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I have some breaking news for you guys. I never do this, but, um, maybe I will in the future. We'll see. But I got breaking news. This is, like, within the last hour. What's happening right now. And I'm shifting just before I go to your questions in the live chat. This is not question number one. This is just breaking news. Then I'll go to question number one. My name is Mike Winger. I'm here to help you learn how to think biblically about everything.

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And I'm continuing to expand the meaning of the word everything.

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And today we're going to look at the Rapture update. Okay, um, quick recap before I show you the breaking news.

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Uh, the fake prophet, Joshua Malakela, uh, or some of you know him as Joshua Malakala.

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And it's interesting that some people in the watcher rapture community are more offended by me giving that fun little song than they are by the false rapture predictions and fake prophecies of Joshua. Anyways, so this guy predicts the rapture September 23rd, 24th. Completely wrong. He's unbiblical. He's misusing scripture. I showed you guys all this in previous videos, but it goes viral online and it's all over. Rapture talk becomes like a hashtag on TikTok. Thousands and thousands and thousands of videos are made. People start. The ones who actually believe this is true, they start selling things and giving money away and changing their life plans, setting all their hopes on this stuff.

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A crippled person believing, oh, I'm soon to be delivered from this constant struggle that I have every day. And then nothing happens. Nothing happens because he was not hearing from God, because he lied in Jesus name, and because he was abusing scripture.

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False prophet. Not just a mistake. False prophet. So this guy, Joshua Malakala, he then changes to October 6th and 7th. They recalculate, they get a new date, and they're like, oh, the Gregorian calendar versus the Julian calendar, and we got. It's still September 20th, 23rd. It's just that our September 23rd isn't God's September 23rd. And so God has a different calendar.

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October 6th and 7th passed. And yep, continuing tons and tons of videos and mockery of Joshua, of those who followed him, but also of Jesus, of the Christian faith, making Christians look like absolute fools, making it look like our hope is based upon nothing.

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None of that's true. Of course. This is Satan's plan all along. Okay? And I do think there's actually demonic deception going on here. Why? Because so many people were like, dreams Visions, confirmations, and all this stuff that it does seem like there's a supernatural element going on. Seem like, okay, I could be wrong. And if so, it's a demonic one. It's not the Lord. And that's something those people have to reckon with. Don't lose your faith.

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Don't give up on Christ.

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Give up on the way that you have been testing spirits because you've been doing it wrong, because you followed a false spirit. Then M. Okay, here's the update. The 6th and 7th pass.

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You can't even pretend that it's going to happen now. You know, he said he was a billion percent sure, just like he was a billion percent sure. But now he finally goes public. Everybody's been waiting for this guy to say something publicly. And this is it. I want to put it on your screen and we're going to learn from this. We're going to learn from this. Okay? Exodus 20:25. That's his actual YouTube channel. That's this guy's actual YouTube channel. Okay, this right here, Hardly anyone knows it. He rarely puts videos on his YouTube channel. It's a very small channel. He mostly goes on other platforms that are bigger and they help promote his content. Like the scent twins. That was, uh, where he initially got his viral content and then other places as well. So this is what he says now. Today is October 10th. If you're watching this video in the Future, today is October 10th.

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It's. It's September 23rd and 24th. Nothing happened. October 6th and 7th or 7th and 8th, depending on how they did the math. Nothing happened. And now it's October 10th. And he says the following. I'll read it to you now because some of you guys are on podcast to m all who see this. Jesus is coming. And while we figure which day in the calendars match the 23rd and 24th of September, Rapture Day. Stay on fire for Jesus in your heart.

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Days from now, he will rapture his church.

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That is, uh, this is so evil. He's still saying he's right about the 23rd and 24th. I didn't think he would give up my prediction. Right? Not a prophecy. My prediction was that Joshua would go to. Because I don't think he's a very intelligent man. I'm just being honest. There's plenty of not intelligent people who are good people. Joshua is a non intelligent man who's an evil man.

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Um, but I don't think he's smart enough to try to figure out a new way to move the date again. He Relied on other people on the Internet to do it before, and now he's doing it again. He's currently, I guarantee you, Joshua is currently searching through YouTube, checking instant messages, looking on whatever forum or discord or community, you know, type of online, uh, thing he's got. And he's looking for somebody to come up with a new date.

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And they are working on it hard. This is the update. They're working on it hard. And here's some of the things that they're saying. I'll tell you some of the dates they're setting, but first, let me just read some of the responses. This is, again, only an hour old. This is an hour ago. You can see right here.

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Um, brother Joshua, thank you for coming on here to encourage the flock. This is from one of his followers, and he calls them the flock. I told you, this guy's starting a cult. I believe the rapture is a process and God is revealing a lot more day by day. We have to hold the line. We have to stay focused. Don't be discouraged. Don't listen to the mockers and scoffers. That's what they call me, a mocker and scoffer. Um, I'm neither of those things. Not really.

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I mean, you can scoff at sin or stupidity, but when you're a scoffer, the Bible uses that term to refer to those who scoff at truth.

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Um, it just goes on. He's still coming at his appointed time. They say 23, 24th of September, 2025. God knows when the true dates are.

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It's the highest level of insanity.

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Again, and we've got to learn from this, because if you can, here's why I'm doing this. You guys wonder, why is Mike even talking about this so much? Um, first off, I'm not.

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This is why I shoved it into a Q and A, because I don't even want to make a whole new video about it. I just want to talk about it during my regular weekly stream.

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But the reason why I want to talk about it is because I've learned that if you take these sort of iconic examples of religious failures, especially in the name of Jesus, and you put them in front of people, everybody learns from it. And the thing is, the next time someone comes knocking on your door and they're trying to pull the same stuff on you, you're immune, you're inoculated, because you know what it looks like, you know what it sounds like. And I want us to look at the train wreck in slow motion on this rapture. Stuff.

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So here's another one. We love you, brother Joshua. Thank you so much for this encouragement. Glory be to the Lord God Almighty, forever and ever. Amen. Thank you for stepping out in faith. All these things are so sad because the goodness of God and his glory are being attached to a deception.

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I'm a Nigerian, someone says, and I got my own confirmation December 2024, before you came out. Nothing can change my mind. I love you, brother Joshua.

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Uh, this is his cult. His cult is primarily online.

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That's what I believe. This is him trying to start a cult. Now, it's going to be a tiny, tiny cult because only the most susceptible to incredible delusion are going to stick with him. After two failed attempts, okay, it'll be small group majority are already abandoning him. But these people, they're in great danger and it's going to get way worse. 10, 20 years from now, we're going to. You'll hear stories maybe about how bad it got. We love and respect you. And they're looking forward to the day. My youngest daughter had a rapture dream. She was talking to a Jewish man about Jesus and how God sent him to earth to save us and paid our sin debt. She told me the Jewish man was working with crops and a timer went off, counting down from 3, 2, 1, and made a ringing sound.

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She said. The Jewish man made the comment, my crops are ready for harvest. She stated at that moment that the trumpets blasted and she started to rise to Jesus. Stay strong, family. We're in the season. Brother Joshua, I love you and I don't care who mocks and scoffs. You. I believe in you and I pray for you. D How would you have avoided this if you were this lady who seems totally sincere, who's just convinced that God is doing something amazing and that people like me are.

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We're evil, we're mockers and scoffers and nobody should listen to us.

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You would point her to Scripture, which is the first thing I did in my two videos on the Rapture on Fridays where I tackled it in the first question, the first two times. And I said, hey, guys, look, here's the verses they're quoting and here's proof that they're misusing the Bible. It's not conjecture. Like, this is definitely misinterpreting scripture. No debate on it.

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The problem is, in this Rapture community, clear teaching of scripture is not that important. I know that they love the Bible, but that's not. I didn't say they didn't love the Bible. Clear teaching of Scripture Is not important. What's important is intuitions about the Bible. Number crunching about the Bible. Oh, I, I looked at the Strong's number and it was numbers 721. And I looked up this and then it was 721 when I saw that this had this dream. And so God revealed and it's not clear teaching of scripture. It's like weird stuff. It's weird stuff.

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Um, your daughter had a dream. I believe she had a dream. I just don't think it was divine. People have dreams. I've had dreams I could fly. Didn't mean God was going to give me the ability to fly. Unfortunately.

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Then this one says um, nine feast of trumpets. 2025 says September, nine, 23 and 24. September. The rapture date did not fail but is the start of the rapture event that extends through the feast of tabernacles. The rapture time frame now being watched for is October 13th and 14th. Shemini Atzaret. It's believed that the current delay is because of a 21 day war in heaven that occurs before the start of the Rapture Great tribulation. And it just goes on. Look at this.

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I'll just put it on your screen.

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Look at this. Then there's a video. And then there's another video.

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You guys, mockers and scoffers. They don't think that they're supposed to listen to you. They think that you're being used by the enemy. You're attacking them. You're not having the right heart. You don't understand their sincere love. They don't listen because that's what cults do. Cults isolate you from any voice that might show you that what you're believing is false. This is why we have to ask questions and we have to challenge our understanding of scripture. We have to challenge the things that our leaders are teaching in right and proper ways. In ways that are, yes, humble but that they're willing to say. I pick truth over my team every time.

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That's really important.

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Um, oh, I just missed the call from Sarah. Call me again if you need something. Sarah, Maybe something resolved itself. I don't know.

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I don't know. But listen, I'm going to be going to your guys questions in a minute. I just want you to know they're going to recalculate. There's a bunch of things they can say. They can go, well, you know, the date was moved because when Daniel prayed it was three weeks before Gabriel came. And the angel said I was delayed fighting the prince of Persia. And now there's a 21 day war in heaven like that one guy said. So let's push it out another 21 days. Another seven days. Well, the flood lasted for 40 days and the ark rested. Maybe they'll pull out the number 40 out of that. Then if that fails, what they'll do is they'll start reinterpreting the rapture to say that it did happen. The ones who do stick around in this shrinking but intensifying cold. Um, the Rapture did happen and they'll reinterpret what it means that the Rapture happened. That's another option. Um, or to say, um, I'm just throwing this out, guys, because there's only so many possibilities.

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Another thing that a group like this might end up saying is, well, God came to rapture us, but because of all the mockers and scoffers, uh, the church wasn't ready and the church missed the Rapture. So the rapture came and went and we just, we didn't get it. And so now we're in the tribulation. And so few people were raptured, you guys. Nobody noticed it. But now we're in the tribulation time. So then they'll go on for the next seven years of doom and gloom and fake prophecies culminating in I don't even know what Right. Is this a heaven's gate thing where they all off themselves at some appointed time?

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Um, I don't know.

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Because when you are this delusional and you are this bought in to an unbiblical fake prophet, the sky's the limit.

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Who knows what you're going to do? Think biblically about everything. This is my response to the, uh, math and the calculations and all of the charts that you can pull up to explain why you know where the Rapture is. Truly, you have a dizzying intellect. That's been my response to you guys.

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Yeah. Okay, cool. So I'm going to go to your guys questions now. That wasn't even question one. That was just an update. Let's do question one. I got 10 questions I'm going to tackle tackle today from Marcus.

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Um, he says, in the light of Molakella's serious error, how can Christians be assured that we aren't also blind members of a cult? Fantastic question. Scholars are quick to explain that near means quickly, unexpectedly, or suddenly. Then why don't they translate tychicos soon?

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We're talking about in like revelation. He's I'm coming quickly, that kind of thing. Um, as such, uh, 2 Peter 3, 8, 9 is also frequently used as an excuse. Okay, well, that's. Uh, Marcus, you got in, like, four questions in one question, and they're all big. So I'm going to just tackle the first one for the sake of the nature of the ten questions videos. So the first one is, uh, in light of his serious error, how can Christians be assured that we're not also in a cult? How do I know I'm not in a cult?

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Scripture.

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There is a doctrine that's very important called sola scriptura. And it means that Scripture is the sole infallible final authority. It is not the only authority. We're often mischaracterized as acting like there are no other authorities in the world. Um, it also doesn't mean that there's no other way to learn things. So we're not saying that the Bible's the only way to learn anything. Like, I have to learn English using the Bible, I have to learn math using the Bible, I have to learn French using the Bible, or I have to learn astrophysics using the Bible. We're not suggesting. That's silly. It's about degree of authority. The Scripture is that sole final authority.

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This means that any group which starts to claim that they alone can interpret the Bible, or they start simply giving you unbiblical truths, then you're in danger of sliding into a culture because you've lost your ability to follow the Bible where it leads, and you have to instead follow the leader where they lead.

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So groups that do this, at least functionally, are, like Jehovah's Witnesses, for example, their interpretation of Scripture. The authority has moved from Scripture over the organization.

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Now, I know this is not a popular take, but Catholicism does do this as well, and so do Orthodox.

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Um, this is one of the reasons why I'm Protestant, is because both of these groups reject this idea that I'm going to follow Scripture wherever it leads. And instead they have a set of doctrines that they consider to be, ultimately, they'll say, like, as authoritative as the Bible. Right.

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And they may, depending on how they word it, they might make it sound like there's some equality there or that Scripture is even somehow over tradition. But in practicality, the tradition, the teachings, and, uh, the things that have accrued over time and over lots and lots of time, these things end up being fixed, unassailable, infallible. Ultimately, beliefs, whether or not they conform with Scripture. So let the Bible be your guide. Now, you might say, well, how do I know I'm understanding the Bible right? And that is a constant question you will never stop asking and you should continue to ask. But you read it in context. You don't look for. Um, for example, there's like a gnostic approach to the Bible where you're looking for, like, secrets and like.

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But what's the deeper layer? But what is the secret meaning of this passage and that kind of thing? And I'm not saying God doesn't have, like, deep meaning in the text of Scripture. Like, look at my Jesus in the Old Testament series and you'll see deep meaning.

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But we want to establish any clear doctrine that you're going to believe as a Christian should be a clear teaching in Scripture. And anything that is not a clear teaching in Scripture, do not make it binding upon every believer or upon yourself as something you must believe.

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Uh, there's an example. Another thing to, like, red flags to watch out for for church groups is one that emphasizes really minor issues as though they are the main issue.

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Now, there's times where a minor issue can rise up in significance because of a cultural moment.

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But we always have to keep that in perspective with our ultimate faith in Christ. The basic Gospel itself. Um, you know, the basics of Christianity. So our commitments start with the core of our doctrines and they move out. And the further out you get from the core, the less committed you are to that more peripheral thing.

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Even if you believe it's true, you just, you just hold it in balance.

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Um, so going around telling people that you have to speak in tongues to be saved is an example of someone who's like, whoa, what are you talking about? You know, this is not. It's clear that that's not true. Biblically, it is clear. Um, we have examples of people getting saved who didn't speak in tongues.

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So we have Paul discussing this. Anyways, so, um, that's an example of something where you go like, does that make it a cult? Well, it's not healthy. It means that there's like something that's not healthy that's going on. At least that.

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Um, there was something else I was going to mention too, before I moved on to the next question. Um, what was it?

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Hyper controlling.

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Um, yeah, I don't know. I lost it.

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I think it would have been helpful to people too, but. Oh, well, I don't have it. All right, I am going to go to question number two here in a second.

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And we do actually have almost all the questions in right now. Oh, no, we do have all the questions in. Okay, so all 10 questions are in. I'm just gonna walk through them. M atheist has a question. Hey Mike, I've heard you say that we should keep repenting, but if we are continually repenting for the same sin or sins, has it lost its value? Or is our repentance real?

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Or are we deceiving ourselves? Um, theists, I want you to consider this answer coming from someone who has to struggle with the same question you're asking, not someone who has the best answer in the world. But we do have to struggle with this. And here's why. You can't just ignore the question. And like, we have to struggle because there are. And I think everybody who's listening to this would agree, pretty much almost everybody. Um, there are people who are real Christians who continue struggling with the same kinds of sins their whole lives until they go to be with the Lord. And that person can be said to be like, repenting on a regular basis.

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But yes, they deal with anger or frustration, or they deal with temptations, uh, of lust, or they deal with, uh, same sex attraction temptations.

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They deal with, you name it, um, uh, unhealthy envy or jealousy and competition, um, insecurities that manifest in cruelty, uh, towards others.

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These things do exist in real Christians.

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And then I will also admit that there's, let's make it another category. There are people who think they're Christians and they've never really repented. They've just sort of like become cultural Christians.

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And these people, maybe what they do is they come to church and they get up over and over again and like, they go home and they do something evil and then they come to church and they're like, oh, I'm sorry, um, and then they just go right back to it.

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And some of them, there's some of them who are just not Christians. Like they think they are, but they're not. Now we know there's people who will be surprised by Jesus when he says, I depart from me, I never knew you. And they're like, lord, we did all these things in your name. So there's this event Jesus talks about where people actually get surprised that they didn't even know him.

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So I believe both these categories exist in the real world. The Christian who has a constant struggle with sin but is still saved and the person who says they're Christian and they have a similar constant struggle and they're actually not Christians.

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Now what you're asking me is how to tell which group you're in if you are in a very regular struggle with particular sin. And I just, I don't know.

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I don't know how to answer this. And I wish I did. I want to give you, like, oh, you ask this one question, and then that will solve it for you. And then you know which category you're in. Like, am I a real Christian or a fake struggling or a fake one? Um, I could say things like, do you really sense the work of the Spirit in your life? But I've seen people who. I'm, like, confident, aren't Christians, answer yes to that. So I don't know.

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Do you feel like the Holy Spirit is crying out, abba, Father, but then what if you're deceived in this? So I don't know how to answer this question. So all I do is I look at these two groups and I realize I don't know how to sort people between group A and B. Instead, I'll just extend a warning to them about unrepentant sin. And I will also extend the grace of Jesus to them and say, you need to actually really repent.

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Um, I don't want to create insecurity in people, but I also don't want to create, uh, confidence in someone's open defiance against God, thinking that they're just fine because they have easy believism is their view. So I struggle with trying to handle these two groups. And I look at Scripture and I go, scripture talks about tares amongst the wheat. Sometimes it's hard to tell who's real and who's not.

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Then if you're living a lifestyle that makes it hard for you to tell if it's real, you might be thinking, well, then I'm just going to quit. I just give up. I'm not going to follow Jesus anymore. I'm frustrated. I'm like, that is the dumbest thing you could do. Think about this. I'm scared that I might not be genuine. My solution is to guarantee I'm not genuine.

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That's sin lying to you to get you to believe that.

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What you should think is, I'm scared. I'm not genuine. I'm going to double down. I'm going to follow what Jesus says about taking strong measures to overcome my sinful temptations. I'm going to have actual accountability. I'm going to seek out leadership for help. I'm going to change the structure of my daily life so I can overcome this sin. And I'm going to treat sin like it is the. Like it is the murderous thing that it really is in my life. And that's what you got to do. Now, I'm not saying you Earn your salvation, because you could do all that and you will not be saved. You could do all that and you will not because you are still lost. You need Jesus. You need the grace of Christ.

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But I don't know how to sort the difference between these two people. And I'm sure someone in the audience or someone listening, you have better advice and counsel on this. That's the best I've got right now.

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I'd like to have a better way to guide people through this. There's, uh, a pastoral temptation. I've seen it many, many, many times where I just want to tell my whole audience, everybody's okay, everybody's okay. Give them a big, warm hug.

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I m just don't believe that's true. And so I can't say it. And so while I would bring a lot of encouragement to the people in Category A who are real believers, they're just struggling with regular temptation and they're failing a lot, but they're still Christians. And I would be like, man, I want you to know you're still saved. I would also be saying the same thing to the other category, who desperately needs to be experiencing the fear of God.

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So all I say is double down, return, repent, get your life right with God. Don't ask questions about, how do I stay in the sinful lifestyle and still go to heaven.

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That's a scary question to ask. You should be scared when you're thinking it.

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All right, I'm going to go to the next question. I really appreciate you asking that. It's super important.

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Um, number three, Jared Bolas says, to what extent is it appropriate or necessary for pastors to address current events in politics from the pulpit? How should church members respond if they aren't addressed thoroughly or at all? That is a Jared, this is a heavy question. I'm going to take it very, very seriously. And I'll speak as plainly as I can because some of these things I'm working through right now, and I don't want to give you a PR answer in any way. Um, I hate that stuff. I don't like PR answers.

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Um, I don't respect them.

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So to what extent is it appropriate or necessary? You have two questions. I'm going to answer both. Um, because I want to answer both. Uh, to what extent is it appropriate or necessary for pastors to address current events and politics from the pulpit? I think pastoral care should be focused on the needs of the people and then the clarity of God's word and the commission that we've been given by Jesus So those are, like, the two factors.

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So I'm going to focus on getting across what scripture has taught and communicating that to you, carrying on that apostolic mandate, giving you what the apostles taught, the Old, the New Testament, everything that's in there. So if there's anything in the Bible, as you are trying to teach the entirety of God's word, that relates to politics, that relates to, uh, current events, then why wouldn't you talk about it? Now? Sometimes you're not sure what the right answer is on that, but some stuff's pretty clear. So the Bible is very clear about, say, the death penalty. The Bible is very clear about male and female, and that transgender ideology is an actual affront to the very design of God.

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I should talk about that.

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Even if there was no such thing as trans ideology, the Bible, old and New Testament, makes a really big deal about the nature of male and female relationships, including headship and submission. And so that's something every pastor should teach about, regardless of what's going on in culture.

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So we should just teach whatever the Bible teaches. And when the Bible emphasizes it more, I should emphasize it more when it's a little uncertain, like, what exactly are my immigration laws supposed to be like? I don't see that in Scripture. I saw principles there. I actually did a teaching on a biblical view of immigration, and I pulled out the principles I could find and that I could see there and shared them. Um, so I think we should just not muzzle the word of God. Right.

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Um, the other thing, though, is, um, the needs of the people also dictate what the Sunday morning should look like as well. So, um, if you have people that are being inundated with really particular problems, then you want to be offering the solutions to those problems as you can from the pulpit from a Christian perspective.

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So this is where I think some pastors, there's muzzles on some pastors because they don't just teach the full counsel of God, maybe because they themselves are unclear as to what the Bible's teaching on a certain topic. I know some pastors, I use the death penalty as an example for this reason, because a lot of pastors have a sub biblical doctrine of the death penalty, in my opinion. Um, and so then they won't refer to it. But I think it's actually really important, and it has to do with God's justice, and it t into the nature of even mankind's overall guilt and the cross itself, which literally is connected to the death penalty as being a justified thing. Anyway, that's a whole other discussion Right. So I think that's actually kind of important worldview wise. Um, but some pastors are muzzled because they're just not clear on it. Um, others are muzzled because they're worried about being too specific because they fear it will cause division in their church. But now for those people, if I'm too clear on these issues, I feel like it's going to bring out division and debate. Even though I think the Bible is clear on this, I think not everyone will agree and we won't be able to handle that disagreement very well. And it's going to cause harm to the church. I'm actually sympathetic to that. I don't think those pastors are weak. I don't think those pastors are abandoning their roles or something like that. I think that they are often, um, failing to consider the next tier, the next side of the equation that I'm going to offer you guys, which is the needs of the people.

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So let me give you an example from Scripture here. When Jesus wrote the seven letters to the seven churches, it wasn't just here's good doctrine. It was also like, he's addressing exactly what they're going through at the time. Hey, you're allowing that woman Jezebel to teach and seduce my servants to, uh, eat these, sacrifice to idols and commit sexual immorality. Um, I gave her time to repent. He's like, dealing with that exact issue that's going on in the church there. And he's like telling him, you know, Smyrna, I know you're suffering. I know that the harm you've experienced because of my name. And he's giving them that encouragement.

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Um, when Paul wrote letters, even to Timothy, he's addressing specific issues going on in Ephesus as he's writing to Timothy, who's in Ephesus, Peter, uh, addresses in one Peter, he's talking about suffering and persecution a lot because that's a real specific need for the local church. Do you catch this? When Jesus goes out and he preaches, his message is not only big picture true, it's also specifically relevant to the audience. Right? Like highlighting specific things they're dealing with. He talks about the Corbin rule because he's talking to Jews who had a Corbin issue going on at the time where they would use service of the King of Heaven as a way of not honoring their parents in an evil way. So I think pastors have to speak to the current things that are going on in their congregation's lives.

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And right now in the Christian world, um, the political Stuff, especially in the U.S.

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um, it's really relevant to our Christian lives. It's, like, super relevant. It really is.

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First off, a lot of the political stuff is worldview issues that directly relate to my Christian faith. So abortion, trans stuff, homosexuality, um, uh, uh, globalism versus nationhood, uh, um, all of those have a Christian worldview connection, in my opinion. I mean, I'm not just saying, like, I think so, but, like, I'm convinced these all have, like, a real, like, globalism, I think, is something that, as a Christian, I have good reasons to go. I don't. I don't think this is healthy or good.

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Um, there's a lot of situations and stuff like this that really matters, and they're really relevant to your congregation. And I know it can be political and all that, but my encouragement is not that. Pastors get up this Sunday and start saying things they've never said before.

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But at least do this. Take some time.

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Start working through. Maybe it'll take you months, maybe it'll take you a year. Pastor, tell your congregation to be patient with you. Just tell them, guys, I haven't talked enough about some of these things. Um, we're going to talk more about it in the future, but I need some time to really pray about it, think about it, do some reading, talk to people, and find out where exactly my Christian, uh, views and my biblical commitments take me.

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And that's respectable. I take that as respectable. But it's super relevant to the lives of Christians, and I don't see any way around that right now. Um, now maybe there's some local churches where it's not, but in general, it's super relevant. Let m me read this question again. To what extent is it appropriate or necessary?

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Okay, so the limit of where do you stop? Where do you go? I'm not going to go any further with this, with this political commitment, with this commentary on this stuff. Um, first off, I no longer think of things as this is religious, and over here, that's political. No, no, no.

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I think that my Christian values and views are sometimes very political and that I should not withhold myself from being honest and open about that.

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Um, but what's a limit?

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Uh, limits would be.

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We're emphasizing this too much.

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Um, this is no longer staying in its proper proportion with all the rest of our Christian doctrines. That's a possibility. That's a real. That's a tough call. Right? You make that call on the fly, and there's a good chance anytime you say anything that's seen as political, someone Will say, oh, you've gone too far, you've obsessed too much. I get called obsessive because I make like two videos about a topic. Like people just think you're obsessive too easily.

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It's a way to shut you down. But I'm saying this is a category to say, yes, it is possible that you are too committed. Um, another thing to watch out for that's too much, I think is, um, when our Christian commitments that get us to comment on politics cause us to align.

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This is really hard to say, uh, for me, at least for me to figure out how to say it. Uh, Christian commitments that cause us to get involved in political things, right? They cause us to align with movements that aren't fully aligned with Christian values. And then what can happen is you start pushing that movement and you start pushing a sub Christian thing, Christian ish kind of view that doesn't really represent your views in their core, like in their real true values. Now an example of this is the Republican party and abortion. They've completely compromised on abortion. They're not conservative enough for Christians. That's just reality. Um, I'm going to be super political here because I think I should be as a Christian. I will probably keep voting Republican and trying to actively bring them further to the right. I think that that's as I understand it anyways.

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And that I think is appropriate because Democrats exist.

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That's why you have to do that. Like, uh, if, if it wasn't this two party system or you know, where pragmatically you're not going to get much done outside of this. If that changes or looks like it's really shifting, then I could see, you know, we would do a Christian party. That stuff's complicated though. Like, I wouldn't bind every Christian to that. I'm telling you what I think we should do as Christians, but I'm not going to make that the rule for every believer and be like you're not really a Christian and then go online and call them names and dumb stuff like that. Um, I would just disagree with you if you don't agree with me on that. I mean, and listen to your reasons.

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So I think we can be too divisive. We can be cruel.

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We, um, can also not realize that we're relevant. Um, we matter as Christians. We matter, our voices matter in the political sphere, we're kind of like.

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It reminds me of speaking of Lord of the Rings, which nobody was talking about. It, uh, reminds me of Mary and Pippin, two hobbits trying to convince the ents, this army, effectively a very peaceful sort of. We don't get involved people, we're concerned about other things. They're trying to convince them to get involved. They're like, but you're part of this world and Christians, you're part of this world and you should seek the common good of your neighbor.

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Politics is a way of seeking the common good of your neighbor.

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Just keep your Christian commitment centered and make sure that you don't fail to represent that Christian truth because it's not accepted in the team that you ended up working with. Even though you're. Maybe you aren't really on their team, but you end up working with them because they're the best chance you have of pushing more Christian type views forward to bless the people in your congregation or in your community or in your country.

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Um, those are some thoughts I'm having about that. I'm still working on it. I'm honestly going to be working on this for the next six months, trying to figure out exactly where I stand on all these issues. And I'm very open to changing my mind. So please stay tuned.

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Um, you also asked, how should church members respond if they aren't addressed thoroughly or at all? If these issues aren't addressed thoroughly or at all.

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So there's a number of ways you can respond. I mean, you could leave the church. Uh, some people do. I do not think that that's the first thing you should recommend people who are like, I even heard Charlie, uh, Kirk say this once. He was like, if you're a pastor, da, da, da, da, leave the church. And I'm like, that's really bad advice.

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Um, there's a lot of options. Okay, yep, you can leave the church. Depending on all the other dynamics, there may be other reasons to contribute to that and you go somewhere else. That's a possibility.

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I think that there's a number of other options. Here's an option. You start a dialogue with your pastor or pastors, and you start to say, hey, can I make a case that we should be doing this more? Um, you start doing that in a proactive way. Another option is that you don't require that the pastor be the one to do it all the time. Maybe the guy's just like, hey, how about, uh, you give us Christian updates on current events and like, every once in a while we'll have you come up and do a five minute thing. Or you'll start a group at your church where you guys talk about these types of issues and you can actually affect long term Change. Let's think generationally, right? You can affect long term change so that over the course of the next 10, 20 years, you've roped in a fuller representation of the Christian faith without an artificial barrier in the political realm.

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There's an option as well.

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Um, pray about him. Think about it. Don't be reactionary. So many people online, especially on X, that I'm seeing total reactionary content on these types of things. Reactionary statements. So be patient. Endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace.

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That's an actual command in Scripture. Are you. Whatever you do next with your pastor, you're bothered they didn't do this or they should have said this? Are you endeavoring to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace as you go through this? Because if not, you're being wrong. All right, number four, Dylan Barrett says. Or Barrett. Um, if a man takes the mark of the beast to provide for his family, how will God judge him?

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Okay, I'm going to add another layer to this. Okay. The actual condemnation in Revelation. I'll put it on your screen. Um, it's a little different than just taking the mark. We often hear it where people think of it as just taking the mark.

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And let me just.

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I want to expand that slightly. Okay.

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Um, just a second. I messed up something in my software here and just start a new thing.

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So, um, it's interesting that you also add the element of, well, what if he's taking the mark to feed his family? So this is good for us to push on our understanding of what this means by asking a question like that. So he took the mark, but we're going to add a motive. To feed his family. To feed his family.

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Um, is this the passage I'm looking for?

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Yeah. Okay, so let's look at the entire passage. Revelation 13. I'll start in verse.

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I'll just start in verse 11.

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Then I saw another beast rising out of the earth. It had two horns like a lamb and it spoke like a dragon.

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It exercises all the authority of the first beast in its presence. These are, um, not going to be literal beasts that write. These are visions. It's apocalyptic visionary terminology, and it's referring to individuals or organizations, um, and makes the earth and its inhabitants worship the first beast whose mortal wound was healed. It performs great signs, even making fire come down from heaven to earth in front of people. And by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it deceives those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived. And it was allowed to give breath to the image of the beast, so that the image of the beast might even speak and might cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain. Now, it's interesting that we often think the image of the beast speaking is really interesting. And, uh, it is. And obviously, we inevitably tend to interpret revelation through our current events. And every generation seems like they'd make. They make this move. Um, and they've been wrong so much that we should do this with a lot of warnings about conjecture and a lot of. I could totally be wrong. Could be something completely different.

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Um, but the. Speaking of the image and the current events with AI is like. You can't help but think about that. I understand.

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And it's fine as long as you understand with some humility that you don't know what God will do. You just know what might happen. Um, but what is interesting to me is that the image of the beast can speak, and it can cause those who would not worship the image of the beast to be slain.

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That's interesting to me. Um, or is it? Maybe I'm misreading it. And it's actually, uh, this false prophet. That's who's being discussed here. He's the one that is allowed to give breath to the image.

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Um, but the way it's written, I think it's the image that actually caused them to be slain. Okay. So they have to worship, though. That's my point. You have to worship the image of the beast. You have to worship it also. It causes all, both small and great, both rich and poor, both free and slave, to be marked on the right hand or the forehead, so that no one can buy or sell unless he has the mark that is the name of the beast or the number of its name.

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It's not just a mark. That mark is an act of worship. That's the point. I want, uh, to give you guys. The mark of the beast is an act of worship and submission to the lordship of the beast.

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Think about that. So in the early church, there were Christians who couldn't serve in, uh, certain capacities in the Roman government. And the reason is because they had to.

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You're required to do a pinch of incense to Caesar as to a deity, to a God.

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Just a pinch. And you just.

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What if you were asking Mike, can the guy pinch the incense to Caesar to feed his family?

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This is an act of worship to a false deity is what it is.

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So no he can't.

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He can't.

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And you can't take the mark of the beast because you love your kids, because what you've just done is you've spiritually condemned them. Because your example to them is, guys, I want you to know that food is more important than God, that us having more food on our table is more important than God. But the beast knows and the false prophet know that you're going to follow this logic, which is why you can't buy or sell. You can't get your food if you don't do this worship. That's the whole. The whole bait. The entire bait of the thing is you're going to have to suffer, uh, persecution and possibly, uh, death if you don't. Probably death if you do not worship the beast.

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And that's what that mark is. So the answer is very clear in scripture is, no, you don't. But I just wanted to resist the temptation to think that the mark of the beast is like, oh, it's just an. It's just like a number. It's just like a stamp or something, or it's like a tattoo, or it's like a chip that goes into the thing, or it's like something. You know, it's not that. It's just meaningless because it doesn't mean anything to me. I'm just doing it so I can eat.

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No, it has meaning and spiritual value whether you want it to or not. And you can't just. You wouldn't be able to just brush that away by saying, doesn't count for me.

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That would be a deception. All right, number five.

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Jason H. Says, hey, Mike, appreciate your work and your humor. Oh, thanks, man. I'm glad that somebody does.

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Um, my dad said the church asked me to be a deacon, so it must be God. Is it wise to treat the church's voice as God's voice? I want to have a balanced approach to this. Um, it's not meaningless that your church asked you to be a deacon. Right. God works through the local church. Like, if the elders get up. Um, recently this happened at our church. The elders got up and they were talking about really emphasizing Bible reading. Um, and so they were encouraging people like, let's do the Bible in a year. And I don't know how many in the church actually took them up on it, but another elder. I hope they're okay with me sharing this, because I think it's a good teaching point that will help people think about these things and think about what it means to submit to the leadership in Your local fellowship. Um, first off, I don't think, oh, it's from God because they said it. That's silly. That's silly. Okay.

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No, it's not just from God, just because they said it.

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But there is another side of this where we don't want to go. It means nothing to me. Like, I just do what I think I want to do. And, no, I take it with a lot of weight when they ask me and they give me that open door, that's significant. These are my spiritual leaders. They're praying, they're seeking the Lord. They're asking me to help serve. They see the needs. I take it as that leans me inherently in the direction of doing it to some degree. I may or may not be able to, but I would instantly lean that way to some degree. Um, but in our local, uh, church. So there was encouragement to read the Bible this year in particular. This one year in particular.

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And after this happened, one of the elders was, uh, talking about how, I'm going to be careful how I say this, because it wasn't like they said it publicly to everybody or something like that, but it was basically like they were a little bit bummed that it seemed that at least for some of the congregation, they had lost that sense of submission to leadership where when the leader says, hey, let's read the word, you actually think that should move me a bit. Right? Like, that should actually move me. And I should be thinking, this is how God can guide his church is through its leaders. This is often the case.

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So if something's on your pastor's heart, on your leader's heart, and they're a godly person, they're not just, like, carnal or declaring things in God's name that he's never saying.

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Um, they're not just using the Bible as a tool to push their own agendas and stuff like that.

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Then if they get up and they're like, hey, guys, I really think this year we should do such and such. You should instantly be like, I should take this very seriously. Maybe that's, in fact what we should all do. Hey, let's try to follow as much as we can, our leadership. That's a healthy thing that we lose. In the individualism of the United States that I think would have happened overseas or some other country, the leader gets up and goes, we need more Bible reading, more daily Bible reading in our church. Uh, I think in a lot of churches around the world, they would have been like, okay, pastor says we need to do this. And they wouldn't Think they're being manipulated or abused. They would see this as helpful spiritual leadership from those who care for them. And that's how scripture kind of treats elders.

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We're to submit to them. Let me give you a verse on this. Um, um, so towards the end of Hebrews, it says, let me find this.

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Ah. Uh, here is verse 17. Hebrews 13, verse 17.

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Obey your leaders and submit to them, for they are keeping watch over your souls as those who will have to give an account. Let them do this with joy and not with groaning, for that would be of no advantage to you. I want to make.

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I want.

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This is. Man, we need this so bad, especially in social media culture. We want our leaders.

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We want it to be easy for them to lead us.

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That's good.

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I want, you know, wives, submit to your husbands. It should be easy for him, right? In that leadership role in your marriage and churches, submitting to your leadership. Parishioners or, you know, we're all priests. We're all kings and priests, right? They're not, like, elevated way above me in some sort of value system. It's just that they are my leaders, and for us to work together, I need to be in submission to them, and that's a good thing. So, no, it doesn't mean it was necessarily God, but it does mean that he should seriously consider it and think of how he can follow this scripture.

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But, yeah, he could say no. Now, if a leader comes up and they're always telling people, oh, God has showed me you're to do this. And he goes to someone else, God has shown me you have to do this. And then God has shown me you need to do this, I consider that a red flag. And then I would reconsider whether I would want to be around a leader like that. So there's some things to think about. All right, let's go to the next question. Number six.

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Rebecca H. Says, grateful for all you do. Mike. Thank you very much. Rebecca. I think you've written, uh, for Clear Truth Media, and they are platforming Mark Driscoll with your stance on unqualified pastors. How do you respond?

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There's a big question. Just so you guys know, we asked the real questions in this ministry. We're like, go ahead and ask. Um, okay, so Clear Truth Media, I sort of.

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I kind of partner with. Let me tell you guys what happened, and then I'll answer the Mark Driscoll thing. Um, I don't fully know everything they're about even now. Um, I just feel like I want to spread out More as far as influence getting that biblical Christian worldview. Now this is not for my own sake. I'm completely honest with you guys. I am beyond content with the reach of my ministry. Beyond content, Like I'm way past it.

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I don't need this many people watching or following me. Not for a need that I have or to feed an insecurity or to feel significant.

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Um, I ministered in the local church in uh, relatively small ways like most pastors do, right? Not even the lead pastor of the church. I'm just uh, a pastor on staff for years and years and I served in the youth ministry and I served in all sorts of other ways and capacities and I was content.

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Content. If anything, I felt uncomfortable with the way that people would look up to you as a pastor. I still feel a little bit weird about that. Uh, for whatever reason, I don't need, um, this is for the kingdom. Okay? The reason why I want to have reach. I want to have as much reach as possible. And I try to tell myself like I don't have ambitions for myself here, but man, there's so many needs in the world. Why not try to have an even bigger impact for the kingdom?

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Not for insecurities or self gratification or anything like that. Um, and so for that I want, and I actually want more Christians on social media who don't care about social media following because they just want to seek the kingdom because it's too often the people who have ulterior motives that end up doing well online because they're driven.

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So we need people who are driven but who are actually kingdom minded. We need more and more of that.

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Pastors who don't need to be a pastor, doing it just to bless people and to honor Christ.

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Leaders who don't need to be a leader, just doing it because it serves the Lord and blesses and helps people. It loves God and your neighbor, you know, that kind of thing.

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So trying to push out more clear truth media seemed like they were doing something good. I don't know all that much about it. Sure, let's try it. They reached out to me and I said, look, I'm super busy in my schedule. I don't think I could actually write articles for you guys. I think I wrote one just to try and I said, I'm just too busy. You guys can take my content and you can distill it into an article and adapt it and then we'll just do like a co author thing so that it's like me and you because you use my content to create this article. And I said, go ahead, maybe it'll help people. Right.

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Um, I don't now maybe you think this is irresponsible. I don't even know who's on Clearthruse Media right now. And we haven't done an article in like over a year because it just kind of fizzled out. Right. They're busy. They've got tons of things going on. It was Jamie Bambrick who was working with me, and, uh, he's been growing his own ministry stuff, his own YouTube channel, all that kind of thing. And so he's focused on that, which is fine. Um, uh, I like a lot of the guys at Cleartruth Media, but I don't really know all of them. I'm actually looking to see if Mark Driscoll is even on the list of contributors.

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See, I'm not even on the list of contributors anymore, and I shouldn't be. I haven't done anything in over a year and it was just them kind, um, of grabbing my content, trying to rework it for articles. I don't see Mark Driscoll on the list of contributors either. Hold on. What if I click Pastors?

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Oh, no, that's just a message to pastors, um, leadership team.

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Yeah, I don't see Driscoll, so I don't know what you mean. Now, if they platformed him, let's assume this is super complicated because I don't actually know that much about Driscoll's situation. I never watched the whole Bodies under the Bus podcast, which supposedly, uh, brought a ton of evidence.

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So I don't actually personally know and I don't like to go beyond what I know. Um, on the other hand, I know a number of people who would say, who I trust. Right. Who aren't just like, everyone's disqualified. No, no. Who would say no? Driscoll is disqualified, um, and significantly so. So I don't know. I haven't weighed into it. And it's not responsible for me to go beyond what I know on things. Right. I can't comment on most situations because I just don't know.

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That being said, um, I, if I'm going to reach out and get involved with anybody, I have to try to figure out really hard questions.

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Let's say that, um, a very disqualified leader is not part of, um, an organization that I'm going to join, but that organization, every once in a while lets them on stage for something.

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Does that disqualify? Now, if he was officially a leader of it, then I wouldn't be part of it. But what if he's occasionally being platformed by them, but he's not in any influence? And it's rare? How do I handle that?

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How much do I cut off opportunities to minister to people?

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Because the net effect of that could be that every good teacher out there refuses to be involved in any major platform. And so all you have is wolves. And we've abandoned all of these platforms, uh, to bad leadership in wolves, because we're so purist in our metric of how we get involved with things that we just don't do anything. And so all we do is we criticize on social media, but we don't actually make an impact in the world. And that I'm opposed to because I want to push the Kingdom of Christ forward. And I don't know how to do all this yet. I'm still working on this. I'm trying to figure it out.

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Six, um, months from now, I'm just being honest. Six months from now, I'll have a much clearer understanding of this.

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And as far as I know, clear truth is overall doing good things and having a good impact. That's what I think overall. I don't know about your statement about Mark Driscoll being involved in them. That's the first I've ever heard of it.

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And I don't know that much about Driscoll's situation.

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If he's heavily disqualified and that this is clear and true and known, then I wouldn't platform him for anything.

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But where do I draw the line?

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Because I want to have a big impact for the gospel and for the Kingdom. Can I get on stage?

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This is the thing we're wrestling with right now. Me and a lot of people, a lot of Christian influencers we're wrestling with.

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Can I just get on any stage that will take me as long as I can speak truth and I don't have to pretend that I get along with everybody there.

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Is that a good way to reach the most people and have the biggest impact for Christ?

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I may never be invited back. You put me on stage after Benny Hinn, maybe I say, okay, I'll do it. I would have turned it down in the past, but now I'm having a different understanding of how to best push things forward.

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Um, I'll do it, but I'm going to get up there and then I'm going to warn everybody about Benny Hinn. I'm going to do my speech and then be like, oh, yes, and Benny Hinn's total fraud. I have a video about that and then I may never be invited back. And I can live with that. Maybe that's what I should do. I don't know. I'm working through it.

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So there's my super transparent answer for you. Andrew Caffey says, how did Jesus fulfill the dietary laws? I'm considering Jesus grafting in gentiles into the faith to be the fulfillment of that.

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Mhm.

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Jesus grafting gentiles in is the fulfillment of the dietary laws.

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I'm not sure what you mean by that. Maybe you mean, um, the dietary laws are fulfilled in the sense that we no longer have to follow them, or we never did as gentiles, but we don't have to follow them when we're in Christ because Christ is fulfilled through Jesus. Maybe that's what you mean, because all the laws fulfilled through Jesus, which would be my ultimate answer on that. But, um, as far as the, uh, you know, it can be help helpful to say like civil ceremonial, uh, to separate the law into these kind of categories. Let me, um, go to the verses that you put there, Matthew 5:17, and we'll try to answer the question Jesus and dietary laws. I did cover this in my Hebrew Roots videos. I have a few videos on Hebrew Roots. If you just type Mike Winger, Hebrew Roots, you will find it. Uh, do not think that I've come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them.

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He does say this. Okay. And then the question is, what does that mean that he fulfilled them? And I talk about that in the Hebrew Roots series. I'll link that below afterwards.

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Um, you said, uh, the other verse is Acts 10, 9, 15.

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You didn't put Mark here.

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I'll put that up on the screen in a second.

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Acts 10, 9, 15.

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Yeah. So here it says the next day, as they were on their journey and approaching the city, Peter went up on the house about the sixth hour to pray. And he became hungry and he wanted something to eat. But while they were preparing it, he fell into a trance and said, and saw the heavens open and something like a great sheet descending, being let down by its four corners upon the earth. In it were all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds of the air. And. And there came a voice to, um, him Rise, Peter, kill and eat. But Peter said, by no means, Lord, for I have never eaten anything that is common or unclean. And the voice came to him again a second time. What God has made clean do not call common.

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This happened three times and the thing was taken up at once to heaven.

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Now, this ends up being about. Not about food directly. This ends up being actually about Gentiles getting saved.

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And what's interesting about it is the way it plays out is the gentiles don't need to take on all of the Jewish rules in order to become clean. They can become clean because God makes them clean.

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So in the Jewish laws, uh, like, with cleanliness and stuff that it has to do with all these ceremonies. Do this, this, this, and then you're clean, and Jesus fulfills it. And then you trust in him and you're clean. And so any Jew doing these things, you're not actually clean by virtue of those things you're doing. You're actually going to be clean by Jesus if you have faith and trust in him.

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Um, now it goes on. We go into Cornelius. And then they get saved. And they don't have to become Jewish and get circumcised. And then Acts 15 happens, and there's a whole council. There's actually a council about this topic. Um, and then the verdict of the council is that they don't have to obey all this kind of stuff. And Paul talks about it in Romans, about how you have freedom to eat, uh, to the Lord or not eat to the Lord. And it's an option. You can be more kosher in your diet or not. It's up to you.

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Then we have Mark. Can I find this Mark passage?

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Um, let me dig for a second. So Jesus refers to man. There's. I messed up my search feature entirely.

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I don't remember the chapter and verse. Um, even though I taught through Mark.

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Um, okay. So mark 7:19.

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Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Okay.

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Oh, okay. I see why I didn't see it, even though it was right in front of me. Okay. Um, Mark said, I'll back up a little bit. Um.

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Uh, let's read this little, short, short parable. And he called the people to him again and said to them, hear me, all of you, and understand. There's nothing outside a person that by going into him, can defile him. But the things that come out of a person are what defile him. Speaking of, really the heart of the law and the issues and the stuff that's going on. Um, and when he had entered the house and left the people, his disciples asked him about the parable.

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It's a parallel. It's a riddle, right? It's meant to be mysterious, and it has deep meaning. And he said to them, then, are you without understanding? Are you? He says to his disciples, right? Because not only did the crowds not get it, but the disciples didn't get it. So he goes, then are you also, in addition to the crowds, without understanding, do you not see that whatever goes into a person from outside cannot defile him, since it enters not his heart, but his stomach and is expelled? And then there's this footnote that Mark provides. Says thus he declared all foods clean.

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Um, with Jesus, all foods are clean. That's the short answer. If you're in Jesus, all foods are clean. If you want to continue to not eat what are ceremonially unclean foods, you can, but you don't have to, and you can't bind other people to it. And Romans 14 gets into that in detail. So, yeah, there's my thought on that. So, uh, yeah, there is a fulfillment theology that's going on there.

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All right. Jared Powell has a question. Hey, Mike. My wife often deals with anxiety. She's a firm believer, but struggles with the fear of death or illness, not for her own sake, but because of the people she would leave behind. Thanks.

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Okay, Jared, um, there are some biblical teachings, and there's something. I'm going to say it in a pragmatic way that maybe will not help. And it's okay if it doesn't. Don't feel like because of any respect you guys would have for me, that you have to, like, make my suggestion work. Okay. If it's not helpful, it's not helpful. Then I apologize that I offered it. Um, but I'll share it because it has helped me with, uh, different anxieties. So the.

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The, um.

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And I actually do think it's biblical. And I'll share an example In Psalm, uh, 23.

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Um, one of the things that can help us with our anxieties is just realizing the sovereignty of God and the goodness of God and that God actually works all things together for good. So this is encouraged a number of times in Scripture. Romans 8, 28. That we know not, we believe not, we hope not, we think. I mean, we do believe it, but we know it. We also know it. Right? You can believe things, you know, everything, you know, you also believe. But, uh, anyways, we know that God works all things together for good to those that love him and are called according to his purpose.

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You know this, you know this.

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Sit in that.

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If I die and leave my loved ones behind, if I was tomorrow dead, it would be horrible tragedy for my wife.

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For there's a number of others, it would still be something. God would work together for good.

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And you might go, how can this be working? Together for good and go, uh, I don't have to know of the how. I know he is. It's a promise from God, and I trust it.

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I also know this, that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared to the glory that will be revealed in us. Also. Romans 8. Read Romans 8.

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Read Romans 8 For these anxieties, the sufferings that we're currently in.

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They don't even compare to. Actually, that's. Was it 1 Corinthians. Sorry. Um, but Romans 8 does talk about this, that nothing can separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus. Right height, death, all the different things. They can't separate us from God's love. Romans 8 is a great chapter for this. But also Paul talks about, uh, all kinds of suffering that he was going through. And he knew and understood what it was like to be in fear of your own death in a regular way and be thinking about the people and how they'd be harmed. He knew what it was like to see people die that were Christians, um, not just from old age, but also from persecution. So Paul says, we are more than conquerors. We're more than conquerors. So embed this in you. This is the thing. The Christian hope is so robust that it can literally say, I don't care what tragedy befalls me. I have a hope that is actually bigger than that incredible, horrible tragedy. I'm not making the tragedy smaller. I'm not pretending it's not the most horrific thing I can think of to lose my family or lose my loved ones or leave and abandon my loved ones because I've died. You don't abandon them. It's not like that.

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Um, but because you've died, you're gone. Um, that can happen. And I'm not going to minimize that or shrink that in any way. I'm only going to zoom out and see my hope and my eternal joy. And that their eternal joy, if they know Christ, is so much bigger, and if they don't know Christ, I still trust the glory and goodness of God, and so I trust him no matter what is the thing. And this is.

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I think this is at the core of a lot of our anxiety, is not really believing this. Deep down in our emotions. You might say, um, now you can. I'm not saying, oh, now I'm struggling with, Am I even a believer? No, you're a believer.

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But you might be like, lord, I believe. Help my unbelief when it comes to his promises about his goodness and his grace and His Working all things together for good. And the fact that we're more than conquerors and the fact that we have eternal joy ahead of us and that nothing we go through now can compare to the glory that's coming. Like, if you believe that, or at least say, lord, I believe, help my unbelief that that can help you. Now, I'm going to give you a psalm, and there's a practice I've done that I personally have found helpful. Why don't you consider it?

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So I want you to notice that there is a dark, deep doom and gloom moment that the psalmist purposely highlights. And this is what I'm going to suggest you maybe do as well. Take it or leave it. The Lord's my shepherd, I shall not want. He makes me lie down in green pastures. He leads me beside still waters. He restores my soul. He leads me in paths of righteousness for his namesake, and then he goes right to the darkest place he can.

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Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for you are with me.

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Your rod and your staff, they comfort me. You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies. You anoint my head with oil, my cup overflows. Surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life, and I shall dwell in the house of the Lord forever.

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Uh, if you didn't pick it up yet, I'll explain it in a second. But there's another example I can give, which is Job.

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He says, though he slay me, yet I shall praise him.

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There are times where in the Bible, um, men of faith say out loud the thing they're afraid of, and they declare that they will still praise God and trust him Anyways, that's the practice. I would encourage you, with your anxiety to think about trying for me. I used to have. And it doesn't compare to the idea of abandoning your family. It doesn't. Okay. But it was a real fear I had since I was a kid about earthquakes. We had some really bad earthquakes in California when I was really young. And I was, like, really freaked out by it, um, because we were like, home alone. And anyway, it was so it just as a little kid, scared me. And that fear, like, stuck with me as I got older. And I realized it at some point. And I got upset with myself about it because it's being crippled by fear. Especially as someone who's wanting to, like, be able to lead others in times of scary moments. Right when everything's going crazy, I want to be able to help the people around me to do the right thing in this and the best thing and move forward in a good direction. And to be, like, in any kind of crippling fear is wrong. And I don't want that.

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So when I realized this was still in me, this kind of, like, fear, the way I confronted it was not saying, well, the worst won't happen. And what's the worst? Uh, I was thinking, earthquake happens, house collapses on you, and you're buried under the rubble, and you're there stuck for days. And because it was such a big earthquake, nobody comes looking for you, right? Because everybody's stuck everywhere. And just for days, you're laying there in pain.

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You know, the rats come. I mean, I don't know, right? Like, I don't know. It's a horrific thing to think about, but it was the visual that came to my mind of the worst thing. And I took that visual and I just looked at it, and then I said to myself, and I would say out loud, even, lord, if that happens, I still trust you.

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I will still trust you. I will still trust you. And every time that I thought to myself, is there an earthquake right now? Or something like that, I just immediately thought, and if the worst happens and I have that visual, me trapped under the rubble, I still trust you. And I kid you not, I'm not really scared of earthquakes anymore. Um, that really helped me in a very practical way. It repeatedly taught me. I taught myself, I guess, to simply go from the thing I'm afraid of to the trust I have in God and his goodness and his promises. I did that over and over again. So look straight in the eye of the thing you're afraid of the most and then say, God, I still trust you. I still trust you. And, um, I think that's a healthy thing to do. And it worked for me. And if it doesn't help you, then do something different, and don't worry about it. All right, let's go to question number nine.

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And it is from, uh, Menelhe. Um, I know I said that wrong.

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Menenhale.

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I'm gonna pretend I said it right.

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Hi, Mike. How can I share the gospel with a friend who lost his mom and believes she's watching over him? I know it's necromancy, but he's hurting, and I fear sounding harsh.

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Yeah. Um, I would not focus on the mom. I would just share the gospel with him.

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Just share the gospel with him. Here's the thing.

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Timing, um, is important.

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And addressing the right concerns at the right time are Important, of course, when somebody is grieving the loss of a loved one, I want to point them to what's true, not just point out something that they've got wrong. Because that thing that he's got wrong is providing him incredible comfort. It's the thing he's clinging to. Because people will cling to something, even if it's silly, even if it's not true, they will cling to something.

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So instead of highlighting that, my go to personally would be to focus on the actual good thing that you want him to cling to.

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Hey, you know, I know your mom passed. I'm m praying for you. You want to come to church with me Sunday?

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Do you see how you just shifted over? Right? Because you can take your time and work back to this issue at a later date. Because you can be. It's not necromancy to think your mom can see you, by the way. That itself is not.

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I don't think it's necromancy. Now you start talking to them, you start trying to engage in relationship with them. I think you're opening yourself up to who knows what. And that can be dangerous. And it's not a biblical thing to do.

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But the thing is, if you've ever lost a really close loved one, it's really, really tempting to just start talking as though they can hear you because you miss them so bad.

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And I don't really have a problem with someone doing that if they're doing it as a way of like, personal catharsis. Like, I'm just saying what I wish I could say to them. I know they can't hear me, but I'm just gonna say what I wish I could say to them.

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I don't mind that at all. That's fine. But when you start turning into like, no, we're actually relating. We're having a spiritual connection right now that can be dangerous because it can lead you into dark places. And so I would say point that to Jesus, who hears you and loves you as Jesus. But the way you approach a friend who just lost a loved one, um, is very cautiously and think of where you want them to go. Not just fixing that one thing.

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My encouragement to you in that particular situation. Number 10.

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Jorge Zapata says, hey Mike, I've got a question regarding the reliability of the 500 witnesses. Source Atheists say that we have no way to verify that the number Paul gives is accurate. How would you answer this?

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Um, so when you're dealing with uh, like a historical examination, you're dealing with um, probabilities Right.

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The atheists are going to set a probability for usually for the resurrection at like negative 10, negative, um, a billion.

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This is because usually atheists examine. Not always. More often than not the ones I've seen, atheist examinations of the historicity of the resurrection will have a presupposition that miracles either don't happen or that they're impossible to verify. Right. Uh, you can, you can just never have enough evidence for a miracle. And they'll say it like this. We need for extraordinary claims, we need extraordinary evidence.

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They don't ever define extraordinary evidence and they don't see how circular this is. Let me give you an example.

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So if I had an extraordinary claim like the resurrection of Jesus, now I want extraordinary evidence. Well, what counts as evidence that's extraordinary?

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Uh, what if you have people who say, I saw him alive after he died, I saw him die, I saw him alive. And you have more people. And then those people who saw him alive, they appear to be sincere and they don't appear to be delusional. Isn't that a good enough thing to consider, like really good evidence?

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It seems pretty good evidence. But that's not extraordinary because they'll go, well, that's just witnesses giving testimony. Okay, well what's extraordinary? I don't know. But if God's all powerful, then he should be able to figure it out.

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Okay, good luck with that.

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Um, that's how the conversations have often gone with the atheist community.

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But then the atheist community became like the hotbed for Jesus mythicism, one of the most disrespected views of history in existence. The people that think he just didn't exist, um, or that we don't have a real person, 1st century Jewish man behind the stuff we're seeing in the New Testament. Things like he had 12 disciples and he went around preaching about the end times and about, uh, calling repentance and he thought he was the fulfillment of prophecy. Um, even basics like that that they don't want to recognize often, um, which are like a consensus of scholars would agree with that.

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So even skeptics and atheists. Anyways, your question is a little more specific. Right. So that's the lay the land, um, the 500 witnesses in particular. Atheists say we have no way to verify that the number Paul gives is accurate. How would you answer this?

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Uh, I would say if you want to approach this not from a I believe the Bible is inerrant, uh, perspective, because if the Bible is God's word and inerrant, then obviously it's accurate. That's how you know it's in the Bible.

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But I'm not expecting an atheist to follow that logic. Agree with, agree. Maybe they agree that it's logical, but not. Not believe that it's true. Um, but what evidence is there in this, in the passage?

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So let's look at the passage itself and let's ask if it bears any signs of genuineness or authenticity. So when, uh, First Corinthians 15, we have this significant passage about the resurrection of Christ. Actually probably the earliest account in the New Testament about the resurrection.

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Probably the very earliest.

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Um, now I would remind you, brothers, it's complicated. I've got teaching on this somewhere. Maybe someone will find it. But there's a section here that's the earliest. I'll highlight it for you. Now, I would remind you, brothers, of the gospel I preached to you, which you received, in which you stand, and by which you are being saved, if you hold fast to the word I preach to you, unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you as a first importance what I also received. This is like a rabbinic way of saying, I'm passing along official, established teaching here. You know, that's kind of what he's saying here. It's official, it's established teaching here. So this is something that's.

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This goes back way, way back. There's a whole evidential argument for it, but I'll skip it and just say, hey, it goes way back. It's really cool. Um, and here's what he delivered. That Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas and to the 12. Then he appeared to more than 500 brothers at one time. This is the 500, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

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Then he appeared to James and then finally to Paul. Um, do you see it? Do anybody see it? Right here already there's something built in.

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He says 500 brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.

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That is a mark of authenticity.

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I don't write you a letter about people you know that are still alive and include those kinds of details.

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If you're fabricating, you're just not as likely to do that.

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Um, so that's a mark of authenticity. We also know that the, um, appearances to Peter and the 12 are all authentic. We also know that we have early accounts in the Gospels of Jesus having one particular meeting with a group that was preplanned so the meeting at Galilee in particular, uh, in the New Testament, we read about this.

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He's going before you. He'll meet you. In Galilee, they're told, they actually meet. Remember, Jerusalem is where the resurrection happens. But there's this particular meeting in Galilee. Other times, Jesus shows up unexpectedly, the road to Emmaus. Boom. They didn't expect him. The disciples are gathered. Boom. He comes in the room. He's just there. A week later, he's in the room again, just there. And that's when Thomas has his experience, because he wasn't there the first time. And it's sort of like unexpected.

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Jesus just shows up. They're fishing. Jesus just shows up. He's on the shore in Galilee. They were told he's going to meet you there.

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So there is correspondence, right, between these two different historical sources. You've got one, uh, Corinthians, written by Paul. Then you have the Gospels, and you have different witnesses recounting a particular meeting that was scheduled where certainly a lot of people would come forward, and a lot of them were there.

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Um, so there's a.

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People act like the New Testament is one witness. Like it's just one book and it's one source. It's a bunch of sources. It's a bunch of sources. And when they overlap and agree on things, that's significant, it matters.

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Does that prove it historically absolutely happened? No, but it all makes it more likely. It all makes you go, you know, historically, since I'm gauging probabilities, I would say that makes it more probable. When you talk about 500 brothers at once and you say most of them are still alive, that's the kind of claim that's easily testable and more likely to get you in trouble if you're lying. When you connect it to a bunch of other claims in the passage, which we do know are historically valid, that these appearances and the death and burial and resurrection, third day, the appearance of CEPHAs, the 12, to James, uh, to Paul himself, that these are things that were not invented later on, they were believed right away.

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It just seems arbitrary to just throw this out. Unless you just think, I don't think Jesus rose. I don't like that evidence. I disregard that evidence.

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And so that would be a concern there. Um, those conversations can be challenging.

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What I found with most of the conversations I had with atheists on this is that they just didn't have a very good that. Okay, I'm being honest with you guys. Most people don't have very good, like, historiography, like Their, their approach to how they do and analyze history because they never do it. They're never looking at other ancient documents or events, trying to figure out if they happened.

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And um, I remember trying to get my head around this issue better by reading a book that was about his historiography as it applied to Jesus and methodology and all this. It was a really boring book, but it was fruitful in understanding things like, um, avoiding arbitrariness, looking for the most likely explanation of the facts, um, understanding probabilities, things like that.

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So that helped me out anyways. But most people haven't approached that stuff very much.

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The truth is that the historical evidence for the resurrection of Jesus is deeply impressive and it's incredibly vast. It's so much bigger than just what I read on screen here. There is so much proof, so much evidence supporting that Jesus rose, that it is simply the most likely explanation of events and the other ones are all arbitrary. The term ad hoc is actually a really big one. So when you're listing all the ways you measure a historical theory, one of the things you look for is does it have ad hoc qualities to it? Is it just like non.

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Another way to put it is non evidenced assumptions.

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When you weed out alternate views of the resurrection and you apply the ad hoc question, are there non evidence assumptions that you guys are putting in here? Um, then the actual resurrection of Jesus rises to the top 100%, a billion percent. As Joshua brother Joshua, the fake prophet would say, a billion percent.

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So. All right guys, that's it. Listen, um, I'm going to be at an event coming up next week, next Friday. So one week from the day, I'm doing this live stream, I'm doing an event and it's going to be, um, Let me make sure I get the website for you. Um, I think it's praystandvote.something.org, org pray vote stand. There it is. I'll put it, I'll put a link in the live chat. You guys can check it out if you want. Um, this event, I don't know all the details about it, but I'll be there. It's at Jack Hibbs Church, um, which is in Chino Hills. And I'm just going to be part of a panel. There's going to be a bunch of speakers there for two days. I'll be there Friday night, part of a panel with Sean McDowell and Natasha Crane, uh, just talking about those things. So, yeah, I don't know. Does it cost money?

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It probably cost something.

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Yeah.

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Well, there's a whole bunch of different options for paying. So I don't know about all that. I haven't actually even asked them about money. I don't even know if I'm getting paid to be there.

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I just said I wanted to do it. So, um, I just wanted to do it. I wanted to go there and I want to help us to pray, Stand, vote, pray, vote, stand. Those seem like good things for us to do as Christians, and I'm trying to learn how to do that better.

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So that's the last thing I'll share with you guys. That summit. Prayvotestand.org and, um, yeah, let's pray.

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Um, God, we pray that you'd help believers to continue to get better at fleshing out our biblical worldview. Um, about seeking to, like, have a thoroughly biblical Christian understanding of all of these big issues that are affecting the people's lives around us, but also to make sure that we seek to have unity and love and to have that those. Both those things matched together in a time when there's going to be a lot of. I, uh, can just feel it, a lot of division.

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We want to be those who blaze the trail going forward into full biblical Christian worldview, pushed as far as we can for the world to be blessed and to come into Christ, but also those who are not divisive because we know what kingdom we're ultimately part of. In Jesus name, amen.

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Amen.