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Why does Jesus tell the disciples to buy swords? Is this Jesus supporting violence or self defense in particular? Um, the question is one that frequently comes up, and the one Bible passage, uh, that Jesus seems to, to some endorse, like, say, second amendment rights, is this passage. Let me just read it to you guys right now. This is the passage that is often used to talk about, you know, say, second amendment rights. Um, and in my opinion, I've read a bunch of commentaries. I've read, like, multiple pacifist books. I kid you not. In the recent weeks, I've been studying pacifism a lot. People think I'm studying Binny Hinn a lot. The past few weeks, I've been studying pacifism, uh, the christian views of pacifism and how they interpret things, including this verse right here, this passage. So, in my opinion, the, uh, pacifist interpretations of this passage are generally lacking. But let's talk about at least some of that. I'll unpack it for a few minutes, and then we'll go to your guys questions. There's going to be some stuff I don't cover because it's just too much for the first question of the Q and A. But here's some of it. Luke 22 36. Just before his crucifixion, Jesus says, uh, but now he who has taken a. Who has a money bag, let him take it. And likewise a knapsack. And he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one.

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For I say to you that, that, that this which is written must still be accomplished in me. And he who is numbered with the transgressors.

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He was numbered with the transgressors. For the things concerning me have an end. So they said, lord, look, here are two swords. And he said to them, it is enough. You, uh, know, at first glance, it looks like Jesus is saying, hey, guys, stuff's about to get really rough. Uh, before I sent you out, you didn't take any extra stuff, but now I'm telling you, get ready. Be prepared for hardship. Go get a sword if you don't have one.

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Swords most people think of as instruments of violence. Uh, these are not butter your bread type of weapons. They're not even small knives. They're bigger than that. They're swords, and they're known as self defense weapons. That's their primary purpose. If you're carrying them around throughout the day, it's not like a box cutter that you use as a tool. It's pretty much a sword. Now, this, there are other interpretations, and sometimes people just don't know what to do with this stuff. For instance, there are Jesus movies where they. Where most of them don't include this passage. I surveyed a bunch of Jesus movies. I'll play one clip from a Jesus movie that you guys can check out right now. But these Jesus movies don't know what to do with this passage. So you'll get to where Jesus, you know, the red letters on your screen? He reads that stuff, and then they go, look, here are two swords. And the disciple holding up the swords here, it's awkward. He's holding up like, like, uh, I don't know, like 99 cent store knives.

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And he looks, I don't know if he's angry or if he's weird or, I don't know what it is. And then Jesus, when he says it is enough, this Jesus clip, interprets him as saying, like, enough of this. Like, stop it. You obviously don't understand me, you weirdo. Let's play the clip, and then we'll talk about the meaning of the passage.

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When I sent you out without purse or bag or shoes, did you lack anything? No, not a thing. But now whoever has a purse or a bag must take it, and whoever has no sword must sell his mantle and buy one. For I tell you, it is written in the scriptures, and he was counted among the sinners. And what was written about me is coming true.

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Look, here are two swords, lord, enough of this.

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Enough of this. Um, he clearly just thinks that they're being, like, foolish. That's the basic idea. Jesus is just thinking they're being ridiculous. And a lot of people interpret it this way. They'll interpret these swords. Perhaps Jesus didn't mean literal swords. Or, um, Jesus was being ironic or he meant swords, but he meant it for a different purpose than the disciple who gets it up. And he points them at Jesus, almost like he's being aggressive to Jesus. It's just the weirdest thing. I don't know what. I don't know what to think about all that. That's just very odd to me. Um, so the passage itself, what is it saying?

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Let's look at it again and let's answer some specific questions as I juggle through, uh, my notes that are now confusing here.

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Are the swords literal? That's the first question. Are the swords literal? Because if jesus meant it symbolically, if he didn't mean literal swords, then that would be a very easy way of explaining away any sort of connection people make to, like, say, using, uh, self defense or anything like that. Um, there's one commentator named Magnum who says it is likely that Jesus refers to acquiring a sword metaphorically. But the disciples take his word literally, and so Jesus is like rebuking them when he says it is enough. I don't think there's a reason to believe that. But some people teach that Tom Shriner, who I love and respect greatly, Tom Shriner, he says this. The disciples mistakenly interpret Jesus's words on swords literally. Jesus rebukes their incomprehension by saying, that is enough. In verse 38, is the phrase, it is enough. Is that rebuke? I looked into the Greek on this. I looked into commentaries to try to figure out where they prove that the phrase that is enough is. And I don't believe that they have a good case for that. You could check it out on your own. Maybe you'll disagree with me. I don't think they have a good case for that. Uh, there's others who give other cases as well. I could read a big quote from James Edwards, but I want to move quick. So I'll say this. If it's not literal, what could it mean? If Jesus is speaking of swords metaphorically, what might that mean? Well, the first option is Jesus is speaking ironically.

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He wants them to look like criminals. Um, in some sense, that's what one thing where he's like, I don't really want you to get swords. I'm really sort of like doing a switcheroo. I'm gonna. I'm gonna teach you a lesson by telling you to do something I don't really want you to do, so that you'll see how bad it is. Like. Like a dad making his kid smoke a box of cigars. Like that kind of thing. Something like that. I guess that's still kind of literal, but it's ironic.

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Uh, at any rate, there's another one, which is that it's figurative for hard times. Uh, Morris says the following.

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Such considerations lead others to think the words are ironical, but it is more likely that they are figurative. It is Jesus's graphic way of bringing it home that the disciples face a situation of grave peril. Jesus is only trying to tell them, hey, you guys, you're in hard times. What you're about to experience is great danger coming to your lives.

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So go get a sword. I don't want you to go get a sword, but go get a sword. Because I just. I'm just saying. I'm just saying this in a way of getting you to know danger is coming your way. You're going to be attacked. So he doesn't want them to get a sword, nor does he want them to defend themselves. He just is trying to tell them they're in danger. I don't think that that works. I think that the context forces us to think that it's literal. Let's. Let's look at that. Now, here, I'm backing up a bit, and we make sure it's on your screens. Okay. I have to look at all this stuff. All right. Luke 22, verse 34. He says, when I sent you without money bag, knapsack, and sandals, did you lack anything? And they said, nothing. Now, this hearkens back to Luke, chapter ten. Jesus sends them out in the parallel, and he says, don't take extra pair of shoes. Don't take knapsack or money. Just, you know, the Lord's going to provide for you. Effectively was the lesson. And they went out two by two, and they came back, and everything was good. The Lord totally took care of them.

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Were these literal money bags in the parallel? Yes. Were they literal knapsacks and sandals? Yes. All literal. Then he says, but now he who has a money bag, let him take it. They obviously had to take that literal. He literally meant, I, uh, sent you with a literal no money bag. Now take a real literal money bag. Like, that's just how English works, or greek, for that matter. And likewise, a knapsack. He sent them without a literal knapsack. We know that it was very literal. And now he's saying, go get one. And he who has no sword, let him sell his garment and buy one. It's really jarring to think that the moneybag and the knapsack are literal, but then the sword is not.

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That doesn't really make sense. It just. It just doesn't make sense. Further, when. When Jesus later tells Peter to put his sword away, he says, put it in its place. He doesn't say, get rid of it. That would be a great way for Jesus to make clear. Like, I didn't really want you to have a sword. Get rid of the sword. But he says, put it in its place. Which is interesting. Um. Um, yeah, it's just. It's just interesting. Now, am I. Do I think that this. This passage is like a big screaming endorsement of, like, the second amendment of us all having lots of guns and no restrictions on guns? No, I'm. That is to hijack the passage, shove it into our modern culture, and try to use it as a tool for an agenda that Jesus wasn't. Wasn't focused on. I just want to understand the passage properly. I don't think it fits the pacifist view, unfortunately. Um, for that perspective, I don't think it fits that view. But I don't think you should build a whole case for, like, ak 47s off of Luke chapter 22.

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That's ISO Jesus. That's taking the passages of scripture and using them for your own purposes. At any rate, let's ask more questions. Find my notes again. There they are with my one monitor set up since my other one burned out right when I tried to go live. Okay.

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Um, the case for literal swords is that the parallel in Luke ten and the context of Luke 22 require it to be literal because the other items are also literal. Commentators who take the swords to be non literal still take all the other items to be literal. The money bag, the knapsack. How do you take one non literally?

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How do you non literally sell a cloak and buy it? And buy a sword non literal? What does that mean? Like, what is the actual application of that? Because just saying hard times are coming, but there's no application. That's just odd.

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Then we get to the phrase it is enough.

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This phrase it is enough is hotly debated or, uh, at least frequently discussed. Sorry, I'll put it back on your screen there. Jesus, when they say, look, we got two swords, and he says, it is enough, let me give you guys my, my summary understanding of this, then I'll defend it more. And I want you to decide what you think. And let me give you some puzzle pieces you'll have to work with. So my opinion is that when they say, look, here are two swords, there are twelve disciples. He goes, there's two swords. Jesus says, it is enough. So it's two swords for the they, the group of the twelve.

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Two swords for this group. I use the phrase the twelve. Like, even though Judas is already skedaddled at this point, I use the phrase the twelve just the way the Bible does. It's used as like a group of guys. So, so there's two swords for this whole group. Jesus says, that's enough. This would mean that it couldn't be for armed rebellion because they would need a lot more than that for even a small group. But it, but the it is enough phrase, I think, just means what it sounds like. He's like, yeah, two is enough. That is sufficient for what I just told you. I didn't mean every single person had to go get a sword, but two will be enough. Why? Because it's not an armed rebellion we're doing. It's not a large military move. It's something different.

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That's my opinion about it. Uh, now, some would say that Jesus is here rebuking. When he says it is enough, he's actually rebuking them. I don't think any greek case exists that the phrase it is enough is inherently a rebuke. I know Preston sprinkle, in his book on pacifism fight, he mentions the Septuagint, uh, the greek translation of the Old Testament, and he says, hey, this phrase in the Old Testament, this idea of enough is frequently connected to these different ideas. I looked, I don't think his. I think he, um, gave you selective information. If you look at all the uses of the old. Of the Old Testament septuagint, of this phrase or of these terms, you're not going to see the picture that he was painting in his book, in my opinion. You, uh, can check that out on your own if you're capable of doing that. Sorry if you're not. I just got to move forward because it's a quick q and a today. Um, others will say, when Jesus says it is enough, he's not rebuking the disciples. And by the way, let me see this. Most commentators who say the phrase it is enough don't even offer a case that it's a rebuke. Who say it's a rebuke. They don't. They don't give a case for it. That makes this even difficult to research. It feels good because it's like, yeah, it's a rebuke. Good. We don't have crazy, like, people running around with weapons doing violence in the name of Jesus. Okay, yeah, but you don't have to go that extreme to recognize that Jesus is doing something here related to self defense. Right. There's. There's some middle ground between people, like, wildly shooting other people because they feel threatened in some way and, like, legitimate self defense or potentially legitimate. There's got to be something there between that and total pacifism.

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I think. I think a lot of you guys would agree, but we wouldn't realize how controversial that statement is, actually, um, it's like what, the women in ministry thing, there's people who push against biblical views of gender roles because they. They think you can't have biblical gender roles as they are really in the Bible without it being abusive. And there are people who think you cannot have any form of self defense or violence without it being immoral. It's the same kind of thing. It's just a very black and white perspective on. On violence.

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Just as people have a black and white perspective on gender roles, and I think that we need to have a biblical perspective, which doesn't fit either of those things.

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So here's an alternative explanation. When Jesus says it is enough, he's actually saying that it's enough to fulfill prophecy. And, uh, I shouldn't have clicked away here. Jesus does connect his command for them to get a sword. He connects it to prophecy. For I say to you that this. That this which is written must still be accomplished in me. He who was numbered with the transgressors, he was. Sorry. I've bounced around in translations. I got one in my head here. I'm gonna go to the ESP because it's in my head. It's what I've been reading when I've been studying. Um, I tell you that this scripture must be fulfilled in me, and he was numbered with the transgressors, for what is written about me has its fulfillment. The idea of them taking swords is connected to Jesus being numbered with transgressors. So some people go, ah, ah. When Jesus says it's enough, he means two swords is enough to accomplish the following goal. When I show up in the garden and they come to arrest me, they're supposed to think that I'm with a bunch of transgressors or criminals or bad guys. Two swords will make you all look like you are an armed rebellion. You are criminals like you are bad guys. Swords will make you look that way. So wear the swords so that I will look bad when they arrest me.

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This, to me, is clever, but it doesn't seem to work. Let me read to you, uh, Craig Keener. How he describes it. He says, Jesus calls for a temporary symbolic act. Two are sufficient. So he may be charged as a revolutionary and hence reckoned among the transgressors. In accordance with Isaiah 50 312, to be without one's outer cloak at night would leave one cold. Yet Jesus suggests that it is better to be unprepared for the conflict these disciples are about, better than being unprepared for the conflict they're about to face.

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Does that make sense?

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A lot of people like this interpretation because it connects to prophecy. It feels pious in that sense. It feels like, yeah, it's prophetic. It's fulfillment. I agree it connects to prophecy, but not the way that Sekina or others are suggesting. Let me try to explain some reasons why, when he says it must be fulfilled, they were numbered with the transgressors. And you take Jesus's sword command as being to make the disciples and jesus look like bad guys. It conflicts with a theme throughout the entire gospels, the four gospels, and specific things that Jesus actually says about him looking guilty or not. Jesus goes through great lengths to make sure they have no legitimate accusations they can bring against him. Remember, they bring all these people before the, uh, Sanhedrin, before the courts. Effectively, they're bringing them before the court to try to say, here's all the stuff jesus did wrong. They can't get two witnesses to agree on any accusation. In this time, nobody brings the accusation that Jesus disciples took swords and were basically attacking or ready to attack other people with them. Nobody even brings this up as an accusation because there was nothing illegal about them having just two swords amongst their group.

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Do you catch this? They don't use the enemies of Jesus, do not use the swords of the disciples as a way of showing Jesus amidst transgressors. That's not something that happens in the text of scripture.

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Jesus, if he is doing this and putting swords in their hands to make them look bad, he's literally using deceit to make the disciples lives endangered by those who would persecute them.

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Think about that. That would be a way of, I mean, this is, uh, the thing is, this sounds good on the surface, this prophecy thing, but I think it has insurmountable challenges. When you look at the actual text of scripture, Jesus didn't do anything. In fact, when they come to arrest him, is Jesus thinking, I want us to look like transgressors or something different? When Jesus actually shows up in the garden and they come to get him, he says, why do you come out against me with clubs and weapons as though I am a robber? In other words, he wants to make it clear to the people coming, I am not like that. But yet Keener and other people who take this, uh, interpretation, their view is jesus wants to look like the thing he is telling them. He doesn't look like the passage. So it seems to conflict.

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How is it a fulfillment of prophecy? Then? When we get to this passage, I think that, um, Jesus is saying, I'm going to be taken captive and they're going to think, you guys are evil, you're going to be in danger, you're going to be considered transgressors. They're going to hate you for my name's sake. So have a sword.

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This seems like we got two options that I see that are viable. In my opinion, you have self defense or you have the appearance of power as a deterrent. Those are the two options that I think are viable for this. And either option could work. You'd have to bring in other texts of scripture to try to give a stronger case for self defense or just the appearance. But it's got to be minimally wearing weapons as a way of deterring people attacking you or maximally arming yourself to actually defend yourself against unjust attacks. That's a challenging one, I admit, because the disciples do not defend themselves against unjust attacks. In the book of acts, they don't. Now, you might say, well, in some situations we don't, but maybe in certain situations we can. I'm open to that. I'm open to that. But certainly in most situations, we see persecution, uh, related. They don't defend themselves at all. Stephen doesn't defend himself. Peter doesn't defend himself. Now they're facing overwhelming forces, they're facing governmental persecution. To strike back is to just bring imminent death upon yourself and to just make things even worse for the other people in your party, other christians, because now you're armed, now you're even a bigger threat, and, um, you're using weapons. So the viable options would be self defense, um, but probably not when God calls you to suffer, not in the face of overwhelming odds, not where death is inevitable, or just the appearance of power as deterrent, meaning, uh, wearing a weapon, carrying a weapon, having a weapon on you. Someone comes up to you and they're clearly going to mess with you, and you pull your knife out and you open it up and you're like, look, just back off. Maybe you're thinking, I would never use it, but I'm going to. I'm going to hold it here as a deterrent, minimally. Um, we've got that.

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Other texts of scripture have to be analyzed to see if you can make a stronger case for self defense. The old testament clearly affirms self defense. The New Testament, um, does talk about violence, but it's difficult to see New Testament texts that weigh in specifically on christian self defense, them personally using violence and self defense. Yet it's hard for my heart to even imagine not defending people who are being attacked unjustly, at least in many scenarios. Maybe not in every scenario. Then some are asking probably, um, hey, why is it that Jesus tells Peter to put his sword away? Peter pulls his sword out, goes to cut this guy's ear off. Jesus has put the sword away. A couple things I'll just mention on that before we go to question number two. Number one is, uh, where Jesus says, put your sword in its place.

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Um, he doesn't tell him to get rid of it. He tells him to put it in its place. So Jesus told him to buy a sword. So Peter's armed because of Jesus. Then he tells him to put it in its place. So Peter leaves there armed because of Jesus. Right. So that's significant. It's not as extreme as some people think it is. When Jesus stops him, he's stopping him from using violence to stop the cross. This is Peter making the same mistake he's made earlier on. No way, lord. You're not going to be crucified. No way. You're not going to die here. Peter's trying to stop the crucifixion. Jesus wants to be arrested. Okay? He doesn't want it. In a sense, not my will be done, but your will be done, but in other sense, it's like, it must happen. I'm committed to it. I'm moving forward to make this happen. I'm giving myself up. Peter's trying to stop that. He's fighting against, ultimately, the cross. So this is not a commentary on violence. It's a commentary on the cross and, um, on the way of Jesus heading to the cross. Now, there may be ways we copy this when we face certain, at least certain kinds of violence, but it's not, overall a commentary on violence. When Jesus says, peter, and I'll quote it to you now from Matthew 26, all who take the sword will perish by the sword. That's a phrase people use to say, see, this is Jesus giving, like, a blanket statement against all violence. All who take the sword will perish by the sword. Yet Jesus takes up the sword in the book of revelation. And I think that that symbolism is a big deal. But it's his word, dude. But it's a sword. His word is going to slay the enemies. That's, that's what it does. He's not going to perish. Right. Because of this. As a result, Romans, uh, 13 says that the government takes up the sword and it's God's minister, like, executing. This is amazing. The terminology, God's wrath.

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So they don't have a sentence that they're all going to die by the sword because they're doing what God's called them to do. We have, um, people in the Old Testament in particular, who took up the sword by the command of God, did not have to perish by the sword.

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Yada, yada. I can go on to make the point that when Jesus says, all who take up the sword will perish by the sword, it doesn't seem like it's a universal truth about all of mankind throughout time. It seems as though it's a statement about that moment. Right now, we're facing insurmountable odds. If you take up the sword, you're just going to die. It could be the wisdom of not fighting a foolish battle, um, coupled with the idea that Jesus will do what the father tells him to do.

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All that to say this verse does not give you. Everybody can buy ak 47s, nor does it give you total pacifism. It seems as though it requires minimally arming yourself as a deterrent, maximally using self defense, whenever it's not God's will, as in the case of Jesus, for you to go ahead and face persecution and just accept it and honor the Lord in that, where do you draw the lines and all that? That's a super challenging thing. That's a good question. Maybe we'll cover it sometime. Um, but, yeah, that's what I got for question number one. So we're going to go to question number two.

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And this one comes from Ken T. Who says in two Thessalonians 2912, when the Antichrist is revealed, God will send a strong delusion to those who refuse to be saved. Will everyone who has heard the gospel but not repented be overcome by it? Uh, let's.

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Let's go there. It's really hard for me to juggle all these windows now. Definitely got one monitor.

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So, um, second, Thessalonians 2912.

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All right, we're going to read it together.

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The coming of the lawless one. The lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders, with all wicked deception, for those who are perishing because they refuse to love the truth and so be saved. Therefore, God sends them a strong delusion so that they may believe what is false in order that all may be condemned who did not believe the truth but have pleasure in unrighteousness.

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You know what strikes me about this is, um, first, that it's future, that it's serious. That it's the amazingness, uh, in a negative sense, of thinking of Satan, uh, with all power and false signs and wonders, false, uh, signs and wonders. It seems like either fake miracles or miracles that are in fact real because they're done not just by the trickery of Satan, but by the power of Satan. So it's not just deception. There's deception in the sign because it points you in the wrong way, but the power of it. To think of Satan having this agent who's doing miracles, there's going to be so many people that go, well, look at the miracles. Obviously he's true.

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Um, it's scary to think about it, but what about the people? Uh, the second thing I think of is the Romans one connection, this idea of God sending them strong delusion. Paul's the same guy that wrote Romans, and he talks about this and he says, hey, um, there is a strong delusion that came upon people because they rejected the knowledge of God and they worshiped the creature rather than the creator. So he gave them up to ungodly desires and gave them up to a debased mind. And all this sort of thing, that is something that has happened. When it comes to your question about how the future sort of is going to be the culmination of the past man's rebellion against God, it's going to be this culmination of it. Is it true for everybody that at this point where Satan shows up through his, through his lawless one and he's using deception, does it mean that everybody at that point who isn't saved can't be saved? I think that's how I take your question. Will everyone who has heard the gospel but not repented be overcome by it? So does that mean every single person? I think that we don't need to universalize it. It's a general reality. Let's say there are a billion people that get caught up in exactly this. They heard the gospel, they rejected it. This delusion, this deception comes through the power of Satan. And the fact that they run to and embrace it is merely the counterpoint to them having rejected Jesus already. And they get locked in even harder. They really go hard. I think of it sometimes, like the analogy of how God gives people over to something. The analogy of, um, like a kid pulling on your arm, you're pulling them and trying to keep them from like, falling in a pool or jumping in a pool. This is a weird hypothetical. Well, let's say there's, they're trying to jump in the pool and, you know, they've got like their phone in their pocket or something. So you're trying to grab, saying, don't, don't, don't do it, and they won't listen to you. And they're like, ah, finally you let go and they go flying into the pool because they were pulling with all their might against you. God, when he gives people over to a debased mind, sometimes it's just like this. What happens is he's holding and because he's pulling on them, the Holy Spirit's trying to draw them over, they have to pull even harder to get away from it. And then when he finally says, okay, have your way, and he lets go, they go flying into deception, flying into sin, flying into darkness and self delusion and all that sort of thing, so that when we don't listen to the Holy Spirit, we end up worse than before. It's a sobering thing to think about.

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I think that's what's happening here in this passage. But does that mean that every single person who's heard the gospel hasn't received it? When they. When they see this satanic power, they're just going to go right into it? I wouldn't say that. Um, there can. You know, this is a general statement. I don't think he's trying to inclusively describe, let's say a billion do. That doesn't mean that there aren't 200 million that end up getting saved because they look around and see what's going on, and that's the moment their eyes open. And I'm hopeful for that. Um, I personally am very opposed to when we say about people, that's it. You can't be saved. That's the line. You've crossed it. Now, maybe there's a line there that God knows, but I'm always going to be hopeful and always evangelistic towards people where I can not in ways that cause them to hurt others, because you're going to ignore the harm they're causing, but where you can be very hopeful. My hope, my encouragement to you as well is it's a truth. That doesn't mean it's true of every single individual person. All right, we have all ten questions for today. Thank you guys for your questions. Uh, I do this every Friday. You're welcome to join any time I do this, not just to answer your questions in the chat, but to take your questions and help a lot of people with them. So it's true that I can't do all the questions. It's just not possible to answer all your questions. But these ten that we select are hopefully going to be useful for a lot of people. And you can go to biblethinker.org and you can use the clip search feature, which I actually have a link to in the description, and you can look through thousands of questions I've answered if you're looking for something that you think maybe I've already given you. All right, CW has a question. How do we know what course joking is? Ephesians 429 and 520. My teens christian friends often joke about being LGBTQ, and getting high or drunk? Is this a freedom issue or a sin? How should a teen respond?

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Um, so, um, I'm afraid I'll answer this in a way where people who already agree with me will nod their heads, and people who don't agree with me will just shake their heads because we can do this, right. I want to answer and just say, it's obvious what course joking is most of the time. And joking about sexual, uh, sin and joking about drunkenness and stuff in the ways that people often do when they're teenagers. Uh, yes, that's coarse joking.

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That just seems obvious. But I know there's someone who's going to shake their head and be like, well, prove it, Mike. Prove it. Well, let's see if we can get maybe a more careful answer going. So, Ephesians 429 is the passage where it comes in. Um, let's look at the passage.

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Let no corrupting talk come out of your mouths, but only such as is good for building up as fits the occasion that it may give grace to those who hear no corrupting talk or say, new King James, I believe, is where you're going to get, uh.

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Oh, it's the other verse you're referring to. That's course joking.

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Um, let me take you there. Ephesians 05:20 a.m.. I. Not thinking of the right thing here.

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Hmm. M let me. Let me find. Maybe I'm just slow to catch up here. Um, five four. Ephesians five four, probably, is what you're looking at.

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Let there be no filthiness nor foolish talk nor crude joking. So both of these last two, um, in this verse are talking about things we do verbally.

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Foolish, um, talk and crude joking.

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Then the last part of the verse, let there be giving of thanks. That's something that's also done verbally. So we have three things that are done verbally. Foolish talk, crude joking, and then thanksgiving, are all done verbally. I think filthiness is referring to verbal filthiness as well. So there's actually three things that we're told to avoid, and one is filthiness, that which is sort of morally dirty, foolish, um, talk, which is the kind of talk that's not. I mean, you could joke around, that's fine, but there's joking, and then there's, like, foolish talk. Where do you draw the line? Read the Book of proverbs and then ask yourself if it's cool to joke about that stuff. Right? Like, really? Actually, I mean it. Young guys especially read the Book of proverbs and then think about your humor. That'd be a great way to gauge yourself and be biblical and then foolish talking or crude joking.

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It's really interesting to me that crude joking is even brought up Ephesians five four that there's even, like, a thing where the Bible actually calls out crude joking. It's something that we learn to do as kids. We sort of train ourselves because of our culture, that inappropriate humor is the funniest humor. That's kind of something we teach ourselves when it comes to crude. Ah, joking. The word for crude joking is one single word. Um, eutropilla. And this is a greek word that means, um, when it's in a good sense. It means wittiness or facetiousness, but it can also be used in a bad sense, which is buffoonery, uh, coarse jesting, or risque wit. This is actually, ah, here, maybe I'll put you this on screen. Do you see this right here? When it's used in a bad sense, as Paul is, it can be coarse jesting or risque wit. Risque wit means, hey, your joke was witty, but it was kind of like, uh. Did you really want to joke about that?

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That seems to perfectly describe joking about lgbt stuff and m joking about using drugs. And I gotta be honest with you guys. Look, I did this when I was younger. There's things I joked about at 18, probably even 19, that, like, within a couple years, I felt so embarrassed about. I remember I was at a job, and I was having lunch with my boss and another coworker, and they said something, and I offered a coarse joke. It was, like, a lgbt type joke that was inappropriate, and I thought it was funny. Um, and my boss turned to me, and he goes, oh, uh, is that what you talk about when you're in church?

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It's a perfect rebuke. I 100% deserved it. I 100% deserved it. I never forgot it. It shocked me so much. It was like he held up a mirror to me that I didn't see. What I was doing was, it's okay because it's funny. Like, this was the rule I had as a young person. I think maybe a lot of people feel this way is, ah, it's okay. It's funny.

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The command in scripture that course joking is wrong, is to say, if it's not okay, it doesn't matter that it's funny. That's a great policy for us to have as christians. This will change your sense of humor. There will be a time where you don't try hard not to laugh at bad jokes, you actually just don't think they're funny because you've embedded this. You've brought this into you, where filthiness and foolish talking. Of course, joking is not part of your character. You might think you'll be less funny and less enjoyable. No, what you'll do is you'll see a comedy on tv, and you'll be like, I can't believe how much they just do sex jokes. How inappropriate that is. It's not even funny. It's not funny. You guys are. You're boring.

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You're just copying the same easy and inappropriate humor that we always see. We're clever. We have to actually think about your jokes. Just say something perverted. It will change your sense of humor in a purifying sense. I, uh, don't have to try hard not to laugh at bad jokes anymore, but I did when I was younger because I had a worldly perspective on these things. I hope that that helps. Just being very straight with you guys, young people. Um.

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Um.

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Sometimes it can feel like you want to reject everything I just said because you really want your liberty. You know, from the time you were like a little kid until now, you've been slowly getting more and more freedom and liberty. And that can get a thing. You can get a thing. A chip on your shoulder when you're like, 1918, 2023, where you just don't want anybody telling you what to do. You want to make all your own decisions. You don't want any sort of policies and rules in life that come from others. And all I want to say is, like, that's really stupid. Like, that's really bad for you to do that. It's really common, but it's super unhealthy for you, and you will just be heaping up regrets and sorrows and pain. This is why scripture tells you to respect your elders. Scripture tells you to honor your father and your mother. This is why scripture read James three. If you think course joking is okay. It says that our tongue is like a world of fire, and it sets the whole person ablaze. It's like a very dangerous thing. Guard your mouth. Guard your words. It will make your entire character a better person, a more godly person, a more realistic, solid person. And, um, it'll be only good. All right, number four. Question number four comes from an anonymous person. My mom changed her name recently. She felt God was giving her a new name. She often feels led by the spirit, where. I don't agree. Any advice for those times? And should I introduce her by her new name. Um, okay, super tough thing. I'm going to fill in the gaps on your question with a few assumptions because I don't know how to answer it without assuming a few things. So I'm going to make some assumptions. This means that you may find my answer doesn't apply to you. Don't feel like because I have subscribers or because I have a loud voice online that you have to just go with whatever I say. Here, take this as maybe this applies, maybe it doesn't. I won't feel bad at all if you're like, nah, doesn't apply to me, Mike. Good. Don't apply it. All right, so here's a few things. Based on your brief description and lots of people I've known in real life and lots of years, some years, at least, of experience, um, you should probably just introduce her by her new name.

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Her name is not, uh. It's not a lie about her identity.

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So if she named herself president, uh, Bob, that would be an actual lie about her identity. So you introducing her by that name would actually be deceptive. Um, her requesting to be used by that name. You can introduce her by that name.

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The name thing is, I think, where I would not try to push back on her. Okay. That being said, I mean, unless the name includes a lie or what if she changed her name to prophetess never fails?

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This is my mom. Her name is prophetess never fails. I would not, never. No way would I introduce someone by that name. Right? The name is a lie itself. Yeah. So that's fine. I've known people who change their names. I've known girls who. Usually it's girls in my experience, uh, who changed their name from maybe a name they never liked their name. They finally decide, like, I just want to be called this other name I always really liked, or maybe I want to be called my middle name or something else. I don't think it's that big of a deal. Um, at any rate, what is weird is, is your concern that she's frequently thinking she hears from God and she doesn't. There is.

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There's a lot of that going on. Okay. The. There. I once heard a, um, study by Sean McDowell. He's given this talk many times, but I heard it at a youth camp that we were at. And Sean. Sean's a friend of mine. I love Sean, and I agree with him and don't and disagree with him on this topic a little bit, but he gave a talk where he talked about how people, basically, you're not hearing from God, okay? You're not hearing from God when you just have, like, a feeling, a, uh, sense, this kind of thing. And it was pretty strong. Like, he was basically trying to convince everybody in the room, like, stop saying you're hearing from God. And at least that's my impression. Okay. You should go look up Sean's talk, and you can hear it. He delivers it really well and thoughtful, and there's tons of really good stuff in there.

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And I, like, I had slightly mixed feelings about this because I think God can speak to your mom or you or me.

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But I do think that most, more often than not, in churches I've been in, when I hear someone say, God, show me this, usually I'm like, I'm not. I doubt that he did. Okay? I doubt that he did. I think from m, not me being super judgmental, but me being discerning, me hopefully being thoughtful, observing what's really going on in people's lives and what happens after they say God told them this and that. I think that a lot of the time, what's happening is someone just has a really strong desire, and they're mistaking that for God's voice because they've sort of been told that, like, that. That's how they discern God's voice. It's like discerning when God speaks to you is like an intuition. Like, you go, I guess I just kind of feel really strongly about this, so it must be God.

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To me. That's not good enough. There's lots of things I feel strongly about. Doesn't mean it's from God. Plus, you've been wrong. Those of you who go around always saying, God showed me this, you've been wrong plenty of times, and you didn't perhaps learn the lesson. And so I thought Sean McDowell's talk, um, it's a long way around to tell the story. I thought Shawn McDowell's talk was like a safety net, because I imagine people, when it comes to hearing God's voice, they're like, walking on the edge of a cliff and on a trail that's narrow. And down here is the cliff, and over here is the rock face. And I felt like shamigal was running around, shoving everybody up against the rock face, which would be God's word. And here the cliff is their intuitions that are leading them sometimes astray. And he was shoving everybody against the rock cliff, which means he. He was kind of saying, just stop thinking you're hearing from God, and just shoving him against. Against the word of God. Only go with scripture. Only go with what God has clearly said, and I thought, well, they're safe there. At least they won't go wrong when they do that. There's a safety there, but that doesn't mean that they're never going to hear from God. Um, when I did, my YouTube ministry wouldn't exist if I hadn't thought I heard from God. It was a lot of work. I was super busy. I did it because I really believed that God had led me to do this, that he laid it on my heart in a very strong way. I even. This isn't something I said after the fact. Before I started the ministry, I told my wife, I really believe that God is just showing me, like, I just know it. I believe from the Lord that there's something I have to do. On top of, like, doing youth ministry, on top of being a pastor at the church, there's something I have to do. And if I don't do it, and I think word for word, I may have said, I'm majorly missing out on God's plan for my life. It was weird. I never say this stuff. Never in years will you hear me say this stuff. But that one moment, now, that's the moment where I don't want to be protected from that. That was, I believe, the Lord. And it resulted in a really big impact for the kingdom through this ministry, by God's grace, not by me or anything, but by his grace and by his word. And, um, fully. God gets all the credit. But it happened because of a decision I made based on a sense I had from the Lord. And I think that that was the Lord.

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But I still think people should go listen to Sean McDowell's talk because, um, it's just so common when we hear people say this stuff. And there's something unhealthy about the way that the evangelical church, in particular churches that are charismatic, like Calvary chapels, that I've been part of, had been part of for so many years.

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Um, there's something going on there where we've enabled people to believe too easily they're hearing from God when they're not. How do you help your mom with that?

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I don't know if you're the one to help her as her son, maybe, depending. If you have a real bridge with her, you can try to hold her accountable. Like, you can say, hey, you said this was from God. How did that turn out? So what do you think about that? Ask questions. It's easier with parents to ask questions than to tell them things. So you said this was from God, right? Mom. Yeah. So how did that work out? So do you still think God was showing you that?

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Yeah, I'm not sure that he was.

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And you can start planting seeds, but you love your mom. You don't want to lose your relationship with her. You can also be praying that God would bring someone else into her life. You might share a talk with her, maybe from Sean McDowell m or somebody else. If I find that talk, I'll put it in the video description down below. Again, I think it was brought much more benefit than any kind of harm it caused because people are too quick, too quick to speak in the name of God to guide their lives. How many of you, right now listening, in fact, post it in the comments? If you have, if you don't mind, because your name is associated with your account. So maybe you don't want to. That's totally okay. But if you're up for it, um. Um. How many of you guys you thought God told you who you were going to marry and you were wrong?

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Doing youth ministry for many years, this is what I saw a lot.

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The one thing kids always heard from God about was who they were going to marry, and the one thing they were always wrong about was who they were going to marry. And it was. It was something that I was just more and more worried about over time. And I would try to guide and direct them. But once they're convinced, maybe we created an environment where people lowered the bar so much that they were able to have all these false positives where they believed God was speaking to them. That doesn't mean God never speaks. He absolutely does. I believe he absolutely does. Definitely has happened in my life. And maybe he even told you who to marry and you married them and you heard right from God. But my point is that when our emotions are high and when our desires are strong, we often mistake that for the voice of God, because we've. We don't have a clear way of determining whether God is speaking or not. If in doubt, assume it's not God. It's just you. That's a good rule to start with. I hope. I hope that helps with your mom in some way. Number five, Jeremiah Cash says, in the premill view, who are the unrighteous not saved that enter into the millennium during the sheep goats judgment? It seems like all the goats get sent to their eternity in hell. That's an interesting question, Jeremiah. I don't know that I'm equipped to answer it off the top of my head. I think I'd have to reread the passages and. Or maybe just look up some premill guys who've done work on that. Um, um. But the premill view, for those who don't know, is that, um, um, you know, there's going to be at least. Okay, the view that I hold, there's going to be a seven year tribulation period. That's seven years where the world is in. Crazy bad stuff's going on, right. Lots of people are going to perish terribly, uh, sadly. But as part of God's righteous judgment upon the earth, then Jesus comes, and for a thousand years he reigns on the earth. Then at the end of that thousand years, uh, he raises up everybody for final judgment. Okay, so people who died all up until that point. So then the millennial kingdom is a really interesting thing. It seems to be, if we're correct, maybe. Maybe this is the wrong view. God knows I don't preach it with a bunch of confidence. I think it's right. Maybe I'm wrong on this particular view. Um, scripture is right. I'm just not sure if I'm interpreting it right here. But during that thousand year reign, you've got believers and unbelievers all living together at the same time. Here's where you have. In a sense, this is full blown christian nationalism. This is where Jesus. Jesus is literally ruling over the earth. He's literally using his believers to govern and guide the earth. Uh, the laws of Christ are the laws of the world, and so you must do what is right. When Jesus pulls back his control at the end of that period, then there's the final rebellion, and then there's a final judgment. But who makes it from the millennial or from the tribulation into the millennium? And there's like, a couple options. One is babies. Um, just. Just little babies that grow up and have kids, or perhaps the children of the righteous who are. Who survived the millennium. They were righteous, but then they have kids and they have kids and they have kids, so there's more people on the earth so that some of them are saved and some of them are not, and then they make a final decision at a later point. Um, and then your question is, hey, if when the son of man comes and the sheep and the goats and the goats are sent off into everlasting fire and the sheep are welcomed into his presence, his kingdom, forever, then how does that give. How does that let sinners pass that second coming and into the millennium? And, um, I would lean towards thinking, you're right, that would imply that they aren't making it into that kingdom. But maybe other premier guys would have a different answer to that.

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I just don't, off the top of my head, remember what they say. I don't study. I used to be more into eschatology many years ago and I just haven't looked into it a lot. Except for a few years back I did a video on all the different views. Um, and then I haven't looked into it a whole lot since then and so you just forget some stuff. All right, let's go to the next question.

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Number, uh, six scrambled days says, hi, Mike. Wow, what a gigantic blessing you've been in my life. That's wonderful to hear. Scrambled days, is that your real name?

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Um, is there any precedent for God taking home a believer before he might or would fall away?

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Hmm, interesting question.

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Um, first kings 1413 says some good was found in his son and we can look at the first Kings passage. But let's think about this question.

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Is there any precedent for saying that God would take away a believer before their sin could cause them to fall away? This can weigh into Calvinism, arminianism views because, um, one potential calvinist perspective, I'm not even saying the majority hold this is to say, um, yeah, you could lose your salvation, uh, in that you could, uh, like apostatize, you could walk away or you could something like that. But God would actually end your life before you could. I should say it's not a calvinist perspective. In fact, probably very few Calvinists would hold that view. It's more of a, um, uh, can't lose your salvation perspective. So maybe you just affirm, maybe you don't affirm, tulip, you're not a calvinist, but you affirm the perseverance of the saints. And so the way you affirm this without giving into irresistible grace, um, is by saying, well, if you would walk away, God will just kill you and then he'll take you into his presence. So then nobody actually loses their salvation. It's a potential, but it will never be a reality. Some people take that potential but never reality view of losing your salvation.

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So one kings, 1413, I think it was.

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Um. Let's read the passage here. It says, and all Israel shall mourn for him and bury him for he only of Jeroboam shall come to the grave because in him there is found something pleasing to the Lord, the God of Israel, in the house of Jeroboam. This is an interesting passage, interesting, theologically interesting for a number of reasons.

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Um, but the statement that the reason the child is dying is so that the child won't grow up and lose salvation. That would be really assuming a lot on the passage. I think. I think we're just assuming too much. There's just nothing there for us to assume.

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Um, there was a prophecy. I believe in this, if I'm remembering this correctly, and it was then fulfilled that the child would die. But there's an affirmation that while the child dies, yet the child is still received, it seems, by God.

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Doesn't say anything about your specific question. I don't think. I don't want to take scripture out of context here, so let me read this question one last time before I move on, because I'll make sure I answer what I can, at least.

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Why is that on my screen? Okay, there we go.

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Is there precedence for a believer being taken by God so that they won't fall away?

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Um, there's definitely precedents for believers being chastised.

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And he chastens every son whom he receives, and so that those who are under God's chastising in hebrews, it is part of the fact that he does receive us, you know, that we're legitimate as sons. You can also have one corinthians that talks about people eating and drinking communion unworthily in an unworthy manner. They were doing so not really observing the reality of what communion is, that it was the body and blood of Jesus Christ. They were not treating with honor what God has done for them. And some take this as being, uh. You don't believe in transubstantiation. I think they're reading a lot into the text to say that, a whole lot that's not there, but definitely was your. They were getting drunk at communion. They were eating before others. So it was about gluttony and feeding themselves, and they didn't observe the meaning behind it. So some had fallen asleep. Paul says some of you have even died. You've fallen asleep because of this.

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I think that that was probably the. Some who'd fallen asleep was probably people who were believers who got chastened to the point of even them dying.

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What we're adding is one extra layer, we're saying, because if they did live, they would have lost their salvation.

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That I'm not. I'm not sure about. Okay. There are believers. I know who I can think of, a believer who's a friend of mine who doesn't. Went off the deep end and stuff and then died. And I wonder about that myself. Um, but I guess what I'm telling you in answer to your question is, I don't know that I have a biblical case to prove that that's true, that he chastens us so we will not lose our salvation. If you guys know of a verse that specifically weighs in on that, that element of it, please share it down below in the comments. I'd be interested in seeing it. Question number seven. Adriana Tovar says something, except the window just disappeared on me.

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There we go. Okay. Adriana says, uh, can you go into detail as to what Isaiah 60 517 means by not remembered by the phrase not remembered and the nor come to mind part? I was told it meant literal memory loss, and that scares me. I want to remember even the bad. I'm with you, Adriana. I want to remember even the bad when we're. When we're in God's presence. So let's look at that. Uh, isaiah 60 517.

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Make sure I'm not getting an important.

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Okay. Getting lots of messages all of a sudden, for some reason. But, uh, not from sarah. It's not from my assistant, so it's probably fine. Okay. Isaiah says the following in verse 17. For behold, I create a new heavens and a new earth. And the former things shall not be remembered or come to mind, but be glad and rejoice in that which I create. For behold, I create jerusalem to be a joy, and her people to be a gladness.

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I once heard a, uh, teaching at a mega church in our area. I went to visit it once, um, in. I won't say it's not important. It was years ago, but I heard a teaching at this megachurch, and it was a guest pastor, and he was teaching on isaiah. The former things shall not be remembered. And he was talking about, uh, a passage related to this one, I should say that it talked about being God, forgetting our sins. He doesn't bring them to remembrance.

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And he said that God literally doesn't know what sin you've committed. He actually forgot.

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Um, then he told people that they had to forgive as Christ forgives, which means that they literally have to forget the sins that people have done against them. Like, you can't even remember them.

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Then he said, this seems hard and impossible to you, but I believe God. I believe God. I just believe God that he can do what he says he'll do. And so that was like a piousness, but it was, uh, zeal without knowledge when it comes to scripture, using the phrase remember and come to mind, it is not about memory recall.

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It is not about that at all. It is about taking something and putting it in the forefront as like, this is the main issue now. So when God, we can see this when you just look up the word remember or remembered in scripture, right? When. When the term is used, it's not talking about memory loss, that kind of thing. When God remembers Israel, he hears them and he remembers them, and he remembers his promise to Abraham. If we think remember or not remember, it refers to, like, literally, you have no knowledge of it. Then when he remembers his promise to Abraham, it meant that for a while, God forgot his promise to Abraham. But the text doesn't mean that. It means God brought to front and dealt with actively and presently, like, it's the present issue, his promise to Abraham, and he goes and he rescues Israel. When God doesn't remember your sins, he knows what sins he's forgiven you of. He doesn't remember them because he's not going to bring them up and shove them in your face. When it says here in Isaiah, the new heavens and new earth will be so beautiful and wonderful and perfect that the former things, even the good stuff you like about the heavens and earth now, will not be remembered or come to mind. It means that they pale in comparison so much that you don't bring them up like, oh, I miss that. Oh, I'm sorrowful over that. Or, oh, the pain of that past thing still haunts me. No, it won't, because your life will be so great that even the past hurts and harms will be like a distant memory instead of a memory that's plaguing you every day. Some of us have gone through trauma, and the memory of that trauma haunted you. You couldn't sleep that night. You couldn't sleep that week. But as time went by, that, that trauma became more distant. Hopefully sometimes it doesn't, but maybe it became more distant, so it became a distant memory. And then you just stopped thinking about it. You know it. You know about it, but you stopped thinking about it. It's that kind of thing that we're talking about. You can just look up the word remember and you look at the scriptures using it. It definitely doesn't mean you forget the former life. More evidence for this is in revelation. They stand up and they're in heaven. This is the future sort of prophecy about the future, right? Revelation. They're standing in heaven and they're like, thank you, o God. You redeemed us. You redeemed us. They're remembering the past. The martyrs are like, lord, when will you avenge our blood? They're remembering the past when Jesus stands up and rewards us. Think about this. He rewards us for the good we've done. He punishes those who've rebelled against him. Can you imagine getting a reward? And Jesus is like, here's your reward, whatever that is, for your life of service to me. And you look at Jesus and go, thanks. I wish I could remember it.

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That would be so messed up. All right, question number eight. Sarah Carraway, or caraway, says, you helped bring me out of the pit of atheism. Sarah. Praise God. Praise God for that. I'm so happy to hear that. Sarah, um, you say I cannot thank you enough. Well, I'm glad I just got to be used as a vessel. God gets all the glory. Um, God did a work in my life and I have tried to pay that forward to a degree, but just by giving you the truth of scripture anyways, God gets all the glory, Sarah, um, and I'm very grateful to be any piece of that in your life. What, ah, do you believe is the most pressing issue for deconstructionists? And keep fighting the good faith. I do intend to. The most pressing issue for deconstructionists, I don't know if I'm equipped to give you the most pressing, but I can talk about pressing issues for deconstruction. So, uh, one of them is, um, and this is true of atheist communities as well, is they're very one sided in criticism. Deconstructionists tend to tear down, um, without being reflective on the idea that their own, the criticisms they use are so strong, it's so easy for them to find fault that if they held up a mirror and they pointed these criticisms at themselves, they'd realize they're self refuting and then they would have to come up with new, more careful criticisms. So that's one problem. A, uh, problem with deconstructionists is often a blind spot. Um, their criticism is like a bright flashlight in a dark room, and they only point that flashlight at evangelical Christianity. Boom. I'm going to point it at, you know, traditional evangelical Christianity, maybe not some of the stuff that's going on recently and that I'll criticize. I'm not going to criticize the atheist over here, the rebel against God over here, or even myself. I will only criticize one group.

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That is a major flaw within the group. And the reason why this is such a big deal is because if, again, the same thing as holding up a mirror, if they open that flashlight up and see the whole room, they'll realize that what they've done is they're just making a boogeyman out of something they want to reject. This is frequently the case. Is every deconstructionist like this at every point in time? No. Is it the flavor of the movement? Absolutely it is. Absolutely it is. Um, if they zoom out and they look at things as a whole. Let me give you guys an example. Sexual, um, abuse within churches. Church leaders who have been busted doing sexual abuse, committing adultery, abusing funds, that kind of thing. I was thinking about this with. I was talking to my wife about this earlier today, actually. It started with the catholic church. People found all these priests, and then the catholic church was. Was, uh, was involved in moving them around and hiding and covering up their ongoing abuse of children. That is shocking, disgusting, horrible. They absolutely need to be accountable. It is not. This is. Catholics will like me saying this. It is not proof Catholicism is false. Um, it's a demonstration of a problem within Catholicism. It's not proof that Catholicism is false. You need other things to prove that. Like, I don't know, scripture, history demonstrating that the papacy is not real. Um, that, uh, these things are simply not historical. The way that they claim that there's contradictions within the supposedly infallible, uh, councils of the Catholic Church, that things have changed over time so much that the teaching about justification is off. Things like that.

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What did the priest think show. Maybe it showed that Catholicism, um, unjustifiably forces their priests, and some will say they don't force them. Come on. Practically speaking, they force their priests to be celibate. And it's a requirement. And this has. This has caused great harm. This is not biblical. Forbidding to marry is a doctrine of demons. Scripture says, so what it would show is they're wrong about that. And then that they were immoral in handling and the defenseless, who they often pretend that they champion all the time. Okay, major problems there. Then it moved over to the church. Okay, you guys have been around for the past 1015 years. You've been. You've seen this. Then it moved over to the church, and now you've got guys like Ravi Zacharias, Mike Bickle, exposed in massive, uh, corruption and abuse of power and manipulation, specifically for sexual things he wanted from women. Um, that. I think there's convincing evidence that that is absolutely the case.

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Um, and I haven't made videos on it because everybody else already is. I don't need to weigh in on everything, but we get views, but I don't care. It's not. It's not something I think is important for me. The, um, stuff with, uh, with others. You can name others you've probably heard of, um, the hillsong pastor from New York who was. Was out clubbing and sleeping around and stuff like that. Weird thing about that guy is most of us like me, most of you guys who think like me, you looked at him and thought, dude, that guy, something's wrong with that. Everything about him seemed wrong and fake, and it wasn't even a surprise. Rabbi Zacharias was a shocker. Maybe it shouldn't have been, but it was, to me, at least. Um, anyway, I could talk about that too long.

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Here's the thing. Here's why I say this. You know how my analogy about spotlights, you spotlight there on the churches, the catholic church, and even Protestants, who, uh, knows what's going on with orthodox. I don't know.

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Boom. Christianity is false. Religion's bad. Religion's hurtful for society. Look at all of the abuses. But this totally ignores that things, in my opinion, are even worse. If you get outside the church and you look at the Epstein stuff, and you look at Hollywood and, uh, what's it, Harvey something or other, his name, you look at the stories of actresses who are handed around in order to get roles. They do favors for people. The kind of abuse that happens to children who are involved in tv programming in Hollywood, it's worse, in my opinion, in the world than it is in the church. So if you want to use this to prove that the church is wrong, you open your flashlight and you go, wait. It's even worse out there. I guess it doesn't prove what I thought it proved. Deconstructionists often do this. I went to a church, and they were judgmental. Boom, I'm out of church. Forget church. Like, m dude, the world's going to be judgmental too, probably even worse.

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But you're just annoyed at the church. Deconstructionists often, in my experience, um, they just have unfair scales, they have rules against the church. They don't apply them to themselves or anybody else. Other issues. Deconstructionists at the core often view, um, their intuitions as the primary guide for their spirituality. And they don't recognize that their intuitions are guided by their culture and by their sort of social environment in a lot of ways. So that what they do is they use that guide instead of scripture, instead of what God has clearly said. They use the guide of their intuitions, and they end up becoming very worldly, very much like the world. This is why deconstruction is just another word for. And now I'm progressive, and so, yeah, I recommend a book, uh, Alisa Childers, Alisa al Isa Childers, like the word child ers. And Tim Barnett, they wrote a book on deconstruction, and I'd recommend you guys check that out. Um, in fact, do I have it over here still?

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I just rearranged my desk and I think I put it somewhere else. I recommend you guys check out their book for more information on that. Sorry, I can't give you more. Deconstructionists are, this is along with progressive christians, there's a deep sense of the righteousness of their cause and the unrighteousness of religious people, uh, specific religious people that they don't like. Um, that self righteousness is really embedded in their views. And I kind of think just simply preaching the gospel might be a really good way to break through that, where you simply do what, like, um, living waters does what ray comfort does, and you just bring the law and you say, have you lied? Have you stolen? Have you, have you looked with lust? And you bring them to a humility, because that sense of up I'm on, I have higher, I have the high ground is kind of the sense that deconstructionists usually have. It's not true of any of us.

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None of us has a high ground. Jesus alone has a high ground, and then he takes it and he puts himself on a cross on the high ground that we might put our trust in him and be saved and forgiven. And if we don't start there, we're going to have a lot of problems. Question number nine.

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Isa, or Isa says, do you have any advice for someone who is spiritually and physically exhausted, like Elijah in first kings 19? Thanks for your ministry.

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Um, I've been there.

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I used to think burnout was like a myth.

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It just shows, like, you know, uh, me being young, and, I mean, I'm still young now compared to how I will be, but I was younger, um, and thinking, if I don't experience that, nobody experiences that, right? Or like, like the way people sometimes talk about depression, they're like, well, I've never experienced depression, therefore, nobody really has.

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Uh, um, it's just not reality. The, the, the thing I hadn't experienced was burnout. And I was working a lot, and I've always been a guy who's willing to work a lot of hours and do a lot of stuff and commit to a lot of things and wake up and go, be gone all day and get home and sleep for 5 hours and then do it again.

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Um, I can't do that anymore. I'm not capable physically of doing that anymore. But when I was younger, I could, and the idea of people getting burned out and I could see them being burned out, I could see them feeling bitter towards ministry and bitter towards others. And I saw all the negative sides and I was correctly discerning that there was a bad attitude towards people. You just don't love people. You're not caring about people. You're just caring about yourself. And so you're getting mad at them for intruding on your space or time m or whatever. But there's another side of burnout, which is like my, you know, the spirit is willing, the flesh is weak. Like my flesh is weak and I'm tired and I'm mentally exhausted and I'm physically exhausted. And that's a real thing that happens to people. And I think that if you're physically exhausted, maybe you should take a break. Like take time off, look around your schedule and just honestly say, what can I cut out? If you're just physically wiped out, ask yourself, what can I cut out? I may not want to. I may be like, I want to, but for my long term health and for me to have longevity in serving God, I need to do less. That's a healthy thing. That can be a healthy thing. You're not doing it to be selfishness is I got to do me and take care of me. That's not what I'm saying. Here's a thought. Seek first. The kingdom of God means that I'm going to prioritize not just doing things for God today, but for a lifetime. And I'm not going to do the things today that burn me down so bad that I don't get to serve God for my lifetime. I'm going to pace myself so I can run this marathon because it's not a sprint, it is a marathon, serving God.

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But you also have to assess things. If you're physically tired, are you eating well physically, are you taking care of your physical body? Or is it just all like, junk food and highly processed food items? Like, look into nutrition. Don't do weird fad diets, but look into nutrition. And why, like, certain foods have less nutritional value and make sure that you're getting good nutrition in your diet. Are you sleeping enough? Are you exercising? Are you so busy that you cannot find 15 minutes a day to exercise? Cut some stuff out of your schedule.

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You've got to. You've got to make a change because you're going to continue winding down. You've got to. You've got to exercise. If you're sitting at a desk all day like me, if I don't exercise deliberately, I just don't exercise. And then, uh, I get even worse than I would have been. So take care of yourself physically. Now, spiritually, it's okay to feel burdened and tired. You said like Elijah. Elijah was discouraged. Elijah wanted to quit. Elijah was understandably discouraged. We can talk about Elijah's story, right? And he goes on to Mount Carmel. People, I think, often give him a bad name, Elijah. But he went through some hard stuff here. Um, I recently heard a pastor say Elijah was threatened by a woman queen. Uh, and then he just gave up. He just quit. He was so scared, he just quit. And I thought, that's really uncharitable to Elijah. Here's what I think actually happened. Elijah goes up to Mount Carmel. He's in the midst of a group of rebellious Israelites, and there they are worshiping the prophets of Baal and Asherah and all that. And he worshipping with their prophets. And he throws down the gauntlet, let's do the Mount Carmel thing, and buckets and water and fire and thunder, and boom, and God's glorified. And then he's like, killed these false prophets, which is the proper judicial sentence in Israel. It's not a license for us to just go kill false prophets, but in Israel, it was the judicial proper sentence. So then they do it. Now Elijah goes down the mountain, and maybe he's thinking, finally, I've been, I've been hoping and praying for this my whole life, revival in Israel. I've lived a hard ministry. I've gone through a lot of difficult things. Um, I just want to see Israel be the people of God that God's called them to be. And finally, God has really demonstrated. Now they have to follow God. Word will spread through Israel of the fire falling and of the falseness of Baal and Asherah and all this stuff. They're going to serve God now. And then he gets a letter from the queen saying, by this time tomorrow, you're going to be dead. And Elijah might be thinking to himself, after everything I've done, nothing has changed.

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That kind of burnout, I understand.

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And I think a lot of pastors can feel that way. A lot of people serving in ministry, whether you're a pastor or not, can feel that way.

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And then God takes them up. He takes them, he gives them food, right? Make sure you're eating. If you're feeling down, don't just not eat. Make sure you can rest and sleep. He sleeps a lot and then God takes him up.

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Maybe. Maybe it was just. It was just time for Elijah. That was. That was the mission. The mission was accomplished, and it was over. But that doesn't mean, um, it doesn't give you all the answers that you need for your situation.

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If you're feeling spiritually burnout, ask yourself if your heart is right with the Lord. I'm not saying it's not. This is a good thing to assess. Is my heart right with God? Maybe I need to read Jesus words to the, uh, church in Ephesus, in revelation, where he talks about going back to their first love. You've done a lot for my name and all this, but you left your first love. Maybe I'm getting burnt out because the relational love between me and God is lacking, and then that's affecting and overflowing into other things.

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Maybe that's part of the spiritual burnout that's there. Maybe the spiritual burnout is because you're being involved a lot in ministry, but you're not actually in a lot of fellowship, where you're just being built up and strengthened and encouraged so that other people can pour their gifts into you to help strengthen you, because we. Let me take you guys to the verse. Ephesians, chapter four talks about the body of Christ. Let me read some of it to you, and I'll just point out one thing.

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Um.

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Walk in a manner worthy of the calling with which you've been called, with all humility and gentleness, with patience. Good word there. Bearing with one another in love, eager to maintain the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace, just as there is one body and one spirit, just as you were called to one hope that belongs to your call. One lord, one faith, one baptism, one God and father over all, who is over all and through you all and in all.

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Um, but then he talks about gifts, but grace was given to each one of us according to the measure of Christ's gift. Therefore, it says, when he ascended on high, he led a host of captives and he gave gifts to men. In saying he ascended, what does it mean? But that he had also descended into the lower regions of the earth. He who descended is the one who also ascended far above all the heavens, that he might fill all things. There's no footnotes when they're writing scripture. That's kind of like Paul's footnote. Cool stuff to unpack. Verse eleven. And he gave the apostles, the prophets, the evangelists, and the shepherds and teachers to equip the saints for the work of the ministry. For the building up of the body of Christ until we all attain to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Notice what the saints do. You and me, we're the saints, right? Everybody gets equipped ultimately by the work of the ones mentioned above. But you're the saints. Equipped. What, for the work of the ministry. What is the work of the ministry?

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Right. Well, it's the building up of the body of Christ we're pouring into each other. And, uh, I mean, you could say the building up here is referring to, again, what the shepherds are doing. I guess I think of it as connecting to what the saints are doing, because then it talks about the body analogy from whom the whole body, joined and held together by every joint with which it is equipped, when each part is working properly, makes the body grow so that it builds itself up in love.

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When you get a bunch of christians together and they're all connected to you in fellowship, in ministry, or being ministered to, not just ministering to others, you're spending time with them, they're pouring into you so that you are being built up in love. What I'm saying is maybe you're spiritually burnt out because you're not being built up in love. I'm not suggesting you just become super critical of the christians around you. I'm suggesting you start to very strategically look at your life and think, how can I create more opportunities for being built up in love? What if I start a little fellowship thing that I do right here? What if, uh, I change the format of the way that I've been doing ministry over here so that it's not just me showing up and serving and then leaving, but there's some sort of building up in love opportunities that are created. I pray that you're creative in this and thoughtful in this. I hope that something I said you find helpful. I'm very sorry if you're feeling that way. I get it. I get it.

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There's a lot of different answers that could be there for your question. I hope that something I shared helped. Let's go to question number ten from Christian Fritz, who says, hi, Mike. My work environment is very vulgar and toxic. It's easier for me to blend in and not honor Christ with my language and attitude. How can I have more confidence and not give in? Obviously, Christian works in politics, so, uh. Um. How can you have more confidence and not give in?

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Um.

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Slow to speak. That'd be my biggest advice to you, Christian, is just be slow to speak. Start a new habit that you are just slow to speak when you're at work. You just don't answer things quickly. You don't quickly throw out the joke that you're thinking of. You don't quickly say stuff, slow down, because then it'll allow you to recalibrate your talk when you don't give in by joining in coarse language and joking and inappropriate things, when you stop talking that way, you will then be able to start a pattern of godliness so that you will feel more confident, too. About, I'm going to represent Christ here. I'm going to represent Christ here. Recognize that you just living godly there, not looking sideways at everybody who says, uh, something bad. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about not becoming a partaker of it right where it doesn't. I don't get drug in. Okay, I understand you guys are doing that. I expect you to do that. I'm not going to even talk to you about it necessarily, but I'm not going to get drug into it and become part of it so that I can be different, so that I can have a witness that's here. But even where you fail, even when you blow it, even when you feel like you've been a bad example, that doesn't mean you're not a witness of Christ anymore.

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I would, I would say, go ahead and just be open and honest. Be casual. Talk about the truth of what? Of who God is when the opportunity arises. And know that if you talk about Jesus, even every once in a while, they're going to think about Jesus every time you walk in the room. It's kind of a weird thing that happens. I remember this one guy used to come, uh, to a coffee shop that I worked at, a christian coffee shop, and he would come in all the time. And then at one point, I pulled the other workers aside and we talked and I said, you know, I feel like when so and so comes in, we don't talk to him enough about Christ. He needs Jesus so bad. He's living in a really bad lifestyle, but he likes us relationally. I think we need to maybe try to be more eager to just openly talk about Jesus with him because we could tell he wouldn't like it if we did. But I was like, but we've got it, you know, here's our chance. Who knows when we'll, when will be the last time we see him? And the next time he came in, he walked in and he goes, you know, it was the weirdest thing. We hadn't said anything to him and he walked in and he says, you know, I really like you guys. I like hanging out with you guys, but you guys just talk about God way too much.

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And I realized something is that we're at a christian coffee shop or a bunch of christians. We didn't focus on him with that, but it's like we were talking about God even when we weren't.

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Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying preach the gospel without words. I'm not saying that. What I will say is this. If people know who you stand for and if you even talk about Jesus occasionally, they'll think about it all the time when you're around, they will just think about it every time they see you. It's just the way people work. So at least sometimes talk about it would be my encouragement. And in the workplace, not every time, because it is, uh, more than just an evangelism area, right? You, your co workers that are there. Anyways, I hope that that helps you, man. Um, yeah, let's. Let's take a, ah, bonus question and we'll close it out for today from Zoe abundant, who says, my eight year old Ben wants to know, if there's no pain in heaven, will there be hot sauce? Sounds funny, but makes you think, um. That does make me think, um. Is all pain bad? Um.

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I don't know the answer to this question.

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I could hypothesize on how this would work. Scripture says there will be no more pain.

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But does it mean every single thing we conceive of as pain? Um, like hot sauce, I don't. Maybe hot sauce does involve pain in some degree. I enjoy spicy food. Well, at least medium spicy food. I like it. I like my tongue. A little bit of sizzle going on on my tongue. I enjoy that. Didn't when I was younger. I do now. I don't consider that painful, though. Like, when I have hot sauce, I enjoy it. I don't consider that painful. If it rises to the level of ow, that hurts. That I don't like that. When it's painful and I can't even taste my food, I'm like, nah, I don't like this. This is not fun. Nothing enjoyable about it. Could it be that, um, you'll have a certain degree of something, hot sauce, but not to a degree that you would consider painful? Maybe that's the case. Maybe our new bodies are wired in a way where we can't experience pain in a negative sense, but we still experience sensation wherever we would consider it positive. That's possible. I don't know. We don't know what we will be like, but we know we will be like him. We can certainly say nothing that we would. We would consider bad pain will be part of heaven. That's definitely what the revelation is talking about. When it talks about no more pain, no more tears. It's talking about bad things. Maybe there's some positive, slightly painful thing, like hot sauce, that, uh, would be permitted. That's a great question.

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Tell Ben I don't know, but maybe, uh, we can eat some salsa together in heaven, if that's something we're able to do in the future. All right, um, that's it for today, you guys. I will, uh, be sharing soon on my channel. Quick announcement.

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A video. That was an interview I did with, uh, charisma magazine. I'll explain more, I guess, in the video when I share it. But I did this interview about the Benny Hinn stuff. Um, Benny Hinn did a supposed repentance video. It's really not. It's really just more deceptions, unfortunately. Sadly. Sadly. And I was invited by charisma, of all people, to talk about it. And so we did the interview, and they shared it unedited. They just put the whole interview up on their channel, which I was. I respect them for doing that, um, because I said stuff about even charisma.

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Um, graciously, I hope. But. But honestly, um, I'll be sharing that video with you guys very soon. If you can't wait, you can find it on my community tab. I share a link to their version of the video, but that'll come out real quick. Otherwise, um, that's about all I got to say for now. Let me close this in prayer. Father, we thank you for the hope we have in heaven. We don't really know what it's going to be like. Sometimes when we try to imagine heaven and eternal life, we, uh, fill it in with a cartoony image, and then we think that it's just that. But what you have for us is real. What you have for us is real. It's a physical, eternal, glorious, perfect experience. We will be in each other's presence. We will be in your presence forever. Our minds cannot conceive of the greatness of what we have coming. And we just give you thanks. We thank you, Lord, for your plans and your purposes for the future. That is just going to.

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It's going to be perfect.

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Where righteousness dwells, where fellowship and love just flood the place. We. We're grateful for our hope that we have set our eyes upon that hope. In Jesus name, amen.