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Bible News Prophecy with Dr Bob Thiel

Continuing Church of God 63

AI-Made Viruses, the Fourth Horseman, and the Coming Mark of the Beast with Dr. Bob Thiel

Dr. Bob Thiel joins host Steve Dupuis to weigh reports of AI-engineered viruses and rogue artificial intelligence, tying them to Bible prophecies of pestilence, the fourth horseman, and a coming digital mark of the beast.

AI's Biological Threat Emerges
Steve Dupuis opens the Bible News Prophecy program by asking Dr. Bob Thiel whether artificial intelligence poses real risks to humanity. Thiel points to a recent headline warning that AI's greatest threat is biological, noting that an Anthropic researcher who resigned believes there is roughly a 10 percent chance AI could wipe out humanity within three to ten years, an estimate other researchers have echoed. Thiel says the article's greater alarm is over biological warfare and synthetic biology, warning that AI-assisted science could eventually produce a virus lethal to people whether vaccinated or not. Dupuis presses further, asking how close AI actually is to creating a genuine bioweapon risk, setting up Thiel's account of a specific Stanford-linked study that turned that abstract worry into a documented result, which he describes as no real surprise given that humans have pursued similar biological research for decades even without artificial intelligence's help.

Stanford Study Creates New Viruses
Thiel tells Dupuis that last month a report described AI creating 16 new viruses that never existed in nature, after the system learned patterns from nine trillion nucleotides in research associated with Stanford University. He explains that scientists have synthesized viruses for decades to study disease and pursue medical advances, but artificial intelligence now lets them generate viral genomes unlike anything found naturally. Thiel reads a line from the researchers themselves, that the ability to compose viral genomes using generative AI now exists while the governance to safely steer it does not. Dupuis asks whether this research is simply a hopeful step toward medical progress, and Thiel answers cautiously, recalling that COVID is presumed by some to have originated from a lab pursuing similarly well-intentioned work. He warns that a rogue AI program could misuse such techniques, and notes that turning biological agents into weapons has never been difficult for determined nations, the United States included, despite official denials of biological weapons programs.

A History of Biological Warfare
Thiel widens the discussion by reading from a 1969 article by the late Church of God evangelist Raymond McNair, titled The Doomsday Bug, which described a feverish international search for germs and chemicals capable of wiping out whole nations overnight. Thiel recounts McNair's tour of a chemical and biological warfare laboratory and his history of the practice, from poisoned arrows and poisoned water supplies to catapulting plague-infected corpses over besieged city walls and, in colonial America, trading plague-infected blankets to Native Americans. Dupuis asks about the scale of historical viruses and plagues, and Thiel cites the Black Death killing roughly a third of Europe, with three-quarters dead in some regions, plus a Cold War-era claim that one gram of Q fever-inoculated chicken embryo could infect more than a million people. He adds that 20 million people died of flu at the close of World War I, with fifty times that number falling ill.

Crops as Weapons, Pestilence as Prophecy
Thiel describes how chemical and biological warfare has also targeted economies rather than armies directly, recalling that the highest US civilian award once given went to a woman who developed a deadly rice blast fungus usable against rice-dependent nations like China or North Vietnam, while Russian scientists developed a wheat rust capable of striking American crops. He argues scientists bear real responsibility for developing microbes that could unleash horrifying epidemics. Turning to scripture, Thiel cites Jesus's words in Matthew 24:7 that famines, pestilences, and earthquakes mark the beginning of sorrows, then reads Revelation 6:7-8, where the fourth seal releases a pale horse whose rider, Death, kills across a fourth of the earth by sword, hunger, and plague. Dupuis asks directly whether AI-developed pathogens could be part of that fourth horseman's ride, and Thiel answers unequivocally yes, tying the ancient prophecy to modern biotechnology's unfolding capabilities.

Digital Wallets and a Coming Mark
Asked what other risks AI presents, Thiel turns to finance, warning that AI programs may increasingly break into financial systems and drain accounts as world commerce grows more digital. He predicts a European leader could respond by proposing a biometric system to prevent such AI-driven economic disasters, noting that all 27 European Union nations must offer residents a digital wallet holding identification and driver's license information on their phones by the end of 2026. Thiel suggests that system may prove insufficient, and speculates a future leader could push a more secure mark involving the right hand or forehead for safer buying and selling. Dupuis asks whether this lines up with biblical prophecy, and Thiel reads Revelation 13:15-18, describing the image of the beast compelling everyone, small and great, rich and poor, to receive a mark permitting commerce, identified by the number 666, which he says today's computing and AI technology could finally make enforceable.

Peace, Safety, and a Warning
Thiel notes that Europe's digital wallet remains voluntary for now, but predicts the eventual mark will not be. He reads 1 Thessalonians 5:3's warning that sudden destruction comes when people declare peace and safety, and argues the coming beast power will sell its system, likely involving AI, as protection from rogue technology and economic chaos, a carrot-and-stick approach that grows more coercive over time until it is finally forced on everyone. Thiel says he is fairly certain that guarding against AI risks will be among the system's advertised benefits. He concludes that AI will likely help both create pestilences and persuade people toward the mark of the beast, though scripture promises God will intervene before humanity destroys itself, per Matthew 24:21. Citing Revelation 16:2's warning of punishment for those who take the mark, Thiel urges listeners not to be persuaded, and Dupuis closes by directing listeners to biblenewsprophecy.net.

One Voice with Dr Pastor Larry Montgomery

16 Providence of God

Providence in the Book of Job: The Blow, the Blessing, and the God Who Never Sleeps

Dr. Pastor Larry Montgomery continues his providence series by preaching through the Book of Job, tracing Satan's challenge in heaven, the sudden loss of Job's family and fortune, and the restoration that follows when Job prays for the friends who accused him.

Introducing Job, the Greatest Man in the East
Dr. Pastor Larry Montgomery opens the message by turning the congregation to the Book of Job, calling it one of his favorite books in the Bible and promising to trace God's providence through it. He reads from chapter one, describing Job as a man who is "perfect," upright, and one who fears God and turns from evil. He walks through Job's family and possessions, seven sons, three daughters, seven thousand sheep, three thousand camels, five hundred yoke of oxen, and five hundred she-asses, noting that scripture calls Job the greatest man of the east. Montgomery emphasizes that Job's children are godly, fasting and praying, and that Job regularly offers sacrifices on their behalf in case they have sinned. He holds Job up as a model of a man who honors God with what he has been given, setting the stage for a message he says will cover both "the blow" and "the blessing" of God's providence in Job's life.

Satan Challenges God Over Job
Montgomery moves to the heavenly scene in chapter one, where Satan comes among the sons of God to present himself before the Lord. God asks Satan where he has come from, and Satan answers that he has been going to and fro in the earth, a detail Montgomery uses to remind the congregation that the devil is never idle, comparing him to the New Testament's roaring lion seeking whom he may devour. When God asks Satan whether he has considered Job, Satan accuses God of protecting Job with a hedge, arguing that Job's faithfulness would collapse without it. God allows Satan to test Job, and Montgomery pauses to make a larger point: that Job's story matters so much to heaven that a conversation about him takes place there before anything happens to him, and that nothing can touch a believer's life except what God permits.

A Nation That Has Forgotten God
Before returning to Job's story, Montgomery turns his attention to the present day, arguing that Americans, like Job, have been richly blessed but increasingly fail to honor God for it. He says the country removed God from its schools and now suffers for it, declaring that anyone who holds many secular degrees but does not know Jesus Christ is, in his words, "a spiritual idiot." He warns that the pulpits themselves have become mouthpieces for another gospel and another spirit, and that the nation is already living under God's judgment. He points to politicians using climate change to strip away personal freedoms, control over food and farming, and rising taxes he believes are designed to make it impossible for ordinary people to keep their homes and land. Montgomery contrasts this drift with Job's family, who recognized "the God of glory" their parents and grandparents knew, framing America's spiritual decline as a warning before he returns to Job's unfolding trial.

The Blow Falls on Job's House
Montgomery returns to Job chapter one, describing the messengers who arrive in quick succession to report that Job's oxen and camels have been stolen or destroyed, and finally that all ten of his children have died together when a great wind collapsed the house they were feasting in. He marvels that Job, stripped of everything in a single breath, does not curse God but instead declares, "Naked came I out of the womb, and naked shall I return... the Lord hath given, and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." Montgomery calls this response almost unimaginable, admitting he doubts he could say the same words in Job's place. He reminds the congregation that providence, as he preached the week before, includes both light and darkness, and that Job's blessed life has now given way to devastating loss, even as heaven's earlier conversation about him continues to govern everything that happens.

No Accidents in a Believer's Life
Montgomery builds a theology of providence from Job's suffering, insisting that nothing happens to a believer by accident because God is of one mind and already knows and has planned the end from the beginning. He recalls telling a class of seminary students that there has never been an accident in a believer's life, watching the room go silent at the claim, and argues listeners should call their own crashes "mishaps" rather than accidents, since God's plan runs through them regardless. He shares his father's words after Montgomery survived having a car "beat out from under him": "Son, we can replace the car, but we can't replace you." He then turns to Job's three friends, who arrive claiming to comfort Job but instead accuse him of hidden sin and hypocrisy, wounding him further. Montgomery holds up Job's refusal to blame God, even under those accusations, as the standard he wants the congregation to imitate in their own hard providences.

Restoration, Job's Daughters, and a Storm Over Vietnam
The sermon closes in Job chapter forty-two, where God tells Job's accusing friends he will not forgive them until Job prays for them, and Job does. Montgomery describes God then doubling Job's flocks and camels, restoring his ten children, and giving his three new daughters, Jemima, Keziah, and Keren-happuch, striking names Montgomery jokes the congregation should consider for their own children. He revisits and partly revises an earlier, harsher sermon about Job's wife telling Job to "curse God and die," conceding that commentators see her words as born of grief rather than malice. He ends with a personal story from flying patrols over the Tonkin Gulf, when a young airman who had stopped believing in God cried out to him during a violent storm, only to admit afterward that "in a case like that, everybody believes in God." Montgomery closes by inviting the congregation to stand together, trusting that God's providence, however painful, is always working toward their good.

Apple Pie Playground with Valerie

Title: The Sacred Geometry of What Sustains Us

What sustains us? Can sacred geometry offer the answer? Let's talk.

Synergy, Sacred Geometry, and the Dodecahedron Inside the Atomic Bomb

Valerie leads a solo hour on Apple Pie Playground tracing the idea of synergy from sacred geometry and the Earth's energy grid to the dodecahedron shape she says was built into the core of the first atomic bomb, closing with a look at artificial intelligence and the value of imperfection.

A Mystery Of What Sustains Us
Valerie opens Apple Pie Playground by welcoming listeners to what she calls the place where the divine child gathers, and she thanks BBS Radio for gathering with her. She frames the hour around a mystery to solve together, asking whether the natural world, in its makeup and geometry, sustains and balances humanity more than most people realize. She promises the discussion will be practical though a little immersive, and she questions whether raising the collective vibration of humanity is really about politics and taxes or something deeper tied to sacred geometry. She suggests many listeners are, in her words, true energy grid workers, part of the sacred geometric grid system of the planet, here to anchor their energies into the ground for the general benefit of everybody. Everything, she says, is interdependent and co-creating, from the smallest blade of grass to a vast ocean, all of it depending on humans to honor, undermine, or destroy it. She closes the opening by asking the question that will guide the whole hour: what sustains us.

Synergy As The Antidote To Separation
Valerie turns to a word she says she thought she understood until she heard it used as a mechanics of sacred geometry: synergy. She defines it as the integration of every part into a whole whose power becomes greater than the sum of its parts, and she asks whether the grandest scheme of the dark against humanity was to introduce loneliness and separation, convincing people they are apart from God, from each other, and from themselves. She insists broken hearts are real, and that synergy takes imperfect and mending hearts and pulls them into a perfect whole, a message she attributes to Christ. She argues people miss that message by setting Christ apart as a perfect, martyred role model instead of recognizing his teaching was about synergy, about becoming perfected rather than perfect, about multiplying outcomes rather than adding them. She references loaves and fishes as an example of that multiplying power, and frames going inward as the way each person finds their sovereign responsibility to unify with spirit.

The Sacred Geometry Of The Dodecahedron
Valerie moves into concrete territory, introducing the Hermetic principle as above, so below, which she describes as the macrocosm and microcosm unifying into a greater whole. She explains a sacred geometric form called the dodecahedron, a Platonic solid with twelve flat faces, and says that when two dodecahedra are combined they represent the essential quality of life force itself, holding within their mathematics all the natural elements of the periodic table. She tells listeners the Earth itself is built on this dodecahedral geometry and its dual solid, a shape she says creates a resonance that stabilizes and harmonizes etheric, or life force, energy. She links this to what she calls the Poincaré dodecahedral space model from quantum mechanics, describing ether as a kind of glue for existence at every scale. She notes research into this planetary energy grid dates to the 1970s in Russia and continued study in the United States in the 1980s, and she encourages listeners to research Platonic solids and sacred geometry further on their own.

Trinity, Oppenheimer, And The Bomb
Valerie brings the discussion to a concrete and, in her words, disturbing example: the Trinity site in New Mexico, used for testing weapons technology in the Manhattan Project. She describes the scientists behind that project as men of letters and learning, well versed in philosophy, poetry, and ancient knowledge, who understood exactly what they were doing. She recounts that on August 9th, 1945, the bomb known as Fat Man was dropped on Nagasaki, Japan, and quotes J. Robert Oppenheimer's response upon witnessing its power, a line he drew from the Bhagavad Gita: now I am become Death, the destroyer of worlds. She also repeats his description of the reaction among the staff who watched, some laughing, some crying, most silent. Valerie ties that moment directly to the American policy that followed for the rest of the twentieth century and into the twenty-first, mutually assured destruction, and asks listeners what the absolute polar opposite of synergy could be if not that very doctrine of mutual annihilation.

A Disturbing Discovery Inside Fat Man
Valerie shares what she calls a disturbing discovery credited to a researcher she names as Dr. Robert Gilbert, who studied photographs and files of the Fat Man bomb technology and found that its inner core was built from dodecahedron geometry, the same sacred shape she has just described as a vessel for life force energy. She asks why the men of the Manhattan Project would choose that particular geometry for a weapon of mass destruction, and she connects the doctrine of mutual assured destruction back to her opening theme, calling it the polar opposite of synergy and comparing it to the destruction of Atlantis, which she says some attribute to forces on the planet and others to forces from off-planet. She describes humanity as still carrying the damage of these histories in what she calls subconscious suitcases, unpacked slowly to understand grief, trauma, and fear. She frames the choice between mutual destruction and human synergy as a decision repeated across ages, one she hopes listeners will one day remember making differently.

Imperfection, AI, And Coming Home
As the hour closes, Valerie adds what she calls a piece of food for thought: the same dodecahedron geometric structures used in her discussion of Earth and the atomic bomb are, she says, elemental forms used in the nanotechnology behind artificial intelligence design, helping simulate and optimize how light and electricity move through hardware. She suggests the synthetic world is searching for the life force of light, and that people assist that process every time they pick up their phones. She pivots to her closing message, telling listeners they do not need to be perfect in an imperfect, ever-changing material world, and that the real work is looking inward to an essence that serves the unifying whole. She encourages listeners not to fear trying, failing, or starting over, since effort itself, multiplied by the whole of collective hearts, is what perfects everyone together. Valerie thanks BBS Radio and her listeners by name before signing off, and the pre-recorded announcer closes the show, inviting everyone back to the playground the following Sunday.

The King Is Coming with Jeff Kinley

Revelation's Guide to Knowing God, Episode 3: The Wrath of God in the Tribulation

Jeff Kinley continues his series Revelation's Guide to Knowing God by examining the wrath of God poured out during the tribulation in Revelation chapters 6 through 18, tracing the seal, trumpet, and bowl judgments and explaining why even God's wrath is cause for gratitude and worship.

A New Book and a New Series
Jeff Kinley opens The King Is Coming by previewing his new book, God's Grand Finale: Wrath, Grace, and Glory in Earth's Final Days, explaining that he walks through the entire Book of Revelation to highlight thirteen attributes of God rather than simply forecasting future events. He also revisits As It Was in the Days of Noah, the book he first published in 2014 that reached the top of Amazon's prophecy category and led to appearances on national programs such as Fox & Friends and The Glenn Beck Show. Kinley says the book's warnings about a coming global storm feel even more relevant today, and notes that he has updated it with two new chapters. He then reintroduces the umbrella series Revelation's Guide to Knowing God, reminding listeners that a previous episode covered the sovereign, occupied throne of God in Revelation chapter 4, and that today's episode turns toward the darker judgments described later in the book.

Where the Church Stands During the Tribulation
Kinley argues that chapters 6 through 18 of Revelation form a parenthesis describing a future tribulation period, and he lays out his case that believers are removed from earth before it begins in a pre-tribulational rapture. He points to 1 Thessalonians 1:10, 1 Thessalonians 5:9, and Revelation 3:10 as promises that Christians will be kept from the coming hour of testing. As evidence, he traces the word church through Revelation, noting it appears roughly nineteen times in chapters 1 through 3, vanishes completely from chapters 6 through 18, and returns once in chapter 22, while the saints are shown gathered in heaven around the twenty-four elders during the judgment chapters. Kinley connects this absence to 2 Thessalonians 2, explaining that the Holy Spirit's unique restraining of sin, not his presence, is lifted before the Antichrist appears, warning that the rapture will unleash a sudden surge of evil once that restraint is gone.

Five Faces of God's Wrath
Kinley outlines five expressions of divine wrath found throughout scripture. Catastrophic wrath describes sudden judgments like Noah's flood or the plagues on Egypt. Harvest wrath, drawn from Galatians 6:7, reflects the principle that people reap what they sow. Everlasting wrath refers to the eternal lake of fire described in Revelation 14 and 20, where Kinley stresses that God himself, not Satan, presides over the torment of the unrepentant. Abandonment wrath, taken from Romans 1, occurs when God repeatedly gives a person or nation over to their own depraved choices after continual rejection, closing off any further reaching out. Kinley says Revelation 14 shows this same abandonment happening to those who take the mark of the beast during the tribulation. The fifth and final category, end times wrath, is the specific series of end-of-age judgments recorded in Revelation chapters 6 through 18, which becomes the focus of the rest of the teaching.

Why Talk About God's Wrath
Before detailing the judgments, Kinley explains why he chooses to preach on such an unpopular subject. He gives three reasons: wrath runs throughout scripture from Genesis to Revelation, so it deserves attention; wrath is itself an attribute of God, standing alongside love, mercy, and holiness because a truly righteous God must punish sin; and confronting wrath serves as a healthy deterrent that motivates people toward repentance, much like a doctor's frightening diagnosis is meant to spur a patient toward better choices rather than simply to scare them. Turning to Revelation chapter 6, verse 1, Kinley identifies the Lamb, Jesus Christ, as the one who breaks the first of seven seals in response to a living creature's command to come, establishing that the coming judgments originate from God himself even though nations and human evil become his instruments. This sets the stage for the specific judgments Kinley walks through next.

Seal, Trumpet, and Bowl Judgments
Kinley moves rapidly through the tribulation's judgments. The seal judgments open with a white horse rider he identifies as the Antichrist, conquering peacefully by treaty, followed by a red horse that removes peace and brings roughly eight hundred percent inflation, a black horse bringing famine, and a pale horse bringing death that Kinley says will claim a fourth of the earth's population, roughly two billion people today. A fifth seal reveals martyred believers later described in chapter 20 as beheaded for their faith, and a sixth seal brings earthquakes and cosmic disturbances that send the world's powerful into hiding. The trumpet judgments that follow destroy a third of vegetation, sea life, and fresh water, darken a third of the sun, moon, and stars, and unleash tormenting locusts and two hundred million demonic horsemen. Finally, Kinley says the bowl judgments arrive in the tribulation's second half, bringing sores, blood-red seas, scorching heat, darkness, and a drying Euphrates River.

Humanity's Rebellion and the Believer's Response
Kinley describes how humanity reacts as the judgments intensify, moving from fear and hiding in caves to continued blasphemy and, eventually, gathering at Armageddon in open rebellion against God, a trajectory he says Jesus himself warns about in Luke chapter 21, where fear causes people's hearts to fail. He contrasts this with how believers should respond to hearing about coming wrath, offering three responses: gratitude that Romans 8:1 means no condemnation awaits those in Christ, a renewed urgency to warn others before what he calls the bridge going out beneath them, and worship, since Revelation chapter 11 shows heaven's saints and angels rejoicing when God's judgments finally set the world right. Kinley closes by promising further attributes of God in the next episode of the series, and the broadcast ends with the announcer promoting a donation offer tied to Kinley's book Aftershocks and Kinley's appeal for ongoing financial support of World Prophetic Ministries.

LaGrave Live

The Book of Romans | 8:40 am (EDT) 9-20-26

About The Service:
We will hear the second sermon in our series on the book of Romans. Pastor Jonker will preach on Romans 1:18-2:4, a passage which helps us think about the judgment of God.

Order of Worship:
https://lagrave.org/wp-content/uploads/2026-9-20-AM-Order-of-Worship.pdf

About the Church:
We are a traditional CRC church in the middle of Downtown Grand Rapids, MI, worshipping at 8:40am, 11:00am, and 6:00pm. (10:00am and 6:00pm during the summer months)

We'd love to hear from you:
Connection: https://www.lagrave.org/contact

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Prayer: https://www.lagrave.org/prayerrequest/

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The September special offering is for the Pregnancy Resource Center. Services include abstinence education, testing, prayer, consultation, information about pregnancy/adoption/birth control and the distribution of food/formulas/diapers/baby clothes.

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Good Judgment: Paul Turns the Tables in the Book of Romans

At LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church, Reverend Peter Jonker continues his fall sermon series on Romans, preaching on chapters 1 and 2 to show how Paul turns a divided church's finger-pointing back on itself and calls every faction to kneel together in need of grace.

Opening Worship And Seminary Interns
The service opens with the congregation singing an opening hymn declaring that "all you to whom his blessings come, allow your voices all be one," followed by the Lord's greeting of grace, mercy and peace. An unidentified liturgist welcomes worshippers in person and online to LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church, marking the start of the fall "10:00 hour" of adult and youth programming and inviting first-time visitors to the welcome desk. She introduces three Calvin Theological Seminary interns who will serve the congregation for two years: Natalie Kraft of Paw Paw, Michigan, a Western Michigan University history graduate drawn to youth ministry and pastoral care; Jonathan Curlee of Dallas, a Calvin University religion and philosophy graduate; and Chad Scholten of Grand Rapids, a Calvin philosophy and music graduate. She then previews the morning's sermon, titled "Good Judgment," noting that good judgment starts with looking honestly in the mirror rather than at a neighbor's faults.

Confession, Scripture, And Assurance Of Pardon
The liturgist reads from Matthew 7, Jesus's warning against judging others while ignoring "the plank" in one's own eye, and leads the congregation into a responsive prayer of confession. Line by line she names how God showed humility, forgiveness, holiness and a longing for unity, while the congregation answers that it too often practices pride, holds grudges, criticizes neighbors instead of examining itself, and focuses on the differences that divide the church. She closes by asking God's mercy for "the things we have done and left undone." Turning to assurance, she reads from Romans 8, asking who can separate believers from the love of Christ through trouble, hardship, persecution, famine or sword, and the congregation answers that in all these things "we are more than conquerors" and that nothing in all creation can separate them from God's love in Christ Jesus. The congregation then rises to sing the hymn Children of the Heavenly Father.

Third Graders Receive Their Bibles
Reverend Peter Jonker calls the children forward for the children's message, along with the congregation's third graders, who have graduated from children's worship. Holding up a Bible, he tells the kids he is about to give them three things at once: words, bread and light. It is words because through it God speaks and tells people who he is and that he loves them. It is bread because, like Psalm 23's promise of comfort in the darkest valley, it feeds and strengthens the soul. And it is light because, as the children grow and face decisions about marriage, work and calling, it serves as "a lamp for our feet and a light for our path." He then invites Miss Rachel forward, who calls up Grant Schimmel, James Duitema, Charlotte DeBoer and Janice Kim to receive their own Bibles, and Jonker urges them not to leave the books on a shelf. The congregation prays "the Lord be with you" over them before Jonker sends them off with "go in peace."

Pastoral Prayer For A Hurting Congregation
Before the pastoral prayer, the liturgist shares two announcements: Ron Shoemaker is hospitalized with high sodium levels, and Cindy Norman is hospitalized at Butterworth being treated for an infection. Praying through language from the Psalms about entering God's gates with thanksgiving, she gives thanks for retiring pastoral care assistants and for those newly called to serve, naming Jane, Joyce, Mary, Dick, Judy, Jim and Cheryl. She thanks God for the third graders who received Bibles that morning and for youth ministries including church school, Gems, Youth Outdoors, Middle School Youth Group and Crew, and for the church's partnership with Calvin nursing students, recalling a recent spa day serving neighbors. She prays by name for Ron Shoemaker, Dan Beimers, Kelsey Canton, Cindy Norman and Elaine Smith, for the Kooistras as they grieve the death of Susan's brother Mike, and for church members serving in the military, Blake and Tim, along with world leaders seeking peace.

Reading Romans And The Divided Roman Church
Jonker reads Romans 1:18 through the end of the chapter, Paul's stark description of humanity suppressing the truth about God, exchanging his glory for idols, and being "given over" to shameful lusts, envy, murder, deceit and every kind of wickedness. He then steps back to ask why Paul, who had never visited Rome, poured such effort into this letter. Scholars believe Paul was wrestling with a deep, existential conflict between Jewish and Gentile Christians in the Roman house churches, a conflict sharpened by history: in 49 AD Emperor Claudius expelled all Jews from Rome, leaving the churches entirely Gentile for five years until his death in 54 AD, after which returning Jewish believers found their old festivals and observances abandoned. Jewish Christians came to see Gentile believers as morally unserious "slackers," while Gentile believers, citing their own scriptural language, dismissed Jewish Christians as legalists with a "weak faith." For Paul, headed toward a suspicious Jerusalem, the stakes of this division were not abstract but literally life and death.

Paul Turns The Tables On Everyone
Paul opens with a blistering diatribe against pagan sinfulness that would have delighted Jewish Christians, echoing Jewish attacks on Gentile idolatry found in texts like the Wisdom of Solomon. In chapter 2, Jonker reads, Paul flips the argument: "you who judge another are condemning yourself, because you who pass judgment do the same things." Jonker compares the move to the prophet Nathan's parable confronting King David after his sin against Bathsheba and Uriah, when David condemns the story's villain only to hear Nathan say, "you are that man." Paul, Jonker argues, is doing the same to both factions in Rome, and to the modern church, which he says loves condemning sins it is least prone to committing, whether from progressive or conservative pulpits. He illustrates unity through brokenness with an imagined Michigan town torn by school-board fights until a tornado levels it and neighbors embrace, and with David Brooks's account of a Yale seminar drawn closer after he confessed his own struggles. Jonker closes in prayer, asking the Spirit to root that grace deeply as the series continues.