Welcome back to part 2 of the Sphere Sovereignty 3-episode arc.

In this episode, Bethlehem Doxology Fleming, Austin, and Robbie turn from the hearth to the sanctuary to examine the second, God-ordained sphere: the Church, the pillar and ground of the truth.

What We Cover

1. The Church as Christ’s Covenant Assembly

The guys lay the biblical groundwork for what the Church is and what Christ gave her to do:— preach the Word— administer the sacraments— exercise discipline— form saints into maturity

The Church is not an appendage of the family or state. It is Christ’s embassy on earth, governed by His Word and stewarded by His officers.

Before a nation can repent, the church must first be set apart.

2. When the Church Forgets Her Mission

The episode confronts the rot that spreads when churches trade truth for comfort:— pragmatism replacing doctrine— sentimentality replacing courage— leaders entertaining rather than shepherding— congregations becoming consumers rather than disciples

The team draws on Spurgeon and Calvin to expose the stakes: a Church without repentance ceases to be a Church.

3. The Doctrine Beneath the Sanctuary

They walk through Christ’s headship, church discipline, the keys of the Kingdom, the necessity of Word and sacrament, and the covenant weight of the Lord’s Table.

The Church’s power is not political but spiritual; the authority of Christ exercised through His means of grace.

4. When Other Spheres Invade the Sanctuary

From state overreach to families treating church as optional, the episode shows how confusion of jurisdictions weakens Christ’s bride. Historical examples, Athanasius standing alone and the Reformation reclaiming Scripture, show how a faithful church limits tyrants simply by being the Church.

5. The Charge: Rebuild the Altar

The hosts call men and families to strengthen the church they belong to:— Guard doctrine— Honor elders— Pray for your pastors— Show up, sing loud, take the Supper— Live as citizens of a Kingdom, not members of a club

Next week closes the series with the final sphere: the State- the servant of God for justice.

Sponsor: The Old Forge Press

This episode is powered by The Old Forge Press, forging books that form Christian households. Just in time for Advent, find Heaven’s Battle Cry at TheOldForgePress.com.

The Old Forge Press has also put together two bundles that include (one for men and one for women): With Fire in Our Bones, What Became of Clara Vaughn (women), Towers at War (men), and The Dust We Leave Behind.

Everyone should run out purchase these bundles. Like-minded businesses are hard to find, so when you do, support them.

📚 The Old Forge Press Altars & Ashes Men’s Bundle

📚 The Old Forge Press Altars & Ashes Women’s Bundle

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Altars & Ashes Podcast — Season 2: Formation & Legacy Series Graciously Sponsored by The Old Forge Press

In Episode 012, Bryan, Austin, and Robbie open the Sphere Sovereignty Series with a foundational truth: before pulpits or parliaments, there was the household, the first government under God.

We unpack sphere sovereignty as God’s design for ordered authority: the Family forms and educates, the Church preaches and disciplines, and the State governs and protects. Each sphere operates under Christ’s lordship with defined boundaries; when those boundaries blur, chaos follows.

Drawing from Augustine, Calvin, and Kuyper, we trace the doctrine’s roots and reclaim its biblical simplicity, three primary spheres, with education and culture flowing from faithful homes.

We remind listeners that the household is the first altar, the origin of worship, dominion, and discipleship. The episode exposes the ruin of modern households, weakened by absentee fathers, feminism, economic idolatry, and outsourcing formation to the state and market. Quoting Calvin and Chesterton, we argue that national reformation begins with private repentance.

From Deuteronomy 6 to Ephesians 5, we anchor the theology of family government: fathers as heads, mothers as ordered strength, parents as covenant catechists, and the home as the smallest embassy of the Kingdom. They contrast true sovereignty with modern idols, the State as father, the Market as god, and the Media as prophet, calling for a reformation of the hearth.

The charge is simple but urgent:

“Rebuild the altar in your living room. Gather for worship, catechize your children, and build economies that serve the Kingdom, not mammon.”

This episode’s sponsor is The Old Forge Press.They have kindly put together two bundles (one for men and one for women) that include With Fire in Our Bones, What Became of Clara Vaughn (women), Towers at War (men), and The Dust We Leave Behind.

Everyone should run out purchase these bundles. Like-minded businesses are hard to find, so when you do, support them.

📚 The Old Forge Press Altars & Ashes Men’s Bundle

📚 The Old Forge Press Altars & Ashes Women’s Bundle

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dustandglorymedia.substack.com

In the finale of Season One, we confront the missing center of modern Christianity: the holiness of God.

Our culture has rebranded sin as identity and holiness as fanaticism, but the God of Scripture has not changed. He is still holy, holy, holy!

In this episode, we trace the holiness of God through Isaiah’s vision, Sinai’s fire, and Calvary’s cross, showing that judgment, atonement, and sanctification all flow from the same blazing center. Holiness is not a relic of the past; it’s the reality that defines the future.

Join Blade Domino Fleming, Robbie Stringer, and Austin Tucker as they call believers to recover the fear of God, reject hollow love, embrace sanctification, and stand distinct in a collapsing world.

Also in this episode: a preview of Season Two, which will focus on formation and legacy. In this season, we will cover sphere sovereignty, marriage, education, the Crusades, biblical patriarchy, and more.

We hope you enjoy this episode of Altars & Ashes Podcast.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dustandglorymedia.substack.com

Persecution always begins softly. Normally, it begins with pressure, not blood. This episode maps the three fronts every believer must be ready to face.

The first comes quietly through exclusion, mockery, and loss. This is the “soft war” that’s meant to isolate believers and shame conviction. The second front rises when culture codifies laws that exclude or punish Christians, turning mockery into mandate. And the third front, which we referred to as the sword, is where hostility becomes violence, and the faithful seal their testimony with blood.

Across Scripture and history, from Daniel’s furnace to the modern persecuted church, God has used the fire to purify His people and prove His power. The Church has never been extinguished by persecution, though. Instead, it is refined by it.

We close with Field Orders for the Faithful: Expect the fire. Rejoice in it. Endure through it. Encourage others. Every altar God builds involves flame, but He lights it Himself.

“Pressure tests your voice. Policy tests your conviction. The Sword tests your life.”

If you made it this far, thank you for listening. As a reward (or punishment depending on how you look at it, here’s the promised GIF or Robbie in a unicorn costume. We felt like if we had to see it, so do you, dear listener.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dustandglorymedia.substack.com

In this episode of Altars & Ashes, Basil Desmond Fleming, Robbie Stringer, and Austin Tucker dismantle one of the great modern lies, the myth of neutrality. Every culture bows to something. Every law, every classroom, every household is an altar, either to Christ or to idols.

Drawing from Abraham Kuyper’s famous declaration that “there is not a square inch” outside Christ’s claim, the hosts explore why neutrality isn’t possible, biblically or practically. From Joshua’s command to “choose this day whom you will serve” to Christ’s own words that “whoever is not with Me is against Me,” Scripture leaves no neutral ground. It’s Christendom or collapse.

The conversation moves from theological foundation to cultural application:

* Defining the Myth: how “values-neutral” education, “secular” government, and “pluralist” tolerance all disguise rival worship.

* Tracing the Ashes: what happens when societies pretend neutrality—Rome’s decadence, Europe’s apostasy, America’s moral drift.

* Issuing Field Orders: worship daily, catechize your children, build institutions that honor Christ, and refuse to bow to false gods.

Packed with biblical conviction and historical clarity, this episode calls believers to reject passive Christianity and recover a robust, public faith. Neutrality is rebellion dressed as moderation; Christ’s crown rights demand every inch.

Field Order Mantra: Worship. Build. Resist. Confess.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dustandglorymedia.substack.com

Welcome back to Altars & Ashes Podcast, a show for saints called to faithfulness in a hostile age. In this episode, we open the book of Daniel to learn what it means to live as exiles in a world that demands our compromise.

What We Cover

1. Exiles in Babylon — Faithfulness in the small things: Daniel refusing the king’s food, friends standing in the furnace, prayer that couldn’t be silenced.2. Building Altars in Babylon — Worship as resistance. Every prayer, every act of obedience is an altar raised against the empire’s idols.3. The Cost of Compromise — What happens when God’s people bow to cultural idols of comfort, safety, and approval.4. Field Orders for Life in Babylon — Practical ways to live faithful today: guard your diet of truth, practice public loyalty, keep prayer central, accept risk, live as witnesses.5. Stories of Faith Under Fire — From the furnace and the lions’ den to the early church and the modern home, the same call remains: do not bow.

Closing Exhortation

Babylon still stands, and still demands your bow. But the God of Daniel is on His throne. Build your altar. Refuse the king’s food. Pray with the windows open. Walk into the fire knowing Christ walks with you.

Subscribe on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or YouTube, and share this with a brother or sister who needs courage in Babylon.

The false altars of this age will fall. Christ’s Kingdom will stand. Keep the fire burning.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dustandglorymedia.substack.com

Every generation builds altars. The only question is: to whom?

From Cain and Abel to Elijah on Mount Carmel, Scripture reminds us that worship is never neutral. We either bow before the Living God, or we sacrifice on altars that leave nothing but ashes. Our age is no different.

In this episode of Altars & Ashes, Robbie Stringer, Austin Tucker, and B.D. Fleming take a hard look at the false altars that surround us: entertainment, wealth, ambition, fear, comfort, pride, even good gifts like family when they are loved more than Christ. Each demands our time, our loyalty, our hearts. And each leaves us emptier than before.

What We Cover

* Biblical foundations: the battle of altars across redemptive history.

* What false altars look like today: from screens to syncretism, from globalism to careerism.

* The ashes they leave behind: wonder, courage, faith, and calling traded away.

* Field orders for households: practical steps to tear down idols and rebuild true worship at the table, in the church, and in daily obedience.

* Stories that strengthen us: Elijah on Carmel, Josiah’s reforms, the Reformers’ defiance, and the quiet courage of households today.

Why It Matters

Every act of worship is an act of war. Every prayer at your table is a blow against the idols of the age. Every song of praise is a crack in the enemy’s altar.

False altars cannot save. They cannot answer. They will fall. But Christ’s Kingdom cannot be shaken. His altar still stands.

Brothers and sisters, refuse the idols, rebuild the true altar, and keep the fire burning.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dustandglorymedia.substack.com

In this episode, we move from the household altar to the church as a living temple. Scripture shows us that the temple is no longer brick and stone but a people indwelt by the Spirit, with Christ Himself as the cornerstone and believers as living stones. The church is not an event or a brand, it is the dwelling place of God on earth.

We examine how Israel’s history reveals the danger of forgetting this truth: when God’s people compromise, temples fall into rubble. Today, many churches look alive outwardly but are hollow within. They have programs, lights, and noise, but often lack holiness, worship, and covenant faithfulness. Yet God delights to bring beauty from ashes, rebuilding His temple with purified hearts and faithful households.

Practical “field orders” call believers to re-center on Christ, recover true worship, pursue holiness, commit to one another, disciple the next generation, and burn with mission. With stories from the early church, the Reformers, and modern congregations, this episode reminds us that the true mark of the church is not wealth or architecture but the fire of God’s presence.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dustandglorymedia.substack.com

In this episode, we explore the biblical vision of the household as an altar of worship, sacrifice, covenant renewal, and mission. From Noah, Abraham, and Joshua to the Puritans, Scripture and history show that homes are meant to burn with covenant faithfulness, not sit cold as storage units of distraction.

We confront the ashes of our age: fractured families, outsourced discipleship, and absent fathers, and call for rebuilding with daily worship, covenant meals, catechism, marriage as holy ground, and hospitality. The household is not neutral: it will either serve the idols of the age or stand as a living altar to Christ.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dustandglorymedia.substack.com

Dangerous to the Spirit of the Age

A Special Episode of the Altars & Ashes Podcast

On Wednesday, Charlie Kirk was brutally and cowardly shot and killed. And yesterday, when we recorded this, it was September 11th. Twenty-four years later, the ache is raw again. Many of us feel numb. The anger rises, the sorrow lingers, and clarity can feel far away.

But one truth burns brighter than the grief: the fire of the altar is always contested. From Eden’s garden to today’s headlines, the people of God have been faced with the same question: Will you bow?

This episode is not a eulogy. It is a call. A call to remember Christ’s pattern, Daniel’s courage, the apostles’ boldness, and the long line of saints who would not bow when the world demanded silence. We include Kirk in that long line of people who boldly proclaimed Christ’s name in a hostile age.

Christ the Pattern

Jesus told us: “And you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. But the one who endures to the end will be saved.” (Matt. 10:22).

If they hated Him, they will hate those who bear His name. Christ unmasks idols. He topples false thrones. And that makes us dangerous. Charlie Kirk was hated not merely for politics, but because he bent politics to Christ.

Courage Like Daniel

When the decree was signed, Daniel kept the windows open. He prayed as he had always prayed, openly, visibly, faithfully. He did not flinch. Our generation needs more Daniels. Charlie lived with his windows open. That is why he was hated. That is also why his witness rings so loudly.

Boldness Like the Apostles

When threatened, the apostles prayed not for safety but for boldness (Acts 4:29). That must be our line too. Boldness is not arrogance. It is the refusal to stop speaking the name of Christ. Silence is not an option. “We cannot but speak of what we have seen and heard.” (Acts 4:20).

Our Family Stories

The blood of the martyrs is the seed of the church. Richard Wurmbrand preaching through prison walls. Bonhoeffer standing against the Reich. Bunyan choosing jail over silence. These are our family stories. And now, Charlie’s story joins them.

Field Orders for Bold Saints

Boldness must become flesh in our lives. Here are your orders:

* Expect Hatred. Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you (1 John 3:13).

* Open Your Windows. Keep your devotion visible.

* Refuse Silence. Speak Christ, even when told not to.

* Stand with the Saints. Boldness grows in fellowship.

* Fear God, Not Man. Courage is faith conquering fear.

* Remember the Reward. The Kingdom belongs to those who endure (Matt. 5:10).

The Final Word

The world wants you to kneel. Christ calls you to stand. Professing Christ is the most political act a man can make. It defies Caesar, it defies idols, it defies the spirit of the age. Take heart: “Be steadfast, immovable, always abounding in the work of the Lord, knowing that in the Lord your labor is not in vain.” (1 Cor. 15:58).

The hammers of hatred will not prevail. The anvil of Christ has worn out many hammers. His Kingdom cannot be shaken. His altar still burns.

So do not bow. Do not be silent. Worship the King. Build His Kingdom. Keep the fire burning.

This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit dustandglorymedia.substack.com