Year Zero

CONTEMPLATIONContemplate God’s wonderful gift to Solomon (I Kings 3):* How the Lord appeared to Solomon in Gibeon, and asked him his desire;* How Solomon asked for an understanding heart, in order to judge the people and recognize good and evil;* How God gave him that which he sought, as well as that which he did not seek. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

Kyle and I talk. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

John and I continue reading and commentary on Ordinary Men. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONContemplate Solomon’s honoring of his mother (I Kings 2):* How his mother went to her son to ask something of him;* How he stood up, met his mother and bowed before her—even though he was king;* How, when he sat down on his throne, he placed his mother at his right hand. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONContemplate the example of David’s self-restraint (II Samuel 23):* How, during battle against the Philistines, David became thirsty, and asked who would bring him water from the well in Bethlehem, which was held by the Philistines;* How three heroes slipped through the enemy lines, and brought water back to their king;* How David did not want to drink, but rather poured the water on the ground, saying: Is not this the blood of the men that went in jeopardy of their lives? This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

Timeline, Buck’s article, and my thoughts. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONContemplate God’s punishment of David for his sins (II Samuel 17):* How Absalom warred with his father and how many people died in that war;* How Absalom perished;* How David wept bitterly. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONContemplate God’s punishment of David for his sins (II Samuel 15):* How Absalom, David’s son, raised a rebellion against his father;* How David fled from Jerusalem before his son, and went barefoot and wept. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONContemplate God’s punishment of David for his sins (II Samuel 13):* How Amnon, David’s son, defiled David’s daughter, Tamara;* How Absalom, David’s son, slew Amnon his brother because of this;* How David wept bitterly. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONContemplate God’s punishment of David for his adultery and murder (II Samuel 12):* How God, speaking through the prophet Nathan, told David that because he took another’s wife, his own wives would be taken by other men;* That his son would die;* That the sword would not depart from his house—all of which came to pass. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

John and I continue our reading and commentary of Ordinary Men This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONContemplate the lawlessness of David (II Samuel 11):* How David committed adultery with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, while Uriah was away at war;* How David arranged the death of Uriah;* How God became angered with David. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the David’s rejoicing in the Lord (2 Samuel 6 [also known as 2 Kings 6]):* How David transferred the Ark of the Covenant from Baal of Judah to Jerusalem, and how he danced with joy before the Ark;* How Michal, his wife, despised David for dancing shamelessly before the Ark in the sight of women;* How God punished Michal with barrenness for her capricious judgment, so that Michal had no offspring to the day of her death. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the victories of David over the Philistines (2 Samuel 5 [also known as 2 Kings 5]):* How the Philistines invaded David’s land, and David prayed to God, and defeated the Philistines;* How the Philistines invaded again, and David prayed to God, and defeated the Philistines again. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the righteousness of David (2 Samuel 3 [also known as 2 Kings 3]):* How Abner the commander, one of David’s opponents, gave himself over to David, trusting him;* How Joab, David’s commander, slew Abner;* How David cursed the house of Joab, and wept copiously for Abner. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the nobility of David (2 Samuel 1 - [also known as 2 Kings 1]):* How a messenger arrived and told David of the deaths of Saul and Jonathan, thinking to receive a reward;* How David bitterly mourned and lamented for Saul, who had wished nothing but death for David. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate Saul’s total apostasy from the one God (1 Samuel 28-31 [also known as 1 Kings 28-31]):* How, when frightened by the Philistines, he [Saul] turned to a pagan sorceress [the witch of Endor] to prophecy for him;* How the sorceress, through her sorcery, evoked a spirit who called himself Samuel and who prophesied Saul’s death;* How Saul and his sons perished at the hands of the Philistines. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the greatness of David’s soul (1 Samuel 26 - [also known as 1 Kings 26]):* How David entered the camp of Saul at night and, while Saul was sleeping, took his spear and cup [cruse of water];* How David’s commander [Abishai] wanted to spear Saul, but David forbade it;* How David left vengeance to God. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the extraordinary selflessness of David (1 Samuel 24 [also known as 1 Kings 24]):* How Saul, pursuing David, unknowingly entered into the cave where David was hiding with the young men;* How the young men pressed David to kill Saul, but David refused;* How David cried out to Saul: The Lord judge between me and you (1 Samuel 24:12 - 1 Kings 24:12). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

John Weeks interviewed me This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the providence of God that protected David from falling into the hands of Saul (1 Samuel 23 [also known as 1 Kings 23]):* How Saul came to besiege the city of Keliah [Celia], where David was; but God revealed this to David, and he fled beforehand;* How Saul almost captured David in Maon, but word came to Saul that the Philistines had attacked the land;* How the Lord always watches over the righteous; and how He confounds the plans of the unrighteous. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the rapid advance of evil in the soul of Saul from the moment he turned away from God (1 Samuel 22 [also known as 1 Kings 22]):* How he hurled a spear at David;* How he hurled a spear at his son Jonathan;* How he slew eighty-five priests in one day, suspecting that they were aligned with David;* How, in every age, and with every single unrepented sin against God, many other sins are also drawn in. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the wondrous help David received from God (1 Samuel 19 [also known as 1 Kings 19]):* How David played the harp before Saul;* How an evil spirit possessed Saul, and Saul hurled a spear at David, intending to kill him;* How Saul, even though he was very close to his target, did not hit David. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate David and Saul—one who had the Spirit of God, and one who had lost the Spirit of God (1 Samuel 18 [also known as 1 Kings 18]):* How Saul feared David because of his virtues, yet how David was obedient to Saul in everything;* How Saul hypocritically rewarded David, and sent him among the Philistines so that he would be killed;* How an apostate from God always fears a godly man. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the wondrous providence of God in the life of David (1 Samuel 16 [also known as 1 Kings 16]):* How the Spirit of God withdrew from Saul because of Saul’s sin;* How an evil spirit assaulted Saul, so that he sought a harpist in order to comfort him;* How the servants of the king found David, and brought him to the king, to calm him with the harp. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate God’s wondrous choosing of David as king (1 Samuel 16 [also known as 1 King 16]):* How the Lord instructed Samuel to go to the home of Jesse and anoint one of his sons as king;* How the Lord instructed Samuel to anoint David, a herder of sheep, the eighth and youngest son of Jesse;* How Samuel anointed David, and how the Spirit of God descended upon David. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate God’s punishment of Saul because of his disobedience (1 Samuel 15 [also known as 1 Kings 15]):* How God commanded Saul not to spare the Amalekites nor to take any of their livestock;* How Saul spared Agag, the Amalekite King, and allowed the best of the livestock to be taken;* How Samuel informed Saul that God had rejected him because of his disobedience, and because of his self-willed offering of the sacrifice to God without a priest. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate God’s wondrous help to Jonathan, the son of Saul (1 Samuel 13-14 [also known as 1 Kings 13-14]):* How the Philistines rose up against the Jews, and the army of the Philistines was as the sand which is on the sea shore (1 Samuel 13:5 - 1 Kings 13:5);* How Jonathan, with his young armor-bearer [the man who bore his armor], attacked the Philistines, trusting in God—and how he confused and defeated them;* How even we should know the truthfulness of Jonathan’s words: It may be the Lord will work for us: for there is no restraint to the Lord to save by many or by few (1 Samuel 14:6 - 1 Kings 14:6). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the wondrous sign by which Samuel confirmed his words before the people (1 Samuel 12 - [also known as 1 Kings 12]):* How Samuel told the people it was evil in the sight of the Lord that they sought a king for themselves other than the Lord, the true King;* How for the confirmation of his words, he called upon God for thunder and rain;* How the thunder and rain descended, and how the people were in fear of God, and of Samuel. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate God’s wondrous assistance of Saul, in battle with the Ammonites (1 Samuel 11 [also known as 1 Kings 11]):* How the powerful Nahash [Naas], the leader of the Ammonites, threatened to pluck out the right eyes of all the Israelites;* How the people of Israel wept before the Lord;* How God helped Saul and Samuel destroy the Ammonites, for the Spirit of God was upon them. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the wondrous might of prophesying (1 Samuel 10 [also known as 1 Kings 10]):* How Samuel prophesied to Saul all that would happen to him one day;* How the Spirit of God came upon Saul, and he also prophesied. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the wondrous providence of God, in the choice of Saul as king (1 Samuel 9 [also known as 1 Kings 9]):* How Saul went out to seek the lost asses;* How Samuel, to whom God revealed that Saul should be accepted as the King of Israel, met him;* How the providence of God directs men, and sometimes gives them that which they do not envision. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

J and I discuss the Iran war, the collapsing economy, economic hardship, true grievance, and some UFC. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the self-will of the Jewish people (1 Samuel 8 [also known as 1 Kings 8]):* How the Jews besought Samuel to appoint a king for them;* How Samuel protested this in the name of the Lord, Who proclaimed that He is the only King;* How the people remained stubborn, rejecting the will of God and the counsel of Samuel. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the plagues that befell the Philistines because of the captured Ark of the Covenant (1 Samuel 5:6 [also known as 1 Kings 5:6]):* How the people were afflicted with tumors [hemorrhoids], and mice devoured the crops, wherever the Philistines set down the Ark of the Covenant;* How the Philistines, terrified, returned the Ark of the Covenant to the land of Israel;* How the holy things of God punish those who keep them in an unclean land of idols, or in a heart defiled by passions. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the punishment of God upon the people of Israel for the sins of the sons of Eli, the judge and high priest (1 Samuel 4 [also known as 1 Kings 4]):* How the sons of the high priest [Hophni and Phinehas] sinned openly in Shiloh, and also secretly before the Ark of the Covenant;* How God gave the Philistines victory over Israel, and many thousands of Israelites were slain, including the sons of the high priest; and the Ark of the Covenant was seized;* How, because of the sins of the elders of the people, God sent suffering on the entire nation. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the miraculous appearance of God to the child Samuel (1 Samuel 3 [also known as 1 Kings 3]):* How one night, when Samuel was lying down, the Lord called him three times by name;* How the Lord told Samuel of the condemnation of the House of Eli [Heli] (because of the corruption of the sons of Eli) and of the condemnation of all of Israel;* How the Lord did not want to appear either to Eli the high priest, or to his sons, but rather to Samuel, an innocent child. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the mercy of God toward the barren Hannah, the mother of Samuel (1 Samuel 1 [also known as 1 Kings 1]):* How Hannah was barren, and in her sorrow implored God that she be enabled to bear a son, promising to dedicate him to God;* How God heard the prayers of Hannah, and she bore a son, and named him Samuel (bidden of God);* How Hannah brought Samuel to the Temple and dedicated him to God. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the providence of God, which rewarded the virtue of Ruth and Boaz (The Book of Ruth):* How Ruth, being left a widow, remained faithful to Naomi, her aged mother-in-law, and how by her labors she fed both Naomi and herself;* How the wealthy Boaz was merciful, and helped these two poor women;* How Boaz and Ruth entered into marriage, from whom was born Obed, the father of Jesse, who was the father of David. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

John and I read and discuss chp 1-3 of Ordinary Men This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the miraculous strength of Samson (Judges 14):* How the Spirit of the Lord came upon him, so that he was able to tear lions apart with his hands, and was able to snap the rope by which he was bound, and was able to slay many Philistines;* How the Spirit of the Lord withdrew from him when he confided the secret of his strength to a heathen woman [Delilah] and was then slain [Judges 16]. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the miraculous announcement of the birth of Samson (Judges 13):* How an angel of God appeared to Manoah and his barren wife, and announced that his wife would give birth to a son, who would deliver the people from slavery;* How, for this, Manoah offered a sacrifice to God; and an angel ascended to heaven in the flame of the sacrifice;* How even a barren woman can give birth, when God wills it. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the ingratitude of the Jews toward God the Deliverer, and on God’s punishment of them (Judges 13):* How the sons of Israel, yet again, did that which is wicked before the Lord;* How the Lord gave them over into the hands of the Philistines for forty years;* How the ungratefulness of a liberated people toward God the Deliverer is punished by bondage under foreigners, even today. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate God’s miraculous assistance to the repentant Israelites (Judges 11):* How the penitents cried out to God: Do Thou unto us whatsoever seemeth good unto Thee; deliver us only, we pray Thee, this day (Judges 10);* How the Spirit of the Lord descended upon Jephthah and he destroyed the Ammonites and liberated Israel;* How, even today, the repentance of men brings peace with God, and brings down the help of God to those who are fallen. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the punishment of God upon Israel (Judges 10):* How the Israelites committed that which was evil before the Lord, worshipping the Syrian, Sidonian and Moabite idols, and others;* How the Lord gave them over in bondage to the Philistines, who, for eighteen years, punished them and oppressed them;* How the Lord is fearsome toward apostates from the true Faith. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the punishment from God that befell Abimelech and the Shechemites (Judges 9):* How Abimelech, with the help of the men of Shechem, slew seventy of his brethren;* How Abimelech then slew the Shechemites, plowed their city under and sowed it with salt;* How, after many victories, Abimelech was killed by a woman who hurled a piece of a millstone onto his head from a tower;* How the curse of Jotham, the son of Gideon, came upon the Shechemites and Abimelech. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the miraculous victory of Gideon over the Midianites (Judges 7):* How Gideon gathered thirty-two thousand soldiers and set out against the Midianites;* How God commanded him to reduce the number, so that the Israelites would not brag about themselves and say that they were victorious, and not God;* How Gideon selected only three hundred soldiers, and defeated the Midianites, who were numerous “as grasshoppers” (Judges 7:12). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the miraculous sign that God showed Gideon (Judges 6):* How one night only the fleece was wet with dew and the remaining ground was dry; and how the second night, all the ground was wet with dew, and the fleece was dry;* How the first signified the Israelites in the midst of the pagan world (until the coming of Christ) and after that, the pagan world under grace, and Israel without grace (after the coming of Christ). This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

CONTEMPLATIONTo contemplate the miraculous burning of the sacrifice on the rock (Judges 6):* How an angel appeared to Gideon, and Gideon ran to bring bread and meat to offer hospitality to the angel;* How the angel touched the bread and meat with the top of the staff, and a fire arose and consumed the sacrifice. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe

John and I discuss the evils of men, changing ourselves, and reading the preface to Ordinary Men. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit tommysalmons.substack.com/subscribe