The Berean Files

Jared Madden returns to The Berean Files—but this time, we’re putting Lutheranism itself under the microscope.

After moving away from evangelicalism and toward Lutheran theology, Jared lays out what drew him to the tradition and why he believes it offers a more historical and biblical expression of Christianity. But that opens up some big questions.

Does baptism actually save? Can salvation be lost? What does it mean to receive grace through a sacrament? Is Christ literally present in Communion? What did the earliest Christians believe about the Lord’s Supper? And perhaps most importantly: when does defending doctrine become dividing the Body of Christ?

Zack and Jared work through Scripture, church history, sacramental theology, denominationalism, salvation, baptism, Communion, and the tension between recovering historic Christianity and simply creating another Christian camp.

There are real disagreements in this conversation—but also a surprising amount of common ground.

The goal isn’t to prove that one of us has everything figured out. It’s to do what Bereans are supposed to do:

Test everything against Scripture.

Stay Berean

Jared's Rumble-https://rumble.com/user/jsmadd

Books- https://www.amazon.com/Exposing-Zionism/dp/B0D29YRD65/ref=books_amazonstores_mobile_mfs_kss_ap_sba_0?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_w=ibfBs&content-id=amzn1.sym.76005b69-edc7-4c93-876b-645ff1e238d8&pf_rd_p=76005b69-edc7-4c93-876b-645ff1e238d8&pf_rd_r=138-5583620-7525139&pd_rd_wg=kn5R9&pd_rd_r=3dfcd511-ee8f-4e7b-80ba-462779f8751c

What happens when you realize the world has been discipling your family whether you intended it to or not?

In this episode of The Berean Files, Zack sits down with his cousin Matt for the kind of conversation they normally have off-mic: a wide-ranging discussion about following Jesus, raising kids, questioning assumptions, and learning how to think biblically in a culture overflowing with competing voices.

Matt shares how coming to Christ changed the way he looks at fatherhood—and how he began noticing the messages embedded in movies, music, social media, entertainment, and the algorithms influencing the next generation.

From there, the rabbit holes open.We get into objective morality and moral relativism, the way modern stories blur the line between good and evil, Protestantism and Catholicism, grace and works, nihilism and the loss of meaning, young-earth vs. old-earth creationism, skepticism, critical thinking, angels, Nephilim, biblical supernaturalism, church culture, discipleship, and plenty more along the way.

But underneath all of it is a bigger question:How do we teach ourselves—and our children—to examine what we believe instead of simply absorbing whatever the culture puts in front of us?

The answer isn’t having every rabbit hole figured out.It’s knowing what matters most, testing what we hear, being willing to challenge our own assumptions, and remaining grounded in Jesus Christ.

Sometimes discipleship starts with being willing to ask better questions.

Stay Berean.

What happens when your faith looks solid on the outside, but you’ve stopped tending to its roots?

Matt Hepner of Straight Bible joins Zack and Jason to talk about the heart behind our words, what our money and time reveal about our priorities, and the Holy Spirit’s work in changing us. Matt connects Jesus’ teaching about trees and fruit to the house built on a deep foundation: lasting fruit begins below the surface.

They also discuss the pressure to chase views as Christian podcasters, reaching people outside church walls, disagreeing with other believers while keeping Christ central, and reading the Bible for yourself instead of relying entirely on voices online.

Find Matt’s work by searching Straight Bible on YouTube, podcast platforms, Instagram, TikTok, and Substack, or visit toplobsta.com.

What helps you stay rooted in Christ when life gets loud? Let us know in the comments. #TheBereanFiles #StraightBible #ChristianPodcast

Can our thoughts actually create things?

Ideas like tulpas, egregores, manifestation, and the “law of attraction” suggest that focused human thought, intention, or collective belief can somehow bring things into existence.

But what if we're giving ourselves too much credit?

In this episode of The Berean Files, we explore a different possibility: perhaps human beings aren't manifesting spiritual entities at all. Perhaps something already there is paying attention to what we're paying attention to.

If spiritual beings are intelligent and capable of deception, our obsessions, fears, expectations, and cultural stories could provide opportunities for that deception to take forms we are already prepared to believe.

That raises some strange questions.

Why do paranormal encounters seem to change across cultures and generations? Could hauntings, cryptids, UFO experiences, artificial intelligence, manifestation practices, and other unexplained phenomena sometimes intersect through the common currency of human attention?

And most importantly: what deserves our attention in the first place?

Scripture repeatedly calls Christians away from deception and fixation and toward truth—ultimately fixing our eyes on Jesus Christ.

Maybe the greatest danger isn't accidentally thinking a monster into existence.

Maybe it's spending so much time staring into the darkness that we stop looking toward the One in whom there is no darkness at all.

What happens when you follow the questions about Christianity as far as they can possibly go?

In this episode of The Berean Files, we sit down with Thomas from Paranoid American for a wide-ranging conversation about Jesus, Scripture, history, symbolism, faith, and the nature of truth.

Thomas brings a perspective shaped by his Catholic upbringing, years of studying conspiracy theories, symbolism, ancient ideas, Gematria, and alternative ways of understanding reality. That leads us into some big questions:

Was Jesus of Nazareth a singular historical person, or could the story of Christ represent something larger and more archetypal? How much can we trust the historical record? Is Scripture primarily historical, symbolic, poetic—or somehow all three? Can truth repeat itself throughout history? And at what point does a different interpretation of Jesus become a different Jesus altogether?

We don't agree on everything. Not even close.

But instead of avoiding those disagreements, we press into them.

The conversation moves through Catholicism and Protestantism, biblical interpretation, the historicity of Jesus, the resurrection, Greek and Hebrew, symbolism, cyclical history, the nature of God, salvation, the cross, and the limits of human knowledge.

Ultimately, the conversation keeps returning to one question:

Who is Jesus?

Because we can debate history, symbolism, theology, and the mysteries of reality—but if Christianity is true, getting Jesus right matters more than winning the argument.

Stay curious. Test everything. Stay Berean.

What if the biggest threat facing the Church isn’t what’s coming—but our failure to recognize what’s already here?

In this episode of The Berean Files, Zach and Jason sit down with Jamie Walden, author of Omega Dynamics: Equipping a Warrior Class of Christians for the Days Ahead, for a wide-ranging conversation about spiritual warfare, deception, UFO disclosure, the end times, preparedness, and the condition of the modern Church.

Jamie also gives his firsthand account of the controversial meeting involving pastors, military and government-connected individuals, and the UFO/UAP conversation. Was it really a secret government briefing preparing pastors for alien disclosure? Jamie was actually there—and says the viral version of the story misses what happened.

But the conversation goes much deeper.We explore the danger of pride and division within Christian “truth” communities, the difference between knowledge and genuine faith, why Jesus calls us to become like children, artificial intelligence and humanity’s obsession with knowledge, end-times speculation, the coming great deception, and whether Christians are spiritually prepared for what may lie ahead.

Jamie also makes the case for biblical preparedness—not fear-driven survivalism, but faithful obedience that allows Christians to remain useful to the Body of Christ and advance the Gospel in difficult times.

Ultimately, this conversation comes back to a much simpler question:Are we actually following Jesus—or have fear, pride, knowledge, self-preservation, and the noise of the world distracted us from Him?

Topics include:
• The truth about the alleged “secret UFO pastor meeting”
• UFO/UAP disclosure and the Church
• The coming great deception
• Spiritual warfare and deception
• Pride and division in Christian truth communities
• Knowledge vs. childlike faith
• AI, transhumanism, and the pursuit of knowledge
• End-times prophecy and speculation
• Whether the Church is prepared for what’s ahead
• Biblical preparedness vs. fear-based prepping
• Becoming a “warrior” for Christ
• Conviction, repentance, and spiritual readiness

Jamie Walden is the author of Omega Dynamics: Equipping a Warrior Class of Christians for the Days Ahead and the founder of Omega Dynamics.

Whatever you believe about UFOs, prophecy, AI, or the end times, test everything against Scripture.

Stay Berean.

What does the New Testament actually say about where Christians spend eternity?

Most Christians grow up hearing some version of the same story: believe in Jesus, die, and go to heaven forever.

But is that actually the hope Jesus and the apostles taught?

The Berean Files joins Ben and Dennis from Bennis the Menace Pod to continue our conversation about heaven, resurrection, and the New Earth—this time focusing specifically on the New Testament.

We dig into the teachings of Jesus, Paul, Peter, and Revelation to examine a distinction that often gets overlooked: going to be with Christ after death is not necessarily the same thing as our final eternal destination.

The biblical story doesn't end with humanity abandoning creation for heaven. It ends with resurrection, renewed creation, the New Jerusalem coming down, and God dwelling with His people.

So what happens when we die? What is the resurrection actually for? What did Paul mean by receiving a glorified body? Why does Peter talk about a New Earth? And why does Revelation end with heaven coming down rather than humanity permanently going up?

Grab your Bible and test everything.

Stay Berean.

Did Jesus actually claim to be God?It’s one of those questions that sounds incredibly simple until you start digging into the text.

Critics often argue that Jesus never said the exact words, “I am God,” and that His divinity—and eventually the Trinity—was something Christians developed later.

So we decided to put that claim to the Berean test.In this episode, we’re walking through the biblical evidence for the deity of Christ: Jesus’ words, His actions, the divine names and authority He claims, the worship He receives, and even the reactions of the people standing in front of Him.

Then we zoom out and tackle the Trinity itself.

If the Father is God, the Son is God, and the Holy Spirit is God—but there is only one God—what exactly is Scripture telling us about the nature of God?

And perhaps most importantly: is the Trinity something Christians imposed onto Scripture later, or something Christians developed language to describe because Scripture forced them to wrestle with it?

Grab your Bible for this one. Stay curious. Stay grounded.

Stay Berean.

What happened to the Nephilim after the Flood?Genesis 6 describes one of the strangest events in Scripture: the “sons of God” taking human women and producing the Nephilim. Then comes the Flood.

But the story of giants—and the supernatural rebellion surrounding them—doesn't appear to end there.

In this episode of The Berean Files, we sit down with Bennett Tanton of Broadcasting Seeds to explore the research behind his new book, The Second Incursion: Fallen Beings, Giants, and What Walks Among Us Still.

Bennett makes the case that Genesis 6 isn't just a bizarre footnote in the story of Noah. It may be an important piece of the Bible's larger supernatural worldview—and understanding what happened before the Flood raises an even stranger question: Did it happen again?

We explore the Watchers, Nephilim, Rephaim, the giant clans of Canaan, the divine council, Deuteronomy 32, Babel, territorial spiritual powers, Second Temple literature, ancient mythology, and the biblical evidence for supernatural rebellion continuing into the post-Flood world.

Then things get even stranger.Could this same biblical framework help us make sense of ancient stories about hybrid beings, goat-demons and wilderness entities—and even some of the cryptid and supernatural encounter reports that continue into the modern world?

This isn't about automatically believing every monster story, legend, or strange encounter. It's about asking whether Scripture gives us a supernatural framework big enough to investigate these claims without immediately dismissing them.

Did the Flood really end the war?Where did the post-Flood giants come from?What exactly was the "second incursion"?

And could the consequences of that ancient rebellion still be with us?

Bennett Tanton's new book:
The Second Incursion: Fallen Beings, Giants, and What Walks Among Us Still

Available on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Second-Incursion-Fallen-Beings-Giants/dp/B0H825D7L1

Grab your Bible. Test everything. Stay Berean.
#Nephilim #Genesis6 #BiblicalSupernatural

Tonight on The Berean Files, we’re joined by Tim from Nessie & Nephilim for a conversation about discernment in a world increasingly fascinated by the supernatural.

How do we recognize the genuine presence and work of God? What does biblical revival actually look like? And what happens when supernatural experiences, spiritual encounters, deliverance, demons—and even the modern alien phenomenon—enter the conversation?

Not everything supernatural is necessarily from God, and Scripture repeatedly warns believers to test the spirits rather than simply accepting an experience because it feels powerful, spiritual, or unexplainable.

We’ll talk about revival, spiritual discernment, the presence of God, demons, deliverance, aliens, deception, and spiritual warfare—while asking the question that matters most: How do we test extraordinary claims against the truth of Scripture?

As always, don’t take our word for it.Stay Berean.