Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the path.

And you are listening to Live From The Path coming from the Pathway Studios here in Johnston Proper. It's lonely in here. That's the thing to tell you today.

It is a vacuous void, of which I'm the only guy sitting in the room. It's me and the thrift store priest. I should have put him up. He's sitting he's staring at me. So, it's gonna be a short one today, but, I was I I traveled. I have have radio show, will travel, and so it's just me here on live from the path. Good to be with you. Dan is in, Zimbabwe, so we'll catch up with him once he gets back and hear about all the all the happenings in Zimbabwe. Mike's out on vacation. Buva is, I think, back in the in the hill countries of Pennsylvania visiting,

family, family, and, I think he got an unlimited Panera cup of coffee or something. Anyway, they're they're spending their time. So here's here's let's just cut right to this thing so we can keep the show moving. Here's what we're gonna cover on the show today. There's a couple articles that I thought were interesting. One talked about

see, I they grabbed oh, okay. I'm gonna tell you a story here in a little. I got scammed on the Facebook to my to my shame and embarrassment. But I'll tell you that in between stories. Okay? So hold tight. The I got this is today. I got scammed today on the Facebook. Okay. So there's an article that said the one thing keeping your sin on life support.

And this, grabbed me a little bit because I I I'm sure it's everybody, but I spend, most of my conversations with dudes.

And so call it late teenage dudes up through 40, 50 year old fellas. And doggone it, if everybody doesn't feel like they're a bit of a Jacob Marley. Like, they've just got a some sort of chain on him carrying around, dragging around something that that has been on them for most of their life in in some semblance or another and various, you know, states of worldly consequence, various,

actual impacts on their lives, but it's it's it's taken up their mind space, their soul space, and it's it's like, some of it's legit, and then some of it's just, you know, unable to forgive what Jesus has forgiven. But, anyway, I thought we'd check out this article and see if you see yourself in it, and and and I presume that there is a some sort of suggestion on the one thing keeping your sin on life support. And then I'm a tell you a story of how I got, scammed onto Facebook. And then there there was this always always gets me. Anytime there's an article on on Jude nine,

which is where there's a tussle over Moses' body, I want in. It is it is a speculative universe of which you should not base any of your theology on. Do not make daily decisions based upon the outcomes of Jude nine,

but, boy, howdy, do I like to talk about it? And so there's a there was an article at the Christian Post on one of the strangest verses in the bible, full colon, Jude nine, and so we'll pick that one up. Also, we'll give I say we'll give away some advice. It feels like it's just gonna be my running commentary on these two advice items. But, anyway, there was, there there's a couple of people who've got some, advice in looking from life from the path. And, unfortunately, they just got a one man room today, but, that that's what we're gonna give. So, let's kick in. Before the show starts, I want you to have it at the ready. If it's not in your phone, put it in your phone as a contact. K? The live from the path complaint line, (515) 517-0085. Call or text.

And, you can say this. You got complaints about the show. You hate it when, that, I decided to release a podcast anyway. We've got a couple things going on from previous shows that we've asked you to comment on. So if you wanna get in on that, you can do it. But, that's the life from the path. Bob Eisenhower complaint line, (515) 517-0085, and, we look forward, to to hearing from you. Okay.

Here's the biggie. The one thing keeping your sin on life support. If there's one thing you can say about America, it's that most of us are addicts. According to a US News and World Report article, two thirds of Americans admit to having some form of addiction, with that number most likely being higher. Addiction ensnares people no matter who they are or where they live, with The US News article saying experts saying, I think what we're seeing in this is that it's not isolated. It's pretty surprising to think about how pervasive of a problem it is in The United States. There isn't a typical person with addiction problems. It seems like it's affecting families regardless of their race and ethnicity, regardless of their income, and regardless of where they live. This is interesting because I'm not sure well, I suppose that you would call it an addiction. What it feels like this is getting at is some some extent

we lack self control or self denial, And I get it. I get it. It feels like a blurry line. Right? It's why people have fought hard that you would talk about alcoholism as an addiction and not just, you know, I just can't seem to control myself.

But as as much as I understand that, I've been like, there's there's context to things that make you more predisposed or maybe more fairly said, it makes it harder to say no on some people versus other people to the same thing. Totally agreed there. But but at the end of the day, I it does feel like there's just a

I I don't know what to pull your pull your will up by your bootstraps, allow the holy spirit to do. I don't know. Like, it's it's always a risk here too because, like, I think if you over spiritualize this, the presence of addictive behavior feels like it's anti Jesus. And and and I guess if there's a theme to many of the ways we approach problems here in life from the path, it would be it's it's always more complicated than that. It's always more gray. But but I think if you release yourself from any thought that you have control, that you are able to exert influence over your own life, the minute you let that go,

I think all kinds of trouble falls on the other side of that shadow. And you open yourself up to all kinds of influences. Like, if it's not God and God's prescription that you should be able to handle yourself in some form or another, I think it presumes it it'll like I said, it opens you up to all kinds of other influences. I can't control myself, so someone else gets to control me. But if the reality was, if as humans, you weren't able to control yourself, then you shouldn't trust the next dude either. He also has no control over himself. Alright. Anyway, addictions take many forms. You have the common substance related ones like alcohol, drugs, tobacco, etcetera, and then a long list of non substance addictions such as pornography, Internet, social media, gambling,

work, shopping, sex, food, and exercise. What's common about these addictions is their commanding compulsive nature. To use a double negative, people describe how they can't not do a thing. Is is that you? Are there destructive habits that you can't not do? This is no surprise. I'll share mine. I think

gas station visits or even just it's weird to say food. I think I think Buva and I actually have a similar relationship to food. Although mine mine perhaps is a little bit more covert.

But, like, I just have a hard time. I got, like, a FOMO around food. We talked about them. We talked about going to the, like, the fast food joints when they come out with something or trying the the there was a lemon Kit Kat. They had, like, a strawberry strawberry cheesecake or strawberry some strawberry version of a Kit Kat that I'm not even sure what since it's still a Kit Kat. But, anyway, I, like, I just I wanted to try it. It's hard for me. I can't get gas without trying to get something. And, like, where I've been most successful in curtailing these types of things is trying to limit it. Like, hey. You can get coffee, but, like, that's it.

Regular coffee or something, but, like, not 10 things. Just one thing. And, yeah, I don't know. It's it's FOMO. I think it's some some I I just can't I have a hard time passing up. I have an urge for something. I would like to taste that, so I'm gonna go do it because I can. It's most dangerous of stuff. But, anyway, that that's mine. You don't have to share yours on the complaint line, but if you need, like, an outlet, eight people listen to the show. So, I mean, even if we shared it, it's probably not going too far. So (515) 517-0085.

If so, are there things habits that you cannot do? If so, barring the physical aspect that can occur with some addictions, the Bible says that what you have is a spiritual battle with sin and that any compulsion can almost always be traced back to one thing. Kill it, and you kill your addiction. Oh my. Webster defi I don't care. Let's start let's skip the let's skip the dictionary definition. Here we go. Saint Augustine describes the feeling of this of addiction or desire.

He describes his feeling well in the introduction of his confessions, third book, where he says, a cauldron of unholy loves saying all about my ears. Okay. I like that. Augustine had studied Cicero's Hortensius where Cicero said that every person sets out to be happy, but the majority are thoroughly wretched. I probably wouldn't use those extreme terms there. Maybe I should, but, like, that feels totally right. I I feel like I a lot of the conversations that we have with people are

just, like, not only good intentions, but, like, good like, good desires. Like, we want to do the right things. And then when it when the moment comes down, you just lose the moment. So this and other things led Augustine to conclude that such wretchedness is often the result of what he called disordered loves. Scripture talks about disordered and unholy loves in many places, and if you have a fairly worn out Bible, I'm sure you know the list of them. But here's what took me a while to figure out. Any love can turn into an unholy love. The term used in the New Testament to describe this kind of heart tug is epithemeo,

with the English word used to translate it desire, falling short and conveying its real meaning. The word literally means a great or overdesire for something. It communicates an excess, immoderation, and overindulgence even with supposedly good things. Dog, gone it anyway. That's me. Work, food, sex, social media. It's perfectly fine to have a level hearted desire for any of those, but when they become an obsessive compulsion that overtakes us in a dictatorial fashion, then they've become an over desire. They're not a sinful longing for something bad in the sense we usually think of sin, but an overdesire for something good. And when we nurture those, they morph into something worse.

They become an idol. I you know, we we reach for this. I've I've heard many a many a sermon on that, and I think it's because you're trying to teach something that points people back to idols. And because we're largely not worshiping, like, idols in the same way that that perhaps the biblical

authors were getting at that we reach for, like, a a substitute. I'm not sure that I buy this as exactly the same. It's not the same thing. A lot of times, the worship of idols, there's elements of it for sure, but, like, a lot of that is presuming to

seed or acknowledge some control over your life to that thing and and and with with a level of intentionality. Like, you're worshiping the idol because of what it represents to some sort of deity or god. The the the Kit Kat or the overindulgence of gas station is not that. I'm not at least personally, like, I'm not worshiping those things.

I am letting them control me. I am failing to exert self control over that stuff. But I don't it's not an idol and I don't worship it. But it when it does it does take my time, it does take my money, it does own some of my brain space, and to the extent that it pulls me away from other things that are important to me and that I don't control that, that is certainly problematic. The idle thing seems like we're,

it might be over spiritualizing the problem even if it gets to the right the the right focus. It gets you close. Anyway, ever wonder why you can't shake some sins and what keeps them energized in your Christian life? Here. This guy's gonna probably prove me wrong. It's idolatry. The first two thou shalt not in the 10 commandments. But they okay. But here's the thing. Just because they exist in the 10 commandments does not make them it doesn't like, if they're not shakable, then they're idolatry. I mean, I can shake murder. I can shake some of the other. I like steeking and stuff. That stuff that's on the otherwise, on the 10 commandments.

And and, anyway, like, those are the first ones, like, 10 words, but, like, that that's not the only everything flows from those things too. So I I don't know. Like, just because they made that particular segment of the list. I don't I don't know about that. Tim Keller says, when you feel like you have to sin, look for the chain of the idol. The chain Keller references is the life support line feeding your sin issue. This can sound odd to some people because we can get confused over what an idol is. He's gonna make me look silly. With many thinking it's only some sort of prehistoric fashioned god out of metal or wood. Yeah. What was getting at. While that's not common anymore in the civilized world, what is widespread is idolatry's form, which is more insidious and invisible to the naked eye. In his sermon on idolatry, doctor Martin Lloyd Jones unmasks an idol's true identity when he says, an idol is anything in our lives that occupies the place that should be occupied by God alone. Anything that holds a controlling position in my life is an idol. Yeah. Again, I I I get that somebody preached that. I I don't I don't know. I again, the the broad point is right. I just I think they're overcooking the fish. So again, ask yourself, do you have a destructive habit that you can't not do? Something that's holding controlling position in your life. Say hello to your idol. Almost anything can turn into an idol. For example, when writer Augusto Del Noche saw how worldview can quickly turn an eye to idolatry.

Referencing his critique nobody cares. The Martin Lloyd Jones gives some good advice when he says, the first step is recognize your idol. I must remember the true nature of idols. That is the way to avoid worshiping them and a very good way of guarding yourself against idolatry. Just look and consider what they are. And so I suppose the risk in my in my position is that by failing to call it an idol, I I is the concern that I do not assert a level of defensiveness against it because, well, at least it's not an idol. I think that's false. If if what you need if you have to call it an idol in order to take it seriously, then I think you're it's a wrong way to approach it. I mine, for example, needs to be taken seriously because it is detrimental to my health. It is detrimental to my pocket

It is an example of my unwillingness to exert self control on something simply because I want it, which which can be a poison in all other places. Like, I I suppose I'm fortunate that by that particular compulsion is is relatively benign, but I I recognize it as all of those things and being those things, it falls short of God's goodness and dictate for my life, and as such should be sufficient for me to bail from them. I I don't need to call it an idol for that to be true.

And so maybe that's the thought is like from a sermon, as we hear people talk about these things, are we requiring someone to overload it a little bit so that it gets our attention? And that's bad. It should get our attention, for the simple fact that it falls short of God. It's a sin. It falls short of God's goodness. Let's see. Next, we need to recognize the pathetic impotence of our idols. We turn to idols manifesting as addictions because we believe they bring us comfort and deliverance from whatever temporal misery we're experiencing. I don't I don't know about that. Again, I think that over that overcooks the fish. It can be true. It totally can be true, especially for some of the more pernicious addictions.

But those things are outside of God's good bounds even without being an idol. People can pursue feeling of temporary misery, I guess, you're getting away from that through you know, sexual relations that are outside of the bounds of what God said was good, but from alcoholism,

from, you know, spending your money for your own, I don't know, your own glory or just surrounding you with with your crapola that you can't take with you because of the delight that it brings you or or even, like, cutting people down because it makes you feel better. Like, all those things are sinful on their own without being idols, and they're sinful because they don't they don't match god's character. They fall short of his exam of who he is, what he calls good, and ultimately his example to us. And so, they don't have to be an idol to otherwise fall short. So, this is why god says mockingly to idolaters, when you cry out, let your collection of idols deliver you, but the wind will carry all of them up and a breath will take them away. That's why we should obey the first and second commandments and stick with God instead. That's why you should obey all the commandments.

When we do, it makes us immune to almost any addiction's wink and content with whatever comes our way. Okay. I do think that's the key one. We've talked about this before as it relates to you yeah. Hey. I wanna give more money. I wanna be more generous with my money. And and one of the key ways like, yes, you could probably try to save up more money. You could, you know, eat out a few less times. You could do all kinds of things. But, like, the the key source of that is to be more content. If you are more content with your life, then you don't end up chasing your noncontentment

with money. And I suppose this falls into the same category. Am I content with the water I can drink at home or the coffee I can make at home as opposed to buying it from the gas station? I don't know, but I'm a tell you this. I do feel like I like the feel of a gas station cup. I like the like, whatever the throwaway nature is. In fact, the Pilot or the is it the Pilot or the it's the Luvs. Maybe both of them. The truck stops still offer the the Styrofoam cups. And I know I remember from when I was in, like, elementary school and junior high, like, Styrofoam,

bad. Like, I hear what you're saying, but Luv's is stuck with it, and there is just something about the feel of, like, a hot coffee, even if it's, like, grody gas station coffee in this Styrofoam cup that just brings me the delight. I just love it. But here's the problem. I could be content drinking out of my own mug that I brought from my own self. It tastes just fine. I actually lack discernment. I don't really I can't tell good coffee from bad coffee, good chicken from bad chicken. Like, I just can't tell. And so

I I just Contentment's probably probably the key thing as it relates to some of these things, like be content with what you have. And, anyway, he says, as John Newton said, when we understand the gospel, our future glory and steer clear of idols, we arrive at a place where the best times are believable and the worst times are bearable. In other words, you have that's a weird way to put it. I some of that comes from the notion that, like, best times are believable. Like, the best the earth has to offer is fall short of what heaven has to offer. But, like, God created the world. He said it was good.

My understanding of what the future or forever future with God is doesn't have to do with blowing up the earth and living out in the alien spheres. It's a restoration of his good creation back to what he created it to be. And the picture Revelation gives is that like there is a, we spend forever with him, here, in some form or another. And so, like, the fact that it's an earthly experience

means it's a shadow of what is perfectly good, but it doesn't mean that it's not good, and you wouldn't want it to be believable, because it is, in some ways, is your forever. Anyway, in other words, you have the hard to get and keep presence of real peace, and who doesn't want

that? Yeah. I yeah. I I'm not I don't know. Maybe maybe I was too harsh here. I I don't disagree, and and it needs a heavy hand. Think we are very tolerant with ourselves. I'm tolerant with myself when it comes to this. We're tolerant with ourselves because of the actual thing. Like, I if I picked up

if I picked up a sweet, sweet soda once a week at the gas station or even a few times a week, like the grand scheme of things, isn't a big deal. Now it's probably accumulation of poor habits that are gonna put do me in, not the sweet, sweet soda, But it's less about what it is and more about the fact that I had a compulsion, something that I wanted,

and whether I had the ability to say no or to regulate it. Because then I think that does run the risk of seeping into other things. And it's the thing that pulls me, I did some intermittent fasting

to try to combat some of this. And what it made me realize is like, hey, if I've, you know, if I just just drank water, like I wasn't allowed to drink anything else but water. And I think I had to fast every

Monday for a month for like, I don't know, most of the day. I I I could eat not until five or six or something in the in the evening. And and I made it no problem. It wasn't even that difficult to do. And so it tells me, like, I have the ability to exert self control. I'm choosing not to, which I which I think, again, that that gets to the opening thing I said about addictions. It's like, I mean, I I I totally get it. Sometimes the things are hard, but like,

I don't know. I I think we do ourselves a disservice when we don't recognize that we are in some ways failing to exert self control while also recognizing that the thing that you are able to easily control maybe for somebody else. My wife, as an example, has no problem driving by a gas station. Does not deflinch her a bit. And every time I drive

by a gas station, it just feels like an opportunity to have tried something delicious or something like that. It sounds pathetic when I say it out loud. Anyway, so, but just because it's easy for you, doesn't mean it's easy for someone else. And so I think we need to be gracious in that with people.

But at the end of the day, it is still something, that pulls us away from the goodness goodness of god if we're being controlled by something, or have a or or or or dragon chains, Jacob Marley style. And a lot of that stuff, I think, goes to to maybe just not dealing with stuff in a firmer manner. So okay. Hey. Maybe you got any thoughts on that. Maybe I got it wrong. Maybe you've you've run into similar things. Maybe you've kicked the old gas station habit, you got advice for old Ben, (515) 517-0085.

Call or text. I would love to hear from you. Okay. I got scammed. I got I knew it's embarrassing. This is embarrassing, to be honest with you. Because, like, I kinda knew it. I'm looking my my lawnmower broke. I got a riding lawnmower.

We have a decent amount of stuff to mow, and there's a belt that broke. Now I can replace the belt, but, like, the belt keeps breaking. And, like, this this lawnmower is kind of in rough shape largely to our own malfeasance in doing. And so I thought, well, I'm gonna go look and and see if I could pick up like a like a riding lawnmower on the old old Facebook marketplace. And so, I mean, I could I could have been looking for, five, ten minutes, and I came across, like most of the stuff is out of my price range, what they want for these riding lawn mowers. But there were a couple that were, you know, some sweet zero turn actions, and one guy had wanted, you know, I don't know, $1,100 or something like that for a for one. But it was beat to crap. Like, I don't know if you guys run anything into stuff, but, like, is the housing is cracked, and the back looked like he was using it at at a

one of the derbies, a demolition derby. And then there was then there was, like, a really nice, like, but older

John Deere riding lawn mower had been from, I said, from 2010. And it had, like, four pictures and had it wasn't, like, stock photos. Like, it was out from where someone had been mowing or whatever, and they had, a picture of that number of hours that it ran. And

I don't It was like 522. Right? So you probably got about half through the life of the mower or something like that. And it wasn't a particularly great picture. Like, the the thing had been kinda yellowed and grayed. I thought, oh, well, know, it's used, but I'll I could totally I could totally do it. And so I had looked beforehand.

I checked the profile of the person. They wanted it because they it wasn't like it wasn't super cheap. It's still like 900 bones or whatever. And and so I I thought, you know, most time when someone's gonna scam me, they're offering way too good of a deal. And like, this was a good, this was a great deal, but it wasn't like a blow your mind crazy deal, but it was pretty good. And so I checked the profile of this person and it's brand new. It's like six hours old or something. And I thought, oh no, it's a scam. Because like they've just created a Facebook profile to scam people.

But then I wanted them more and I wanted it the price that it was, it seemed like a really good deal. And, like I said, and so I wanted it to be true. And I I look I realized in retrospect that, like, the red people are, firing bills and warnings all over the place, and I'm I've casually aware of them, acknowledged that they are likely true and yet persisted. And so what I convinced myself was though, is that someone may have just created this Facebook, like legitimately someone could not be on Facebook, but then create a Facebook profile just for the purposes of selling a mower, right? It's a big enough thing that's worth doing. And I thought, well, I mean, they were they looked like a younger couple in the picture. And I thought, well, I mean, it'd be odd kinda not to have a Facebook. Again, alarm number two, but maybe they just stayed off it, but they're gonna sell this thing. And they offered they offered part of the offer for the mower was they would deliver. I'm like, okay.

Well, sweet. Because I actually don't have really I can't I can't fit this bower into my truck or something. And so I thought, wow. Okay. This is gonna be righteous. And so I I said, hey. I'll take it. Will you deliver? They said, yeah. We're you know, it's in Norwalk or something. So it's, like, you know, thirty thirty five minutes away. And that's what they said. They say you're about thirty five minutes away, so we'll deliver it for x number of dollars. I said, okay. Sounds great. I said, it still feels like a scam, but but they were responding back to me, and it felt good. I'm a speed the story up. So this is where I made the biggest mistake. They're like, hey. Would you be willing to give us a deposit?

And I thought, you know, this feels scammy, don't it? It feels scam. I've never given a deposit to anything, but I thought it a $900 more. And, I could give them, like, what the the liberty fee was gonna be, like, 50 or $60. And so I thought maybe what they were like, again, if I was rationalizing, in what way could it be true and honest? Someone's like, we could drive all the way out there and spin the gas, load it up in the trailer or whatever, and then you decide you're not gonna get it, or you try to haggle us down on price or something. And so, you know, in good faith, could you give us a little bit of money to, you know, to to know that we're you're serious? And so, again, this was super scammy, and I knew it. And I said, yeah. Fine. I I was I I offered to do the delivery. I said, look. I'll pay the $50 or $60 for the delivery. I'll give you that in good faith.

That way, you know, frankly, if they drove out there and unless they had misrepresented or I just changed my mind, I don't know. It felt kinda reasonable to me. Okay. So they say, yeah. That would be great. I probably could have said $5 in retrospect, and it wouldn't matter because they were just scamming me. And then, they send me, a PayPal thing, and they say, one, send it friends and family, which means, you can't you can't fight it. I didn't know that at the time if it goes wrong. And two, it wasn't in the name of the person from Facebook. They're like, hey. I I I my it's my brother. Can you send my brother has a PayPal. Can you send it to him? And doggone it. I mean, this sorry. I don't mean to it's not stereotyping. It sounded like a Nigerian prince type of name. You know what I'm saying? And again, like, I I'm like, nope. This is a total this is a total scam. Just a scam.

And I did it anyway. That's so stupid. It was so dumb. I I I did it. And the person's like actively engaged.

And so but here's what happened. After I did that, if I was scamming somebody, what I would do is use this profile, make this same thing with like fifteen, twenty people, collect all their money, and then just bail. But not this person. Like, I they're keeping me on because they don't, like, delete the marketplace item. They don't close their profile. They they they don't stop responding to my messages. Like, they're actively engaged. They're like, hey. We're coming by. Like, 04:45. I get off work at four. We'll get the trailer, and we'll take it out. I'm like so, like, there was just enough there for me to be like, I don't know. Maybe I'm just being overcautious because I worry about my cynicism here. A lot of the the we we're we're running this between interactions between men and women, especially in the Christian space, that, like, we've gotten so

cautious of impropriety impropriety that, like, I don't know. We like,

we're almost treating. We've almost set men especially up for feeling like that you can't even talk to anybody. Like you can't do a nice thing, lest it be misinterpreted. And like, here's the thing that men are, you don't have to tell men that. Women have always had to do that because often it is misinterpreted.

Dudes dudes can just see kindness and think it's something else. But guys are hesitant to even be kind because they're worried about what it might be implying to someone who's looking for it in the wrong in the wrong way. And so, anyway, I'm cautious that I'm being overly cynical about this thing. But, anyway, we get to the point. It gets about 04:00, and I say, hey. You guys still coming? They're like, yep. You know? And then they said they'd like, we we dispatched it ten minutes ago. I'm like, oh, no. Oh, no. No one ever says that. This is totally a translated word. Dispatched it.

And so this is where the scam becomes, like, even more obvious. What they do is they go, hey. It's on the way. Oh, our our our guy broke down, and we gotta change the tire. And, there's gonna be can you give us a little extra money to help cover, you know, the expense of the mechanic? And then, you know, you can pay the balance when we bring it there. I'm like, okay. No. Of course not. And, they'd sent they again, this ruse, they've taken some time here. Like, these aren't these aren't lazy with their with their scamming because they sent a picture of the guy working on the tire of of this trailer that was supposed to be carrying the thing over the car or something. And so

this is where I said, okay. Like, obviously, I'd admitted to my family. I've been I've been scammed. This feels like a very there there's 2% of me that's like, maybe this is gonna pull through. It's gonna pull through, Ben. I'm an optimist at heart. Okay? And so I said, hey. Since you took a picture of the guy changing the tire, can you send me a photo just because I'm curious of the mower on the trailer attached to that same car? Just so I can be confident that you guys are on your way, and maybe I can meet you and pick up. I offered something dumb. I don't remember what it is. And they're like, sure. I'm like, okay. And then radio silence.

And the scam was complete. Old man, old guy who knows. I could pick out the scams forever. Like, hey. That's a scam. We we bought, I mean, a 100 things off the Facebook marketplace. I showed my kids, hey. This is what scamming looks like. And, they had just threaded the needle

in such a way, combined with my optimism and my desire for this, great deal mower that, yeah. Yep. They got me. They got me for 60. And, I was go I mean, again, they just they put some more effort into it. I was kind of impressed by the scam.

I tried to send the guy a PayPal. You can't you can't fight it. If you use the heads up now. When people ask you to do this, if you use the friends and family thing on the PayPal option, they don't charge you the fee, but they you can't fight it. Like, you can't go back and say, hey. It was a scam. Can I get my money back? Because you told they were friends and family. Facebook or PayPal's gotcha because you're lying. Anyway, I thought I'd tell you my scam story. Have you been maybe you've been scammed. You've been scammed, and was it a good one, or did you fall for something dumb? I'd be interested in it. Life from the Path, Bob Eisner complaint line (515) 517-0085. One, if you need to if you wanna ridicule me for my falling for this scam, like, I totally deserve it. I knew it all day. I just knew it, and I wasn't willing to let it go. It is embarrassing.

But if you wanna you wanna mock me and get that out of your system, that's totally fine. If you've been if you've been part of a scam and you could provide me some consolation that says happens to the mediocre of us, man, and tell me your scam story. I'd I'd love to hear it. (515) 517-0085. Call, which means leave a voice mail, or you can just text it over. Either way, that'd be super exciting. Alright. Jude nine, one of the strangest verses in the Bible. Without question, one of the strangest verses in the Bible is Jude nine, and it reads, but Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, the Lord rebuke you. Question of long swirled around this verse and the death and burial of Moses in general. The canonical record of the death and burial of Moses is shrouded in mystery in Deuteronomy 34. Verse one says, now Moses went up from the Plains Of Moab to Mount Nebo to the top of Pisgah,

which is opposite Jericho, and the Lord showed him all the land, Gilead, as far as Dan. A few verses later, verses five to six adds, so Moses, the servant of the Lord, died there in the land of Moab according to the word of the Lord, and he buried him in the valley in the land of Moab opposite Beth Peor, but no man knows his burial place to this day. Okay. So no man knows. After seeing the promised land from afar, Moses died alone in the presence of the lord. Then something mysterious happened. Moses did not have a normal funeral and burial. The text says that he, presumably Yahweh, buried Moses in a secret grave. Nothing in this chapter mentions the devil, Michael, or a dispute about Moses' body. The mysterious nature of Moses' burial proved to be fertile soil in which Jewish speculations and legends would grow. One source of discussion was the Jewish work entitled The Assumption of Moses. Another Jewish text called The Testament of Moses also mentions these events, although scholars are divided on whether these were two separate works of the same work under two different titles. Whatever the case, the text of these writings is incomplete, and the part that refers to Moses' burial has been lost. To complicate matters further, Jude might never have seen these writings and could have been referring to an oral tradition familiar to his original readers. Regardless of the specific source, we can conclude that Jude's readers knew about this tradition since Jude assumes they understand what he is discussing without further context. Does that mean that the original text or tradition Jude references was the inspired word of God? No. Just because the Bible quotes a non inspired text or refers to an oral tradition not found in scripture does not mean those texts and traditions were inspired by God. That's true. You find that in multiple places. In fact, it's frustrating.

Even, from an Old Testament perspective, they're like, hey, man. You want more detail on this, but wasn't this written down in the history of the kings of Israel? And you're like, okay. But I don't have that. So and then you're like, well, maybe I am I missing something by by not having it? That's kinda what they're getting at. Says the Bible is a historical book, which means it will include historical facts that may be found in other writings or traditions.

The biblical writers were moved by the spirit to include these non inspired texts or traditions in the inspired text scripture because those texts or traditions were historically accurate and reflected the truth god wanted to communicate in that portion of scripture about that historical event. Therefore, we can conclude that Jude's inclusion of this story about Michael and the devil is historically reliable since the spirit of God moved Jude to include it in the New Testament as his historical account. After Moses' death, there was a dispute about his body that arose between the devil and Michael, the archangel. But why? The most plausible explanation comes from Richard Bochum. Oh, good. Oh, Dickie Bauckham, who argues that the devil disputed with Michael about the body because Moses was a sinner. Oh, curious. Furthermore, Moses was not just any sinner, but he was a murderer. Okay?

The devil therefore laid claim to Moses' body, and such a claim was meant to be not only over Moses' body but over his soul. Because Moses has so flagrantly violated the law of God, he stood condemned. This explanation comports well with what we know of the devil who's also called the accuser of the brethren, excuse me, in Revelation twelve ten. The dispute in Jude nine was not merely an argument, but the Greek words Jude employs speak of a legal battle. The devil was laying legal claim to Moses based on Moses' sin. What's interesting is, like, couldn't he make that same claim against everybody? I mean, I suppose it's particularly

highlighted because it is is Moses, but I I think we have to realize that whatever this contention is is that, like, the same thing could be true for anybody. The devil was laying legal claim to Moses based on Moses' sin. We see something similar in Zechariah three one.

That was, Then he showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. Joshua, the high priest of Israel, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan stands at the right hand of Joshua to accuse Joshua of sin before the Lord. This accusation was not unfounded, for Zechariah three three tells us that Joshua was standing before the Lord in filthy garments, representative of sin and guilt before the Lord. Satan's claim appeared to be legally valid at first because Joshua was indeed a sinner who deserved condemnation, again, everybody. God, however, provided Joshua with festal robes, replacing his guilt with the Lord's own justifying righteousness. In a similar fashion, the devil is making a legal claim against Moses that Moses deserves to be condemned for a sin. Such an accusation against the servant the Lord demands a clear response. Oh, boy.

The mysterious passage we'll just skip to end here. The mysterious passage proves quite relevant and powerful, reminding us humbly to obey our lord by faith, resting in the truth that the judge of all the earth will do what is right. Furthermore, it provides immense comfort to the believer. The devil will accuse us of sin and guilt, but our lord has overcome our sin and guilt to the cross so that none of his accusations against us will stand. We have been clothed with Christ's righteousness, and all our filthy garments were buried in a grave that no one will ever find. It's it's an interesting thought is that, like, like I said, if it's it's the same for us as it would be for Moses, everybody's kind of in the same, you know, broad predicament. Is like, is there a spiritual tussle over your body? I mean, not the body doesn't care. I think the I I would agree. I think the implication is the soul, but

it's if it's true for Moses, wouldn't it be true for everybody? And is there that level of, I don't know, spiritual tussle? I mean, now here's one of the things, though, is that Revelation does tell us is that,

Satan was cast out of heaven, and is no longer able to accuse the brothers. And, again, this is where it it depends on your end times theology, but, like,

when in in the book of John, I believe it is, or maybe it's maybe Matthew. Somebody he goes I I think it's John. Jesus goes, I saw Satan cast from cast down from heaven. And so and, like, these are like, it's part of the associations of, like, how do you know the kingdom of god has arrived and that Jesus was bringing it. And these were multiple things that Jesus had said. Hey. Like, if you know the the kingdom has has arrived because, you know, if I cast out demons in this way and blah blah blah. And so I saw an angel fall like heaven, Satan fall like lightning from the skies and things like this. And so if if that happens at at Jesus'

kinda like the Jesus event, so his birth, life, death, resurrection, all that stuff, and all those things happen, we're not waiting for Satan to be cast out. He's cast out. He's bound in some way because of what Jesus has done, then then maybe it wouldn't be true anymore. Like, these these this process of accusing in a spiritual way over over the brethren because of Jesus. Like, the thing that Jesus had set to do that is like always in effect is always true, but had like a a moment in time of which it was actually displayed or demonstrated. I don't know. Maybe it goes away. I don't know. I don't care. I it probably has no, like, very little impact on anything. It's just a curious,

thing to consider, and I do like a good, a good description on, Jude nine. Alright. Thanks for hanging out with us so far on live from the path. I very much appreciate it. If this is your, this is your first time listening to the program, I need you to know that you're listening to something odd. Live from the path, we broadcast, I mean, mostly

mostly every week. But, you know, the show's been going for let's see. It's 2005. So you're talking about, almost

almost no. That's not right. 2010. That's better. 2010. So, you know, we're in our fourteenth year of broadcast. We'll be in, fifteen years of live from the path,

next year. And, normally, there's, like, a cadre of folk in this room. I it's the I think this is only the second show that we've ever done that just had one guy on it. And so, it's if if you find this dry or boring, it's because there's no one else in here. It's completely my fault. I it's not vanity so much as, like, I just don't like when we don't put a show out, and so I was free, and so I came into one. But, there's generally some dudes around here and, you know, adding commentary and changing the voice around a bit and, just livening up the room. It tends to be a pretty live atmosphere. And so if this is your first time listening to the show, maybe go back and check the last one. Although, I think we had our, we had some youngsters in for the show, the last show, and then, maybe most of the crew was in there the the episode before. But, anyway, just, you know, this, this if you like it, great.

If not, maybe give us another chance at a at a back episode, and I'd be curious to get your, to get your thoughts on on those things. But, we're trying to round the thing out here and and give some advice. We do give some advice on, on something called Dear Live From The Path, and, basically, we wanna make sure that when people got problems and they articulate them out to the to the ether, they should be getting,

hopefully, some advice that has some semblance of a relationship to what god said is good. And so a lot of the advice that's given out in the secular advice columns, I mean, sometimes it aligns, but, I think we find a lot of, a lot to be wanting, a lot left to be desired on the advice on pointing people to what God would say is good. And so that's the goal on Dear Life From The Past. So we got a couple things to to get to, and then we will

and then we'll tuck up the show. Sorry. I lost this is where this is where I run into trouble. It's like, normally, there's people in the room to kinda cover my space here, and I don't have to do the Dear Life From The Past. And so now I gotta find what I was looking for. Okay. I got it. I got it. I got it. Okay. You guys ready? This is gonna be difficult. See see how I do. Dear

life from the path. My husband and I had a baby right around the time my father remarried. I didn't know my new stepmother very well when she started giving me parenting advice. The issue is her convictions are not in line with mine and also conflict with the advice from the CDC or the American Academy of Pediatrics. Oh, boy. Some examples, full colon. She insists breastfeeding is stunting the baby's growth. What? Who thinks that? She's fine. That baby should be put face to put to bed face down, which I think is dangerous, and that holding a baby in a car is just as good as a car seat. What kind of wild woman is this? Those are weird things to come together.

I do my best to smile, nod, and go about my business, but she's really pushy and keeps saying she was a nurse, so she knows what she's talking about. Was she, what do mean she keeps saying that she was a nurse? Was she actually a nurser? After hearing about that nursing experience one too many times, I asked her son about it. Oh, here we go. And it turns out she earned a nursing assistant degree via correspondence and failed twice before barely passing. She never worked as a nurse.

Being direct with her hasn't helped. Talking to dad hasn't helped. They're newlyweds. Walking away doesn't help. She follows me. What choice do I have short of banning her from my house or coming to blows, which would be effective, but not the way I wanna go? Oh my. That

yeah. That's a that's a tricky wick. That's a tricky wick because well, I tell you what's frustrating. I like, here I'm gonna sympathize with you a lot is that when people can't seem to take not even just a hint,

but, like, you say something them direct to directly you say something to them directly, and it it doesn't really have an impact on them. I I have had this

at times where there's been, like, behavior or just a way of interacting with people in close relationships around me. And, I've said, hey. I don't

I don't care for that. I don't I don't like it. I would prefer this. It makes me think, you know, whatever it is, whatever the the reaction is, like, something that's that's that's not right, not good about myself or something like that. And, like, hey. I would really like I would appreciate you changing it. And sometimes sometimes and then in those relationships, I've had people who just like, yeah. I mean, I hear what you're saying.

But they just don't really wanna they're not motivated to change anything about it. Like, they they're willing to dismiss and go, I just I think you're being silly and persist in the thing. Now here's the problem. As people who are have strong convictions, sometimes their ability to stick to those convictions, even in the light of people's passivity or unwillingness to hear it or something like, I don't know. There's something honorable about that. But, like, her stuff seems to like, people don't seem to be able to draw the line on, like, hey. What is a strong conviction, and what is just, a matter

of your personal opinion? And even if like, of course, you believe your opinion is the best. That's why you hold it. And so the fact that it's your opinion, and it's not surprising. It's like, I'm not just saying that because I believe but I believe I believe it because I believe that it's right. Well, of course, what kind of idiot, like, has a personal opinion that they know to be wrong or that they think is not the best? That's not again, it's always more gray than that. And so just I'll just presume that if you're trying to give me advice, you're giving me advice because you think it's best. But there's a humility in recognizing that maybe you don't know

all the things or that maybe what worked for you doesn't work for everybody or that things have changed a bit or you could be wrong, or you know what? It's actually a bit of a fifty fifty. And like, you know, some you get the 52% landed on you think you shouldn't give your kids breast milk, even though everybody in the world has done it forever. You think it's a problem. Mhmm.

But, like, it's it's that kind of thing. And so maybe unfortunately, it's it's hard to it's not like you're gonna have this conversation with this person. I I don't don't think it would go very well. But, like, I think you gotta stick to your guns. Try not to have animosity towards it. Like, she's unless she's trying to be manipulative, which I is possible. Right? Like, she just doesn't because because some again, some of these things seem a little bit weird. It's like to hold on to as a belief. But, like,

I I think don't back down. I think I would just continue to be firm, but you need to be try your best to be firm without animus. So, like, you don't have to yell at her. You gotta try not to get the reason it gets frustrating, and we tend to express frustration, she's like, oh, I shouldn't have to say this 10 times. I mean, you're right. You shouldn't have to, but you might have to. And so the the more you can help, you know, not allow that to control you, don't let her persistence, you know, make you mad. Don't the fact that you gotta repeat yourself. Like, again, I I get it. And sometimes anger will help, but sometimes anger, if this person is not getting your, like, normal pleas,

the anger might get through to her, but it's going to probably stick in the wrong way. It won't just be a, oh, yeah, I've overstepped my bounds. Like, see, the people tend to remember the anger, which is almost always in some form or another a bit of an overreaction, except for it just carries the context of all the ways you've talked with this person. And so I would say persist in your firmness, like, Hey, you know what? I hear what you're saying, but,

you know, we're gonna keep breastfeeding. And, yeah, I I know you're comfortable with it, but, like, call me wacky, but I'm not. And so no holding the kid in the car. And, if we missed out of the kid not remembering at all that, they were just held in the seat and didn't have to go in the car seat, well, it's just a risk I'm willing to take. I get to make decisions. And so, yeah, I would just persist in it, and and try to keep it lighthearted,

and maybe eventually she'll give it up. If it if it becomes I mean, if it becomes outrageous, you know, draw a firmer line if you have to. I but I would say, especially as your your dad's got a new relationship here, you've got a new relationship here. There's probably other things happening contextually too that that bake into it is just try to hold do your best to hold your line, but do so graciously

and let it persist for for a while before you take any additional actions there. Okay. Secular says,

because dad refuses to accept that his bride has misrepresented herself, pray he stays in good health and doesn't give her his power of attorney for health care. As what? Did I miss someone? Do we mean because she might do something wrong

to him claiming to be a nurse? Is that the I don't okay. That wasn't the main point, I guess. I I mean, I get that she's either she's blind or deceitful, but I I don't know. I think I think she's trying to impress the daughter, to be honest with you, and just doing it so poorly and dumbly. As to her unwanted and incorrect advice on childcare, listen, smile sweetly, and exercise your option as a mother not to follow it. Continue breastfeeding, position your little one in the crib as you've been instructed by reliable sources, and never ever let her hold the baby while she's in the car. It's against the law, and it could be fatal. Well, yes. Yes. Yes. Of course. Yeah. Okay. I think we mostly agree there. I just I would say the dynamic of her being new stepmother ish

complicates it because you just don't know, you don't know what her motivation is. And so just try to, try to think the best of her, even though how she's talking to you makes it feels like she doesn't think the best of you. This is a common marriage problem too,

is that like, it's hard to think the best about people who you believe are talking to you in a way that feels like they're disappointed in you. Like, it's it's a weird bounce back.

I know this because I think I do. I I do this. And it's in in some ways that, like, it's very it's very difficult to hear someone who was disappointed in you and then have you continue to think very highly of them. It's not like a normal defense mechanism. And so I think this woman is wrong, and I think you should not follow her advice.

But, like, is it possible that you, you know, are thinking worse of her than you should simply because she disagrees with you or not recognizing that? Is it possible that although dumb, she's trying to get your attention and show you that she has some wisdom to add? Like, basically, if you if she gives advice that you follow, maybe she has an in. You know, she feels fits in in the stepmother role a little bit better. And so people people have got some quirky motivations or actually, let me take that back. People have some very good motivations for doing some very quirky

things. And so, you know, play it out. If if I'm wrong and it's worse and it's nefarious and there's mustache twisting and she's manipulative and dangerous, then, you know, you're gonna figure that out eventually, but don't draw any conclusions too quickly and and do your best to be kind.

Alright. Time for one more? I asked that. The the thrift store priest says, yeah. We got time for time for one more. Dear oh my. Dear dear life from the path, I met this guy at work. He was everything I'm looking for in a guy. During a lunch walk, he told me about his breakup with his ex and how he moved out and bought a house.

He lives with his son and his nephews and their family. What? How old is this man? The entire two months we dated were amazing. There may have been a couple of red flags my coworker and friends noticed. He couldn't message me often after work or on weekends, and he was always so busy with his kid, we couldn't go on a date.

You date oh, sorry. When you said we dated for two months, but you couldn't go on a date, what what do you mean? Like, held his hand at lunch at work? Is that what we're calling we don't need to up the bar here. He told me his ex was not in the picture, which I thought was odd since his son is only two. Okay. Okay. Better. I don't know why I decided to do some internet research on him. Well, yeah, you do. But I found out he actually is married and bought the house with that, who he called his ex. When I confronted him about this, he insisted he had told me about it when we first started talking, which is not true. Now that the cat's out of the bag, he says he's getting back with her for his son, but still wants me in the picture as his side piece. Excuse me. Excuse me, ma'am. Is that what he said?

I I would like to keep you around as a side piece. The brass cojones on this man. I fell in love with him, life from the path, and he says he loves me too. I don't think it's right to do this, but I don't wanna stop talking to him. Should I block him and move on or stick around and and since he still wants me? Oh.

Oh. Oh, darling. Darling, darling. Yeah.

You need okay. Just directly, you need to get out of this right now. Right now. This is this is false. This is a false thing. It's, you know, it

almost has a relationship to that article we started with about something that is good and that has a way to be expressed healthily

goodly, it's not a thing, but in a healthy manner, something that can be good. And what you're being presented with is not even a second best. It's a cut

rate, bottom of the barrel version of what you deserve

and what true love is and what it's like to be cared for by someone and protected by someone and in a trusted relationship. You do not have this. I I boy, I the the the four four

scope pops in my mind. I don't know. I I do know what love is. I regret having done that. Where's boob at? He would he would regret having heard it. But, like, I I guess I don't wanna

I don't wanna say you don't know what love is, but come on. I mean, if if the main connections were thing only things you had at work, you couldn't date, you couldn't actually interact or message with the person outside of those parameters, you know he lied to you, you know he's willing to step out on a relationship.

Like, think about it. You're not thinking you're being too kind to him. He he didn't he didn't go, like, through a a weird change of circumstance, and you just kinda caught up in a in an interim piece. He intentionally misled you as he bought a house with his wife and for his family so that you would open yourself up and do and have relationship with him, that you shouldn't have have been in in with none of the promises or guarantees that should be offered in a safe relationship like that.

And so this man is deceitful, and he's continuing to do it. He's continuing to manipulate you. He's making it sound like his feelings for you were pure in some way, and that the the other things that are going on in his life, those that's the his family's like the side piece. Like, you are actually the real this it's all bogus. These are all lies. He's a manipulative turd,

and you need to get away from him as soon as possible. And then here's my encouragement, which won't be a surprise given the the notion of the program here is that, like, I want you I want you to to to get to follow Jesus

with everything that you have. Want you to give your life to it because it's true and real and he loves you. And by doing that, you start to be open and receptive to the things that he calls good and what these types of relationships should be. And the reason that that's important is like, God has created the desire for it in you. And it is a right and proper expression, wanting to be married and have these types of relationships with people. But like,

he he created them as it's a picture of our relationship with God, and those are trusting relationships, safe relationships,

relationships of which you grow and blossom. And that's not what you're being offered, and I'm I'm it feels like you don't know the difference. And but the problem is is like, can't you can't just go into the Bible and start using it for like shallow marriage advice. It has to flow through the creator. You have to know those things and trust them because you know Jesus and trust him. And then that stuff will work out. If you try to treat it just as like, as like a marriage program, if you try to use it for,

biblical truths and precepts as marriage counseling, or understanding what a good marriage is without otherwise recognizing the character of from whom they come, it still won't hold. And so Jesus first,

and then understanding of, how God looks at these relationships, what he created them for, what their what they, what their characteristics are, and then it will help you be significantly more discerning in the future. In the meantime, you need to break up with this man, refuse contact. I I don't know where it's at, but you should consider moving or moving jobs.

If you won't, if if he tries to keep a conversation with you, like, would just it's a hard cutoff. And if he won't respect that, I think you it's it's okay to walk away. Now the the the the extra question, I suppose, is do you tell the wife?

And here's what I would say is, like, this is a conversation we had a a few shows ago. From my perspective, the answer is yes. I think it's totally fine. I there's no reason to think that it's not your place. This man is dangerous. Now you don't know what you're walking into. You don't know the circumstances in which these things are happening, but he's clearly in the wrong regardless of what else is going on. And so you might wanna be cautious about that.

I, you know, I suppose the risk would be is that you speak into a relationship of which there's some sort of physical violence or abuse going on and that you've exacerbated it by by talking into it in that way. So, I mean, I'd be cautious, but in general, I I don't know that it deserves protection. The wife probably deserves to know.

And so, hey. Maybe you disagree with that. We didn't get any pushback on that when we talked about it on the on the previous program, but I don't know. Is there am I missing something? Is there a nuance in here where you guys feel like it shouldn't be that easy or that direct or maybe it's not her place to say? It's hard coming from the person who otherwise participated. But

yeah. Yeah. I I yeah. And I guess the other thing is is, like, you gotta not do it out of not out of malice. It should be in service to the wife. But if if you can't do it with that heart, then you shouldn't do it. But I don't know. Let me know. (515) 517-0085. Call or text. I'd be curious on what your thoughts are.

Secular says, Close your eyes, dig deep, and see if you can feel around and locate a shred of your self esteem. Why would you be content to be a side piece in this philanderer's life? He doesn't love you. I doubt he loves anyone but himself. Do yourself a giant favor. Quit listening to his sales pitch. Block him and find someone who can give you the love you crave. Holy buckets. Doesn't that seem like two? That seem like two where we got relatively close

with with our advice and secular advice? I mean, they didn't say to love Jesus, so, I mean, I suppose that's that's different. But, you know, we got that. We got the the initial assessment part. Right? So, I mean, city living. Okay. Hey, man. I think that's all we got on the on the program today. I appreciate you hanging out with with me. And, again, any feedback on the show, for either me or the thrift store priest, that's (515) 517-0085.

Call or text. We'd love to hear from you. I think we're gonna have at least a couple fellows back next week. If we do, we'll, maybe we'll put on a program and catch up with everybody. If not, it might be a week. You know, I probably won't subject you to this again, but, enjoy it in the meantime. And oh, shoot. Now I said in the meantime. How am I gonna end the show? Let me say something else. Hey. Working on some new merchandise.

I a new shirt couple of shirt designs. I gotta get that who's this Yahweh shirt put out. We'll we'll work on it. We got some stuff happening. Anyway, we'll see how next week goes. In the meantime, be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to Live From The Path.