Beards & Bible Podcast

The Rebuilding of the 3rd Temple, Jerusalem, and the Kingdom to Come.

The temple in Jerusalem was the center of worship and national identity in ancient Israel. The people of Israel have built two temples to God in Jerusalem, and both have been destroyed- the first by the Babylonians, and the second by the Romans. But it seems as if the Bible suggests that there will be a third temple in Jerusalem.
The desire for the Third Temple is sacred in Judaism, and particularly in Orthodox Judaism. The Hebrew Bible holds that Jewish prophets called for its construction to be fulfilled prior to, or in tandem with, the Messianic Age. This building of the Third Temple also plays a major role in some interpretations of Christian eschatology.
In other words, some Christians believe that Jesus isn’t coming back until a 3rd temple is built in Jerusalem.
But is that temple…literal? Or symbolic? If the temple is rebuilt, does that mean that the return of Christ is right around the corner?
 
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From the Mailbag, Vol. 2 (Microdosing Psychedelics, The Chosen’s Mormon Connections, Israel’s Role in the End Times)

Happy New Year, Beards & Bible listeners!
On today’s episode we want to take time to answer some of your questions on topics like the Biblical ethic for microdosing psychedelics for PTSD treatment, the show “the Chosen” and its supposed connections to the Mormon Church, Israel’s role in the end times, and if there will be literal 3rd temple rebuilt in Jerusalem, and anymore we can possibly squeeze into one episode.
Thanks so much for sending in your questions, buckle up, cause this one might be a doozie!

BONUS- 2023 From the Mailbag, Special Announcement!

We'll be answering listener questions that have been sent in to us throughout the year, so if you have any topics, issues, questions, or ideas that you want us to do our best to answer and comment on, send them over to us- beardsandbiblepodcast@gmail.com or reach out to us via the FB page.
We will narrow it down the ones we think we might be able to do justice to and address and release our From the Mailbag episode on January 11, 2023.
So merry Christmas, hope and pray you and your family are blessed this season, and we look forward to hearing from you all very soon!

Cryptocurrency, Blockchain, and the Foolish and Harmful desires which plunge men into Ruin and Destruction.

Unless you’ve been living under a rock the past five years, you’ve probably heard a thing or two about cryptocurrency. In 2008, Bitcoin became the first established virtual currency, and remained that way in 2011.
But now, more than 12,000 cryptocurrencies are available, and that number more than doubled in the past year (2021-2022). Some economists believe cryptocurrencies are the world’s strongest currencies and a solution to global poverty. Others say they’re a harbor for criminal activity and an environmental disaster. Some investors have reported making millions overnight using cryptocurrency trading. Others say it’s not investing--- the crypto markets are so volatile, it’s actually more like gambling.
But let’s be honest: most of us don’t even understand what cryptocurrencies even are. When did they become a thing? How did they become a thing? What makes them valuable? How do people make (or lose) money from crypto?
And should a Christian invest in cryptocurrency? Is there anything in the Bible about…Bitcoin? Or Dogecoin?
 

The Word of Faith Movement: Dangerous Heresies, Misunderstandings & Our Need for Discernment (pt. 2)

When the origin story of the Word of Faith movement is examined, some very interesting things get uncovered. Such as the influence the New Thought movement and teachers like Phineas Quimby, E.W. Kenyon, and Mary Baker Eddy. Or the father of the word of faith movement Kenneth Hagin’s blatant plagiarism of new thought/mind science practitioners.
One of the ugly secrets most word of faith teachers don’t want you to know is that their movement is influenced FAR MORE by the ideas of new thought/mind science cults than it ever was influenced by Biblical orthodox Christianity.
Ready to take a deep dive into the history of the Word of Faith movement? What you find out may shock you…
 

The Word of Faith Movement: Dangerous Heresies, Misunderstandings & Our Need for Discernment (pt. 1)

What is faith?
The Bible says in Hebrews 11 that without it, we can’t please God and that it’s the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not yet seen. But does that we can “speak our tomorrow” into existence because of this force called, “faith”?
The Word of Faith movement is a mainly Pentecostal movement that came up in the late 20th century. Word of Faith teaching states that because we as human beings are made in the image of God (and whatever God declared through His Words came to be), words can be used to manipulate the force of faith, and thus we can actually create what many claim Scripture promises.
Speaking of what Scripture promises, many Word of Faith teachers declare that God’s will is for us as Christians to always be financially prosperous and never sick. Health and wealth are promised to us as believers. We just have to believe it and declare it. We have that authority.
But wait…what if Christians are poor? And sick? Does that mean they don’t have faith? What about the millions of faithful believers living in abject poverty and religious persecution in developing countries around the world? Are they poor and imprisoned because they just don’t have enough faith?
Or the faithful believer who lost a spouse, a child, or a loved one to an illness, even after they prayed for them? Did they just not have enough faith?
What does the Word of Faith movement actually teach? Is it Biblical? And how do we see its influence in the church today?
 

Kanye West, the “Red Media” canard, and the rise of Antisemitism.

The U.S. has seen a rise in antisemitic incidents over the past few years, with 941 incidents in 2015 jumping to 2,717 tracked in 2021 by the Anti-Defamation League. Four years ago, a gunman stormed into a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and killed 11 people in the deadliest attack on Jewish people on US soil.
On October 29th, there was a strange message seen scrolling on the outside of TIAA Bank Field during the Florida-Georgia college football game. In florescent letters, the words “Kanye is right about the jews” were visible scrolling across the exterior of the stadium structure, referencing recent antisemitic comments from the rapper Kanye West. Kanye West has drawn significant amounts of criticism, media coverage, and also support for his some of his comments espousing a conspiracy against the Jewish people.  
It’s unclear how that message was projected onto the stadium wall at the Georgia Florida game. It’s also unclear how long the message was visible outside the stadium.
But what is clear is that there is a growing narrative in the U.S. that states the Jewish people are somehow responsible for a global conspiracy of control over media, politics, and economics. And the Jewish people are now being scapegoated for all manner of societal problems and ills.
For students of history, this narrative is eerily similar to others that were peddled in 1930s Germany, the Jim Crow era American south, and the Pogroms of the Russian Empire.
What does God and His Word have to say about this? As Christians, what are to make of these claims? And is Kanye West for real crazy? Antisemitic? Or just…super confused?

For Better or For Worse- Navigating Rocky Seasons in Marriage (w/ Stacey Rutledge & Jenni Brooker)

If you’re married, you made a promise to your spouse that you would love and care for them,  
“…for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, to love and to cherish, until death do us part.”
And if you’re both normal human beings, it probably didn’t take long for the “worse” part to show up. Real talk: every marriage goes through difficult, challenging, painful, and frustrating seasons. Even godly, Jesus loving, husbands and wives sometimes fight.
Even the healthiest marriages go through seasons of conflict, disappointment, and disunity. Sometimes those seasons are marked by angry, explosive fighting, and sometimes those seasons are marked by quiet, lonely indifference.  
So when you find yourself in a rocky season of your marriage, what do you do? How can you get help? How do you reach a resolution?

Introducing: Committed Masculinity Podcast (a limited series podcast reviewing Josh’s new book)

Committed Masculinity is a limited series podcast that explores the issues and challenges facing Christian men who are serious about Jesus’ invitation to be a disciple. The podcast will review the content of each chapter of the book ”Committed: Biblical Masculinity” by Josh Brooker and then discuss the issues on each episode with special guests.
https://committedmasculinity.podbean.com/
 
Committed: Biblical Masculinity on Amazon 
https://www.amazon.com/Committed-Biblical-Masculinity-Josh-Brooker/dp/B0B8XZ65WZ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3T3SU9UBUKYWN&keywords=committed+biblical+masculinity&qid=1664568585&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjAwIiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=committed+biblical%2Caps%2C132&sr=8-1

Revival in the Land pt.4-The Toronto Blessing, Brownsville Revival, and Lakeland Outpouring

On January 20, 1994, in a small Vineyard church in Toronto, Canada a supposed outpouring of God’s Spirit occurred in a small meeting of 120 people. Over the course of the next 12 ½ years, meetings would continue 6 nights a week, and Charisma Magazine reported that an estimated 4,000 churches in England and another 7,000 churches in North America had been impacted by this new revival movement.
 
A little over a year late, on June 18, Father’s Day, 1995, a similar revival broke out at Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida. Over the course of the next five years, the church would open its doors for Tuesday-through-Saturday evening revival services to accommodate the thousands of people who arrived and waited in the church parking lot before dawn for a chance to enter the packed sanctuary, some even camping overnight waiting for the doors to open. Leaders of the revival would later estimate that over 200,000 people from all walks of life received Christ as a result of the revival.
 
Some 13 years later, in April of 2008, a controversial Canadian faith healer began holding revival services in Lakeland, Florida. The revival attracted up to 10,000 attendees nightly and around 30,000 over the week. By May 29, it was estimated that over 140,000 people from over forty nations had visited, and 1.2 million had watched via the Internet.
 
But were all of these recent “revivals” truly moves of God? How do we understand their impact? How do they differ from other historic revivals? What do we make of their controversies?