18: A Tale of Two Kingdoms

In this episode of The BEMA Podcast, Marty Solomon, Brent Billings, and Josh Bosset discuss the foundational concept of Empire versus Shalom as a narrative framework for understanding God's story, drawing from videos by Ray Vander Laan. They explore the competing narratives of the biblical creation story and the Egyptian creation story, highlighting the differences between a narrative of trust and a narrative of fear. The conversation covers Goshen's significance, the Israelites' entanglement with Egyptian culture, and the symbolic war between the God of Israel and the gods of Egypt through the ten plagues, emphasizing the importance of experiential knowledge ("yada") and choosing between the kingdom of empire and the kingdom of Shalom. The hosts encourage listeners to engage in discussions and community to wrestle with these concepts and apply them to their own lives.