To all our beautiful MAD BAD saints, I thought I might share some articles we almost talked about this week on our podcast…
…but didn’t.
First, if you missed today’s podcast, you gotta check out this one on 3 Misunderstandings About Humility. I don’t know who Michael Kelley is, but I liked what he said. The first misunderstanding he listed is that “Humility means thinking less of yourself.” He wrote, “Humility is not self-loathing. To be humble does not mean to hate oneself. It certainly does not mean to punish oneself or to think oneself worthless. In fact, this kind of self-hatred is not only not humility; it’s also dishonoring to our Creator who made us in His own image…”
Totally agree.
I found this article hilarious. This comes from the Jerusalem Post: Flat Earthers Confirm Round Shape with Costly Experiment. “A researcher’s attempt to prove the flat Earth theory backfires, providing evidence to the contrary in a viral experiment.”
LOL
Another article I liked by a guy named Tom Gilson called How Would Jesus Answer a Troll? He listed 9 points, but I’ll share the first 5:
- They don’t own your time, and you don’t owe it to them.
- Don’t get snookered into false terms of debate. Answer truly and honorably, and you’ve done your job, whether it satisfies them or not.
- Don’t chase people down false trails, and don’t let them trap you there, either.
- If they don’t really care to hear your answer, you’re not obliged to tangle with them.
- Write with onlookers in mind.
Not bad.
Except Jesus often hilariously stumped His critics who tried to stump Him (Matt. 22:34-46).
Except… the thing is… we are not Jesus.
Wouldn’t a better question be, “How Would Paul Answer a Troll?” (The answer is in 1 Timothy 6. Or the letters to the Corinthians.)
I also meant to share this article to get Hal’s reaction. We never got the chance, although I can tell you exactly what he would’ve said. The article is over a Patheos, hilariously titled, What the Bible You Read Is Wrongly Translating: Rom. 8:29-30. Of course, those are the great predestination passages. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son…” The gist of this article is this question: “How can predestination be written about in the past tense?” That can’t be right! That has to be a mistranslation!
No.
No, no, no, no, no, no.
Hal would say (and I totally agree) that not only is the KJV not mistranslated but also the key to understanding predestination is that when God decides He’s going to do something, it’s a done deal. It’s already in the past tense in His mind. It’s already done. Nothing will stop Him from doing what He had already decided before the world was created.
There’s a new issue of the BABQ (Bible Answers to Bible Questions) published by the Berean Bible Institute. I loved this question: Can the soul die or be destroyed by God in hell? The reason the student asked this question is because of verses like Eze 18:4, “Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine: the soul that sinneth, it shall die.”
I liked Matt’s answer. He wrote, “Because we experience death as the end of the physical life, we tend to think of death as a stoppage. The Bible does not limit the word ‘death’”’ in this way. It would be better to think of death as a separation. In the physical death that we experience, our soul and spirit separate from our flesh. But there is a greater death. In the case of Adam and Eve, they died at the moment Adam ate of the forbidden fruit when they were spiritually separated from God. When Revelation 20:14 uses the term ‘second death,’ it is not saying someone died twice physically; it is stating that this ‘second death’ is the final, eternal separation from God for those who rejected Him.”
There were also a couple of articles recently about the well-being of pastors. First, the Christian Post had an article about a survey in which a surprising number of pastors feel they are terrible at being a true friend. “When it comes to having true friends, the data show that 20% of pastors in 2022 ranked themselves as below average in that area compared to 10% who did so in 2015. Another 7% ranked themselves as poor when it comes to having friends in 2022 compared to just 2% in 2015. While 34% of pastors ranked themselves as excellent when it comes to having true friends in 2015. That share dropped to 17% in 2022.”
Crazy!
Barna also recently released a survey in which the spiritual, mental, and emotional well being of pastors have decreased significantly since 2015. One of their conclusions was “that pastors who prioritize rest and Sabbath are more likely to fare better in their mental, emotional and spiritual well-being than their peers who don’t prioritize this.”
And, finally, I can’t resist this story. John MacArthur Disqualified Others For their Kids’ Behavior But Exempts Himself. Long story short – MacArthur has taught that no matter how old your children may be, if any of your children EVER stray from the faith or seriously misbehave, you are automatically disqualified from ministry.
And now his son is embroiled $16 million investment scandal.
Does that mean MacArthur must step down? I suppose if he wants to be consistent with his own stated positions, then… yes.
But his teachings on this, like almost everything else, are totally wrong.
I’m reminded of my podcast with Pastor Bryan Ross a week ago in which we talked about his and his wife’s painful decision to put their son out of the house. There are no guarantees your children will become faithful believers even if you did everything perfectly. The point is, as an elder, you must simply rule your house well (1 Tim. 3:1-7).
QUICK LINKS:
A Megachurch Pastor Talks about How Sexting Destroys a Ministry and a Marriage
Felicity, the Creepy Desertic Town in “The Center of the World”
Christian Astronaut Interview – “In the military, there’s a saying that there are no atheists in foxholes. There aren’t any on top of rockets, either.”
Pastor Breaks Down Disney’s Demonic Agenda
The Catastrophic Consequences of Compromise
A Christian Psychotherapist’s Appeal to LGBT-Affirming Christians
GRACE NEWSLETTERS AND ARTICLES:
NEW June BABQ https://t.ly/33PCh
Summer Truth Aflame Mag https://t.ly/8fIjx
June Just a Minute Newsletter https://t.ly/CP9w
June Berean Searchlight https://t.ly/muxm
Joel’s latest Supply of Grace article: God OUR Father https://t.ly/YZrN
Bob Picard on Glorious Living? https://t.ly/8lPZ
C.R. Stam on Christ the Son of God https://t.ly/zq798 | Who’s to Blame? https://t.ly/vmfh | A Tale of Three Cities https://t.ly/DMQz | With Him – The Glories of the Life to Come https://t.ly/K-Ol | The Mighty Power of God https://t.ly/ZFGI
Ricky Kurth asks What About Foot Washing? https://t.ly/TuJf | Faith to Faith https://t.ly/YZC9
Kevin Sadler talks “Holy” God – “Holy Bible” https://t.ly/a1Jc8
Randy White on Rethinking Spiritual Gifts: A Critique of the Evangelical Industrial Complex’s Approach https://t.ly/lMBjz | Understanding Jesus’ Miracles: Beyond the Spiritual to the Physical Kingdom https://t.ly/zIm_
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