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The Bible Unplugged Podcast

The Bible Unplugged Podcast

By: J. Brent Eaton
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 The deepest and most profound insights in The Bible are hidden under centuries of dogma, doctrine, glitz, and glamor that hide what scripture actually says. We take a deep dive into language and culture of The Bible to find what God wants us to know and how we should live.

www.powerloveandmiracles.comJ. Brent Eaton Christianity Spirituality
Episodes
  • The Babel Within

    The Babel Within
    Aug 19 2025
    Introduction• What if a modern incarnation of the Tower of Babel story isn’t a place on a map, or a digital domain, but within our own hearts and souls? This tower isn’t built with bricks and mortar, or on the internet. This Babel is built on ambition, fear, the sacrifice of attention, and the desire for people to prove their self-worth.• I’m Brent, and this is episode 50 of The Bible Unplugged. We conclude our 3-part series on the Tower of Babel story with a deep dive within the human soul. You may be building your own Tower of Babel without even realizing it.• Please take a minute to look at the show notes for this episode at PowerLoveandMiracles.com under the Podcast tab.The Background• Let’s recap what we’ve talked about so far.• In episode 48 we talked about the Tower of Babel story from Genesis 11 and looked at how unity for the wrong reason leads to a wrong result.• In episode 49 we discussed how humanity replicates the Tower of Babel in every age.• Now, we make of all this personal—how we make our own kingdoms of control within ourselves.Make a Name for Ourselves• In Genesis 11:4 the people said, “Let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves.”• Humans have a natural tendency to build things, whether physical structures or internal qualities. There is a natural drive to build a reputation, a platform, security, and approval. Babel isn’t simply a place; it’s a way of living.The Bible and Human Ambition• In Luke 12 Jesus shares a parable in response to a request to arbitrate a dispute between 2 brothers. In this parable, a rich man’s land produced an abundant crop. He thought it would be a good idea to tear down his small barns and build bigger ones to hold the large harvest. From his perspective this was ambitious and strategic. From God’s perspective the plan was worthless. When the man dies who will own his property and crops?• The man planned a future based on his own self-interest without considering what God wanted him to do. The key verse in this story is verse 15 where Jesus said, “Beware! Keep yourselves from covetousness, for a man’s life doesn’t consist of the abundance of the things which he possesses.”• From an eternal perspective, what we possess has no lasting value. But when we follow God’s lead, the things we own can be useful in God’s kingdom and be beneficial to us.Modern Personal Towers• In the Book of James chapter 4 we see an echo of this parable. In verse 14 James says, “You don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow.” We don’t know, but God does.• We may not plan on building larger barns or harvest larger crops as the man in Jesus’ parable did, but there are situations in our lives that reflect the same sentiment.• When your calendar is full of activity and requires you to keep up a frantic pace you may at the same time experience emptiness in your soul and dissatisfaction with your life.• You may constantly work to gain approval from others instead of accepting that God already approves of you and loves you for who you are.• You are making great plans for your future but don’t ask God to show you what your priorities should be.What Do We Learn from This?• In the Tower of Babel account, God interrupted the peoples’ plans in order to get their attention. God confused their language not to diminish their value but to affirm it. God interrupted their plans to rescue their soul. God does the same for us. What we see as a disappointment when our plans don’t work out may actually be God’s grace in disguise. A greater and more fulfilling future is waiting for us on the other side of our greatest disappointments.• Jesus didn’t scold his followers for having strong ambitions, but he did redirect them:• Peter went from being a fisherman in a boat to being a shepherd of God’s people.• Mary Magdalene lived through trama, but her life became a great testimony to God’s power.• Paul was a motivated persecutor who became a tireless preacher of the Gospel.• We learn that God doesn’t cancel our motivation and abilities—He reassigns them to something greater.• One thing we often learn the hard way is that the greater dependence we have on our own strength the more we fear failure. When we depend on God’s strength and direction, every experience becomes an opportunity for spiritual growth. Joy comes from knowing that God’s plans always direct us to a greater future.What Do We Do with This?• Take a discerning look at your life. Are there “inner Babel’s” you are building?• What are you striving for that you haven’t surrendered to God’s leading?• What do you fear when you consider your future?• When you identify those tendencies, practice this prayer: “God, if I’m building something you didn’t want for me, tear it down gently.”• What would life look like if you stopped using your own ...
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    6 mins
  • God vs the Algorithm

    God vs the Algorithm
    Aug 12 2025
    Introduction• Imagine a world where everyone is connected. One global language. One algorithm. One system that knows what you want even before you ask. That’s not science fiction—that’s right now. But here’s the question: Are we building something divine… or just another Tower of Babel?”• I’m Brent, and this is episode 49 of The Bible Unplugged. We continue our 3-part series on the Tower of Babel story. The dynamics of creating a tower to heaven never died. The same desire of the people back then lives on today.• Please take a minute to look at the show notes for this episode at PowerLoveandMiracles.com under the Podcast tab.The Background• As we discussed previously, the impact of the Tower of Babel story can easily get lost when reading the list of names in Genesis 11. This 8-verse interlude breaks up the list with a difficult lesson about human pride and motivation.• In this short passage the people of the earth went from being totally unified in language and intent to being scattered throughout the earth with very little in common with each other.• Back then, the people wanted to influence, if not outright manipulate, God’s presence. The tower was their way of demanding that God to come down to them. God’s response was a lesson in why we need divine authority that is more powerful than our ambition.How are We the Same?• The Tower of Babel project was abandoned, but the human motivation for control lives on.• In every age, the same roadmap to the Tower comes back:• Centralize power• Elevate human greatness, and• Create systems that make God controllable, if not optionalThe Rise of the Algorithm• In our current environment, we are building a new and refined version of the Tower of Babel. Artificial Intelligence, AI, can be our greatest blessing or our greatest curse. Which way this goes depends solely on how we, as humans awakened to and enlightened by the direction of the Holy Spirit, utilize AI for the purpose of serving God, not manipulating God.• Today’s Tower of Babel can be defined by three aspects of modern technology:• Big Tech with global platforms that shape and even define language, culture, desire, and behavior• AI systems trained to predict and even control human behavior• What I call “branding culture” – making a name for ourselves has become a digital artform and obsession.• This parallels the Genesis 11 account in a number of ways:• A single global language and culture of data and unified connections between people across the world.• Attempts to manipulate reality- we have the ability to create alternate realities that are indistinguishable from the real world using only a few verbal prompts.• Replacing divine dependence with predictive control – when AI sets schedules, suggests directions for thought, and controls what reality we become aware of, we may lose our perceived need for God.• Paul was led by the Spirit to show us how this could take place. In the book of Romans chapter 1 he writes about what happens when humans give up on God’s truth:• They don’t glorify or give thanks to God and began to see themselves as the final authority• They profess to be wise, but become fools, unable to discern what is real from what is digitally driven.• They give up on the glory of God and worship their own image.• The most poignant message is this: in Romans 1:25 Paul says, “… they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped the creature rather than the Creator….”A Future Echo of Babel• In the book of Revelation chapter 18, we find a description of our desire to replicate the Tower of Babel. Babylon the Great is a metaphor for where this all leads:• A marketplace for souls whose attention is bought and sold• A community of luxury, pride, and control• A place where all nations are deceived• Babylon in the book of Revelation is the spiritual descendant of the Tower of Babel- a man-made world order that tries to replace God with wealth, control, and power.What Do We Learn from This?• As with any human endeavor, what starts off as useful innovation often leads to idolatry: the technology becomes the focus of devotion, not the benefit to humans.• We try to hold on to an illusion of control. As the people of Babel did, we seek safety in numbers, connection with everyone, and control over attention. But at what cost? There are potential losses of:• Privacy• Freedom• Worship• Identity• We begin to serve the system rather than the Savior. We find, though, that any system we build that doesn’t glorify God eventually fails. We learn that just because a system works by making life better doesn’t mean it’s holy.• The ultimate disruption of Babel wasn’t the end of the tower project—it was Pentecost. In Acts 2, God restores common language so that everyone could understand the Gospel message. Pentecost was the starting point of universal connection with heaven on God’s terms...
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    6 mins
  • The Tragedy of Babel

    The Tragedy of Babel
    Aug 5 2025
    Introduction• The Tower of Babel account, found in Genesis 11, is a strange story tucked in between the Flood and Abraham. The whole story happens in just 8 verses, but the meaning and impact of this account echoes throughout history and impacts us even today.• I’m Brent, and this is episode 48 of The Bible Unplugged. We start a 3-part series on the Tower of Babel account and examine how that story continues in our current experience.• Please take a minute to look at the show notes for this episode at PowerLoveandMiracles.com under the Podcast tab.The Background• The impact of the Tower of Babel story can easily get lost when reading through Genesis. Between the Flood Account and Abraham’s beginnings, we find a series of lists naming the descendants of Noah’s family. An 8-verse interlude breaks up the list with an intriguing account of how humanity learned a painful lesson: unity, when driven by pride and ambition, isn’t necessarily a good thing.• Beginning in Genesis 11:1, we find that everyone spoke a common language with a single dialect. One would think that’s a good thing, but we learn otherwise.• The people settled in the plain of Shinar located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers. This area is in present day Iraq.• The people who settled there came up with what they thought was a good idea. In Genesis 11:3-4 they said, “Come, let’s make bricks, and burn them thoroughly.” They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar. They said, “Come, let’s build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let’s make a name for ourselves, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth.”• The next verse tells us that God “came down to see” what the people had built. God then said, “Behold, they are one people, and they all have one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do. Come, let’s go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another’s speech.”• This confusion of their language led them to abandon their building project and scatter throughout the world.What Happened and Why?• At first glance, this looks like an ancient urban planning process. Some people believe God felt threatened that the people may no longer worship him if they succeeded. Neither of these theories is close to being accurate.• The threat of The Tower of Babel isn’t in the ability of humans to do great things; it’s the trap of believing that people don’t need God—that pride in self-sufficiency is the goal of self-worship.• There are some details in this story that show that God cared enough for his creation to rekindle the people’s desire for a purpose greater than themselves.What Were the People Really Building?• In this story people said they wanted to build a tower that reached to the heavens, but the real motive isn’t obvious. It’s doubtful that they believed they could build a tower high enough to reach God. It wasn’t possible—and that wasn’t their real motive.• What they build\t is called a ziggurat— a massive stair-stepped temple designed not for people to climb to heaven, but to compel the god’s they worshipped to descend to earth.• Ziggurats can be thought of as cosmic landing pads. The higher they built, the more likely their gods would notice. Religious rituals were performed at the base of the Temple. To steal a movie reference, the belief was, “If we build this, the gods will come.”The Counterpunch• There’s an immense irony in this story. They built this temple to compel God to come down to them, thinking they had to do this to get God’s attention. The sarcastic irony is—God came down to see what they were doing. What God saw wasn’t a great temple, but a great deception.• The lie wasn’t the tower’s purpose or height. The lie was the heart behind it. They said, “Let us make a name for ourselves.”• This was human pride disguised as spiritual achievement. They wanted God-like power, but on the own terms. They wanted God’s presence—without God’s permission. They wanted ultimate power without the divine blessing.What Do We Learn from This?• Here’s where this story gets uncomfortable: The Tower of Babel isn’t just ancient history. It’s current reality. We tend to place material and worldly things above our devotion to God. As the people of Babel did thousands of year ago we may be enticed with the thought of fame and celebrity instead of allowing God’s greatness to show through us.• We find out the hard way that our hopes and dreams, when built on a foundation of human desire and effort, can easily crumble. God only calls us to purposes that have divine power and heavenly significance.• The desire to manipulate God into getting what we want is a common fault. There are believers who think that if you pray just right and with the right attitude, God is ...
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    7 mins
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