The Blue Collar Scholar: Recent Episodes
Will Reitz
This podcast will cover the topics covered by the history lectures, sermons, and Bible/theology studies of Will Reitz.
Spiritual warfare is an interesting biblical topic. We see glimpses of spiritual warfare in books like Daniel & Revelation, and it is obvious that there is some kind of conflict between angels and demons, between the spiritual forces of God vs. the spiritual forces of darkness. But the Bible does not actually give us many details about what spiritual warfare is, exactly. But there are glimpses. The Apostle John tells us in 1 John 4 to "test the spirits," particularly in regard to testing the spiritual messages brought by false teachers and false prophets. In this sermon, I examine the "test the spirits" phrase and expand on it, particularly in regard to spiritual warfare.
"It's not about 'religion,' it's a relationship" is an overused Christian trope. In all honesty, I remember this phrase mostly from my youth in the 1990s, when it seemed like this was everyone's Christian mantra. But Christianity is a religion. It addresses religion themes and the truth taught by Christianity has religious implications. But our faith is also a relationship with God. That is best understood when the Christian realizes that the specific relationship is as Lord and follower. God is not our buddy or our peer. Nevertheless, a relationship with God is important.
Litmus tests tell you the pH level of a chemical, and that helps you identify the chemical. The term "litmus test" can be used metaphorically to describe something that is definitely not litmus paper but can similarly help you determine something. In last week's sermon, we learned that sin - particularly unrepentant, continual sin - is a litmus test that shows that a person is not really a Christian. In this week's sermon, we see that the Apostle John also gives us another litmus test: love. We can tell if a person truly belongs to Christ by their love. If there is no love, then the person is not redeemed.
The freedom to choose is a key aspect of what it means to be an American. This is true of human beings in general, but the citizens of my nation especially value individual liberty to choose this-or-that. These choices are both simple (like what to eat or what to wear) to very complex (like how to conduct a brutal war). In this sermon, we see how the Apostle John taught us not to use our freedom of choice to choose sin.
When a person is redeemed by the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, the believer is adopted into the family as Children of God. This week's sermon covers the last few verses of First John chapter 2 and the first few verses of chapter 3. In this passage we learn that (1) Children of God look forward to Christ's return, (2) disobedient children & frauds do not look forward to Christ's return, (3) true righteousness is only available through redemption/adoption in Christ's family, (4) the world cannot truly know or understand God or His Children, (5) our futures are not known in detail, but as Children of God, we look to the future with hope, & (6) true Children of God are loyal but not flawless.
Happy 4th of July! The premier liberal democracy to arise out of the Enlightenment is now a quarter a millennium old. But this sermon is not a patriotic holiday sermon. Instead, we continue in our sermon series through the epistle of First John. In 1 John 2:18-27, John warns us against those who oppose the Kingdom of God, seeming to coin the term "antichrist" in the process. End Times enthusiasts have used the term "the Antichrist" to refer to the figure that the Book of Revelation calls "the Beast." Therefore, this sermon addresses that issue, but expands the term to include all those who oppose Christ or His teachings.
Today I was honored to be invited to preach at the First Baptist Church of Parsons (KS). This is the audio of that sermon, where I lay out reasons why some Christians think that they don't have any spiritual gifts, and why they are wrong about that.
The Apostle John tells us to not love the world or the things of the world (see 1 John 2:15). But in John 3:16, we see that God so loved the world. Is this a contradiction? And if not, then we must ask: what does it mean for one to not love the world? In this episode, we see that (1) you either love God, or you love the world, (2) the world draws us into sin, & (3) the world's time is running out.
Happy Father's Day! As we continue in our expository series through the book of First John, we come to the beginning verses of chapter 2. In this passage we learn a few things: (1) Our goal should be sinlessness, (2) Jesus fixes it (because we will never achieve sinlessness) and He defends us when we fail, (3) we should love one another, (4) our love should be extraordinary, (5) hatred & lovelessness flow from (and result in) sin, and finally, we should mature in Christ, together. This passage concludes with a poem where John explains why he wrote this book to little children, to young men, and yes, to fathers!
Joyous Juneteenth to fans of liberty & justice for all! I opened worship this weekend with a brief history lesson on Juneteenth. As a history dude (with an actual Bachelor's degree in the subject), I am ashamed to say that I was unaware of Juneteenth until the late 2010s. But I've come to view it as an essential part of "Freedom Fortnight." In a brief 2 week window, Americans can celebrate Flag Day (June 14, 1777), Father's Day (3rd Sunday of June), Juneteenth (June 19th, 1865), The ratification of the U.S. Constitution (June 21, 1788), & of course Independence Day (July 4, 1776). Note: I mention that there will be songs sung during our worship service that are inspired by African-Americans and the struggle against slavery. Because of the sound quality, I am not sharing the audio of the songs, but they can be easily looked up if you want to hear better singers sing them: (1) He's Got the Whole World in His Hands, (2) Swing Low, Sweet Chariot, (3) Lift Every Voice & Sing, & (4) Amazing Grace.
There is a tug-of-war between the extremes of hedonism & legalism, with neither side being the righteous choice. Instead, the Apostle John teaches us to "walk in the light, as He is in the light" (1 John 1:7), emulating Jesus rather than chasing an extreme. In today's sermon, we see that the Apostle John teaches us that (1) the Gospel starts with the glory & perfection of God, (2) our aim should be to emulate Him, (3) neither indulging in sin nor ignoring sin is acceptable, (4) only confession and repentance work, & Christ does all the heavy lifting and He fixes our mistakes.
The Summer 2026 sermon series kicks off (well, besides the introductory sermon last week) where any expository series should start: chapter 1, verse 1. The book of 1st John opens with a poetic, slightly rambling soliloquy about the "Logos," the Greek word for "word" (which is also the key word at the beginning of John's Gospel). In this lesson, we see that (1) the Word is life, (2) the Word is Christ, (3) the Word is real, (4) the Word brings fellowship, (5) the Word brings joy, & that since (6) the Word is light, then we should walk in the light.
This summer's sermon series is an expository preaching series through the Epistle of First John. This is the introduction, which lays out several overall themes of the book. Join us this summer as we dig into First John.
Memorial Day seems like a nice bookend for this Easter sermon series; beginning and ending on a holiday. In this episode we summarize all that we've discussed the past 2 months regarding the topic of joy.
Congratulations to all our graduates! Life is going to get a lot more rewarding and more difficult. New beginnings fill us with fear because of the fear of the unknown. But there is joy in new beginnings as well, because there is opportunity there. And this is not just a message for young people. As long as you draw break, there are new experiences in store for you: opportunities to find joy, serve others, and worship God.
For the second time, The Blue Collar Scholar completes a course on the Second World War. The first attempt was choppy, and I failed to record every episode. This go round, I feel much more confident that this series is a good, surface-level-yet-deep-dive into the bloodiest conflict in human history. ... In this last episode of the WWII class, we talk about the sequel to World War II. Thankfully, that has not been World War III. Instead, the United States and the Soviet Union spent nearly a half century in an intense, will-they-won't-they "Cold War." But even though the Cold War never became a hot war, it was still extremely eventful. This episode does a criminally-brief overview of the entire Cold War.
This Spring, we've been going over the religions of the world. This Comparing World Religions class comes to a conclusion with this short lecture. In this episode, I make some concluding remarks, including going over what we should have learned from this class, but also what I hope that we have NOT learned from studying world religions.
Happy Mother's Day! All of people, our mothers are the people in our lives that deserve the most gratitude. But this sermon is not just about the gratitude we should have for the mothers in our lives. Each of us should cultivate and attitude of gratitude that permeates all aspects of our lives, and shines through in good times and in bad. Thankful people are healthier, happier, and more joyful, and they have better relationships and more abundant lives.
My grandfather on my father's side was named Billy Reitz. He was drafted shortly after turning 18 on the first day of winter 1944. He entered the service in the US Army in April 1945, so fighting in Europe was never in the cards for Sgt. Reitz. Instead, he trained for the invasion of Japan. His ship was on the way to the Pacific Theatre when the news of Japan's surrender was announced. So instead of storming the beaches of Japan, Sgt. Reitz spent the next year and a half serving in occupation duty in Korea, being honorably discharged long before hostilities broke out on the peninsula. I honor his service. ... Note: This episode opens with extensive follow-up notes to previous questions and comments from class, mostly dealing with the Manhattan Project & the Nuremburg Trials.
Atheists claim that atheism is not a religion. Rather, it is a lack of religion. I see no reason to not allow atheists to define their religious beliefs thusly. However, since atheism answers all the same questions that religions answers, it would be a gaping hole in this sermon series if atheism is left out. So this episode delves into the definition of atheism, related terms (like agnosticism), a rundown of many of the big names in atheism/agnosticism since the Enlightenment, and finally we look at some arguments for and against the existence of God.
Happiness is a good thing. If something makes you happy, then that is probably evidence that that thing is good. However, if the need to be happy (or, if the need to avoid unhappiness) is the driving force in all your decision-making, then the emotion of happiness is the Lord of your life. It isn't the President, or your boss, or the Lord Jesus Christ. Emotion itself becomes your king. We must not allow this to happen.
The Second World War changed human history is ways that are hardly even measurable. It changed everything. In this episode, we will look at the Nuremburg Trials and the Japanese War Crimes Trials, economic and political shifts, the move toward international cooperation and justice, the rise of 2 superpowers, decolonization, and the legacy of the war.
This episode reviews polytheism and pantheism, then gives a overall analysis of various kinds of pagan religions. For instance: African traditional religions, Native American tribal faiths, the traditional religions of Oceania, pre-Christian ancient paganism in Europe and the Middle East, neopaganism (both eclectic and reconstructionist neopaganism), and finally New Age religions, such as Wicca and Scientology.
The promise of Heaven is a source of immense joy for the Christian. It is unfortunate that so many powerful Christians throughout history have used the promise of Heaven as a weapon against the oppressed, promising them that the afterlife will be where they finally find their joy, while the powerful continue to oppress them in this life. That is a deplorable use of Scripture. The promise of Heaven should not be a weapon. But, for the person who is redeemed by Christ, the promise of Heaven is a source of much joy!
World War II came to a radically-unpredictable conclusion when Japan was bombed - twice - by the most powerful individual weapons ever used on human beings. The scientific knowledge necessary to accomplish the creation of the atomic bomb was only made possible a few short years before this when non-Nazi Germany scientists discovered nuclear fission in 1938. Determined to unlock the power of the atom before Hitler could, the United States & the United Kingdom got quickly to work - eventually combining their efforts - to master the chemistry, physics, engineering, industry, and logistics necessary (costing $2 Billion in 1945 money) to create the first nuclear weapons. This episode does not attempt to explain the bombs on a scientific level. Rather, we will survey the history surrounding the formation, the maintenance, and the successful conclusion of the Manhattan Project.
This episode gives brief (repeat: brief) overviews of Sikhism, Jainism, Shinto, Taoism, Chinese traditional religions (including Confucianism), the Taiping Rebellion (1850-1964), the Boxer Rebellion (1899-1901), Zoroastrianism, and the Baháʼí Faith.
For the person who has been redeemed by Jesus, the answer to "Who Am I?" has changed. For the one who is in Christ, the answer to "Who Am I?" is that I am redeemed, I am a friend of Jesus, I am chosen & adopted by God, I am a child of God, I am used by God, I have a future of resurrection & royalty, and I am destined for Heaven!
As the Second World War approached the final year, Allied victory became inevitable. But that did not mean that the war was over. Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Imperial Japan fought fiercely, making the Allies earn every island, every mile, every air strip, every bridge, etc. Yet, by the end of Spring 1945, the war in Europe came to an end with a smashing Allied victory. The war against Japan raged on through the summer, but on the eve of America's use of the atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, Allied victory over Japan was a foregone conclusion. But how long it would take to secure victory, and just how victory was going to be secured, those were open questions.
Buddhism is the major world religion that branched out of Hinduism in a way very similar to how Christianity branched out of Judaism. It is a fascinating religious system, technically non-theistic but deeply spiritual. This episode attempts to provide a broad overview of one of the world's most popular religions, popular mostly in East, Southeast, & Central Asia.
The Easter Sermon Series continues as we "Celebrate with Joy!" However, there are things in life that kill our joy: depression, despair, and apathy can drain joy. I contend that pride and false humility can be some of the biggest joykillers there are. In this sermon I will explain what pride and false humility are, and why they can kill our joy.
World War 2 was a total war that affected all areas of life and society in every nation engaged in the war (and also many that did not actively participate). The American (and Canadian) experience was very different from the other major powers - the UK, Nazi Germany, the Soviet Union, Imperial Japan, Italy, and France - because our continent was almost entirely untouched by combat. Hundreds of thousands of American lives ended in the fight against global fascism, but our cities and factories did not get bombed. That allowed our industries and our economy to grow leaps and bounds while many other nations were still looking forward to a post-war stage of intensive rebuilding before they could bounce back economically. This episode digs into the massive war mobilization in the United States, but we also look at some less admirable parts of our history, such as Japanese-American internment camps and the Zoot Suit Riots. This episode also does a breakdown of every US President that was alive during the war and how they contributed to Allied victory.
Hinduism is almost certainly the oldest active religion in the world. Hindus form the majority community in the most populated nation on earth. In this episode, I will attempt to do a brief, non-expert survey of the Hindu religion. This is not an area of expertise, and I welcome any feedback correcting any factual errors I have made in my lecture prep work.
Our Easter 2026 Sermon Series is "Celebrate with Joy!" Far too often, preachers bring the gloom and the doom and they preach repentance and righteousness. As they should. But we Christians should never forget that it is God's intention for us to live free, liberated, joyous lives, resting in the peace and the joy of Jesus Christ. So, as the Easter season kicks off, let us find joy in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ!
June 6th, 1944, is probably the most important, pivotal day of the 20th Century. On that day, the United States of America, the United Kingdom, Canada, and the forces of Free France & Free Poland (among other nationalities fighting to overthrow their fascist oppressors) banded together to do the impossible: to penetrate Fortress Europe and expel the Nazi menace from the continent of Europe. Operations in North Africa and Sicily (see the North Africa episode) and the invasion of Italy (examined in this episode) provided the Western Allies the opportunity to fight and to hone our ability to win. These men really are the Greatest Generation. Join us as we examine the invasions of Italy & France.
Having discussed the history of Islam in the previous episode, the Comparing World Religions lecture series now turns to an analysis of the religion of Islam itself. The second largest world religion, and one of the most influential religions in human history, Islam is often misunderstood by the average American who does not understand what the religion teaches. The only interactions that many non-Muslims have with Islam is the news. Islam is an incredibly diverse religion, with distinct characteristics that differentiate it from all other religions.
This sermon series ends with a short story that I wrote years ago. I have picked carefully when to use this story in a sermon. I want to use this tool at the most opportune time in whatever ministry I've served, but I have shared it with every ministry I've been a part of the last 20 years. Since this is the 3rd time I've shared this story on this podcast feed, it will likely be the last time. But I stand by this short story as a powerful, effective way to share the Gospel. Note: These sermons are given at a nursing care facility, and so there is often noise in the background that I try to edit out. This week had a lot of noise, particularly in the middle of the episode with a sustained alarm sound for a few minutes.
Italy & France had colonies in North Africa when World War II started in Europe, and so the war crossed the Mediterranean Sea, drawing in first the British -- coming to protect their investment in the Suez Canal -- and then later the Germans, who came to bolster their Italian allies. And, once Japan brought the US into WWII after the bombing of Pearl Harbor (with Hitler inexplicably declaring war, dragging the US into the European war), the United States found itself using the crucible of the North African front to learn how to fight, lose, regroup, improve, and finally, how to win. North Africa, I contend, was a necessary step for the American G.I. and for the American brass to learn how to win WWII. The US would take lessons learned in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy into their invasion of France, where the fate of the free world would be determined.
Islam is the second biggest religion on Earth, and by many accounts, the fastest growing religion. It has a long and rich history. Every major Empire in Asia, Europe, and Africa has had to interact with the religion of Islam and powerful Islamic states for almost a millennium and a half. In this episode, I try hard to provide a fair, unbiased analysis of the history of Islam, from the career of the Prophet Muhammed to the Hamas attack on Israel a few years ago.
Christians are tempted to reinterpret every teaching Jesus gives us about wealth, because His insight into wealth is so counterintuitive. Building off last week's teaching about the Upside-Down Kingdom of God, today we will take a look at Jesus' teachings about wealth and dare to take them seriously.
This week is Spring Break in Southeast Kansas, so our classes are taking a break. Instead of the regularly scheduled World War II lecture, I decided to dust off (and re-edit) an old lecture from April 4, 2023. When I taught this class previously, it was called "The World Wars" and I devoted the last quarter of the class to the Pacific Theatre in WWII. To kick off this section of the class, I went far back into Japanese (and a bit of Chinese) history to provide more background than I chose to do this semester. So, enjoy this throwback episode, as we build a bit of historic background in order to better understand Imperial Japan.
This one will be controversial. I have concluded that several religions are not part of Christianity because they have changed or abandoned major theological components of Christianity: the Trinity, the Incarnation, the nature of reality, the existence of God, etc. I acknowledge that many of these groups claim to be denominations of orthodox Christianity, and I don't deny their right to define their own religious expression. But if the world "Christian" has any meaning, I cannot make the claim that the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints, the Jehovah's Witnesses, or Christian Science (to name a few) are Christian. What I will admit freely is that these groups clearly descended from the Christian tradition, often from American Protestantism. In this lecture I attempt to be unbiased. But - full disclosure - while editing this episode I came to the conclusion that I did a pretty poor job of that. So consider this episode to be a mild polemic from an evangelical Protestant Christian who is trying to make sense of the beliefs of religions that branched of Christianity.
Jesus calls us to an unbelievably counter-intuitive calling: the lead by serving. As He washed His disciple's feet and willingly died as a sacrifice for sin, we too should use whatever leadership we get in this life to love and to serve other people, even if it means that we lose out on this or that advantage or payday.
This episode returns to the Pacific Theatre of World War II after the bombing of Pearl Harbor and the Japanese conquest of the Philippines. In the 1st six months of the war, Japan racked up an impressive list of victories. Then at the Battle of the Coral Sea, Japan failed to take Port Moresby, and for the first time, they suffered a strategic defeat. However, since the Allies lost more ships in that battle, Japan could sell the battle to its citizenry as a victory. But about a half a year after Pearl Harbor, the US Navy dealt the Imperial Japanese Navy a crushing blow at the Battle of Midway, which turned out to be the turning point of the war, though no one suspected that was the case at the time. At the end of 1942, the Allies racked up another big win in the Guadalcanal Campaign in the Solomon Islands. And just like that, the tides turned.
This episode wraps up the Christianity subsection of the course on Comparing World Religions. From here on out, the course will cover religions that are separate from Christianity. (Note: Some of these religions do come out of the Christian tradition, and some of them consider themselves a version of Christianity.) Before we broaden the scope of the class, I thought that it was a good idea to lay out my biases as the professor. For there are 2 ways to be unbiased: (1) You can have "no dog in the fight," which means that you have no preconceived notions. You truly are a tabula rosa, ready to provide unbiased analysis. (2) You can pretend that you have no dog in the fight, even though you actually do. This is dishonest. So as a Christian from the Baptist tradition, I decided to provide my personal story, including my religious testimony, so that anyone who wishes to critique the teachings of this class can do so knowing exactly what the professor believes. And, of course, I shall try to do my best to be as unbiased as I possibly can be moving forward, even though I do have established beliefs in contradistinction to the religions we will cover in the next few weeks.
Luke, the author of the Book of Acts, tells us that the Jews from the town of Berea were "of more noble character" than the Jews from the town of Thessalonica, because when they heard the Gospel, they listened intently, then they went home, searched to Scriptures, and investigated to see if the things Paul was teaching them was true. And from that excellent Bible study, the church in Berea was born. This sermon seeks to use the example of Acts 17:10-12 to inspire the church to be of more noble character.
The Holocaust is a tragedy on an unimaginable scale. It was the result of unrestrained racism amongst those with absolute power. This episode focuses on the history of antisemitism, the rise of the Nazis as an explicitly antisemitic regime, and the unspeakable evil that they wrought. This was a packed lecture, and a rushed lecture. I did not even have time to talk about Oskar Schindler. During the editing process, I was ashamed that I did not even mention once that the Holocaust also targeted the Roma people, homosexuals, Jehovah's Witnesses, pacifists, and communists, among others. Alas, if everything about World War II that should be addressed was in fact addressed in this class, it would last years and years. For now, listen to this episode, internalize that visceral reaction that I hope you have against such violent hatred, and join with me in saying, "never again."
Since the professor and every member of the Comparing World Religions class in Christian, our sub-section over Christianity is several lectures long. Furthermore, since (I believe) we all come from Protestant traditions, I have set aside 2 full lectures to talk about Protestantism. In the previous episode, we took a historical deep dive into the Protestant Reformation. This episode is a broad survey of the most common denominations. By "most common," I am referring to the kinds of churches we see most often in Erie (Kansas), Neosho County (Kansas), the state of Kansas, the American Midwest, & the USA. The types of prominent Protestant denominations in your region may look a bit different.
One of the most important attributes of God is that He does not change. For if God can change, then He was either imperfect and has changed into perfection, or else He was perfect, and no longer is. Furthermore, if God can change, then we cannot trust His promises. And if an All Powerful Deity could change, even a little bit, then given enough time, His perfection would change so much that He would become an All Mighty Tyrant. But we can trust in God that He does not change (James 1:17). This episode briefly explores what it does and does not mean when we say that God does not change.
1941 was the year when the final major chess pieces were put on the World War II chessboard. Neither the United States of America nor the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were full participants in the Second World War when 1941 began, even though the war was in its second year in Europe and its fifth year (or so) in East Asia. But the Empire of Japan and Nazi Germany changed all that. First, Nazi Germany violated its own non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union and began the Summer of 1941 with the largest land invasion in the history of mankind. And in response to an oil embargo (among other grievances), Japan chose to engage in a surprise attack on the U.S. Pacific Fleet in Pearl Harbor, Hawai'i, on December 7th, 1941, a date which lives in infamy. As 1942 began, all of the major powers were officially engaged in the biggest war in history.
This episode goes into both reform and separatist movements in the Church going back long before Martin Luther. And, of course, we discuss the life and times of Luther, Zwingli, And Calvin. This episode briefly touches on Protestant theological developments, the disastrous Muenster Rebellion, and the Catholic Counter-Reformation.
There is a word that pops up in Scripture from time to time: "rebuke." It is not a word that is part of the average American's vocabulary. A better term might be "correction." A fool hates being corrected and would prefer to go on believing that he is right, even when he is not. But a wise man accepts correction, not because it is pleasant (for neither giving nor receiving correction is pleasant), but because it is much preferable to be in the Truth than to continue in error.
Following the miraculous British evacuation from Dunkirk, the UK stood alone as the sole major, unconquered nation standing in the way of Adolf Hitler. The United States, officially neutral, tried to help out, using a cash-&-carry policy to supply the Brits, then a destroyers-for-bases plan designed to arm the British Navy while remaining neutral, then finally stretching the definition of "neutral" to its breaking point with the Lend-Lease policy. Meanwhile, the Royal Air Force and the Luftwaffe engaged in an all-out air war for the future of the UK. ... This episode also discusses, briefly, the North African front and the lead-up to Operation Barbarossa, the Nazi invasion of the Soviet Union.
I am no expert on the Roman Catholic Church, and I know even less about the Eastern Orthodox Church. (Note: This will be true for many of the world religions we cover this semester.) So consider this episode a history buff's (and a Protestant's) honest attempt to better understand these branches of Christianity with incredibly ancient roots.
Here's a nice, short, sub-20-minutes sermon to enjoy on your Valentine's Day. I dusted off the oldest sermon notes I have, at least for any sermon that (apparently) was not recorded when I gave it in 2003. (A few older sermons are available elsewhere in the Blue Collar Scholar back catalogue, using the audio recording from that time.) So I smoothed out, edited, and updated the notes to bring you this 2026 version of this sermon I gave in college. In this message, I make the case that we have to be intentional about living out our faith, and that "coasting by" just is not enough.
Blitzkrieg (German for Lightning War) is designed to move quickly, discombobulate your enemy, and achieve victory before they can properly counter attack. In the earliest stages of World War II in Europe, the Wehrmacht - exhibiting an incredible amount of speed and coordination between the Heer (Army), Kriegsmarine (Navy), and Luftwaffe (Air Force) - achieved an unprecedented series of conquests, conquering Denmark, Norway, the Netherlands, Belgium, Luxemburg, and France (as well as a decisive defeat of the British Expeditionary Force) all in a couple months time in the late spring & early summer 1940. However, the miraculous evacuation of most of the B.E.F. (and 100,000 of their French allies) at Dunkirk meant that Britain would be able to continue the good fight, and the French fighters formed the core of the Free French forces who would continue fighting with the Allies throughout the war.
This will not be the only lecture on Christianity in the Comparing World Religions class this spring. This lesson mostly focuses on Christian teachings and theology that make Christianity different from other religions.
The Book of Job is a fascinating case study in human suffering. In it we see an extremely righteous man suffer, and we see his well-meaning friends misunderstand, thinking that only a wicked person would suffer so. But that is not what the Bible teaches. In fact, sometime people suffer because of the good that they do, or because of the purity and excellence of their faith. In this sermon, we will draw five lessons that we learn from the Book of Job.
Even though World War I was supposed to be "The War To End All Wars," there were several major and minor wars that ravaged the world between World War I and World War II. The way World War I ended caused many of these conflicts, and each and every one of these conflicts affected how, why, and who fought in World War II. This lecture will briefly touch upon the Spanish Civil War, the Italian invasion of Ethiopia, the Winter War between the Soviet Union and Finland, the Japanese occupation of Korea, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria, the Chinese Civil War, and the Sino-Japanese War & the Rape of Nanking.
Our survey of world religions begins with Judaism. With a common Tanakh (Old Testament) tradition shared with Christianity, Judaism has an impact on history way beyond their numbers. This episode - and each Comparing World Religions lecture to follow - is intended to increase understanding for those who may not belong to that religion. If any listener would like to critique my take on Judaism, or any religion to follow, I welcome your feedback. I, too, would like to grow in knowledge, understanding, compassion, and empathy for others.
This is the conclusion to the Heaven series. Since we learned about Heaven in the previous three sermons, we now examine what it looks like to be an ambassador for the Kingdom of Heaven, for Christians are called to be ambassadors in 2 Corinthians 5:20.
This episode jumps right into the the end of World War I and the Paris Peace Conference & the Versailles Treaty. We take a quick survey through the technological and cultural advances and trends in the 1920s and 1930s. This episode also covers the Great Depression and the Dust Bowl. At this point, we discuss the "Okies" who became migrants from one part of the nation (Oklahoma Panhandle and the surrounding region) to another part of the nation (California). While referencing the Grapes of Wrath, we see that even white Americans are treated poorly when they are migrants. This should cause us to have empathy for those who are immigrants. This caused the class to delve into a discussion of immigration in the U.S. today. This discussion was impassioned, and we did not all agree. But I feel like all students remained respectful toward each other.
This Spring, I will be teaching a World War II class and a Comparing World Religions class for the Lifetime Learning program at Neosho County Community College. The first lecture in the WWII class dropped a few days ago. This is the first lecture in the Comparing World Religions, as we explore how different religions answer ten questions very differently.
The Heaven Series now focuses on the last few chapters of Revelation and asks important questions about what the eternal Kingdom of Heaven, called "New Heavens and New Earth," will be like.
The Spring 2026 Lifetime Learning classes kick off with our World War II class. This episode analyzes World War I with special emphasis on how the Great War influenced World War II.
NOTE: This is a re-broadcast of an episode from August 28, 2025. ... This lecture was intended to be a World War I lecture, but the lion's share of the lecture ended up being all the relevant history leading up to the "Great War." So, for our Spring 2026 Lifetime Learning "World War II" class, this will function as the background to Episode 1, which will be released as soon as it is edited.
The Heaven series continues into the next logical topic: Heaven itself. In this sermon we will explore what the Scriptures say that Heaven is and what it is like, and we will try to shed a few common misconceptions that culture and entertainment have given us about Heaven.
This begins a new 4-part series on Heaven. And, unfortunately, the logical place to start this series is on a downer: death. But the Bible has a lot of interesting and specific things to say about the topic of death. So join with us as we explore the macabre topic as we prepare to launch into the much more joyful topic of Heaven.
Happy New Year! As we bid farewell to 2025, let us take a look back in the Old Testament to a time when a great leader said farewell to his era and ushered in the age of the judges. Joshua was a transitional figure. He took over for Moses, for all intents and purposes the founder of Judaism. He seems to be the last person to lead all of Israel (and not just this or that part of Israel) until King Saul, or perhaps Samuel. Joshua's final sermon shows that he feared that the Israelites might slip into all the sins and trends that indeed would play out in the age of the judges. And so Joshua told the people to be witnesses to their own commitments to God and hold themselves accountable. Let us too - both individually and as communities - do likewise.
Merry Christmas!!! You probably haven't heard a Christmas sermon from Galatians before. But in Galatians 4, the Apostle Paul -- who almost never talks about specific moments in Jesus' life -- talks about our adoption as heirs with Christ, and he anchors that teaching in Jesus who was "born of a woman." (Galatians 4:4) And so, I hope you join us as we dig into the Word and learn that (1) without Christ, you remain a child or a mere servant, (2) but Jesus came -- at just the right time -- to bring you into God's family, and (3) the only reasonable response is worship.
This sermon was originally given as an "In View of a Call" sermon at First Baptist Church of Goodman (MO) in December 2011. It was not, to the best of my knowledge, recorded. So I adapted the sermon notes, arranging the content around a generic and nonspecific local church, and using this as the conclusion to "The Church" sermon series.
While there are many informal rituals in a church - how many songs one sings before and after the sermon, for instance - and while many churches (such as our Roman Catholic and Eastern Orthodox brothers and sisters) have many rituals, the New Testament only seems to give us two: baptism & the Lord's Supper (i.e., Communion, or the Eucharist). So in this sermon we examine these two rituals of the church.
The New Testament uses the term "church" to refer to the global church - or, all who serve Jesus and are saved by His sacrifice - as well as the local church. In this episode we explore some of what the New Testament tells us about how to organize a local church.
Happy Thanksgiving! This episode looks at the life of the Apostle Paul and all the hardships he faced. And yet he directs us to give thanks in all circumstances. For he knew what it was like to face situations that make gratitude difficult, and yet he preached joy and thanksgiving. In the conclusion of this message, we analyze what it looks like for a church to be known for gratitude and cheerfulness ... and why many churches are absolutely not known for joy and thanksgiving.
The local church's purpose has to include an outward focus (mission), an inward focus (fellowship), but most importantly an upward focus (worship). Worship is the reason we were saved. It is the reason the church exists. It is the reason we do mission, to gain the Lord more people who worship Him. And it is the reason we do fellowship, in order to build up and encourage those who worship the Lord to continue worshipping the One who deserves our worship.
The local church must do outreach; that is covered in the previous episode. The local church must worship God. That will be next week's lesson. In this episode, we look at the "inward" focus of the church. We briefly touch on the fact that an inward focus includes looking after your own spiritual well-being and also giving attention to your family. But in this episode, we focus on the importance of your local church family, and why we should be in devoted and unified to serve God alongside our brothers and sisters in Christ in the local church.
This episode starts a new series that examines what the Bible says about the local church. This episode digs into the outward focus of a church: mission. This includes but is not limited to international missions. This includes but is not limited to missions projects elsewhere in the United States (or whatever your home country is). This includes but is not limited to work in the local community. This includes but is not limited to serving those in need who may even attend your church. It is all mission. Mission is a verb. A church must engage in mission. A church must serve and love people, meeting the felt needs of the needy and also introducing people to the saving grace of Jesus Christ.
This conclusion of the Real Theology series covers - but barely scratches the surface of - Christology, or the study of Christ. Following through on the previous 2 episodes that looked at the Person of God the Holy Spirit and the Person of God the Father, this episode examines the second Person of the Trinity, which is God the Son.
God manifests Himself as God the Father, God the Son, & God the Holy Spirit. The divinity of Jesus Christ and His identification as God the Son is a fount of endless fascinating theological discussion. And despite that God the Holy Spirit is often the forgotten member of the Trinity, His work in the book of Acts alone leads us to theological discourse. And so, despite being perhaps the most obvious manifestation of God, the Father is perhaps the one with the least distinctive traits. And so this episode takes a swing at answering the question, "Who is the Father?"
For our THREE HUNDRETH EPISODE!!! we will continue in our sermon series entitled "Real Theology." In this episode we take a look at what Scripture tells us about the Holy Spirit.
In this episode we review all the attributes of God that we have previously discussed in the "Real Theology" series, and conclude with a last look at the attributes of God. (1) Freedom: God answers to nobody. (2) Jealousy: God does not suffer any rival. (3) Beauty: God's personality & character are perfectly desirable. (4) Victory: God will not lose.
Theologians divide God's attributes into two categories: communicable attributes, which we share with God (only in much lesser capacity), and incommunicable attributes, which show us that God is much different than we are. This sermon deals with some of God's incommunicable attributes. We discuss in this episode (1) God's independence/aseity/self-existence, (2) God's immutability or His unchangeableness, (3) God's ability to have a personal relationship with all persons despite being infinite, (4) God's perfection, & (5) the fact that God experiences all of His attributes at all times, remaining ever-loving and also ever-just.
The Real Theology series continues as we discuss what the One God (see last episode: "There Is One God") is like. He is (1) all powerful, (2) all knowing, (3) in all places, (4) in all time, (5) all wise, & (6) all good.
This fall begins a new project. I will be preaching at a local nursing home facility, and I will be sharing those sermons on this feed. Our first series is a 7-part series about Christian theology. In this episode, we examine what it means to say that there is one God, and why it is important that God is a singular Being.
Based on the frequency of End Times-related content on this podcast feed, I fear that you may misinterpret how fanatical I am about eschatology. Believe me, I am not an End Times nut. I am quite non-dogmatic in my eschatological views. However, eschatology is a popular topic. Of all the Lifetime Learning classes I have taught, it was the Revelation class that easily had the highest enrollment. The End Times series was my most popular series at First Baptist Church of Goodman (MO) when I was pastor there. And in the Spring of 2018, in the final meeting of the Ambassador Academy, we covered the End Times, by request. So while this makes a bit of an awkward conclusion to a theology and apologetics -heavy series, nevertheless, this is how we concluded my all time favorite Christian small group. After this lecture, Gretchen and I moved away from Neosho, Missouri. ... Note: This is the LAST recording in my pre-2025 archive. Unless someone has a recording - that I don't possess - of any sermon I did in the past, then every episode of this podcast from here on out will be current.
The final apologetic argument in this series is an in-depth look at the Resurrection of Jesus Christ. If Christ is raised from the dead, then that validates so much - perhaps everything - in the Christian worldview. In this episode I look at the Resurrection of Jesus, analyzing this event to see if it can be defended with logic, Scripture, and evidence. I also take a look at a few common arguments against the Resurrection and see if those arguments hold any weight.
This episode functions as a conclusion to the apologetics section of the Ambassador Academy series, except for the argument from the Resurrection of Christ, a topic that I saved for the upcoming Palm Sunday evening service. This episode covers the argument from consciousness, Pascal's Wager, proper basicality in regards to belief in the existence of God, and a response to the Problem of Evil/Pain/Suffering.
Genesis chapter 1 is probably not intended by God to be a scientific text. Rather, it appears likely that it is a polemic written against all of the polytheistic nature gods from the nations around Israel, and Genesis 1 is a bold statement that YHWH is transcendent above His creation and that all of the things that all the weaker gods govern - the waters, livestock, the moon, etc. - were all created by God in a week, almost as an afterthought. This episode includes such an analysis, and ends with the my own "Used Universe" model of Creationism which represented my position in 2018.
The ultimate Teleological Argument for the Existence of God is Creationism. Creationism comes in 3 forms: Young Earth Creationism, Old Earth Creationism, and Evolutionary Creationism (otherwise known as theistic evolution). Creationism's strongest counter-argument is Neo-Darwinian Evolution. So this episode digs into Neo-Darwinism and other forms of evolutionary theories, as well as Intelligent Design, the movement to push back against macro-evolutionary theory. Intelligent Design is merely a minimal commitment to consider the possibility that scientific evidence might point to design. NOTE: This teaching is from 2018, and my opinions of evolution and Creationism have subtly shifted since then.
The apologetics subsection of the Ambassador Academy curriculum continues with an examination of the fine-tuning of the universe and how that strongly supports the existence of a mighty Designer.
In 2018, I was more critical of Dr. William Lane Craig and his theological paradigm than I am today. And yet, even in 2018, I was a big believer in the power of Dr. Craig's "Kalam Cosmological Argument." (1) Everything that begins to exist has a cause. (2) The universe began to exist. (3) Therefore, the universe has a cause. This argument feels both common sense but also underwhelming. However, when proving these premises, we begin to see just what kind of Cause this has to be. It has to be incredibly powerful, intelligent, and personal. In other words, God.
This episode analyzes the apologetics arguments of St. Thomas Aquinas. Most of his arguments are cosmological arguments or are cosmological-argument-adjacent.
Okay. So, I'm not fully convinced that the Ontological Argument is a persuasive argument for the existence of God. But Anselm of Canterbury and Dr. Alvin Plantiga swear by it, so who am I to ignore it amidst a series on apologetics arguments? Therefore, this episode is my fumbling attempt to explain and defend this complex and oft-misunderstood argument.
This episode begins with an impromptu discussion of various English translations of the Bible. Then, we discuss the different kinds of apologetics and the different philosophies apologists use to defend the Christian faith. Then the main point of this episode: we see how the Apostles Paul & Peter engage in apologetics in the New Testament.
After the New Year 2018, our Ambassador Academy class switched from a heavy emphasis on theology to a heavy emphasis on apologetics. (Note: a rough definition of "apologetics" is the intellectual defense of the Christian faith.) In preparing for the new series, I came to the conclusion that I ought to tell my story so that it would be clear why apologetics is so important to me. So this episode is mostly my personal testimony: about how I came to Christ, about our family history of various times we moved houses and hometowns and how that affecting my faith and church life, about the extremely tumultuous freshman year of college where I nearly became an atheist, about how I met and married my wife, etc. etc. etc. This episode ends with a quick rundown of important books in my library and why they are important to me. (And also some books from other worldviews and how to properly analyze other worldviews.)
This is the final episode in the theology section of the Ambassador Academy lectures. Starting in the next episode, we will switch to apologetics. This theology lecture, about the Incarnation (given just before Christmas 2017), provides analysis for the scriptural data presented in the previous episode.
This episode introduces the theological topic of the Incarnation, which is when God the Son became flesh (John 1:14) and dwelt with us humans as one of us humans. This episode, part 1, presents the texts of Scripture regarding the Incarnation in order to flesh them out in the next episode, part 2.
Having established the biblical data regarding the Trinity in the previous episode, this episode digs into the philosophical, logical, and theological implications of the doctrine of the Trinity.
In discussing the attributes of God, this series touched on the topic of the Trinity frequently. Now the Ambassador Academy switches from the attributes of God to the Trinity as the main topic. In this episode, we lay the Scriptural foundations of the Trinity, setting up the next episode where we analyze the Trinity philosophically and theologically.
This is the 5th of a 5-part series on the attributes of God. We close out with discussions of God's Wisdom, Mercy/Grace, Immutability, (or Unchangeableness), Jealousy, Justice/Wrath, Infinity, & Perfection.
Part 4 of "The Attributes of God" switches from attributes of God's abilities to attributes of God's character. This episode discusses God's Love, Holiness, Righteousness, Impeccability, Veracity (or Truthfulness), & Goodness (or Omnibenevolence).
In this series, I divide God's attributes into Abilities (or what God is) and Character (or who God is). This episode sees us complete the Abilities category by examining God's Omniscience, Providence, Incomprehensibility, & Invisibility.
In the previous episode, we only got through 2 of God's many attributes. This episode represents a welcome increase in pace. This episode examines 5 of God's many attributes: Sovereignty, Transcendence, Eternity, Omnipresence, & Omnipotence.
The next five episodes (including this one) will be about the attributes (or traits) of God. But first, what is the definition of God? The definition I came up with is thus: God is the uncreated Creator and the greatest possible Being, entirely unique in being, manifesting Himself in three Persons; and He is the Source of all reality and life, perfect in love and holiness, with all possible power and knowledge. The first two attributes on the list are the subject of this episode: God's Oneness (There is one God), and His aseity (or His "of Himselfness," a.k.a. His independence).
In the previous episode we learned that the Bible has two attributes: Authority, and Inerrancy. In this episode we examine the other three attributes of Scripture: Clarity, Necessity, & Sufficiency. The clarity of Scripture means that, while not every single verse of the Bible is crystal clear, the Holy Bible is readily available to any reader or listener, and that the Word of God can be understood by literally anyone. To say that Scripture has necessity is to say that the Bible is necessary to know the Words of God, to know about Jesus, and salvation, and how to live a Godly life. The Sufficiency of Scripture means that the 66 books of Scripture are all that is absolutely necessary, and that all other resources are either supplemental (if they are positive resources) or they are to be avoided (for heretical resources).
Christianity is a doctrinal religion that is entirely dependent upon God's revealed Word in the Holy Bible. But what is the Bible? In this episode, we will look at 2 aspects of Scripture: Authority & Inerrancy. The Authority of Scripture means that the words of Scripture are God's Word in such a way that to disbelieve or to disobey Scripture is to disbelieve or disobey God. Inerrancy, a doctrine that many Christians do not defend, is the teaching that the Bible is without error. The logic here is that IF the Holy Spirit is the ultimate Author of Scripture, then He would not allow any clear error into Scripture. There are, of course, several caveats, as the Bible is a series of documents written in a different time and to different cultures, so our culturally-defined definition of what is or is not an error may not precisely line up with the authors of Scripture. For instance, direct quotation was not really a thing to the authors of Scripture. So, accurately reporting the content of a speaker's speech is what matters, not necessarily getting at voice-recorder-level exact quotation.
Epistemology - or, how we know things - is important. We humans know things through logic, reason, observation, empirical research, etc. One way to know things is through revelation. So, for instance, what number am I thinking of right now? The answer is 42. How do you know that the answer is 42? Because I revealed it to you. And by the nature of the knowable thing in question, you can only ever know it by such revelation. God reveals Himself in Scripture and through direct communication with prophets and others. But we will cover that in the next few episodes. In this episode, we dig into the concept of general revelation, which is the teaching that much about God can be known without the need of specific (scriptural) revelation.
This episode is a quick overview of the entire Bible, placing the major characters and the 66 books of the Bible in their appropriate place in a mostly chronological survey of the Holy Bible.
In the Fall of 2017 & Spring of 2018, Fellowship Baptist Church of Neosho, Missouri, and its then-pastor Buddy Funk entrusted to me the Sunday nigh worship service, an honor that I still cherish almost a decade later. What I crafted was something I called "Ambassador Academy." 2 Corinthians 5:20 in the English Standard Version reads, "Therefore, we are ambassadors for Christ, God making his appeal through us. We implore you on behalf of Christ, be reconciled to God." So, as ambassadors, we should be trained as ambassadors. So the Ambassador Academy was an attempt to delve into deeper "meat and potatoes" theology and doctrine. This episode is the introduction to a 25-part series that will come out on this podcast feed over the next several weeks.
The last episode with my friend Aaron was a serious discussion of immigration policy, but this episode is silly pop culture fun! First, we discuss the things we like, the things we're trying to like, and the things we can't like no matter how hard we try. But then, the main event! From the IMDB Top 250 Movies, I took the highest ranking films that (1) we both have watched, & (2) only one film per franchise. 25 MOVIES ENTER!!! ONLY ONE MOVIE WILL PREVAIL!!! Which movie will survive?
This is the third interaction between Southeast Kansas' own The Blue Collar Scholar podcast and Southwest Missouri's own Trying to Like It podcast. In episode 66 (which is episode 84 of Trying to Like It), we talked about music festivals and classic rock. In episode 102 I respond to Trying to Like It episode 109 which talked about conspiracy theories. In this episode, my friend Aaron Carmichael and I had a long discussion that we recorded. I will split the discussion in two. In this episode, we discuss how immigration policy affects Aaron's job as a university administrator who works with and teaches international students. This led into a broader discussion about immigration policy. In the next episode, we will return to this interview for a discussion of movies, which is more in Trying to Like It's pop culture wheelhouse.
The plan was to teach a "Comparing World Religions" class this fall. Unfortunately, too few students signed up for the class. Nevertheless, the first lecture was given and recorded, and here it is. In this episode, we ask the question "What is religion?" Each religion answers ten different questions, and each religion answers those questions quite differently. This lecture analyzes how different religions might answer these questions: (1) What is the nature of reality? (2) Does God exist & what is God like? (3) What are the particular rules regarding the worship of God or the gods? (4) What is the origin of the universe? (5) What is the origin of humanity? (6) What is salvation and how can it be achieved? (7) What is right & what is wrong? (8) How should society be organized? (9) What is the destiny of the universe? (10) What is the destiny of humanity?
The plan was to teach a World War II class this fall. Unfortunately, too few students signed up for the class. Nevertheless, the first lecture was given and recorded, and here it is. In this episode, we take a look at the history leading up to "The Great War," and do an ever-so-brief survey of World War I (as the Great War came to be known).
In 2021, I was invited onto an atheist podcast five times to represent an evangelical perspective. The podcast is known as "Analyzed" and can be found in your podcast distributor. This episode was originally called "Episode #29 Celebrity Moral Failings and Societal Retributivism." This episode has been edited by the Blue Collar Scholar podcast in order to ensure that we would not need an "E" rating, but the views of all panelists have been left unchanged. Therefore, the views expressed in this episode do not necessarily represent the views of The Blue Collar Scholar podcast or of its host, Will Reitz.
In 2021, I was invited onto an atheist podcast five times to represent an evangelical perspective. The podcast is known as "Analyzed" and can be found in your podcast distributor. This episode was originally called "Episode #26 Abortion and Personhood Debate." This episode has been edited by the Blue Collar Scholar podcast in order to ensure that we would not need an "E" rating, but the views of all panelists have been left unchanged. Therefore, the views expressed in this episode do not necessarily represent the views of The Blue Collar Scholar podcast or of its host, Will Reitz.
In 2021, I was invited onto an atheist podcast five times to represent an evangelical perspective. The podcast is known as "Analyzed" and can be found in your podcast distributor. This episode was originally called "Episode #24 Convo with Will About the Atlanta Shooter and Evangelicalism." This episode has been edited by the Blue Collar Scholar podcast in order to ensure that we would not need an "E" rating, but the views of all panelists have been left unchanged. Therefore, the views expressed in this episode do not necessarily represent the views of The Blue Collar Scholar podcast or of its host, Will Reitz.
NOTE: This episode features a panelist talking frankly about his history of drug use. This episode may not be suitable for younger viewers. In 2021, I was invited onto an atheist podcast five times to represent an evangelical perspective. The podcast is known as "Analyzed" and can be found in your podcast distributor. This episode was originally called "Episode #21 Our Deconversion Stories." This episode has been edited by the Blue Collar Scholar podcast in order to ensure that we would not need an "E" rating, but the views of all panelists have been left unchanged. Therefore, the views expressed in this episode do not necessarily represent the views of The Blue Collar Scholar podcast or of its host, Will Reitz.
This is my very first podcast of all time, back in 2021 when I was invited onto an atheist podcast to discuss sex and relationships. The podcast is known as "Analyzed" and can be found in your podcast distributor. This episode was originally called "Episode #19 Challenging a Pastor on Monogamy and Sexuality." This episode has been edited by the Blue Collar Scholar podcast in order to ensure that we would not need an "E" rating, but the views of all panelists have been left unchanged. Therefore, the views expressed in this episode do not necessarily represent the views of The Blue Collar Scholar podcast or of its host, Will Reitz.
The final episode in the Life of Christ series is also the last extant recording of any of the sermons I gave at First Baptist Church of Goodman, at least any recordings I am aware of. In this sermon, I explore the resurrection of Christ and why it is such an important event.
The death of Jesus Christ is perhaps the most important moment in all history, according to a Christian theological interpretation of history. The death gives the resurrection obvious meaning, it represented (once again) prophecy fulfilled by Jesus, and mostly it was the moment of atonement, went Christ's blood served as the penal substitutionary atonement that makes salvation possible.
One week before Easter each year, most churches celebrate what is called "Palm Sunday." This commemorates the moment when Jesus enters into Jerusalem to begin his final week of ministry before His death, burial, and Resurrection. As Jesus is entering the city, his followers wave palm branches and lay down their cloaks on the ground to hail His arrival. That is why we call it Palm Sunday; but that is not a term that the Bible uses. Scripture refers to it as a triumphal entry. This event teaches us a lot about who Jesus is. Join us as we dig into the Scriptures surrounding this event.
Jesus chose His closest disciples from amongst the working class, the poor, the outcasts, & the unwanted. And Jesus took those men - men that society saw as losers - and the Lord changed the world with these men. Each person who belongs to the family of God with the name Christian applied to our name is a disciple, and it is our duty to worship the Lord and to love the least of these, a.k.a. those that society discards.
At the risk of stating the obvious, Jesus Christ is the most important person in Christian teaching and theology. The Old Testament points to Him, the New Testament documents His ministry and the birth of the Church that exists to worship Him, and of all human history since the First Century has been affected by His life. This sermon is the first in an 8 part series on the Life of Christ. Unfortunately, only 5 of those messages were recorded. This sermon is based off of Matthew chapters 1-4.
This was not the conclusion to the End Times Series, but the last couple of messages were not recorded. So this sermon about the Tribulation is the last teaching about the End Times that we will have on this podcast for a very long time, since I have already covered this topic thoroughly in Sunday School format and in lectures from a Revelation class for senior citizen learners. In this message, I do not attempt to go into every detail about the Tribulation, but rather to hit a few highlights and talk about what the Tribulation is in terms of broad characteristics instead of minute details.
I am always careful when dealing with the topic of the rapture, acknowledging that many (perhaps most) Biblical scholars scoff at this piece of dispensational theology, and I remain extremely non-dogmatic about it. Nevertheless, this episode of the pod makes a Scriptural case for the rapture, but also gives a more expansive set of lessons that we can learn from this bit of doctrine.
This episode explores the differences between premillennial dispensationalism, historic premillennialism, and amillennialism. (Unfortunately, the recording got cut off before discussing postmillennialism or preterism.) In short, there are many different interpretations of eschatology. Scripture is not as crystal clear about eschatology as we would like, and therefore, Christians should be very tolerant of other Christians with different interpretations about End Times verses.
If your exposure to my teaching is mostly limited to the content of this podcast feed, then you might have concluded by now that I am one of the those End Times preachers. After all, I have already done a Bite-Sized Theology series on the End Times, a pandemic-era Sunday School series on the End Times, and a Lifetime Learning college class on eschatology. I ask you to believe that I actually do not fixate on these teachings; I just happen to have recordings of most of my End Times teaching opportunities, including this episode. In fact, this October 2012 sermon series was the first time I had the courage to tackle eschatology (the study of the end times) in the pulpit. This is the introductory message in that series.
In this conclusion to The Hurt & the Healer series, we talk about what it looks like to heal, and how God can use the tragedies in your life to bring glory to Him, to enrich your life, and to love and serve others in their times of trouble.
The Hurt & the Healer series continues by showing that the ultimate struggle between God and Satan is already a foregone conclusion. Satan and evil and death and pain are marked for defeat. Ultimate victory and healing belong to God, and Christ's victory is our victory. For in New Heavens & New Earth, He will wipe every tear and there will be no more pain or death, and God will make His dwelling with humans, and we will be His people and He will be our God. Hallelujah!
This episode digs into the age-old Problem of Evil, or as it is usually expressed: "Why do bad things happen to good people?" The question can be answered, but we need to be careful. Telling a hurting person that God may have sufficient reasons to allow a certain instance of suffering, or that there are not really any purely good people, is probably not helpful. Such explanations are not going to provide any healing for a hurting person. But having a proper theological understanding of suffering is quite helpful for a person to learn and internalize when times aren't bad. For when the bad times inevitably come, we can better calm our stormy minds and see God not as failing to protect us, but rather we see Him as our strong tower in times of turmoil.
This is the first sermon in a series called "The Hurt & the Healer." This series was inspired by the Mercy Me song of the same title. This series seeks to provide hope to those who are hurting. The theme of this message is "strong tower," as in: "The name of the Lord is a strong tower; the righteous man runs into it and is safe." (Proverbs 18:10) Each of us has a crossroads moment when hard times and suffering happen. (1) We can run to Him. (2) We can abandon God. Which shall you choose?
This is one of my favorite sermons from the archives. By mining the rich mines of Jesus' parables and teachings, this sermon seeks to show that loving people is how you love God. Now, of course, love for God is more complex, as it involves worship, something that you should never offer to any person short of Jesus Christ. But Christ makes it clear. Whatever you do for the least of these ... you do for Him!
This episode clears up some confusion I had in my lecture notes for the previous episode regarding the Church of Satan, and I go into much greater detail on the New Age Movement(s).
This episode is less of a sermon and more like a lecture. At First Baptist Church of Cherokee (KS) we called it the Winter Workshop 2010. I had taken a class at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary about the dangers of the occult. Part of the class was to prepare a lecture or sermon to be delivered at a church or other community organization. This was my presentation. I talk about the origins of wicca, Mormonism, Islam, Scientology, and the New Age. This ends with a series of recommendations for Christians on how to prepare for and to resist, but not to fixate upon or to freak out about, the occult. Note: There is a part 2 that will be released soon.
This is an evangelistic Gospel message presented at a youth conference in November 2010. The theme of the conference and of the message is "The Price Is Right."
This is a presentation of the Gospel in the form of a short story. Note: I shared the same story on Facebook Live during the pandemic, and the audio of that recording in available on this podcast feed, Episode #166.
This sermon uses several themes that have been in other messages that were given to different churches; themes that have been prevalent in recent episodes of this podcast. In this episode, Satan's temptation of Christ in Matthew 4 serves as the central text for the sermon, which leads into a discussion about the four key characteristics of Scripture: Authority, Clarity, Necessity, and Sufficiency.
This sermon was the introductory sermon to an entire series on the Apostle Paul and his writings. I only preached the introductory message, not the entire series. In this sermon, I draw six lessons from the life of the Apostle Paul: (1) The health & wealth Gospel is false. (2) Exercise reckless boldness for Christ. (3) Make decisions, but be open to God changing the plan. (4) Check all spiritual teachings against Scripture. (5) Deflect unearned praise. (6) Even spiritual giants can make mistakes.
I was a guest speaker at my church (CornerStone Community Church in Haslett, Michigan) on August 2, 2009, during my three year sojourn in the great state in the north where people point to the palm of their hand to show where they're from. This is a rather lengthy teaching on the importance of Scripture. I laid out 6 characteristics of Scripture: purity, authority, clarity, necessity, sufficiency, and inerrancy.
This is the first message in a Spring Break conference we had at the Michigan State University/Lansing Community College Christian Challenge campus ministry in March 2008. The theme of this message is evangelism, and as such, you will recognize much of this teaching. I used most of this content in other sermons in other churches, some of which were recorded and are available on this podcast. Please forgive the audio quality, as it is ripped off of a cassette tape.
This is the final sermon that I preached in my Expository Preaching course for Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in the Spring of 2007. In this episode, I dissect the doxology at the end of Psalm 16 to determine that a balance, complete life devoted to God results in Joy & in Life.
Psalm 16 is not about maintaining healthy relationships. However, in order for the teaching of Psalm 16 to be true, it is assumed that a person has maintained a healthy relationship to God, to fellow saints, to the lost, and to one's self. So this episode digs into those 4 relationships.
Psalm 15 preaches itself. It is basically a list of things that a righteousness man does to be righteous. This sermon was prepared for and preached in my Expository Preaching class at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Spring 2007.
This is the first sermon in a 4-part series that I did for my Expository Preaching class at Midwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in the Spring of 2007. All 4 sermons will come from the Book of Psalms, and the texts chosen for these messages are in order. Today's text is the 14th Psalm.
This episode examines the promise in James 1:5-8 that God will grant wisdom to those who ask.
It is difficult to find joy in trials and suffering. The Apostle James knew it was difficult when he commanded us to to so in James 1:1-4. Nevertheless, while happiness is dependent on circumstances, joy does not have to be. We can find joy despite hardships. But in this sermon we will ponder 5 reasons why the trials and suffering themselves could be the source of joy.
Herod "the Great" is one of the most memorable villains in the Bible. When we analyze his behavior in Matthew chapter 2, we can draw some lessons on what NOT to do.
Some of the more challenging passages of Scripture to preach or teach are genealogies. It is not easy to draw life lessons from lists of names. However, the way the Apostle Matthew arranges the genealogy of Jesus shows us several things. Firstly, it establishes the identity of Jesus, emphasizing his royal credentials. Secondly, Matthew has an absurdly balanced genealogy, but he abandons his symmetry in order to include a few brothers and mothers into a genealogy that often only includes fathers and sons. These individuals that Matthew includes in the genealogy have been added for a reason, and we explore that in this lesson.
This is the conclusion of the Soldiers of the LORD series preached at Bosworth Baptist Church in 2006. This is all about the importance of Scripture in the life of a Christian.
This, the second message in the Soldiers of the LORD series, digs into the classic "Armor of God" passage in Ephesians 6:10-20.
In my final year of seminary, I got my first professional pastorate. I was the part-time, interim, bi-vocational pastor of Bosworth Baptist Church in Bosworth, Missouri. I did not record all of the sermons from that time, but I did record a 3-part series called "Soldiers of the LORD," which I present to you here. This first episode deals with evangelism, and is very similar to podcast episodes from the past few days, as I used many of the same themes, examples, and illustrations in other sermons that were preached at other churches while providing pulpit supply.
This is an interesting trip down memory lane. I am not a King James Only advocate, but I was invited to preach at a KJV-only church in my hometown. I did this a few times while they were searching for a pastor, but this appears to be the only available recording from those sermons. This was the most conservative audience I ever preached to, and this time in my life (last few years of seminary) were the times of my life where I was the most conservative, both religiously and politically. This sermon about evangelism is sound, & I think I agree with everything I said, but I know for a fact that I would preach this message differently today.
CORRECTION: In this message, 23-year-old me miscalculated the approximate date of writing for 1 Corinthians and the Synoptic Gospels. ... This sermon was from over 20 years ago, and I tried to boil down all of Christian apologetics into a 25 minute sermon. There are certainly some things I would do differently if I gave this sermon today, but this was not a half bad attempt at introducing apologetics (or, the intellectual defense of the faith) by a young man in his first year of seminary.
Here's another throwback sermon from the last semester of college, just before going to seminary. In this message I give some basic advice for how to put a faith life into practice, setting meaningful and achievable goals. This podcast episode begins with a children's time message about how the New Testament does not look down upon someone just because they are young. Since this is audio ripped from a VHS, the audio quality is quite poor.
We are jumping back into the Way-Back Machine again to a sermon from June 2002. In this message, I give a quite direct and undiluted Gospel presentation, loaded with New Testament Bible verses mostly from the Book of Romans (The "Romans Road") designed to lead others to accept Jesus Christ as personal Lord & Savior. This recording begins with a children's time message where I use a tortured analogy, comparing the usefulness of a walking stick with the usefulness of the Bible. Sigh. Oh, and the sound quality is so-so, as it is from a VHS recording.
This is what I believe the be the earliest recording of any sermon that I have given, and I reckon that this was my third sermon. This sermon was preached on the day before my 20th birthday, and if you notice the date of the sermon (5 August 2001), this even pre-dates 9/11. I warn you that the audio quality is extremely poor, as it was ripped off of a VHS tape.
I was asked to join the Big Hill Small Talk podcast to discuss my moderate politics. This is my interview with my friend and former coworker Ike Reitemeier. For more from this Southeast Kansas podcast, look for "Big Hill Small Talk" in your preferred podcast distributor.
Our long series on personal spiritual disciplines has finally come to a close. In this conclusion, I offer encouragement to busy people to try not to master everything all at once. Rather, you should prioritize prayer and Bible reading, and you should take the time necessary to build these disciplines, giving yourself grace and forgiveness but also pushing yourself to excellence. Good luck, and may your faith grow! Note: This teaching was recorded on 11-28-2021.
Learning is like a muscle; the more you do it, the easier learning becomes, and the stronger/smarter you become. I believe that a strong and nimble mind is better able to love the Lord with all one's mind, and a broad range of knowledge can enrich one's spiritual life. Furthermore, knowledge of things like history, philosophy, and science can strengthen one's ability to interpret Scripture. Note: This teaching was recorded on 11-21-2021.
Too often, Christians treat "learning" as something that scholars do. Average everyday Christians don't need to read, or study, or learn, or grow. That is patently incorrect. Each and every Christian is tasked with loving the Lord with all your soul, heart, strength, and MIND. But, you don't have to outpace scholars and pastors. No, success is when YOU learn more than YOU previously knew. And learning is a broad category: learning more Scripture, theology, hymns, church history, or literally any field of knowledge that makes one grow closer to God. Note: This teaching was recorded on 11-14-2021.
Of all the personal spiritual disciplines mentioned in this series, the discipline of keeping a journal is the least persuasive. The Bible does not command you to journal. However, there are many advantages of journaling, and this episode digs into those arguments in favor of journaling as a personal spiritual discipline. Note: This teaching was recorded on 11-7-2024.
There are many adjectives that can be used to describe what it is like to be an American, or an American Christian. One of those adjectives: loud. Our lives, schedules, workplaces, activities, families, and even worship fellowships can be quite noisy and stressful. But if we are to emulate Christ, then we need to value the occasional silent retreat, to escape the crowds and the noise and the stress. It is in these times that we can strengthen our relationship with God and find peace. Note: This teaching was recorded on 10-31-2021.
When Jesus talks about fasting, He says, "When you fast..." The assumption is that you will fast. But of the spiritual disciplines, this is perhaps the least utilized one in Christian circles. And Scripture does help us to understand fasting. To the best of my knowledge, there is no passage that teaches exactly what fasting does, exactly how it works, and exactly how it affects our spiritual lives. However, it is possible to discern these things (more or less) by extrapolating from stories and teachings in the Bible where fasting is mentioned. Note: This teaching was recorded on 10-24-2021.
This is not the televangelist fundraising seminar. I purposely avoided speaking of the grave need that you fork over your money for this or that ministry fund drive. Instead, this lesson attempts to explain the personal spiritual advantages that the giver receives. Note: This teaching was recorded on 10-17-2021.
Every single one of the personal spiritual disciplines that we have covered in this series require time, and that means that you have to discipline yourself to manage your time well. This means setting good priorities, choosing the best options while letting merely good options go to the wayside, multitasking when possible, and scheduling your life in a way that allows you to be flexible and productive. Note: This teaching was recorded on 10-10-2021.
What are the things in life that waste away your time? These things are like time vampires that destroy the extremely limited resource you have. Often, we can't just cut these things off cold turkey. Our families, jobs, education, and even church can be things that take away your time, and must be managed. Other things, like entertainment and video games, can still be enjoyed, but our relationship with these things must be radically adjusted so they are no longer time vampires. Note: This teaching was recorded on 10-3-2021.
The Holy Spirit grants spiritual gifts, and your Creator has given you certain skills, and you have refined and honed certain talents. You can use those gifts, skills, and talents to the Glory of God, and in direct service of the Kingdom of God. I would encourage you to do so. Note: This teaching was recorded on 9-26-2021.
This episode will be controversial amongst those excellent Christians who have the courage and the time to go out "soul winning" door-to-door or in a marketplace or something. But for most of us Christians, the idea of engaging in such stressful, time-consuming, and very unproductive evangelism turns us off from evangelism all together. But there is a better way. Find a small group of individuals to truly invest in. Love them, teach them, disciple them, and prepare them to go out and do the same thing, effectively multiplying your efforts. And this strategy results in fewer people who say a prayer and then nothing happens, and more people who learn and grow and develop into true disciples of Jesus. Note: This teaching was recorded on September 19, 2021.
Evangelism is not a popular subject in Christian circles. We envision dutifully sharing the message - that Jesus died to free one from sin, death, and hell - to people who do not want to listen. And yet Christian leaders who strongly preach evangelism create a search-&-rescue mentality about evangelism that quickly leads to frustration and burnout and then makes us feel guilty for not evangelizing more. Instead, I want to cast a vision of evangelism that is designed to recruit worshipers who know Jesus well and worship Him well, and who are a part of the church because they have been mentored and loved, not led through a magic prayer and perhaps a quick baptism to become another statistic. The irony is that the less stressful evangelism strategy can, in theory, lead to far more converts, as 1 leads to 2, those 2 lead to 4, 4 to 8, 8 to 16, 16 to 32, 32 to 64, 64 to 128, 128 to 256, 256 to 512, 512 to 1024, and on and on. Note: This teaching was recorded on September 12, 2021.
Worship of the Lord does not require a church building, ... and it doesn't even require a church, a la "where 2 or more are gathered in His Name." Worship of God can be done in private, or in a family. And when done in this way, worship is maximally flexible, and allows for a great amount of creativity in worship. Note: This teaching was recorded on September 5, 2021.
Worship is a spiritual discipline. It certainly takes attendance. We must worship in community. But it takes more than attendance. Worship is not an event to attend. It is a verb, something that you do, and its focus is God. Note: This teaching was recorded on 8-29-2021, and the recording skips a beat every so often.
Prayer Walking is a fantastic activity to jump start your prayers while connecting your prayer life to your community, workplace, or school. One could also "prayer walk" through a news website in order to pray for our community, state, nation, and world with specificity. Note: This teaching was recorded on 8-8-2021, and there are several places where the recording cuts out for a second or two.
Using the words of Scripture to guide your prayer thoughts can be valuable in two ways. (1) It amplifies prayer as a conversation, with God's words intertwined with our words to Him. (2) Having an external guide to our prayer thoughts can jumble up our prayer ruts, so that every prayer does not sound like every other prayer. Of all Scripture, the Psalms make the best prayer guides because the Psalms represent the whole gamut of human emotions, and they are so dense and beautiful. Note: This is 2 short Sunday School lessons, recorded on July 18th and 25th of 2021.
I personally find prayer lists to turn my prayer life into a tedium, like a poorly run committee meeting. But it doesn't have to be that way. Prayer lists make it possible not to forget to prayer for things that we want to pray for. But feel free to trim and hone your prayer lists to make sure that the list serves as a tool to make your prayer life more vibrant, instead of a guilt trip about how much you aren't praying for. Note: This teaching was recorded on July 11, 2021.
Prayer is half of a "great conversation." God speaks to us in many ways, but primarily through the Word. So, when you read or study Scripture, you are hearing from God. Any conversation involves communication going both ways, and prayer is our vehicle to communicate with God. So I would encourage us all (I admit that prayer is a weak link in my faith) to invest time and effort into our prayer lives. Note: This teaching was recorded on June 17, 2021.
Before this series moves past Bible intake as a personal spiritual discipline, we need to address why there are so many translations of the Bible, especially in English. These translations are - for the most part - the work of solid scholarship and the translation that you read really is a legitimate translation of the Word of God. Note: This teaching was recorded on 6-20-2021, and the recording cuts out for a second a couple of times.
To study the Bible is a skill that cannot be completely mastered. There is always another layer, another angle, another untapped resource that can help an individual know and understand a passage of Scripture better. Therefore, the pressure is off. There will be no final test. And you aren't graded on a curve. You don't have to know more than me or your pastor or some Ph.D. in New Testament. Rather, meaningful Bible study is any process where the one who studies the Bible comes away with more genuine knowledge about the Bible than one can get by simply reading the passage once or twice. So, here's your encouragement to find your way to study the Bible well. Note: This teaching was recorded on 6-13-2021, and the recording cuts out for a second, occasionally.
We live in a day when we don't even memorize each others' phone numbers, because we don't have to. Memorization doesn't feel like a necessary skill, and it certainly doesn't feel like a vital spiritual discipline. But that is wrong. Scripture that is memorized is Scripture that can be meditated upon. And while it is difficult to remember even half of what you read, you remember 100% of what you memorize - by definition - as long as you consistently review what has been memorized.
The topic of meditation can be confusing for anyone whose conception of meditation is based on how eastern religions do it. But Scripture meditation is actually quite simple: Free your mind of distractions and choose to dedicate a certain amount of time to fill your mind with a certain Bible verse or set of verses, dedicating all your attention to understanding that verse. Note: This teaching was recorded on 5-23-2021, and there are several points where the recording cuts out for a second.
Holy Mole, it's episode #200! In our last Sunday School lesson, we discussed Bible reading plans, but it is important to understand that there is a wide variety of Bible reading plans, and your plan does not have to look at all like my Bible reading plan. Note: This teaching was recorded on May 16, 2021.
This episode is basically an argument for Bible-in-a-Year plans. However, there are other kinds of Bible reading plans. This episode ends with a bunny trail where I present a list of Bible books in what is roughly in chronological order. Note: This teaching was recorded on May 9, 2021. Also, there are several points where the recording cuts out.
A Christian must be investing the Word of God into their mind and their heart. Bible intake - including listening to, reading, studying, memorizing, and meditating upon Scripture - is simply not negotiable. But there are a wide variety of strategies and tools to do this. HOW you invest Scripture into your life is largely up to you. WHETHER you invest Scripture into your life isn't optional. Note: This teaching was recorded on April 25, 2021.
This series is long enough to have two introduction lectures. So, before we dig into the individual personal spiritual disciplines, let us prepare ourselves to learn and grow. Note: This teaching was recorded on April 18, 2021.
This was one of the longest Sunday School series I ever taught. From Easter to Thanksgiving, we studied the personal spiritual disciplines, with Dr. Donald Whitney's book "Spiritual Disciplines for the Christian Life" as the primary source. Well, I suppose the Bible in the primary source, but you know what I mean! Anyway, I hope you enjoy this Introduction to this series. Note: This teaching was recorded on April 11, 2021.
The Protoevangelium (Latin for "First Gospel") is the first Messianic prophecy found in the Bible. It is a pronouncement made by God regarding the serpent and the woman and curses that they receive because of the original sin in Eden. In Genesis 3:15, we are given the first distant glimpse of the coming of Christ, here called the seed of the woman. This sermon attempts to unpack this passage as much as possible, talking about Satan - here called the seed of the serpent - and his motivations. Note: This teaching was recorded on Halloween 2021.
Based on what is likely one of the earliest hymns created by and sung by the First Century Church, the Apostle Paul gives us a magnificent poem in Philippians chapter 2 verses 6 through 11. Paul uses this most poignant passage regarding the incarnation of God in the man Jesus Christ to encourage us to be more like Christ in humility and love. This poem/hymn in Philippian 2:6-11 is often called "The Carmen Christi," from the Latin phrase meaning "the song of Christ." Note: This teaching was recorded on 9-12-2021. Also, there are a few points where the recording cuts out.
As part of a Bite-Sized Theology series about families, I covered the topic of Family Reconciliation and also the topic of Adoption. These two short lessons are part of a larger whole that were taught by others, but I present you these two short lessons out of context.
King David is one of the most inspiring heroes in Scripture, and also one of the biggest screwups whose sin struggles have launched a million sermon series' worth of object lessons. In David's life, at least four times someone important in David's life called him out about an issue. Not every one of these rebukes was fair. Sometimes, a rebuke is simply wrong. But sometimes a timely rebuke is lifegiving. In David's story, we see times when he accepted a rebuke humbly, times he rejected a rebuke wisely, and times when he foolishly rejected a wise rebuke. (Note: This teaching was recorded on 25 July 2021.)
This is the finale of a 10-part Sunday School series on the Book of Daniel. Note: This teaching was recorded on Easter Sunday, 4 April 2021.
This is part of a 10-part Sunday School series on the Book of Daniel. Note: This teaching was recorded on 28 March 2021.
This is part of a 10-part Sunday School series on the Book of Daniel. Note: This teaching was recorded on 21 March 2021.
This is part of a 10-part Sunday School series over the Book of Daniel. This is also the final Sunday School lesson taught from home during COVID quarantine. Note: This teaching was recorded on 14 March 2021.
This podcast uses royalty-free music made available for public use by Pixabay. When and if an artist objects to the use of their work on this podcast, The Blue Collar Scholar will absolutely comply with the wishes of the artist. I respect the right for any creator to control the use of their I.P. (intellectual property). Therefore, The Blue Collar Scholar is introducing new opening and closing music: "Royalty Free Acoustic Guitar Summer Song" by LP Studio Music, from Pixabay.
This is part of a 10-part Sunday School series on the Book of Daniel. Note: This teaching was recorded on 7 March 2021.
This is part of a 10-part Sunday School series on the Book of Daniel. Note: This teaching was recorded 28 February 2021.
This is part of a 10-part Sunday School Series on the Book of Daniel. Note: This teaching was recorded on 21 February 2021.
This is part of a 10-part Sunday School series on the Book of Daniel. Note: This teaching was recorded on 14 February 2021.
This is part of a 10-part Sunday School series on the Book of Daniel. Note: This teaching was recorded on 7 February 2021.
This is the first in a 10-part Sunday School series on the Book of Daniel. Note: this teaching was recorded on 31 January 2021.
Happy Mother's Day! This one is for any mother who fears that she is not a good mom. Statistically-speaking, it is unlikely that you are a failure as a mom. To illustrate this point, allow me to introduce you to three bad moms from the Bible: Sisera's mother, Athaliah, and Herodias. In these women, we see what it looks like to be a bad mom by instilling the value of violence into your son, or by causing harm to your own family for personal gain, or by manipulating those you love in order to hurt other people.
This is the final lecture of the 1960s class. This is a summary of many of the main themes. But this episode also digs into some topics - such as sports and entertainment - that we have not yet dealt with over the course of the semester. We conclude by examining how the Sixties are remembered.
Sixties Playlist:
- All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix (1968)
- For What It’s Worth by Buffalo Springfield (1966)
- Fortunate Son by CCR (1969)
- The Sound of Silence by Simon & Garfunkel (1964)
- Turn, Turn, Turn by The Byrds (1965)
- Lil’ Red Riding Hood by Sam The Sham & The Pharaohs (1966)
- In My Room by The Beach Boys (1963)
- Harper Valley PTA by Jeannie C. Riley (1968)
- Unchained Melody by the Righteous Brothers (1965)
- Aquarius by The 5th Dimension (1967)
- I Wanna Hold Your Hand by The Beatles (1963)
- San Francisco by Scott McKenzie (1967)
- People Are Strange by The Doors (1967)
- Good Times Bad Times by Led Zeppelin (1969)
- Runaway by Del Shannon (1961)
- Be My Baby by The Ronettes (1963)
- Dead Man’s Curve by Jan & Dean (1963)
- Wild Thing by the Troggs (1966)
- Wouldn’t It Be Nice by The Beach Boys (1966)
- I Can’t Help Myself by The Four Tops (1965)
- California Dreamin’ by The Mamas & the Papas (1965)
- Second That Emotion by Smokey Robinson & the Miracles (1968)
- Lyndon Johnson Told the Nation by Tom Paxton (1965)
- Where Did Our Love Go by The Supremes (1964)
- Louie Louie by The Kingsmen (1963)
- Ring of Fire by Johnny Cash (1963)
- Hey Jude by The Beatles (1968)
- Are You Lonesome Tonight? by Elvis Presley (1960)
- Bad Moon Rising by CCR (1969)
- The Fish Cheer/I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixing-To-Die Rag by Country Joe the Fish (1967)
- The Times They Are A-Changin’ by Bob Dylan (1964)
- Paint It Black by The Rolling Stones (1966)
- Spirit in the Sky by Norman Greenbaum (1969)
- Sweet Caroline by Neil Diamond (1969)
- I’m a Believer by The Monkeys (1967)
- I Want You Back by the Jackson 5 (1969)
- I Heard It Through the Grapevine by Marvin Gaye (1968)
- Ode to Billy Joe by Bobby Gentry (1967)
- Respect by Aretha Franklin (1967)
- Born To Be Wild by Steppenwolf (1969)
- Pretty Woman by Roy Orbison (1964)
- Where Have All the Flowers Gone by The Kingston Trio (1961)
- Hooked on a Feeling by B.J. Thomas (1968)
- Devil with the Blue Dress by Mitch Ryder (1967)
- Can’t Take My Eyes Off You by Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons (1967)
- House of the Rising Sun by Animals (1963)
- It’s Not Unusual by Tom Jones (1965)
- I Say a Little Prayer by Dionne Warwick (1964)
- The Name Game by Shirley Ellis (1965)
- The Ballad of the Green Berets by Staff Sergeant Barry Sadler & Robin Moore (1966)
Yes, I know that the Watergate break-in and resulting scandal happened entirely in the early 1970s. But I contend that the Watergate scandal is the loss-of-innocence moment that represents the social/cultural shift from the Sixties to the Seventies, at least in the United States. This episode presents a timeline of events and examines the causes of Watergate, the events in question, the cover-up and scandal, and finally the fall out from the scandal.
The United States and the Soviet Union engaged in a fierce rivalry in the 1950s and 1960s called the Space Race. Both the US & the USSR each achieved a variety of accomplishments in space travel, starting with the the successful orbit of the Soviet Sputnik satellite and culminating with the United States Apollo 11 program successfully putting 2 men on the moon. Of course, humanity would continue to make advancements in space travel and research from that point to today. This episode goes back thousands of years and tracks humanity's long-time obsession with human flight, all the way through the age of air travel, the Space Race, and the future potential of interstellar space travel.
This episode follows the various American women's rights movements back to the early 1800s up to the Women's Liberation Movement. From Suffrage to the Equal Rights Amendment, we examine the women who fought hard for women's rights in America, and how the women's rights movements intersected with other movements, such as the slavery abolition movement, alcohol temperance and prohibition, and the Civil Rights Movement.
The Civil Rights Movement is a part of history so substantial, interesting, and important that it deserves its own class, or at least several lectures of a class. Foolishly, however, I will try to cover the entire Civil Rights Movement in the U.S. in a single lecture because we have so much in the 1960s to cover and so few remaining lectures to do so. To survey the Civil Rights Movement, we will take a look at over 30 individual men and women whose contributions to the Civil Rights Movement is invaluable and irreplaceable.
Four men occupied the Oval Office in the 1960s. Dwight D. Eisenhower held it for the first year and three weeks of the 1960s. Then John F. Kennedy served from 1961 to 1963. This episode of the pod focuses on the other two: Lyndon B. Johnson & Richard M. Nixon. This brief history will explain how each man's experience - including their humble childhood, education, limited WWII experience, extensive service in both houses of Congress, and service as Vice President for the two aforementioned Presidents - prepared them to lead the most powerful nation on Earth during the Cold War.
This episode is a closing argument for faith in Christ. I begin by assuring the doubter that doubt is normal, and that there are healthy and unhealthy ways to address doubt. The second half of the pod recaps some of the arguments for Christian faith that I find most persuasive. (Note: This teaching was recorded on 1-24-2021.)
For me, the argument against the existence of God that hits the hardest is the "Hiddenness of God." In other words, if God really exists, He seems to be trying to remain hidden, and that the universe that we live in is exactly the kind of universe that one would expect if there is no God. In this podcast episode, we will break down that argument, and show that God is not hidden, but rather Holy! (Note: This teaching was recorded on 1-17-2021.)
In our Church-in-Quarantine series from last summer (recorded Spring 2020), we dug into church history. This episode of the pod is much more of an brief overview. This episode lists a handful of aspects of church history that are shameful, and another list showing the immense positive value that the church has provided to human history. So, for those who object to Christian faith because of the history of Christianity, all I have to say is that, yes, Christian history is messy, but the church has been a driver of progress as well. (Note: This teaching was recorded 1-10-2021.)
Hell is easily one of the most controversial and off-putting doctrines in all of Christian theology. In fact, the reality of hell is an objection that many use to reject Christian faith. Is this a valid criticism? Do we even understand what heaven and hell really are? Dig in to this episode to find out. (Note: This teaching was recorded on 1-3-2021.)
This sermon was delivered right after Christmas 2020 and talks about the visit of the Magi in Matthew chapter 2. From that passage we learn that (1) God works through tragedy, (2) God intervenes to prevent tragedy, & (3) God’s plan is always pushing forward. (Note: this teaching was recorded on 12-27-2020.)
Yes, Christianity is an exclusive claim that can not countenance rival truth claims that deny that Jesus Christ is THE singular Savior. And yet, Christianity is the most inclusive faith, open to every single human who draws breath and bows the knee to Jesus as Lord. (Note: This teaching was recorded on 12-27-2020.)
All roads lead to Heaven, or so we have been told. Yet, when Jesus talks about this, He says that He is THE Way, THE Truth, and THE Life (see John 14:6). So, we need to talk about the exclusive claims of Christianity. Is this a dealbreaker? Or is exclusivity proper for such a meaningful truth claim? (Note: This teaching was recorded on 12-20-2020.)
This episode is a presentation of the Gospel in short story form. The short story was written by Will Reitz, the teacher and the host of this podcast. I hope that you like it. (Note: This teaching was recorded on 12/6/2020 & 12/13/2020.)
Can we trust that the testimony of Scripture accurately describes the historical events that it reports? And are there any considerations we should apply when interpreting Scripture so that this ancient text can speak to us today? In this pod episode, we will ask if the Bible is historical reliable and how to apply it. (Note: this teaching was recorded on 11-29-2020.)
If the Bible that we hold in our hand cannot be trusted, then the entire Christian faith falls like a house of cards. But the contention of this episode of the pod is that you can trust the reliability of the Holy Bible. (Note: this teaching was recorded 11-22-2020.)
When we read the Book of Joshua, passages about wiping out entire cities and villages really bother us. And these passages should bother us. But are there any aspects of these passages that we are missing? Are there any extenuating circumstances that make these passages easier to accept? Check out this episode and we will look into it. (Note: This teaching was recorded 11-15-2020.)
This episode closes our discussion on evolution on what I tried to make a conciliatory note, admitting much strength in the theory of evolution, and preaching an abundance of caution when discussing the subject. An editor’s note on the issue of evolution. This teaching that you are about to listen to was delivered in church during the late fall of 2020. This is why I occasionally talk about the pandemic and the upcoming presidential election. My attitude toward evolution has always been a moving target, and any time I talk about the subject, it is a time capsule of how I felt at the time. By 2020, my attitude toward evolutionary theories had softened, and for the most part, what I said in 2020 represents what I believe in 2025. I have 2 exceptions: (1) I no longer believe in the near absolute absence of transitional fossils in the fossil record. Some people more knowledgeable on the subject than I am have said that there are more examples of transitional fossils than just archaeopteryx, the so-called “missing link.” My current position regarding the lack of transitional fossils is that there probably still is not enough fossil evidence to support a grand, all-encompassing tree of life, but that paleontologists should continue their work, and I may yet be proven wrong. (2) While I still am skeptical of macro-evolutionary theory, my attitude has softened so much that I now consider Evolutionary Creationism to be a completely reasonable position for a Christian to take. End of editor’s note.
In this episode, I highlight a few of the biggest weaknesses in macroevolutionary theory. An editor’s note on the issue of evolution. This teaching that you are about to listen to was delivered in church during the late fall of 2020. This is why I occasionally talk about the pandemic and the upcoming presidential election. My attitude toward evolution has always been a moving target, and any time I talk about the subject, it is a time capsule of how I felt at the time. By 2020, my attitude toward evolutionary theories had softened, and for the most part, what I said in 2020 represents what I believe in 2025. I have 2 exceptions: (1) I no longer believe in the near absolute absence of transitional fossils in the fossil record. Some people more knowledgeable on the subject than I am have said that there are more examples of transitional fossils than just archaeopteryx, the so-called “missing link.” My current position regarding the lack of transitional fossils is that there probably still is not enough fossil evidence to support a grand, all-encompassing tree of life, but that paleontologists should continue their work, and I may yet be proven wrong. (2) While I still am skeptical of macro-evolutionary theory, my attitude has softened so much that I now consider Evolutionary Creationism to be a completely reasonable position for a Christian to take. End of editor’s note.
The debate between "evolution" and creationism is often heated, with far more heat than light. As I begin to address the issue of evolution, I present a series of "rules of engagement" for how to discuss the subject fairly for all parties. An editor’s note on the issue of evolution. This teaching that you are about to listen to was delivered in church during the late fall of 2020. This is why I occasionally talk about the pandemic and the upcoming presidential election. My attitude toward evolution has always been a moving target, and any time I talk about the subject, it is a time capsule of how I felt at the time. By 2020, my attitude toward evolutionary theories had softened, and for the most part, what I said in 2020 represents what I believe in 2025. I have 2 exceptions: (1) I no longer believe in the near absolute absence of transitional fossils in the fossil record. Some people more knowledgeable on the subject than I am have said that there are more examples of transitional fossils than just archaeopteryx, the so-called “missing link.” My current position regarding the lack of transitional fossils is that there probably still is not enough fossil evidence to support a grand, all-encompassing tree of life, but that paleontologists should continue their work, and I may yet be proven wrong. (2) While I still am skeptical of macro-evolutionary theory, my attitude has softened so much that I now consider Evolutionary Creationism to be a completely reasonable position for a Christian to take. End of editor’s note.
Miracles are a controversial topic because most of us have never seen one, many who claim to have seen a miracle are not telling the truth, methodological naturalists deny that miracles can happen at all, and Christianity loses its entire footing without the Resurrection, a miracle. So in this episode I do my best to defend miracles and refute arguments that try to undercut miracles. (Note: This teaching was recorded 10-11-2020.)
The Resurrection of Christ is the whole ballgame. If Jesus be not raised, then Christianity is false, and we should devote none of our time to Christ's church. But, is there a reasonable defense of the Resurrection as an actual event that happened in history? This episode of the pod will attempt to make such an argument. (This lesson was recorded on 10-10-2020.)
This episode of the podcast concludes our analysis of the Problem of Evil, which is the most prevalent objection to Christian faith. (This lesson was recorded on 10-4-2020.)
This episode digs into the problem that any human being has regarding not having the proper perspective to analyze the Problem of Evil. Like a baby receiving a lifesaving injection, we just do not have the perspective to know why such suffering is being allowed. (This lesson was recorded on 9/27/2020.)
This episode launches a new Sunday School series based on the Lee Strobel book "The Case for Faith." In this episode, we introduce the Problem of Evil and begin to address this common objection to Christian faith. (The teaching was recorded 9/20/2020)
The 1960s were a tumultuous decade in many respects, including the history of religion. In this episode, we will talk about the Jesus People movement with in the Sixties Counterculture, the Vatican II council, the Nation of Islam, the Jehovah's Witnesses, the New Age, and several other relevant religious topics
There have been a few times in American history when we felt particularly polarized. Right now kinda feels like such a time, but we take the Bronze. The actual Civil War and the time leading up to it has to take the Gold, but the Silver Medal definitely goes to the 1960s. Between opposition to the Vietnam War and the Civil Rights Movement, American society never felt so polarized without literally going to war with each other. In this episode we will examine the Anti-War Movement in America as well as the hippie counterculture that grew along side the Anti-War Movement.
You all know what the Vietnam War is. So I want to use this summary/preview to give some trigger warnings: (1) At one point in the podcast, I refer to American WWII death as "heroes" and American Vietnam War deaths as "victims." I debated removing it from the podcast, but left it in because I was trying to make a point about war policy, NOT what I think about the men who fought in those wars. (2) At one point in the podcast, I refer to a few racial epithets that were used against Asians in WWII, the Korean War, & the Vietnam War. I do not approve of these terms. I was showing how those terms are used to dehumanize people. (3) I try to handle the subject of American war crimes very carefully. I do not want to excuse war crimes, nor do I want to make it seem like all or most American servicemen in Vietnam committed war crimes.
This episode and the next episode will cover the war in Vietnam, which is easily the most defining event of the 1960s. The trauma of the war in Vietnam will extend into and affect every other topic we will cover this semester. But in this first episode, we are covering the history of the war before the 1960s. First, we quickly survey Vietnamese history going back into ancient history. Then we follow the career of Ho Chi Minh as he and the Vietnamese people get ready to fight the Japanese conquerors (in World War II) and for their independence from their French colonizers. This leads eventually to the epic victory of the Viet Minh over the French at the "fortress" of Dien Bien Phu. In the next episode, we will discuss the war as the United States takes over the struggle against communism in Vietnam.
As I have argued before, November 22nd, 1963, is the day that "the Sixties" as a culturally significant decade began. Before the assassination of President Kennedy, the world felt more innocent, proverbially black & white. Of course, that is an impression and not necessarily a reality. The 1950s was a decade that was both wonderful and terrible, just like every decade. There was American prosperity, but also McCarthyism and systemic racism. Nevertheless, the America that Kennedy administered feels like an extension of the 1950s. But after his death, the 1960s feels like a time of turmoil, conflict, creative proliferation, and cultural upheaval. But before we get to all that, we must discuss November 22nd, 1963, and the death of the American President in public, and in broad daylight. The evidence is actually pretty conclusive that Lee Harvey Oswald, a loser who led an unhappy life, shot the President from the sixth floor of the Texas School Book Depository where he worked. But, there is much about Oswald's life that is weird, and conspiracy theorists have had a field day for over 60 years latching onto open questions and oddities about Oswald, as well as Oswald's death at the hands of Jack Ruby, and any possible oddity even remotely related to the assassination. So in this episode, we will take a dive into choppy and murky waters, and examine the assassination and several conspiracy theories.
John Fitzgerald Kennedy was the first major protagonist of the 1960s, and his tragic death set the tone for one of America's most tumultuous decades. This episode is a brief survey of his career, with a significant detour to discuss Fidel Castro, arguably his nemesis. NOTE: The JFK assassination is the focus of next week's episode.
The Spring 2025 class is about the tumultuous decade of the 1960s. In order to understand most of the major events and themes of the 1960s, it is necessary to recognize the Cold War, and how it touched nearly all aspects of life and society in the United States and around the world. In fact, the Cold War shrank the world dramatically, as the USSR & the USA stuck their foot in nearly every corner of the world to influence politics, war, and the economy on a global perspective. This episode is an introduction for the class as a whole, and then there's a brief survey of communism and the Cold War that followed the spread of communism.
In the final episode of our not-consistently-recorded Sunday School series on the philosophy of Jesus of Nazareth, we engage Jesus' teaching, actions, and attitudes regarding race & racism, and His multi-cultural interactions with those who weren't part of Jesus' Jewish race and culture. The Sunday School audio was recorded on 6-26-2022.
There are many issues of human sexuality, and Jesus does not address all of them. But he does directly address some issues, such as marriage, divorce, sexual immorality, and healing & restoration for those who have sinned. In this episode, we join in our not-consistently-recorded Sunday School series on the Philosophy of Jesus. This lesson was recorded on 6/19/2022.
Suffering is terrible, and no one should seek it out. But it happens. It happens to all of us. And Jesus promises us that it will happen to us. This Sunday School lesson dives into Jesus' teachings on suffering. This is audio from a Sunday School lesson on 5-29-2022.
This Sunday School lesson examines the teachings of Jesus in the Gospels to determine His philosophy of human free will. This Sunday School lesson was recorded on 5-22-2022.
Christians ought to treat Jesus Christ not only as God the Son, but also as our greatest teacher and philosopher. This Sunday School series delves into Jesus' teaching from the Gospels to discern what is His philosophy of various topics. This episode digs into Jesus' philosophy of the nature of reality.Recorded Audio from a Sunday School lesson - 4/17/2022
Evangelicals are wonderful when it comes to believing in Jesus Christ as the Lamb of God who takes away the sins of the world. The death, burial, and resurrection of God the Son? Yeah, we got that down! ... But what about Jesus as our Lord, our teacher, or our philosopher? Do we do what He says? This episode of the podcast is not only a sermon delivered sans notes (the pastor got sick at the last minutes), but it serves as a backdoor pilot for a Sunday School series about Jesus as our Philosopher.
This simple, quick lecture brings our Fall 2024 class on the Book of Revelation to a close.
In this episode, when I am not chasing bunny trails (which is often), we go deep into the Biblical concept of Heaven. We look at both Old Testament and New Testament passages relevant to the concept of Heaven, and we spend quite a bit of time in the final chapters of Revelation, looking at the Millennial Kingdom and New Heavens & New Earth.
The Book of Revelation makes a poor chronology. It does some jumping about. And several chapters are enigmatic, far more enigmatic than the book as a whole, which is one of the most enigmatic books in the Bible. There are messages that are concealed, symbols that have no consensus regarding their meaning, and even a main character - the Great Prostitute - who remains a great mystery. In this episode we will take a crack at these other chapters of Revelation.
This episode picks up our survey of the Judgments of God in the Book of Revelation. There are 21 judgments, which come in three sets of seven: 7 Seals, 7 Trumpets, and 7 Bowls/Vials. This episode picks up with the 5th Trumpet Judgment and continues to the end. We also examine the Battle of Armageddon, the final defeat of Satan, and the Great White Throne Judgment.
As the Fall 2024 Revelation class continues, we are proceeding using the interpretation of Revelation as primarily a futurist document. There definitely are other interpretations, and I would encourage you to seek out scholars who provide those other perspectives. Nevertheless, if we proceed as if Revelation is primarily a futurist document, then the heart of the End Times timeline is 3 sets of 7 judgments, identified in the Book of Revelation as 7 Seals, 7 Trumpets, and 7 Vials or Bowls. This episode, part 1, examines the 7 Seals as well as the first 4 of the Trumpet Judgments. To set the stage, we begin by briefly talking about the attributes of God, identifying various events in the Bible that are identified as judgments of God, and taking a close look at the Ten Plagues, the Judgments against Egypt, as a template for Judgment as a set of judgments, a motif repeated thrice in Revelation.
This episode digs into the Scriptural data for Satan a.k.a. the devil a.k.a. Beelzebub a.k.a. the ancient serpent a.k.a. the Dragon of the Book of Revelation. We also do a bit of corrective analysis to make sure that we aren't letting the popular conception of Satan drive our understanding of the figure that is taught in Scripture. Furthermore, the character known as Satan makes very few appearances in the early part of the Bible, but he is dealt with more thoroughly in the newer books of Scripture. This implies either that Satan is a myth, or that his existence and work in the universe is revealed to us bit-by-bit in what is known as Progressive Revelation.
Besides the Devil himself, there is no scarier character in the Bible than the person that the Book of Revelation calls the Beast, and 2nd Thessalonians calls the Man of Lawlessness (or Man of Sin; Man of Perdition), and the Book of Daniel calls the Little Horn. The term that we commonly use for this character is the Antichrist. Ironically, Scripture does use the term Antichrist five times, but never for this person. Nonetheless, that is the preferred term often used for the prophesied future global political leader who controls the worlds' military, religion, economy, etc. and who actively opposes Jesus and all of His followers. In this episode of the podcast, we take a look at Scriptures that may give us details about this future evil leader.
This is a combination of 2 lectures into one. First, we dig into the Olivet Discourse found in Matthew 24-25 (see also Mark 13 & Luke 21). In this, one of the final longform teachings of Jesus Christ prior to His death, burial, & resurrection, Jesus accurately predicts the destruction of the Temple, which would happen in the year 70AD. He goes on to talk about false teachers, war, rumors of war, natural disasters, etc. that are inevitably part of the human experience in history, and now, and also in the End Times. He also talks about events that sure seem to point to the End Times as well. In the second half of the lecture, we switch gears and talk about the Great Tribulation (or the Tribulation) in general terms, as well as diving into Daniel 9 to discern why many eschatology teachers have concluded that the Tribulation shall be a seven year period just prior to Christ's Second Coming.
Well, any discussion of the End Times requires one to cover the Rapture, which is the least-agreed-upon topic in all of Christian theology. In this episode, we examine the passages of Scripture from which John Nelson Darby and Dispensationalists draw out the teaching of a Rapture event. Then, assuming the truth of the Rapture event, we examine the implications of such an event. Finally, we look at a few alternate viewpoints of the Rapture, and look at the strong criticisms of this teaching. ... Also, Bunny Trail alert! We chase about four or five metaphorical bunnies in this episode.
In this episode, I give ample air time to the other Schools of Thought when it comes to Christian Eschatology. I, as the professor, freely admit that I am a premillennialist. Furthermore, I am a premillennial dispensationalist, though I am the least dogmatic premillennial dispensationalist that I know of. But I want to give a fair hearing to those who disagree with me wholeheartedly about the End Times. So this episode attempts to be a fair presentation and analysis of all four schools of eschatology: premillennialism, postmillennialism, amillennialism (or realized millennialism), and preterism.
This episode opens up the second section of our Revelation class, as we take a hard turn into eschatology, which is the study of the end times. In this introductory lecture, we take a look at the major themes of the End Times. The heavy emphasis of this lecture is that many end times gurus can be dangerous.
Well, I hope you like history podcasts, because this episode is a deep dive into the history of ancient Rome, from its legendary beginnings to the reigns of the first 11 emperors who reigned during the events of the New Testament. Because we cover over a thousand years of history, this lecture skips over much. This is only the highlights of Roman history as we try to firmly establish the setting, the culture, and the civilization of the Roman world in which John wrote the Book of Revelation.
Our class collectively decided to do a half class this night, as we are 95% KC Chiefs fans and wanted to get home to watch them beat the Baltimore Ravens (which they did, 27-20, coming down to the last second of the game and a Ravens would-be-touchdown that was out-of-bounds by less than an inch. But I digress). In this episode, we make a case for John the Apostle as the author of the Book of Revelation, and explore how the book functioned as a hopeful epistle for the early church.
As part of the class I am taking ("Modern America Since 1968") for the History Master's Degree program at Pittsburg State University, I reviewed the classic American movie The Graduate. I gave the movie an A-, and recommend that all American adults see the movie at least once. It is perhaps the quintessential Sixties film without any over-the-top '60s tropes.
When John wrote the Book of Revelation, it was obvious that he was heavily influenced by large swaths of the Old Testament. There are obvious parallels between the plagues in Exodus 7-12 and the judgments in Revelation. But the parallels are even greater when comparing Revelation to the Books of the Prophets (Isaiah through Malachi). In many ways, Revelation has much more in common with these books - in terms of tone, style, voice, imagery, etc. - than with the other books of the New Testament. So in this episode, we will take of brief survey of the Old Testament passages that influenced the Book of Revelation and our understanding of eschatology.
Greetings! It is time for our Fall 2024 class: The Book of Revelation! We are glad to have you join us in this first lecture of the Fall, where we are introduced the the concept of "revelation" as a means by which we know things and how we know God. We take a brief journey through the Scriptures and conclude with the Bible Project videos about the Book of Revelation. Please note: the audio of these videos is shared with you for educational purposes only. This audio is not being shared with the express permission of the Bible Project, or by Dr. Tim Mackie, who is the lead scholar of The Bible Project and the narrator of videos. Neither I nor The Blue Collar Scholar podcast are earning money from this episode. I strongly encourage you to go to bibleproject.com and explore all their amazing videos on all the books of the Bible as well as hundreds of topical videos. It is an amazing resource for personal Bible study.
When our church went into lockdown in early March 2020, we were all expecting the Quarantine to last a few weeks. Well, in the early Fall, we finally started live worship services again, roughly 6 months after our lockdown began. A surge in COVID-19 would lead us to do a second, shorter lockdown a few months later, but our first foray into pandemic quarantine came to an end with this Facebook Live Sunday School lesson about the Gospel and the path to personal salvation.
The Bible makes it clear that "all have sinned & fall short of the glory of God." (Romans 3:23) The Ten Commandments are a great mirror to show the reader one's own need for salvation. Spoiler alert: In the next episode, we will see that Jesus Christ is the source of that salvation.
The previous three episodes built a brief apologetic case for the existence of God. Now comes the closing argument, where we present the evidence for Jesus Christ as the Messiah of the Jewish people, prophesied frequently in the Old Testament, as powerful evidence for the existence of God. This closing argument also helps us move past apologetics arguments that argue for a generic deity, and now we are clearly talking about the Triune YHWH: the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. And Jesus, as God the Son, shows us God's character and identity. NOTE: This episode was cut off abruptly by a faulty internet connection. So this Sunday School lesson ends in the middle of an argument and lacks a conclusion.
This episode makes the positive case that the existence of objective moral values and duties proves that there is a God. This episode also addresses the arguments against God's existence collectively known as the Problem of Evil or the Problem of Suffering.
This episode analyzes the Cosmological Argument for the Existence of God. Or, rather, the cosmological arguments, plural. There is the Kalam, the Leibnizian, the Argument from Contingency, etc. I invite you to dive into this episode as we discuss these arguments, as we advance our mission to lead someone to Christ who does not even have a concept of God.
Apologetics has nothing to do with apologizing, even though "apologetics" and "apology" share similar etymology. Rather, apologetics is the intellectual defense of the faith. Over the next few episodes, we will explore both apologetics and evangelism as we engage in a thought experiment: how to talk about God and Jesus Christ to someone who is such a tabula rasa that they don't even have a basic concept of God (such a space alien, or a member of a tribe that has been completely untouched by modern society). In this episode, I give a quick survey of some of the apologetic arguments I find the most appealing.
Most people want to imagine God as a Mr. Rogers-type, friendly deity. And as we all learned in Vacation Bible School, Jesus is your friend. However, He is also a righteous Judge. And our understanding of God is incomplete if we don't have a rigorous theology that includes understanding God as Judge. But our great Judge is fair, mercy, thorough, and consistent as Judge. In this sermon, we explore the idea of God as Judge, and hopefully we will see that God as our righteous Judge is a good thing.
Our Sunday School series on marriage comes to an end with several topics that don't warrant their whole lesson: homosexuality, polygamy, and premarital sex. The episode closes with a brief survey of what a healthy marriage looks like, scripturally-speaking.
Diversity is a wonderful thing. But not every incarnation of diversity is inherently good. In the last episode, we saw that interracial marriage is not only ok, but it is occasionally lauded in the Bible as wonderful. But what about interfaith marriage. Most liberals (and I am not using that as a particularly bad term) that I know would laud interfaith marriage as an excellent example of tolerance and diversity. However, Scripture does not support the idea. Those who belong to Christ have a different purpose and a different destiny from those who do not call on the name of Christ. This does NOT mean that Christians are good, and non-Christians are bad. There are plenty of deplorable believers and also remarkable non-believers. That is, ultimately, irrelevant. Interfaith marriage is prohibited because both persons have different goals and destinies. ... However, many people find themselves in such marriages. What are we supposed to do in such situations? Well, give this episode a listen and we will find out.
My wonderful wife and I are part of an interracial marriage. I am proud of that fact. But does the Bible support the institution of interracial marriage? Many Christians have believed that the Bible prohibits these kinds of relationships. Spoiler alert: They are wrong. In this episode, we examine the Biblical texts involving interracial marriage. In short, if a man and a woman love Christ and they love each other, their racial and ethnic background does not at all prevent the relationship.
This episode expands on the previous episode and explores what the Bible says about divorce and remarriage.
Divorce is not ideal. It can even be described as an evil. That does NOT mean that those who have been touched by divorce are evil, defiled, unredeemable, yada, yada, yada. This episode begins to survey the Biblical texts on divorce, talking about what divorce is, what it is not, when it is allowable, etc.
This episode starts a new Sunday School series about marriage. This series was done via Facebook Live in the summer of 2020 while we were in lockdown.
This episode concludes our Sunday School series on the controversial topic of the End Times. This lesson talks about the Millennial Kingdom, Judgment Day, and New Heavens & New Earth. Soli Deo Gloria!
In this episode, we talk about some of the chapters of Revelation that appear to be out of chronological order. Then we look at the 3rd set of 7 judgments called the Vials of God's Wrath. Following that, this episode discusses the physical return of Christ, Armageddon, the Millennial Kingdom, the Final Rebellion of Satan, and Judgment Day.
The middle chapters of the Book of Revelation mirror the early chapters of Exodus, showing an active God who uses a series of judgements to achieve His aims. These chapters describe events that ought to be interpreted literally, as well as events that ought to be interpreted figuratively. This Sunday School lessons quickly surveys the first 14 of the judgements in the Book of Revelation, which the text refers to as seven seals and seven trumpets.
The figure that evangelical Christians know as "the Antichrist" is an archetypal figure that informs many of the great villains in fiction, especially Nicolae Carpathia in the Left Behind novels. However, the Book of Revelation does not even refer to this person as the Antichrist, preferring to refer to him as "the Beast." In this episode, we will take a brief look at what the Bible says about this person, and consider whether this is a person who has already come in history or who is still yet to come.
After discussing various interpretations of the End Times, this series will continue in a basic premillennial understanding of eschatology. The central event - or series of events - to this interpretation of the End Times is the Tribulation, a 7 year period of hardship and judgement on the Earth that precedes the physical return of Christ. Just a reminder to hold your End Times theology loosely. We are living before these events and so there is an incredibly wide range of acceptable, orthodox positions one can hold. This episode opens with a tribute to Ravi Zacharias, who had recently died in late Spring 2020. This means that I had to add an addendum to my tribute, as much of the legacy of Ravi has been tarnished by revelations of his sexual predatory behavior.
The Rapture is almost certainly the least-agreed-upon topic in eschatology (the study of the End Times). Men and women who are dedicated to studying Scripture and are careful to let the Scriptures dictate doctrine (and not the other way around) will disagree vehemently about the Rapture. So, in this episode, we will look into the Scriptures that premillennial dispensationalists use to form the doctrine of the secret, pre-Tribulation Rapture. ... Don't worry, we will define our terms.
This episode opens with a nice little time capsule: a discussion about when and how to reopen after quarantine in 2020, a process that ended up happening three times as we had to thrice go into quarantine during surges of Covid. The main thrust of this episode is a frank discussion of the 4 different "schools" or interpretations of eschatology (i.e., the study of the End Times). Those interpretations are Premillennialism (both historic premillennialism & premillennial dispensationalism), Postmillennialism, Amillennialism, & Preterism.
After the completion of our church's Church History series, we began a series on the End Times. This episode of the podcast is the introductory lecture of that series. There are major themes that Revelation, the prophetic books of the Old Testament, and other New Testament books teach us. These themes are important to establish before one digs in to deeper the details of eschatology.
2 Kings 22 is one of the more subtly shocking chapters in Scripture. In it, the high priest FINDS the Book of the Law in some chamber of the Temple as they are engaged in renovations. The implication is the Israel and Judah went generations when even the priests did not not read Scripture, and seemingly, they weren't even aware that they were missing it. Their religious system went on for generations without studying the Word of God. This sermon applies that cautionary tales to our lives. Let no one who calls themselves Christian fail to constantly reinvest the actual Words of Scripture into our minds.
If the faithful Christian life for you is an impossibly long checklist of things you have to do (or things you must not do) and that list is mostly things that are not dictated by Scripture, then do I have good news for you! In Christ, the believer has liberty. In this lesson, we examine Freedom of the Believer. (1) Freedom of the Believer is not there to give you free reign to sin. (2) Freedom of the Believer exists to free you to honor God without having to worry about everyone else’s standards. And (3) be careful how you use this freedom.
In this episode a take a crack at 10 conspiracy theories.
Here is the list that I use. Link: https://gemini.google.com/share/eb9af94fd1f5?fbclid=IwZXh0bgNhZW0CMTAAAR3uGG6FCaMsdeCUFkOj26Ky2MPegW7IPE5vW5nRcyg95hDAA4OOpIaRylQ_aem_AdPi1pqPdikY-b5wE1XlaFZCv7JiSMuErAq42zIYIUWoftlIA9SRqQ_vULuVO02-0UIF3VAxYjhpx6R9NFhLOz_0
This episode is a direct rebuttal of the Trying to Like It podcast, episode 109. Link: https://im-trying-to-like-it.simplecast.com/episodes/conspiracy-theories-we-sorta-believe
Here is a great rebuttal of the Moon Landing Hoax Conspiracy, via Adam Ruins Everything. Link: https://www.google.com/search?q=Moon+Landing+hoax+debunked+adam+&sca_esv=7008f87381b9388d&sca_upv=1&biw=1848&bih=892&tbm=vid&sxsrf=ADLYWIKW2_pUZof649NT2iMNmckS7OM6TQ%3A1717536782115&ei=DohfZq-qBrrLp84P0fTB6Q4&ved=0ahUKEwiv6aSO88KGAxW65ckDHVF6MO0Q4dUDCA0&uact=5&oq=Moon+Landing+hoax+debunked+adam+&gs_lp=Eg1nd3Mtd2l6LXZpZGVvIiBNb29uIExhbmRpbmcgaG9heCBkZWJ1bmtlZCBhZGFtIEjJHlD3CFijF3AAeACQAQCYAXagAdUFqgEDMi41uAEDyAEA-AEBmAIAoAIAmAMAiAYBkgcAoAeDBA&sclient=gws-wiz-video#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:2fc35430,vid:dWBYAxhH3u4,st:0
Here is a link to a great book debunking JFK conspiracy theories, Case Closed, by Gerald Posner. Link: https://www.audible.com/pd/Case-Closed-Audiobook/B00UUHZ526
Here is a Wikipedia link about the fascinating Phoebus Cartel. Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebus_cartel
This is the finale of our church's Sunday School series on church history. In this episode, we discuss how the Gospel has expanded and prospered in a post-WWII world. We also look at trends that will likely define the next few decades.
My parents have been an extraordinary blessing to me. Growing up in a healthy, loving, nuclear & unbroken family is a treasure not everyone gets to enjoy. My parents are persons of high character who passed on great lessons. My father taught me the value of hard work, and my mother taught me the value of studying hard, even when the task to difficult-to-impossible. She is the original Blue Collar Scholar. So, for our 100th episode, enjoy this interview with my mother, Vanderbilt graduate Dr. Robin Reitz, Doctor of Nursing Practice.
As the pandemic carried on into its second month, our church continued its 2020 quarantine. This episode brings our Sunday School lessons at the time up to nearly the present in our exploration of church history, as we take a look at developments in Christian history in the 19th & 20th Centuries.
This episode is the audio lifted from the Facebook Live broadcast of our Sunday School lesson at Living Hope Southern Baptist Church of Parsons, KS, for Easter 2020. It was April 12th, the 4th week of quarantine. The Sunday School lesson was recorded on Good Friday because I had to be on the way to the airport on Sunday morning, quite an ordeal amidst Covid Quarantine. Nevertheless, the show must go on. And our Sunday School lesson was the continuation of our church history series. In this episode, we take an extremely "broad strokes" look at church history in the 17th & 18th Centuries.
The history of the English Bible goes all the way back to the mid-1300s when John Wycliffe decided that English speakers needed our own Bible. His version was available as of 1382. For the next 229 years, there were a variety of English translations that appeared, but none of them were as excellent as the Authorized Version - commonly known as the King James Version or the KJV - which appeared in 1611. The reason the KJV has persisted for 413 years and counting is because it was a magnificent translation. But the translators did not have access to thousands of manuscripts that have been found in the last few hundred years, and the way English is spoken has naturally evolved. So several modern translations are objectively better than the KJV, if by "better" you mean "closer to the original Scripture documents that were written in Koine Greek, Ancient Hebrew, and Aramaic." In this episode, we take a brief look at at the KJV and English translations.
This episode explores the distinctive beliefs and practices that make Baptists different from other Christians. Note: This episode was recorded 4 years ago. I refer to COVID-19 as "Coronavirus" because "COVID-19" wasn't the popular term for it yet. I refer to the pandemic as something that was just beginning. Some of my political, social, and religious opinions are subtly different now than they were 4 years ago. But I still stand by this teaching, which was Week 2 of out church in quarantine.
In March 2020, COVID-19 snuck up on us and caused most of our institutions to close. We had to wear masks and only walk down the Walmart aisles in a single direction, and the TP aisle was empty. It was a weird time. Our church made the decision to go online for a few weeks, which ended up becoming several months. And even after coming back in person, we had to do quarantine again, and yet once more a few weeks later. When quarantine kicked in, I was in the middle of a church history series, so when going to Facebook Live, we suddenly had the lessons recorded for posterity. So, this is where we pick up, in the middle of a Sunday School series on Church History. And as a Baptist Church, we set aside an entire lesson just on Baptist History. And this episode of the podcast is that lesson.
In this, the grand finale of the American Revolution class, we examine the Constitutional Amendments. First, we take a look at all of the proposed amendments that were approved by Congress & sent to the states, but failed to be ratified by 3/4 of the states. Next, we look at each of the 27 Amendments that are part of the US Constitution. Finally, we explore several possible Constitutional Amendments that would be excellent additions to the US Constitution.
In this final episode in the Women in the Bible series, I introduce the concepts of Complementarianism & Egalitarianism as philosophical positions one might take when deciphering the New Testament's teachings on gender roles. We go through four of the most potent and controversial passages in the New Testament on the topic. As to whether Complementarianism or Egalitarianism represents the correct, more-Biblically-faithful way to interpret these passages, well, I leave that up to you.
The Revolutionary generation in the United States of America could not lead the country indefinitely. Eventually they had to pass the torch to the next generation. This episode surveys the history of the early American Republic in the early 1800s. We will discuss the major events, trends, and controversies during the Jefferson, Madison, & Monroe Administrations as three men from the same party and from the same state hold the White House for 24 solid years. After that is the passing the torch moment as leadership is passed from the Revolutionary generation on to the likes of John Quincy Adams and Andrew Jackson. There are also a few bunny trails that examine Martin Van Buren, William Henry Harrison, John Tyler, and even a bit deeper into American History.
This episode surveys all the women who appear in the narrative of Acts, or who are mentioned in any of the books of the New Testament after the Gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John).
With the Constitution firmly established as the Law of the Land, the federal government was up and running, and in much better shape than it had been under the Articles of Confederation. Probably the most obvious change was that the United States finally had an executive officer as head-of-state. George Washington and then John Adams were our first two Presidents to fill that role, and in these 12 years, many patterns, traditions, and precedents were set that affected the United States of America for centuries.
This episode examines the Scriptures from Matthew, Mark, Luke, & John which involve female characters in the narrative. Note: The Virgin Mary is the focus of a separate episode, and is only mentioned in passing in this episode.
In this episode, we will look at the last acts of the Congress under the Articles of Confederation, the great debate between the Federalists and Anti-Federalists which was carried out mostly via letters/editorials in newspapers and journals, the timeline of ratification of the Constitution done by ratification conventions in the 13 states (plus Vermont), and - as always - we chase bunny trails!
Mary the Mother of Jesus is almost certainly the most recognized, significant, and important female character in Scripture. There are many misunderstandings concerning this person, too. In this episode, we will look at the Scriptural passage where Mary's story is told.
Previous episodes brought us to the point where the Constitutional Convention presented a final draft of the Constitution to the states for ratification. We will discuss the ratification process next week. In the meantime, let us go through the original Constitution (pre-Amendments) line-by-line and discuss it. Join us in this episode as we analyze the USA's most important state document.
In this sermon, I break down the Beatitudes (Matthew 5:1-12). Some of the Beatitudes have instant, obvious application: Make Peace. Be merciful. Seek righteousness. But some of the Beatitudes - Blessed are those who mourn, or the poor in spirit - are directed at those who are hurting. Through Jesus Christ, even the downtrodden are living the good life, despite their hardships.
Solomon is the likely author of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. In those books, Solomon is unafraid to use female imagery to make his points. And he is unafraid to use female imagery in an unflattering light, such as a dangerous adulterous or the personification of folly. But he also gave us Proverbs 31, and he uses a woman as the personification of wisdom itself. And compared to his contemporaries, Solomon's treatment of women in his writings is strikingly positive.
The United States government under the Articles of Confederation was toothless and broke, unable to raise money, and with little to no international clout. Something had the change. And Shays' Rebellion in Massachusetts was the final straw. So James Madison, Alexander Hamilton, Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, and other advocates for a more robust federal government began taking steps that would result in a convention in Philadelphia in 1787 which hammered out a Constitution that still exists today as the most important state document of the United States of America.
The Bible is full of villains, like Satan, Haman, Pilate, etc. Four of those villains are women, and therefore are the purview of this class. So in this episode we will look at the stories of Delilah, Jezebel, Athaliah, and Herodias.
The United States of America has existed for 236 years under the same government, perpetuated by the United States Constitution. But the Constitution is a strong document that establishes a rather strong central government, and the American citizens of the late 1770s and early 1780s would never have adopted such a document. First, we had to go through the weeds and suffer the slings and arrows of a national government founded on a much weaker document, one that allows only a toothless and perpetually broke national government. Only after the failure of that document would the United States be ready to try something else. That original document was the Articles of Confederation and Perpetual Union, commonly known as Articles of Confederation. In this episode we go through that document and see just where it failed. Also, bunny trail warning, this class and its professor chase several bunny trails in this lecture.
The story of Esther is one of the most well-written, gripping, cinematic stories found in the Bible. It has a good hero, a compelling villain, high stakes (an attempted genocide), and such great story telling devices as irony and poetic justice. This episode looks at the characters of Vashti & Esther and each woman's relationship with the Persian Emperor Xerxes I.
This episode closes out our discussion of the American Revolutionary War. First, we track the French contribution to American victory. France's alliance was perhaps vital to America's victory, so much so that perhaps the US does not win the war without them. And, the French Navy's incredible victory in the Chesapeake Bay was necessary to make the siege of Yorktown possible. The heart of the episode is a brief look at the siege, the battle, and the results of the Franco-American victory at Yorktown, VA. We close by looking at some of the events in the final years of the war, including the loss of the founding father John Laurens, a brief mutiny by a small group of soldiers in Philadelphia, the negotiations and ratification of the Treaty of Paris, and the birth of the Society of the Cincinnati.
This episode surveys the major female characters in the Bible from the books of Samuel, Kings, and Chronicles, as well as Ezra, Nehemiah, and the Hosea.
"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. ... And the Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us." (John 1:1 & 14) This episode of the podcast is a collection of Bite-Sized Theology lessons (5-minute-or-so sermonettes) that together form a sermon that takes a look at the Christian theology of "The Incarnation," which is the belief that God the Son became a human person - namely, Jesus of Nazareth - and maintained both true humanity and true divinity.
“Don't you understand this parable? How then will you understand any parable?" Jesus asked in Mark 4:13. Jesus Christ Himself gave us a hint that the Parable of the Sower is somehow foundational to understanding all of his parables, which were his most-oft-used figurative devices to make spiritual points. So, in this episode, let us dig into Mark 4 and look into the Parable of the Sower.
This episode of the pod opens with a 5-minute Bite-Sized Theology about Americanism in the Gospel. After that, I give one of the most difficult sermons I ever preached. The Church has a bad habit of knee-jerk conclusions that sexual assault allegations are fake, despite the statistics that show that such false accusations are rare. In this episode, we go back to Deuteronomy to dig into a much-needed frank discussion about sexual assault, and how we, as the church, can be part of the solution.
Living Hope Southern Baptist Church of Parsons, Kansas, does something called Bite-Sized Theology. These are 5 minute (or so) lessons/sermons that are designed to be meatier but much shorter than the average sermon. Our church did not record every single one of these lessons, so this presentation is a bit random. Nevertheless, here is a random selection of the Bite-Sized Theology lessons I preached at our church.
Benedict Arnold. What a tool! ... Except, we've discussed him before in this class. Thus far, he's been a positive figure, an asset to the American cause, one might even call him a war hero. So, what changed? How did Benedict Arnold become one of history's worst traitors?
There are few women who have significant political power in the Bible. The few who do have such power in the Bible are either seen as villains (see Athaliah), or she has power because of her marriage (see Esther), or both (see Jezebel). But in Judges, we are introduced to Deborah. She is the only judge of Israel who is female, and is also the only judge whose reign actually looks more like a "judge" than a military leader. She is, therefore, one of the most significant females in the text of Scripture. In this episode, we will look at her career, and also look at all the women who factor into the events in the Book of Judges.
A rag-tag collection of young men went into Valley Forge for the winter of 1777-8. An army walked out of Valley Forge. But at least 2000 men died at the Valley Forge winter encampment - a place where no battle was fought - because of disease, malnutrition, and clothing so inadequate for the winter that the relatively mild winter of 1777-8 is still remembered in the American subconscious as the worst winter ever. In this episode, we will discuss the particulars of Valley Forge, and look at the careers of three important immigrants whose paths crossed in this cold corner of Pennsylvania.
Revelation tells us that worshipers of the Lord will include those from every tribe, tongue, and nation. Ethnic diversity is a wonderful thing, and should be a goal that we attain to. In the first chapter of the New Testament, Matthew includes a few women in the genealogy of Jesus Christ, which is radical enough, but a majority of those women are not ethnic Jews. In this episode, we will look at each of those Old Testament women mentioned in Matthew 1: Tamar, Rahab, Ruth, and Bathsheba.
After early successes, the American Continental Army faced nearly a whole year (1777) of defeat and retreat, including the fall of Philadelphia to British forces, necessitating the Second Continental Congress' move from what was then the national capital. Despite these being "the times that try men's souls," the British were unable to force an American surrender. And the Americans were able to secure a couple of incredible victories, at Trenton (NJ) and Saratoga (NY).
This episode explores the women who appear in the books of Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, and Deuteronomy. As it turns out, female characters only really factor into the narratives of Exodus and Numbers. This episode explores those characters, especially Miriam, the prophetess and sister of Moses. We will also take a look at a short list of laws that deal directly with women's issues.
This is the episode upon which this semester turns (in our The American Revolution class). All that we have discussed thus far has led the Founding Fathers up to the point where declaring independence from Great Britain was the only move that made sense. In this episode, we will go through each word of the Declaration, discuss the non-war-related aspects of the Second Continental Congress' business, and end with the adoption of the Articles of Confederation, which we will discuss in detail later this spring.
In May 2023, I was a guest on my friend Aaron & his sister Rori's pop culture podcast "Trying to Like It." In this episode, we select five bands from any point in history to headline our summer music festivals. If you enjoy this episode, consider liking and subscribing to "Trying to Like It" on Apple Podcasts, Simplecast, Spotify, or your favorite podcast distributor.
The timeframe of Genesis 12-50 is often referred to as the Age of the Patriarchs. Well, let's flip the script. We're here to talk about the ladies whose stories are vital to understanding the patriarchs. Some are heroes, some are villains. Some are triumphant, while others suffered under oppressors. But all of these ladies' stories deserve to be told.
The American Revolution was a process that went on for decades. In the midst of the evolving political revolution, a war broke out. The British government was not interested in letting their colonies be self-governed, rebellious, or independent. So, when the "redcoats" rolled out of Boston to capture rebellious legislators and colonial weapons stashes in Concord, Massachusetts, the "minutemen" responded. With actual bullets flying, the American Revolutionary War began. This episode of the podcast looks at the developments that led up to the Battle of Lexington and Concord, through the events that followed, such as the capture of Fort Ticonderoga and the Siege of Boston. Note: In the episode, I mistakenly credit the phrase "the shot heard 'round the world" to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. The phrase comes from Ralph Waldo Emerson's "Concord Hymn."
In this episode, we look at the women who appear in the text of Genesis 1-11. These chapters cover over a thousand years of narrative history, giving minimal details and skipping many details as this section lays out a trim and streamlined foundation for the line of Abraham, whose family story is the origin story of the Jewish people.
It took a while for the American colonists to begin thinking of themselves as colonies that could bond together to resist British imperial policy, let alone rallying together for the purpose of independence. But, before we can get to July 4, 1776, we have to understand all of the British policies and American reactions that built momentum that would eventually become the American Revolution. This episode covers such things as the Stamp Act, the Tea Act, the Boston Tea Party, the Boston Massacre, the Intolerable Acts, etc.
The prophet Jeremiah makes several references to a "Queen of Heaven" that was being worshipped by some Jews of his generation. God, through Jeremiah, condemns this blatant act of polytheism. But this raises two questions: Who or what is this "Queen of Heaven?" And why was the attraction to worship her so powerful in a culture that was supposed to be devotedly monotheistic? Note: Roman Catholics sometimes use the term "Queen of Heaven" as an honorific title for Mary, the virgin mother of Christ. For obvious chronological reasons, Jeremiah was not referring to her. This episode will explore the ancient Near East's polytheistic roots of the Queen of Heaven.
Why and how did England plant its flag on the Eastern Seaboard of North America? What was the purpose of the 13 colonies? Were the colonies established for different reasons and purposes? What role did religion, business, and war play? We will explore these and other similar topics that lay a foundation of British colonization of the East Coast of North America.
The Fall 2023 class for the NCCC Lifetime Learning program was called "Women in the Bible." Over the next few weeks, this podcast feed will provide lecture audio for that class. But before we can dig into individual women in the Bible and their stories, we need to back up and look at the entire Bible's timeline from a bird's eye view. From the earliest days of prehistory in Genesis to the height of Roman Imperial control of Israel as documented in the New Testament, this episode attempts to cover (briefly) all of it.
This episode launches our Spring 2024 class: The American Revolution. Join us as we travel back to the birth of democracy in ancient Athens, the Magna Carta in 1215 England, the Protestant Reformation, and the Age of European exploration and colonization in the Americas. We also, admittedly, chase a few bunny trails about WWII, Jewish history, the 27th Amendment, etc.
This episode is the finale that closes out The World Wars class. We will briefly cover the rapid growth of the American and Soviet nuclear programs after Hiroshima and Nagasaki, as well as the beginning of the Cold War.
The development of the atomic bomb remains one of the greatest scientific achievements of all time, as well as one of the most controversial tools of death ever used against other human beings. This episode digs into the origins of the Manhattan Project, which saw the United States & Allies invest billions of dollars into a project that made sure that the Allies got the A-Bomb before Hitler or Imperial Japan.
The Second World War in the Pacific hinges on Midway. Before Midway, Japan found unbelievable success. After Midway, Japan lost territory, as well as their necessary manpower to hold all that they conquered. But Midway was in the first year of the Pacific war. Japan fought tooth-&-nail to hold their conquests, and made the Allies fight with all that they had for another 3 years. In this episode, we will cover the events from Midway to Okinawa, often referred to as "island hopping."
Imperial Japan had an incredible undefeated streak that went a half of a year after their attack on Pearl Harbor. The US, the UK, Australia, the Netherlands, and the other Allies were unable to stop Japan as they spread their Empire over many islands and peninsulas all over the Pacific Ocean and coastal Asia. But Imperial Japan met their match when they went toe-to-toe with the US Navy at the tiny island of Midway. Though WWII in the Pacific would drag on for three more long years, the Battle of Midway proved to be the turning point in the Pacific.
Why did Japan attack Pearl Harbor? How did they do it? What military moves did Imperial Japan make immediately following their successful first strike? Download, listen, and find out!
This episode explains the history of Japan, from the origins of the Emperor's Chrysanthemum Throne, to the rise of the shoguns, to rise of late-19th Century and early-20th Century Japanese militarism. We will examine Japan's multiple military successes from the late 1890s to the early 1940s, the atrocities of the Rape of Nanking, and the military reasons for attacking the United States.
As you can see on this podcast page, The Blue Collar Scholar has been on hiatus for some time. However, we are back! This episode attempts to get caught up a bit. This podcast episode covers the lecture notes for four different lectures, all related to WWII in Europe: (1) The Battle of Britain & Operation Barbarosa, (2) The Holocasut, (3) D-Day, & (4) Allied Victory.
This sermon draws on the story of King David bringing the Ark of the Covenant into Jerusalem to illustrate four lessons for Christians today.
The European Theater of World War II will be our focus on the podcast for the next few months. (In the Spring, we will shift the focus to the Pacific Theater.) For the Nazis, the earliest stages of the Second World War was a series of successes. After their six-week conquest of France - the strongest of the Allies in World War I, and the nation Germany wasn't able to conquer in four years in the trenches of WWI - the Nazis could boast about their conquests of Austria, Czechoslovakia, Poland, Denmark, Norway, Luxembourg, Belgium, the Netherlands, and France. Thanks to their non-aggression pact with the Soviet Union, Germany stood as the lone continental power, with everyone else conquered, an ally, or decidedly neutral. Only the United Kingdom stood between Hitler and absolute victory.
This episode briefly explores the Paris Peace Conference, Prohibition, the Roaring '20s, technological advances after WWI, the Great Depression, the Dust Bowl, the Spanish Civil War, the Japanese invasion of Manchuria & China, and the rise of Adolf Hitler.
In this podcast episode, we will take a criminally-brief dive into World War 1, why it started, who were the major belligerents, and how WWI set the stage for WWII.
This short episode of The Blue Collar Scholar is a book review and enthusiastic recommendation to read or listen to "Confederate Reckoning: Power and Politics in the Civil War South" by Stephanie McCurry.
This episode kicks off a new class for Spring 2023: The World Wars. The first episode quickly summarizes all the wars and industrialization that helped form the great belligerent nations of the First & Second World War, namely the United States, the United Kingdom, Tsarist Russia (and the USSR), Germany, France, Austria-Hungary, Italy, the Ottoman Empire, China, & Japan.
This podcast episode will conclude the lessons for the Fall 2022 New Testament class. This episode is a survey of New Testament theology, examining the Doctrine of Man, the Doctrine of the Church, and Eschatology (the study of the End Times).
We will close out the New Testament class with a few lessons on New Testament Theology. First up, we will discuss monotheism and the Trinity.
This episode will cover the class notes of the last three class periods for the New Testament class. In this episode, we will briefly discuss how the original manuscripts of the New Testament were transmitted through time to us today. We will also take a look at translation philosophies of English translations and discuss the value of a few of them.
The second half of the podcast will deal with the King James Version of the Holy Bible. We will look at the history of early English translations, the reasons why James I called the Hampton Court Conference to produce what would become the KJV, and take a look at the KJV-Only controversy.
As a time-saving measure, I will be switching formats for the rest of the semester. Instead of sharing classroom audio, these episodes will use the same notes that I use to teach, but it will be a podcast format instead of classroom audio.
This episode digs into the question of the "canon," the authoritative list that is our New Testament. How did these 27 books and no others make the cut?
This episode completes the three-part sub-series of biographies of the New Testament. In this episode, we take a look at the biography of Saul of Tarsus, who went by the Greek name Paul (or Paulos) once his apostolic ministry brought him primarily into Gentile and multicultural cities in Asia Minor & Europe.
This episode gives an overview of all the Apostles of Christ, as well as all of the individuals who could possibly be called Apostles based on the text of various New Testament verses. This episode depends on the evidence of New Testament texts, but mostly on church tradition. Where did all the Apostles go during and after Acts? How did they die? What can we learn from these Apostles?
Now that we have examined each of the books of the New Testament, we will begin to synthesize the material. We shall start with an overview of the life of Jesus of Nazareth, called Christ, or Messiah. In this episode, we look at Jesus' birth, His ministry, His miracles, His death, His Resurrection, and His prophesied return.
You will certainly hear multiple talking heads on documentaries or semi-educational programming talking about how the 27 books of the New Testament were chosen "arbitrarily," and that there are hundreds of books that were "erased" or "removed" from the New Testament canon, with the implication being that the Christianity that emerged from the first 3 centuries was really just the survivor of a no holds barred grudge match of multiple Christianities, and that there is no reason to believe that "orthodox Christianity" is the correct one. Needless to say, I do not think much of this hypothesis. Indeed, these other books that were "removed" from canon were never considered to be real contenders as orthodox documents, and for good reason. In this podcast, we will discuss the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Mary, the Infancy Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Peter, and the Gospel of Judas as we look at the history of Gnostic writings and their rediscovery in the 19th & 20th Centuries.
This episode gives a brief overview of the Church Fathers. We discuss the importance of the Council of Nicaea, the Ontological Argument, The Schism between the Eastern and Western Church, and the Protestant Reformation. Unfortunately, I do not have the time or the expertise to spend as much time on the text of the Early Church Fathers' writings as I would like. But the good news is that most-if-not-all of these writings are available for free online, so you can look these texts up on your own.
We complete our study of the text of the New Testament by taking a look at Luke & Acts, which together make Luke the Evangelist the most prolific author of the New Testament. Through Luke, we have most of Paul's ministry accounts which puts the many letters of Paul in their proper context.
The New Testament opens with four accounts of Jesus life. The first two of these Gospels, Matthew and Mark, are the topic of discussion in this lecture. In this episode we will discuss the two earliest written Gospel accounts. We discuss which of the Gospels, Matthew or Mark, is the first written. We also look into the mysterious Q source, and make an argument that Q represents the oral traditions of the earliest Christians.
The four books with the word "John" in them plus the book of Revelation all all written by an author named "John." This could be several different Johns, or it could be The Apostle John. In this episode, I make the case that the Apostle John could be the author of all five books, even though the books are very, very different.
The #1 disciple, Simon (who Jesus named Peter) left us 2 letters. And Jude, the half-brother of Christ, gave us a short letter that is very similar in style and substance to 2 Peter. So in this episode we analyze these three epistles. Why, for instance, do these three letters refer to &/or quote the non-canonical book First Enoch? What warnings do these epistles give us to avoid false teachers? What relationship does the ministry of Peter have with the ministry of Paul and the other apostles?
This episode explores the incredible, academic, and very Jewish book called Hebrews. Who wrote it? Who is Melchizedek? What about those warning passages? ... In the second half, we look at the epistle of James. Also written to a predominately Jewish audience, the half-brother of Jesus gives us a robust defense of good works in the closest thing in the New Testament to Proverbs.
There is significant disagreement amongst scholars as to whether the Apostle Paul really wrote 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, or Titus, collectively known as the Pastoral Epistles. In this episode we will discuss the possibility of pseudonymity and also the possibility that Paul is the author. We also look into some of the content of the books. We also look at Titus and Timothy, the men who received these instructional letter. Finally, we look at why 2 Timothy is so different in tone from any other Pauline epistle, since this letter seems to have been written shortly before his inevitable execution.
As the Book of Acts comes to a close, the Apostle Paul finds himself in prison. While under guard in house arrest, Paul is able to commune with the Roman church and to communicate with other churches via letters. It is highly likely that Ephesians, Colossians, Philemon, and Philippians (known collectively as the "prison epistles") were written at this time.
The church at Corinth was the Apostle Paul's most messed up church. But he loved them and stuck with them. In this episode we analyze two of his largest letters, both sent to the Christian church in this important Greek city.
Salvation is an important part of theology. Indeed, it is one of the core doctrines of Christian theology and the Gospel is the core theme of all of Paul's writings. Since Romans is a letter written by Paul to a church he has not yet visited, he seems to have been careful to lay out his teaching about the Gospel more clearly in Romans than in any other epistle. In this episode we will examine "The Romans Road to Salvation" that uses verses exclusively from Romans to show a person how to be saved.
Romans is the best theological text ever written. In this episode, we will examine who wrote it, why it was written, to whom it was written, and what are the major themes taught by the epistle to the Romans. This episode also contains an impromptu classroom discussion over the role of women as presented in Paul's writings.
In this episode, we begin our discussions about the actual text of the New Testament. We start by introducing the author of much of it, the Apostle Paul. Next, we briefly look at Galatians and both epistles to the Thessalonians.
Knowing about the Roman Empire is key to understanding the context of the New Testament. Jesus, His disciples, and the Apostle Paul all ministered in the Roman Empire. Judea, Galilee, Asia Minor, Greece, Egypt, and (obviously) the Italian Peninsula were all part of the Empire. Every person who heard one of their sermons, received healing, or joined the growing church was a subject of Rome. This episode covers Roman history from Romulus to the Fall of the Empire.
In this episode we take a brief look at the world created by Alexander the Great's monumental conquests, and by his early death and the fracturing of his empire. We will then focus in on the Jewish people living in this time, and add another layer to our knowledge of the world that the New Testament was introduced to.
This is a valiant attempt at a thorough overview of the Old Testament in a single lecture. In this episode, we examine the story of the Old Testament in chronological order as presented in the texts of the Old Testament. We also take a look at major themes of the Old Testament.
This episode is a brief survey of the major civilizations and empires that constitute the appropriate context for the Old Testament, which itself is the most important bit of context for the New Testament.
This fall we are starting a new class as we dig into the New Testament. In this episode, we preview the order of topics we will cover along the way, look at the Koine Greek text that the New Testament was originally written in, and discuss the importance of reading the texts in chronological order so as to identify and assess theological development in the New Testament.
This is a sermon given at a local United Methodist church in my hometown on 8/21/2022. This sermon acts as an introduction, of sorts, to the New Testament class that will dominate this podcast feed for the next few months. I hope you enjoy!
In this episode, we wander into dangerous, controversial waters: namely, current events. The events of January 6, 2021, have put Donald Trump in hot water and in danger of criminal prosecution. Once upon a time in the '70s, another former President was in a similar situation. Back then, President Ford chose to pardon Nixon, almost certainly ending his chances to win in 1976, but saving us all from an incredible legal/political circus. Should Biden consider making the same offer to Trump? What are the advantages and disadvantages of such an admittedly unlikely move?
The Civil War changed the United States of America. Just how the war changed our country is explored in this episode of the podcast. We will also take on many controversies related to the Civil War, like the Confederate battle flag and Confederate statues.
Reconstruction was the process by which all the states that had seceded from the United States were reintegrated into the Union. It is also the time when Constitutional Amendments were ratified that laid the framework to give Civil Rights to African-Americans. Those amendments, thankfully, proved to be resilient as nearly every other bit of social justice progress made in the Reconstruction era was challenged and repressed by a white supremacist society, by hostile Southern state and local governments, and by the Hayes Administration that removed federal military protection in the South. The 13th, 14th, and 15th Amendments laid the framework for the Civil Rights Era a century later.
Even before the Civil War was over, the attempt to reframe the entire Confederate project was underway. The result was "The Lost Cause," which asserted that the South was a superior culture with superior warriors, and that the war was only lost because the North had overwhelming numbers and supplies. But mostly, The Lost Cause begs us to believe that slavery was not the cause of secession or the war. In this podcast, we will analyze The Lost Cause philosophy.
What if the South had won the Civil War? What if Stonewall Jackson had not died at Chancellorsville? What if Abraham Lincoln was never assassinated? What if McClellan had taken Richmond and won the war in the Peninsular Campaign?
This episode documents the final battles and offensives that resulted in the surrender of the military forces of the South and the collapse of the Confederate States of America. We will also look at the assassination of Abraham Lincoln.
In this podcast episode, we examine the African-American experience in the American Civil War. Early in the war, Blacks were not allowed to fight, and Union Generals struggled with crafting policies regarding escaped slaves who were fleeing from the enemy's land. Eventually, African-Americans were given opportunities to show their value to the Union war effort, and they performed spectacularly. Unfortunately, the South refused to treat Black soldiers as if they were the equals of Northern white prisoners-of-war. Captured African-American Union soldiers were treated like runaway slaves and put into slavery. Therefore, prisoners exchanges came to an end, and the result was horrific prisoner-of-war camps like Elmira and Andersonville.
Nearly every combat engagement of the American Civil War occurred on land. But let us not forget the extraordinary contributions by the US Navy. Without their increasingly successful blockade of the Confederate coastline and their indispensable assistance to the US Army on the Virginia Peninsula and on the Mississippi River, it is unlikely that the Union would have succeeded as they did. Any study of the Civil War is incomplete without examining the Naval War.
Gettysburg & Vicksburg represented perhaps the greatest individual victories for the Union Army in the Civil War, and those battles ended at virtually the same time. Lee's retreat from Pennsylvania and Pemberton's surrender of Vicksburg to Grant represented the high water mark of the Confederacy.
This episode examines the most significant Generals for the United States of America (the "Union") in the Civil War.
This episode is a quick glance at the most consequential Generals of the Confederate States of America.
From Bull Run to Chancellorsville, we will look at all of the significant battles of the first half of the American Civil War.
South Carolina was the first to secede from the United States, in late 1860. But they were not the only state to do so. For the first half of 1861, nearly half of the states in the United States left the Union. This podcast tracks the momentum that led to each state's decision to secede.
This episode summarizes political developments that have already been discussed in previous episodes, explaining how these developments led directly to the founding of the Republican Party. We spend most of the podcast talking about Abraham Lincoln, the second man that the Republican Party nominated for President, and the first Republican to win a Presidential election. But opposition to Lincoln was so strong that South Carolina decided that it was done being a state within the USA.
The American Civil War had a warm-up game in Kansas, as Free State Advocates and Pro-Slavery Advocates rushed into the territory to influence its development. Political war figuratively broke out, and literal war also reared its ugly head as scores of men on both sides of the debate died. Many Pro-Slavery Missourians inserted themselves in both the voter fraud and violence. Yet, in the end, the secession of Southern Senators finally made it possible for Free Staters and their prospective state constitution to be adopted, leading to the Free State of Kansas joining the United States just as that Union was being dissolved by Confederate states.
Antebellum (from the Latin for "before the war") America was a significantly different place than the United States of America that emerged from the American Civil War. This episode examines the culture, economy, religion, and society of Antebellum America.
The Civil War nearly began in South Carolina almost 30 years before the Civil War actually did begin in South Carolina. This was the "Nullification Crisis," where South Carolina made the strongest possible case for states' rights, attempted to nullify federal law, and nearly sparked a war with the Jackson Administration. ... Also, many of the big names of the American Civil War got valuable combat experience in a war against Mexico. The war enflamed American political parties who were for or against the obvious attempt to seize territory, arguably for the particular purpose of gaining more southern territory that could become slave states.
The this debut episode of The Blue Collar Scholar, host Will Reitz begins his series on The American Civil War by looking at the seeds of civil war that were planted in the revolutions of both the United States and Haiti.