Bible News Prophecy with Dr Bob Thiel

Continuing Church of God 62

Why Prepping Plans Fail and Real Biblical Preparation for the Great Tribulation with Dr. Bob Thiel

Dr. Bob Thiel joins host Steve Dupuis to argue that popular prepping plans are biblically unrealistic, and lays out the watching, praying, and gathering together that Jesus and the prophet Zephaniah command Philadelphian Christians to do before the Great Tribulation.

Are Prepping Plans Realistic?

Steve Dupuis opens the Bible News Prophecy program by asking Dr. Bob Thiel whether most prepping plans people rely on today are realistic. Thiel says no, citing an article claiming that typical prepping plans assume a healthy, young, single person able to handle physical hardship, when in reality most American households include elderly parents, young children, people on medications, and other vulnerable members that government plans do not adequately account for, especially once electricity fails. He stresses this is not a rare situation but ordinary American life, meaning most people's prepping assumptions are already flawed. Thiel distinguishes between real, biblically sound preparation and fake or false prepping, warning that the coming crisis facing the United States will be far worse than most preppers and commentators currently expect, setting up a discussion of what scripture actually says believers should do to prepare for tribulation ahead.

Tribulation Worse Than Ever Before

Asked how bad conditions will get, Thiel answers 'worse than it's ever been,' quoting Jesus in Matthew 24:21 that there will be great tribulation unlike anything since the world began, so severe that no flesh would survive were the days not shortened. He explains that many Americans, rather than dying, will become slaves, and that others fleeing to bunkers in the mountains, as described in Amos 3, will not find lasting safety either. Thiel reads from Lamentations, where Jeremiah describes enemies pursuing survivors even into the mountains and lying in wait for them in the wilderness, arguing that physical hiding places will fail because pursuers will track people down. He concludes that hiding in the mountains might protect a few people only temporarily, making that style of prepping biblically unsound, and reframes the real question as what scripture instructs people to do instead of relying on bunkers and supplies.

Watch And Pray, Jesus Says

Dupuis asks how listeners should actually prepare for what is coming, and Thiel turns to Luke 21:36, where Jesus instructs followers to watch and pray always so they may be counted worthy to escape the events to come and stand before the Son of Man. He then reads Revelation 3, verses 7 through 10, where Jesus addresses the church of Philadelphia, commending its work, setting an open door before it, and promising to keep it from the hour of trial coming upon the whole world to test its inhabitants. Thiel explains that Jesus specifically limits this promise of protection to Philadelphian Christians who have kept his command to persevere, meaning that physical safety from the coming trial depends on spiritual faithfulness rather than supplies or geography. Dupuis presses further, asking whether there is any other kind of Christian besides Philadelphian, opening the way for Thiel to describe the different types Revelation names.

Philadelphian And Laodicean Christians

Thiel answers that while there are false Christians, genuine believers fall into seven types named in Revelation, and he says Jesus indicates most end-time Christians will be Laodicean rather than Philadelphian. He reads Revelation 12:14, where the woman representing the church is given eagle's wings to flee into the wilderness and be nourished for a time, times, and half a time, three and a half years, describing this as only part of the church. Verse 17, he says, describes a second group, 'the rest of her offspring' who keep God's commandments and hold the testimony of Jesus Christ, whom the dragon makes war against after failing to reach the fleeing woman. Thiel clarifies the wilderness is not heaven, since heaven is never called a wilderness, and says those hoping for divine protection need to heed the prophet Zephaniah's instructions, which Dupuis then asks him to explain in more detail.

Zephaniah's Call To Gather

Thiel reads Zephaniah's instruction for God's people to 'gather yourselves together, yes, gather together, O undesirable nation' before a coming decree is issued and before the day of the Lord's fierce anger, tying the timing to the start of the Great Tribulation. He connects this Old Testament command to Hebrews 10:23 in the God's Word Translation, which tells believers not to stop gathering together with other believers as some already are, and to 2 Thessalonians 2, where Paul urges the church not to be shaken into thinking the day of the Lord has already come while still stressing the need for the faithful to gather to Christ. Thiel reads Zephaniah 2:3's call to seek the Lord, seek righteousness, and seek humility, arguing this humility means accepting church authority under a prophet rather than remaining independent, and he notes that the old Worldwide Church of God taught in 1979 that this passage promised protection for the spiritually ready.

The Decree And Real Preparation

Dupuis asks who will issue the coming decree, and Thiel cites Amos 3:7, that the Lord does nothing without revealing it to his servants the prophets, suggesting a prophet may deliver or relay the decree, and he identifies the Continuing Church of God as the only group he believes represents the Philadelphian remnant able to do so. Thiel reads Jesus's warning in Matthew 24:15 about the abomination of desolation standing in the holy place as the decree's likely trigger, followed by instructions to flee Judea for the mountains without delay. For genuine preparation, he cites Proverbs 22:3 on the prudent man who foresees evil and hides himself, Matthew 24:43-44 on staying ready like a watchful servant, and Matthew 6 on trusting God to provide for those who seek his kingdom first. Thiel closes by insisting real prepping means gathering with the Philadelphian remnant, not stockpiling supplies or fleeing to bunkers, before Dupuis thanks him and points listeners to biblenewsprophecy.net.

One Voice with Dr Pastor Larry Montgomery

15 Providence of God.

Providence In The Storm: The Red Sea, The Cross, And A Father's Woodshed

Dr. Pastor Larry Montgomery preaches the fifteenth message in his series on the providence of God, tracing its mixture of good and hard moments from the parting of the Red Sea to the cross and resurrection, and closing with a personal story about discipline at his father's dinner table.

Opening the Fifteenth Providence Message

Dr. Pastor Larry Montgomery opens the service by telling the congregation that this is the fifteenth message in his series on the providence of God, and he says he is enjoying every minute of it. He thanks the people for coming and for listening, calling it a blessing to know that the God of glory is still on the throne. He tells the congregation that God's people need to wake up and recognize that God is in control, using the image of a pilot rather than a copilot to describe God's complete charge over their lives. He turns to Romans chapter eight, verse twenty-eight, a passage he says he has preached on repeatedly, including an unplanned eight-week series, and tells the congregation he intends to use it to open and close the message. He asks them to let the verse speak for itself rather than filtering it through assumptions.

Providence as a Mixture of Good and Bad

Montgomery explains that the providence of God is a mixture of good and bad, not a guarantee of constant ease. He tells the congregation that if life went smoothly all the time, they would not appreciate God, and that hard times are what drive people back to prayer. He describes God's ways of getting attention, from a gentle nudge on the shoulder to a word from a friend or a preacher, insisting that God will always find a way to remind his people that he is still God. He reminds the congregation that providence means God not only creates but continues to care for everything he has made, external and internal, from the sun and stars down to each individual person. He warns that forgetting this truth invites a reminder, and that questioning God in hard circumstances amounts to blaming him, a point he repeats for emphasis before moving into examples from scripture.

Creation and the Greater Act of Redemption

Turning to the wonder of creation, Montgomery tells the congregation that of everything God has made, mankind stands as the greatest work, visible even against the vastness that instruments like the Hubble Telescope and newer telescopes still cannot fully capture. He pauses on a fresh thought that strikes him in the moment: that the greatest thing God has ever done is not creation itself but the redemption of mankind. He describes salvation as God rescuing people from what he calls the slave market of sin, calling it the greatest act of a holy God. The congregation responds with amens as he links this redemptive theme back to providence, arguing that God's ongoing care did not stop at creation but extends into the deliberate work of saving his people, setting up the biblical examples of providence in action that follow.

The Red Sea and Pharaoh's Army

Montgomery walks the congregation through Exodus chapter fourteen, describing Israel trapped at the Red Sea with Pharaoh's army closing in behind them and no way forward. He describes the pillar of cloud moving from before Israel to stand between the two camps, becoming darkness to the Egyptians and light to the children of Israel. He notes that the people's shouting on the way out of Egypt had turned to pouting once they saw the sea, with no boat and no bridge to save them. He tells the congregation that God caused the sea to open with no help from the people themselves, letting Israel cross on dry ground before closing the waters over Pharaoh's pursuing army, since chariots and armored men do not float. The people who had been complaining the day before are shouting in celebration on the far shore, and Montgomery uses the scene to argue that God's providence is often clearest only after the crossing is complete.

The Cross, the Tomb, and the Resurrection

The sermon moves to the cross, Matthew chapter twenty-seven, as Montgomery asks the congregation to picture the Hill of the Skull with him. He describes disciples who had watched Jesus heal and raise the dead now watching him beaten beyond recognition, evoking the film The Passion of the Christ as an inadequate depiction of the brutality involved. He recounts Jesus speaking from the cross to his mother and to John before dying, and describes the disciples scattering as hope seems to die with him in the tomb behind a sealed stone. He then describes the third day, when the stone is rolled away and the tomb is found empty, framing the resurrection as providence breaking through apparent hopelessness. He closes the section with the two disciples walking to Emmaus, who fail to recognize the risen Jesus walking beside them until he reveals himself, after which they hurry back to Jerusalem to declare that he is alive.

A Father's Love in the Woodshed

Montgomery shifts to a personal story about growing up with his father Warren and his mother, who he affectionately calls a tattletale, at the family dinner table. He recalls the dread of hearing his mother say "Warren, Larry" before recounting a misdeed, followed by his father sending him for switches, a whipping over the potato bin, and the trick of biting a potato to keep from screaming. He describes his father afterward pulling him into his lap and saying "I love you," calling the hug worth the whipping. He applies the memory to the congregation's own hardships, naming a preacher friend, Brother Kenny, whose son was shot dead, and a grandson who died of a heart attack at thirty-three, insisting providence still holds even when understanding does not come in this life. He closes by describing God's providence as a mixture of wrath and love, chastening and lap-sitting, and invites the congregation to stand together.

The King Is Coming with Jeff Kinley

Revelation's Guide to Knowing God, Episode 2: John's Vision of the Throne of Heaven

Jeff Kinley continues his series Revelation's Guide to Knowing God with a study of John's vision of heaven in Revelation chapter 4, walking through the occupied throne of God, the twenty-four elders, and the four living creatures who cry that God is holy.

Opening Tease and a New Series

Jeff Kinley opens the broadcast by asking listeners whether they have ever wondered what the very first thing they will see is when they arrive in heaven, promising an answer later in the program. Before turning to that question, he circles back to a project he has already been discussing on The King Is Coming, his book As It Was in the Days of Noah, first published in 2014 and now updated with new chapters. He recalls that the book reached the top of Amazon's prophecy category and led to appearances on several national programs, and he argues its warnings about a coming global storm remain relevant today. Kinley then reminds listeners that the current teaching sits inside a larger series called Revelation's Guide to Knowing God, drawn from his book God's Grand Finale: Wrath, Grace, and Glory in Earth's Final Days, which surveys thirteen attributes of God revealed in the book of Revelation.

John's Invitation Through an Open Door

Turning to Revelation chapter 4, Kinley explains that immediately after Jesus finishes evaluating the seven churches, John sees a door standing open in heaven and hears a voice like a trumpet inviting him, come up here. He notes that this same phrase appears later in Revelation chapter 11, when the two witnesses are killed in Jerusalem and a voice calls their bodies up to heaven, and he says some readers have wondered whether similar words might be spoken at the rapture, while stressing that this cannot be confirmed. Kinley describes John as being in the spirit, caught up in a supernatural vision rather than a physical journey, and prepares listeners for what John sees first once he arrives. Rather than angels, streets of gold, or reunions with loved ones, Kinley says the very first thing that captures John's attention in heaven is a throne, and he treats that detail as significant enough to build the rest of the teaching around it.

An Occupied and Sovereign Throne

Kinley walks through Revelation 4:2, where John sees a throne standing in heaven with someone seated on it, and stresses that the throne is occupied rather than empty. He argues this detail shows that God's rule is established, immovable, and unshakable, quoting Psalm 115:3 that God does whatever he pleases and is not subject to the actions of nations, presidents, or laws. From this, Kinley draws a personal application, telling listeners that if the throne scene is true, then history, humanity, and individual lives carry meaning, purpose, and destiny because God is orchestrating events rather than leaving anything to chance. He describes this as one of the greatest comforts available to believers, the assurance that God remains in charge of a world that often looks chaotic and out of control. The throne, he says, is not just occupied but sovereign, and that sovereignty undergirds everything else John is about to witness in the vision.

A Throne Beyond Human Description

Kinley moves to Revelation 4:3, where John compares the figure on the throne to jasper and sardius stones surrounded by a rainbow with emerald tones, and he treats this as John's attempt to put an indescribable sight into human language. He explains jasper as a crystal-clear stone resembling diamond and sardius as a ruby-red stone, arguing that these images point to colors and hues in heaven that human eyes have never encountered. Kinley compares the moment to standing at the edge of an ocean and trying to take in its vastness, saying language simply fails when describing something this glorious. He notes that John repeatedly uses the word like, signaling that he is reaching for comparisons rather than exact descriptions, and he points to a similar vision in Ezekiel chapter 1. For Kinley, the passage illustrates that heaven's beauty and God's glory exceed anything the human mind can fully picture or contain.

Elders Enthroned Around God

Kinley then examines Revelation 4:4, where twenty-four elders sit on their own thrones around God's throne, dressed in white garments and wearing golden crowns. He argues that these details identify the elders as the bride of Christ rather than angels, since white garments describe the bride in Revelation 19 and Scripture never depicts angels wearing crowns. Because the elders already appear in heaven at this point in the vision, Kinley concludes that the church has been taken up after the evaluation of the seven churches but before the tribulation period begins. He connects their crowns and thrones to promises in Second Timothy and Romans that believers will one day reign with Christ as joint heirs. While the exact meaning of the number twenty-four remains uncertain, Kinley suggests it may signal completeness or wholeness. The elders, he says, surround the throne in a posture of homage, reinforcing that this is a throne worthy of deep respect.

Holiness, Worship, and Resting in God's Rule

Kinley closes by describing four living creatures covered in eyes who cry holy, holy, holy before the throne, and he explains that holiness at its root means being separate and set apart rather than merely sinless. He argues that God's transcendence, not just his perfection, is what these angelic beings are proclaiming, and he connects human access to that holiness to Christ's shed blood and Second Corinthians 5:21, describing believers as receiving an imputed righteousness they could not earn. Kinley walks through the elders casting their crowns before God's throne, calling it one of Revelation's fourteen worship scenes, and says the proper response to seeing God this way is worship rather than argument. He closes the teaching by urging listeners to rest in God's sovereignty regardless of surrounding chaos, repeating that the throne in heaven remains occupied and permanent. The broadcast ends with an appeal for prayerful financial support of World Prophetic Ministries and its outreach efforts.

Moga with Dr Peter Nortier

Sanctified By Faith: Regeneration, Mercy, and a Peculiar People

Dr. Peter Nortier preaches on the doctrine of sanctification, moving from Paul's testimony in Acts 26 through Titus, Hebrews, and Peter, and illustrating God's mercy with a Mississippi asylum conversion and a morning spent with Civil Air Patrol pilots running a search-and-rescue exercise.

Paul's Testimony Before King Agrippa

Dr. Peter Nortier opens the broadcast by asking the congregation to stand and turn to Acts chapter twenty-six, reading verses sixteen through thirty-three in full. The passage recounts the Apostle Paul's testimony before King Agrippa, describing his commission to open the eyes of the Gentiles and turn them from darkness to light, and his exchange with Festus and Agrippa, who tells Paul he is almost persuaded to be a Christian. Nortier reads through Agrippa's declaration that Paul could have been set free had he not appealed to Caesar. He then leads the congregation in prayer, asking God to open understanding, bless the hour, and glorify Himself through the message. Before beginning the sermon proper, Nortier corrects himself, noting he had misspoken the chapter and verse count, and identifies the day's subject as the doctrine of sanctification, pointing the congregation to verse eighteen as the key text for the message that follows.

Regeneration Explained As The New Birth

Nortier turns to the key verse, Acts twenty-six eighteen, which speaks of opening eyes, turning people from darkness to light, and giving forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those sanctified by faith. He explains that regeneration, salvation, and the new birth all describe the same mysterious work, comparing it to conception, since a person does not know regeneration has happened until the results appear. He tells listeners that age does not matter, saying a six-year-old is old enough to be saved and a sixty-year-old should have been saved long ago. Turning to Titus chapter three, verses five through seven, he reads that God saves not by works of righteousness but by his mercy, through the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, so that believers are justified by grace and made heirs of eternal life. He stresses that only God, never a person, can regenerate a heart.

A Pure Heart And An Obliterated Past

The sermon moves to Hebrews chapter ten, verse twenty-two, where believers are described as drawing near with a true heart, having their hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience. Nortier explains that conviction opens every closet of the heart and exposes hidden guilt, and that if God does not save a person under such conviction, the weight of it can drive someone to breakdown. He illustrates this with a story from Hattiesburg, Mississippi, about a man whose family committed him to an insane asylum during deep conviction, where he read his Bible, was saved, and later refused to leave because his relatives, not he, needed correcting. Nortier likens the account to the Philippian jailer. He then describes salvation as an obliteration of sin, borrowing the image of an ancient wax debt tablet melted clean, and reads Isaiah thirty-eight, verse seventeen, on God casting sins behind His back so that He will never look on them again.

Blinded Minds And A Rescue Mission

Nortier explains a second aspect of regeneration, a purifying of the understanding so believers are no longer blinded by Satan, citing First Corinthians chapter two, verse fourteen, that the natural man cannot receive spiritual things, and Second Corinthians chapter four, verses three and four, on the god of this world blinding unbelieving minds. He notes that education alone never guarantees knowledge of the Bible, recalling a preacher with only a third-grade education who outknew seminary graduates, and points to Paul's own blindness before Damascus as proof only God can open a closed mind. Turning to First John chapter two, verses fifteen through seventeen, he warns against loving the world. He then recounts preaching that morning in Hot Springs to Civil Air Patrol pilots and aircrew running a search-and-rescue exercise for a missing flier, telling the airmen the Bible is full of God's own search-and-rescue missions, citing David's recovery of all in First Samuel, and reporting that several men responded with visible gratitude.

The Privileges Of Sanctification

Returning to the text's promise of being sanctified by faith, Nortier outlines several aspects of sanctification. From First Peter chapter two, verses nine and ten, he describes believers as a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, and a peculiar people, calling this a position of honor to which God has appointed His people and a state of purity purchased by Christ. From Second Peter chapter one, verse four, he adds an enduement given by the Holy Spirit, making believers partakers of the divine nature, and criticizes preachers and modernists who claim everyone already carries a piece of God within them. Turning to Philippians chapter three, verses ten through fourteen, he presents a standard of moral purity to aim at, quoting Paul's determination to press toward the mark for the prize of the high calling in Christ Jesus, and urges listeners not to dwell on past sin, citing Lamentations on mercies being new every morning.

Faith As The Instrument Of Sanctification

In closing, Nortier defines faith as the true instrument of sanctification, distinct from mere fleshly confidence, using an illustration from a Wednesday Bible study where a congregation trusted a bench's strength without ever testing it. He describes faith as the eye that perceives God's gracious provisions, the hand that appropriates them, and the mouth that receives what God has stored up for His people, again citing First Peter chapter two on being chosen and called out of darkness. He explains that the word peculiar means God has drawn a circle around His people and claimed them as His own, rejecting the notion that peculiarity means outdated dress or appearance. He states the threefold purpose of every person as knowing God, enjoying Him, and glorifying Him forever, and warns that Satan will try to destroy believers' confidence and joy. The broadcast ends with Nortier leading the congregation in a closing prayer asking God to strengthen believers and save the lost.

LaGrave Live

The Book of Romans | 8:40 am (EDT) 9-13-26

About The Service:

Pastor Jonker will begin the fall sermon series on Romans, beginning with Romans 1: 1-17. We will celebrate communion.

Order of Worship:

https://lagrave.org/wp-content/uploads/2026-9-13-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)

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Connection: https://www.lagrave.org/contact

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Righteousness From Above: Launching a Fall Sermon Series on Romans

At LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church, Reverend Peter Jonker opens a fall sermon series on the book of Romans, using Paul's opening chapter and Martin Luther's own struggle to show that the righteousness of God is a gift that comes down to sinners rather than a mountain they must climb, in a service that also includes a children's message on manna and the Lord's Supper.

Opening Worship And Call To Confession

The 8:40 service opens with an organ prelude, tolling bells, and the congregation singing From All That Dwell Below the Skies and Praise the Lord! O My Soul, Rejoice!, led by two soloists and the full choir. Pastor Kristi Mannion welcomes worshippers back to LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church's fall rhythm of 8:40 and 11:00 services, invites everyone to a Ministry Celebration in the multipurpose room after the service, and announces the start of a new fall sermon series through the book of Romans. She reads Psalm 139's words about being searched and known by God, then leads the congregation in a shared prayer of confession asking to be freed from an unchangeable past and opened to a future of transformation. She closes with words of assurance from Romans 8, reminding worshippers that neither hardship nor any power in creation can separate believers from the love of God in Christ Jesus, before the congregation sings Nearer, Still Nearer.

Children's Message: Manna For The Journey

Reverend Peter Jonker calls the children forward for the message before the Lord's Supper, joking about how early it feels to be up for the 8:40 service before welcoming a large group down front. He retells the story of the Israelites freed from slavery in Egypt and marching through the desert toward the promised land, a place with no food of its own, and how God fed them every morning with manna, a bread-like substance gathered fresh each day. He tells the children that although Michigan has plenty of food and water, people's hearts still grow tired, sad, or worn out, and that the Lord's Supper works like manna for the soul, feeding and strengthening hearts the way manna once fed hungry travelers in the wilderness. He says he hopes the children will one day eat this food with the rest of the congregation, then sends them back to their seats with the blessing The Lord be with you.

Prayers, Announcements, And Global Concerns

Pastor Kristi Mannion returns with two pastoral notes: a bulletin misprint wrongly named Cindy Smith as having emergency knee surgery when it was actually Elaine Smith, and an update that Dan Beimers remains hospitalized at Corewell Butterworth with ongoing infection complications after cancer treatment. She leads the congregation in a long pastoral prayer giving thanks for daily provision and naming the spiritual hunger for goodness and wholeness that only God can meet. The prayer turns to the twenty-fifth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the Twin Towers and the Pentagon, asking that the congregation trust God's security rather than fallible human structures. She prays for men of the church on retreat up north, for missionaries Michael Huizington in Zambia and Tim and Tammy Holwerda in Cairo, Egypt, and for church members Elaine Smith, Dan and Carol Beimers, Kelsey Canton, and Ron Shoemaker who are recovering or receiving therapy, closing in Jesus' name before the choir sings an anthem.

Launching The Book Of Romans

Reverend Peter Jonker reads Romans 1:1-17 and announces an ambitious new sermon series that will carry the congregation through the book of Romans from now until the Sunday before Thanksgiving. He notes that even the apostle Peter, in 2 Peter 3, admitted that Paul's letters contain things hard to understand, joking that Peter must have just finished reading Romans when he wrote it. Still, Jonker insists the rewards of wrestling with the book are enormous, pointing to how it reshaped the lives and missions of Augustine, John Wesley, and especially Martin Luther throughout church history. He reads the passage aloud, highlighting how Paul greets Jews and Gentiles in the preamble before pivoting at verses 16 and 17 to what scholars call the theme statement of the entire letter: that the gospel is the power of God for salvation because in it the righteousness of God is revealed, a righteousness that comes by faith from first to last.

Luther's Flip: Righteousness That Comes Down

Jonker unpacks why Paul's announcement of the righteousness of God struck Martin Luther as anything but good news. He quotes Luther's own words describing how, though an outwardly impeccable monk, he stood before God feeling like a sinner and came to hate rather than love a God whose justice hung over him like an unreachable mountain. Jonker compares this to Isaiah's terror before God's holiness in Isaiah 6. He then argues that righteousness is not a churchy abstraction but an everyday pursuit, the thing people mean when they say they need to get right by exercising, working, or fixing their finances. The turning point, Jonker explains, came when Luther realized he had the direction backward: the righteousness of God is not a peak believers must climb but a gift that comes down to them in Christ, who stood beside sinners at gravesides, touched desperate crowds, and shed his blood on the cross so that people could be washed clean and made new.

Closing Stories And The Lord's Supper

Jonker closes the sermon with two stories about receiving grace rather than earning it. He describes a wordless gesture his colleague Kristi Mannion makes whenever someone shares hard news, a small lifting of the hands he reads as trusting God's mercy without needing to fix everything. He then recalls Christian activist Dorothy Day telling psychologist Robert Coles that she abandoned her memoirs after writing only the title, because thinking of Jesus's visit to the world left her needing to write nothing more. The congregation then moves into the Lord's Supper, with Jonker and Kristi Mannion leading the traditional liturgy of thanksgiving, the Lord's Prayer, and the words of institution over bread and cup. Jonker tells worshippers that in this bread the righteousness of God comes down to them for the complete forgiveness of sins, and the congregation shares communion through several hymns before Jonker pronounces the closing blessing of grace, love, and fellowship over the gathered church.

Sons of Liberty Radio with Bradlee Dean

Believe the Prophets and You Will Be Established

Bradlee Dean opens Sons of Liberty with an extended Sunday teaching on believing the biblical prophets, moving from his own testimony as a former rock drummer to warnings about crime, September 11, Elon Musk, and America's mosque count, before taking calls from Frederick in Massachusetts and Bob in Texas.

Praise, Worship, and the Prophet's Promise

Bradlee Dean opens the Sunday service a little early, noting technical delays getting the stream onto Rumble, and settles into a long stretch of praise and worship while he waits for what he calls his 'church family' to arrive online. Between songs including a heavy metal arrangement of 'Holy, Holy, Holy' and a ballad called 'By and By,' he introduces the day's theme: the necessity of believing the prophets. He cites 2 Chronicles 20:20's promise that believing the prophets brings establishment, stressing that belief is an action, not mere profession. Quoting reformer Martin Luther's description of himself as 'rough, boisterous, stormy, and altogether warlike,' Dean argues the church needs bold, prophetic voices rather than the 'cessationists' who claim the gifts of prophecy ended with the apostles. He contrasts real prophets, who confront sin, with false prophets who tell people what they want to hear, citing Micah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel on preachers who cry 'peace, peace' while war is coming.

Matthew 7 and the Marks of a Prophet

Working verse by verse through Matthew 7, Dean lingers on Jesus's warning that the gate to life is 'strait' and the way 'narrow,' and that immediately afterward comes the command to 'beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.' He argues most American churches have removed the apostle and the prophet from their structure because congregations dislike being told to reform, and imagines John the Baptist, camel-hair girdle and all, being ostracized by modern pulpits rather than heeded. He revisits Elijah's confrontation with the prophets of Baal and stresses that believers are not saved by 'making a decision for Jesus' or an altar call, phrases he says cannot be found in scripture. Dean also insists that what people call a 'relationship' with the Lord is better described, biblically, as a union, citing what he calls John 17's language of abiding in the vine as proof the connection goes deeper than fellowship between two separate parties.

From Rock and Roll to the Pulpit

Dean turns personal, recalling his years as a drummer in a rock band on the verge of a record deal, working out of a venue he calls the Iron Horse and preparing to relocate from Minneapolis to Las Vegas, before he says the Lord pulled him out 'like a lasso.' Entering church life afterward, he expected transformed lives and instead found what he calls the leaven of the Pharisees: smiling pastors who deflected scriptural questions by saying 'we just don't do things like that anymore.' A stint broadcasting on Christian radio led a station manager to move him into conservative talk, where he says he found the same pattern, political listeners who could recite talking points but had never read the founding documents. He illustrates this with a story from a South Dakota event where a sitting state senator, seated in the front row, admitted to him on the spot that she had never read the Constitution despite six years in office.

Crime, Judgment, and an Unrepentant Nation

Turning to what he calls the fruit of a nation that no longer fears God, Dean cites the country's roughly sixty-four-billion-dollar prison system and its high incarceration rate as evidence the justice system tolerates rather than deters crime. He recounts, without naming her, a woman he says poisoned her father, stepmother, husband, and eventually a boyfriend and a pastor across the 1980s, evading suspicion each time until she was caught, and who he says remains on death row at ninety years old roughly forty years later. He pairs this with an account of two fourteen-year-old friends, one raped for hours and later stabbed and drowned, the other forced to watch before being killed, at the hands of a man he says had already been indicted more than 130 times. Dean argues such repeat offenses are only possible because the country stopped enforcing the statutes still on its books, and calls the leniency shown to career criminals a judgment the nation is bringing upon itself.

September 11, Jeremiah, and Modern Villains

Noting that the broadcast falls two days after the anniversary of September 11, Dean reads Jeremiah 6:29's image of a refiner's fire and bellows failing to separate lead from silver, applying it to a nation whose judgments have produced no repentance. He names Jake Lang and Nick Fuentes as what he calls paid provocateurs stirring conflict between Christians and Muslims in New York, and cites a claim that mosques in America grew from twenty in 1966 to more than three thousand today, arguing elected officials allowed the growth through what he calls treason. He turns to Elon Musk, alleging without offering documentation that Musk and his mother practice Satanism even as Musk is publicly cast as a defender of free speech for suing Minnesota over an AI child pornography law. Dean closes the segment questioning a proposed five-thousand-dollar payment to voters, calling it a bribe with the public's own money and citing a rise in the national debt he attributes to broken promises from the current administration.

Callers Frederick and Bob Close the Hour

With the phone lines open, a caller named Frederick, introduced as being from Massachusetts, connects Dean's account of Jerusalem's fall in AD 70 to the principle of reaping what is sown, and asks whether the story came from the historian Josephus; Dean says he drew it instead from Foxe's Book of Martyrs. A second caller, Bob, calling from Texas, asks Dean to unpack 2 Corinthians 3:6 on the letter and the spirit, then pushes his own argument that the Declaration of Independence's opening lines, not the Bill of Rights, represent America's true covenant with God. Dean answers that citizens never lost their constitutional rights and do not need to petition for what was never taken away, while agreeing that officials swear oaths on the Bible they routinely ignore. Closing the broadcast, Dean thanks both callers, reminds listeners the ministry runs without corporate sponsors, gives the mailing address for the Sons of Liberty in Annandale, Minnesota, and mentions an upcoming appearance at the Princeton Civic Center before signing off.

LaGrave Live

The Strange Exorcist | 6:00 pm (EDT) Worship Service 9-13-26

About The Service:

Pastor Jonker will preach.

Order of Worship:

https://lagrave.org/wp-content/uploads/2026-9-13-PM-Order-of-Worship.pdf

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The Strange Exorcist: Suspicion, the Inner Ring, and the Wideness of God's Grace

In an evening service at LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church, Reverend Peter Jonker preaches on Mark 9's odd little story of a nameless exorcist casting out demons in Jesus' name, using C.S. Lewis's idea of "the Inner Ring" to challenge pride, exclusivity, and suspicion toward God's work happening beyond the church's own circle.

Opening Worship And The Good Shepherd

The evening service opens with an organ prelude and tolling church bells before Reverend Peter Jonker leads the call to worship, reading verses from Psalm 61 that ask God to lead the weary to "the rock that is higher than I." The congregation answers by singing We Praise You, O God, Our Redeemer, Creator. Jonker greets everyone gathered at LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church, describing God as a God of high standards and infinite love, and welcomes both longtime members and visitors to the service. For the evening's reading he turns to John 10, where Jesus calls himself the good shepherd who lays down his life for the sheep and who says he has "other sheep that are not of this pen," a line Jonker highlights to show that Christ's love reaches far beyond the disciples gathered around him in Jerusalem. The congregation responds by singing The King of Love My Shepherd Is.

Confessing Our World Belongs To God

After the reading, Jonker calls the congregation to rise together and recite the contemporary testimony Our World Belongs to God, declaring with joy and trust that God keeps covenant forever through every crisis of the age. The congregation answers in unison, proclaiming that Christ is victor, his rule has begun, and the Spirit is at work renewing creation. Jonker leads a second stanza renouncing the works of darkness and dedicating the church to holy living, and the congregation responds as covenant partners set free for joyful obedience, offering hearts and lives to God's work in the world while confessing tempered impatience for the day injustice ends. The confession closes with the congregation affirming confidence that the light shining in the present darkness will fill the earth when Christ appears, and calling out, "Come, Lord Jesus, our world belongs to you." The service continues with the congregation singing Sing Praise to God Who Reigns Above.

A Potter And Clay Prayer

Jonker leads a long pastoral prayer built around the image of God as potter and the church as clay, asking that whatever is rigid or hard-hearted in individuals and in the congregation be softened and molded to God's will as a new church year begins. He prays for the Formation Committee, the Pastoral Care Ministries, youth ministries launching that day, and the fellowship and music ministries, and asks for the Spirit's guidance as leaders discern what to do with the building next door following the recent fire. He names members needing comfort by name: Dan Beemers, hospitalized again with cancer, and his wife Carol; Kelsey Cantin, continuing rehabilitation at Mary Free Bed under her father Dick's care; Elaine Smith, recovering from emergency knee replacement surgery; and Ron Shoemaker, in therapy in Hudsonville. He prays for men on an adventure weekend, for missionary Michael Huizinga training leaders in Zimbabwe, and for the Arnolds and Setzma families as they prepare to say goodbye to Joanne. The congregation sings Have Thine Own Way, Lord.

Mark 9 And The Strange Exorcist

Jonker reads Mark 9:38-41, a short episode in which the disciple John tells Jesus that the disciples stopped a man from driving out demons in Jesus' name because "he was not one of us," and Jesus responds that whoever is not against them is for them. Jonker retells the scene as a vivid, almost comic story: Peter, John, and Bartholomew are eating lunch in the market while Jesus and the other disciples are away, when they hear a stranger's voice commanding a demon to come out in Jesus' name. They rush to investigate and find a young man they have never met kneeling over a convulsing person, who suddenly falls still and peaceful. John, channeling what Jonker calls "his best Sergeant O'Leary or maybe his best Barney Fife," interrogates the stranger about whether Jesus called or authorized him, and on learning he has never even met Jesus, shuts the crowd down and sends the man away, later reporting proudly to Jesus that the disciples stopped an outsider from working in his name.

Pride, Exclusivity, And The Inner Ring

Jonker asks what really motivated the disciples to shut the stranger down, suggesting two likely reasons even though the text itself stays silent. The first is wounded pride, since just nine verses earlier the disciples had publicly failed at their own attempt to cast out a demon and needed Jesus to rescue them, so watching an unknown man succeed may have stung. The second, which the text hints at directly, is exclusivity: John's stated reason is not that the man rejected Jesus but that "he was not one of us." Jonker connects this to C.S. Lewis's 1944 essay The Inner Ring, which describes tight-knit communities built not on shared goals but on pride of belonging and contempt for outsiders. He offers everyday parallels: a high school coach who rallies players using an opposing team's trash talk, a clique of middle school girls who bond mainly by mocking everyone else on the playground, and a preacher who wins applause by mocking contemporary worship styles rather than genuinely discipling the congregation.

God At Work Beyond The Circle

Jesus's rebuke, Jonker argues, replaces an ethos of suspicion with one of hope, insisting his Father's power is not confined to the twelve and that even a stranger's cup of water offered in his name will be blessed. Jonker balances this openness with scripture's real warnings against worldliness, citing Romans 12 and the Dutch theologian and former prime minister Abraham Kuyper, who spoke of an "antithesis" between belief and unbelief even while insisting that "every square inch of creation" belongs to Christ. He points to Paul in Philippians rejoicing that the gospel is preached even by rivals with mixed motives, and to the persistent, illogical commitment many atheists show to kindness and justice as evidence of what Reformed theology calls common grace, God's Spirit quietly at work even where it is denied. Jonker closes urging the congregation to be discerning without becoming cynical or contemptuous, describing a world charged with Christ's presence in "ten thousand places," before offering a closing blessing that sends worshippers into the week with faith, hope, and love rather than fear.

Tony Alamo

Sermon 766A

Revelation's Kingdoms, the Woman and the Dragon, and a Call to Salvation in Program 766

Tony Alamo continues his verse-by-verse walk through the Book of Revelation, reading of the kingdoms of the world becoming Christ's kingdom, the woman clothed with the sun, and the great red dragon, before leading listeners in a spoken salvation prayer.

Opening Prayer and Program Introduction

A recorded announcer opens the broadcast for Help from Christ Ministries, inviting listeners who feel inspired to write in. Tony Alamo takes over, identifying himself as world pastor and naming the program number seven hundred sixty-six, part of an ongoing series moving straight through the Book of Revelation. He tells listeners that co-host Sharon will explain near the end of the hour how to request a free copy on CD or audio tape, postage included. Alamo leads an opening prayer asking God for a bigger anointing on the broadcast, for listeners' hearts to receive the Bible's symbolic language the way a small child receives things from a trusted parent, and for every demonic spirit fighting against people's spirits to be rebuked and destroyed. He prays for souls to be saved and the church strengthened, closing in Jesus' name, and the congregation answers with an audible amen.

A Recorded Hymn of His Own

Once the prayer ends, Tony Alamo tells the room that mankind is not nearly as benevolent toward one another as God is, then introduces a song he recorded some time earlier, Where Man's Love Stops Is Where God's Begins. The broadcast plays the full recording, several minutes of Alamo's own performance, before he returns to the microphone praising the Lord and turning to teaching. He tells listeners it is good to know the Bible because knowing the word means knowing Jesus, since Jesus is the word made flesh, citing the opening of the Gospel of John that in the beginning was the word, and the word was with God, and the word became flesh. He says seeing God react in human flesh shows believers how to act when they carry the power of God within them, setting up the chapter-by-chapter walk through Revelation that follows for the rest of the hour.

Revelation Eleven and the Kingdoms Made His

Alamo moves into chapter eleven of Revelation, reading that the second woe is past and the third woe comes quickly, and reminding listeners the Lord promised to shorten the tribulation because no one could endure it otherwise. He reads that the seventh angel sounds and voices in heaven declare the kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ, insisting this proves the world does not belong to Satan and that believers who are Christ's will reign forever. He continues through the twenty-four elders falling on their faces to worship, thanking God for taking his great power and reigning over everything, and reads that the nations are angry because two witnesses of God were killed and have since risen and ascended into heaven before onlookers. He reads on to God's wrath arriving, the time for the dead to be judged, and reward promised to the prophets and saints, alongside a passage in which Alamo sharply condemns politicians and world leaders as destroyers of the earth.

The Woman, the Dragon, and the Crown

Alamo turns to chapter twelve and its vision of a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, the moon under her feet, and a crown of twelve stars on her head. He explains the woman as the body of Christ, true spiritual Israel, insisting not every Jew is Israel but only those who fear God's name and keep his commandments, and identifies the twelve stars as the twelve tribes. He reads that she cries out in labor, applying the pain of childbirth to the persecution believers face every time they lead someone to the Lord, and tells listeners that soul winners have more children than parents ever do. He then reads of a great red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven crowns, naming it Satan, whose tail sweeps a third of heaven's stars to earth and who stands before the woman ready to devour her newborn child, which Alamo says represents Satan trying to corrupt believers the moment they are born again with pride.

Submission, Pride, and the Antichrist

Alamo reads First Peter chapter five, telling younger believers to submit to the elder who leads the church, naming himself as that teacher, and to be clothed with humility since pride is a sin unto death. He turns to Second Thessalonians chapter two, describing the antichrist as one who exalts himself above everything called God and sits in the temple of God, which Alamo says means the human heart itself, since pride gives Satan an easy foothold in every person. He shares a personal aside, recalling the Lord once telling him it is good for his ego that someone named Susie is smarter than him, admitting he had not realized he carried pride at all. When he asks the congregation what such pride and ego amount to, a voice calls back blasphemy, and Alamo repeats the word in agreement. Reading Revelation thirteen, verses three through five, he identifies the beast's head wounded to death as the Roman Catholic Church and repeats his warning against political and government leaders, calling them destroyers doing Satan's work on earth.

Salvation Prayer and Closing Information

Alamo tells listeners that being born again is required to enter heaven, since all have sinned and fallen short of God's glory, and leads them through a spoken salvation prayer confessing belief that Jesus Christ is the Son of the living God, that he died and rose again, and inviting him into the heart to wash away sin. He tells anyone who prayed along that they can know their prayer was heard and answered, and asks them to raise their hands and thank the Lord for saving their souls. He then turns to Sharon, who tells the audience how to request a free copy of program seven hundred sixty-six, giving the ministry's website, an email address, a Hollywood, California post office box, and a phone number. Alamo closes by identifying himself once more as world pastor Tony Alamo, promising more from the Book of Revelation the next day, and blessing listeners. A recorded announcer returns to close the broadcast, repeating Help from Christ Ministries' phone number and email for listener responses.

The True History of Our Galactic World and NESARA with Tara Green and Rama Arjuna

Bible News Prophecy with Dr Bob Thiel

Can the Jews Build a Holy Temple? Christians as God's Temple with Dr. Bob Thiel

Dr. Bob Thiel joins host Steve Dupuis to examine a Temple Institute newsletter calling for a rebuilt Jewish temple, then walks through Old and New Testament scripture to argue that Christians, not a physical building, are now God's holy temple.

Temple Institute Calls For A New Temple

Steve Dupuis opens the Bible News Prophecy program by asking Dr. Bob Thiel whether any Jewish groups actively want to build a temple today. Thiel answers that several do, singling out the Temple Institute, whose newsletter went out the day before under the heading 'The Place Hashem Your God Will Choose.' He reads the newsletter's quotation of Deuteronomy 12:5-7, instructing Israel to bring burnt offerings, sacrifices, tithes, and freewill offerings to the place God chooses, and its claim that Moses is introducing 'the future Holy Temple' that would replace the tabernacle. Thiel notes that sacrifices in that passage were carried out for centuries without any temple standing. He adds that the newsletter closes with an appeal for donations to 'rebuild the Holy Temple in our time,' framing the modern push for a temple as both a religious conviction and a fundraising cause among certain observant Jewish organizations.

A History Of Israel's Two Temples

Thiel traces the history behind that appeal. About four hundred years after Deuteronomy, King David wanted to build God a great temple in Jerusalem, but God told him no and promised the honor to his son instead, and Solomon built what is called the First Temple, destroyed in 586 BC by the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar. A new temple began under King Cyrus's decree around 538 BC and was finished by 516 BC, and roughly five hundred years later Herod the Great expanded it into an impressive structure. Thiel reads Matthew 24, where Jesus's disciples show him the temple buildings and Jesus responds that not one stone will be left upon another. That destruction came at the hands of General Titus in 70 AD, an event the Jewish historian Josephus witnessed and described as complete. Early second-century Jews discussed rebuilding, Thiel notes, but nothing came of it, leaving Jerusalem without a temple for nearly two thousand years.

Christians As The True Temple Of God

Asked directly whether Jews can build a holy temple in this age, Thiel answers simply, 'No.' Dupuis recalls that Christians are called the temple of God and asks whether they represent that temple in the end times. Thiel says yes, first pointing to Daniel 12:7, where a heavenly figure swears the end will come after 'a time, times, and half a time,' the three-and-a-half-year period Thiel identifies with the Great Tribulation and the Day of the Lord, insisting the holy people described there are not unconverted Jews. He then introduces a word study, explaining that the New Testament uses two different Greek words translated 'temple' in English: naos and hieron. Thiel says naos is the word the apostle Paul used after Jesus's resurrection to describe something other than a physical Jewish building, setting up scripture showing that the naos, God's true temple, now refers to Christians rather than to Jewish people or any Jewish structure.

Paul's Letters On The Body As Temple

Thiel reads a string of Pauline passages to build his case. In 1 Corinthians 6:19 Paul asks believers whether they know their body is 'the temple of the Holy Ghost,' and in 1 Corinthians 3:16-17 he warns that anyone who defiles 'the temple of God,' which believers themselves are, will be destroyed by God. In 2 Corinthians 6:16, Paul contrasts the naos of God with idols, quoting God's promise to 'dwell with them and walk among them.' Thiel then turns to John 2:19-21, where Jesus tells the Jews, 'Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up,' and the Gospel clarifies that Jesus 'spoke of the temple of his body,' the first New Testament use of naos for something other than a physical Jewish building. Thiel adds Ephesians 2:19-22, where Paul describes Christians as fellow citizens 'built together for a habitation of God,' and cites an old Church of God publication using the same imagery of believers 'growing unto a holy temple in the Lord.'

Sacrifices Are Possible Without A Temple

Dupuis asks whether Daniel's prophesied animal sacrifices before the Great Tribulation require a temple. Thiel says no, explaining that Jews only need an altar, a high priest, sacrificial implements, and willingness, all of which certain groups already have. He notes that before Solomon built the First Temple, Jews sacrificed for centuries on altars alone, citing David in 2 Samuel 24, Aaron's descendants in Exodus and Leviticus, and earlier still Abel, Noah, and Abraham in Genesis. Thiel reads Ezra 3:6, showing that returning exiles resumed burnt offerings 'from the first day of the seventh month' even though 'the foundation of the temple of the Lord was not yet laid.' He reports speaking directly with leaders of the Temple Institute and the Reconstituted Sanhedrin, both of whom told him no temple is required to sacrifice, only government permission, which they are simply waiting to receive. Thiel concludes that while Jews may eventually build some sacrificial structure, they remain incapable of building a temple God would consider holy.

The Abomination Of Desolation Reconsidered

Finally, Dupuis asks whether the abomination of desolation Jesus described takes place in a Jewish temple. Thiel says no, reading Matthew 24:15, where Jesus warns of 'the abomination of desolation... standing in the holy place' and adds, 'whoever reads, let him understand.' Thiel argues Jesus never called that holy place a Jewish temple; it could be the first Christian building in Jerusalem or another site entirely. He points to Acts 7:33 and 21:28, which use the same Greek terms, topos and hagios, for a location rather than a structure, and says many Protestants and members of the Churches of God, including his former one, miss this distinction and wrongly expect a rebuilt Jewish temple. Thiel closes by insisting Christians, not any Jewish building, are God's holy people and holy place in this age. Dupuis thanks Thiel and directs listeners to biblenewsprophecy.net for more interviews and articles, closing out the Bible News Prophecy program.