Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the Path. And you're listening to Live From The Path coming from the Pathway Studios here in Johnston proper. Thanks for allowing us into your living room or your car or to the toilet.

Hey. Oh, boy. That just went somewhere. Do you ever listen to you ever listen to podcasts on the John? No. Never. No. How about watching YouTube or Facebook movies? Nope. Never. Dan? Not not often. Not often. But yeah. Yeah. It can it can happen. I might read emails. Okay. Okay. So everyone so if if I get production. If I get an email from you, you have been I I don't send them. I read them. Oh. Oh. Oh. But you'd wait to respond. I'll respond later. Oh, yeah. Yeah. I only watch movies with closed captioning.

I don't ever listen to full sound video ever. Oh. I'm alright with that. I think it's distracting. Oh, just holistically? Yeah. Yeah. I just don't like it. I would rather read what's happening. Yeah. I think I do think what what do they call the titles on the screen? Close captioning. Yeah. But it's called something else for the movies. Anyway,

like real I Oh, yeah. It gives it away. Like, because it shows the whole sentence or the response on the screen before the action always happens visually. And so I actually think it's ruining me for taking in movies because I do far prefer to to see the the subtitles or, you know, or the the closed captioning. But I I do think it ruins probably some of the well crafted moments from the directorial staff This is odd. On the movie. Coming from a man who studies the Bible and goes, ruined. Okay. Here's what we got going on the show this evening. Now first, I will tell you, we are absent the Thrift Store's Priest

is is taking a spot this week and and May for a number of weeks. We'll see if we can bring some some folks rotating it out. But we are going to be absent Buva for at least a few. And I will well, hopefully, we'll talk to him. I think maybe maybe we'll see if he's available to talk to next Monday and he can kind of explain more about his situation.

But he is a he is a him and his wife are proud new parents. Yeah. And and so he's gonna be spending a little bit of time in that arena. It's a cool story though. So I I won't I don't wanna take that. I'll give him a chance to tell it, and we'll see if we can get that hooked up. He's not even in the area, so I can't just, like, drag him in or take a microphone to his house. Yeah. So anyway, we'll hopefully, we can have him kind of inform you all because and you guys can be, you know, excited and praying for him and his family and that kind of stuff. So anyway, he's out for a little bit of time. So the thrift store priest is is holding up the corner, and then we may have some other folks joining us just to kinda fill the fill the space. Yeah. Also, things going on actually tonight. One, seven seven chilling prophecies that every Christian

should know or should be wary of. Be wary of. Seven chilling prophecies from the bible that oh, that Christians can't ignore. Oh, sorry. I I mixed up two articles. The other article was seven TV shows Christians should be wary I'm sorry. I bet there's 50. Easily. Right? Okay. So, yeah, seven chilling prophecies from the bible that Christians cannot ignore. So I thought, okay. I'm gonna give these a shot. Maybe see if they chew me to the bone. Also, there's a there's a Baptist there's a Baptist minister somewhere in the Northeast, got a big church. I think it's like 9,000 folks, and he he preached a sermon recently and he's like, hey, the Bible never really says anything that you shouldn't have premarital sex.

And I said, oh. I feel like there's some scripture he's gonna have to ignore pretty completely. Yeah. And some some context and some building blocks that God built upon and then referenced throughout the scriptures consistently. Yeah. I will so like, as a lead into that, I will say, for example, the the scriptures are not explicitly against

polygamy. Like, there's negative examples of it, but like if you're looking for thou shalt not have multiple whatevers, like you've got, the qualifications for an elder, you should have a single single spouse. But like it's not actually very split. Like if you look at the old testament, if you're looking for something that you wanna grab onto that's the same as I don't know, don't lie, it's not actually there. And so, like, to to your point, you do have to be you have to be thoughtful, holistic about how you're reading scripture. I he's probably wrong at a more basic level

than whatever nuance may exist in there. Do we know is he married? I believe he is. Yes. Oh. I guess the like, is there a form of like, those are bad arguments. Right? And they're they're bad arguments because, like, you're basically saying that, like, it it is necessary to explicitly name every possible way that someone could not do the the thing that God said to do. Right? Like, if God said marriage is between one man and one woman, you're like, well, he didn't say anything about a guy in a horse in Antarctica

with a beanie baby on his shoulder. Right? Like, well, there's no mention of that. So I guess that's cool. Right? Like so, like, like, there's there's there's a process of argument that that that's called, but, it's bad. Like, this is bad. That's not a good representation of anything. Yeah. That's right. So, I mean, we'll talk about that. We'll we'll read the article that kinda covers his thoughts on the matter. And I actually do think there's there's a there's an interesting thing to key into that in some ways is very good. And in some ways, like, for everything that otherwise helps you enrich your bible study, people can really go in there and you can twist that same thing. And so, well, I think we'll get to that there. Also, maybe we'll start with this. I was I was out I was out running. Well, okay, like half running, half walking. I had the dog. And like, I like to take the dog on a walk to be honest with you because he he doesn't run all the time. He's a big dog and gets winded pretty easily. And so

he's like a built in break for me. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so so anyway, me me and the dog are out kinda huffing one out. We're gonna run run back and forth to the bridge. And I was praying and it was kind of I've kind of felt over the I don't know. Maybe it's the last number of months, at least eight months, year maybe. And it's like, I'm worried that I've settled into a

to to to a pattern, and that I am not being as I I don't know. Work doing doing all work for the gospel. Like and which is difficult. Maybe maybe you guys have had some of this experience. Right? Because, like, I mean, I do pastor stuff. I like I pre I teach every week,

but, like, I stopped I don't think I ever actually did this, but, like, I don't count my my studying because, like, I I study differently than I'm reading for listening for god, which in some ways is probably not right either, or it blends more than that. But I guess I would just think, like, the more the more your pet that your life gets into a pattern, sometimes it's perfectly righteous. I know ladies tend to struggle with this with motherhood. They're like, hey. Am I actually doing anything? Well, you're doing everything, actually. But because you get used to it, then it doesn't feel like, well, maybe am I am I missing out? Am I supposed to be serving differently or beyond that or whatever? And so that tension exists in in in normal circumstances, and it's existed a little bit with me here too. And so, you know, I just kinda preying on it on like, hey, am I am I missing are there opportunities that I'm not taking? Are the things the basic pattern of my life that doesn't allow me to be exposed to

opportunities that I would take advantage of if I had them, if I saw them or whatever? So I'm kinda praying on this thing. I guess this is not the answer I wanted because what I it's not like a voice from God or anything, but like the the the phrase was when you're ready to stop serving yourself,

you can come serve me. Mhmm. I'm like, well, dang it. Mhmm. That was harsher than I wanted. I was like, hey, maybe I can pick up a bible study here and there, like, find some, you know, if I have some people at the coffee or whatever. Like, was looking for a specific opportunity. Come to find out that, like, there's whatever the orientation of my life is, it at least maybe my mind or the spirit are saying it's self serving. Like, this is more focused on you. And not that any of the things, like, as I've subsequently kind of thought through it and prayed on and stuff, it's not like anything individual is like, I'm elevating myself above the Lord. But, like, it's it's where the patterns of your lives and even the things that are faithfully can faithfully follow Jesus

can easily become the things that are actually self serving to me in some way or another. It's just my mores have shifted. Like, my my the the line of which something can be self serving or not, starts to also look like following Jesus because that's what my normal life looks like. And so anyway, I I say that. I I guess I I don't even know if there's a discussion in here, but like, I didn't I wasn't ready for the thought that like Jesus kinda is just going, hey, just you tell me when you're done. You tell me when you're done following yourself, and then you can then you can come follow me. And it struck me because it's like, I can't do both. I cannot do both of those things. Those are very scripturally true. Like, you can't and because I what I thought of was like, you can't serve God and money. And then I thought, or me. Like, I can't serve God or me.

And so, anyway, I wasn't I think this is right. It was very humbling to me. I think this is right. And I think that is that that feels like a well timed Jesus advice. Yeah. Right? But, like, I only be I only say that is because, like, I I feel like, like, he has said something very similar

to me in the past where it's been like, I remember I was I set up, to go have coffee with somebody, and I didn't know why. I knew this fellow was on my mind, and I knew I'd been praying for him. And, like, I'm like, I I gotta I gotta just go coffee with him. I'll just go talk to him for a little bit. You know? Yeah. But I didn't know why. And I thought I wasn't particularly, like, seeking to spend time with God really consistently. Yeah. But I I knew that this was the right thing to do. And then I was just struck with an instant fear that, like,

I have to get my I have I have to get back to spending time with him. Mhmm. Otherwise, I what am I gonna meet this dude for coffee for? What am I even gonna say? Right? Like, I don't even know why I'm going. Yeah. Right. You know? And so, like and and and the the end thought that came out is is I was I was spending time with God because I had to, because I needed output. Right? Even if it's good output. Yeah. Even if I'm like, God, I can't go unequipped without the thing that you need me to say or at least the thought space you need to be to be in or like and and, like, you guys have met with people before. Like, I don't I'm not gonna sit down and write down a bunch of programmatic questions. I kinda need the holy spirit to lead a little bit and to help my brain think of the thing that I need to ask. Right? Like, God will will, know, guide the conversation, not in a freaky way, but, like, you know, like, you'll ask questions and, like, left to my own devices, I will just go,

how's work? Yeah. Right. You know what saying? And, like, I need if that conversation is gonna be any fruitfulness towards God or towards the man that I'm meeting with, I need God there. Yeah. And so my thought is I gotta get back in my bible to prepare for this conversation that I have coming up. Right? Yeah. And, like, that's serving me because, like, I wasn't it'd be like if I only had a professor relationship with my wife. Yeah. I exchanged ideas and information, and I needed to know what to do, and she told me. And then, like, none of the other relational relational aspect is there. And when I needed that information more is so I could go out into the world and do. Right? And I think pastors and, like, people who teach God's word or lead worship or this kind of stuff, right, there's both a I

need to and I have to balance. Right? And there's in there is still a base layer of I want to. Right? You're still doing all these things. You know? Like, no one's saying that you don't wanna be here. You want to be part of this, but, like, it got it got somewhere in there more of a have to. Right? Like, the especially the pair of you. Right? Like, come Sunday, you're you don't have a choice. You're gonna have to do this. Yeah. Right? You need to teach people for at least a half an hour on god's word of some kind. You know? And so, like, it starts to get jumbled up on on are you spending time with God for the outputs that are that are needed. You know what you know what that matches? I mean, every time we've read a survey that surveys like Christian pastors, you end up with, like, 30 or 40% who don't actually believe in the things they're talking about anymore.

And it it's because that kind of thing can get conflated Yes. Very easily. And it's I I don't know. Like, I don't know. Some of this may be related to, you know, just patterns of of living. Some of it may be like, I don't know. I'm I don't think I'm using my time well, just holistically. And then and but why? Well, I'm probably there's patterns of like, just I'm serving myself. This is what I feel like doing, so this is what I'm going to do. Here's what I'm not don't feel like doing, so I'm not gonna do that. Yeah. And, like, I I don't know. It just it just struck me. And then, it wasn't the sense again where, like, like, like, god wasn't, like, mad at me, but, like, it was a very clear, like, you know, you're you're you have to pick one and use you're choosing the other thing. And you would I know you don't see it that way, but let's I'm telling you now. That's what you're choosing. I'm like, well, crap. Then I'm thinking back through it. I'm like, well, yeah. I can see that actually. I I it does feel like I maybe I'm choosing that in this situation, in this situation, and so okay. Okay. I think I think it it is a continual

tension within a pastor, within a teacher. I mean, you're you're teaching because you evidently you have some knowledge. You have some talent. You have, you know, a certain amount of desire to to share this information that you have. So you're coming at it from a a good heart and a and a good purpose. And then there's the the flesh side you also enjoy doing it. God you know, it's like, is what I love doing. God's using me to you know, he gifted me in this way for for a purpose.

At the same time, you have to have a certain amount of ego to to stand in front of a a crowd and and and say stuff like, you probably don't know this till let me tell you. Yes. Right. Right. Right. Or or let me remind you or edify you or whatever. And so then, at least in my in my life that you go through the years of of kinda pull into tug of war back and forth, and you kinda set yourself straight like, woah. Is not about me. Who you know, it's about them. And then it's like, yeah. But I'm enjoying myself. You you you know, I think it's a continual I think that's a healthy thing, though, for the pastor or the teacher, the Yep. The leader to to continually evaluate themselves. Am I doing this for the right reason? Am I serving God? Am I serving man? Am I serving me? And and and sometimes that that switches back and forth if if we're not careful. Yep. I think that's where some times you read or hear about people out there that that fall from from pretty high lofty places in in position.

They got out of whack, and no one was there to to help them or see it or recognize it, and they also did recognize it or see Right. So that's healthy. It's healthy to to to go through that once in a while, I think. I thank you. And I was I was thankful for it. Like, I remember Yeah. I I looked at the dog like like he said it. And I remember there was like a a beat there where I'm like, oh, crap. And then almost directly after him, thank you. For like for like

that feeling like it was revealed to me in such very clear terms. Yeah. That that again, we just tend to be gracious with ourselves. I would never go, hey, do you serve God or do you serve yourself? I'm like, why serve God? Of course. And like, only God could then come back and go, not really. Because like everyone else, I might feel like I have to defend myself. But like, it was just me and the dog and Jesus. And like, whatever this was felt like, okay. Okay. And and frankly, it's helped me. There's been a few times where just like, I I think I was starting to do something or not do something. And and just that thing popped into my mind. It's like, you gonna serve you gonna serve Yahweh? Are you gonna are you are you done serving yourself? It was it's basically that first part. Like, okay. Okay. Okay. What's it like like, it's it's it's always Paul. Right? Like, it's follow me as I follow Christ. Right? Yep. And and, like, what maybe the danger is and I I'm only just speaking from personal experience here is, like, every once in while, I'll get it conflated where where I the phrase is now, let me help you follow Christ. Right? Like, don't like, it's no longer just follow me because I'm doing it anyway. It's now I'm gonna prepare to help you follow Christ. And, like, it just it like, there's there's a huge,

void there when it's just like, if if I was no longer on the hook for bible studies, with other people, discipling other people, if I wasn't leading youth group anymore and I wasn't leading worship, I was just a regular dude, and I had not taken on the role of trying to disciple anybody. I have zero idea what my time with God would look like. Because I feel like I owe it to both the good news that Jesus Christ is, that hasn't changed, and the person I'm talking to to make sure that I'm in my word, you know, and, like, and praying and, like, and spending time with God. And, like, if all that went away, is it does it would it leave me pursuing God by myself with the same veracity, or is it just me preparing

because I feel the a responsibility? Right? And, like, I think there is a nuance there, and I think that it's like, I would rather be caught having you follow me while I follow Christ instead of, like, feeling like I'm orchestrating you following Christ. Do know what I'm saying? Like, that's I don't think that's good. And and and and I I think that was a thing that God was reminding me of this week that, like, I'd been doing a lot of studying and a lot of reading that merely was meeting a responsibility that I had set up, not that I was, you know

I'm a I started going through Colossians, teaching through Colossians this past week. And so I was just doing like I I realized that I, gosh, I don't know much about Colossae, the city. Yeah. You know, like, I've never really preached to Colossians. I preached from it, but not like, let's just sit, open the book, and go through it. And, I I don't know. It kinda hit me, like, we we we spend as pastors, leaders, teachers, all the things, we we spend time with people that

that were some what am I trying to say? We we benefit from or or they benefit from us or there's a there's a there's some selfishness in there. Mhmm. You know? Yeah. Or leadership, you know, you're discipling is a purpose. But I'm looking at Paul, the apostle, and he's writing this letter to Colossae, a church he did not plant, a church he'd never preached at, a church he didn't really know anybody there except for the preacher who told Paul about the church. And he says in chapter one there a couple times, like, we just keep praying this for you, church. And I thought, I don't pray for any church I don't know. Right. Know, because,

because I mean, for one thing, I don't know them. But I mean, but like, there's a selfishness. I pray for things that that that will benefit me or help me or, Lord, that church does well. It makes me look good or or what you know? Don't know I'm trying to say, but it's a it's a selfishness there even just in our prayer life that I will only pray for you if I know you and and have a relationship. And and, like Paul's, like, saying made it sound like he prays a lot for that church. Right. Right. And it's a small church. It's like three house churches, a total of 45 people or so. Mean, it's it's it's not like the Metropolitan, you know, monster mega church. It's it's it's just this group of followers, believers, and and he's he's invested in them, but he doesn't know them. Right. And I'm like, man. Good. I don't know.

Jerk. Alright. Well, I I you know, maybe that if you connect with that at all, like, you know, if that phrase hit I used it with so I was talking to somebody else kind of about it a few days afterwards, and I I kinda struck them too. And so I don't know if it's helpful just to think about, like, hey. When you're done following yourself, you can come follow me. If that hits you and causes you to think and maybe maybe repent and shape what you're doing, like, whatever. It's I'm doing it. And so you go I'll go with you because you're as you're doing it. So,

anyway, maybe I have any thoughts. Or, actually, I'd be kinda curious if you have any situations where you're like it it wasn't what's I don't want the phrase it's a come to Jesus moment, but, like, there was where it felt like you just got you got stopped in your tracks, and it caused you to reassess something significantly

in your spiritual life, whether that's happened to you. If you wanna I'd just be curious if you have any stories like that that you could, you know, wanna share on the the life and the path Bob Eisner complaint line. That's at (515) 517-0085. Call or text (515) 517-0085. And I don't know. Like, you know, you may have any reaction to that conversation or just, hey, this happened. And especially, I I don't if there was something that stuck stuck with you. There was another one, like, I think in my mind

where at some point it was like, make it true. Like, whatever all the things that I that were like, I wish I could do this. And then they they were spiritually related. Sometimes they had a relationship to my family or my wife, and, like, it just for the longest time, it was like, well, make it true. Like, what are you what are we doing? What are you what are you lamenting? Like, go just go do it then if that's what you want your life to be. If you wanna change your life, gotta change your life. Go ahead. And it was it maybe feels like it's a similar vein, but alright. Alright. You're listening to life from the past. So let's let's talk about these let's talk about this Baptist preacher. Says there's no biblical basis for abstaining from premarital sex. I'm ready. K. Megachurch pastor oh, sorry. Megachurch Baptist preacher doctor Delmon Coates referenced problematic translations of the bible as he argued against the teaching that sex before or outside or outside of marriage. There

we have it. Look at this guy. Okay. He's he's setting the table, Dan. Yeah. In his sermon series that aim to clarify what has in quotes, clarify what has been distorted and misunderstood by the church for millennia. For what gain? For what gain would the church have an unpopular stance Yeah. Yeah. On people's drive to do whatever they want and to what? Right. Why would anyone do it? Yeah. I I suppose they're like people just wanna control, but, like, I don't know to what extent. Jeez. It says, I'm acutely aware I'm acutely aware that today's message is one that you ain't never heard preached in the church, admitted Coates. Mount Anon Baptist Church in Clinton, Maryland, a church of 9,000 people, aims to be a caring, Christ centered community church with a kingdom agenda. Boy, that don't fit on a business card. The

church let's see. The church values the word of god calling it unchangeable. Semicolon. It's always a semicolon. You got a semicolon in your statement of faith. You got yourself a problem. It is to be used to equip the saints to achieve our mission while also embracing godly innovation. Coates helps people to learn to live life with no limits. Okay. As part of his let's talk about sex sermon series, Coates attempted to dispel beliefs that have simply been passed down from generation to generation.

I'm obligated as a preacher of the word of God to preach the truth of the Bible and not to further myths, superstitions, and lies, said Coates. There are very few Christians, especially black Christians, who are introduced to the subject of sex in ways that were positive, open, honest, loving, accepting, and celebrated, Said Coates, in that experience, I believe is why there's so much sexual ignorance, dysfunction, trauma, guilt, and shame in our community. Now I actually kind of agree with him on that. I think not for the reasons he's setting up, but I think you can end up with very negative connotations of

sex growing up that then do not allow you to enjoy sex like you should. My wife always told the girls, sex is magical.

And now all they do is make fun of her all the time and go, sex is magical. I'm like, well, I mean, we got the positive spin on it. Guess, yeah, there you go. Coach went on to say the church's mishandling of this subject has had considerable consequences on our culture and our society. He argued okay. Here we go. I think this is the key thing. He argued that the difference is how the church is interpreted the word fornication.

Coates said, you cannot assume that it means in the text what it means today. The Greek word fornication in the Bible does not refer to premarital sex, said Coates. He referenced first Corinthians six when the apostle Paul says to flee fornication and argued that Paul wasn't referring to premarital sex. Porneia is the Greek word that appears 24 times in the New Testament. According to Coates, its root, he said, means a harlot or a prostitute. Coates argued the entire context is fleeing prostitution,

not fleeing premarital sex. Okay. So I'd like we we can finish out the article, but like, that's that's the key point. Now, here's a couple of things of which we should probably suss out on principle. Is it possible that words that are translated in your scripture meant something different when they were translated or when they were used than what they mean today?

Yes. Yes. Yes. That's that's certainly very possible. It's it's frankly it's it's part of the reason why people are still modifying translations because, like, certain things go out of favor. There was a good example, I wanna say, like, that Wesley Huff used recently, and it was around say, it was if something had to do with the King James, but, like, the king the way the King James

translated, it it did not mean the same thing. If we use that same word today as to when they translated in, like, the seventeenth century, like, it it literally does not mean it. So, like, we wouldn't understand what the scripture was getting at by continuing to use that phrase even though at the time, it was it was the best translation and meant exactly what they translated it as. So would it be fair to say, like, translations are allowed to keep changing because our vernacular keeps changing? That's correct. Not because the scriptures are changing. Yes. That's right. The words the words are the words, like and this is why it matters to know, like, what did it mean. This is, like, you you get this a lot of the tussle around same sex

stuff is is that like the argument falls against like, did the New Testament writers, generally Paul specifically, but also back into the Hebrew, did did they really mean like adulterous or non loving like relationships,

but or does it also apply to like people say, well, it's same gender, but we actually still love each other too. And so it's fine. Like, that's where a lot of the argument comes from. And you'll have kind of same sex affirming Christians who are like, yeah, it's because this is to keep similar to what he's saying, like it's it's to do with adulteress or well, not him. Like, non or or prostitution type relationships, it doesn't apply to like committed couples. So so on premise,

can this thing be can it be true that the words mean meant something different than how our current culture understand? Yes. That's possible. But the question is, does that apply here? Dan, were you looking up something? Well, I I I was just looking up that by the time this this the New Testament was written, this word that originally he's going back further. Right? Yep. Before the Bible was written, a New Testament was written. It it was talking about to sell. And by the time it came to the time the scripture was written, it had a broader meaning

that included sexual behavior, prostitution, extramarital, sexual intercourse, adultery, promiscuity, homosexuality, just the whole gamut. So, it had become more like all encompassing rather than just prostitution. So, he went back further

in order to draw the meaning he was looking for. Yeah. Right. So, like, the root the root of the word when it, like, may have been used in exclusively that way, but it continue to expand in its use in society to be beyond that kind of thing. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And so, like, I also he he also, like, specifically picked up on I was gonna I I meant to check this before the show started, but, like, that's not even the only word. So, like, I I don't think nor does it make sense in a lot of the context in which Paul is using, like when you or actually,

he also is, like, has to skip over the old testament. So, like, that that flexibility that may exist within the Greek word pornea or pornos is not the same, like, flexibility when you start looking back at some of the underlying Hebrew words that are talking about thing about specific things like adultery and like like sexual perversion and Qualifications of an elder. Yeah. Yeah. These types of things. And so, like, I I think, could you tell that story? Well, if you covered one eye,

and then refused to look at three books and just looked at one. Yeah. I mean, you could you could get there, but it's irresponsible. I mean, it's it's wrong and it's irresponsible. He got there irresponsibly, think, to Dan's point, which is where you have to be cautious. Like, I always like I know it sounds sometimes it sounds pretentious. You got a guy teaching up there, and he's like, well, the Greek blah blah blah. But, like, the thing that they're getting at is, like, if you're going to teach scripture, like these are the types of things you have to wrestle with is like trying to figure out,

because there's so many translations, like it could actually mean something. A lot of times it's deeper than what you think. Like it's, there's a there's a shallow word which which kind of like like love is a really good example. Like, a lot of times when you're seeing the word love in the bible, it has a connotation. And I would suggest to you that most of the time it's just deeper and broader than how we're taking it in and how our culture even uses the word love and like that's why the like people are wrestling with language and why kind of those root words are kind of interesting. They they do help illustrate something. What's what's another good example is when we think about, oh, I'm try I'm trying to think of the the the word that that talks about, like, what what was exchanged when Jesus died on the cross.

And so, anyway, like, that that's what they're wrestling with, and they're generally wrestling to try to get you, like, the fullest sense of what this is getting at just to make sure that in our current culture or even our the limitations of our English translations, you don't miss out on some concept or other. So like, in some ways it can sound pretentious, like if you're handling scripture well, this is one of the main like, really care about this. But it's also a way of which you can easily mislead somebody. So, like, you don't like the scripture the way it's written. You're like, oh, I think I do wanna have premarital sex and commit adultery, and I think it should be fine. Like, is this a door of which you can use to make something sound okay? It was like, oh, just they made a translation error. How I wanna behave is perfectly cool. Yes. Again, that's that's a lot of the thing that that people are debating when it comes to things like same sex marriage.

If you're trying to use the scriptures to say, well, it it doesn't it's not really getting at that. It's getting at this. It it gets down to a translation problem. And so, like, this is where, like, the war of it's it's the war of righteous rendering, trying to figure out, like, exactly what are these ancient words trying to communicate to us. But by digging down deep in there, like, confident people can totally just mislead you to the way of that you want to hear. And it actually that can even that can even happen true on not just the liberalization. You can find out in a more conservative way as well. Like, remember the example I gave? And I'm not advocating for polygamy. I'm just telling you that, like, I I like, it's very the examples of polygamous things causing problems in scripture are are legion.

But there's not a thing that goes, look, you you can't have multiple wives. And look, there's societal reasons why, like, it just made sense to do for the protection of of women for the care of that societal structures. Like, God didn't just come out and say, like, like, don't do it at all. Because it felt like there were reasons of which someone might still do it even though it's it's pretty clear that this is not God's design for us. He didn't design multiple ladies for Adam. Mhmm. And so anyway, I say that to say, like, I don't overplay your hand. I like, it just does it's not there, but it doesn't mean that, like, by the holistic notion of scripture, by clear understanding of design, by between old both old and new testament, I that we shouldn't be doing this. This is not a righteous path. But, like, I could not point to you a place where, like, he said something. I wouldn't be having to twist words to make that happen. Yeah. Think you could probably just look out into society and go, is this a good thing? Is this producing joy and peace in people's lives, or is it doing the opposite? Yeah. And everything that he is

throwing out there as being permissible, like, I'm sure you're gonna find an oddball example where the guy's like, I'm glad I cheated on my wife. And my and the wife's like, yeah, me too. You know I'm saying? Like, I'm sure there's a couple out there where it was a train wreck from the start. But overall, like, everything that he just mentioned caused rapid disaster

Oh, yeah. All around it. Nothing but torn and broken sad humanity. And so, like, the thing that God's trying to protect you from, you're trying to give people an out so they can feel better for seven minutes and then go back to the broken trail of mess that got left behind them because you were too much of a chicken to tell them the hard thing. That God's like, look. This is a protection for you. This is designed for your good.

And so and it should give it some weight to some decisions that you're making instead of being cavalier with gifts that God has given you both in your body and your integrity and the way that you hold relationships and the way that you take responsibility for other people. And so, like, I I hear this argument a lot where, like, you don't you don't understand, like, this is making me happy. And I'm like, yeah. It is historically and frankly, all the people around you that have done the same thing, none of them are happy.

None of them smell like Jesus. None of them are full of joy. None of them have a peace about them. So, like, hey. I don't care how many people you put in line that's like, I think I'm just ready to start cheating on my wife. It's really gonna be good for me. It's like, that's not been good for anybody ever. When you're ready to stop serving yourself Yep. You can follow Jesus. Dan, you were gonna say something. Oh, I was gonna say that it man, I I would almost put money on the fact that he is laying a foundation to justify some Yes. You know, I I've been at a church before where the the preacher was having an affair, which no one knew at the time. And I and I remember hearing a sermon, and I might have some of the terminology down, but it was like he went through this list of things he said, is it gospel? If it's gospel, you follow it. If it's not gospel, you don't have to follow it, which right there is inaccurate.

Right? That's right. There's plenty of scripture that's not gospel that you still follow. Right. And he, you know, he he said a bunch of things, and he'd had the church, yeah, is it gospel? No. But then you don't have to worry about it. You know? And and one of them, he started getting into some of the sexual things, and I'm like, actually, it's not gospel, but that's still scripture. Yes. You know? And it was just one it was such a time until, like, two months later, I thought, oh. Oh, yeah. See, he was trying to save his job and his position and his income and justify what he was doing. Right? And that's probably what's when you can tell somebody is being so transparent and they think they're being sly about it. Yeah. You know what saying? And you're like, this is obviously set. You know? Just in case this comes out, I'm gonna have this all I'll build you listen to that sermon. I have it covered. I

just I like I this gets so tiresome. Right? Where they're like, God is restrictive. God has set up all these rules. And, like, I God is a God of peace, which means he hates not peace. That's the way his love works. Right? If he loves something, he's also gonna hate something. Well, He hates the opposite of whatever it is. And so I get this argument after argument that, like, this is good. This is full of joy. This is what's creating good into the world. This is gonna make me happy. And I'm like, but you're not happy. You're currently doing it, and you are unhappy. Right? And so, like, agree with God or don't, you're you're still wrong about the thing that you're saying. And, like, the thing that God is trying to protect you from and lead you to fruits of the spirit, you're trying to shortcut and grab a, like, a reflection of it off the person next to you. And, like, it's obviously not working.

And so, like, it's so weird to me that, like, you you like, they'd look at some of God's principles and say this is a shackle. And God's like, it's a protection. You're behind a a bunch of sandbags so you don't get hit by artillery. And you're like, I'd be more free getting hit by artillery. I mean, I guess, maybe you would be. But, like, you what you're saying doesn't it doesn't prove out. First of all, the Bible doesn't say that. And second of all, every example you can point to around you proves the opposite of what you're saying. And so, like, I've not seen one couple where when someone had had had an extramarital affair that it ended up being great. Everyone's like, yes. Finally, this turning point in our marriage. I'm so glad it went down this way. It never happens. No. And you even have people who are like, they're just trying to get ahead of it to go, oh, well, we're in an open relationship anyway. That way I can't get hurt when the thing happens. And like, I I mean, like, everybody's lying. Yes. Everybody's lying. Everybody's

This is and and like, the thing is that you start and and this happens with all kinds of things, but like, I think it's particularly sensitive when it comes to like sexual proclivity or choices is that you're not gonna find the satiation and so you just keep, well, maybe I'm not free enough. And so it's more people. It's different things. It's different situations. It's like more extreme things that you're trying and doing and thinking and more of your life that's giving up to this thing. And it's making you feel more and more like crap, because like you know you know you're being used or you know you're using other people and like it that feels like something and you start masking it up by like continuing to expand your stuff until like you just feel totally used up. And like that's what it takes to get to a point where you go, oh, I actually think that protective one relationship safe thing that God designed me to be was actually the right place to live and explore and enjoy.

But, like, we chase this, like, with other you chase it with power. You can, oh, I have a little bit of control that I want more and more and more. It was there was a there was a clip of Matthew Perry, the guy from Friends. Yeah. Yeah. Who who died, I don't know, a few years ago. And he had had alcohol problems his whole life. And there was an interview with him and he was saying something like like, had it all.

And he the big contract with friends making tons of money. Like everybody recognized him. He had a great, like a really great looking lady. And he goes, I had it all and it felt great for about six months. And it just didn't like, I realized it didn't do it. It didn't whatever the mind whatever the things were that were stirring within me, like, they were still there. This only kinda covered it up for six months. And, like, you know, I ultimately, he he passes away feeling like maybe he he didn't ever get that resolved in his life.

And so it's just a thing where, like, you can keep chasing the thing and, like, there's just a promise of all these things that are gonna help you resolve whatever inner turmoil or peace you're looking for. And, like, there's a reason people die in search for power. They burn every bridge they have in search for fame. They, harm themselves in search for a consistent good feeling through drugs or alcohol. They waste relationships around them and ruin relationships with, other parents and, like, family chasing sexual stuff. Like, it just it's because you're looking for the answer in the wrong spot, and it always promises, like, it's gonna get there. And so, like, yeah, I mean, you can lay a groundwork that as if God's gonna say this is okay. And, like, all your like but that again, that's for people. That has nothing to do with Jesus. You know you're not fooling God about the thing. This is for you trying to be able to to what?

Stop serving yourself to be able to convince these 9,000 people. Like, you're even taking them with you. You're gonna do the thing and then you're gonna take all these people with you. And then, like, at the end of the day, like like, you're you're still gonna deal with the reckoning of the whole thing. It just feels so weird that, like, it just feels like another effort to live in the gray. Right? I never have mowed my neighbor's lawn and came home and I've been like, man, just feel like crap about that. Right. I just wish I wouldn't have been so generous with my time. Ugh. I just I feel like a shameful fool. I don't wanna leave the house. Yeah. Yeah. You know what I'm saying? Like, there's a there's a list of things that are universally true that you don't ever regret. Yeah. You know? And then there's a list of things that you could possibly regret, and then there's a list of things everybody regrets. And, like, of those three camps, you're a fool to sell the middle one. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Like, you're an absolute fool to try to sell the middle as if it's worth the gamble because either you're gonna be so full of shame and regret and feel gross about it, and then you're gonna have to carry that around because you don't have a Jesus to turn around to and say, Lord, I'm I I need freedom from this. I done messed this up, and I need a I need a clean slate. Show me how to live this life. You know? Because then you'd stay in category one and then live with no regrets. Right? And, like, it just feels like such a a chicken hearted move to try to acquiesce to the second category, especially from

from the pulpit. Yeah. Like, what are you doing? This is actually, I it didn't occur to me till just now, but, like, he's he's took the role of of Satan. Like, God really say that you couldn't have premarital sex? Did God really say that you can't get to stay within your marriage? Keep something from you. You know? Right? Yeah. Like, this is the most like, I respect isn't the word I want, but like I understand, like, complete hedonism

better than I understand this. Like, ignorance or, like, I'm not buying all of this, so, like, why do I care what God thinks? God's not real. That makes more sense to me than this scripture twisting. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Yeah. There there's some I mean, just plain danger for him in that too. I mean Yeah. Totally. I mean, you pray for that man. Goodness. He said, Coates referenced problematic translations such as the NRSV or LBT that say sexual sin is never right and give unlearned readers the impression that the text saying the sex before or outside of marriage is wrong. The bible is not saying that according to Coates. It is critiquing prostitution, the immoral and unjust sexual and economic exploitation of poor people, slaves, women, and young males who are oftentimes forced into prostitution in the first century. Okay. Now hold on. Is there exploitation goes a long way. Like, just take exploitation and women. Right? So, like, take the money out of it. Can you still exploit a woman without any money changing hands? Yes. You very much can. Of course. So what's the day what's the difference? And it between like, you like, is in in his definition, he's like, prostitution is exchange of money or or, you know, for a service. But, like, there's all kinds of dudes out there exploiting women and taking and taking and taking, and it's not money. Right? Like, they're just ruining

women. Right? And how they how they look at humanity, how they look at themselves, how they look at the male race. Right? And so, like, tell me that's any different. You're taking something, right, and leaving nothing. Yeah. Actually and I do think that this is a very male centric view of of sexual immorality.

And it's it's not exclusive in in either camp necessarily, but, like, men are more likely to see sex as transactional. As a matter of fact, I thought I, like, read an interview or something with a lady who was formerly a lady of the night who had become a follower of Jesus. And they were asking her about men and married men, especially who were, like, coming to her for services. And she's like, you'd be surprised. Like, they don't

don't hate their wives. They don't hate their situation. Like, they just they they think of it as much more transactionally. It's more like an event that they participated in and, like, some of it may have to do with their their not having sex as often at home or doing the types of things they might want. But she goes, most of the time, like, they just don't they don't hate their wives. They don't hate their lives or anything. They just look at it as a like a it's a vent they're willing to pay for. And the reason I I feel like this is relevant here is that, his representation of, like

to your point, it's not exploiting a woman to like have sex outside of marriage. Well, it may not be for you. It doesn't feel like it to you. You're just participating in an event. Oh, like, oh, we were mutual, like consenting adults and we both agreed to this thing. But, like, it's not always true. In fact, not often true that the people have the same, amount of, disassociation with those things where it really is casual, where it really is just physical. And I'm not advocating for that situation either. I'm just saying that, like, he's framing it as if, like, well, that's that's what people are doing.

But to your point, like, it is an exploitation. It's a promise of closeness that comes with physical intimacy, that is a lie because you're not actually still emotionally there for somebody. Like, you're not making the commitments of which they can feel free and open to share their bodies and lives and emotions and stuff with someone. Like, it's just a flat out, like, physical interaction of which, like, men are more tend to seeing it that way. And so you are exploiting the people you're interacting. They're all I mean, to take the biggest thing in the room, right, like, there's a possibility you're gonna make a baby. Right? That's a lifelong commitment. And so you're exploiting this woman for a time.

Right? And and then she has a child growing within her that's a lifetime commitment. If everything goes as if as as we would want, like a baby gets born and comes into this world and there's no easy outs here. Right? And so the we're in. This is what we're gonna do. And you, where are you at? Right? Like, you were there for five minutes and now that you're gone. And so, like, yeah, does the woman have a little bit more to be exploited about? Yes. Yeah. She's the vessel for of which life gets to come into this world and you have all the freedom to skip town. You know? And so, like, what a what a what a gross thought of of how to look at, first of all, women in general. Right? And to and even if you're not solely focusing on on dudes in this particular area, like,

how many times you're gonna become one flesh with somebody until you ain't one flesh no more? Right. You know what I'm saying? Like, there's pieces and parts of you all over this world that no one got the fullness of you, which is what God intended for that relationship. The fullness of the man and the fullness of a woman become one flesh, and then you both get to walk in fullness. And, like, yeah, there is there is there's a broken part of this world where that doesn't always get to happen that way. But for heaven's sakes, if you know that ahead of time, right, what I don't do I understand the gamble or the thought? Like, you're basically looking at God in the face and saying, I hear how you designed it. I don't think you understand. Mhmm. And that's a pretty bold proclamation. Like, there's an arrogance that drips all over this whole thing. Yep. Yep. And and it's not just a a baby that's been brought into the world. There's an eternal soul. Correct. Right? You know, mean, this these are long term consequences of it, and you've just kinda You've boiled it down to the event. Yeah. I hope it works out for your eternal soul. Right. You know, I mean, wow. Dudes do not get to get off the hook this easily, and I don't think yeah. At all. I I don't like this, Ben. I don't like this this man or what he's teaching, and I think it's terrible.

Yeah. Yeah. He he finished it up. Well, this isn't even the end of what he said, but he says, Coates finds no biblical basis for abstinence until marriage and fully supports consensual sex Even outside of marriage, he says, I really believe that some Christians think that being boring makes them holy. Yeah. Yeah. If if if not creating trauma and damage and single mothers and

kids without dads is boring, then put sign me up. That's what I'm yep. I'll be there. That's what I wanna do. I wanna create families and long term relationships and kids with dependable dads and all of those things. And women that feel loved and cared for and that they will they will never be without someone to be with them in this life. Right? And they're not just used for a portion of what they have to offer. So I I wonder on the church level, like, what happened from that? Did did did they lose families? I I would think thinking people would be like, okay. We can't we can't keep our families here. Yeah. Right. You know? Did the leadership at all go, woah. Woah, Nelly. You know? No.

I would hope he has people in his life that can, like, say we gotta protect this church from a wolf. You know? But who knows? He doesn't even disguise it very well. You know what I'm saying? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. You've been listening to life from the path, and you're not gonna listen to this dude named Coats ever. He's not a good Bible teacher. In fact, I don't even know I I don't wanna hear what he has to say about anything else. The fact that this is what he has chosen to present as true things out of the Bible, that's pretty much all you need to go to know to go, this man is not preaching from the Bible. So we're done. Yeah. Yeah. Agreed. Okay. Seven

chilling prophecies from the bible that Christians cannot ignore. Oh, man. I'm ready. Here we go. Christians look to scripture for encouragement, understanding, and wisdom among other things. Helpful. However, the Bible also contains numerous prophecies that Christians should take seriously. Here are seven chilling prophecies from the Bible that Christians cannot ignore. Number one, the final judgment, eternal consequences for all. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire. The primary type of scripture that people consider chilling relates to the final judgment and eternal destiny of all humanity.

This scripture makes it clear that there will be a final judgment that those whose names are not written in the book of life will be internally condemned. The previous verse makes clear that the lake of fire is the second death. While those whose names are written in the book of life will spend eternity in God's kingdom, not everyone will make it, and the consequences are eternal. That's a sobering reminder of how important it is to encourage others to accept God's offer of forgiveness and life in Jesus Christ. We were just talking about this before the show. Yeah. I feel like we pull a lot of judgment language out of our presentation of the good news. Now to be fair, Jesus did touch on judgment language. And he talked about hell a little bit and consequences

of not following Yahweh and not accepting the gift of which he was going to provide. But that wasn't most of his words, honestly. So, like but we were just talking about, like, we modern day, for sure, we pull a lot of the the ultimate thing, which is like we like to say that Christ died for our sins, and that's true.

But the reason you need to be sinless is you're going to stand before judgment. Yeah. And then God's gonna go, you know, do you want to be a participant in the way that I chose to make the world, for eternity, or do you not wanna be that way? And, and so, like, if you follow the the logical thought process, yeah, we did die so our sins could be forgiven so we could be with God forever because

there's a judgment that says, hey. Do you wanna be here or or you don't wanna be here? And so but we pull a lot of that out. Like, we tend not to talk about the judgment part of that. Mostly because if you don't believe that God is good, then you're you I mean, you wouldn't take your uncle Stan's drunken slurs at you for judging how you're living your life. You're like, screw that guy. I don't think he's good. I don't think his judgment is good. I don't know him to be good. Yeah. So why would I listen to him? Yeah. And that's fair coming from someone who doesn't know god or believe him to be good. I would be like, if you first thing you came at me with was, god's gonna judge you, like, I don't care. Whatever. You know? Yeah. Yeah. I mean, if I if I approached the two of you today and said, hey. Just so you know, like,

Hermes is gonna judge you, you'd be like, okay. Yeah. Fake Hermes can go to town. Go ahead, Hermes. Yeah. So I I think and and, like, it's interesting because if you think about the the direction, I I it does feel like it's it just bounces back and forth and over cranking on on I don't Over cranking is not the word I want, but, like, disproportionately emphasizing eternity and today.

We're, you can hyper it's both. Like, our reality is both. Like, you are you are recognizing the the interaction of God into humanity so that you may live with him forever. You also, because of that, you get to start living forever right away in the service of not only acclimating to how it is you're gonna live forever, but also encouraging the bringing on of other people so that may also live forever. And so, like, they are both actually still true. It does matter on a day to day basis,

but you're right. But we under we I think we misunderstand at least contextually what our day to day lives is doing if you lose completely the notion of of the reckoning. Yeah. Yeah. Like at the end of the day, if the judgment's gonna come through like a wind, there's zero places to stand except for behind Jesus. Right? Right? Like how nice of a person you are does not matter. Right? How much bible you read or didn't read. Like, I you know, like these these have nuance

relational issues between you and you and and the god of creation. That is definitely true. Right? But at the end of the day, when the judgment wind comes around, you stand behind Jesus or you don't stand. Right. Right. Exactly. Yep. Yep. Okay. Number two, prophecies that or chilling prophecies that the Christians can't ignore. A warning against false teachers and misleading doctrines. Ahem, Maryland bible Baptist man. For the time will come when they will not tolerate sound doctrine, but wanting to have their ears tickled, they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance with their own desires. They will turn their ears away from the truth and will turn aside to myths. I even used the same word. I don't teach no myths. Yes. My ears be tickling.

Man alive. Most Christians know these verses. Unfortunately, this is the age of accumulating teachers. Here I'm gonna tell you. The age of accumulating teachers started almost directly after the New Testament began. Yeah. And so I don't I know people do this as a, like it's it's vaguely contributes to their belief about the end times where, like, hey, things are getting worse. Like, not really. I mean, they're bad, of course, but they've always been bad. They get this we were talking one time, and they're like, I think Christians are just have it the worst now than they ever had. I said they used to put Christians in a sack with, like, a cat, a fox, and an owl or something, and then tie them all up and throw them in the river. And then, you know, the guy died that way. Christians could be punished this way or, like, they're lit on fire for Nero's garden. I'm like, I hear what you're saying that, like, people are being persecuted, and it's bad. But I'm not sure it's an escalation necessarily. Mordecai

in the 1600 was like, we'll never make it to the seventeen hundreds. The pith of world has gone to pot. Right. Right. Yeah. Okay. Let's see. So, again, like, are are people twisting scripture to suit their own yes. Of course, they're doing that. But they were doing that in the first, second, third centuries. That's why you ended up with the Council of Nicea people going, look, man. We don't that guy's twisting stuff. Let's just be clear. No one agrees. We don't believe this part.

And so, anyway, the Internet offers unlimited voices and views of scripture. It is more available. That's true. It's easier to find a a wild hair somewhere and go, oh, well, that guy makes like this, like, Maryland Baptist. Yeah. Yeah. If someone wants to find a teacher to support what they already believe, it's only a search away, but that's exactly the sort of thing that warned Timothy against in these verses. People won't tolerate sound doctrine, so they hop from church to church looking for what they want. Now it bring it does bring up an interesting question though. Is that, like, in pre Internet or, like, pre mass communication, what if the only guy around was a real turd? Like, what if Maryland Baptist was the well, like, he's the only preacher for miles. Mhmm. That's unfortunate. So in some ways,

like, the proliferation of of being able to kind of, I don't know, validate whether you're getting a a clear shot of scripture. I don't know. The Internet's not all bad is what I'm saying. Right. Like, I I think it's got its detriments for sure, and what they're saying is true. I just it presumes that your local religious person is actually righteous, and I obviously not. Yeah. Well, in fact, I've mentioned I'm going through Colossians. That's part of the reason for the writing of the book was there were some bad teaching going on, and Paul's like, I gotta correct this for you. So Yeah. Right. Yeah. That's been going on forever. Yeah. Well, yeah, I didn't ever think about that. That's a that's a hidden slap or at least an overt slap at Chuck, the current pastor in Colossae. Hey. I see you got this wrong. The Sinai from Paul as he walked past him.

You had one job. Yeah. Boy, I don't know, Dan. Dan, what if you had a pastor who, like, continually wrote letters to your church to kind of help you and correct, like, correct doctrine and stuff and didn't didn't address it to you at all. He just wrote to, like, please read this to the church at Pathway. It would be it would be humbling for sure. Okay. Prophecy number three, the oh, the inevitable trouble Christians will face. In the world, you will have tribulation, but take courage, I have overcome the world. John sixteen thirty three. Why is this chilling? Jesus is declaring his victory over the world, semicolon.

Christians should rejoice at that. Right? Yes. But Jesus also states that in the world, you have tribulation. The NIV translates this sentence, in this world, you will have trouble. Jesus won the victory over sin and death and the world on the cross, but the complete and final demonstration of that victory is still to come. In the meantime, Christians will face trouble in this world. The chilling aspect of this comes in connection with the previous passage from two Timothy, the tendency to gather teachers who say what people wanna hear. Those who claim that Christians don't ever have to get sick, be poor, face problems, etcetera, make Jesus out to be a liar. Jesus did not say in this world, you've had trouble, but I have overcome the world. He said, you will have trouble. His kingdom is coming in its fullness. I don't know that the sickness thing was the right exactly what Jesus was getting at, like, you will no longer have diarrhea.

Genesis seems. Clearing that one up. I think this isn't the prophecy as much as it's just life. Oh, yeah. I mean, it's just like, yeah, you'll have trouble. There was trouble before Jesus. Yeah. I suppose it's like Jesus calling out that like, you may maybe it's it's the presumption, which I actually, we're still making this mistake today, is if if you saw Jesus rise from the dead, you would go, hey, maybe I I believed in that guy. This feels like I may not have any more trouble. Like, is a lottery ticket. Right. Yeah. And Jesus is like, no, you misunderstand what it is that I'm doing here.

But it's funny now that we're talking about it, like, I don't know, there's major denominations of people who are actually succumbing to this very thing, who believe they're sitting on a spiritual lottery ticket that pays off in this in this life, and they've misunderstood Jesus in the process. Yeah. Yeah. Here we go. Number four, spiritual pride, a dangerous trap. But he said, I tell you, Peter, the rooster will not crow today until you've denied three times that you know me. That prophecy is complete. Yeah. Yeah. That's kinda weird. The story of Peter's denial of Jesus is very familiar, as is the story of his restoration. Christians are often encouraged in their struggles, and if Peter could fail and be restored, Jesus can also restore them if they fail. And of course, Jesus can. But the chilling part of this prophecy,

again, is that even someone like Peter could fail spectacularly. He boldly promised that even if the other disciples abandoned Jesus, he never would. Who goes, dear Lord, I know I'm gonna fail. Could you just stop me from failing spectacularly? Yeah. Like, you'd almost wanna oh, maybe this is the wrong but I guess my first thought is to say, I would like to live a life where someone where if I were to fail, it would have to be spectacularly. Because otherwise, you've other like, follow Jesus around in such a way that, like, it actually mattered.

This is where I'm of two minds about it. But, like, I just I would rather be Peter who who, like, went about it boldly than a guy whose failure was like, well, I guess that could make sense to be sure. Yeah. He was kind of a fence sitter. Like, I don't know. I said, it's a it's a reminder that spiritual pride is dangerous. Peter was convinced that he was strong enough, faithful enough, and spiritual enough, but he wasn't. I don't think he would have answered the question in those terms.

I'm spiritual enough, Jesus. Even though Jesus warned Peter what would happen, Peter wasn't ready and he failed. The same danger faces Christians today. As the remainder of these chilling prophecies will show, many Christians will not be prepared. I don't know. So we we this in in first Samuel, there's a situation where, like,

David's on the run from Saul, and he hears about the Philistines. There's an encouraging incursion in Keilah. And this is Saul's responsibility to go take care of this, he's nowhere to be found. And So David prays and says, God, Yahweh, should I go to Keilah? Kind of showing demonstrating himself to be like the true king anointed even though he's not actually the king yet. But anyway, he goes, yeah, I'll go do it. Yahweh says, yes, his men don't believe it. So he prays again, and Yahweh affirms they use the gambling sticks with ephah. And they're like, yeah. Okay. Definitely do this. So they go, and it's like 3,000 to six 100 or whatever, and they win. And so Keilah is is set free for the Philistines.

And then he hears he hears that Saul's gonna come into Kailah, and he he prays and he's like, hey, is if Saul comes here, will they rat me out? And Yahweh was like, yeah, for sure. They're gonna totally tell yeah. And he's like, oh, yeah, really? Like, yeah, they're totally gonna rat you out. And I remember being like, hey, man, the Kaelites suck. It's like David showed up. He didn't even have to come. And he came and he like liberated the city and everything's great. And Saul shows up and they're like, yeah, totally. They would rat him out. And I was I was mad at the Kelah people. And then I thought, like, this was just after Saul had recently murdered all the priests except for Ahimek and destroyed the city of Nove.

And the proposition to the Kelah, the Kelah folk is Saul's coming, and if he finds out that you're harboring David, he's going to kill you, he's gonna kill your family, he's gonna destroy your land, he's gonna take out the whole city. And then you hear him go like, will they turn me in? I mean, do I understand them a little bit better? I think I do. Yeah. I think I understand. Like, it's wrong. It's still wrong. Right. But like, if someone said he's not in here. This is this example we're gonna give. Someone said, look, tell me where Buva is or I'm gonna kill your family. He might be like, dude, he is in Ohio. Yep. Sure. He's downstairs. Yeah. Here is his address. Like, it's not right. But like, I I I understand it. And so if you look at Peter, like Peter Peter is faced with this. Mhmm. And frankly, after Jesus resurrects, this is a much I don't wanna say it's completely different situation. See, Peter has seen all kinds of things.

But still, there's this lingering thing that like, I don't know. Like, is he who he says he is? Or is he just a man who does, Is he a magician? Because like, I mean, magicians were around. Is he a healer? That existed. And so, you know, if if you say yes, I'm with him, Peter could have died too. Mhmm. I understand him. I I just you know, he was wrong. You know, you don't have to get very far away from the fire before you forget how warm it was. Mhmm. You know what I'm saying? And so, like, I like, it just feels like a profound truth at the moment, but, like, that's definitely true for Peter. Like, was gone and then all of a sudden, like, the his whole infrastructure around him is gone, and then you're like, man, was it really like I thought it was? Yeah. Like, was I caught up in a thing? And the same thing is true with, like, most of our walks with Christ. Right? Like, it doesn't take very many times of skipping out with with time with him or spending around in community who love Jesus or whatever, and you start to look around and go, oh, man. Maybe I just had it all wrong, you know, without any mustache twisting. And you're just like, I don't remember if that fire was that warm. Maybe I just was looking back on it fondly. Right. Did I just want this to be true? Yeah. Because because in reality of the things that we're contending of who Jesus may be, his arrest did not serve at least Peter's belief of what it meant to be, you know, who Jesus said he was. This is the same thing where he's like, you know, no, not you Lord. And he has to say, get behind me Satan. So like,

you know, again, Peter's precociousness is relatively well known. I'm just like, I don't know. I I would like to think I could do better than what Peter did, but I just don't know. And I'm on the safe side of Jesus' resurrection to be like, I totally okay. Now I get it. Whatever he says, I'm in. I can tell you I have not done better than Peter yet. Right. Based on, I don't know, about anything. Yeah. A busy work schedule. You know? Just I don't know. I'm just saying I I as I the older I get, I'm like, it gets fun to talk about Peter and his but, like, I mean, if you put yourself in his sandals, you're like, I don't I mean, okay. I understand it, I guess. Yeah. Okay.

Next, persecution from the religious establishment. They will ban you from the synagogue, yet an hour is coming for everyone who kills you to think that he is offering a service to God. John 16. The thought that Christians will face trouble in the world was bad enough, but in John sixteen two, Jesus warns his disciples that persecution will come from within the religious establishment. Why is that chilling? Because deception will run so deep that religious people will persecute Christians and be convinced that they are serving God. And not just persecute them, everyone who kills you will think that he is offering a service to God. Okay. This happened already. Right? Like, Jesus was talking to his disciples at that time. I'm not saying there's not echoes of this. Right? But, like, he was talking to his boys and this definitely happened. Yeah. Yeah. I think this was, in some ways, fulfilled up through 8070, but also continues if you wanna think about,

like, Muslim persecution against Christians. Like, hey, in service to God, we are doing this thing. Mhmm. And so I like, I get it. It's not the same belief system, but, like, it's still the same thing where you've got people who would claim to be in service to God who are actively persecuting the people of Jesus. I don't find this too late. Yep. That's the faithfulness to the least of these. Then he will say to those on his left, depart from me for I was hungry and you gave me nothing to eat. To the extent that you did not do it for one of the least of these, you did not do it for me either.

This is a chilling prophecy because Jesus makes clear that the standard for faithfulness is much stricter than people often imagine. In the broader passage, everyone understands that they would be expected to feed Jesus, give him a drink, etcetera. The first group didn't realize that they had done so. The second group didn't realize that they hadn't. The particularly chilling part is that the second group, the goats, didn't think they had done anything wrong, but they had. And Jesus says in verse 46, these will go away to eternal punishment, but the righteous into eternal life. This article is written in a way that if you are not a Christian, it's very hard to understand. Yeah. True. Yeah. I tell you it is. Now this one now this one I do the next quote was, not everyone who says to me, Lord, Lord, will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my father will enter.

This one stuck sticks out to me as particularly chilling. And I do I have probably had multiple times in my life where I've come across this scripture and, like, the guy who says, Lord, Lord, is self deceived. He's he's he's come to terms with a belief in himself that, like, oh, sure. I say, I I serve him as Lord. Like he's used the language, but his his life has not actually acclimated or demonstrated that faithfulness. And I thought, well, mercy. I was talking to my dog the other day and we decided that if I'm done serving myself at some point, then I get to follow Jesus. I'm like, well, doesn't this and that Lord Lord category?

Shoot. And like, it's a it's a healthy it's a healthy check. I'm not sure it's that dire in my life, but like It's the same check you go through when you think you may have grieved the Holy Spirit. Yeah. Right. Right. Wait a minute. What does this mean again? Right. Now now you think about that that verse though in Matthew. I'm I'm gonna make up a number, but I'll bet 80% of the church does not engage in those activities. Yes.

Where Jesus is saying, Hey, you fed me. They're like, I'm not gonna feed you. Get a job. Yes. Right. Right? I mean, or I don't know if I can, know, I don't know. That might be helping them be a drunk, so I just won't do anything. Yes. Or that that kind of that there should be some concern, like some self evaluation. Am I doing anything to really help needy people? Yeah. So, I don't know. Yeah. I do think that is one of the fallibilities in as American Christians, like, we've we've got so baked in

to, like, hey. We just need to set up the right variables to exist and then, like, it's generous of me to to create jobs. It is. Sure. It's generous of me to pay my taxes like I'm supposed to or like all kinds of other things. We're like, look, if we just our job is to set up the pinball machine and the ball will do what the ball does as opposed Sounds like our pastor discussion from earlier. Yes. Mhmm. Yeah. Yeah. Exactly right. Exactly right. And so I I like to to your point, Dan, like, don't think are you gonna turn to Jesus at the at the reckoning and go, yeah, Lord. I totally helped plug that pinball machine in and, like, the ball I mean, the ball did what the ball does. You know? I I can't control all the things. I'm like, I don't did you grab it from the hole? How generous were you? Well, when Clinton was in office, I was more generous. Let's see. Hey. Hey. Okay. This is a slight diversion, but I thought this was very funny. I was listening to NPR a couple weeks ago, and

they were talking as you might expect from NPR is that there was they were talking about, like, where where the Trump administration has, like, gutted USAID I AID, USAID. And they're like, look at all these, you know, places where the government's no longer funding money. And, like, they were talking to somebody who was, like, talking about how dire this is, and they're like, you know, two weeks after this happened, the lady who used to work with USAID for the government, she's like, I'm getting calls from these nonprofits who are like, hey. How do we help? How can we step in and kinda put our money to kinda fill some of these gaps that the government created? And and everyone was talking about this with no sense of irony. I'm like, that's exactly what the go that's what the Trump administration was trying to do. It's like, they're not saying you can't fund anything. They're just saying the government's gonna stop doing it. And exactly what happened with this situation was people stepping in and going to do a thing that the government was doing and now private companies are doing or individuals

are doing. And I'm like, how do you not recognize the irony? It was like, that's exactly what the I think the point of some of this was. You took it like, the government wants to stop, like, hates kids in Malawi. Like, no. But you can love kids in Malawi. Like, go to town. And so I say that because, like, it's not a carte blanche that all decisions they've made are righteous. But, like, for the the it it fits this situation where you're like, you depended on some kind of infrastructure to go handle all the things that the church at whole has it or the government has it or the food kitchen has it. And so, like, I don't stop for the guy at the corner or I don't invest in any of those things because we have infrastructure that's supposed to go do that. And I think the scripture calls us back to is like, are you gonna come to the to the reckoning and pointed and Jesus asks you, like, did you feed me? And you go, no. I directed them to somewhere else that I thought probably had it under control. I mean, I left I left some of my crops at the edge of my field like the old testament says. Right. Oh, I hope they came and ate. I don't know. Yeah. I thought they could. I mean, it's it's just interesting that, like,

it's so easiest for for us to defer to to systems. And I'm not saying any of those systems are implicitly wrong. Like, the food pantry probably does some things better than you would. And there's counseling services and, like, people who help them folks actually get jobs. Like, I there there's a there's a part where you probably are enabling and you should be wise about what are the best resources to help people. And it may not just be you, but deferring all of that, like, away from you where you don't engage in any of the things directly with your eyebrows and your elbows, I is probably a miss in this area as well. Mhmm.

Okay. Okay. We got down to that one. Was oh, it finishes it off. The frightening implications of Jesus' words that many will assume that they are righteous but are not. Simply doing things that look spiritual is not enough. Even things that are considered miraculous. Jesus is not just talking about a few people. He says that many will tell him about what they have done. His response is chilling. I never knew you. When people think about chilling prophecies, they often think about the apocalyptic imagery of revelation, blood, moon, stars falling from the sky, plagues, pestilence, and war. But for Christians, those prophecies shouldn't be frightening. Those things are reserved for those who have rejected Jesus. What is really chilling is the fact that many will think that they're prepared for God's kingdom, but they're not. As the NIV translates this last passage, many will say to me, Lord, Lord, and I will say, I never knew you. Imagine someone thinks they know Jesus, but he says, I never knew you. What could be more chilling than that?

Okay. You know, I expected this to be terrible. That's not bad. Yeah. Really. Yeah. I think this was written by a There were solid things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Alright. You're listening to Live From The Path. Thanks for hanging out with us so far this evening. We're gonna give out some advice, and then you can go about your your daily lives serving yourself until you're ready to follow Jesus. Go ahead, Mike. Oh, boy. Okay. Here. Dear life from the path. My dear friend Sandra is married with two children. She and her husband have a four year old son together and another son from her husband's first marriage who's 14. The 14 year old's life is tough, much like Cinderella's. Sandra treats him very badly. She has him doing all of the housework in their home, belittles him constantly, and is very vocal about how much she dislikes him. Her four year old can do no wrong. The older boy's mother has weekends with her son, but Sandra is open about not liking her either. I feel bad about how the boy is treated and want to talk to Sandra about it, but I don't know how to bring up the sensitive subject and maintain my relationship with the family. Her husband is completely on Sandra's side, so he does nothing to help the boy have a better life. Can you offer any advice?

I said I missed it. What was what's this person's relationship to the thing? Is it their family or friends? Or friend. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. I don't know why you're friends with Sandra who apparently sounds abusive towards a 14 year old boy. Like, he's gotta do I mean, I I'm I'm gonna just take this on its face and not say that we're missing some context. Right? Alright. Because, like, if the 14 year old is about in them teenage years where he gets a little, you know, finger given and and starting to lose some respect for the house structure that he's in, then, yeah, doing all the chores sounds about right. All the other stuff about like the the mom, the stepmom, like, I don't like him. I think he's no good or like, you know, like, I love my four year old. I hate this kid. Like, this is terrible. Right? Like, even if the kid was having some behavioral issues, like, you don't tell a 14 year old kid you don't like him. No. Like, what's wrong with you?

And so I I I the question was is how do I broach the subject? This is way past my line of being friends with somebody. Right? Like, I don't wanna go through life with you. You're terrible. Like and so, like, there's zero part of me that's not gonna say, hey, man. Like, every way that you're treating this kid is abominable. Like and you should be embarrassed and not alone with yourself. You owe that kid an apology, and, you need to figure your life out. But if, like, you're asking for me to continue to support you and the choices you're making, I'm out. Yeah. I do not support any of the choices you're making. In fact, I've I I find your behavior detestable.

Well, I think it's it's worth a conversation. I mean, you don't have to come judgmental. Just say, hey. How you doing? I'd fire hot, Dan. Right out of the gate. What's the Bobby, I mean, if they're gonna be offended and get rid of you anyway, so but but you can bring it up and and just say, man, just just you know, you can do start gentle. How how's the relationship going with the 14 year old? And then they'll oh, they're terrible, blah blah blah. You can say, man, I'm really concerned about that. I mean, you can if she's asking how do I approach, that's a good way to approach. Yeah. I can't tell you how it's gonna end, but, I mean, probably not well. But that's okay. Like you said, who you don't wanna hang out with them anyway.

Yeah. I agree. I I do agree with Dan that, like, which is I'm explicitly do not agree with Mike. Like, do not go when they're hot. Like, you snip it out. Listen to the hold on. Listen to this explanation again. She has him doing all of the housework in their home Yep. Belittles him constantly, and is very vocal about how much she dislikes him. Well, when you use words like all, I'm pretty sure he doesn't do all the housework. Yeah. Just the big stuff that oh, he's doing the dishes. Oh, he's vacuuming. And the four year old, is he gonna do that? Really? I mean, he can't do that. He's four. Yeah. K. That is that's fair. Let's focus on that belittles him constantly. Yeah. And he's very vocal about how much she dislikes him. I do. Like, there is a

I mean, some some people are real sense like, I'm sensitive to this. It did like, to a certain extent. I like, I'm being a probably not as good of a husband as I could be because, like, they get to the end of the night, and my wife often wants to commiserate on the how the children have been difficult. And I don't like to hear bad things said about my kids. But I think it perpetuates a problem like this. Like, hey. If we speak negatively about them, like, does it perpetuate that we don't, I don't know, approach parenting them the right way the next time we're dealing with them? It's and so I just don't like it. I'm I'm particularly sensitive about it. It's probably wrong. Like, I because in general, like, I can we can agree and commiserate that, like, we thought we did better. We do we did not do as well as we terrible at this. He's like, what a disappointment. And so but, like, I I'm I'm I'm sensitive to that. And frankly, I'm I'm sensitive to that in general just around

people talking to their kids. I think you just end up talking to your kids sometimes in a way that, like, you probably wouldn't talk to it's a familiarity. You also don't often treat your spouses as well as you would treat other people sometimes. And so, like, I'm sensitive to it. And so is it possible that that's going on here? Maybe. You know? And is it is it is she vocal about it because

she thinks this is a close friend where, again, she's commiserating about the trouble she's having with the kid. So I get the point being is that, like, I would just suss it out. Like, make sure. And, like, if all this stuff is true, just straight true, and this woman is just being a real joker, then, like, go ahead and say so pretty directly. Like, there's no reason not to. That's like I said. Yeah. Yeah. I think get there, but I think just make sure I've just been burned so many times on people's representation of situation, and you get one foot into the elephant cage and you're like, wait a minute. Yeah. That's Come on. This is not exactly what was going on. I I actually had just before the show, someone had messaged me and it was a real big it was a real big drama fest. And it but it was the it was the situation of which I'm I am confident that both parties involved are are wrong. Definitely, both of them probably, but to varying extents, it just depends on what the situation is.

But like, or what the the flavor is today. But like, I I explicitly in those situations, I don't even gauge in the problem. Like, I don't know. I don't want you to explain to me what the other person did. I don't I don't care actually. I'm more concerned that you figure out how to not allow them to blow you up. Like, take some control over your like, control what you can control because the details don't matter to me and I'm probably not gonna tell me the truth anyway or it's gonna be so biased by the time I get it. Like, I'm not gonna sort out what is ultimately becomes a fake problem. Yeah. And so again, just make sure that what you're getting, you know, maybe the lady's particularly sensitive to it or just maybe there's some other context to know. And like maybe the lady's still wrong, but maybe not wrong in the same way. So just I I agree with Dan, like, get in there, ask about it, say, look, I'm sorry, I gotta ask. Know, tell me about your relationship with your 14 year old, and then just start providing the feedback. And if it blows up because they suck, you'll know it soon enough, and it's inevitable to happen because they suck. So no big deal. The question was, can you offer any advice? Secular says, somebody has to intervene for that boy. Why does his uncaring father have custody? Could he stay with his mother full time? Are there any other relatives who could take him in? And why would you want a relationship with a heartless couple who are so emotionally abusive?

Because you apparently are the only person who cares at all about that boy, do a little research about possible alternative situations for him. However however, if there are none, contact child protective services as a last resort. You won't save your friendship with Sandra, but you might save that child. Yeah. Okay. Two two reactions to that. Like, actually, the question she she stated in her response at the beginning is the same re is the one of the key reasons I'd I'd check it out first. Because, like, could be true, but then, like, yeah, how did the dad get custody? Why is no one else saying anything? Is it because the situation isn't quite what you think it is?

It's possible, but I I just it is probably worth validating. I gonna Oh, go ahead. No. Go ahead. I was saying I'm imagining being on the phone with the government and somebody calls up and says, yeah. I'm concerned about this 14 year old. They're making him do chores. Yeah. Right. Like And they're really mean. Yeah. Like I don't yeah. And I would I'd be real careful. I got three babies living on my front porch right now. Yeah. Right. Exactly. Yeah. On the on the child protective services front, like, I just be careful that you don't trade out, like, I don't know, an undercooked chicken breast for a bowl full of sewage sewer sludge. Like Yeah. I mean, you can get him out of the house and then put him in the system. I he may still be maybe he just needs a friend. And here's the thing. You may not be able to change that situation.

Maybe everything you think is true. Is it going down exactly as you expect? Maybe your your reaction is to recognize it and just be something that helps them get through it. That might be the might might be your lot. Like, I'd always actually, I didn't it's taken me a long time to acclimate to this because, like, I could I often the same thing we've lament on the show that you only give me like addicts or people with big dramatic things only give you one option. Sometimes my only option is like, gotta get people out of situations. Like, and and and it feels like that is the best thing and it may even be the best thing, but it's not practical.

And so like sometimes, in fact, you have to help people walk through their trouble. You can't just pull them out of it. Even if it's trouble they didn't cause themselves. And you're like, people cause their own trouble. You're like, well, at least you're gonna get a life lesson out of you causing your own trouble. But like kids and dogs and sometimes spouses, you're like, they didn't have anything to do with this. Someone just crapped on them, and you just wanna help them get out of a situation. And like, it's not that's not always the right answer. And so it's harder to walk through them to walk them through these types of situation, but maybe that'll be your lot is to actually be there for him because the things are failing around him, but you can't remove him. Alright. One more. Ready? Yep. Your life from the path. Path. My husband asked me to go into his email inbox and settle an issue with an airline.

An email popped up, your memories from eight years ago from a popular photo website. Oh, dear. We have been together eight years, and I thought I would see photos of us. They weren't. It was photos of him with his ex fiance, including his elaborate proposal. The proposal was something out of a dream. He proposed to me on our family room couch. I also realized her ring is exactly like mine. I'm so hurt. He has never been that romantic with me or put much thought into my gifts. Actually, one year, he gave me bedsheets for Christmas, which I didn't even ask for. Meanwhile, I'm the one who puts effort into his family's cards and gifts and helps them with celebrations. My birthday was this month. I'm eight months pregnant, and I had to pick out and buy my own birthday gift because he said he didn't know what to get me. When I let him know how how I how hurt I feel about everything, he just said, let me just go back in time and then walked away. Woah.

I feel hurt, stuck, and unloved. Am I overreacting? You were. Yeah. Yeah. Like, I at the beginning, I thought, like I mean, if he did an elaborate proposal and it did work out, maybe he just felt burnt on it. Yeah. Right. Like, I you know, I he should have mustered up something better for you, but, like, I I don't know. There's context to where you might be understanding that. And, like, it's not like he asked for to to be shown memories from eight years ago. People just send it out. It's just a date stamp on the photo. So, like, I I wouldn't worry about that either. His reaction

certainly could have been different. And, like, I it's probably time to reinvigorate if he's possible like, you got burnt by the wrong lady. And but now I think if we've established that this is the lady for the rest of your life, it's time for her to get your best. So I think that's I think that's okay, and he should take that differently for sure. I mean, you won. Right? Like, you married a guy. Is that what you wanted? Yeah. Like, if the if the end goal was you wanted to be married to this man and then have his baby, I feel like you did. Yeah. May may maybe your effort can be being a better choice than his first choice was. I mean, you are the second choice, but you you you just be a better wife. The you know? Yeah. She's disappointed. It didn't say that they actually got married. So, like Ah. You know, like, he proposed, and,

yeah, it doesn't say whether they actually went through with the marriage or what. They she called her her ex fiancee Yeah. Not ex wife. And so yeah. I I I mean, here's the thing. It's like, you're eight months pregnant, and so there's a lot going on. Yeah. Right now. And so it's probably the wrong time to try to settle eight year past problems.

Now granted, I think everybody can agree that his reaction is pretty pretty terrible. Yeah. But he's also probably an awkward dude. I've been this man where you don't know what else to say and then you say a thing and go, well, hot dang. That's gonna go over poorly. You know? And you're like, I didn't even mean it the way it came out and it came out so badly. And there's just no way to put the genie back in the bottle. Yeah. Yeah. Right. And so this guy is I mean, he's a he's an idiot at the least. He's an uncaring doofus at the worst. But, like, overall, I think if if the life that you wanted was to be married to this man and start a family, it feels like you're doing that. And so I I you know, I think you're looking for clues

as to, you know, some weaknesses in your current situation and, like, I I I don't know if they're they're true. You know? Yeah. Okay. So overall, let's see. Secular says, the question was, am I overreacting? Secular says, I understand your disappointment, but my advice is to revisit this subject after your child is born and have you you've had more time to think about it. I don't know what happened with your husband's prior relationship,

but if it had been terrific, it would have lasted. Not all men are good at planning proposals or choosing cards and gifts, but often they make up for it in other ways despite your time. My guess is that he wouldn't even send cards to his family. And so the fact that you're doing it, you've may have taken on this weight on your own where he's like, I don't care if you send him a card or not. Yeah. Right. Right. Okay. Hey. You're listening to live from the path. Thanks for hanging out with us today. We very much do appreciate it. If you got feedback for us on the show, give us a call at or text at the Bob Eisenhower live from the path complaint line (515) 517-0085. Call or text. We'd love to hear from you. You know, actually, Mike and I both have run and Dan too, actually,

have heard over the last couple weeks of people listen to the show either a little bit more regular than we believed or just people we didn't have no idea Listen to the program. And so I do say, look, put us at the very bottom of the list of people to encourage. Like, if you're not doing well with your spouse, with your children, with your immediate family, your pastor, whatever, do all that stuff. The people at work, do all that stuff first. But, you know, it just is encouraging every once in a while to hear you guys are enjoying the show or even if there's things that we could do better. Mean, you're not gonna surprise anybody in the room if you got a suggestion of how we might improve the situation. So, anyway, feel free to use that complaint line. (515) 517-0085. I'd come in hot on that complaint line. Yeah. Yeah. Sail it right in. Yeah. No context at all. Just be like, I'll tell you something you need to change. Yeah. That's a good idea. If you and and, yeah, feel free to call out specific people and or episodes. The more specific M I k e space.

Okay. I think I think we're ready to cut you loose. We will talk to you out probably even next week. In the meantime, be faithful to means. God will handle the ends. You've been listening to live from the path. Sorry. We ruined it, everybody.