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Of Mountains and Fiery Bushes
Since Heaven is “up there” and Earth is “down here,” the Bible writers viewed mountains as places where Heaven and Earth intersected. Because of this, it made logical sense to ancient people that you might encounter a heavenly being on a mountain and have a “mountaintop experience.” Such things happen all throughout the Bible: Eden…
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Stairways to Heaven
In Biblical mythology, some of the angels of heaven crossed the boundaries between heaven and earth and procreated with human women. These women gave birth to children who would grow into the giants found throughout the Old Testament in the clans of the Nephilim, the Anakim, the Emim, the Rephaim, and the Zamzummim. Their quasi-divine…
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Patiently Following God Amidst the Trees
Following God is a slow and steady work, for he is a person with a will who offers his words, signs, and impressions as he sees fit. As we get used to the way he sounds, we build habits and traditions in an attempt to keep hearing him. Abraham, for example, was used to encountering…
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The New Music I Enjoyed in 2023
I’m at that age where new music doesn’t impress me like it used to, but still check every Friday to see what’s come out and give it a listen. That being said, here’s a few albums that stood out to me this year. pure – Abbie Gamboa Abbie Gamboa’s album, pure, is easily one of…
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The Best Books I Read in 2023
Out of the 46 books I read this year, here are some of the best and why (in no particular order). The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind and Body in the Healing of Trauma As I’ve done exorcism throughout the years, I’ve come across some of the kinds of trauma difficulties that Bessel van…
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Hymn Culture
I don’t have a problem with hymns. However, I do have a problem with the “hymn culture” of some Protestants. Our hymns were written well after the time of Jesus—many of the most popular ones being created in the last 500 years. Yet hymn culture treats these songs as sacred, as though God only inspired…
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Lessons in Ministering to the Homeless
After struggling to grow our church for several years, we shifted into a dinner church model. Our numbers increased immediately, hitting triple digits in about two years. The word of our dinners spread rapidly among the impoverished and homeless in our community, giving us an inroad to the very people we had been trying to…
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Jesus, the Church, and Gender Abuse
Why did God come to earth as a man and not a woman? Either gender could have been theologically possible since the Old Testament presents Jesus in the masculine form of the Angel of the Lord (Gen. 32:24–30; cf. Hos. 12:3-4)1 and the feminine form of Woman Wisdom (Prov. 8:22-31; cf. Luke 11:49-50; Matt. 23:34-35).2…
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The Glories of the Human Image
As God created the world, the already existing sons of God sang and shouted joyfully (Job 38:7). It is to these spiritual beings that God turned and said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” (Gen. 1:26).1 The implication here is important: the spiritual beings of heaven and the humans of earth…
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Look to the Stars (Original Christmas Song)
Thought I’d try my hand at a theological Christmas song this year. I’ll throw in the Bible references for you, too, since I’m getting into some weird territory (as is my way). Hope you enjoy 🙂 VERSE 1Look to the stars and count them all (Gen 15:5)Just rest and take them inSee them shine, the…
Jamin Bradley 