John 5 has one of the most bizarre verses in the Bible. I’m talking about verse 4 of that chapter. This verse is so bizarre, it doesn’t even appear in a lot of versions of the Bible. Go open up your Bible and check right now; it might just say verse 1, verse 2, verse 3, verse 5.

It’s like your Bible forgot to count. But actually, some versions just take verse 4 right out and pretend it isn’t there.

What is so bizarre about John 5, verse 4? Well, this is the story about the man who had been lame since birth. He laid every day by the pool of Bethesda. Jesus comes along and heals this man in this story and says, “pick up your mat and walk.”

So it’s a very well-known story, but verse 4 stands out as particularly odd.

I’ll pick it up starting at John 5:3

3 In these lay a great multitude of sick people, blind, lame, paralyzed, waiting for the moving of the water. 4 For an angel went down at a certain time into the pool and stirred up the water; then whoever stepped in first, after the stirring of the water, was made well of whatever disease he had.

This strange reference to an angel who created healing waters on a regular basis is not really mentioned ever again after this, it raises some provoking questions, and then it never answers them. And as I said, many versions of the Bible don’t even include this verse because it’s just too out-of-left-field.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible. But also why it’s not in every Bible.

Turn to John 5, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:00 - The Story and Context

8:00 - A Textual Error?

11:15 - An Angel- Just Like the Bible Says

19:10 - Next Time

21:00 - Closing Thoughts

Special thanks to the Two Witnesses Live podcast for inviting me on their show recently! Here is a link if you’d like to see/hear it: https://www.youtube.com/live/Mh0bTZhUKwk?si=vqVdx6KZx9tQIZSo

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

What happened when you got in the water at your baptism?

Guess what? You didn’t just get wet.

You made a proclamation of faith- not just to any humans who witnessed your baptism- but a proclamation of faith that reverberated throughout the entire spiritual realm.

And if you have no idea what I’m talking about, you’re in the right place, because this episode today is going to explain the significance of baptism in the demonic realm.

And along the way, we’ll also explain one of the most puzzling passages in scripture:

I Peter 3:18-22

18 For Christ also suffered once for sins, the righteous for the unrighteous, that he might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh but made alive in the spirit,

19 in which he went and proclaimed to the spirits in prison,

20 because they formerly did not obey, when God's patience waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was being prepared, in which a few, that is, eight persons, were brought safely through water.

21 Baptism, which corresponds to this, now saves you, not as a removal of dirt from the body but as an appeal to God for a good conscience, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ, 22 who has gone into heaven and is at the right hand of God, with angels, authorities, and powers having been subjected to him.

Woah, baptism save us? This passage went off the rails real quick. I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore why it’s in the Bible.

Turn to I Peter 3, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:10 - Dedication

4:45 - The Spirits in Prison

11:50 - Baptism Now Saves You?

19:15 - A Spiritual Loyalty Pledge

22:45 - Next Time

24:00 - What Happened at Your Baptism?

Special thanks to the Two Witnesses Live podcast for inviting me on their show recently! Here is a link if you’d like to see/hear it: https://www.youtube.com/live/Mh0bTZhUKwk?si=vqVdx6KZx9tQIZSo

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor

Jonah chapter 2 is one of the weirdest chapters in the entire Bible.

I mean, think about it: at the end of Jonah 1, he gets swallowed by a giant fish in the Mediterranean Sea. At the beginning of Jonah 3, he’s spat back out on dry land. In between those events, Jonah lifts up this prayer or lament about his situation to heaven, and that’s what chapter 2 consists of. But Jonah 2 has to be the only chapter in the whole Bible that takes place entirely inside of animal.

That’s pretty unique. And kinda weird. And it’s an interesting factoid about that chapter that always sticks out to me every time I read it.

But there may be an unconsidered angle to this story: was Jonah actually dead as he spoke these words and prayed that prayer?

All my life, ever since I was a young kid, I’ve heard the story of Jonah, and it’s always been taught as if Jonah was alive the whole time he laid in that whale’s belly for three days.

And if you watch the Veggie Tales version, you’ll know that was even a host of black choir singers in there as well!

But is it possible we misunderstood what was actually going on? Is it possible that Jonah was actually dead once he got swallowed by that fish, and then was resurrected back to life when he got spat out?

This theory has been around for a while, but it’s been making the rounds here lately on social media.

I find this to be weird, and I’d like to explore whether it’s true in the Bible.

Turn to Jonah 2, and let’s get weird.

0:00 - Introduction

2:40 - What Jesus Said in Matthew 12

4:30 - What the Book of Jonah Says

12:30 - But What if Jonah Was Alive?

14:30 - Mailbag

17:50 - Closing Thoughts

If you want to get in touch, my email is weirdstuffinthebible@gmail.com

Hosted by Luke Taylor