Best BuzzKing Podcasts (2025)

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Christmas Eve: Must we believe in Bethlehem Ephrathah? 14:00

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1d ago14:00

14:00

I once prayed with a man who was watching his grandmother pass away; she had largely raised him. I prayed for a joyous eternity in the Kingdom. He asked me if the story of Jesus in the New Testament was engineered to match Old Testament prophesy, and therefore, Jesus wasn't really the Messiah promised by the prophets. We consider the classic passag…

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The Temple is Gone: The fragmentation of Faith 24:14

5d ago24:14

24:14

I came upon a man at the San Francisco airport who was reading his Bible, studying a passage from the New Testament where Jesus speaks of himself as being a Temple. The man at the airport had had a severe conflict with his brother, another Christian, over a Bible translation, and was wishing that we could, as people of faith, come together as true …

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A Man With a Shotgun: The former things have passed away 25:48

13d ago25:48

25:48

I once walked into my L.A. apartment to discover a burglar leveling a cutdown pump action shotgun at me. We consider the warnings that God sends our way from time to time, reminding us of our mortality. We know that we will die - that this life is very temporary. Are we ready? We look at the issue not of dying, not of going to Heaven, but of the fi…

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I will pour out my Spirit: The slow road to Heaven 22:24

20d ago22:24

22:24

I had a student in a class of mine once who had recently been treated for bone cancer in her spine. She was using a cane. She talked to me about faith and Heaven, and the fears she had when she was sick. We discussed the issue of what it means to believe. Today, we look at the Book of Joel, in particular at a passage referenced in Acts that says th…

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Giving to the Holy Spirit 25:43

27d ago25:43

25:43

I once visited a woman who was almost a hundred years old and was about to die. She expressed some sadness that she had not given enough as a Christian. We reflect on the Book of Acts and the common misunderstanding that the early church was somehow rigidly socialist. We consider the real gift we are supposed to give, the gift that does not involve…

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Rivers of Babylon 23:20

1M ago23:20

23:20

We look at the very dramatic Psalm 137. It tells of the fall of Babylon and the longing that the exiles have for their holy city and destroyed Temple. We consider two people I met who reacted in very different ways to the feeling they had been harmed by others. We look at why the Babylonian invasion is such a major cornerstone in the history of the…

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Grace: Authenticity, Variations, and Units 24:07

1M ago24:07

24:07

We look at the spaghetti and butter sandwiches that I ate as a kid in grammar school. We consider Grace. We look at three issues: first, whether it is a real thing or something invented by us or by New Testament writers; second, different variations or applications of Grace in our lives, and 3, how to measure Grace. We see that this last issue has …

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It's Still a Gift: The Christian as Reprobate 24:31

2M ago24:31

24:31

A student once asked me for advice on how he should react to his family, especially his father, who did not approve of him being baptized a Christian. I gave him a lesson that I learned from Acts. In this book, we see "the Way" spread to Jews in Jerusalem and then to Gentiles outward in the Roman Empire. There is a turning point midway through Acts…

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A Branch of Temple Judaism: The Way 25:04

2M ago25:04

25:04

I was once toured around Jerusalem by a 12 year-old boy named Yaakov. He showed me many sites, including a number of Christian sites, as he knew I was a Christian. He also talked to me about the evolution from Temple to Rabbinic Judaism - something that is critical to understanding the theological underpinnings of the Book of Acts. We consider this…

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The Household Plant Prophet: Faith, Perseverance, and Mantras 23:02

2M ago23:02

23:02

I once was asked to sit with a Buddhist patient who was passing away. She asked me to recite a mantra with her. We look at the Prophet named Habakkuk. We see that he offers an unusual message for a Prophet. He doesn't simply warn people that God will punish his people for their wayward means. He offers us an upbeat message of hope no matter what ha…

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Amos and Corruption: The light of the world 23:00

2M ago23:00

23:00

We look at how the grammar school I went to long ago managed to ensure that all people, including the less well off, were given equal justice. We consider Amos, the minor prophet, and the prophet who preached about justice and righteousness. He was from the southern kingdom but preached in the north, all during a time of great prosperity. The book …

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Praying in a hospital parking lot 22:58

3M ago22:58

22:58

I was once approached in a hospital parking lot to pray with the father and sister of a badly injured young man. We look at the Book of Daniel, and at other Bible passages, where we are told to pray with others and to share our faith with others and to make spiritual decisions with other believers. We see the power of doing this. We learn that just…

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Daniel: Prophesy after the fact or universal lessons? 24:01

3M ago24:01

24:01

In 2022, Vladimir Putin did what ancient kings in the Old Testament did: he invaded another nation - and he did it on his own. We look at the Book of Daniel, and how it proports to be about the Babylonian exilic period, but perhaps was written hundreds of years later, when the Jews were fighting the Greek speaking Seleucids. We look at this book an…

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1st Enoch: The corruption of being Godlike 24:02

3M ago24:02

24:02

We look at a (very) non-canonical book called 1st Enoch, which tells us the story of the Prophet Enoch, who lived before Noah. (But this was not written until just before the life of Jesus). It tells us about the Watchers, evil angels who create a race of giants on Earth. We see that there was apparently some influence of this book on the New Testa…

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Hating Your Neighbor: the upside of Obediah 24:46

3M ago24:46

24:46

I once had a neighbor who kept me up all night with loud rock and roll. Then one day, there was a massive car accident in front of our two buildings. I discovered that just as we see in Obediah, my neighbor apparently had learned a lesson. In Obediah, we see a people called the Edomites who assist the Babylonians in conquering the people of Israel …

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Classic Cars and Expensive Guitars: Idolatry Today 24:02

3M ago24:02

24:02

We consider the progression of idol worship from the Old Testament to the time of Jesus - to today. We also consider a man I met who collected restored classic cars and another man who owned a wall of expensive guitars, but who could no longer play them because he had developed a disability. We consider that question of how we end up like our idols…

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If you want to know why, read John 26:12

4M ago26:12

26:12

My mother believed in miracles - and when I was born very sick, she baptized me herself, because at the time, the Catholic Church taught that unbaptized babies that died went to Limbo. We look at the miracles of Jesus, and how the Synoptic Gospels refer to them as "deeds of power", while John refers to them as "signs". We see that there is a very d…

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I Commit My Spirit: What is biblical truth? 24:05

4M ago24:05

24:05

I once spend four hours in the middle of the night with a man who was dying from COPD. A nurse had called me so that he would not die alone. I heard his last words. We look at the final words of Jesus as he was dying, which vary from Gospel to Gospel - significantly. We consider this: Were some of the Gospel authors wrong about Jesus' last words on…

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Politics and Religion: Bringing the Kingdom of God to Earth 24:09

4M ago24:09

24:09

When I was an academic, I was exposed to a lot of anti-Christian diatribe. Christians, I was told, are corrupt, selfish, and use their faith as a political weapon. We look at the story of King Josiah in the Bible and how some think that he manipulated parts of Scripture, of our Old Testament, to suit his political purposes. We then consider what wo…

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Only a Child Is Innocent: What is Heaven? 22:56

4M ago22:56

22:56

I once spent time with a couple who had just lost their only, very young child, their daughter. Like many other people who have lost loved ones, they asked about Heaven. We take a survey of Heaven, looking at the current Evangelical interpretation, and then stepping back and walking through time, from the 100's A.D. to the Middle Ages, to the Renai…

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A Dead Man's Address Book: Go to Hell? 25:00

5M ago25:00

25:00

Our conventional notion of Hell is not necessarily what we would derive from reading the New Testament. We look at three somewhat different theories about the nature of Hell - all of them reasonably backed up by the Bible. We also look at my father's father, who ran off when my father was a tiny boy. My father never found his father, although he so…

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The Infancy Gospel of Thomas: The boy who kills 22:43

5M ago22:43

22:43

The apocryphal Infancy Gospel of Thomas gives us stories about the boy Jesus from the age of 5 to 12 - and it portrays him as precocious at best, and perhaps even evil-minded at worst, as Jesus struggles to understand his powers and his identity. These stories have been widely read since the second century, and ancient manuscripts have been found i…

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The Garbage People: People of deep faith 22:07

5M ago22:07

22:07

There is a Christian community on the outskirts of Cairo, up in the mountains, that is built into a huge cave. The people are called the "Garbage People" by the general population of Cairo because they scratch out a living collecting garbage by hand and sorting it into recyclables. We consider the Gospel of Mark - written by the man who founded the…

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The Contortions of the Literalist Believer 24:01

5M ago24:01

24:01

I once spoke to a young woman whose father had just died in a bike vs. car accident. She told me that while her father had deep faith, she could not believe the "myths" in the Bible. She read to me from Matthew, about the faithful being able to move mountains. In this episode, we look at some of the Bible stories that are difficult to interpret lit…

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An Angel to Shut the Mouths of Lions 22:45

6M ago22:45

22:45

I once spoke to a woman who was struggling to show true empathy for her mother, who was an alcoholic and had given this woman many terrible childhood memories. She felt that there was no way she could care for her now very sick mother - and she wished God could send an angel to come from Heaven and care for her mother for her. We look at angels in …

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A Schizophrenic's Flipflop: Luke's parable 23:30

6M ago23:30

23:30

I once spoke to a young schizophrenic man who talked to me outside, after it had rained. I was about to sit down on a very wet bench when he did something very kind. We look at the Gospel of Luke, the Gospel that has a number of unique parables in it, including the Good Samaritan. We look at the traditional interpretation, and we look at a more the…

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Accused of Xenophobia: Be warmed and filled 24:07

6M ago24:07

24:07

When I was a professor, I once had a French student accuse me of Xenophobia, of giving her a bad grade simply because she was French. I was quite worried that this could explode into a serious problem, as universities want students to be happy and do not want claims like this making their way into the press. I ended up putting my mother on the phon…

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Off a Small Cliff: To understand and to know God 23:01

6M ago23:01

23:01

When I was a young guy, I bought my first car with a steering column lock. It locked up on me - with a key in the ignition - as I was taking a freeway curve at 75 miles an hour. I went off a small cliff. Yes, I said a quick prayer to God. We look at Jeremiah, Isaiah, and a Psalm to learn just what we should be doing with our lives BEFORE we turn to…

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One Last Act in the Name of God 20:27

7M ago20:27

20:27

I once spoke with a man who had been undergoing treatment for cancer, but who was at the end of effective treatments. It was time to let go, and as he put it, welcome the Kingdom of God. But he had an adult daughter who was going through an extremely difficult time - and he wanted to be there for her. So he had decided to continue treatments so tha…

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Your father who sees in secret: Madeleines for dessert 22:26

7M ago22:26

22:26

I picked citrus with migrant workers when I was a boy. They were paid partly by being given food in the field, which they insisted on sharing with me - who wasn't supposed to get any of that food. They also picked the tops of my trees, to keep me safe. We look at the Book of Lamentations, and a passage that focuses on the harsh impact on children a…

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We shall see God 20:56

7M ago20:56

20:56

I once visited a recently retired reverend whose wife had just left him and who was terminally ill with heart disease. We talked about Paul's thorn in his side, and how this reverend was unable to handle the huge thorn in his side. We consider the way that God created us: imperfectly, with imperfect lives. We see that humility is the product of suf…

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Speak Up: An OD 21:02

7M ago21:02

21:02

I once got to know a young woman who was an addict and who required a series of high risk surgeries. Because someone slipped her drugs the night before one particular surgery, the outcome was horrific. We look at the Book of the Covenant in Exodus and some words of advice to a new king in Proverbs - and then we consider the issue of how our society…

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A Gift Not of this World: An ancient doll stuffed with rice 21:06

7M ago21:06

21:06

My father's father was a burglar in World War I and served in the trenches for two years. He came back home very mentally ill and lived on the street in Quebec for the rest of his life. My dad's mother raised my father alone. When she was close to death, she gave me the only thing she had from her childhood, a cherished possession. In doing so, she…

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Proselytizing in Prison: Letting our faith see the light 22:59

8M ago22:59

22:59

I once ditched a boring "team building" academic meeting to hang out for a bit with a bunch of jail prisoners. One of them was a man who had been incarcerated for sleeping in the snow on someone's private property. He was planning a Bible study session with the rest of his Christian inmates. In this podcast, we look at Paul, who also proselytized w…

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We Are All Ants: Carrying holy crumbs 23:06

8M ago23:06

23:06

Quantum physics tells us that we understand very little about the physical matter that makes up the universe, the way we proceed through time, and the nature of events in the universe. We consider Tony the ant, who lives in an anthill, bringing carrying huge crumbs of unidentifiable organic material back to the anthill. The most important and power…

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A Good Name and a Good Website Name 22:45

8M ago22:45

22:45

We look at Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, and at how I managed to get BuzzKing.com as my domain. We see that Proverbs and Ecclesiastes both tell us about the importance of having a good name. They also tell us that it is important that we, as believers, remember that we represent the Church at all times. We need to protect our good name - and the good …

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Every Day Is Easter: We can all rise 23:21

8M ago23:21

23:21

I once sat with a woman in her nineties who was on comfort care. Her adult children could not be there because they were out of the country, so I was with her. She ended up telling me why she had no fear whatsoever of death - and it had to do with Easter. We take a bit of a biblical survey, looking at both the literal version of the Easter story, a…

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The Skull: Faith and Forgiveness 19:02

8M ago19:02

19:02

Luke tells us that Jesus died at a place called The Skull, from which we derive the Latin word Calvary. I once saw a skull of a Pueblo Indian. The goal of the display was to show us that the Pueblos ground corn with sandstone, and so when they ate cornmeal, they also chewed on grit, thus wearing down their molars. But to me, the skull reminded me t…

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Palm Sunday, to a Kid of Cement and Steel: The donkey as a symbol of peace and royalty 23:02

9M ago23:02

23:02

We look at the two times in my life that I have encountered donkeys, once as a boy on the edge of town, and once in Santorini, Greece. These incidents remind me of the two biblical qualities of donkeys, and why this makes the donkey the perfect animal for Jesus to ride into Jerusalem. We also look at why Jesus was not the savior that many people in…

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3D Animation: Was Joseph an autistic genius? 24:01

9M ago24:01

24:01

I taught 3D modeling and animation at my university. I had a student who apparently was on the autism spectrum, and one day I knocked his notebook computer off his desk onto the floor - and he did not react. We look at a figure from the Old Testament, one of the fathers of the Israelite people, Joseph, who was sold into slavery by his brothers. The…

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The Meeting Place: Riding on three tires and a rim 23:01

9M ago23:01

23:01

We look at the construction of the Tabernacle in Exodus - and at a man whom I once drove behind as he bounced along on three wheels and a broken rim. His determination to make his journey, to get to his meeting place, reminds us of where God is truly located, where God lives. We also see that although history has assumed that the Israelites and Jew…

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The Sylmar Earthquake: Fish all over the floor 25:11

9M ago25:11

25:11

When I was 15, there was an Earthquake that did a lot of damage in Southern California. A fish store that I frequented had all its aquariums land on the cement floor. It was a huge failure, a loss for the owner. We talk about one of the biggest failures in the Bible, Peter denying Jesus after Jesus had wanted him to serve as the rock upon which he …

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Making it to Spain: The Pickpocket 22:40

10M ago22:40

22:40

We look at the long-standing mystery of whether Paul the evangelist ever made it all the way to Spain - and we look at Buzz making it to Spain, but hardly behaving the way Jesus would have. We consider the historical data that supports the theory that Paul spread the Word in Spain. We look at what Paul had to say about forgiveness in Romans, the le…

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Only one rudder, only one sail 25:20

10M ago25:20

25:20

We look at Noah's ark - the story that is eerily similar to older, polytheistic flood stories. We consider the act of God destroying all of humanity, due to its total corruption, but showing enough mercy to allow a remnant to survive. We look at a natural disaster, a much smaller flood, that happened in Colorado, and how such natural phenomena remi…

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Voyage au centre de la Terre 22:05

10M ago22:05

22:05

My mother identified strongly as French. Thus, when my best friend's mother lent me Voyage to the Center of the Earth to read, she immediately took me to get the real version: the original French. We look at the story of these adventurers and their naivety. We also look at Proverbs, Chapter 2, and a speech to a son by a father, who is trying to tea…

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A torque wrench is like giving: Gaining Leverage 25:21

10M ago25:21

25:21

When I was a boy, my father ran a car shop with a buddy of his I called Uncle John. One day Uncle John taught me about torque wrenches and - more importantly - leverage. We talk in this episode about the reasons that a Christian gives, and the constrains on our practice of giving. We also talk about why giving is very much like the leverage we get …

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Pursued by God and a Turkish Carpet Salesman 23:02

10M ago23:02

23:02

Wendy and I were once in Istanbul. We were pursued aggressively by a Turkish carpet salesman who was desperate to make a sale, given their terrible economy. We look at Psalm 23, traditionally used at funerals and memorial services by Christians. But this Psalm is not about saying goodbye to a loved one. We look at what Psalm 23 is truly about - and…

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From the Old to the New Testament: From Fact to Fiction? 25:15

11M ago25:15

25:15

I once had dinner with Sony Bono. I did not write about this dinner contemporaneously and am only now talking about it more than forty years after this occurred. So, I might have some of the details wrong. The Bible is also not a contemporaneous document. There were also some reasons for the authors to twist or exaggerate parts of the story - they …

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Dead Corneas: Pouring down a blessing 22:27

11M ago22:27

22:27

I have had both my corneas replaced with transplants. My left eye was repaired successfully with one graft, but my right eye proved very problematic. We look at the Israelites returning from exile in Babylon, only to find their farmlands in very poor shape and one oppressor (the Babylonians) replaced with another (the Persians). Malachi tells the P…

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A dead man and only goodness in the City of God 22:33

11M ago22:33

22:33

When I was a grad student at USC years ago, I came across a man lying on his back. He appeared to have been killed with a shotgun blast to his chest. We look at the mistake this man made in his life, how he did not learn the lesson of Augustine and of Solomon, and that is to make sure that what we create in life is only good. This leads us to under…