Jimmy Akin Podcast
Jimmy Akin, a prominent Catholic apologist, hosts this podcast exploring questions of faith, reason, and culture. Each episode engages with listener questions, current events, and theological topics in a thoughtful and accessible way. The show aims to help listeners deepen their understanding and confidently navigate challenges to their beliefs.
Episodes
The Practical Joker (TAS) - The Secrets of Star Trek
A charged particle cloud infects the Enterprise computer and it starts pranking the crew. In TAS S2E3, Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler weigh forced 1970s gags against Star Trek's very first holodeck.
Time-Travel Mass Before Jesus? Jesus's DNA, Psychic Conversion & More Weird Questions - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
Could a priest who traveled back in time say Mass before the Last Supper? Jimmy Akin takes listener questions on Catholic Answers Live with Cy Kellett, from Mary's DNA to Malachi Martin and the Michigan Melon Heads.
Amok Time (TOS) - Secets of Star Trek
Vulcan biology gets its first real explanation, and it nearly kills Spock. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler break down TOS S2E1 "Amok Time" — the salute, the fight music, and two plot holes nobody ever patched.
Can Science Show the Soul Survives Death? Join My New Courses - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
Can science show the soul survives death? Jimmy Akin announces two fall courses for the Rhine Education Center: one on near-death experiences and reincarnation-type cases, and Introduction to Parapsychology.
When Does Holy Water Stop Being Holy? (& More Weird Questions) - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
Does a blessing survive the water cycle? Could uplifted animals have souls? Jimmy Akin and Cy Kellett take on tickling, Hitler's parents, Revelation's scorpion-tailed locusts and baptism before birth, with Dom Bettinelli.
Tomorrow's Enterprise (SNW)
Two Uhuras, a year apart, and a Scotty who died in one timeline: the Strange New Worlds Season 4 finale (Episode 10) plays like a pilot for Kirk's Year One. Dom Bettinelli and Jimmy Akin weigh its heart against its physics.
Could You Possess Another Human? (And More Weird Questions) - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
Can one human being possess another? MKUltra tried. Jimmy Akin answers that and seven more listener questions — purgatory when the world ends, fallen guardian angels, brain swaps, and whether lizards were once dragons.
Once La'an A Time (SNW) - The Secrets of Star Trek
A shadow self is the part you hide, not the evil twin, which gives Season 4, Episode 9 away a mile off. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler on the fairy tale, the Rukiya payoff that never lands, and whether Pike commands like a captain.
Veridical NDEs - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
A man with no heartbeat knew where the nurse put his dentures. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli look at near-death experiences that came back with facts the patient had no way to know, and ask how they got them.
Orders of Magnitude (SNW) - The Secrets of Star Trek
A grieving admiral wants 5,000 people killed to be sure of one cloaked ship, and only Kirk objects. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler take on Strange New Worlds S4E8, and ask why nobody calls it an illegal order.
EgyptAir 990: The Crash That Gave Bin Laden the Idea for 9/11 - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
An EgyptAir 767 fell out of a clear sky off Nantucket in 1999, and two governments read the same black boxes and reached opposite verdicts. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli weigh four theories and one Arabic prayer.
Like Chronitons Through the Hourglass (SNW) - The Secrets of Star Trek
Trelane turns the Enterprise into a soap opera for a school project, and only Pike notices. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler ask whether *Strange New Worlds* S4E7 survives a five-minute bit stretched to an hour.
Klingon or Time Lord Jesus? Mary Celeste? Salem Witch Trials? And More Patron Questions - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
Could Jesus have incarnated on a Klingon world while he walked in Galilee? Jimmy Akin takes that question and eleven more from patrons — telekinesis, the Mary Celeste, Salem, ley lines — with Dom Bettinelli.
Off-Hours (SNW) - The Secrets of Star Trek
A table tears loose in sickbay and cuts Dr. M'Benga nearly in half — and Nurse Chapel refuses to let him go. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler take on *Strange New Worlds* S4E6, the real-time hour that finally feels like *Trek*.
The 100-Foot Beast an Early Christian Saw in Visions (Shepherd of Hermas) - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
Early Christians read it in church beside the Gospels; a fourth-century Bible bound it in after Revelation. Then it vanished. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli open the Shepherd of Hermas — a tower, a beast, and a question about forgiveness.
Level-Five Transporter Accident (SNW) - The Secrets of Star Trek
Is Star Trek's puppet episode genius or a cop-out? Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler split over whether Strange New Worlds S4E5's dream-ending twist earns its plot holes, plus a hidden Lucille Ball reference few will catch.
Are Auras Real? Aura Colors, Cameras, and the Tests - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
Colored light around every living thing, readable by anyone with the right training — or by a camera at the mall. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli follow the aura from Mesmer to the selfie app, and weigh what happened under controlled testing.
A Case of Chiaroscuro (SNW) - The Secrets of Star Trek
In Strange New Worlds S4E4, Number One gets stranded on a Klingon-occupied world that's basically Casablanca in space. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler debate the shaky black-and-white science and cheer her overdue spotlight.
Buck Nelson, the Ozark Spaceman - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
A flashlight, three discs over a Missouri ranch, and a ray that cured fifteen years of back pain. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli follow Buck Nelson from Ozark farmer to saucer celebrity — and to a twist that isn't funny at all.
Human Best Friend (SNW) - The Secrets of Star Trek
Ortegas and Scotty wake up on a drunk planet with no memory of the night before — and a bomb on their shuttle. Dom Bettinelli, Fr. Jason Tyler, and Jimmy Akin call this Strange New Worlds S4E3 comic relief a mid-range Hangover riff.
Shared Death Experiences - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
You are sitting with someone as they die, and the room fills with a light that is not from this earth. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli examine shared death experiences — the cases where a perfectly healthy bystander sees it too.
The Griffin Incident (SNW) - The Secrets of Star Trek
A derelict starship weaponizes its rescuers' worst fears, and Strange New Worlds S4E2 flatly refuses to explain any of it. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler ask whether an unsolved mystery makes better television.
The Devil's Bible, Jesus Was an Alien?, Psychic Powers in Heaven, and Weird Questions - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
A monk who sold his soul to write a book in one night, the naked man fleeing Jesus' arrest, and whether Jesus was just an alien with good technology: Jimmy Akin takes on eleven listener weird questions with Cy Kellett and Dom Bettinelli.
Investigating the Paranormal for 2,000 Years - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
This August, I'm teaching a four-week course for the Rhine Education Center on Psi and Christianity. We'll look at telepathy, clairvoyance, precognition, mind over matter, and the survival of the soul after death. For 2,000 years, Christians have been wrestling with the very phenomena that parapsychologists study today. Audit it or take it for a grade. Tuition $119 ($109 for Rhine members). Visit
Valles Marineris (SNW) - The Secrets of Star Trek
Sixty-five million years in the past, Pike can save a planet or keep his own future — not both. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler take on Strange New Worlds S4E1: dinosaurs, Martians, and the ethics of time travel.
The Butterfly People of Joplin, Missouri - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
Dozens of unrelated children said shining, winged figures stood over them as an EF5 tornado destroyed Joplin. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli weigh cryptids, trauma, folklore, and guardian angels behind the butterfly people.
Singularity (ENT) - The Secrets of Star Trek
Radiation from a black hole turns the crew into a shipful of obsessives in Enterprise S2E9, "Singularity." Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler ask whether you can really build a whole plot on a pun.
Mark Twain Super-Psychic: His Shocking Telepathy & Death Dream - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
He spent his career debunking fake mesmerists and mediums — then dreamed his brother's funeral weeks before it happened. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli trace Mark Twain's strange turn toward telepathy and ask what the Catholic has to say about it.
Persistence of Vision (VOY) - The Secrets of Star Trek
A powerful alien telepath locks Voyager's crew in private hallucinations and then vanishes without explanation. Dom Bettinelli and Jimmy Akin on whether "Persistence of Vision" earns its mystery.
EXPOSED: The Government's Patented Way to Put Voices in Your Head - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
The U.S. government holds real patents for putting voices in people's heads — and thousands say it's happening to them. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli separate the real physics from psychiatry, internet lore, and outright fraud.
SST421: Return to Grace (DS9)
When Klingons destroy the conference she was headed to, Kira ends up teaching guerrilla tactics to a demoted Dukat. Dom Bettinelli and Jimmy Akin unpack DS9 S4E14's moral complexity, Damar's debut, and whether Dukat is tragic or just evil.
Joseph Williamson's Tunnels - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
A Liverpool merchant spent 30 years tunneling beneath his own neighborhood and never said why. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli weigh seven theories about Joseph Williamson and his mysterious underground labyrinth.
The High Ground (TNG) - The Secrets of Star Trek
A separatist leader kidnaps Beverly Crusher and makes arguments the Enterprise crew can't quite answer. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler on TNG's toughest terrorism episode: "The High Ground" (S3E12).
Mel's Hole - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
A bottomless pit in central Washington, 80,000 feet deep and impossible to fill. In 1997, one phone call to Art Bell turned a piece of local folklore into a national mystery. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli investigate Mel's Hole.
Bem (TAS) - The Secrets of Star Trek
An alien observer who detaches his own body parts puts Kirk and Spock through their paces in TAS S2E2. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler weigh whether "Bem" earns its strange premise — and how this episode named James Tiberius Kirk.
What Really Happened to the Lost Ark of the Covenant? - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
The most famous lost object in history — the Ark of the Covenant — vanished from Scripture before 586 BC and was never seen again. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli examine what it was, trace its history, and weigh nine theories for where it went.
Doctor Who Cancelled? - The Secrets of Doctor who
No Christmas special. No showrunner. No production partner. The BBC has put Doctor Who out to competitive tender, and Dom Bettinelli and Jimmy Akin weigh what the shake-up means for Billie Piper, the Timeless Child, and the show's next era.
Who Mourns for Adonais? (TOS) - The Secrets of Star Trek
A giant green hand grabs the Enterprise — and the Greek god Apollo demands worship. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler weigh TOS S2E2's ancient-aliens premise, Kirk's defiance, and the ending that was filmed but never aired.
What Mary Knew; God's Choices; Autism and Names in the Afterlife; and More Patron Questions - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
Does a growing human population dilute demonic influence per person? Plus: the Magi's star, Mary after Pentecost, leavened Eucharist history, God's timelessness, and the serpent of Genesis 3. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli answer patron questions.
The Communicator (ENT) - The Secrets of Star Trek
A lost communicator on a war-torn pre-warp world forces Archer and Reed to risk their lives over an ethic the Prime Directive hasn't invented yet. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler take on Enterprise S2E8, "The Communicator."
Pre-Sputnik Transients
Thousands of star-like flashes flicker across sky-survey plates shot in the 1950s, before any satellite existed — some clustered, some lined up, some on famous UFO nights. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli weigh five explanations for the pre-Sputnik transients.
Concerning Flight (VOY) - The Secrets of Star Trek
When pirates steal Voyager's computer core, Janeway's holographic Leonardo da Vinci ends up on an alien black market. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler debate whether John Rhys-Davies alone can save it.
Zombie Marriage, Holy Roman Emperors, Jesus's DNA, and More Weird Questions - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
It's a fifth Friday, so Jimmy Akin is answering weird questions from Catholic Answers listeners, about topics like alien demons, vampire ethics, Jesus's DNA, ancient tech, how much water a priest can bless, and more.
The Siege (DS 9) - The Secrets of Star Trek
The Circle falls, but the price is one hero's life. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler close the DS9 opening trilogy: duty vs. family, a holosuite trap, and the politics that end a coup.
Skeleton Lake - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
A lake in the Indian Himalayas holds hundreds of human skeletons from multiple centuries and continents. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli trace six theories, and the truth turns out to be stranger than the legend.
The Circle (DS9) - The Secrets of Star Trek
Minister Jaro is the Circle — and he's willing to torture Kira to keep it that way. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler dig into Part 2 of DS9's season-opening trilogy.
Crisis Apparitions - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
Something happens at the moment of death. Sometimes the living sense it from miles away. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli examine 140 years of research into crisis apparitions: who experiences them, what the science says, and what the faith says.
The Homecoming (DS9) - The Secrets of Star Trek
A legend built on a lie. Or is it? Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler discuss DS9's first three-parter, Li Nalas's complicated myth, the rise of the Circle, and a father-son scene that carries more weight than it first appears.
Jesus' Most Misunderstood Prophecy? The Olivet Discourse (Not the End of the World) - Jimmy Akin's Mysterious World
Jesus' most misunderstood prophecy has sent readers down the wrong path for centuries. Jimmy Akin and Dom Bettinelli examine the Olivet Discourse: what did Jesus actually predict, and did it happen?
Coming of Age (TNG) - The Secrets of Star Trek
Loyalty tests and entrance exams collide when the abrasive Remmick investigates the Enterprise while Wesley competes for a Starfleet Academy spot. Dom Bettinelli, Jimmy Akin, and Fr. Jason Tyler on TNG's "Coming of Age."
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