Brother Jim Shaw Ministries, September 30, 2026

Brother Jim Shaw Ministries

The Unknown God of Athens: Paul's Mars Hill Sermon, Idolatry, and the Lineage of Adam

Brother Jim Shaw preaches through Acts 17, following Paul into an Athens "wholly given to idolatry" and onto Mars Hill, where Paul confronts philosophers with the altar to an unknown God he identifies as the risen Christ.

A City Wholly Given to Idolatry

Brother Jim Shaw opens the broadcast asking whether an entire city, community, or nation could fall under a curse or spell. He turns to Acts 17:15, describing Paul arriving in Athens and waiting there for Silas and Timotheus, his spirit stirred within him when he perceives that the city is wholly given to idolatry. Brother Jim tells listeners this answers his opening question directly: yes, a whole place can fall under such darkness, just as it happened in Sodom and Gomorrah and now in Athens. He notes that entire modern countries sit overwhelmingly under a single foreign religion today, calling it the same pattern repeating in the present age. He insists there is only one way out of such darkness, through Jesus, who died on the cross and manifested himself as the Lamb to change people's hearts, setting up the contrast between empty religion and genuine rebirth that follows.

Born Again and the Lineage of Adam

Brother Jim Shaw explains that salvation cannot be inherited through parents, earned through seminary training, or achieved by good grades or good behavior, insisting it comes only from above. He describes tasting the Holy Spirit and being reborn as a conviction no one arranges for themselves, calling it the one thing that separates true Christian faith from every other religion, even other branches of Christianity. He recalls Jesus telling Nicodemus that a person must be born again to see the kingdom of God, and must be born of water, meaning simply human, born in the lineage of Adam with no interference. He says this requirement makes more sense now, tying it to what he believes is a sign of the last days, fallen angels breeding with women in the days of Noah and corrupting food and beasts, a corruption he claims is returning through modern genetic manipulation of humanity itself.

Fallen Angels, GMOs, and Tares Among Wheat

Brother Jim Shaw claims at least ten humans have already been born carrying three sets of DNA through genetic experimentation, urging listeners to research it themselves. He argues such beings may look, act, and even feel emotions like people, yet their soul struct