Live from the Pathway Studios And you're listening to Live From The Path on livefromthepath.org. It's a Monday balmy night in here. Dan has got himself a a it's the it's the continuation of the hat from last week. It's really what it is. It's my new thing. I'm just gonna keep doing it. Who do you think you are, Mike? What do you mean? Who do you think you are sitting in that seat today and not even a week ago sat where I'm sitting here and went, hey, man. Don't tell us we we you're not muting the mics. We're gonna be crazy. And then tell all of us, hey, man. I'm not muting these mics. Yep. Here's And then expect us to be any different. Okay. So here's the thing. The the the fun part of the show for everyone else besides Ben is their reverence towards the things he finds very important. Just a I mean, this shouldn't be a real surprise to you, but, we we don't if Ben can't make it, we just don't do a show. Oh, boy. We just give up completely.

But this week, we've decided Ben's out of town, and, we thought we're gonna sally forth as a as a four man operation, and this is gonna go fantastic. So we're gonna we're gonna run a show tonight. Now we do we do have a couple things on the docket tonight. We're going to do first of all, I was prusing because I read I read a lot of news, And I was I was was prusing Christianity Today, one of my favorite news outlets. Oh, boy. Oh, boy. And the the top the top shelf. Right? The very top thing that I wanted to talk about is the top five heresies among American evangelicals.

And here's what here's what's gonna happen. I'm not gonna understand half of this. So there's this we're both playing defense in that if we do this article now, Ben won't be able to do it when he comes back. I suppose that's fair. And he'll be able to, well, here's the thing about Armenianism or what you're gonna talk about. And and two, we are frankly, I wanna see how this how this applies to us. Like Yeah. Are we just putting out information about,

like, news articles that we don't actually care about? Like, if I were gonna say, hey. Here's what God's got me doing, or here's how we're praying for the Holy Spirit to move in our community Right. Or here's spiritual disciplines that we're thinking about getting involved in, and then whiz bang, the top five heresies among American evangelicals. And I think, is this nothing more than, the screw tape letters? Right? That gets that that basically, the devil goes, look, think that you're doing a good thing and get slightly off topic. I thought you were trying to say that the screw tape letters were the same as people writing random and unnecessary articles.

I was like, that is a bold comment. No. I thought screw tape letters are pretty good. Well, that's the thing. It's that's what I'm getting at. Like, it's it's the reason I really like the screw tape letters is because, like, the subtlety of which you can just slightly curve somebody off of what they're Skew it a little bit. Yeah. Yeah. You know? The great thing about publishers is is you get some great content periodically that's really helpful to to your faith or just to life in general. And the negative side is they have to keep filming that time. Know, sometimes they sit around and say, we don't know what to write about, heresies. I mean, you know, they just throw stuff out, and sometimes

it's maybe not relevant as much as others. However, there's segments out there that this is probably pretty relevant to. I like to think that they have a dartboard, and it's got all the buzzwords on it, like heresies and apostate and all this random stuff, and then they throw the dartboard, and they have to come up with some random article and then write, and it has to have a list form. So it's gotta be, like, the seven things about Christianity that the devil loves or something. It's like, what? Yeah. I had, like, I had a major publisher looking to publish books I was doing, like, twenty years ago. Oh, dang. And like major, major. I was really shocked. They called me back and they said, you're doing everything wrong but I want you know I'm going after this. I'm like, oh, woah, okay. And he explained to me, have no idea how these books work, I just did this thing and threw it together and it's from a newspaper column I used to do,

and he said, I love it, I love this stuff, but he said, Here's how this works. You have like, say, seven editors, and this is in the book publishing, each one comes with a book they're gonna pitch, they threw it to the group, he kept pitching mine, but the problem is everybody has to say, yeah, we're in, and throw theirs out. So it was Dan Hudson from Atlantic, Iowa at the time that no one's ever heard of, or Chuck Swindoll, who everyone's heard of. Chuck Swindoll. Who's gonna sell more books? Well, Chuck Swindoll is. I mean, Chuck Swindoll did stuff for them, Bob Russell. I mean, there there were some big big names that Does he accentuate the last half of his name like that? Don't think it was just me. Is it Chuck Swindoll or Chuck Swindoll? Swindoll. Yeah. I think it's a back half Yeah. Back half. It's maybe it's up. Anyway, you know, it it's like not that I mine was any better than anybody else, but who knows how many really good things never got published because, well, you know, they don't know enough people. Yeah. Hey, man. Just as I I I try to never pump you up too much here, Dan, but I've never heard of the Chuck Swindoll, but I've heard of Dan Hudson from Atlantic, so there you go. I mean, I I'm thinking and the book did sell well in Atlantic, Iowa. There you go. And and and, actually, today I'm pretty sure my dad might have copies too. Today, I see. Okay.

The other article Dan pumped through was six things that Christians like to do that are not in the Bible. This one I'm actually a little bit more that or that aren't biblical. And so I was kinda excited to run through this one, so I think we're gonna crack out with this one. Boy. Alright. Alright. This is on actually, what's I mean, it's quickly becoming our greatest source of news, the beliefnet.com. Yes. Six things that Christians like to do that aren't biblical. I'm kinda liking their stuff lately. I I don't yeah. I don't know. I just stumbled on them and like, hey. This is kinda cool. Did you I mean, did you already peruse through it and see if it it applies? I I I don't recall it. Okay. Here we Not not my in-depth. It was your half hearted half Like,

hey. There's a number on it. I'll send it. There's a picture of a pretty tattered bible that appears to be glowing, We should really, you know, bring the the sentence. Red letter bible. It's from shutterstock.com. I mean, that's lame. Okay. Here we go. The article says, the bible is full of wisdom, but is often misquoted and misunderstood. True. The same goes for Jesus' words. While the teaching of Jesus only lasted around three years prior to his death, in that short amount of time, a tremendous world of truth, myth, legend, and superstition was built around him. Blah, blah, blah, Christians like to say things number one, Christians like to say things that are not in the Bible. In Psalm one nineteen sixteen,

David promises God, I shall delight in your statutes. I shall not forget your word. In Deuteronomy eleven eighteen through 19, God exhorts the Israelites, you shall therefore impress these words of mine on your heart and soul, and you shall bind them as a sign on your hand, and they shall be as frontals on your forehead. You shall see teach them to your sons, talking them when you sit in your house, and when you walk along the road, and when you lie down, and when you rise up. As believers, we know we are to study the Bible, memorize it, and obey it. But the Bible doesn't always say what we think it says, and there are a number of phrases that sounds like they come from the Bible, but they don't. Now hold on. How are we trying to address this? How do we address phrases that we believe are in the Bible but are actually not? Secular versus Solomon. Secular Solomon. We read our bibles. We're a step ahead. That's right. Who's doing the work of the lord? Live from the path has. Doing it for ten plus years. Now hold on. This doesn't really give I'm gonna keep reading it. But it doesn't give ways to know the difference here. Hold on. It is important to know facts about the Bible and that we take God seriously, particularly if you are living by the word and professing it to others. Oh, here are six things Christians like to do that aren't biblical. That wasn't the first one. Well, there we go. Okay. One, we'll say things that aren't in the Bible. This article is confusing. Oh, here we go. Some sayings are simple rewordings of biblical truth, but others are dangerous heresy. Despite how clever or even edifying a quote may be, if it isn't in the Bible, we have no guarantee that it's the word of God. Well well, of course not. They don't have an example of, like, a common phrase that people latch onto

and then claim to be Oh, they're just saying stuff? Yeah. Say stuff. I think it might be like the lord never gives you something you can't handle. Yeah. Like, that's what I've heard forever, and that's not anywhere in the bible. Yeah. It's actually quite last week. He'll be what you can't handle Yeah. So you need him. God don't make no mess is one thing I've also heard. God don't bless no mess. Well, I've heard both. Okay. So I've totally thought to myself this week when I was I I think I was asking god to get involved in something, and I thought, god don't bless no mess. You need to get you need to get your stuff in order before you start trying to get the holy god to jump on board of your broke down train. You might have gotten that from a Southern Baptist family member. I think I've oh, I think it used to hang in the house of a Southern Baptist grandma. Yes. Exactly. So yeah. For sure. God don't bless no mess. It's like yes. He doesn't. We're all messes. Little footprints, poem thing. Yes. Was only one set of footprints because Jesus carried me the way. Okay. So it's it's a warning that that that Christians commonly say things that aren't in the Bible. I don't even know what to make of this exact point.

There's no factual basis to it. I could see that people might do it, but, like, is it just a general, hey. Watch what's coming out of your mouth and what you're attributing to the Lord because you could never preach a sermon. You could never talk to somebody in a real kind of way. Like, if I can't paraphrase what's in the Bible for people who are coming from different places and different backgrounds, then honestly, I'm gonna have a real hard time teaching people about who Jesus is if I have to use the KJV straight up Right. To to deliver any type of information. N t Wright has made my bible rating a lot better throughout the years. And if I can't go to to, like, him and then, unfortunately, one time, Doug Mu, to try and figure some stuff out, I don't know anything. And even Jude quoted Enoch in his letter, just a heads up. That wasn't ever in the bible. No, also, yeah. I think the idea is to be careful that you're not elevating human wisdom to godly wisdom. I talked about this on Sunday,

the context of prayer, we'll say, oh man, send your positive thoughts and vibes and prayers, know, and it's like, don't put those on the same level. I mean, they're not the same thing. But even Christians will use that phrase, and I think, you even know how to send a vibe? I mean, you wiggle your hands real It's a message on people screaming in your head. When we say we're praying for you, do people put that on the same level as because, like, I can legit pray for you. But, like, people are like, I'm sending good vibes. I mean, does anyone actually sensibly follow through with it? You know I'm saying? Like, that that that's yeah. I don't even know what that looks like. I was shaking earlier. Did you get that vibe? I did the magic hands. If you had to if you had to associate a noise with sending a vibe, what would it be? Nathaniel, you first. Good. So That's that's not a vibe. It sounds like taking a grip. This is called a bell movie. Yeah. Buma, send a vibe. Okay. Very smurfy. Yes. That kind of smurfing. Dan. Gargamot. I just do it, but what did I do? I was like, no. Not sound. No. I'm mimicking that. No. You did it first. I mimicked you. I got back. Good. I can't remember what I did. And you gotta come up with a new one. You see I gotta wiggle the hands, though. That's you like you're calling the boogeyman.

I'll do it. Wada, waada, waada, waada, waada. Here we go. Yeah. I won't even participate in it because I love Jesus, so I don't know what's wrong with you. I've tricked you all into heresy. Okay. Dear. Second thing to be wary of. I like how they're prescribing people change their ways without describing how people screw it up. Yeah. They need to be more specific. This is an earmark of a bad sermon. This was a c s Lewis, tweet. Yeah. Yeah. This is a mistake. What's wrong with him? He's really gone down since he died. It's really the things that I I take in from, like, really good sermons are are are the the folks that can that can take some biblical wisdom and say, here's how you're guilty of this, and I'm like, crap. Totally guilty of it in that way. Dang it. This was a very persuasive article. Yeah. Check the vibe. Okay. Here we go. Sorry. The second one is read horoscopes to determine future events.

My my mom used to do that. Oh, jeez. And I'd tell her, don't don't you do that. What's your sun sign versus your falling sign or whatever it is? So this is this is difficult. Right? Because this comes up like in everyday conversation. You'll be at work or something with people like, what's your astrological sign? You're like, I don't do that. I don't believe in it. I'm a Jesus man. And they're like, oh, okay, fun hater. You know what saying? Then they're out. But you signed the cross. But these same people would be like, hey. Hey. I'm gonna go buy a car today. It's a it's a lining in the stars. Okay, dude. Dan, that's a real Ned Flanders way to live life, and I love it. What's your sign? The cross. I I gotta be honest. I I I mean, I'm Ichthos. I just passed over 40. The astrology signs haven't come up in, like, twenty years. Yeah. Really? Yeah. It was kind of a big thing about, like, probably When you said it came up at work, I was like, this has come up at your No. No. I was That's true. I was trying to working on a generator, and then a guy goes, hey, man. My Libra is really falling right now. Trying to give a relevant examples that would convince me of my Mike, it's okay that you have no relevant examples to this. That's a good sign. No. These Why why why astrological sign. I okay. We're skipping it. It's dumb, but I haven't had it happen to me ever. It does remind me that Jupiter is really bright tonight. I saw it coming out of going to my car before coming here tonight. That's awesome, Dan. I thought I'd share that with you. Thanks, Dan. Good to know. This could be a sign. It could mean something big's happening. But his mouth is Yeah. It's Jupiter. It's gigantic. Here we go. Second one or third one. Excuse me. That things Christians do that aren't in the Bible. Tithing based on a sense of obligation. Oh, let's see what line you walk here, friend. Not very many people are comfortable talking about the ways they give monetarily to the church. I don't know why. You should feel real free about that. Most would rather not talk about it at all. So many Christians look at tithing as a final issue when it's really a matter of the heart. In the Old Testament, God instructed his people to tithe, give 10% of their income to meet the needs of the religious, economic, and political system of ancient Israel.

In the New Testament, unnecessary, comma, Jesus set the higher standard, though it was a less precise standard. The Bible says giving is to be done cheerfully rather than as an obligation and not for the purpose of public recognition. Too often, we treat our financial situations and other resources as though God needs them. Rather than give out of a place of gratitude, we see ourselves as thrifty overseers doling out scarce resources. We forget that every good thing comes down from our father in heaven.

So, I mean, tithing's a a full fledged subject of itself, but, like, do you find that most Christians struggle in this area to, like, give out of a a joyful heart?

Think Western Christians. That's because we suck at money. Mhmm. Just in general. Like, our society is terrible about about correctly handling money in a in a Christ kingdom way, and we get completely trained the opposite of of how this is. We're we're we're, like, completely disposed to to getting as much as we can even if we're generous to some extent. Like, it's all about saving as much money as possible for retirement and having the nice cars and having this, like, safety net versus how I've seen people that have gone to different places in the world and have, like, lived there for a while have, I mean, just radical views on money that just scare me. You think it's a comfort problem?

Yeah. I mean, yeah. Yeah. I think it is because people are so, like, money hungry and centric and stuff. Yeah. But why? Why would you be hungry for money, though? What do you mean why would you be hungry for money? End. Right? Just to Well, yeah. Agree. Yeah. No. It's it's the wrong way to look at it because it's comfort. It's safety. Security. Yes. Absolutely. And people, rather than putting their trust in God to be their security, they put their trust in themselves in the way that they'd handle money to go, I'm gonna get as much of a buffered safety net as possible in my bank account, and that's where my my security and safety comes from. But some of the most radical people I've seen with money are the kind of people that'll, like, pull up their bank account and go, well, I have rent due in a couple weeks, but this person needs a thousand bucks. So I'm gonna give him a thousand dollars and trust that the Lord's gonna take care of it, and he freaking does. So Like, it's it's it's insane. They'll give a grand away, and then for some reason, a couple days later, like, I got a check-in the mail that I wasn't expecting from a guy I knew four years ago that I helped out, and I never I told him to never pay me back, and he did. And I'm like, really? I'm I'm difficult to be generous with the $20, and this person's giving away everything they have. And the lord's like, yeah. Thanks. I got you. So I yeah. I I I think I don't know if this is even titled right because I think people aren't tithing out of obligation. I think they're not tithing at all. Right. They're tithing. That's what I think is important. And out of the 3% of people who do tithe, there's probably about fifty fifty summer obligation and some out of like, I just love to do this. Yeah. I love to see kingdom work being done and I'm just gonna put it in there. I tell you, we we just adopted as a church an Afghan family.

Is that how you say that? Afghani? Yeah. I don't know. I don't know. But they're a refugee. Family sounds like a family of dogs or blankets. They're family of of refugees from Afghanistan who who don't know the language, who who are, you know, are struggling, that has a family of eight. Anyway, we're gonna provide groceries for a year and to make sure they eat and then they can, you know, work on the other stuff, you know. But,

like, we're in week one, so so actually, we're week one and a half. The the first week, I I just went out myself to to kinda fill up the the groceries because people didn't know about it yet, know, and then now it's kinda going. But anyway, point being, I I went to this ethnic grocery store and I don't I don't know nothing. Like, I'm walking around in circles, like, I have no I don't know what this stuff is. It's all in different languages. I'm like, I have no clue. I'm trying to find goat meat and and and lamb meat and and stuff that I'm just not used to, you know? Mhmm. And and different types of rice, different, you know, different different stuff. Anyway, I was walking, and it was just like, I was almost giddy. It was just like, for three days, I was just like, this was so exciting. Not in a self righteous way, mean, not like, I'm awesome. I mean, but it was just like, how cool. I'm helping this family, we are,

from Afghanistan who a year ago were gonna, you know, afraid for their lives, and now they're here, and now they're afraid for their lives again, but more of a slow painful death of starvation,

and I don't know, it's cool to see a group of people come together with a generous heart because then once the word got out, like with the table filled up with the brochure, know, and we're gonna, like I said, we're gonna do it for a year, and it'll be fun to see how this go. Is it just a cool thing now, six months from now, they still gonna be providing it well? Think they will. People were throwing cash at it and people were like, you know, it wasn't an obligation. You could tell there was an obligation. People were like genuinely thrilled to like, wow, we can help someone for real, you know, in a very tangible way. I think I think when you and and

I don't we we've just started doing this within our own family, but, like, when you are intentional about your generosity Mhmm. It's amazing how much freedom that brings you. Yeah. Right? So, like, you know, every once in a while, you know, someone be like, hey. Whatever. We're a little bit low. You know, can I borrow some money? And I'm always like, well, I don't know. Have to see whether we can actually afford to give you the money. I don't know. You know? And and you think, well, you know, I should give sacrificially and whatever and blah blah blah. And and, like, you flat out just ain't got the cash because you didn't plan for it, you know? Or or even something ridiculous. Like, Boova's legit right. Like, we know this dude, like, just out of nowhere just shows up with a thousand bucks, finds like Boova's looking to buy a car, gives him a thousand bucks and says, you should go buy that car right now. I don't need that money back. And then he's he's off in the wind. You know? And you're like And it meant nothing. Yeah. It was I was it was the scariest thing I'd ever seen because it literally did not even register. Then I was like, maybe this is, like, a drop in the bucket for the fella. He's got, like, you know, $20 in the bank and a thousand is nothing. No. That was he emptied his account, and it wasn't account. It was the cash he had in his pocket because he didn't like to keep stuff in accounts. Mhmm. He handed everything in his wallet to me and went, yeah. Go buy that car. Like, what is wrong with you? And, like, the there's joy in that. Well, that's the thing is there's Right. We've

no. Most people don't trust that god will honor that and provide through that, and and so you never actually get the joy that god is promising in it. You know, you never actually get to feel the joy of going, look, you need $2,000 I got it. I've actually been saving it for this specific reason. Yeah. Have no idea why. That's right. My family's gonna continue to eat. My car payment will get made. Our our mortgage is good. Right? We can still buy a soda on the way home, and I can still give you $2 that I've been socking away because god said plan to be generous, and then you get to do it, you're like, perfect. Because if that same situation would have come up and you were not planning for it, then you can't actually help at all, and you missed on on a a blessing to them and a joy to you. And, like, that is where I think we fall short. I I the tithe is a thing.

I I mean, we tend to look at it just a hair differently because we're not supporting the infrastructure of a of a church. So, like, some of that, I think for for you guys that go to, you know, standard brick and mortar churches where you got a pastor, I you need to be tithing. I you know what what that building is doing. You know that what people are being paid to to keep the place up. You know it's gotta be air conditioned and and heated and someone's gotta clean the floors and like, you know all these things. And so, like, act like your money's just going to some I don't know what void. You know where it's going. Look around. You know? And so, you know, I think it's a little bit unfair to go, well, I don't trust that church with my money. Well, you trusted it to show up and use all the resources Right. You ate the donuts. Being bought by other people. Right? So, like, that seemed little complaining because they didn't have a good enough light show that cost a $100. You know? It was like And here's the thing. It's like your heart's just wrong on this anyway. You know what I'm saying? Like, you talk to God about this thing. I'm not saying that you that the number is is holy at 10% and all ten's gotta go to the church that you're attending. Like, we if you were if you intend to be god honoring in the thing, god will honor it. You know, I'm not saying you can dictate what he's gonna honor but if you truly seek his advice and seek him out on where you you need to put your money, how much, and where it needs to go to do the things that he wants to accomplish, I I'm confident he will answer this for you. And this is one of those things that he straight up calls us out to go test me on this. Like, test me on generosity.

If you are doing money the way that I'm telling you to do, test me on how I will bless you with this, and that's so freaking cool, and I I've done it a few times, and I try not to tell any of the stories because I just want it to be a god moment because it's it's when it is God honoring in that financial thing, and it's not about you, and it's not about you looking good to your friends or having a story, like, and it's literally just like, I don't need anybody to know about this. It's not a story that's important for me to tell later on. All it is is God loves you so much, and he's told me that this is the way that he wants to show you right this second, and so I'm a do it. And then when that multiplies in your life, whether that is multiplying joy in your heart, whether that is actually financially multiplying things, because I've seen both happen. It is such a cool frigging thing for god to go, okay. You did what I asked you to do. I appreciate that. You trusted me here. Let me show off for a second, and let me show you show you what I can do. And it's insane. It is truthfully insane, and it has happened so many times, and it it's crazy. It's so crazy. Nathaniel, how much of of the things that we're talking about do you feel is just straight up regular discipline with money or trusting god with with money?

I think it's it's fifty fifty. Like, when you feel a call on something, then, yeah, you gotta give it up. But also, like, there you have to set aside, you know, some coin. You can't just leave it up to the holy spirit every every month, I feel like. But also, I was I was actually considering this the other day where I was like, do I do I maybe lack some joy in giving because 90% of my giving is on autopay?

Like, do I like Maybe. Basically, everything that I all the money that I give away, I never think about, never like, I don't I don't ever see it. You thought about it when you set it up. Yeah. So And then you go on your merry way. Yeah. Kinda the same way. So you don't have to answer this, but I I'm I'm slightly interested. Is, like, the stuff that you give away, is it static? Is it the same every month? I mean, basically. There's, like, been a few times, like, where I've seen somebody or something that kinda came up to me and, like, hey. Blah blah blah. This and that. And then I'll be like, okay. Yeah. For sure. Here's some coin. And that's happened. But, also, for the most part, it's like, okay. Give the the the the three African kids or or whatever and this and that and the you know? And it's all on autopay.

Yeah. You know what? I I because because I could see it going completely the other direction where I'm like, like because we are we're the complete opposite direction. Like, we we we do auto, you know, cut and and move but we don't target to go anywhere. Like, we just wait until, you know, we feel like god has a a place for us to go and and I I I don't once again, I don't know if there's nothing great or or terrible about either one, but, like, I would probably invite

my family to consider some consistency so people can depend on it. You know, some some organizations or some in particular people can depend on it. And then I would maybe also invite you to consider, like, moving one of those to a more nebulous look, we're just gonna this part is gonna get banked in until I find a a place where, yeah, this is it. You know? A slush fund? Yeah. A slush fund for generosity. Yeah. A tithe a tithe tithe slush fund. Yeah. A tithe of a tithe. God fund money. Yeah. I here's the deal. Like I this is this conversation is totally different amongst the fellows in this room at the ages we now are. Right? Come find me when I'm 21.

This is a much tougher conversation, but it shouldn't have been. Right? Like, because if you if you can try to try to trust god on this thing out of the gate I I remember talking to my grandparents. My grandpa was a pastor, and my grandma

obviously his wife, and they never had a ton of money, because I know what pastors made, especially back through the seventies and up to 2,000 in small Southern Baptist churches and I asked I I asked grandma. I said, how do you how do you look at the tithe? You know, just out of curiosity and she goes, Michael, we never made very much money ever but you would never know that because of the way that we honored god with it. Like, we took in very little and we have we we would someone would always show up with a turkey for Thanksgiving. Someone would always show up with an unexpected gift to cover up a situation that god had had led us into And she goes, don't ever be afraid to trust him with your money. And like she had lived and she told me this when she was 65 or 66 or something and she had done it her whole life. And I thought, well, that's a shame to me, right? Like, I wasn't trusting him with my money at all. And then here I am twenty years later finally going, okay, grandma. I'm willing I'm willing to listen to god first and the fact that you vetted it out and said, yeah, god can be trusted in this, you know, and and give it another shot and and so and and as far as I can see, god is is he really is and he does. It's one of the few things in the Bible that god says, go ahead and test me on this thing. He very rarely feels like he chest puffs. You know, like tail like tail end to Job, he gets a little alright. Now, listen. Gird your loins. Yeah. Gird your loins. And then and then about the money, he's like, test me on that money. Go ahead. Yeah. Go ahead mister I know how things work. Yeah. Test me. All of you who think you can't afford it because he's talking to people in poverty stricken, you know Right.

Famine and and everything is a mess because they haven't been tithing. He goes, it's it's a mess because you haven't been tithing. So go ahead and start tithing, and yeah, trust me. Trust me. Yeah. Watch me multiply it. Because I had every reason not to tithe. Right. Right. Item number four, believing

in superstition. I don't know who these Christians Okay. Here's what I I'm I'm if I have to sum up the way this article is going so far, you you can't be half in and half out on this thing. Right? Is god ruler orient? Did he create the world or he didn't? Right? He's your he's your heavenly father that spun a world into existence out of his breath,

made you in his image and likeness, and continues to want to be involved in the world that he created for you, in you, and around you. And either you believe that or you don't. Like, there's you just kinda have so, like, there's not god and also a superstitious hat. You know what, though? There there there's a big population of spiritual people out there who would say they would call themselves Christians, but they probably had taken all this stuff.

I mean, that's probably why this has to be written. There's just a ton of people who genuinely believe that, oh, it's Friday the thirteenth, I better stay home, or whatever the superstitions are.

And it's like they mix that with their They're not grounded. They haven't really read their scriptures. Just hear fuzzy sermons and half the churches do fuzzy sermons now, and so they're not they're just not fed. We do not have a well fed church these days. I'm I'm trying to think of an example that I can point to where someone has agreed to be part of something, like, in a pretty big way and know very little about it, not knowing exactly what they've agreed to. Right? Like like the phrase that you've said is, like, is you know, they they call themselves Christians, but they also believe in what the the, you know, astrological signs Yeah. And, you know, some superstitious stuff where a black cat walks in front, they're like, oh, man. I better get the salt or whatever it is the antidote is for a cat. And and, like, I I I'm just trying to come up with a worldly example. Maybe like a political party in some sense. Like, you know, you you don't think about it, and then every four years rolls around, you're like, oh, I guess I'll check that box. Yeah. I guess that's me. I'm not really hip to actually who this man is or lady that's running for office or what they actually believe, but I don't know. Yeah. I read some tweets, and I'm all fired up now, and so this is who I am. Yeah. I think it's someone seeking answers but doesn't actually wanna put any work in for it. And so they grab a hold of every possible, like,

juju thing out there that can start explaining their crazy life, whether it's I believe in god because there has to be a spirit above me that's making things change. And then I also believe in my astrological sign because the way that the the the moon is changing the tides affects the fact that I had a really rough day today, and then somebody was mean to me at the Starbucks. And it also changes my love life, and that's important too. And then I also don't walk underneath ladders. And it's like, you you want to have an explanation for what's happening to you in this in this experience that you call your life. You want control. But you don't want to dig into anything and give up exactly that. The control of it to say, I am

underneath an authority, and I need to learn more about that to respect and love it correctly. Yeah. Actually, because it's helpful because that's why people read the astrological sciences. They're like, I understand what's gonna happen to me today. Yeah. I know what's gonna happen next week because I'm a Leo. And now I can mold it, and I can say, yes. I get I get it's back into my comfort zone. It's the season of my love life. I love someone friendly. Yeah, correct. I can lead her up though. Means the scales are tipping. You talk to anyone who works in a school or in a hospital or at police and they will tell you full moons are crazy. Mean, they do they are there's some there's I some Mercury's in retrograde. So people gotta explain it, and I don't know the science of it. So it must be, oh, you know, it must be some superstition thing. I used to work downtown in bars Yeah. And the full moon was actually a big deal. Like, we were like, we were werewolves. And then I I legitimately had someone come up to me and go, man, it's been a crazy night. You hear Mercury's in retrograde?

And I looked at that person and went, are out of your mind. Please walk away from me because the scariest thing in this bar is you. Do you think some of those are self fulfilling prophecies? Right? We think that the that the the the full moon causes trouble and then people instinctively cause more trouble on full moon? I don't know. Like, the kids at school, they don't know it's a full moon. They're just suddenly wacky. Well, the kids are at school during the day, Dan. It's not like that. Well, I mean, you moon is still there. It's a magic. Okay. I mean, my my daughter who originally has works in a hospital says it's amazing the stuff that comes in Uh-huh. During full moods. Gunshots, more than normal, overdoses. I mean, just just stuff that's just people got in a fight with pork forks or something. Mean Is Dan arguing for the possibility of the full moon and retrograde being a problem? No, Dan. We were trying to figure mentioned on the other side. I think it's because they think there's craziness around. I don't mean, I'd just say may maybe it really is, like, a geological thing, like a gravity. I mean, there's like a pressure. There has to be an explanation, but we don't know it, so we make it spiritual.

But it's not a god spiritual. It's a Hey, man. The tides don't ebb and flow. Yeah. But god is a little way that the barometric pressures change or whatever on full moons, or the it's a gravitational pull for sure changes when it's full moon. Yeah. The earth wobbles and is at a tilt, the the ocean just moves. Alright. I'm gonna leave this alone. There's nothing to I'm still breaking here. Ebb and flowing. I I know better than to speak to this because I I don't know. Hold on. Richard Reid. Let's sum up what they said about the superstition. Superstition is based on the faith of an object having magical powers. Another word for superstition is, quotes, idolatry. The Bible does not support the idea of things occurring by chance,

like full moons, but nothing is done outside of God's sovereign control, also like full moons. Hey. Does this count like the the the little prayer box thing we were gonna get? The what's what's his name? The Oh, the Joel Steen prayer? Oh, jeez. Prayer box? I don't remember what that thing was called. It's kinda like a an eight ball Joel Steen prayer box. Prayer thing. What about the What? What about the ummum, the urum, and the therumum? Oh. The breastplate of magic. Like, the the priests for? No. That was god doing all the work. Never mind. Moving on. There are many type god does all the work. He just uses he objects or things to to show what he's doing. There are many types of superstitions in the world ranging from benign, such as not walking under a ladder. That's just general safety.

That is not a superstition. You just shouldn't do that. To magic, divination, voodoo, and sorcery, idolatry is forbidden. K. Here's the thing. I've just a quick take on magic, divination, voodoo, and sorcery. I'm not saying that you cannot get some kind of results out of those. Once again, screw tape letters. Right? If if if if spiritual

demonic activity or the opposer can find some way to get you to hook, line, and sink, or believe in something that's not actually true, he'll do it. And I'm not saying that it's not even a sleight of hand, where the thing that you thought happened or was amazing and magical, and it could only come from this superpower. I mean, you've seen a guy on TV, like, claim to transport himself to the top of the Empire State Building and you thought, wow, how did he do it? I still can't figure it out. There must I I mean, all logic says this isn't possible. There must be some type of sorcery at work. Right? That's and it's it's all sleight of hand. And so, like, all all all the devil has to convince you of is that that there's power outside of what god is offering and it can get you what you want and you are a very good substitute for an actual god and you should be able to make this choice on your own. And that is why magic, divination, voodoo, and sorcery continue to thrive in certain countries and certain areas,

and even, you know, within certain people. Right? They're just like, I know actually what's best for me here and the best way to but I still need some spiritual power to do it, and so I will lean on these things, and once again, like, it's all bogus. Right? When it was throughout the Old Testament where God said there are plenty of gods on offer. Those gods are demons. Right? And they do have limited powers to do some things that will easily convince you that they are a good replacement for the actual creator god. Mhmm. So, like, you will find people that will like, voodoo works. It's fantastic. I use it all the time. And so you've spent a whole life believing that voodoo is rocking, only to find out that all you did

was turn your head slightly from the creator God and believed in a spiritual thing that made you not believe in who God was. And so, like, that's how those things continue to flourish. So, really, I think at the end of the day, what we're trying to say is don't be fooling around with that jazz. That is legit spiritual things, and you do not it's not even like a funny game thing. Like, just stay away from it. Right. It's not it's not good business. Let's see. Your enemy, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion looking for someone to devour. So stay away from superstition.

Drinking to get drunk. Oh, empty whiskey glasses. Getting drunk is prohibited in the Bible. While it is a sin for centuries, there's been great debate around the topic of drinking in moderation and even more in recent years. With the shift toward postmodernism practices that were once discouraged by the Christian community have been embraced and even promoted. Whether it be alcohol, drugs, or some other addictive behavior, Jesus said you cannot serve two masters. When we get drunk, we are serving a master other than the lord. Choosing to follow Jesus means choosing against our old sinful patterns and lifestyles. First Corinthians six ten lists drunkards among those who will not inherit the kingdom of God.

So they're saying that there's that there's a segment of Christianity that says it's cool to be drunk? Yes. Or just drink? Mean, I I've kind of seen that, like, I've never heard that. No. I think yeah. Yeah. I've heard the it's okay to drink thing because alcohol is it's it's just a thing Yeah. But, like, not get drunk. I've never heard the, hey. Go get drunk for Jesus. Yeah. It's pretty cool. Jesus got hammered at weddings. I don't think that's true. Mhmm. Mhmm. Interesting. I mean, I agree. Don't get drunk. Yeah. Like, don't let yourself give in to something so much that it completely takes over your mind. I no. Listen. Fellas and and people of the world, like,

I mean, you've been drunk before. It sucks. Right? Right? It's just Yes. It's not even fun. Right? I I could see how people, like, have a beer or two or drink or whatever's within your constitution to handle and be social and handle well and, like, I totally get it. But, like, drunk is it's not fun. God is protecting you from a thing, for a reason. Like, every almost every ridiculous scenario someone has ever told me starts with, I had a little too many. You know, or I did or, like, I I I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing or blah blah blah, something or other. Like so, like, I could see, you know, how it could get away from you. Right? Like, you get started and all of a sudden, you don't pay attention and maybe you got a little drunker than you intended. That I could see. Now I I think you could be intentional about making sure that doesn't get there. I think you can live with some intentionality

and not let things just take you by the wind and go, I don't know what happened. Right? That's probably a little much. But, like, if you're drinking to get drunk, you're you're drinking to you're drinking to to fill a hole Right. And you're just filling it wrong. And that's the big problem. That's the big problem. Right? So there's a couple different scenarios here. And, like, the one that they're prescribing is people are like, god says it's cool to get drunk. You're what one. Like, you don't like authority. Right? You're fighting against people that says don't drink at all. And, like, for some people, that's legit. You can't drink at all. You just can't handle it. It's you weren't built for it. Every time you get near it, you act like a raven circus moron. Right? You're out. You're just out. If you're a recovering alcoholic, you're out. Yep. Right? If you come from a long line of alcoholics or addictive behavior, you're out. Right? And you're like, well, that's not fair. I should have freedom to do it. Go back to Ben's example of the, of the railing by the Grand Canyon, right, where you see this as a great restriction to your life that you can't plummet yourself in the middle of the Grand Canyon. It's a gift to you, friend. Right? Like, these railings are here to keep you from hurting yourself, and, like, it's out of God's graciousness that he says, look, I I I this is a danger for you. Some people can can drink and be fine, and some people just cannot. Don't lie to yourself on whether you're one or the other. Mhmm. Right? Figure out where you're at and what you need to do, and, like, hang around people that can support that and support it well. And I don't care whether you love I mean, I actually really care if you love Jesus or not, but this applies to all of humanity whether you are currently following Jesus or not. Right? Figure out which one you are and stick with it. There's just no reason to to stray in in either direction.

Mike, I gotta I gotta own something real quick. Tell me. I stole a birdhouse once. Woah. That's gotta be in Deuteronomy. I feel like this is the time to say it. I stole a birdhouse once. After drinking? After drinking. This is a drinking story. It was a drinking How this how is this connection? Like, from a person or from a store? Or From a house. From just from you? From a a house for people had a a house for birds. It wasn't And I took it. An evil corporation that had millions of birdhouses. No. It was They could easily absorb the loss. It was just poor little little with little babies who know birds. I'm take birdhouse. Couple that had a birdhouse. That I really wanted it at the time, and so I took it. You might be the worst person I've ever met. That's probably fair. And That's horrible. But here's here's the redemptive nature. I returned it the next morning. Oh, okay. I put it back,

and I, like, I didn't leave a note for the birds or the people Mhmm. But I did return it. But that did happen, and I feel like this is the place that I I felt safe enough to say it. This is yeah. That I did drink. Kind of stuff one time that I did steal a birdhouse. When you don't know where you belong. You belong in that house. Right? Yeah. You might take property that's not yours. You're you're you're a two drink maximum kinda guy, Bubba. I'm a no drink maximum kinda guy. I stopped drinking two years ago, and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. Good man. I was never an alcoholic. My my family had that troubles, and my my loving now wife, when we were talking about getting married, one of the conversations was she goes, I know you drink socially every once in a while because I had made mention that, like, I drink a glass of bourbon or some Scotch. I drank like an 85 year old man when I was 25. Mhmm. But I'd have a glass of Scotch when I was smoking a brisket or something,

and she goes, alcohol is nothing but a poison as I've seen it in lives, and I've seen it destroy lives. And wanna know if you'd be willing to give it up forever for me. And I looked her in the face and said, absolutely. I'll never touch it again, and I haven't. Mhmm. And I'm thankful for that because at the time, I was like, whatever it's on her, she doesn't want that. It's fine. I'll take it out of my life. But now that I'm in a better place myself, I look back at that and go, that was one of the best possible decisions for me because there's not any part of me that says, hey, man, I should really mess around with things that I could get addicted to and and could be a fix for holes that I know I have. And so, yeah, it was it was amazing. It was awesome. God totally worked through that. Nice. Yeah.

That's the that that's the end of that article. That's the and it's it tries to sum it up. It was a little blast saying a bunch of weird stuff. Man, CS Lewis has fallen. Yeah. That was rough. Better stuff, CS Lewis. Yeah. How did that wait. It I was how did that correlate to CS Lewis? Did it just say those words? CS Lewis account and Weird. CS Lewis to tweet tweet tweeted that tweeted tweeted Whatever. Tweeted that. And I thought, oh, that looks fun. That's the CS Lewis account does put out some puts out some Interesting. Bang everyone's He went from mere Christianity to that. Well, when you die, you know, your mind just kinda deteriorates. Wow. That's weird.

Okay. So yeah. So that's it. We we do you wanna hit this top five heresies among the among the two? Mean, I thought we were playing defense on this to make certain Ben didn't blow yet his way through it. We're gonna nail through it real quick. Okay. Christianity Day presents an article. Okay. Hold on. I'm gonna tell you a story. Remember this last couple of weeks, we were talking about

fences. Like, had talked about it when we talked about the Matt Chandler article, and we discussed it a little bit last week. And one of my kids had approached me and said, you know, dad, need to talk to you. I'm like, oh, no. This is never good. Any of the ladies in my life say, look, we need to talk. I'm like, oh, man. What did I do? Oh, crap. I've I've told my wife just did it to me tonight. In fact, said, hey. We need talk a minute. I'm like, oh, man. I've done I just do so many ridiculous boob type things. I'm like, I don't know. Any number goes between the legs. Like, okay. Alright. I'm instantly scared to death that, like Last year. I've screwed something up in ways What a mess up. They're not even possible. Right? I I haven't even done anything near this bad. I'm like, oh, no. What is that? And so, anyway, like, one of my kids comes up and they say, look, I've I've you gave me some freedom and

I I I wasn't using it right. And so I kinda self figured that out. I cut off the path of which I was that was causing me the trouble, had to do with her phone. And she said, if you wanna take that phone away, would totally understand, but I just feel like I can't lie about this and cover this up anymore.

And Oh, man. And so, like, I looked at her for a minute and I said, I tell you what. I said, you you you allowed the holy spirit to convict you of a sin without me having to point it out. You basically turned yourself in without getting caught, and then you said,

whatever needs to happen to as as repercussions of my actions, I'm willing to submit to. And I said, I mean, I know 50 year old dudes that are struggling to to handle themselves in a way that is God honoring in this exact situation. And I said, I I gotta be honest with you. Some of it's probably my fault. You know, maybe I gave you a little bit more freedom than you shoulda had. But anyway, you can keep your phone. I mean, here's the thing. It's like and the reason I bring this up is because we were talking about fences, and we're talking about,

last couple weeks, we've been talking about, like, the sin is behind the fence, and running into the fence isn't the sin. Right? The fence is what reminds you of where you need to be. And it was just a further reminder, to me this week as one of my kids went through the same thing is, yeah, was there some some disobedience and some sin in there? Yeah, there was. But like, I rarely run into people that will own up to their sin without getting busted. Right? Especially at that age, right? It's just not I I don't know. It's just not a pattern and so once again, when I see god has done the same thing. God allows us this freedom in all the things that he that that that he describes as as a life and says, I will give you freedom to choose me, to not choose me, to follow me, or not to follow me and then as we bump, as we set up fences within our own lives and say, here, here's what we're trying to accomplish. I don't wanna go much farther than this fence. Sometimes we do end up bumping into fences, and then we're like, man, I can't believe I'm I'm back in this situation again,

you know, and and and but I need you to try to look at this in perspective. This is gonna sound like I'm I'm trying to be very liberal with with the way that you follow Jesus, but what what I think that I'm trying to do is to have you step back from being a Pharisee a little bit here and go, when you set up things in your life to keep you focused on Jesus and keep you focused on the life that you know you want for you and your family and the people around you, when you run into the fences that you've set up, do your best to try to not count those as a failure. I want you to count those as as a success of the fence. Right? Like, I remember just a worldly example, like, used to do a lot of electrical maintenance for people and travel around, and as we would travel around,

we would go through and do a bunch of final checks. Right? And so we would at the end of the job, because we had a bunch of wires unhooked, if you if you have electricity hooked up a certain way and you hook it up backwards, the motor that was spinning counterclockwise is now gonna spin clockwise. Right? And that's what happens when you flip these wires around. So we'd go through before we handed the property back over to all their motors, we'd go through and spin each motor. And what was happening was is every once in a while, we'd find a motor spinning the wrong way, and everybody would like, oh, I can't believe it. This motor's spinning the wrong way, they'd be like, how do we keep this from happening? I'm like, what do you mean how do we keep this from happening? That was the fence doing its job. Right? You know it's gonna happen. You can't stop all these things. You can't stop your your inconsistency as a broken human. You can't stop work workplaces are like this all the time. They're like, how can we make sure that this incident doesn't happen or this this thing doesn't come up again or we don't screw up in this way? And, like, news flash, you can't. Right. You can't stop that. It's gonna keep on happening. You're dealing with human beings, and you can you can regiment them, and you can put a thousand steps in and a thousand double checks,

but, like, they're still gonna screw it up. The point is is that you put the double checks in so the effect of the screw up doesn't actually land. That was the whole point of the double check. Right? That's the point of your fences in your life. Right? So when you say, look, I set up a bible study with some fellas once every week, right, to make sure that I'm heading to where I'm at. I make sure that my computer sits in the middle of my house and not buried in a room somewhere where I can be on it by myself. Fence. You know what I'm saying? Like, these are these are all things that you set up. Like, I set up some accountability that says, look. My wife can look through my phone anytime I want to. She can look at my gas station receipts to make sure I'm not buying alcohol if I shouldn't. Whatever. Like, these are all fences. And, like, every once in while, you're gonna bump into them where, like, your wife says, hey. I do wanna have a look at that receipt. And you're like, what? How dare you? We we must be in a bad place. No, sir. These are the fences doing their job. Right. These are what these are why you set up the fence, and, like, you didn't buy the booze, so whatever. Look at the receipt. Right? You weren't up looking naked ladies up, so here, here's my phone. Look all you want. You know? And so I and tell me the last time you actually needed, like, to be on your computer, not where your wife could occasionally walk by or your kids could occasionally walk by. You don't. Right. There's zero reason in your life to Not be doing taxes. Yeah. Right. So, like, do taxes out in the open, like 50 accountants at the H and R Block. And so,

once again, maybe I was just rethinking it because of that experience with my daughter. I was rethinking my attitude towards the fences that that we set up that that may seem restrictive, but, like, they're tailor made for your life and you know why they're there. And once again, like, I'd I watched my daughter look at me and, like, I mean, she was obviously afraid, like, this big hairy punishment's coming and, like, honestly, there was no punishment. There was, thank you for being honest. I appreciate the things that you've done. All I'm gonna ask out of you is is is this is not gonna last. Like, you're gonna go a week or a month or a whatever, and you're gonna can I put this at you're gonna wanna put this app back on your phone, and before you do that, I need you to come talk to me? That was that was the end of of of our obsession, and she was just scared to death I was gonna take her phone, you know, but she could not have handled herself in a in any better way and in any better picture of the way that I think that we of how we handle screw ups and bumping into fences and accidentally getting places where we don't wanna be. So, anyway, I bring all that up to say it's like, it's been a really good conversation past couple three weeks about fences and,

actually sinning and whatever and like, you know, maybe if I can just encourage you to embrace your fences. Embrace them. Know that you built them. You get to take them up and tear them down as much as you want. So if you put one up five years ago and it's as sturdy as a rock, don't be don't be getting all geeked up to move it. You built it there for a reason. Leave it there, you know, and let yourself bump into it every once in a while, and don't get mad that you did. Okay. Here we go. Last article of the day. Top five heresies among American evangelicals. Dan, what's a heresy? What does that even mean? False teaching. There we go. Yeah. The byline, it's two it's 2022,

but Arianism and Pelagianism are steadily making a comeback according to the state of theology report. I bet that's a riveting report. Here we go. American evangelicals grasp on theology is slipping,

and more than half affirmed heretical views of god in this year's state of theology survey released Monday by Legionnaire Ministries and LifeWay Research. The report references Legionnaire founder RC Sproul's teaching that everyone's a theologian. However, doctor Sproul would be quick to add that not everyone is a good theologian, it read. The caveat applies to Americans in general and evangelicals too. Overall, adults in The US are moving away from orthodox understandings of God and his word year after year. More than half of the country, 53%, now believe scripture is not literally true. We've talked about that a little bit. Mhmm. Up from forty one percent when the biannual survey began in 2014. Just to address that right quick, when we say the Bible is not literally true,

the fellows in this room, Life From The Path, will endorse that the Bible is God's word written infallibly. And so it is true in the way that some of it is poetry, and that is true. Right? Some of it is metaphor, and it is a true metaphor.

But not saying that the metaphor itself has to be literally true for us to look at scripture correctly. So, and that's just a cursory study of your Bible. I think you'll figure out real fast that like, you know, some of the things are not intended to be word for word, fact for fact, you know, verifiable truth, like metaphors or metaphors, and you know they exist.

So anyway, here are the five most common mistake beliefs held by evangelicals in this year's survey. Number one, Jesus isn't the only way to god. More than half, 56% of evangelical

respondents affirm that god accepts the worship of all religions, including Christianity, Judaism, and Islam, up from 42% in 2020. Now hold on.

Why why would we need the three religions in? You know I Like, doesn't it seem weird that we're not all holding hands and having a dinner if there is no actual disagreement? I mean, because, really, what we're disagreeing is is is who who the god of the universe is. That is what we're actually disagreeing about. Yeah. And so you have to be not in any of those three religions to actually think that this is true. So do you think that means that 50%? Oh, these are evangelical respondents. So 56%

of evangelical respondents, so people who claim to be Christians, affirm that God accepts the worship of all religions. Why is this why is this not possible to be true, Dan? You mean, like, why are they all wrong? Is that what Yeah. You're Yeah. I mean, the scripture's filled with

I mean, Jesus says that he is the way, the truth, the life, the resurrection. I mean, mean, everything everything points to Jesus. Everything does. He's the one who bled. He's the who died. He's the one who was atoning sacrifice. Nobody else is. Yeah. True. Like, don't have to know a ton about Judaism

or Islam to know that, like, the the broad setup of of the Bible, right? Yeah. Is is is god created humanity in his image and likeness. Mhmm. And then gave us a choice to either trust him completely or not, and we chose to not. And when that happened, the world broke. Mhmm. Right? It cracked a little. And and, like, if you believe that is a supposition, which you do if you are if if you are a follower of Judaism or Islam, both of those things, you we're still fine with the book of Genesis here. Right? We're on the same page. And so there has to be a solution for that problem. Yeah. I I was in the home of a Muslim family this this week, and this is my second time meeting them. So it'll be a weekly conversation. And and so I brought up, hey, are you are you guys are are are you Muslim? You know, do you go to mosque? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And we had a conversation. And he said, You're of Jesus? I said, Yeah, yeah, we're

a church, we're Christian, we believe in Jesus, because yeah, we have great respect for Jesus. I mean, it was a very polite conversation, you know. And I left, I thought, okay, my whole point was I wanna, I'm building relationship, alright. Where am I going with this?

If he were to die today, he would not have salvation, because he does not, he believes in Jesus as a prophet of God. Mhmm. I know people who probably think he would because he believes in Allah, who they would say is the same God as our God, he's really not, it's not Jehovah God. Yeah. I know plenty of people who would disagree with that statement, but

it's just not. Yeah, and once again, it hasn't addressed the problem from Genesis one, three. Has not like like those standard religions of Judaism and Islam of the major three first of all, just as as something to keep in mind,

the the God of the Bible religions make up 98 of religion in the world. Yeah. Yeah. Right? These three are the major religions in the world, and they are all rooted out of at least some part of the of the Old Testament.

And so, but once again, they all suppose the exact same problem is like, something has to fix sin. Something has to fix the separation between the creator God and humanity. And Christianity

offers up Jesus as the option, and Judaism and Islam neither one do. No one else has spilled blood on That's our correct. That's correct. And I where it gets there. What gets there is we're so emotionally driven these days that this is a wonderful family that I'm speaking with. They are, I love this guy. I mean, I've only met him twice. I'm like, we had this great relationship that's really forming.

But that makes me just hurt for him more. As well as I have friends who are in the homosexual lifestyle And it's like, well, know, a lot of Christians, maybe that's in the thing, will say they're great, they're fine, that we need to affirm that only because I have a relationship. That's right, don't want a severed relationship between you and them. Yeah. And actually, And we could talk about that a little bit, but it is the number one thing that makes conversations like this very difficult, right? Because

once they find out that there's this chasm, now our relationship doesn't look the same anymore. I'm not speaking to you as a peer, I'm speaking to you as someone who has something that you need to know to be saved as opposed to, yeah, we just were on different roads going to the same places. How are not though? Our roads are going to very different places. Yeah, that's the thing. And I guess

the meat of that conversation is, I could easily allow you to go on and believing what you believe outside of what God says in the Bible if I didn't give two craps about you. Right. And that's the conversation that's hard, is because from the Christian's perspective, we will say, look, if we didn't care about you at all, I'd have no reason to bring this up. Whatever.

Go ahead and do whatever you want. Sucks to be you. But the problem is, is like, I know the change that God has made in me, and I know the difference that Jesus has made in the people around me, and I cannot sit and watch a person that I know, love, or even don't know try to live without that and watch it go so poorly. Yeah. We got a lamp. We gotta put it in a lamp stand. It's gotta shine. Yeah. It's not judgment. We're not being mean. We're not hating people. It's just like, no. We love them. We want I don't care if they're like me. I just want them to believe in Jesus. I want I want them to have that salvation through the blood of Jesus. That that's what forgives our sins. And totally for for for you folks who don't know Jesus at all, I realize how arrogant that sounds coming from out of our camp. I I I get that completely. If you raise from the dead, you can be arrogant. Yeah. Until yeah. Like, I realize that you're like, you know, you think you've got the whole thing figured out and that you and but here's the thing. Let me I mean, it's the same thing that the Penn and Teller guy said that we like to, like, fall back on everywhere. It's like the dude's an avowed atheist. He's like, don't believe in any of these gods but like, I've almost every show people come up after me and say like, hey, can I tell you about Jesus? And like, doesn't that make you mad after a while? And he goes, no. Right? Like, how much would they have to hate me to not try to bring it up? So just realize If you really believe it. Yeah. That's right. Like, if we really believe what we say we believe, yeah, you should have some annoying Jesus folks coming up to you and not trying to beat you over the head with your sin, but really just trying to introduce you to your savior. And that's sorry. Go ahead. No. Go ahead, boo. Then that's the real thing is it if you're looking at it in in what I think is correctly, it's I'm not trying to just save you from from the damnation of sin or anything like that. I'm trying to bring you into the kingdom that is full of joy and is full of love and is full of light and in a a world that you never thought was possible with with

the king or the the king of this universe, the creator of everything. Mhmm. I'm not trying to save you from the hammer. I'm trying to bring you from bring you to the light. Like, that's what I'm here for. And if if you switch up your mindset to where it's, I'm not trying to bring the weight of your sin onto you, which is absolutely true, that is part of the deal, but that's not what I'm bringing people into. I'm not trying to just keep them away from their sin. I'm trying to bring them to their father. Mhmm. Okay. Number two. Jesus was created by god. A surprising 73% agreed with the statement that Jesus is the first and greatest being created by God. This is a form of Arianism. Okay. I'm just gonna stop this right here. I don't give a crap about this conversation at all. Just not one lick about it.

The Bible doesn't really speak to it. Like, know, right in the right in the beginning of Genesis, there all three of them are hovering over the waters, and they're like, how was God created? Which one came out first? Did they divvy up like a pie? I'm like, I don't care about any of this. God didn't speak to it. I just don't care. I just can't imagine I would actually care. If I don't understand how he he poofed the world out of nowhere, out of the breath of his nostril, do I really care how an infinite deity, like, spread I just don't care. Well, it's it's the same thing as water can be ice, and it could be vapor, and it could be a glass of water. It come on, man. You can't fathom the understanding or creation of everything in the universe. You don't know what's going on. It just come on. There's there's bigger hills to fight. Yeah. Yeah. But he has deity. I mean, he he's he's he's don't don't don't reduce him to

because then it gets, oh, Jesus is created just like Satan was. He's just one of the you know? Yeah. You know? And you're working with Jesus. Right. So you gotta be careful there. That's right. But, yeah, I mean Yeah. Equal standing, three parts. That's it. That's all you need to know. Yeah. Yeah. It's a it's a whole council of god. He just he runs the whole thing. That's it. That's all you need know. Yeah. Although, I'm see I think Ben would be super excited about this because he understands this, I do not. But stay away from Arianism. Apparently, it's no good. Arianism? Yeah. That's whatever that is. Oh, Jesus is not God. Given the above beliefs on Jesus as a created being, it's not too surprising that 43% affirmed that Jesus was a great teacher, but he was not God, which is another form of an Arian heresy. What are these Arians? These are people evangelicals

still saying this? Yeah. Here's the thing. As we went through this last week, were talking about the gal that's like I was grew up with under Christian parents. No. You do not. They weren't Christians. That's the thing. It's like people are like, there's all kinds of different forms of Christianity and I'm okay with some subtle differences here and there or some misunderstandings of some like traditional things but some things, you're you don't you're not a Christian. Right? Like, if you believe one, that Jesus is a created being and not a god not god like he said he was, then you're not a Christian. You don't believe what's in the Bible. Two, if you say that Jesus is not god, one, that's also in the Bible. You flat out disagree with that or think that that's not true, I'm sorry. You're just you're not in. There's qualifications for being in. We agree on, like, a couple three things, and, like, you've taken the two red letter things and gone, I don't believe those things. Yeah. It's the same thing we've been running into for twelve years. It's been the whole concept of these as checkbox Christians. It's the people that they grew up in a Christian home, which means they went to a church at Easter and Christmas, and they consider themselves that because they've never had a prevailing argument that says anything otherwise. And so they go on and do surveys and get asked questions, and then you get stuff like this.

Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Number four, heresy. That's has run rampant in the church, Nathaniel. Number four, speaking of the trinity, 60% of the evangelicals this does make sense. Survey respondents had some confusion about its third member believing that the holy spirit is a force but not a personal being.

To be fair, the spirit of god is often described as an impersonal force throughout the bible, sometimes a dove, cloud, fire, wind, or water, but these are all just metaphors for the spirit's personal presence. The scriptures clearly affirm that the spirit is fully god just like Jesus and the father who sent us the spirit, including the time when Ananias was described as simultaneously lying to the holy spirit and to god. So these are like Star Wars fans who are like the forest. It's the same way we send vibes. Wait.

So what are they saying? They're saying that he's not a personal being, but he's Yeah. I don't know. But it's, like, the act of god? Yeah. I'm confused. This is a weird distinction to make because, one, I think the holy spirit is widely misunderstood. And, frankly, it scares the crap out of people. Right? If if you take the holy spirit at the value of which, the holy spirit is described in the bible, the actions that the holy spirit takes, here on earth, yeah, you should be freaked out a little. It's pretty kinda fantastic and awesome.

And so, instead of putting leaving it in the in the the fantastic column, I think we wanna control it and act like it's under lock and key or guard, and and we can we can move it. We can confine it. We can say it does this. We can predict its movements, and, like, you just you can't do that. Yeah. This one's a weird one. Yeah. I did meet a fellow one time in bible college who did not believe in the trinity.

What what was the alternative, or was there just none? I don't exactly recall. It's been a minute since I've talked to him. But, yeah, I think his main argument was that the the Trinity was made up by the the Catholic church. To to That argument could made made about a lot of I can't actually speak to that because I don't actually know the the the roots of why he would think that. But, like, to what what would be the benefit to the Catholic church I have no idea. For making up the trinity? I just remember thinking, yeah, that's kinda that's kinda of a weird thing to think of. Just like an apostolic charismatic guy? I

don't think so. I think he was read at the time, he was reading a lot of the Desert Fathers. Okay. And I think that's maybe where he was getting some of it. Mhmm. Like pre pre Catholic. Okay. Desert Froser type stuff and yeah, I'm not sure. Like this man. Yeah. Like that fellow. This guy right here. Don't be this man. There there yeah. We're we're gonna leave the teaching on the holy spirit for another day, but just know that the the holy spirit I don't know. Like, it's not excuse me. It's not like the bible comes out and says,

this is the trinity. Correct. And then lists people. Right? It's just a way that we've tried to categorize the attributes, and I don't even wanna say characters of God, but the functions of of Yeah. I mean, Jesus said, I'm sending the comforter. That is a presence. It's an entity. It's not a a force.

Yes. Correct. Correct. And it's personified in Genesis one too. Correct. Yeah. Like, that's that's a a a being that exists Yeah. As the spirit, the Ruah with him. Ruah. That's correct. Yeah. Okay. Last one. Here we go. The the the best the top five heresies. Humans aren't sinful by nature. Well, this will get you guys in a in a tizzy. Interestingly,

57% also agreed to the statement that everyone sins a little, but most people are good by nature. Truthlessly good. Yeah. It's ridiculous. How many people have you met? Like, I don't know what kind of hole you live in, but you know this is not true because one, you've met yourself, and two, you've met your wife, and three, you've met the guy that runs the Quikie Mart, and four, the guy that gave you the Uber last week, and the dude that tries to collect your bills, and the kid that tries to get you $25 for a $15 mo mo job in the front yard. You know what I'm saying? Like, you've met a large portion of humanity. You know this is not true. You will know you are not generally good by nature. I've met maybe five people in my entire life that I would argue that they have no sin in their life just because of who they are. Yeah. Everyone else generally sucks. Yeah. Generally good by nature. And I'm sorry. None of you are in this room in those five. No. Maybe Dan. You're like a a a year and a half, and you're already cocking people in the head and stealing stuff and pushing people and Oh, man. That's just our nature. We're bent toward destruction Yeah. And death. We're basically good. I feel like maybe I'm wrong about this, but I feel like I read a book by Jack Cottrill

where he talked about He just passed away. Oh, really? Yeah. Like, two days ago. Rest in peace. Ben would mourn that loss as well. I don't know. Anyway, go ahead. I've heard of the man. Anyways, the book you read. And I think he wrote in the book I think it was the book Faith Once For All. And that he didn't believe in the in the in the sin nature,

the natural sin. Like, I I wish I could remember things better. I'm so this not making good for for I good think that we I think that we could You're bringing Ben references in. We appreciate it. We've had this conversation before, right, where I don't know that, like because it it starts to bump up against the Calvinistic thought of total depravity. And, like, I don't know that I that I buy completely into that because, like, when God says, I created humanity in

my own image, that can't be total depravity, even if we broke it a little, because it means that we basically destroyed God's image within us, and I don't think that's true. They kind of press on the accelerator with the total. It's like, yeah, but I you mean, hey, I A lot of people think I'm a pretty okay guy. Man, my evil thoughts are putrid. They would make your hair curl. Yes. The things that I think on an average week of,

hey, I should do this. And then I'm like, no, you shouldn't. I don't. I mean, it's just who we are. Yes. Where there's the evil within us. What is it James says? We're tempted by the evil within us because we have evil in us. Right. I mean Yeah, I just don't know.

You take some of the theoretical discussions out of it, and let's say God's word is a package and how we've tried to organize it or talk about it in our own human religious language apart from that. You cannot honestly like, I just feel like you're lying to yourself because the problem is is that when you say most people are good by nature, what is your measurement for good? Mhmm. Right? Really crappy. Right? Well, you measuring that based on your own estimation of good Right. Or what the Bible says is good, hence what God says is good. Because if by your your own base nature, you are pretty close to what god looks like, I I find that hard to believe. You know what I'm saying? Like, that's just hard to take in. Now, I don't know that you have to over crank on this example because at the end of the day, I don't know that I actually care. It's a weird thing to spend a whole lot of time thinking about. Right? Other than I know people who

will excuse their lifestyle by saying, well, I'm totally depraved, I can't help it. So I can have affairs. I can have I can live this lifestyle. I can do what I want because I can't nothing can stop me. Yeah. But once again That's sociopathic. Well, and also, you'd have to be really cherry picking parts of the Bible that you decided to apply to yourself because there's plenty of encouragements in the letters from Paul. Right. You know, right? Then there's Jesus talking about how you could how you could you could live a life that he designed to be and and and the sacrifices that he was going to make and why why it actually matters. Right? Like, why did god why did why did Jesus have to die to correct a brokenness within humanity you were just gonna suck anyway? Right. You know what saying? And so, like, you'd have to ignore a good 90% of the rest of the bible. Yeah. You're right. You're right. It's a it's a giant story of god's personality and character redeeming a bunch of messed up people. Yeah. Like, you cannot read your bible at half speed and go, man, this is a bunch of great people. No. It is a bunch of horrible people that God redeems through his story and his son. Yeah. That's the only way it works. Paul, terrible guy. Terrible guy. David,

awful dude. Straight up awful dude in certain ways. God redeemed his story through all of them because of him, not them. He's the one who's good. And his comparison also doesn't work because it's one and done. It is perfection in God or sin that exists within us. The one and done factor is it is complete removal from him because of his existence, and so that's the reason that Jesus is the only way this works, is because it's not like this gradient of, I'm okay to, oh, I'm worthless. It's either you're perfect or you are no longer on that scale and there's a chasm between you and God. So this is this is to Dan's point where where we're like,

we are we are are probably heavily churched and not well discipled, not well taught. Yeah. Right? Because like like this is what teachers of the word start to point out is is I can certainly cherry pick a couple verses and go, this is gonna be the truth about me. But like, where the preachers of the word look through the whole entirety of the of the story of god and go, but this is what you're missing and and then and then say, like, you're missing the 90% that said, that can't that can't be true, right? Or it's the same folks that'll be like, the devil's trying to get me down. The devil's after me. Blah blah. This devil's the huge problem and like, it's the it's the teacher of god's word that says, you know how many times the devil's brought up as being, like, a thing to be super worried about on from humanity's perspective? Most of it's in Job. Right?

Right. I had a fellow tell me that the devil's trying to make him eat midnight bologna sandwiches one time. I feel like we need to make a separate podcast that's just Nathaniel dropping stories like that with no context. People, Nathaniel. He can't remember the majority of the rest of the story. It's just I remember a fellow that told me the devil was trying to get him to get the the midnight baloney. So Thanks to Daniel.

I felt a a distinct call to ministry in fourth grade, which is pretty pretty unusual, but the but, really, the what the driving force behind that was I was not in this meeting, obviously, I was a child, but my dad was having extramarital affairs. He and my mom went to the pastor, it was a Calvinistic church. The preacher asked my dad, Are you a believer? And he said, Yeah. And he said, Alright, you're good then, don't worry about it. And the marriage crumbled more after that. That was my mom's perspective. Yeah, that's right.

He also continued on and then, you know, all that happened. But at that time, I thought to myself, that is ridiculous. You know, you're saying he can't help it? You're saying you can't help having affairs, so just go ahead and do it and make your wife, she has to submit, that's just her job? That is garbage.

At that point, I'm like a child and I'm going, You know what? I'm going grow up someday and someone has to preach the Bible, not that crap. So it's taught in churches.

Sweet Moses. That's rough. So and so actually, to to sum all this up is one, I I I think what we like to tend to do is we like to go look this this people aren't being discipled well. Yeah. They're not being taught well. They're not being taught the full counsel of god. But here's the thing is teachers of god's word can only teach if you want to listen to it. And so, once again, like, this is not second century Israel.

You have access to to god's word at any chance that you want to read it. It is free for the taking in both electronic and and manual paper form. And if you're choosing not to read it and then running off the balcony and deciding that you're gonna live life based on one section of scripture that you read, like, that's just that's just absolute it's not on the preacher's fault. Yeah. That's not the teachers of God's word's fault. Now, I'm not saying that we don't have a responsibility to make sure that the words coming out of our mouth as teachers of God's word are consistent with what God is saying. Paraphrased in a holy way so people can understand if need be, but still consistent with God's heart and intent for the way that scriptures were presented, read, and given to us.

But if people are flat out willing to call themselves an evangelical, 56% evangelicals

saying that Jesus is not God, you're not reading your Bible. You're not an evangelical. I struggle to feel that you might actually know Jesus at all Yeah. Because that was gonna be a real weird conversation when you die. Hello, Jesus. I didn't actually think much of you on Earth. Can I come in? You sound okay. Yeah. What do you think? Can you see if your dad's home? I don't know you. That would be horrible. Horrible business. Okay. You're listening to life from thepathonlifefromthepath,.org. If you have any complaints about the show, let's say you love all those heresies. You're like, I don't know what you guys are talking about. These things are like a warm blanket to me, and they make me feel comfort at the end of my nights. You should probably call the Bob Eisenhower complaint line. That's (515) 517-0085. (515) 517-0085.

That's a call or a text. You can send Giffys, I think. That would be kinda uptown. Nobody calls them Giffys, you weirdo. You could send moving pictures. That would be kinda uptown. Anyway, that's get ahold of live from the Path of Complete line. Also, if you're listening on the podcast, either through I listen to it both through Apple Podcasts and then Amazon host the show. Oh, and we have an Instagram handle.

Buva, are you still running our Instagram account? No. I don't have Instagram on my phone anymore. Top level fail. Nathaniel, you big on the Insta? I also got rid of it. Dan, talk to me. I have it. I never look at it, so I don't even know. Alright. Our Instagram is on fire. You should check it out. There's all kinds of content being posted and all kinds of people to interact with. So just consider hooking up with us on Instagram and leaving us a review on the podcast. I don't think we actually care what you write, but it does start to put our, our name in some algorithms that help other people to listen to the show. Alright. Let's get some, let's get some advice handled, and we're gonna sally on out the door. Here we go. Dear, lie from the path. Woah. My husband and I have been married for forty years, and we've had our ups and downs. My problem is he frequently talks about the girls he knew before me. He describes them all in glowing terms, gorgeous, perfect body, beautiful hair, well endowed, and on and on. Oh, sweet. Because they were teenagers. Yeah. It makes me feel oh, damn. It was before. I mean, it was It makes me feel self conscious and inadequate. Add to this, he is short-tempered with me. He constantly finds fault the way I do things and speaks to me harshly.

When I told him how it made me feel, his answer was that I was sick in the head. He won't listen or acknowledge that he has a part in the problem. Where do I go from here? Okay. Wait. Married? Yeah. Forty years. Married. Married for forty years, and he's talking about people he met forty five years ago. Mhmm. And comparing his current situation

to I mean, everything's better when you're 20 I mean, in the body. You know? Everything starts sagging when you're hit I don't know. Are sagging yet? 2029? Yeah. Let's go around the roof. I'm saying sweet Moses. Hey, boy. Dan's put a question on the table. Who's sagging? If that doesn't make it to a chance card

on live from the Poppily, t shirt of the week. Are you sagging? Okay. So here's the deal. Opening gambit, you get to describe how crappy the man is. Second, we need to we need to discuss how the an answer to her problem is where where does she go from here? So one, the dude's obviously

I mean, top shelf. Awful shyster. Horrible. Horrible, man. And now here's the thing. It's like it's not marriage is of of forty years. I mean, Dan could probably speak to this closer than I can. I'm at thirty seven. So, like But she could say, hey, dude. Why are you bringing this up? I mean, she needs to have that kind of why? What why are bringing already tried, and he called her sick in the mind or something. Yeah. Well, he's he's a jerk. And, like, I you can start to take even it's it's a prophet in his own town. Right? Like like, you can start to take the best parts of the person you've known for forty years, and they become so familiar to you that you forget how awesome they are. Exactly. Right? And that that does happen in marriage. It's it's something to guard against people who actually give a crap about their spouse. You have a romantic view of the person you knew me before them. Everything was, oh, it was so romantic and happy, and we were singing happy days or whatever the era. Because they weren't with you for twenty five years plus. Especially previous relationships, they didn't go through any trials with you. They didn't go through the everyday ups and downs with you. Like, it was and most of it was when you were younger, you had money to throw around. Yeah. Had freedom of time. Everything was bubblegum flavored ice cream and the soda jars. About everything. You could do things a little bit more irresponsibly, and it wasn't such a huge burden. And then by the time you've been married forty years, if you, you know, get out of bed wrong, your ankle hurts, and you're like, I'm not gonna be able to move for three days. This is not great. It's your fault. Hey, man. This is the default for all these, and I I use we usually don't try and say it, but you know what your marriage needs is Jesus. Like,

straight up. You need an arbiter between the two of you so that he can understand what it looks like to be a a a reasonable and good man in his life, and you can have standards in yours. And I'm sure there's fault on both parts. That's how marriage works, but we don't have that part of the story. We've got this one. Y'all need Jesus. You need somebody in the middle of this that when he says you're sick in the mind can go, no. You're an a hole. That's absolutely incorrect. She is she needs validating her thoughts, and you're doing nothing but breaking her down. You are not her peace. You are not her safety. You are not her place that tells her that the things in her mind that scream at her that she is inadequate and she is not good enough. You do not have she doesn't have safety from that. She is you, which is an is someone that literally perpetuates that fire in her brain at all times that we all have. You are disgusting,

and I truthfully hope that you guys can find something in the middle of this because I'm so sorry you're there. Yeah. He he's a he's a intimidating bully. I I hate to use the word bully because it's so overused, but that's really what he's bullying his wife. Yeah. He's just a jerk. So her question is is where do we go from here? Church. Here's the deal with There are bullies in church, though. I mean Yeah. If he won't go, we go without him. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. True. And so, like And, hopefully, he sees Jesus in you and then starts going, oh, crap. I gotta figure this out. And the scriptures have spoken directly to that. Yeah. Know? She's gotta confront him. Yeah.

Think she has full rights to say oh, and here's the thing. You have full rights to say the truth. The truth is never barred and make sure that it is the truth, but, like, yeah. Yeah. I think you get to pump the truth out. I think you need to talk to them and say, look. I just I can't I'm not gonna tolerate this of you, you know, putting me down like this and and comparing me to to to women that I just have no chance of competing against. And to be honest, like, you chose me. But, yes, I obviously competed well against them forty years ago. Your feeble mental picture of someone forty plus years ago, exactly like Mike said, minus all the trauma, the trials, the tribulations that marriage comes with. And, of course, gonna look fondly at that and go, oh, man. Everything was sunshine and rainbows. But you're a freaking jerk for bringing that up and going, man, they they were great. You're the you're the pits. Yeah. Used to have a big dinner and bring all the old girlfriends in and see what they all look like. Yeah. Right. I mean, here's See all that hair missing? And then see how much they like him when she describes what he's doing now. Yeah. Yeah. This is the same reason that we tend to tend to to follow a celebrity culture. Right? They got zero responsibility. They're fly they're buying anything they want. They fly around, do whatever they want. They marry whoever they want. And, like, everybody looks at it so fondly. It's like, man, if I just had this if I just look so handsome or I was so beautiful or I had this much money and blah blah blah. And, like, ain't none of them marriages lasted any longer than five Right. Years maximum. And they probably cheated on each other three times. You didn't spend any time You don't really want that. You don't want that. And so, like, this is the same thing. The dude's living it's a lie. The thing that he's looking back on and reminiscing about is a thing that never happened. It's a fictional representation as if those relationships would have continued and not had the same trials that going through a marriage for forty years starts to look like. And, like, it's it's obviously, that woman deserves way better than this. Not to say I like don't know what

her side of this thing is or, like, his side of this thing is, but here's here's what we would recommend. I think our advice is gonna be, listen, you need some computer community around you and and some way to look at him correctly to be able to speak into his life and watch the change that God makes in you be the change that God makes in him. And it stinks that you're the one that has to pick up the mantle. He's not carrying his own weight, but he's not doing it now. So you obviously I'm like, you you just as well get involved in a local church community and let god start to change that community around you, and then his harsh words don't get to penetrate quite so far, and then he gets to see the difference and just keep praying that god turns him around. He's not a happy man. Otherwise, he wouldn't be taking this He out on is sexually frustrated. Yeah. Because he probably hates himself.

He's blaming her. Yeah. And not to get clinical with this, but there's a certain level of like, it might benefit you to possibly find a counselor that can help you work your way through these negative thoughts and the negative self talk that you have in your life that leads yourself down this path of insecurity that allows his words to cut way deeper than they should. If you are able to find an identity that is rooted in something more important than the the lie that you tell yourself or your trauma or your pain or your emotions tell yourself all the time that you're not worth anything.

You need something in your life that tells you different. And a lot of the times, a counselor's gonna tell you that you are that positive force in your in your mind that needs to go, okay. I'm not ugly. I'm not stupid. I don't need to compare myself to his 18 year old girlfriend forty two years ago. I'm me. I am worth something exactly where I am now. There's no comparison necessary. K. Sekuler says, the question was, where do I go from here? Sekuler says, I'm glad you asked. Where you go from here is to the office of a licensed psychotherapist to help you figure out why you have tolerated being treated this way for forty years and give you the tools to regain your battered self esteem.

Well okay. Your short-tempered husband is no prize. Whether his long ago girlfriends could have competed for miss universe is beside the point. He somehow wound up with this flawed little old you. You are no more sick in the head than I am. Oh. A weird way to put that. Wrap your mind around the fact that around that fact and recognize you are married to a verbal abuser with an overactive fantasy life and the better off you'll be. Okay. So just a caveat, and this I really want you to hear me the right way here. I agree with all those things. He is a verbal abuser, and he does have an overactive fantasy life. But, like, if there's one thing I ever remember from Dan Hudson, is hurting people hurt people. Yeah. Mhmm. And so, like and it's really hard to hear when that person is hurting you, and it's really hard to hear when they're just the horrible evil things come out of their mouth. But, like, once again, this is where Christians look at the world just a little bit differently is despite whatever evil is coming out of you right now, we love you enough to try to to show you a way out of it. And so, like and and and here's the thing is I don't know if it if it crosses many more lines than it is now. I I don't know that that person's you. I'm not saying that you have to single handedly wheelbarrow this this Jack and Apes into into Jesus' glory. Right? God will deal with them as God deals with them, and it's on him to make sure that he submits to those things. But, yeah, I I the psychotherapist,

I'm not against. I I would strongly recommend that you find yourself some Jesus loving community Mhmm. And and maybe be able to let that speak into your life and hopefully speak through his. And just in case anyone's actually gonna listen to this that isn't just looking for the the dear life and the path, it doesn't have to be a full on psychiatrist or psychologist. Sometimes you can just talk to somebody that's called a counselor, and they may help you. You don't have to go straight to medication with that stuff. Like, it can just be, someone that goes, hey. You know, we let's talk through this. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. So just that. Sorry. Alright.

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Hopefully I I don't know if it's next week, week Vin might be out one more week. He's got a lot of important Vin things to do, and so you might be left with the, the V squad. Yeah. I think he is out next week. Okay. But we're happy to be here. Thanks for hanging around with us on Live From The Path. And as always, be faithful in the means, and God will handle the ends. You've been listening to Live From Now.