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    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "10.48",
      "endTime": "20.695",
      "body": "Greetings. Welcome to Biblical Reflections. This is your host, Andrew. We are in our second series. We're looking at the Psalms to help us in our prayer and praise life."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "21.575",
      "endTime": "48.855",
      "body": "The superscript for this Psalm number 82 is just simply a Psalm of Asaph. Again, Asaph was a Levite. He obviously wrote a great deal of a great deal. He he wrote several of the Psalms and would have been involved, of course, in the music as well. And I've said before, but King David had set aside essentially three families of Levites to be in charge of music and they rotated."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "49.095",
      "endTime": "77.12499",
      "body": "Obviously, by the time of Asaph, they were writing their own music as most worship teams try to do. Now some is better than others, of course, but this is inspired by God and so we we take it to heart here. Let's now just briefly summarize. 82 is a community lament, although some classify it as a prophetic hymn like Psalm 81. The idea here is that there is a reference to gods with a small g."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "77.604996",
      "endTime": "111.445",
      "body": "Now, is this some kind of celestial beings or is this a metaphor for unjust judges whom God will judge, so unjust human judges. So the term gods is sort of sort of mocking them really. So if these are human judges, by calling them gods they obviously weren't, but they were acting like they thought they were gods. The Psalm is an encouragement for those who are weak and low on the social scale. Those who suffer unjustly from those in authority over them."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "112.005005",
      "endTime": "137.875",
      "body": "Further, this is a Psalm, a call to those who wield authority such as judges. It's a call that they should use their power justly because they too will someday stand before a righteous God in judgment. Let's read verses one through four. God has taken his place in the divine counsel. In the midst of the gods he holds judgment."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "138.755",
      "endTime": "157.535",
      "body": "How long will you judge unjustly and show partiality to the wicked? Give justice to the weak and the fatherless. Maintain the light excuse me. Maintain the rights of the afflicted and the destitute. Rescue the weak and needy."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "157.935",
      "endTime": "191.26501",
      "body": "Deliver them from the hand of the wicked. The task of the gods, small g, or the human judges is to give justice to the weak and the fatherless and to rescue the weak and the needy from the hand of the wicked. So the first verse, God takes his place in the divine council in the midst of the gods he holds judgment and yet what he describes them doing certainly sounds like human judges. So quandary here. The important thing is judges must not show partiality with the wicked."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "191.585",
      "endTime": "209.93001",
      "body": "Now we see five through seven. They have neither knowledge or understanding and this refers to the gods who do the judging. They walk about in darkness. All the foundations of the earth are shaken. I said you are gods, sons of the most high, all of you."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "210.57",
      "endTime": "245.515",
      "body": "Nevertheless, like men you shall die and fall like any prince. Well, again, it's hard to tell, you know, you you are you are God's, the sons of the most high. Well, that certainly sounds like a description elsewhere in the old testament of angels. And yet, it says, but like all men, you'll die and you'll fall like any prince, any human prince or leader. So God pronounces judgment on judges who lack knowledge and understanding and who walk in darkness."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "245.995",
      "endTime": "280.185",
      "body": "This is prophetic in that God will judge the earth and he will inherit all the nations. Giving a prophetic word for the second coming of Christ as ruler of all things who will rule in true justice. I, you know, read this many times and I never thought I would be where I am today thinking about this. And I'm gonna smack judges here, but before I do, let's put it in perspective. So I'm a retired attorney and okay, we've never had a good reputation professionally."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "280.425",
      "endTime": "293.08002",
      "body": "I'm laughing. I, you know, everybody makes lawyer jokes. They don't like lawyers. Got it. And as I've said before, somebody once asked me, are lawyers going to go to heaven?"
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "293.80002",
      "endTime": "312.165",
      "body": "Okay. Why do they lie all the time? And my response is, well, they lie because you pay them to lie. Alright. Now I'm just saying this because, you know, I have been in a profession which doesn't always have a lot of respect."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "312.725",
      "endTime": "351.31",
      "body": "You know, during Covid a group of professionals that everyone respected was shamed. That's the doctors. It was pretty clear that they were not treating patients, they were looking for repeat customers and that they worked for big pharma, for the big corporation they belong to. And they did not always do what was in the best interest of their patients but what the corporate government told them to do. So the medical profession has been shamed, has lost a lot of faith."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "352.19",
      "endTime": "383.53003",
      "body": "A lot of its goodwill is gone. Will they ever get it back? It's quite come full circle for me, we had some one of our Chinese students, she was actually a doctor, she had come to The US for some advanced training and she said, oh yeah, we like it here in America because doctors are they have such great, you know, reputation, everybody looks up to them. Not so in China. In China we are just considered servants, you know."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "383.93002",
      "endTime": "408.64",
      "body": "And, you know, if people don't get healed immediately then it's all our fault. Well, I'm sorry to say here, at least in America, doctors whatever good you will you had as a profession, you've lost it during COVID. I hope you get it back. Good luck. Now I'm using this as stepping stones because this group is the judges."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "409.68",
      "endTime": "434.97",
      "body": "This is the next group of professionals that have lost all respect. I think since the new administration came in in January 2025. We see judge after judge after judge with corrupt judgments. Totally political, not following the constitution, not following the law. Is there anybody who respects judges anymore?"
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "435.93",
      "endTime": "464.07",
      "body": "Well, you know if you're asleep or you don't pay attention maybe. I say this because when all of the professionals in your nation have lost respect of the people, I think we're in trouble. Well, it's nothing new is the point of Psalm 82. Judges were corrupt back in the time of the old testament. So, you know, thirty five hundred years ago we had corrupt judges."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "465.20502",
      "endTime": "499.055",
      "body": "Now we always thought here in North America, maybe England, that our judges were, you know, okay, they were jerks but, you know, basically they did the right things, you know, and they followed the law. Well, now we know that is not true. And this is a heartache for me. I mean, having been to court, having known a lot of judges. Years ago when I got out of the military, was in charge of legal services for the courts in a particular big county in California."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "499.29498",
      "endTime": "519.9",
      "body": "And I got to go behind the curtain and I was shocked at what I saw. Not good, not moral people that were sitting on a bench. Corrupt. Well, the whole world can see it now, but we can take heart. These corrupt judges will be judged someday."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "520.625",
      "endTime": "557.615",
      "body": "We won't live to see that I suspect, but there is an accounting at the end of time. And more importantly, God knows this and he strives to see that justice is given to the weak, to the fatherless. I would say people who don't have money in our time. If you don't have enough money to bribe somebody then, you know, you're gonna get what you get, which is not much. It's a good thing that I retired from one bar and the other bar I resigned from, so I won't get in trouble for this."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "558.23004",
      "endTime": "584.53503",
      "body": "Dear friends, as you see these corrupt things more and more in our society, I tell you there is nothing new. And God knows, God sees, and he will give us comfort, and he will make all things right. And that is the faith that we must have. That God is going to judge all things including these corrupt professionals that we simply have to deal with. Alright."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "584.53503",
      "endTime": "606.965",
      "body": "Let us go to the Lord in prayer. Gracious heavenly father, I thank you that you know all things and you know what we struggle with. I thank you that you show us that there is nothing new. I thank you that you are the God of all justice and mercy and grace. Father, to that we look to, to that we depend upon."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 1",
      "startTime": "607.84503",
      "endTime": "610.245",
      "body": "We thank you in Jesus name. Amen."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 2",
      "startTime": "612.645",
      "endTime": "631.8674",
      "body": "Thank you for joining us on Biblical Reflections today. We're so grateful for listeners like you. Your encouragement helps us share God's truths worldwide. If inspired, support our mission with a donation at cobworksmedia.org. You can also catch our other podcasts like the bible in three d anywhere that you get your podcasts."
    },
    {
      "speaker": "Speaker 2",
      "startTime": "632.02734",
      "endTime": "633.46735",
      "body": "Thank you, and God bless."
    }
  ]
}