This episode continues the miniseries about the seven churches that Jesus directly addressed. Remember, these words to the seven churches are important because this is the biggest chunk of direct speech that Jesus directs to his church anywhere in the scripture.

A big thank you to Sarah Dixon Young for the use of her poem entitled “Contours” at the end of this episode!

Check out her substack entitled: Love Much

Mentioned:

Sarah Dixon Young’s Substack “Love Much”

Bammerhab - Episode 34 about the “Feast of Trumpets”

Bammerhab - Episode 36 about the “Yom Kippur”

Thanks to:

• Aaron Woodard for Graphic Design

• Dave Allam of Allam House for advanced audio techniques: sound.allamhouse.com

• Bible Hub for Greek / Hebrew hypertext links

What is a Bammerhab?

“You have not given me into the hands of the enemybut have set my feet in a spacious place.” (Ps. 31:8 - NIV)

The phrase “in a spacious place” is the Hebrew word: bammerhab.

To the second church at Smyrna, Jesus promised thlipsis. Thlipsis comes from a root word meaning narrow, crowded, pressured or squished. Remember that part in the gospels where there was a giant crowd threatening to push, shove and crush Jesus as they clambered around him? The same root word is used there.

Thlipsis is the precise opposite meaning of the Hebrew word Bammerhab, for which this podcast is named. Remember, Bammerhab means a going into broad, wide open place.

On the contrary, Jesus warns the second church of Revelation, a small faithful church in Smyrna, that they’re about to go into a narrow, squished pressure-cooker of persecution.

So what did they do?

This episode digs deeper into “thlipsin” (θλῖψιν - meaning ‘persecution’) in Revelation 2:9.

Revelation 2:9 - “I know your persecutions and your poverty—yet you are rich!” (NIV)

Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:18 describes the church as a body with lots of different parts. These parts are not supposed to be the same, as Paul makes clear using an extended joke. Can a foot see? Can a hand hear? Can an eye smell? Well, duh, obviously not.

The same thing goes for the body of Christ. We’re a part of the body if we’re connected vitally to the head, and the head is Christ. That’s what makes us a part of the body, not us looking the same.

No one makes this point better than Keith Foskey, with his amazing viral videos gently teasing stereotypes of all the denominations doing their thing.

This episode digs deeper into “melos” (μέλος - meaning ‘parts’) in 1 Corinthians 12:18.

1 Corinthians 12:18 - “But in fact God has placed the parts in the body, every one of them, just as he wanted them to be.” (NIV)

Mentioned:

PREORDER: A Biblically Functioning Church by Keith Foskey

Keith Foskey’s Site: www.keithfoskey.com

Keith Foskey’s Substack: yourcalvinist.substack.com

Conversations with Calvinist - YouTube

Church Soup - Keith Foskey

(My Personal Favorite Denominations video)

Also Mentioned:

Assyrian Christian “Church of the East”

Holiness of God by R.C. Sproul

One Crazy Summer (1986) - Demi Moore, John Cusack

“The Monster God Debate” - Michael Brown v. Brian Zahnd

Thanks to:

• Aaron Woodard for Graphic Design

• Dave Allam of Allam House for advanced audio techniques: sound.allamhouse.com

• Bible Hub for Greek / Hebrew hypertext links

What is a Bammerhab?

“You have not given me into the hands of the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.” (Ps. 31:8 - NIV)

The phrase “in a spacious place” is the Hebrew word: bammerhab.

Season five has finally arrived!

This episode also kickstarts a miniseries within season five about the seven churches of Revelation. Jesus said a lot to his disciples during his ministry, and they recorded some of it in the gospels.

But, technically speaking, Jesus was very clear that he was first sent to the lost sheep of Israel, and so his ministry was primarily focused on that mission. Yes, Jesus’ first mission was to Israel, and only afterward did he form the church. Ever since, Jesus has spoken indirectly to his church through prophets, pastors, evangelists and others, but Revelation 2 and 3 are the biggest chunk of Jesus’ direct speech to the church in all of the New Testament.

That makes those two chapters pretty important! So I’m going to dedicate seven episodes over this season to focus on each of those seven churches that Jesus dedicated so much of his focus on. That way, we can all better understand what Jesus said directly to those churches, and by extension to all of us in his church today!

The first church is Ephesus.

This episode digs deeper into “Epheso” (Ἐφέσῳ meaning ‘Ephesus’) in Revelation 2:1.

Revelation 2:1-7 - “To the angel of the church in Ephesus write:

These are the words of him who holds the seven stars in his right hand and walks among the seven golden lampstands. I know your deeds, your hard work and your perseverance. I know that you cannot tolerate wicked people, that you have tested those who claim to be apostles but are not, and have found them false. You have persevered and have endured hardships for my name, and have not grown weary.

Yet I hold this against you: You have forsaken the love you had at first. Consider how far you have fallen! Repent and do the things you did at first. If you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place. But you have this in your favor: You hate the practices of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

Whoever has ears, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious, I will give the right to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.” (NIV)

Mentioned:

Bammerhab - Episode 24 about the “lampstands”

Thanks to:

• Aaron Woodard for Graphic Design

• Dave Allam of Allam House for advanced audio techniques: sound.allamhouse.com

• Bible Hub for Greek / Hebrew hypertext links

What is a Bammerhab?

“You have not given me into the hands of the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.” (Ps. 31:8 - NIV)

The phrase “in a spacious place” is the Hebrew word: bammerhab.

What comfort can God offer against the inevitable collapse of all great men and great movements?

Qum that’s what. Because qum can mean something that endures forever, but endures can also be translated as fulfills, stands, establishes, confirms or arises.

Great trees rise up, and fall. But God rises up, and doesn’t fall.

Great movements, great men, rise up and have great moments, but then they always stumble and collapse, but God doesn’t.

Because God’s word is enduring.

And not just his word. Again the Hebrew here isn’t incorrectly translated but this word for word “dabar” can actually mean action as well as word.

So what God says, is what God does. And what God does grows and doesn’t collapse. God build things right. God builds things completely stable on a foundation that cannot break.

Weeds grow up fast and fall down fast.

Oaks grow up slow, but they just keep growing, through hurricanes and storms and all the madness of the world.

God’s enduring word is like that.

This episode digs deeper into “yaqum” (יָקוּם meaning ‘endures’) in Isaiah 40:8.

Isaiah 40:8 - “The grass withers and the flowers fall, but the word of our God endures forever.” (NIV)

Mentioned:

Enduring Word Study Bible - Christian Book

Enduring Word - www.enduringword.com

Enduring Word on YouTube

Enduring Word App

Calvary Chapel - Santa Barbara

David Guzik - Instagram

“Reverse Marco Polo” - Rabban Bar Sauma - Lance Ralston

History of the Church Podcast - Lance Ralston

Blue Letter Bible

Jesus Revolution Trailer

Breastplate Prayer of St. Patrick (Lorica)

“The past is a foreign country, they do things differently there. “ - L.P. Hartley

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

Silverado (1985)

Preachers Mentioned:

Calvary Chapel - Modesto (Damian Kyle)

Calvary Chapel - Philadelphia (Joe Focht)

Calvary Chapel - Stone Mountain (Sandy Adams)

Alistair Begg

J. Vernon McGee

James Montgomery Boice

Chuck Smith

Charles Spurgeon

Peter Waldo

My Links:

Bammerhab Site: www.bammerhab.com

Bammerhab Substack: bammerhab.substack.com

SDG Morgan’s Substack: sdgmorgan.substack.com

Thanks to:

• Aaron Woodard for Graphic Design

• Dave Allam of Allam House for advanced audio techniques: sound.allamhouse.com

• Bible Hub for Greek / Hebrew hypertext links

What is a Bammerhab?

“You have not given me into the hands of the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.” (Ps. 31:8 - NIV)

The phrase “in a spacious place” is the Hebrew word: bammerhab.

The spiritual world abhors a vacuum.

That means if you reject Christ, you don’t revert back to being where you were as a pre-Christian, no, you actually get seven times worse. Jesus warns us of this in Luke 11:26.

For example, think of Kanye.

You see, dark spirits are parasites. But unlike a tick, these invaders have intelligence, and once removed they are angry, uncomfortable, restless and hungry. They’re furious they got ejected from their shelter, and if they ever get to reinvade, they want to make damn sure they doesn’t get booted out again.

And yes, I am using damn sure intentionally. This spirit is the obstacle that wants to cut you off from God.

I don’t know about you, but if Jesus hadn’t described the spiritual world this way, I wouldn’t have imagined it that way. I sort of somehow think of the spiritual world in more idealistic, mathematical movement of the spheres, platonic visions. But that isn’t what Jesus described in Luke 11. So what exactly does Jesus tell us about the spiritual world?

This episode digs deeper into “cheiróna” (χείρονα meaning ‘worse’) in Luke 11:26.

Luke 11:24-26 - “When an impure spirit comes out of a person, it goes through arid places seeking rest and does not find it. Then it says, ‘I will return to the house I left.’ When it arrives, it finds the house swept clean and put in order. Then it goes and takes seven other spirits more wicked than itself, and they go in and live there. And the final condition of that person is worse than the first.” (NIV)

Mentioned:

“A Little Learning is a Dangerous Thing” - Alexander Pope

“The Heart is Deceitfully Wicked” 4/10/15 - Anne Kennedy

Bammerhab S2:E2 - Judas’ Heel - SDG Morgan

My Links:

Bammerhab Site: www.bammerhab.com

Bammerhab Substack: bammerhab.substack.com

SDG Morgan’s Substack: sdgmorgan.substack.com

Thanks to:

• Aaron Woodard for Graphic Design

• Dave Allam of Allam House for advanced audio techniques: sound.allamhouse.com

• Bible Hub for Greek / Hebrew hypertext links

What is a Bammerhab?

“You have not given me into the hands of the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.” (Ps. 31:8 - NIV)

The phrase “in a spacious place” is the Hebrew word: bammerhab.

Paul says in Romans 8:28 that everything will work out for good for the believer.

Agathon means good in Greek. It’s a root word, an ancient word with no certain etymology. It just means good.

I guess we just all know what good is.

But we also all know that all things right now are not good. Things have never been good. So what is Paul talking about here?

Thank you to poet Samantha Coté, of THOUGHTMOOT for sharing her poem “The Broken Generation”.

This episode digs deeper into “agathon” (ἀγαθὸν meaning ‘good’) in Romans 8:28.

Romans 8:28 - “And we know that in all things God works for the good of those who love him, who have been called according to his purpose.” (NIV)

Mentioned:

Samantha Coté - Thoughmoot

Revelations of Divine Love - Julian of Norwich

Eucatastrophe in “On Fairy Stories” - J.R.R. Tolkien

The Great Divorce - C.S. Lewis

Surprised By Hope - N.T. Wright

My Links:

Bammerhab Site: www.bammerhab.com

Bammerhab Substack: bammerhab.substack.com

SDG Morgan’s Substack: sdgmorgan.substack.com

Thanks to:

• Aaron Woodard for Graphic Design

• Dave Allam of Allam House for advanced audio techniques: sound.allamhouse.com

• Bible Hub for Greek / Hebrew hypertext links

“You have not given me into the hands of the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.” (Ps. 31:8 - NIV)

The phrase “in a spacious place” is the Hebrew word: bammerhab.

“We Three Kings” is my favorite Christmas carol. However, there weren’t three of them, and they weren’t kings!

But yes, this caravan did come from the east and the Greek calls them magoi, or magicians or wizards.

But these wizards were not actually wise men, and they aren’t the heroes in the Christmas story but rather a band of ambitious bunglers, who professing to be wise men make a series of foolish mistakes that bring about bloodshed and disaster. Only afterwards do they stumble onto the truth, and are shown great grace after they fumble their mission, but are allowed to escape Herod’s wrath.

I’m very grateful to poet Rosa Lía Gilbert for her two amazing poems that she shares with us at the end of this episode! Find her brand new book of poetry, Under the Samán Tree, here.

This episode digs deeper into “magoi” (μάγοι meaning ‘magicians’) in Matthew 2:1.

Matthew 2:1 - “After Jesus was born in Bethlehem in Judea, during the time of King Herod, Magi from the east came to Jerusalem.” (NIV)

Mentioned:

Rosa Lía Gilbert - Poet

“We Three Kings of Orient Are” written by John Henry Hopkins Jr.

Suetonius (Roman Historian)

Tacitus (Roman Historian)

Josephus (Hellenized Jewish Historian)

Antigonius the Hasmonean

Herod the Great

Parthian Empire and Phraates IV

Daniel’s “Prophecy of Weeks”

My Links:

Bammerhab Site: www.bammerhab.com

Bammerhab Substack: bammerhab.substack.com

SDG Morgan’s Substack: sdgmorgan.substack.com

Thanks to:

• Aaron Woodard for Graphic Design

• Dave Allam of Allam House for advanced audio techniques: sound.allamhouse.com

• Bible Hub for Greek / Hebrew hypertext links

“You have not given me into the hands of the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.” (Ps. 31:8 - NIV)

The phrase “in a spacious place” is the Hebrew word: bammerhab.

A conversation with portraitist and comic artist Noah Snoke about how to pray from Philippians 4:6-7.

Paul tells us to pray with supplication, but supplication is a phrase we don’t use all that often. Supplication sounds pretty elevated.

However, in Greek the root word behind supplication means to beg. That’s remarkably un-elevated. We all know what begging is. But Paul doesn’t just tell us to beg when we pray. He says to beg… with gratitude.

So Paul is advising us that we ought to beg God, but to beg with good grace. Beg like begging toddlers, but with the gratitude of a beggar satisfied, and yet still begging intensely.

It’s an odd image, and one that I think Paul fully intends…

That’s where I start my conversation with Noah Snoke, but first a little bit about Noah:

Noah Snoke has been drawing since he was a kid, but only took it seriously during the senior year of high school. In the past few years he’s done portraits in various styles, from styles that range from fine art to cartoons and everything in between. He’s worked on multiple book covers and illustrations for apps and web pages. He has also released two full children’s book “Sterling’s Gift” and “My Buddy’s a Bear” which can be found on Amazon. When he’s not making art he’s probably off playing Volleyball.

This episode digs deeper into “deēsei meta eucharistia” (δεήσει μετὰ εὐχαριστίας meaning ‘begging with thanking’) in Philippians 4:6-7.

Philippians 4:6-7 - “Be careful for nothing; but in every thing by prayer and supplication (“begging”) with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God. And the peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall keep your hearts and minds through Christ Jesus.” (KJV)

Mentioned:

Noah Snoke’s Website

Sterling’s Gift - Noah Snoke

My Buddy’s a Bear - Noah Snoke

Calvin & Hobbes - Bill Watterson

“Out of Scale” (1951 Donald Duck Cartoon)

Bandersnatch - Diana Glyer

Jake Parker

John Singer Sargent

J.C. Leyendecker

N.C. Wyeth

Marco Bucci

My Links:

Bammerhab Site: www.bammerhab.com

Bammerhab Substack: bammerhab.substack.com

SDG Morgan’s Substack: sdgmorgan.substack.com

Thanks to:

• Aaron Woodard for Graphic Design

• Dave Allam of Allam House for advanced audio techniques: sound.allamhouse.com

• Bible Hub for Greek / Hebrew hypertext links

“You have not given me into the hands of the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.” (Ps. 31:8 - NIV)

The phrase “in a spacious place” is the Hebrew word: bammerhab.

Vengeance is arguably the number one trait of our times. It lives on all sides of the aisle, among old, young and rich and poor.

And it is antithetical to Christianity. But why?

This episode digs deeper into “ekdikesis” (ἐκδίκησις meaning ‘vengeance’) in Romans 12:19.

Romans 12:19 - “Do not take revenge, my dear friends, but leave room for God’s wrath, for it is written: “It is mine to avenge; I will repay,” says the Lord.” (NIV)

I’m very grateful to poet Olivia Oster for her two amazing poems that she shares with us at the end of this episode! Find more of her poetry here, and here.

Mentioned:

Olivia Oster - Poet

Francis Frangipane

Bait of Satan - John Bevere

My Links:

Bammerhab Site: www.bammerhab.com

Bammerhab Substack: bammerhab.substack.com

SDG Morgan’s Substack: sdgmorgan.substack.com

Thanks to:

• Aaron Woodard for Graphic Design

• Dave Allam of Allam House for advanced audio techniques: sound.allamhouse.com

• Bible Hub for Greek / Hebrew hypertext links

“You have not given me into the hands of the enemy but have set my feet in a spacious place.” (Ps. 31:8 - NIV)

The phrase “in a spacious place” is the Hebrew word: bammerhab.

[Continuing last week’s conversation with Chase Replogle about how pride is connected to offense.]

When Jesus said that the last shall be first and the first shall be last, the concept of ga’on is certainly implied. The “first” would be the proud, those characterized by ga’on. Ga’on is for those who are exalted, those who grow, those who are lifted up, those who rise up.

But isn’t that a goal we all have? We aim to prosper at what we do. So why is ga’on a danger? Why does it make us so susceptible to fall?

Well, pride is a major issue of mine. I’ve been convicted of it before by the Spirit and convicted of it recently by C.S. Lewis’ amazing chapter on it in Mere Christianity. In it, Lewis says that most everyone thinks of pride as a virtue for themselves. However, they are disgusted by pride in others!

But the truth is that pride is the only sin that can hit anyone, anywhere at any time.

And I’m grateful to Chase Replogle for his conversation about this topic from his excellent book 5 Masculine Instincts.

This episode digs deeper into “ga’ōn” (גָּא֑וֹן meaning ‘pride’) in Proverbs 16:18.

Proverbs 16:18 - “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.” (NIV)

Mentioned:

Chase Replogle - www.chasereplogle.com

The 5 Masculine Instincts - Chase Replogle

A Sharp Compassion - Chase Replogle

“Pastor Writer” Podcast - Chase Replogle

Mere Christianity - C.S. Lewis

Dead Sea Scrolls at Museum of the Bible (Nov. 22, 2025 - Sept. 7, 2026)

My Links:

Bammerhab Site: www.bammerhab.com

Bammerhab Substack: bammerhab.substack.com

SDG Morgan’s Substack: sdgmorgan.substack.com

Thanks to:

• Aaron Woodard for Graphic Design

• Dave Allam of Allam House for advanced audio techniques: sound.allamhouse.com

• Bible Hub for Greek / Hebrew hypertext links