Truth Be Told

Trip to Israel: Day 2 and 3a: Atonement and Tzippori

I think I said the word "interesting" in this episode about 500 times, followed closely by the word "beautiful." If you have grace for that minor annoyance, this episode covers my 2nd day in Israel (first full day), and the first stop of our intentional touring: Tzippori.

While not a site expressly mentioned in Scripture, Tzippori or Sepphoris is an important site for archeologists and historians and it gives a great backdrop to a few really important biblical stories and characters including Jesus Himself. This site was a prime example showing that someone (like me) first coming into Israel, looking for the most prominent sites of the Bible might, mistakenly, skip over this one in favor of something actually mentioned. However, most places in Israel are significant for one thing or another as it has a very high concentration of historical sites, but if it was around in the 1st century, it is definitely important for coloring in the pages of our Bible.

 

Pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zlyZDyWOWUf8rumN2_YW2jW3FpVOkXXN?usp=drive_link

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

Trip to Israel: Day 1; Travel, First Impressions, and Joppa

Since returning from Israel, I've been struggling to know what to do with the information I picked up while there. It seems a waste to have gained so much from such a transformative trip, only to have that gain be for no purpose or benefit to anyone else. 

On the other hand, stories and explanations fall so short of the desired goal and can sometimes end up being boring and self-indulgent. 

After a lot of consideration, it seems to me that I have to AT LEAST try to put "pen to paper," as it were, and do some sort of documentation of this trip with the express purpose of attempting to illuminate the pages of the Bible, give people an a sense of excitement about the land of Israel, potentially motivating people to travel there themselves, and not allow the greatest experience of my life to have no greater benefit than my own enjoyment.

In this episode, I navigate the travel time to Israel, the most notable things I experienced along the way, and a brief, half-day in Israel as I toured the ancient city of Joppa near Tel-Aviv. Home to Simon the Tanner's house, the resurrection site of Tabitha, the place from which Jonah fled his commission, and the port where the cedars of Lebanon came before going to the Temple, Joppa wasn't on the itinerary, but its proximity to Tel-Aviv illustrates the extreme density of historical richness in the land of Israel, as well as the nature of modernity and antiquity to sit side by side throughout the country.

 

Pictures: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1zlyZDyWOWUf8rumN2_YW2jW3FpVOkXXN?usp=drive_link

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

Women Angels?

On this episode we begin an exploration into the enigmatic spiritual realm of angelic beings. Drawing from a bible class conversation, we delve into their multifaceted roles as guardians, messengers, and more. As we navigate through scriptural references and visions, we ponder the intriguing question: Are there women angels?

This discussion centers around divine communication, metaphoric language in prophecy, and gender's significance in the celestial context. Uncover the profound complexities of the angelic nature as we challenge assumptions and embrace the mysteries that lie beyond our comprehension.

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Theology, Christology, Humanology: A Partnership Between God and Man

Most are familiar with Theology, some are familiar with Christology, but in this study we take a look at a term coined specifically for this - humanology. If the Bible is the story of God and man, how do we understand these two major players?

Often we tend to look at humanity (either through ourselves as individuals or through the whole) and gain a very low estimation of ourselves. Sometimes scripture even seems to support this low estimation. Certainly we shouldn't think too highly of ourselves.

However, if we look through the eyes of God and His perfect plan He's chosen to work on the Earth, we have no choice but to either elevate our estimation of humanity or lower our estimation of God's desire to work in partnership with mankind. 

In this message we'll look through 5 areas where God has very clearly shown that He desires to work with man and has outlined to us what the partnership between God and man is supposed to look like.

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Why Should We Be Honest?

Honesty is often thought to be relegated to whether or not we tell the truth. However, whether a person is honest or dishonest has so much more to do with overall character and virtue.

While this is all well and good, it does provoke the question, why are we expected to be good, virtuous, morally upright, and honest people? Is it because being an honest person is the least harmful thing to be? Is it because God said so and that should settle the matter?

In this brief episode we get to the bedrock of why God has the expectation for us to be honest people living honest lives.

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk Years By MarkJuly

God Moves. We Don’t Move Him. We Move TO Him.

Odd title, I know. What kind of study could possible come from the "movement" of God? What does the Bible even have to say about something as obscure as this?

Surprisingly, a lot. 

Through this study we'll take a look at Ancient Israel's views on where God is, how He moves, and in what manner He interacts with the physical world to show the slippery slope the human mind can be on when considering the boundlessness of God.

Is there anywhere in your life that you believe God cannot move to? Are there any dark places where you believe God cannot follow? You might have fallen down the same slope that Israel did when they began misunderstanding God's omnipresence and boundless movement.

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Music: Acoustic Indie Folk (Years) By MarkJuly

Anger With God Is Sin. Take Comfort.

Anger is a natural part of being human. Knowing this, seeing how often anger is prevalent in godly people written about in scripture, and experiencing the mercy of God when we show anger to Him can start to make us feel like anger against God is okay. 

However, if we look analytically at the topics of sin, root causes of anger, and God's nature, a clear picture begins to emerge showing how unjustified our frustration with God actually is.

If we gain a clearer understanding of God's goodness, the reasons for our anger, and God's response to well-meaning people who DO experience anger towards Him, we can be greatly encouraged. God is not only provoked to anger in response to our sin, He is also provoked to love and mercy. We cannot forget this but we do so often.

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

Music: Pop-Rock Beautiful By Twisterium

Logo: Matt Hernandez

How Great Is Our God?

It is so common to feel lacking and unworthy in the face of our great God. This feeling of uselessness pervades the non-religious world as well, in my view, because they lack belief in God. However, Christians are not immune to situations like this especially when we sin and fall short of the glory of God. 

We might begin to ask ourselves- what do I have to offer? What could He possibly want with me? 

Maybe we even begin coming up with false scenarios in our heads about how He really doesn't want us but He's fine with us being around if it ends up that way. I speak all of this from personal experience.

The only cure that I've found for this way of thinking, seems so contrary to what we feel would work: consider how great God is. I realize that it is only BECAUSE of how great He is and how insignificant we deem ourselves to be that the problem compounds. But this might mean we're looking at it wrong.

In this study we'll consider several stories of God's awesome power wherein He required nothing from anyone - mankind or otherwise. We'll see how the very fabric of reality bends to His will and just how much He can accomplish and then consider that our free-will in tandem with His complete lack of NEED for us, sheds incredible light on just how much He WANTS us to choose Him.

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

Music: Pop-Rock Beautiful By Twisterium

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Study of Love: Love Is Not Puffed Up

In this continuation of the study of love, we analyze love not being puffed up. This phrase, on the surface, is relatable since the concept of a prideful person being "filled with hot air" has transcended time.

However, by bringing this characteristic out of the verse to understand it as a concept can help us when we place it back into correct context. 

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

Music: Pop-Rock Beautiful By Twisterium

Logo: Matt Hernandez

Demystifying Bible Prophecy

Though I believe this topic is way bigger than can be expressed in a 35 minute episode, I felt it was worth it to discuss bible prophecy in an effort to demystify it for those who hesitate to study it.

Though it's a genre that can be difficult to interpret and read, we shouldn't shy away from it but embrace it as God's word praying that He will lead us into greater understanding as time goes on. If biblical prophecy is a mountain, take it one step at a time and keep the end in mind the entire way up.

The goal of this episode is to give some practical tips on how to read bible prophecy, determine what questions to ask ourselves as we read it, and inspire a refusal to be intimidated by this massive portion of the Scripture.

 

Email: truthbetoldbiblepodcast@gmail.com

Music: Pop-Rock Beautiful By Twisterium

Logo: Matt Hernandez