schools to hold in -person classes in the fall of 2020. Isn't that something? Did you know only four states did that? Wow. A move that Mr. DeSantis has said defied the nation's public health experts. In fact, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, a federal infectious disease expert on former President Donald Trump's task force, I love the way they identify him. All of a sudden he's a Trump man, said repeatedly that that summer and fall that schools could open safely with the right precautions. pardon So, me while I get a vomit bag and I'll be right back. Sean, play Beethoven's Ninth. I will be truly displeased if you barf anywhere but in that can. Okay, you will not be displeased. It gets worse. Nonetheless, facing strong opposition from teachers' unions, nearly three -fourths of the nation's 100 largest school districts offered only remote learning that fall. See, I'm cursed and blessed. I read everything like it's Torah. When I studied Bible, and this is the reason I'm writing a Bible commentary, and this year I finished the fourth of five volumes, God willing, toughest project of my life, we were taught to read every word. There was no such thing as skimming biblical text and talking about in the Hebrew. So, I continue to do that. If I read, I read every word. So, I caught this. So, listen carefully to the way in which the New York Times lies. Or, shall we say, shows no commitment to truth but bends it. So, let's parse this paragraph. In the fall of 2020, Florida was one of only four states that kept its schools open. So, that is a great statement about Governor DeSantis. Great. He did not ruin his state's children like the Governor Newsom did in California. And brags about it. So, what can they do with that? They can't possibly show DeSantis as heroic, and it was heroic. The pressure not to open schools was intense. So, they say, well, big deal. Fauci wanted the same thing. Now, I will read you the sentence about Fauci. Fauci, Dr. Anthony S. Fauci, said repeatedly that summer and fall that schools could open safely with the right precautions. Do you understand the lie? The non sequitur? So, he wasn't for opening. He was for opening with the right precautions. And, what the hell are those? Those little words could, not should, could and only with the right precautions. So, New York Times, did DeSantis take the right precautions? Whatever the hell they are? So, such dishonesty. But, then they are honest, nonetheless. So, why didn't he? Even the next sentence is a non sequitur. About the teachers unions. I will be back. Gold dealers are a dime a dozen. They're everywhere. What sets these companies apart and whom can you really trust? This is Dennis Prager for AmFed, Coin & Bullion. My choice for buying precious metals. When you buy precious metals, it's imperative that you buy from a trustworthy and transparent dealer that protects your best interests. So many companies use gimmicks to take advantage of inexperienced gold and silver buyers. Be cautious of brokers offering free gold and silver or brokers that want to sell you overpriced collectible coins, claiming they appreciate more than gold and silver. What about hidden commissions and huge markups? Nick Grovitch and his team at AmFed always have your back. I trust this man. It's why I mention him by name. Nick's been in this industry over 42 years and he's proud of providing transparency and fair pricing to build trusted relationships. If you're interested in buying or selling, call Nick Grovitch and his team at AmFed, Coin & Bullion, 800 -221 -7694, americanfederal .com, americanfederal .com. I'm Dennis.
Dennis Prager Podcasts
A highlight from Dennis & Julie: Struggle with God
"One of the most peculiar species of the Latin world is the Hello body. everybody. Dennis Prager and Julie Hartman, or if you prefer, Julie Hartman and Dennis Prager. Who would prefer that actually? It is called Dennis and Julie. By the way, I finally figured out there's a tiny teensy teensy part of you that resents that it's Dennis and Julie. I made that up. I completely 100 % made that up. There isn't even a teensy teensy teensy. There's really not, and I make jokes about it, but I actually prefer the name Dennis and Julie. First of all, you should be first. You're the more established dude, if you will. And also, if you do it alphabetically, D comes before J, and it just sounds better. That's a powerful argument. Dennis and Julie sounds way better than Julie and Dennis. Is that true? I think so. Maybe it's because I'm used to it. Yeah, I think so. Anyway, that was just a joke. Hi everybody. It's great to be with you. I have a super serious thing to start with. So, I'm going to preface what I'm about to start with with a statement that I made on my show, on my radio show, that there is an openness and a self -revealing in Dennis and Julie that even I, who are very, very open and self -revealing generally, publicly, it just elicits aspects of me that I just don't come out naturally, as it were, on the radio show. Having said that, that is certainly true for you, but there's not much as a comparison, obviously, because you're so young and new and new. But this is an example of that, and I have no idea what you'll say. I have no idea. But my here's second preface. I'm sorry. So when I met Julie, it is fair to say you were a secular individual. Oh, that is fair to say. And you would have said that. Though interestingly, and I don't want to get caught on this, but interestingly, you because it's not an issue that would have arisen. See, so this is worthy of a comment, and then I won't lose track. This is worthy of a comment. People who are religious know they're religious, but people who are secular do not think of themselves as secular. You know why? Because they think that's normal. So when you're normal, you don't think, oh, I'm normal. If you're sick, you think you're sick. If you have mental problems, you think you have mental problems, psychological problems. But if you don't, you don't walk around, people don't generally walk around thinking, you know, I'm psychologically healthy. The norm is secular. So you don't think of it. Is that fair? Also, religious people know about a secular life. Secular people do not know about a religious life. They don't know what they're missing out on. Religious people do. I mean, I don't think religious people are missing out when they choose to go away from a secular life. But they know what a secular life looks like. Well, there are secular people who have rejected the religion they grew up with. So they would say, oh, I know religious life. That is fair. That's fair. And I left it. But most today. That's right. Especially your generation. It would have been it would have been much more likely that your parents closer to my generation, they rejected the religion, which is true in your case. Correct? Somewhat. They they they don't have animosity. No, no. It's not animosity. Rejection doesn't mean animosity. OK. I want to make that clear. I didn't even intend that. But wasn't one of your grandparents a pastor? Yes. My paternal grandfather was. And my my father was raised Lutheran. My mom was raised Catholic and they both said that growing up, they just had so much religion that they felt that it was too much. For instance, actually, when they got married, I'm sorry to out my my family, but there were some members of both sides of the family that didn't like that a Lutheran was marrying a Catholic and that the Catholic was marrying the Lutheran. Also, my mom talks about growing up. I'll tell you who didn't like it. The Lutherans and the Catholics. That's who didn't like it. True. And those two groups especially. Yeah, exactly. Because Martin Luther. Right. Luther, right. Of all the names. Of all people, yes. Luther was the one that started the Protestant break from the Catholic Church. Also my mom talks growing up about going to church every week. And she made it sound like and I believe her that the sermons were really kind of fire and brimstone. You're going to go to hell if you think bad thoughts. If you do X, Y, Z, she says that there was every Easter she had to sit for like five hours in here. And then the second nail was nailed to Christ. And he yelped out in pain and blood came. She just said it was really gory and too intense. So they raised us in a secular household, but they don't hate God. They don't hate religion, but they just chose not to raise us that way. Well, you opened up another subject for me and I will get back to what I originally wanted to ask you about on the secular issue. But this is really worthy of a few moments. So I realized at an early age what I was going to bring differently to the religious secular discussion. And I know you know this is true about me, but it's very important for me to say. So I am quite religious, but I don't wear it heavily. And it drove me crazy, whether it was Christian, Catholic, Catholics are Christian, so I always find that odd, but it doesn't matter, Protestant, Catholic or Jewish. Most religious people, they sort of smack you in the face with their religiosity. And it's not good for the religion, I don't think it's good for God, I don't think it's good for them, and it certainly isn't going to bring a lot of people into religion. This is a perfect example of stuff that I've never said publicly. I mean it's not a revelatory thing, but there would never have been an occasion. I remember one of my first trips to Israel, I was about 20 years old, and I speak Hebrew fluently so I was with Israelis, and I remember I was at the army headquarters in Tel Aviv, some friend brought me there or whatever, and so all these soldiers were my age. They were also in their early 20s. So we were talking, and I'll never forget it was a female soldier and we were talking, and so at one point she said to me, the issue of, I don't know how it came up, religion came up, and she said, are you religious? Now in Israel, are you religious means are you Orthodox. It doesn't really just mean religious, are you an Orthodox Jew, that's really what she was asking. So you will love this. So I had two great answers, whenever I'm put on the spot I come up with better stuff. I had two great answers. I said, I don't know if I'm religious, I only know I'm not secular. How old were you? Oh that's right. That's a pretty amazing response. Period. But especially for 20 years. Right, right. Well, you could relate, that was a compliment. So I thought that was, she didn't know what to do with the answer because she had never heard anything like that, obviously. The other one was, so she said, and if you're religious, why aren't you wearing a kippah, a yarmulke, a skullcap? And I had another answer for her. I said, because I don't think religion needs a uniform. So those were two life -setting views that I had, and I'm not in any way putting down the Jews who wear a yarmulke all the time, my son does, and my grandchildren do, and they're terrific. I totally respect those who do that. Ben Shapiro does it, you know how much I respect Ben. But anyway, that was the answer that I gave her, because all of which is my way of saying that whether it was to a Jew or a non -Jew, I realized if I'm going to make the case for the centrality of God and the Bible, that they ought to be that in people's lives, I won't do it in a heavy -handed manner. So when your parents reacted against that, I get that. I get that too. And what's great about my parents is that they taught us Judeo -Christian values without probably, maybe they realized they were Judeo -Christian values, but the great parts of their religious upbringing came through in our upbringing. For instance, I was always taught to respect my elders. I was always taught to honor my parents. Actually, I don't know if my parents explicitly said, you honor us, but clearly the Judeo -Christian values got through because I knew growing up I had to honor them. Well, okay, so forgive me. No, we have time. I heard you inhale, so I know I'm interrupting. By the way, that's Dennis's trick on the radio with callers. Don't tell them. Oh, should we blake that out? No, no, no. I'm just joking. You can tell them. No, but you told that to me when I guess it's for you. It's brilliant. Yes, it is. Because you love and respect your call. No, I love it. That's why I do talk radio. You will keep people on the air. That's why I take calls. But sometimes people can go on a little too long and you've got to cut them off at the inhale. Yes, inhale. But okay, so there are so many, so many issues that are being fleshed out, fleshed out, yeah. So this. Yes, that was a faux pas. It was. So here is what I wanted to say. Your parents, and I don't know your parents well, I could only say that I have so enjoyed meeting them and they obviously are your parents, so I adore them automatically. But your parents represent vast numbers of people in the Western world who imbibed Judeo -Christian values, but didn't keep them going in the name of Judeo -Christian values. Well said. That is, by the way, that's what Americans did. Americans American imbibed values, but didn't teach them as American values. So you end up losing them. If you don't give them a name, you lose them. I say that we are living on the dregs and fumes of Judeo -Christian values right now, but they're going to run out if we don't understand their origin and why they are important. You said this in your Torah commentary, the cut flower ethics. I use the example of a photocopy machine. So my parents were handed Judeo -Christian values. Let's just say they were written on a paper, although of course they weren't. It is an analogy. You photocopy it. The first time you photocopy something, it's going to look pretty much like the original. Let's say that was me. That's good. I like that analogy. But then if I don't continue it. Right. They get weaker and weaker. Dimmer and dimmer and dimmer. And then you can't recognize where it originally came from. That's what we're seeing in the United States. The photocopy is as good as the cut flower. I salute you. Can you explain? I will salute you. Oh, as I saluted a guy on the road today with an American flag. So I'll give you my theory on that later. I gave you my theory on the show, but we'll repeat it. So the cut flower, by the way, it's not mine. And I said it in my commentary. I don't know whose it was because the guy who I read it when I was your age said he had heard it. So it's clearly not new, but it is brilliant. So the cut flower ethic is very simple. If you cut flowers from their soil, if you know nothing about flowers, you can look at the flower and go, oh, look, it doesn't need the soil. It'll do fine without the soil. That's what people think about ethics. Oh, we cut them off from the religious soil. They're doing fine. Well, they're not doing fine. Clearly. So there are a few things you said, if you don't mind, I want to go back. What a rich topic, by the way, to state the obvious. Well, it started with you didn't know you were secular, but go on. Yes, which I want to get back to, too, and talk about my religious transformation. But the thing that you said about religion doesn't need a uniform, that intrigued me. I agree with you that shoving values at people in a really kind of aggressive way actually works against what you are trying to achieve. That was true of my parents. And that's true of some people who grow up in uber religious communities that say, you know, you're going to go to hell, you know, constantly reminding them of hell. And so I agree about that. As far as the religious uniform, I also agree that religion doesn't need a uniform. I will say now that Judeo -Christian values are so under attack in the United States. I really appreciate when I see someone wearing a cross necklace or someone wearing a And in even some cases, the word that's coming to mind is criminalized. It's not criminalized, but the word I'm looking for is it will have adverse consequences for you, both in your professional and your personal life, to reveal your religiosity. So I really appreciate those people who will wear the uniform, if you will, of their religion, because they are saying, I'm proud to be Christian, I'm proud to be Jewish, and I don't care that it's not in vogue. I have enough commitment to God to wear it proudly. But but again, the values thing is totally true. So let me react then. Sure. So I repeated those two responses that I gave to this woman soldier because I thought that they illustrated what I wanted to do with my life.
The Charlie Kirk Show
A highlight from The Return of the Gods with Jonathan Cahn
"The U .S. dollar has lost 85 % of its value since the 70s, when the dollar decoupled from gold, and the government seems bent on continuing the tradition. Charlie Kirk here. From now until after the elections, the government can print as much money as they want. The last time they did that, inflation went up 9%. Gold is the only asset that has proven to withstand inflation. Invest in gold with Noble Gold Investments. You will get a 24 -carat, one -fourth of an ounce gold standard coin for free. Just use promo code kirk. Go to noblegoldinvestments .com. That's noblegoldinvestments .com, the only gold company I trust. Hey everybody, Jonathan Cahn, author of The Return of the Gods. Fascinating conversation. If you want to support our program directly, go to charliekirk .com slash support. That is charliekirk .com slash support. Get involved with Turning Point USA today to be a force to help save Western civilization. TPUSA .com. That is TPUSA .com. Buckle up, everybody. Here we go. Charlie, what you've done is incredible here. Maybe Charlie Kirk is on the college campuses. I want you to know we are lucky to have Charlie Kirk. Charlie Kirk's running the White House, folks. I want to thank Charlie. He's an incredible guy. His spirit, his love of this country. He's done an amazing job building one of the most powerful youth organizations ever created, Turning Point USA. We will not embrace the ideas that have destroyed countries, destroyed lives, and we are going to fight for freedom on campuses across the country. That's why we are here. Brought to you by the loan experts I trust, Andrew and Todd at Sierra Pacific Mortgage at andrewandtodd .com. Jonathan Cahn joins us now. Jonathan, welcome to the program. Great to be with you, Charlie. So Jonathan, build out for our audience the main thesis of your book, The Return of the Gods. Yeah, The Return of the Gods is, well, number one, it's probably the most explosive book I've ever written, and it is what if behind what is happening, the changes, the transformation of our culture, what if it goes back to what actually the Bible says? What if it goes back to what the Bible speaks of as gods? And what if the gods are not just fiction, but there's something actually behind them? And what if they returned? What if they actually were in the world? What if they were affecting our culture? What would happen to it, you know? And what happens when you turn away from God? Well, what The Return of the Gods is is really showing that it's happening. Once you see it, Charlie, you can't unsee it. It is really what is behind everything. We're all dealing with it, and the thing is that I wrote The Return of the Gods not only to, you know, reveal this, but also to arm God's people, because if you're in a fight and you don't know what you're fighting, chances are you're not going to win, you know? So it's really, you know, listen, it stunned me, and I knew that this is the hour that this had to come out. So, Jonathan, I want to make sure I get our terms right. I believe when you're saying the return of the gods, you mean the idea of fake gods. You are a monotheist, correct? You believe in... No, I know that's a silly question, but you're not suggesting that we live in a polytheistic reality. No, no, yeah, of course. Yeah, I'm a believer in Jesus. I'm a Jewish believer and a because let me go right into it. Yeah, the Bible says that when it speaks about the false gods, and that's exactly what we're speaking about, it says that behind them, it uses a Hebrew word. The Hebrew word is shaddim. Shaddim, it's in Deuteronomy, it's in the Psalms. It means literally not, you know, fables, it means spirits, entities, beings, and when it gets translated into the New Testament, it becomes the Greek word daimonia, where you get the word demon from it. So what it's saying is that behind the gods are actually spirits. When in the pagan world was worshiping gods, they're actually under a possession. You know, when you turn away from God, this is what happens. So this is pretty universal. Everyone worshiped gods except Israel that worshiped God until they turned away from God. So the first question is what happened to all this? Well, what happened was the gospel. What happened was Jesus. And when the power of God came into the ancient world, literally it drove out the gods. That's why you don't see many people worshiping Zeus outright and all these things. It was gone. But if behind the gods are spirits, that means it wasn't just turning away from gods. It means it was a casting out. It was a, it was an exorcism of Western civilization. That's what's made the West so unique. And so the thing is, so the thing is that then, then the next question is that, okay, where did they go? And then, and the next kind of clue to set up what I'm, what I'm going to, what I'm sharing is that Jesus gave a parable and he said, when a spirit goes out of a man, it goes looking for a place, doesn't find it. It says, I'm going to go back to my house, the guy, and he goes back and finds the house, the guy, empty in order, clean, bring seven other spirits. The Bible says more evil than itself. And the guy, but when you read the end of it in Matthew, it says, so it shall be with this generation. And so the premise is this, the warning is this, that, that first of all, cultures, not just people can be oppressed and possessed. They can be delivered and they can be repossessed. So the warning is for America and for the West and for much of the world, modern world, any culture, any civilization that has been delivered of these spirits by God of paganism by God, if it should ever turn away from God, then the spirits that were cast out of it will come back into it, to repossess it. If you want to understand what's been happening to America for the last half century, we're witnessing a repossession. We're witnessing a turn from a Christian civilization into a pagan one. And this is, this is the beginning. This is key. So if you, if you read the Torah, which means teacher, through the lens that there was an obsession from the writing of it to wage really war on river civilization, pagan polytheism, right, this idea of one God that is not in nature but created nature, this idea of one morality, this idea of, of, of Hashem or Adonai or Jehovah, whatever term you want to use, was, it was, it was not just foreign, it was a mystery and a threat to the predominant views. And if you look at some of the themes that, especially the first 11 books of Genesis lay out, we're seeing almost a resurgence of that, whether it be earth worship, whether it be doing what is right in your own eyes. So when you say a return of the gods, we're almost just seeing a replaying of the same temptations and vices that the first couple books of the scriptures go out of their way to wage war on. Yeah, absolutely. What we are witnessing is, it's kind of the reverse. It's the reverse of what happened when the gospel came in. It's a de -Christianization, which means also it is a turning away from monotheism. Well, when you turn away from God, the warning is, I mean, look, look at the case examples we have. Look at Russia. Look what happened when Russia turned away from its Christian foundation. It wasn't secular, it was demonic. Look what happened to Germany when they turned away from God. It was not secular, it was demonic. We are now witnessing that in America, and the warning that Jesus gives us, the house will not stay empty. You take God out of the schools, something else will come into the schools. You take God from the children, something else will come into the children, and that's what we are witnessing. Everything you just said, it's not an accident. In fact, why things are so irrational. We say, how could they believe this? How could they do this to children? Well, this is all part of it, and the thing is, Charlie, it's not just a general thing. There are specific entities or gods or spirits that the Bible thinks about that are literally at work right in our culture right now. So that's a really deep and important point that honestly I don't even have theological clarity on, and I want your take. I want to spend some of our hour on this, because I ask pastors and I get different answers, understandably, and you've obviously done some deep thinking on this, which is, what does the Bible say? Who is Satan? Does he have lieutenants that we would call demons? And so walk us through what the Bible says. Outside of folklore or tradition, what specifically does the Bible say? Who Satan is? What is his jurisdiction, and does he have, you know, lieutenants or demons or helpers? Yeah, well, number one, you know, Satan in Hebrew, really, it's a Hebrew word that means satan, means the one who opposes you, it becomes in Greek diabolos, we get devil, you know, from that means the opposer. Well, it says, the Bible clearly says that Satan was also a spirit, an angelic being that fell, so therefore you have, starting with that, but interesting too because, Charlie, you know one of the words for Satan is beelzebel, you know, or beelzebel. Well, that actually comes from a which is one of the spirits or one of the gods that Israel worships. So yes, he has, the Bible says very clearly there is Satan, and then there are spirits that are part of this realm, just like God has angels, there are spirits. Well, what would a spirit do more than draw attention, you know, draw the worship of God away from God to itself? So when you look at the pagan world, you know, there's a reason why it's demonic. You know, when you look at pagan worship, it's demonic. It's not just, you know, they have all the signs of possession shaking and foaming at the mouth, and a possessed culture is literally, I mean, a pagan culture is literally demonic. So therefore, yes, and the thing is that we've kind of forgotten that at our peril, to our peril, because when you take out God, it all comes back. Hey everybody, Charlie Kirk here. We are saving babies with Preborn by providing free ultrasounds. When you introduce a girl to her baby by providing an ultrasound, you're giving her the truth at the most important time in her life, and more than 85 % of the time when she sees the baby and hears the baby's heartbeat, she will choose life. The voices that call themselves pro -choice are loud and proud, and they are everywhere. It might feel like an uphill battle, but there is no better fight to fight than with the truth of an ultrasound. $140 gives five mothers a free ultrasound and saves babies. $280 can save 10 babies. For just $28 a month, you can save a baby a month for less than a dollar a day, and $15 ,000 gift will provide an ultrasound machine that will save lives for years to come. 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The Charlie Kirk Show
Dennis Prager Unpacks One of His Most "Controversial" Statements
"Controversial when women say they're not in the mood. Yeah, of course it's controversial. You wrote a column on it. Yes, I wrote a column and daily codes said that I advocated marital rape. One thing people lost understand about the left. They're not just mean and vicious and. Dishonest. They're shallow. People must understand if you're not shallow, you can't be a leftist. You could be a liberal. You could be a conservative. That's very interesting. At that point is very deep about how shallow the left. That's right. It is a deep point about their shallowness. In fact, they're deeply shallow. They're shallow misses deep. How's that? Well, now you really got me. Yeah, well, I was just one upping your witticism. So anyway, they wrote that I was advocating marital rape. What I wrote, and it's on the Internet. It's like ten years old. When a wife is not in the mood, I think that that's correct. That's what by the way, the irony is my grandmother knew this, who never graduated high school. In other words, a hundred years ago, women were far more sophisticated in their knowledge of men than they are today because they go to college now. Isn't that amazing? It totally amazing. So yes, so my argument is what in life should mood ever dictate. And I said, what if your husband said, I'm not in the mood to go to work? You have an obligation. Marriage is obligations. In Judaism, which is my fundamental value system, it is a contract, it is called a contract. A katuba, a man gives a contract, katuba means contract. The IOU X you owe me Y it is understood and by the way, so is it in the New Testament? Correct? Yes. That's correct. Well, it's a covenant is the word we use. Well, perfectly. Which is also taken from Judaism and the Torah. Yeah, and we can set to be even a higher level of the Catholic faith that's a sacrament. Yes, before the sacrament in the Catholic faith. That's right. And Christianity, it says Jesus with the church as mandatory. His body is yours. And your body is his well, that really runs it. So that's why they hate you they are Christian values, because we say mood, again, back to heart. Yes. We don't believe the heart is a good guide. The left does.
The Charlie Kirk Show
A Special Conversation Between Charlie and Dennis Prager
"Dennis, there's so many important things we could talk about, but I do want to focus on your remarkable work on the first 5 books of the Bible, the pentateuch, the books and Moses, the Torah, which I think you understand better than almost any living person on the planet today and how it applies to today's time, which is honestly the most important. But one of the things you talk about that I think can frame this discussion is something I have repeated is the first 11 books of genesis in particular layout distinctions. You were talking about this earlier, which is God created a world where distinctions matter. And since the 1970s, the left has done everything they can to destroy distinctions. Talk about what distinctions God set up in creation and why does it matter? I wrote this first in the 1980s, so this is not new, and I knew then how dangerous the left was the left is the anti Bible. That's what they are. It is the antithesis of the Bible. And I like to share with you, I know you've heard you've heard me and you've read me on this. I'm very flattered. What did God do after creating the world? What did God do the other 6 days? And whether you take day literally or not is of no interest to me, I happen to think it means era because yom in Hebrew means era just as it does in English. If you say in our day, you don't mean today. But it doesn't matter if you take it literally, I don't have a problem with you. But what did God do the other 6 days? What did he do? And the answer is God made order. The left makes disorder. To understand the left you must understand it is a force for chaos. Because it's very hard to understand the left. If you say you were Christian I'm a Jew, so tell me, where do I go to know what you believe? I'd say, yeah, read the Bible. Very simple, okay? Why would you say, what would a left to say, The New York Times? Okay. By the way, that may well be an honest answer that is correct. But they don't know where to send. You because it's not written. It is, it's felt,
The Bible Project
What's So Special About Oil?
"We're exploring a new theme on the podcast called the anointed. Anointing is taking oil and smearing it on someone. And it has a very specific purpose. Foil marks a person replaced that the bridge between heaven and earth. Cool. But why oil? Why not wine? What's going on? So what we're going to trace down in this conversation is there's a recipe for special anointing oil. You can find it in the Torah. The recipe for anointing oil is given by God to Moses on Mount Sinai. And it's not just oil, it's oil and fused with pungent aromatic spices and it makes this incredible perfume. How creations packed with these plants that if you just ate the leaf, you would not enjoy it. But you crush it. Pulverize it, we're soak it, and then it can infuse this with a taste that just is like otherworldly. Well, I think the biblical authors want us to see in this anointing oil is the life of Eden condensed into a little dense liquid. The life of Eden begins with the water of life, filling the dry ground and forming the human, and then got spirits. Fills the human. Water and spirit. Marking humanity as a place where heaven and earth are one. And so to remember that place, or even to designate a place to be like that, we anoint it with oil. There's moments when through liquid and spirit, a person a place is marked as a special portal between heaven and earth to bring about that reunion of heaven and earth in some way. And I think that's where all of a sudden all these themes come crashing together. Of the liquid life and the spirit are joined images. And that's what anointing means in the Bible.
Finance Magnates
eToro Taps Moneyfarm to Provide UK Clients with Stocks Shares ISA
"4 p.m. Friday March 10th, 2023. Etoro taps money farm to provide UK clients with stock shares ISA. Both tutorial and Israel based social trading network is partnering with money farm, a European digital wealth manager to provide its UK clients with a stocks and shares individual savings account ISA. However, the launch of the ISA solution will follow a phased approach etoro said in a statement on Friday, explaining that both companies will introduce more product integration in the coming months LTP GTL TPG TSA is a tax efficient investment account that exempts its holder from. Paying the UK income or capital gains tax on earnings made from investment arranged with the account. Through the collaboration, over 3 million registered etoro clients in the UK can now open this type of account, while the ref quax would not finance magnates dot com to Torah qua target quack Blanco roquat follow qua tagged, said LTP GTL TPG T toro explains new partnership with money farmable pretender the partnership, etoro explained, money farm will provide the. Technology platform create and manage the investment portfolios as well as. Manage customer relationships however, clients will be able to view. Their ISA balance on their portfolio with E toro LTP GTL TPG GT the money farm globally diversified discretionary portfolios are risk rated. And customers will be matched with the correct portfolios, managed by experts. De toro noted that LTP GTL TP GT speaking on collaboration, Dan macho ski it UK managing director. Noted that the development is significant for its clients given the upcoming. Changes to the UK's capital gains tax threshold. In November last year, Jeremy hunt, the UK pass Chancellor of the exchequer, announced that the country of past capital. Gain tax allowance in April this year will be cut down to 6000 from 12,300 with. Further reduction to 3000 scheduled for April 2024 LTP GTL TPG GT toro UK clients will now have the convenience of being able to open a stocks and shares ISA with money farm via our app, while continuing to use the. Etoro app to invest in a range of assets from stocks and crypto to commodities. And ETFs we will continue to build our ISA offering over time and we look. Forward to seeing how our clients respond, explain that LTP GT LTP GT toro doubles down on portfolio expansion new partnership with money farm comes less than a month after the social trading network the dot finance magnates dot com for exceeder launch a social sentiment portfolio of fear and retail trader sex Bissau toast from safest got target clock line quat real quote follow-up launched social sentimental tagged, a new portfolio that offers retail investors exposure to use listed. Companies known for their solid ESG efforts. In recent months, the social. Trading network has also introduced other portfolio expansion opportunities to its clients LTP GTL TPG T in late January. The trading and investment firm will have dot finance magnates dot com fantasy toro into safe power Ed portfolio thought a jet shy grow thus from quote target quad blank plot will quote follow caught introduced investor a U.S. will tagged a new smart. Portfolio that uses artificial intelligence to provide retail investors with. Exposure to the stocks of 12 high growth U.S. based companies. Additionally, in November last year, the company will talk dot finance magnates dot com for exceeder launch chess options trading in the months after acquiring gets by quad target quad blank will quote follow-up launched options trading will tag in the united. States LTP GT this article was written by Solomon Oladipo at WWW dot finance magnates dot com.
The Charlie Kirk Show
Man Doesn't Do Well in Cities
"It interesting that nimrod said, let's build a city. First time we ever hear that, and cities are known for the propagation of evil. That's right. And danger, man doesn't do well in cities unless God is the builder. It's interesting, both the Torah, the first 5 books of the Bible, and Thomas Jefferson, both hated big cities. The American founders read this text and they designed a system of government to say we do not want all this power and cosmopolitan densely populated urban areas. That's right. In fact, the founding fathers were so biblically literate. If you read the federalist papers, Alexander Hamilton, federalist 47, federalist 51, federalist 58. They talked time and time again about the heated passions in cities where rancor, rumor and half truths, reigns supreme were the mobs and the masses are able to get what they want, but reason goes to die. God tried to warn us in genesis 11. Hey, if you guys build these cities, all of a sudden, you're not going to be governed by your reason, you're rationality or your logic, but it's going to be the tyranny of the clamoring majority. My goodness. You look at federalism, states rights. You look at this idea of the local church, all of that is saying we learn the lesson from genesis 11 and we're not going to try to build something central or something big or something strong and you see that it direct odds with the world economic form of what they're doing right now.
The Eric Metaxas Show
"The Moral and Cultural Case for Teaching the Great American Story"
"I'm talking to Timothy gay line who has written an important book toward a more perfect union. The moral and cultural case for teaching the great American story. So Tim, you know, when we teach the great American story, this doesn't mean that we avoid the ugly parts. But of course, when you're talking to younger kids, it might not be the time to get into that because it's confusing. But of course, we all understand that when you're putting forth a narrative, you're going to leave some things in, you're going to, you know, but what I've noticed and have written about and spoken about a lot, which is why I get so excited about your book toward a more perfect union, is that we have amazing stories to tell. The stories of George Washington's heroism and courage and sacrifice. The stories of Paul Revere, story after story after story that generations of Americans were told, were taught and they themselves passed on that made us the nation who we are to overcome things. I always think of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow writing Paul Revere's ride on the cusp of the Civil War to call us back to who we were as a people to make sure that we understood that we fight these battles again and again in the Civil War of course a dramatic example of that. So what do you cover in your book toward a more perfect union? Well, I must say, I want to solidify Eric, what you have said so eloquently, because in the first part of Torah Moore perfect union, I jumped into pools and pools of empirical data. And I began to look at where and what was the cause of the historic and cultural illiteracy that has become a plague in our nation. You know, until about 1968, you could go to the public schools in places like New York and Chicago and Los Angeles and get a very good education. I have no doubt at all, not from my opinion, but from the data that Americans in those times graduating with a high school diploma knew the American story. They knew significant figures in western civilization. There never would have been any doubt if you, for instance, for a Californian that you knew who father Sarah was, the founder of California, of course he's been totally and completely erased in California.
Dennis Prager Podcasts
Is the New Testament Possible Without the Hebrew Bible?
"So here's a question for my Christian listeners. If I were 5 of asked you 5 minutes ago or 5 years ago, where does love God with all your heart come from? Would you have said New Testament or Old Testament? No, you could say, or both testaments. You could say that too. But I am I suspect that mammy Christians believe that it is unique to the New Testament. Likewise, love your neighbor as yourself. And that, too, comes from the Torah from the book of leviticus. Leviticus also gave us the one verse that is on the liberty bell. For these reasons alone, it is extremely fair to say judeo Christian. The Christian part for Jews who may have issues with the term is that Christianity brought the Jewish scriptures to the world.
Dennis Prager Podcasts
What Do Judaism and Christianity Have in Common?
"So I have a thought for you and if you're Christian or Jewish or neither you will find all of this interesting and provocative. Judaism and Christianity are the only two religions that share a holy scripture. That's very interesting. And again, it's not something people think about. They know it, but they don't think about it, and they don't realize it's unique. So take, for example, the other monotheistic religion Islam. Islam does not share a holy scripture with Judaism or Christianity. In fact, it is basic to Islamic belief that the Jews distorted the Old Testament, especially the Torah, the key, the key 5 books of Moses, and the Christians made up of their own New Testament. And the only authentic word of God is the Quran. It's not a criticism in the least. It's just a statement of fact. So that's why one does not speak of judeo Muslim or Muslim or christiano Muslim values. That's not to say that a Muslim and a Christian and a Jew can not share some values. Of course they can. But a Muslim and an excuse me, a Jew and a Christian could share values with a Hindu and with the Buddhist and with an atheist. They don't share theologies or beliefs, but they can share values. That's given if you believe in free speech, you share a value, right? Right.
Dennis Prager Podcasts
An Eye for an Eye
"My record and the record of vast numbers of people called conservative was spectacular on this issue. Spectacular, The New York Times was a lying deceitful organ. Not taught radio. We now know it. They were cheerleaders for lockdowns. Cheerleaders. Well, I don't know what if people learn anything from the past. You know, I mentioned the city of refuge if you committed an accidental homicide, so I'm reading a book and it is written by a Harvard evolutionary biologist who it's pretty clear as an atheist. And he describes why civilization basically has come to be what it is at least western civilization, but he's an expert on non western civilizations and especially Aboriginal civilizations. He spent a lot of time in Fiji and he describes life in the pre biblical world. He doesn't say pre biblical, but that's what it is. And if somebody in your family, your clan was killed, you killed somebody in The Killers family. That was the norm in human society. Because bonds were kinship. This was all ended by the Torah. The first books of the Bible. That's what I for an eye, tooth for a tooth is about. You can't have vengeance, one eye is worth another eye. Nobody took out an eye, by the way. It was never understood literally. It was always understood. One eye is one eye that you can have a revenge cycle. You can't kill a member of a group in which the killer lived.
All Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcasts
"torah" Discussed on All Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcasts
"Isaac and jacob the cut the whole torah maybe not out of line of israel and. Maybe there are other differences between the torah that they had and when that we have because they weren't actually technically obligated to do what they did it voluntarily but the council of torah not only that they studied all of tar. Maybe even more than what we have and we have three different approaches. Understand how it's did that. Either abraham was able to transpose torah in a way similar moshe from the heavenly torah of black fire type of wildfire into the worldly frameworks. The earthly frameworks that we live in. Or has it been to reverse engineer this world to be able to see what the world was all about. And to find within the fingerprints of the spirit of god and the torah alternatively who's of the find it deep within him to me the most interesting takeaway of this. The lesson i think of this subject is that torah is the best way to live. But it's the definitive way to live. Even we think of the world while we're obligated to do it we better do. It are elsewhere in trouble we were commanded and we accepted the covenant at sinai were bound to it. Were obligated to it. We've no choice. We have to follow these rules here. We see the and jacob. They kept the entire tower. Every part of it every tiddle even rabbinic law. They lived really the way we live and they did that choice. Why they choose to do it. They chose to do it. Because this is the definitive prescription for how to live the most enriching and pleasurable life. Possible it's not just some collection of arbitrary disjointed laws. This is the way to match them. Is the human experience here. Fatwa even told that the human body and the torah are perfect mirrors of each other moreover the human soul and telera are perfect mirrors of each other as well. Meaning that by doing. The tower were actually perfecting.
All Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcasts
"torah" Discussed on All Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcasts
"From the world. And finally there was a third interpretation. Wanna share with you today on this partial podcast that i'm supposed to be subdued and really calm. It might do a good job by being calm. My beaned balanced and maintaining my composure. I hope so. There was a major rush. The tells us where abraham torah from may on low mud abraham et cetera. From where abraham studied. The tara gives us two answers. One of them is may at smo- he studied era from himself. The second opinion tells us that his two kidneys were transformed into two pitchers of water and those pictures began to sprout torah from them. So where did abraham study from from himself and his two kidneys turned into two wellsprings of torah. Is that the idea over here. Each and every one of us we have a soul within us. A soul is a captive citizen from the spiritual world. The soul doesn't want to be here. The soul yearns to go back to where it came from. It suffers every minute that it's here but the sole actually contains within it all of torah. Everything that we need.
All Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcasts
"torah" Discussed on All Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcasts
"And the reason for this because they have to learn to acclimate to the perspectives to the outlooks to the world view of the heavenly torah even if someone is immersed in developed the real expertise a taste for torah here. They need to be trained so to speak to reverse the river to do. The opposite of motion did moshe went to heaven and took a heavily torah and transposed it to us to make palatable understandable to us well when we die for righteous we have to be under the reverse experience of making ourselves compatible with heavily. So it's been a year so to speak in his lower paradise and slowly we get acclimated and transformed to be someone who can appreciate the heavenly torah of black fire. A top of white fire but this concept that we have so to speak this heavenly torah the first thing they got created and it exists on a different dimension in the spiritual world and it was transposed to our world via moshe. We asked the question. How did abraham get torah. Abraham did a personal version of mosaic trans positioning. Torah abraham was a prophet. He was in communication with god. And the almighty reveal to him the heavenly auro via prophecy but he was also able to transpose that into understanding it. Exactly how to pave in this world in line toro. That's the first explanation of how abraham had torah. How did he know exactly what to do. He had access to torah of black type. Wildfire and like moses for the nation abraham himself knew how to do the same thing had a translate those insights and those understanding those principles to the human and worldly frameworks. That's one there was a second explanation. Wanna share and that is based on top of page one hundred. It says had we not been given tara..
All Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcasts
"torah" Discussed on All Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcasts
"The objective of existence is to connect the two take at the first and the god created with the last thing that god created to bridge. The first and last of god's creations man is the thing. I from god because man is the only thing and that can rebel against god but this idea that the torah actually existed way before was given to us at sinai is well documented. And we've talked about pass that thing. We've done several discussions about this. The pomp of shabas page eighty eight. B tells us that when moshe went up to heaven the angels very perplexed and surprised to see him and they asked god. What's he doing here. he's coming here. Got the the torah the precious treasure that existed nine hundred and seventy four generations before the street treated you want to give it to lowly man torah very much existed before was given at sinai it just existed on a different dimension in the words of the talmud it existed as black fire a top white fire if you remember the very first partial podcast of the fourth cycle of the tests and our in the sich cycle. But that's that's two years ago. We read the rim bonds introduction to torah where he is splendid idea of the torah that existed in heaven before the world was treated torah always existed was the very first thing that was created and served as a blueprint for everything else that followed they might look into the torah the world but the tower of the heaven is in this different format. It's a heavenly torah and it's written in some other way in some other dimension black fire atop wildfire and it's kind of a tantalizing subject how do you get the heavenly torah to become the terra firma torah. How does the black fire top of white fire. Tower that transpose. To the torah of what we study which includes laws such as what happens when my arts doors your cow and we find a dead baby calf undecided. And we're not sure if the cow was born as a stillborn prior to be doored. And if i'm not responsible for any more than my animal killing your animal or did my animal gore your animal and that caused the miscarriage and have be not only for the dead cow but also for the calf. That's a law..
All Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcasts
"torah" Discussed on All Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcasts
"You look at Set of talmud and you open up. The book called vote. Azzaro which means adultery accounta- chapters. It has five chapters says the comet abraham had the same book but he's version of this book. His book of talmud of those dollar tree contained not five chapters but four hundred chapters. Abraham had a more comprehensive torre on this subject. His book of thomas was eighty times more comprehensive than ours and the ads. And we have such a hard time. Studying are five chapters. And abraham had four hundred chapters. We're also told that there was an academy of shame. And aver if you look at. The fourth verse of our partial tells us that there was a struggle in utero between jacob. A and rashi explains that whenever rebecca who was buried and those two babies those two fetuses whenever she passed the academy of torah of shame. And aver shame is the righteous son of noah and aver is shamed great grandson and they haven't academy and the academy to study torah again way before signing whatever. The past that jacob in utero had such fine senses for torah that he started making a push he was starting to jostle trying to leave and to be born to go study one of the passed the house of idolatry ace of he had a sense for it he had a desire for it lost for it and he to made a move to try to be born to go worship idolatry now jacob himself and the end of our show will read the the very last rashi var partial tells us that jacob actually spent fourteen years between when he escaped from mesa and when he arrived in horan he spent fourteen years in the academy of shame. And aver. and we're also told that jacob's favourite son we read in chapter thirty seven verse. Three was joseph. Rashi explains that. He taught him all of his torah. And judah founded a yeshiva in gauchan. When jacob was reunited or found out about the fact that joseph still alive he said judah ahead of him to go found sheva in egypt before the nation gets there so going. Amazing think over here. We just surveyed many many sources that tell us that the forefathers and their families both observed the torah before was given an studied it before.
All Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcasts
"torah" Discussed on All Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcasts
"Actually kept the whole torah. Now the source is actually in our partial god promises isaac that he will take care of him and he will increase his descendants and the reason genesis twenty six five eight give asher shum of coley because abraham heart with my voice value. Shmegegge martini guarded. Charge mitzvahs mitzvahs. Who does i. My statutes vittore cy and my toros. The verse is explicit. That abraham heartened to god's voice guarded god's charge and mitzvahs and statutes and ras and rashi explains. What does this mean. Abraham harkened to god's voice when god tested him and abraham guarded veal mighties charge by keeping rabbinic law. And abraham guarded the mitzvahs. What does that mean. that's a category of missiles that are logical logical laws like the laws against murder and theft. Themes that even. If you weren't commanded to do it. I got you would do nonetheless. Who statutes refer to statutes to laws that defy human logic like the prohibition against eating non torture animals or wearing shot in his garments made out of will linen or any of so that makes no sense and finally tore assigned my toros at the reference to the written torah and the car. So we have a verse here. Which kind of grants his whole idea that. There's torah that exists before sinai. And there's targets observed. By abraham is jacob and their families and we have an explicit versus. That says that abraham observed at all the time of the book of yoma says even further even rabbinic law even the laws of era of abraham observed. This is an astonishing thing. Centuries before sinai abraham observed altero presumably abraham war fillon abraham head sits on the corners of armaments. It's abraham hannam zuza on his door post. You would imagine on the festival. Sue coat abraham said in a sucker and a love and eight months Catch the whole torah. This is just an amazing thing. Before the jewish nation before this actress all six hundred thirteen mitzvahs were observed by abraham and certainly by isaac and jacob as well so much so that there is a very famous question by their own at this spot in the past. There are bond asked the question. One of the midst of the torah is that a man may not marry two sisters simultaneously one of them dies. that's okay but simultaneously. You cannot be married two sisters. Well how did jake two sisters. He married rachel. La natura partial spoiler alert. How did he married. Two sisters if jacomb observe the whole thera-. How did he violate this particular law. So the rebound answers than indeed jakup kept the whole torah. But because it was not obligatory it was not mandated by god. There was no covenants and commandments and instruction of sinai yet..
All Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcasts
"torah" Discussed on All Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcasts
"If you devote an hour week ca listening and really trying to understand what's being said i promise you will grow will thank you guns. Oh five twelve for this amazing review apple podcasts. You know such nice crisp writing maybe ghana five twelve wants to start writing for the team at torch. Maybe send me an email. Thank you so much for your kind review and feedback. So i guess guns. Zo is of the opinion that the energy is good. But you know what. This is almost like a democracy. It's really like a fun of democracy and more like like a dictator the tyrant of the podcast. I'm the autocrat of the podcast totalitarianism over here rules. But nevertheless i'm going to take your opinions are council email com or subdued or jubilant and upbeat and positive energy. Let me know okay. So this week is partially told us and i selected a fun subject on interesting subject to talk about today. This is a subject. That's really not limited to our partial. In fact it's featured in almost every partial in the book of genesis and its subject that i've gotten a lot of questions about it actually relate so we talked about last week. I find it to be very interesting. And i want to do like a dedicated episode the subject and whenever anyone asks me a question about this and say you know what in toll dose of november of twenty twenty one. We did a whole episode of this object. Goalless and ted. And you'll have everything you need about this subject in one place. And the subject is torah pre sinai torah of abraham the torah of isaac the tour of jacob the tower of the jewish family before the descent to egypt before the national revelation at sinai before we actually got the raw. What was the status. What does the state of torah beforehand. Now what does this actually mean what it means is. There are many examples of the family of abraham observing and studying torah before it was even given so for chaplain are partially with many examples of this concept so when isaac constructs his son ace up to go catch some game and prepared for him he tells them. This is twenty seven. I three take your tools and take your bow and take your sword and go out to the field. Raunchy explains that he's telling him to go. Sharpen your sword. Sharpen your knife so that when you catch the animal and you slaughter. It made sure that the knife is razor sharp. So that way the animal that you produce and the meat you produce is going to be kosher. He's telling of. I want you to slaughter it. So that the media you serve me will be with the will be produced with a sharp knife and that way it will be kosher consume. Obviously you read that. You say. Wait a minute. What's going on over here. The laws of kosher are told to us until i think it's parsh- amini and laws of slaughtering because not featured toll deuteronomy chapter twelve yet. Isaac already can hundreds of years before sinai is concerned about having kosher meat. How does even know torture. Meat is moreover a few verses later we read chapter twenty seven verse nine that isaac observed pesach and eight. The pastoral offering rashi says that the reason why rebecca asks for two goats one of them is to have the delicacies that he's asking for and the other one is for the paschal offering moreover we read twenty six twelve that isaac wanted to estimate the yield of his land and he found out that it was a hundred times more than was anticipated..
All Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcasts
"torah" Discussed on All Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe Podcasts
"It is great to start talking about the 13 principles of faith we haven't discussed this subject in a while and it's great to be back. And just a brief overview of where we are in the 13 principles back in the day when we started talking about the principles, we talked about how they are broken down into three general subjects. These 13 principles, they are the bedrock of what we believe. They're the foundation of Jewish faith, all of our belief is built on top of these 13 principles as codified to us by the rom bomb. And they fall into three general categories. We have the first 5 that talk about God. What does it mean when we say the Jews believe in God? What is that doesn't mean? The ramen breaks it down into 5 general principles. The next part of these 13 principles is the concept of taura. So of course, Torah, that demands the concept of prophecy and mosaic prophecy and the divinity of Torah and the fact that the Torah is unchangeable and those four those four principles, they comprise the middle section of the 13 principles. And now we are going to begin with principal number ten, which is the first of the final four principles which generally refer to reward and punishment. Principle number ten that we're going to discuss today is the idea of the omniscience of God, God knows everything. And number 11 that we'll get to, please God soon is the general concept of reward and punishment. 12 is messiah, which refers to reward and a part of the ultimate reward and punishment in this world where the world gets fixed and the world is brought to its utopian vision so to speak outlined in the genesis so to speak of creation. And finally, principal number 13 is the concept of resurrection on the bar, which is the ultimate reward..
The Charles Moscowitz Podcast
"torah" Discussed on The Charles Moscowitz Podcast
"I have no idea whether biden has three marble still mug bouncing around and his head to be honest with you. You don't think they're gonna talk. You know biden's gonna talk about israel with with. I don't know if he does biden will remember anything is i don't know if you members beyond the day i man look. I'm sorry to be critical. But i mean if you observe his whole demeanor in not just mccarter is more competent. Jimmy carter is going to tell biden about israel. Biden's not remember. That's that's what i'm saying. And jimmy carter in spite of his his age. And i think he's still with it mentally. I don't know if biden is as i've look i'm sorry to say this you know. I'm have been censored from youtube anyway. So i feel it can be a little freer. But i think that i don't know who's in charge in in that administration right now and it just biden's is like he's not all there. I'm sorry but that's an observation. I mean i don't know. Because i haven't i don't have any inside information but i think we're eventually going to find that out. I just don't know if the man is completely cognitive. At this point turn the combatants who meets. He may not even know who is meeting they will. Whoever is meetings for them in shows john kerry and chose these old the war whoever's figures john gonna be a direction like we're talking about israel and iran and to me it's it's an indication that that's who it's biden's meeting with further harder of argument. Let's say by national does know what's going on. I think that they're tilting toward iran. I think they certainly obama did. And i think that now biden is. Is we doing that by. We visiting the Iran nuclear deal which Under under obama. Which i think karaoke kerry secretary of state at the time they were that was when they shipped over all those pallets of cash a released monies that had been held since reagan and the iran hostage crisis and they basically propped up iranian mollahs and winked at them when it came to issue of whether or not they continued to develop nuclear facilities which they did and i think recently with the Sabotage of the natanz nucleus site in iran and israel not denying that they might have had a role in it that tells me that the israelis recognizing the new regime which is not going to be in their interest. They're going to take matters into their own hands and the whole thing is very sad to me because head. Trump's been duly Serving his rightfully serving his second term. And we don't have to go into that. He was really moving forward. Rapidly in terms of developing peace in the middle east and doing so from a position of strength the may just before he left office a few weeks before he left office. Israel signed a peace treaty under the trump and and pompeo auspices of with between israel and morocco. Morocco is moving their embassy to jerusalem. I think that had trump been properly Reelected As i believe he was. I think that the palestinians would becoming to pace table. I think that the the trump kushner proposal was the best proposal. Ever gotten in history..
The Charles Moscowitz Podcast
"torah" Discussed on The Charles Moscowitz Podcast
"I mean kari speech before congress in when he started out desperately made his bones sorry career off the ground and you know he He and by the way he went to prep school. With with bob mueller. Okay that tells you everything you need to know. These people these establishment hacks. The amoral got loyal to the united states. They were internationalised their satanic. He's the most He's one of the most well known politicians for for decades. I mean even if what you're saying is true if what you're saying about him is true with you it's it's probably true about almost everybody involved in the government like that and this based completely lost trust in aspen with resilience. That's why they had a shop trump but anyway getting back to your speech after he delivered that horrible testimony with all this atrocity propaganda. A reporter asked him he said. Did you witness any of this this time. He acknowledged that he never had. He heard of the third hand. It was rumor and he gets up in carbon sats stabbing the american military in its back and and attacking our involvement in vietnam because he thought it would be fashionable. Then he ends up. Becoming lieutenant governor in massachusetts with dukakis as governor and i thought it was kind of amusing that during his presidential run in two thousand four when he became the democratic nominee. He didn't mention in his resume. The fact that he had been lieutenant governor because dukakis unpopular and he sent a message to dukakis house telling him not to come to the convention and his name was airbrushed. This is how these people are look. I'm not a big fan of michael dukakis. But he didn't deserve that. He's a nice guy i mean. He's he was the nominee in two thousand and eight. It's so high ball. I mean hateful the kind of politics they engage in an so vindictive carriers known even by people who are on the a liberal media as real sob anyways. I don't even think that he probably too divergent. In your tirade against kerry finish it up by saying that. I don't even think they carry necessarily was doing this shaft israel by by revealing secrets. National security could hurt his room. which does i think. It's just more personal for him. he's into himself. He's he probably didn't like someone or he maybe wanted to show off. We're timing to really really bad character here. Somebody who really does exemplify certain type of person who populates high positions gnarly government but in business academia in any area where you have power in the You know things could fall apart. And the us like i said could make a calculation that it's actually more strategic to be aligned with iran of than israel and there could be a disaster you'll from israel itself from the biden administration in europe where all the sudden biden has scrambled to get back into the iran deal because they screwed up internationally diplomatically node or to sit for president bite into save his own reputation and carry. They're going to rush right back into the iran deal and they during. What are you are you reading. What are you reading. Nothing into the fact that President biden's visiting jimmy carter. Is that today. I think it's today using that but in a later that may be biden's believe it Ucla screw this. I'm going with iran. I just met with jimmy carter. Israel been causes problems for.
The Charles Moscowitz Podcast
"torah" Discussed on The Charles Moscowitz Podcast
"Because they might just ban purely based off of Complaints so there could be complaints. I've been I bear radio host off and on in the greater boston area for the past twenty years. And i've done mostly on smaller markets but really consistently and i understand in that context. What community standards are you know when you're working in a station and you have the manager of the office next door while you're doing a broadcast and you've got a board up and you've got people around sales people staff you know you you you know. You're working for a company and you have to observe community standards. Also radios are under the august of the federal communications commission which means that they really are standards. That can be read. You could read them. They're defined and i.
The Charles Moscowitz Podcast
"torah" Discussed on The Charles Moscowitz Podcast
"There's pitchers in the truck papers and embiid a took took casino and he lost mgm grand and then eventually the the tribal the tribe sold that they actually went bankrupt and my mother was a bankruptcy attorney so ironically they went bankrupt. And if you know anything about bankruptcy. They got bankrupt. The reward for going bankrupt was getting like hundreds of millions of dollars loans to build a huge hotel and convention center so whatever reason they were losing money and ran out of money and i went to the bank. They brokered a new deal. How can they at beg was saved declared bankruptcy and they screwed everybody invested in them then they they were able to get some kind of big subsidy or something had our what. It's the way. Bankruptcy works is that the bank is already vested so much in the company that they may have already lost tens of millions of dollars. So you could You sell off the assets and tried to get a return on the loan or you could double down and lend him a whole bunch of more money so it wasn't necessarily corruption which just like okay you know we let you money to open a casino and you messed it up. It's losing money but maybe you will. If instead of lending you the ten millions tens of millions of dollars that you that they relent and failed with if we want them hundreds of millions of dollars that they would succeed and actually it probably worked. I think the casino eventually turned a turned profitable very profitable. It was sold. It was ran actually by. I think a jewish group in las vegas through the indian tribe where was sought and then eventually was just completely sold to dan gilbert. Oh but we didn't need jack. Asthma that so jack abramov was kinda like a fifth wheel who just kind of want to make some money off of it or or me. He knew elaborate. We didn't like the tried in. Detroit turned out that they didn't need him. But the tribes the around michigan that You didn't have the ballot initiative or did need his Lobbying so you know how to win miller schwartz and cohn. Whatever whatever case was they were able to handle that case without the help of jack abramov late spoke with him and he in an i guess he was a big enough name. That like anybody doing a big casino deal. In america neighbor abramov was on the call and he had quite a bit credibility with a certain element of tribal chiefs. That that are abramov was a trusted name. You mentioned like the deep state in 'cause abramov was He saw the movie they made about him but but he was like a national republican party leader. A fundraiser obvious. I also that like deep state like could you call abide deep state and i had a friend a cousin of rabbi champ dove. He was ashamed of and his rabbi sham of in washington dc who basically is in charge of kosher at the white house so like i remember him joking to me like a decade ago. He's like rabbi shampoo was to the rabbi of the white house whether it's democrat or republican and is not really elected position i mean they could probably change it but to the extent that Rabbi of was doing the kosher in the jewish events in the white house. I think since bush in in obama was there he still used dry shampoo. Elvin trump still used rabbi shampoo dove. And you'll even though jared kushner prayed by rabbi shinto but now that biden harris earned the white house they're still using rabbi shampoo of somebody that that's that's not really deep state government appointed position but the indian tribes are more indicative because a lot of the indian tribes are like pacific rabies..
The Jewish History Podcast - By Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
"torah" Discussed on The Jewish History Podcast - By Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
"We have been discussing the background of the writing of the mishna. We outlined the process of oral torah as it was given to us by moses and it seemed like we have a very good system but in the second center of the common era a fateful decision was made to codify the oral torah and to write down the michener and the question that we have been talking about the last couple of weeks is why would the jews change such a great system. Why would they alter the system of moshe and install a new system the codification of the oil tower and the writing. Down of the mishna. So we talked about last time. How the second temple period was difficult on many fronts. We have the rise of the healthiness. And the sad jesse's there's all manners of internal discord. We have brutal hostile foreign rule. We have regular assassinations of rabbis. We have the loss of prophecy as well. Things were quite tenuous but they are about to get even more tenuous during this era during the era of what we call the zoo gross when the jewish people were led by two twin titans. Five of them over the course of several centuries something happened that was unprecedented in jewish history namely there wasn't unresolved mclucas. There was an unresolved dispute all five of these pairs of sages wrestled and debated with the permissibility of doing smi placing your hands on top of a sacrifice on yom tov. Is that permitted junior twelve or is that considered forbidden work.
The Jewish History Podcast - By Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
"torah" Discussed on The Jewish History Podcast - By Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
"Do you expect torah to be perpetuated in the way that it always was so the jews mount a rebellion. They have a war and they win. What a miracle. And there's a new jewish kingdom the hasman dynasty but that to coincides with the rise of an internal threat the organized heresy of the sanchezes. Now it's important to stress. This is something which is often missed in jewish history. The helen ests are the jews that want to follow the greeks. This agassi's are not really a different group. When you have the fall of the greeks in israel their jewish collaborators the hellenists this still existed but it fell out of fashion to be a hellenist when the griefs were public enemy number one so they rebranded themselves all where not hellenise where sandy's but the ultimate ideology actually remain the same. There is a myth. That's often told of the saj sees being super righteous. And if the rabbis comey corrupting myth because in fact in jewish history these are just the rebranded heretics. That used to be called helen. This and now because the greece or hellenism is essential. The greeks were called now fantasies and of course they target the foundation of torah namely oral torah. Because if you don't have oral torah you cannot have torah at all. The other is an interesting custom that we still do today to counter the agassi's and their heirs the carrots and that's the consumption of the challenge or the hummy in the hot stew that is eaten in many jewish communities on chabad these groups ostensibly came to repudiates oral torah. The we know the cantor reputed torah in general. An oral torahs the way the key so to speak to undo the keystone of torah. You undo oral torah until resin gun but because they rejected oral torah the idea of having a fire on shibat became anathema to them. Because the verse says lows have outraged homer to say beyond about. You should have a fire in your cities on shaybah. Now we know thanks to the oral torah. This means do not kindle a fire and shibat but it does not say to not have a firearm bob and therefore there were certain carrots that would sit in absolute darkness on chabad because he have a fire because they took the written torah literally and therefore the company fire. So you can have any hot food and you can have any elimination because he had fire..
The Jewish History Podcast - By Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
"torah" Discussed on The Jewish History Podcast - By Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
"The oral torah is a system. that's both dynamic yet stable if they namic critters new eat it. A new laws that are added to ensure that the tour is being maintained over the centuries but the interpretation of the written torah that part of oral torah to understand the meaning by the tauro that remains the same and were keeping the tower moses adding to it when this and hedren sees fit and the systems working now. It's important to stress that there is a prohibition. It's mentioned three times in the tora. There was a prohibition against adding or subtracting from the torah. You cannot make a new mid song yet. Apparently it seems like these. Rabbis are coming up and making all kinds of new mid snows on their own. If you cannot alter the torah on what grounds can. The rabbis may decrees and ordinances. How does rabbinic law coexist with the prohibition of and deducting subtracting from the tomorrow so. This question is addressed by the rim bond in the book of deuteronomy chapter four. That's the first three times where talks about not to add nor subtracts from the torah and he tells us two points says number one. This in itself is a tower. Spa tara tells us tells an address that you must add new edicts and ordinances when it is necessary however there is a condition that you may not institute a new mitzvah or new. Ordinance ordered a decree and presented and portrait as if it is part of what god gave moshe.
The Jewish History Podcast - By Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
"torah" Discussed on The Jewish History Podcast - By Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
"And because he was worried that the reason why they were under threat was due to the fact that they had been a little bit negligent Instead of torah he took a sword and he went to the house of scholarship and he made a threat. He says if you don't study torah i'm going to kill you. And they made a census from dan to bear sheba and not find a single ignoramus and they did not find a young boy or even a young girl. A man or woman that was not a total expert. Laws of purity and impurity so again we have this tremendous period of time where mistakes are just not appearing because the system is so tight it so strong the culture of torah study the immersion of torah study and all the safety measures that are in place at all towards being perpetuated accurately and in addition way before the actual writing mishna the canonization of the oral torah or even the canonization of the tana of the jewish bible. Their worst some efforts to begin to codify oral torah so for example every leader of every generation and of course every student had notes maintained voluminous notes and again oral tore. You have to teach it orally. You're not a publicly user notes. A disseminate your notes as authoritative oral torah but this system of note building. And making sure that you're including every new insight every new understanding every new connection to mentor orator every new degree ordinance. Every new decision rendered this on on this. Nope building actually created a trend is body of written oral torah. It wasn't kinda fide. But it's going to be crucial for the eventual writing of the mishna many centuries hence around the very beginning the time of josh one. The time of the judges. That process begins earnest. Moreover there was an intensive effort to organize and to systematize tower and the benefit of this is is tremendous. You know the torah. It's distributed course over the five books of the torah. The oral torah. There's a lot of details that aren't necessarily organized. So we're told in the talmud. This is the drizzle talmadge column chapter five law number one because verse in in chronicles talks about a family of counters family of counters. This was a family that their innovation in oral torah was to try to organize it and to say okay. There are five people for example that cannot separate trauma with this means. they're taking various laws that may be distributed scattered throughout all torah putting into place and even in a number and putting in a box making it more. Memorize -able making it more organized making it more accessible. Megan easier to perpetuate this five people that cannot bring this five things that are needed in college..
The Jewish History Podcast - By Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
"torah" Discussed on The Jewish History Podcast - By Rabbi Yaakov Wolbe
"Today i wanna understand the history of the transmission tower and a little bit about the nature of the transmission and the perpetuation of torah. How torah evolve. How tour was innovated. How torah change for moses until today of course that's a big subject and we're gonna only take a small piece out of it because it's very vast but we're going to give the the outline of how torah change and how it developed until today Mental today but give the the the inside the big picture of how these things work now. The first mission on practice of os tells us that the torah was transmitted from osha at sinai motion gets from god and then he passes it off to joshua with this means is that moshe passed the baton of leadership the responsibility of maintaining the accuracy in the perpetuation. The torah he passed onto the next leader of the generation namely to joshua and after tasha chorus he led the people with great skill and he passed onto the elders and the elders to the prophets and the prophets. Pass it onto the men of the great assembly. This mission of the first michigan avas actually covers around the thousand years from the time of moshe until the beginning of the second temple era around three hundred and fifty years before the common era rambam actually enumerates a more comprehensive list. He gives us the forty generations all the way from moses until arrive ashi the compiler of the babylonian talmud now over the course of these centuries and these generations we're gonna have change the torah development innovation of the torah learn about the dynamism of torah. What changed and of course what. Stay the same. And i think this will illuminate are subject in general the divinity of torah and thrilling understand. The relationship with we have today the core of which we got from moses at sinai and all the things that were added and what is the nature of those things that were added. And how does it relate to us today so we spoke about moshe already in the past. He of course received the torah sinai. Anything just get the laws. He got the details the principles the nuances and over the course of the forty years in the wilderness. He conveyed those principles and those details the people but the tells us that there were parts of moshe's transmission that he did not receive from god. The thomas in the of shabas page thirty a moshe rubbing mozart master. Gaza are comedies aeros. He decreed several decrees and he enacted several ordinances and behold they are upstanding there immutable forever. This i think adds another layer to our discussion of torah.