There’s a strange contradiction in God’s promises to the Jewish people. In Genesis 12, God makes a covenant with Abraham to give him the land of Israel. In Genesis 17:7, God told Abraham that His covenant with him and his descendants would be an everlasting covenant. But then in Leviticus 26, God warns that if the Jewish people break His commandments, He will kick them out of their land. And then we know from our studies in the book of Ezekiel that that’s exactly what happened. In fact, in Ezeki...
Sep 16, 2024•35 min•Ep. 139
Trying to figure out the next step in your life's journey? Today, I chat with Chris Pace about his new book Level Up. As I tell the story in this episode, I actually met Chris recently while on vacation, and he gave me a copy of his book. This interview will share several insights with you about discovering God's will. Here is a link where you can find more about Chris' book: https://chrispace.org/ I will also paste my Amazon review below... I was incredibly blessed to come across this book by C...
Sep 09, 2024•34 min•Ep. 137
Today, I am sharing an episode from my other podcast, Weird Stuff in the Bible. Each week, I dive into a different weird topic regarding bizarre things in scripture. Hear more by subscribing to this podcast as well! And tune back in on Cross References next week to hear an interview with Chris Pace of Messenger International about his new book, Level Up. On a recent episode of this podcast, I was discussing a weird story about Moses in Exodus 4, I came across another pretty odd verse that genera...
Sep 02, 2024•22 min•Ep. 136
Last week I talked about how I did my parental duty and instilled the love of star wars into my child. Now let me talk about one of the stupidest things in star wars. And it comes from the same place that all of the stupidest things in star wars come from: the new Disney movies. This one is flies right into the face of common sense. It comes from the inner turmoil experienced by the villain of Episode 7: Kylo Ren. Kylo is on the dark side. He seeks to prove himself a true, fully committed discip...
Aug 26, 2024•43 min•Ep. 135
Poor Nicodemus. That guy really gets a bad rap. Nicodemus was the Pharisee who famously came to Jesus by night, because he was afraid if he approached Jesus during the day that people might see, and people might talk. He was a wise man, a religious man, a scholar. And it’s a good thing that he comes to Jesus in the middle of the night like this because if anyone did hear what Nicodemus was saying, he’d never hear the end of it. When he was told that he must be born again, in John 3:4, he replied...
Aug 19, 2024•30 min•Ep. 134
A lot of people misunderstand the third commandment. The third commandment says, “You shall not take the name of the Lord your God in vain.” Most Christians think that means you shouldn’t say OMG. Now, you probably shouldn’t say OMG, but that’s just one part of what it means to break the third commandment. The third commandment means to misrepresent God. Now, you may say, how can taking God’s name in vain be a way of misrepresenting God? The reason is, because when you are a follower of God, you...
Aug 12, 2024•29 min•Ep. 133
Is prophecy meant to be taken literally, or is it all symbolic? And if it’s both, then how can you know the difference? That’s the question we’re going to answer today. Because we Christians find a lot to argue about on the subject of prophecy. How can we know if the Israel of today is the fulfillment of prophecies in Old Testament Scripture? How can we know if the Millennium is something future or something happening now? How can we know if it is 1000 actual years? It’s the “how-can-we-know” qu...
Aug 05, 2024•31 min•Ep. 132
We’re coming up on three years since I started this podcast, and when I started it, I didn’t know that by the time we got done, Israel would be attacked in the largest one-day massacre of Jewish people since WWII. I didn’t know Israel would be engulfed in a literal war with the Palestinian terrorists who have been seeking to overthrow it for decades. And I didn’t know we’d be seeing Ezekiel 35 being repeated so vividly right before our eyes. But that’s exactly what’s going on. And the battle you...
Jul 29, 2024•49 min•Ep. 131
Ezekiel has not been the easiest book of the Bible to study. Up until today’s lesson, most of it has been dark, depressing, gloomy and full of judgment and wrath. But regardless of the past, I have some news about the future: the best is yet to come. Because the book is making a major turning point in this section we’re in. So far, we’ve just encountered the bad news. But now we’re in a part called the Gospel According to Ezekiel. That’s what some commentaries call it. And the word “Gospel” mean...
Jul 15, 2024•29 min•Ep. 130
A pastor must be a good public speaker, able to draw large crowds with his authority and charisma. A pastor must be like a CEO, an expert in management and leadership. A pastor must be a skilled fundraiser, and know how to execute a building program. A pastor must be on-call 24/7, even on holidays and vacations. A pastor must be an expert psychologist and counselor, able to diagnose and treat every mental illness. A pastor must have a picture-perfect family, a wife who leads the women’s ministry...
Jul 08, 2024•37 min•Ep. 129
I have heard all my life about declaring God’s promises. The idea was that certain things in scripture became true in reality as long as you declared them to be so. Sounds a little bit magical. But is it biblical? We’re going to talk about that today. We’ll also wrap up Ezekiel 33, and for the first time in 30 chapters, Ezekiel is going to be allowed to speak freely. You may have forgotten, but Ezekiel’s mouth was shut for a large chunk of his time in ministry. God supernaturally prevented him f...
Jul 01, 2024•33 min•Ep. 128
Entire books have been written about the thorny theological issue I want to talk about today. James chapter 2. At face value, James 2 seems hard to reconcile with the rest of the New Testament. That’s because the rest of the New Testament pretty clearly teaches this doctrine of salvation by grace through faith not of works. That’s a direct quote, actually. Ephesians 2:8-9 says For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, 9 not a result of...
Jun 19, 2024•27 min•Ep. 127
So we’re in this chapter called Ezekiel’s Greatest Hits. That’s my name for it. Ezekiel 33 recaps some of Ezekiel’s earlier lessons; in fact, some of my favorite lessons from earlier in the book. And today we’ll be looking at verses 10 through 20, which recap my favorite chapter of Ezekiel: chapter 18. This is the chapter on personal responsibility. It was one of my most popular podcast episodes before, and it’s still getting a lot of play even today. If you heard the lesson on Ezekiel 18 before...
Jun 10, 2024•44 min•Ep. 126
I am looking at changing this podcast's name to "The Book of Ezekiel: A Cross References Bible Study." I hope you will agree that I have a good reason to make this change.
Jun 07, 2024•24 min•Ep. 125
You are probably going to regret listening to today’s episode. I’m just gonna put that out there now. Why do I say that? Do you ever learn something and you just kind of wish you didn’t know? Like, I wish I didn’t know about germs. Sometimes I just really wish I didn’t know that there are these tiny little microscopic bacteria all over virtually everything and if you get too many of them you’ll get sick and feel yucky. That sounds like pretty helpful information to know, except for the fact that...
Jun 03, 2024•29 min•Ep. 124
Today, I'm just asking for prayer for the family of a friend of mine. Though my heart is heavy right now, I hope you all have a Happy Memorial Day :)
May 27, 2024•23 min•Ep. 123
A conversation with Nate Vainio, host of the Something to Gnaw On podcast. He has graciously allowed me to share this interview with my listeners over here for the month of May, and this is part 3 of 3. The Cross References Podcast with Luke Taylor: Episode 122 (And Part 57 of my Ezekiel series) If you want to get in touch with me, send an email to crossreferencespodcast@gmail.com
May 20, 2024•29 min•Ep. 122
A conversation with Nate Vainio, host of the Something to Gnaw On podcast. He has graciously allowed me to share this interview with my listeners over here for the month of May, and this is part 2 of 3. The Cross References Podcast with Luke Taylor: Episode 121 (And Part 56 of my Ezekiel series) If you want to get in touch with me, send an email to crossreferencespodcast@gmail.com
May 13, 2024•31 min•Ep. 121
A conversation with Nate Vainio, host of the Something to Gnaw On podcast. He has graciously allowed me to share this interview with my listeners over here for the month of May, and this is part 1 of 3. The Cross References Podcast with Luke Taylor: Episode 120 (And Part 55 of my Ezekiel series) If you want to get in touch with me, send an email to crossreferencespodcast@gmail.com
May 06, 2024•36 min•Ep. 120
Adolph Hitler hoped and prayed that he was this antichrist that the Bible spoke of. Hitler may have been a deranged maniac; he did at least know a thing or two about what the Bible said. And as he went through Europe swallowing up nation after nation, he was convinced more and more that he would be this man. (it’s strange; he wanted to fulfill the scriptures that spoke of the antichrist’s power; I wonder how he thought he would then stop the scriptures that spoke of Jesus returning and casting t...
Apr 29, 2024•37 min•Ep. 119
Death is not the end. A couple episodes ago, I took a little detour into Jude and analyzed this phrase “twice dead.” It was kind of a side-quest because I primarily use this podcast to dive into the book of Ezekiel. In that lesson, we focused on how the Second Death talked about in Revelation is not teaching the doctrine of annihilationism, or the idea that we cease to exist at the moment of death. The second death means eternity in hell, or the lake of fire, and you never stop existing. I had n...
Apr 22, 2024•26 min•Ep. 118
We live in a world of absolute chaos. Where does it all come from? Well, you’ll find out today. Today’s episode will start into chapter 32 of Ezekiel, which will be God’s final word on Egypt and the Gentile Nations. Egypt is truly one of the most fascinating nations in the Bible; it plays a huge role in the creation of Israel as a nation, in some of Israel’s struggles throughout the Old Testament, and even factors into God’s plans for the future. And we’ll talk about that in the weeks ahead, but...
Apr 15, 2024•27 min•Ep. 117
0:00 - Introduction 2:00 - The Poetic Language of Jude 12-13 3:40 - Blemishes at your love feasts 6:40 - Clouds without rain 8:00 - Autumn trees without fruit 9:55 - Foaming up their shame 12:50 - Wandering Stars 14:30 - Twice Dead 22:45 - A Second Death? 27:30 - Survivors Gather Here Monday 29:00 - Connections to Believers and the Cross
Apr 08, 2024•33 min•Ep. 116
Lessons from Loki and Ezekiel 31. No one is too big to fall. Captain America: “There’s only one God, ma’am. And I’m pretty sure He doesn’t dress like that.” The Cross References Podcast with Luke Taylor: Episode 115 0:00 - Lessons from Loki 5:15 - The Tree Motif in Scripture 7:45 - v1-9, My Life as a Tree 14:30 - v10-18, The Judgment of the Pharaonic Tree 26:00 - The Parable of the Mustard Seed Description: Introduction: In this episode of the Cross References Podcast, host Luke Taylor delves in...
Apr 01, 2024•32 min•Ep. 115
One time I was studying through the book of Exodus and I had this thought: Did God love the Egyptians? It’s a question you’ve probably never really thought much about before. So, in Exodus, this is the story of the Egyptians who enslaved the Israelites and wouldn’t let them go. They were forced to work all day under grueling conditions in the desert, building whatever Pharaoh wanted for his cities. And for centuries, pharaoh after pharaoh wouldn’t let them leave. So, they’re clearly the bad guys...
Mar 25, 2024•35 min•Ep. 114
On this podcast the past several months, we have studied the prophecies against Ammon, Moab, Philistia and Edom; we studied the prophecy against Tyre in great detail, and then the prophecy against Sidon; today we are continuing through the prophecy against Egypt. This series of prophecies against ancient Egypt at the time of Ezekiel takes up chapters 29 through 32 of his book, and we will cover all of chapter 30 today. This chapter contains a lot of interesting tidbits: why is it talking about t...
Mar 18, 2024•37 min•Ep. 113
What can you turn to when even the most powerful nation in the world is falling apart? 2024 is shaping up to be a chaotic year. Elections, Civil War, high profile political prosecutions, war in Europe, war in the Middle East- and another Chinese Spy Balloon. And who knows what else is on the horizon? Well, someone knows, and that’s what we’ll talk about today. We’re returning to the study in the book of Ezekiel with chapter 29. This chapter is going to be the first of four that all deal with the...
Mar 11, 2024•27 min•Ep. 112
What’s one word you would use to describe Jesus? I’ll tell you mine today. And you can tell me yours, or be thinking on it, if you want. A second question: what might happen if you came face-to-face with Jesus? We see in the Gospels story after story of people meeting Jesus. Some get mad. Some fall to their knees. Some adore him. Some nailed Him to a cross. What would your reaction be? We’re going to study a couple of peoples who had a visitation from God here at the end of Ezekiel 28, and that’...
Feb 12, 2024•39 min•Ep. 111
The Cross References Podcast with Luke Taylor: Episode 110 You may or may not be familiar with the Chinese Zodiac, which assigns one of 12 creatures to each year. Some years are the year of the horse, or the year of the rat, or the year of the snake. We’re about to start the Year of the Dragon- THIS WEEK- February 10, 2024, and it will last until January 28 of 2025. The end times also talk about a year of the dragon. Not just 1 year, but 7 years. This episode is going to cap off my multi-episode...
Feb 05, 2024•41 min•Ep. 110
In II Corinthians 2:11, Paul says that we are NOT ignorant of Satan’s devices. Now “devices” is an interesting word. In the Greek, it’s the word “noema,” and it doesn’t have a direct English equivalent. It means “a mental perception,” “an evil purpose” or “that which thinks.” It’s talking about how Satan can twist the mind. Satan has his ways of warping our thoughts for his own evil purposes. Now, if Paul was writing this letter to modern Christians in America, I wonder if he would say it this w...
Jan 29, 2024•42 min•Ep. 109
