Adult Sunday School - Current Events (1/12/2024)

Okay, so like I said, this is a new Sunday school series and I've titled it current events

So we're gonna look at some stories in Christian news Maybe even secular news

But we're gonna compare it to what the Bible says if there's a tie -in Like I said, if if any of you see any news stories on the internet

Send me a link send me an email Link this story link the website and I don't guarantee that I'm gonna cover

Everything people send to me if I think I can do something with it. I will but this kind of is gonna require your

Cooperation and also if you have questions something came up during the week and you want to address it.

You want to see it Addressed you have a question send those questions and we'll we'll go from there

Okay, but I I have selected three stories this morning I don't know if we're gonna get to all three, but the first one is a

Very well -known high -profile Christian leader He said that Muslims and Christians worship the same

God This is like one of like the top evangelical leaders in the country

Made that statement. The second one is a clip from the Joe Rogan podcast

Normally, I mean, I don't listen to that. He's got a foul mouth I'm not gonna listen to his podcast, but it's the most popular podcast in the world

Millions and millions and millions of people listen to him. He actually had from what I don't know a lot about this guy

So if he's off base, forgive me But from what I understand they had a Bible believing

Christian on the podcast and some people are saying Okay Now this guy defending scripture

The defense of scripture now went out to more people than ever did before with the reach of this secular podcast

So everyone's been talking about this So I wanted to maybe play a clip and see what we could learn from it

And then the third thing at Jimmy Carter's funeral They played

John Lennon's song imagine So this was a story in The Christian Post and of course most people know of Jimmy Carter as a

You know one of the former presidents Most people view him as not a great president, but he has a reputation of being a born -again

Christian He's identified as a born -again Christian some of his beliefs are Not in line with scripture we could just say that but at his funeral which generally speaking it's it's

Called a Christian funeral. It was held in a church building and yet they played

For the funeral John Lennon's imagine which starts out, you know the first line

Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy. If you try no hell below us above us only sky and then you know

How great the world would be without Christianity is really what he believed

So Lennon was a well -known and maybe you like the Beatles that's up to you but Lennon was a well -known atheist and arguably even a

Marxist maybe even a communist and that's really what that song was about. No possessions.

No religion. No heaven. No hell So why would that be played at a Christian funeral?

I don't know if we're gonna have time to get to that, but we'll start the first story, but I did see a hand already Well, do you like Charlie Kirk, I'm just gonna be asking people and if they do have a foul mouth, no thanks.

Charlie yeah, Charlie Kirk is so what a political commentator I Don't know that much about him

But guys like him and Glenn Beck and others They they have a lot of good things to say about What's going on in the culture, so I've heard some good things there, but when they talk about the

Bible Sometimes that always doesn't Doesn't go well

So I don't really know anything about Charlie Kirk to really say anything to his death

Biblical separation and We just see I'm seeing evil creeping into every

Institution right creeping into all my banks and creeping in Yeah, I mean we live in a

Godless world, I mean it's nothing new in one sense, but here's the thing about someone like Charlie Kirk or whoever it is you know we as Christians we we're gonna hear all this stuff and we need to be able to Listen to someone and recognize.

Okay, that's right. What he's saying here is right. That's true But whoa, that's this isn't in line with the

Bible. We need to learn how to do that. So that's what this is for Yeah What sort of things are true whatsoever things are honest whatsoever things are just Whatsoever things are pure whatsoever things are lovely.

That's where the things are a good report if there be any virtue and Please think on these things.

Well, the first thing is whatsoever things are true, right? Okay Amen to that.

Okay the first story do Muslims and Christians worship the same God who says who who says yes, don't raise your hand.

I Don't think anyone would raise their hand. It's pretty common belief though If you go outside the walls of this church and ask the average person.

Yeah, they're probably gonna say yes, so former Southern Baptist Convention president

JD Greer said that Muslims worship the same

God as Christians now JD Greer is on Christian radio

Like I said, he's the former president of the Southern Baptist Convention just out of curiosity who's heard of JD Greer Okay, so a third of the room.

So why this matters the Southern Baptist Convention is the largest

Protestant evangelical denomination in the country and if you look at whatever is going on in the

SBC That's a it's they're considered like a bellwether What's going on in the

SBC is typically Standard for what's going on in mainstream evangelical

Christianity So if he's saying this this is probably it probably represents the views of a lot of professing evangelical

So he's a very high -profile Individual so that's why it matters and obviously if a guy like him says this it's going to influence a lot of people

So I found this comment to be problematic here's the quote he wrote a book

I guess he did some missionary work in the Muslim world and he wrote a book called breaking the

Islam Code This is what he wrote in the book He said Muslims claim to worship the

God of Adam Abraham and Moses Most missionaries find it therefore helpful to use the

Arabic term for God Allah Meaning literally the deity to refer to God and to explain that the

God Muslims believe in the God of the prophets was the God also present in bodily form in Jesus Christ and The one worshipped by Christians for the past two millennia.

Okay, so there it is He's saying that the same God that Muslims worship

Allah. That's the same God that was In bodily form in Jesus, that's the flat -out statement that he's saying that worship the same

God and Then he says or he's posing this question But isn't the

Islamic God so different from the Christian God that they cannot properly be called by the same name

Aren't we worshiping two different gods? Then he says believing wrong things about God in Worshiping him

Incorrectly does not mean one is worshiping a different God and then he gives this argument many first century

Jewish people Rejected the Trinitarian nature of God and that Christ was the messenger of God yet The Apostles did not say that those

Jews were worshiping a different God Well, actually,

I think they did say that so let's turn to first John chapter 2 But what's the problem see we need to recognize the problems with this statement

Obviously, like I said a lot of people are gonna agree with him and It's not enough.

Well, maybe it is for some people. It's enough to hear this statement and say, okay. I know that's wrong

I'm a Bible believing Christian. I know that's wrong. I'm not gonna listen to this guy anymore Which would be my if someone's that far off base

That would be my general advice. That's a serious enough of an error to not listen to this guy

Say well, you know, he's got some good things to say. Yeah, but if he's that wrong in the nature of God, he's gonna be way off in other things and he is way off in a lot of other things, but why do

I say that the okay remember his statement he said that the Apostles did not say that Jews who rejected the

Trinity the Apostles didn't say they were worshiping a different God. I Think they did look at 1st

John 2 18 through 23 The Apostle John is speaking about false teachers

He says little children it is the last hour and as you have heard that the

Antichrist is coming Even now many Antichrist Plural have come and the

Antichrist plural are the false teachers by which we know This is the last hour

They went out from us, but they were not of us for if they had been of us

They would have continued with us But they went out that they might be made manifest that none of them were of us in other words these false teachers

They used to be in the Christian Church, we used to consider them Christians, but now they've departed from the faith they're teaching error and that Reveals the fact that they're not really

Christian teachers after all but here's the verse that matters verses 22 and 23

John says who is a liar, but he who denies that Jesus is the Christ He is

Antichrist who denies the Father and the Son Whoever denies the

Son Jesus Does not have the Father either He who acknowledges the

Son has the Father also, so if I can summarize That statement if you don't have the

Son You don't have the Father in other words if you don't worship Jesus as the

Son of God you don't have the right God Follow along it was pretty simple if you are not trusting in the triune

God Father Son and Holy Spirit If you're worshiping a God, that's not the Trinity and Jesus isn't part of that.

You're worshiping a different God That's what John is saying. So when JD Greer says the

Apostles, you know when Jews were denying Jesus denying the Trinity Well, the

Apostles didn't say they were worshiping a different God. Well, that's exactly what John's saying right here. So JD Greer is way way off base

And I'm not going to try to judge his motives of why he's saying this But just to kind of go through this statement

Muslims. Yes. Do you have a question? Why is it pertaining to this

Yeah Yeah, and a lot of pastors Have gone through deconstruction they were brought up in the faith they went to college they went through deconstruction

But they're still in you know Christianity and now they're just teaching error

So they say I'm still a Christian But they're teaching that Muslims worship the same

God as Christians. I mean, it's it's It's a pretty extreme Error, but let's just go through the statement

Muslims claim to wear and then we'll give you the verse that he gives that's in defense of This yes.

Oh, sorry Okay, so I was going to say preliminarily and Very limited knowledge but Muslims They Look at Jesus as a prophet not necessarily

God So I wonder if Greer is saying is lumping it so generally

To create a thought of you know for everybody to follow. Yes.

He is so Influential, yep, so maybe he's saying okay.

Well, they look at him like a prophet And we have our our biblical view right he's just meaning that And to make it even more complicated

I believe that Muslims actually do say that Jesus was the

Christ But they redefine what the

Christ is or who the Christ is So we believe as Christians we believe Jesus himself

The Christ is the Son of God, right? well, they they say the Christ is the anointed one and then it's sort of a

Generic anointing not the Son of God. So I can understand why someone would you know be duped by their argumentation

But let's just go through the statement and we'll kind of work through his logic and then

I do want to get to the second New story but Muslims claim to worship the God of Adam Abraham and Moses, is that true?

Yeah, they do claim that most missionaries find it helpful. Therefore to use the

Arabic term for God Allah meaning Literally the deity to refer to God.

I Mean, you know if a missionary wants to say Allah if Allah means God Maybe maybe

I don't take issue with that And to explain this is where it becomes problematic and to explain that the

God Muslims believe in The God of the prophets was also present in bodily form in Jesus Christ.

Here's the thing Muslims just flat -out reject that they don't believe that So they are rejecting the

Sun and because they reject the Sun whether the Apostle John say they don't have the father either

So they don't have God They're not worshiping the true God Like you can't go down the road to someone in Leverett and talk to them and say do you believe in God?

Yes, I believe in God. Oh, let's see. You believe in God. We all believe in God I mean the real question is what

God tell me about this God and as Jesus his only begotten Son That's where people start separating and that's really

Which story? Yeah. Yeah, and the Muslims have a completely different story

So believing this is the other statement. Let's turn to act 17 Believing the wrong things about God and worshiping him incorrectly does not mean what is worshiping a different God I mean that may be true to a degree

Like you don't have to be 100 % correct about every single thing to worship because I'm sure we're all wrong about something

But This is radically different to say that the God of Islam is the same

God that Christians are worshiping Whoa, it's like if somebody says oh, I know do you know

Mark Fifield? Oh, yeah I know Mark Fifield. He's uh, you know 23 and he's uh, he's a police officer in Springfield and you know, he has red hair and he's five foot to say well

He was a cop and he's his name's Mark Fifield But you're describing a different Mark Fifield because he's not 23 and he doesn't have red hair and he's not five to but this is

What you need to look at with God they say I believe in God and they and they say well,

I believe he's All powerful. I believe they have right beliefs, but then there's other things they say we're okay.

Clearly. This is a different God. So That's kind of how you have to look at it.

Okay act 17 Hold on a second. Let me pull this back up Neil Shenvey Which is he's a guy another leader who's in JD Greer's church.

He came to JD Greer's defense online and he said As for this question do

Christians and Muslims worship the same God he says I was inclined to say no however after looking at acts 17 verse 23

This seems hard to square he says if pagans worshiping at a pagan shrine to an unknown

God or Worshiping God in ignorance or if they are worshiping God in ignorance. What are the implications?

So remember in act 17 Paul goes to Mars Hill and they're worshiping all these pagan deities but there's this one altar with the inscription to the unknown

God and What does Paul say look at verse 23? Paul stood in the midst of the

Areopagus and said men of Athens. I perceive that in all things you are very religious Whereas I was passing through and considering the objects of your worship

I even found an altar with this inscription to the unknown God Therefore the one whom you worship without knowing him

I proclaim to you Now does this prove that Muslims and Christians worship the same

God like I don't I don't even know how you get from Here to here What's his argument?

Well, they were worshiping and a God in ignorance and See they were worshiping the true

God they just didn't have all the right information That's sort of like the Muslims except the Muslims know who they're worshiping.

They can tell you all about him It's a totally different situation And of course Paul in act 17.

He's just using this as an opportunity Hey, I saw this let me tell you about this unknown

God because they didn't know of Jehovah and Jesus Christ, so It's it's a real stretch to say the least.

So that's that's one new story that I saw I think it's really troubling

Someone of his stature Would would say this because he's so influential

Here's the thing. I don't know if millions of people listen to this guy, but safe to say tens of thousands hundreds of thousands

Listen to this man and follow his ministry if he says something like this

The result is going to be half the people that listen to him are going to adopt this point of view

And that's why it's so important that you listen to sound teachers again Not everyone has everything correct

But when someone teaches an error to this magnitude You just know

There's there's something wrong here. I'm just reading further beyond 23

Defending rear and gone further then that might have changed

But if you're looking to defend him Then you're just gonna stick to you know, the narrow And in John 14 verse 6, you know,

Jesus says I am the way the truth the life No man comes unto the Father except through me

Muslims are not worshiping Jesus as the only begotten Son of God. They don't believe he died on the cross

They don't believe he was an atonement for sin. They do not believe that he rose again so if they're not trusting in Jesus and the gospel

Then they're not we're not all worshiping the same the same deity and obviously you don't have to tell people that the religions are radically different everyone knows but this day and age people are just Trying to blend everything together and saying, you know, hey close enough as long as you're sincere, you're good

I mean, that's kind of the modern attitude. So let's just move on to this next story

Jimmy Carter, okay Now I am NOT I am NOT someone who really is interested and especially after someone passes away

Like I really don't want this to turn into a thing of just like putting down Jimmy Carter So that's not why

I'm doing this but this is the news story Although what he said about Christianity in public,

I think it's fair game to evaluate it But the the news story from the Christian Post, let me just read you the headline

Chris Christians torch dark performance of John Lennon's imagine at Jimmy Carter's funeral

So Christians are upset about this dark song being played at What many people are calling a

Christian funeral? Okay, so let me just start out and read the article It says many Christians on X or Twitter were offended by the song choice and pointed out that its lyrics are

Antithetical to the message of a Christian funeral did anyone watch the funeral by any chance on television?

Okay so here's how John Lennon's song goes and I Realize like there are yes, there are people who like the

Beatles. They like John Lennon's music. I I used to like the song but the lyrics

I reached the point in my life where certain music the lyrics I just I Just can't do it anymore.

But this is how the song goes Imagine there's no heaven. It's easy if you try no hell below us above us only sky

Imagine there's no countries. It's not hard to do nothing to kill or die for and no religion, too

So what I found funny is it's supposed to be a Christian funeral, but then they're singing about hey

It would be great if there was no heaven like it's it's it's bizarre right John Lennon it again if you like him and his music that's up to you

I know how people are with music and they feel passionately about it, but It's it's a pretty well -known fact

John Lennon Despised Christianity a matter of fact on the Beatles album.

Let it be Who's heard the song let it be Paul McCartney, you know mother Mary comes to me

I think he said it was about his mother, but it sounded like the Virgin Mary. It sounds very religious

John Lennon was so Against that song he did not want that song on the album.

So he demanded that the next song after let it be be a song about a

Prostitute in Liverpool named Maggie Mae. So he made sure that okay Paul if you're gonna put this religious

Christian sounding Song on the album. I'm gonna put this song about a prostitute on right after it

I mean that just tells you how much he was against Christianity that's not a secret

So why would you then choose a song? That's a head that has an anti -christian message

Why would you choose that song to play at a Christian funeral? Right. That's the question

You have read somewhere. I'm not sure where just Glancing through things that that song was requested by Jimmy Carter.

He played it I mean, of course that is the answer. I mean they played it because it was Jimmy Carter's favorite song and he requested it

So yes that that is Is the song true

Well for his wife's funeral and again, I don't want to make this all about Jimmy Carter But for his wife's funeral a few years ago while he was still alive that song was played

Garth Garth Brooks played it for his wife's funeral. So I think it is pretty well established Jimmy Carter Did ask for this?

Okay, so that is Right, they did miracles.

Yeah, so So One one other line one other thing that struck me as funny this is the

National Cathedral like it is the Church that the federal government uses that the nation

National Cathedral and they're also singing about hey, it'd be so amazing if there were no countries

No boy, isn't that part of the song no borders sometimes there's something Something about that and then there's another line imagine no possessions.

It's easy if you try Yeah, and you know Carter's beliefs about God about the

Bible he denied Adam and Eve he did he believed in evolution. He denied a literal

Adam Adam and Eve. He denied the flood He denied that Jesus is the only way of salvation he supported so -called gay marriage

He denied the inerrancy of Scripture You know, there's a lot of things obviously we could talk about that is more important than what his favorite song was

But still, you know, this is this these are all opportunities to maybe talk to someone else and to learn how to think

Biblically last two minutes. I was gonna talk about the wildfires because that's like the big story in Christian news.

I'm not Christian news just the news but Thought well, I don't know how to tie this in except that there is there are some people

What's what are some people wondering about it? Is this is this the judgment of God upon,

California? Yeah Man, I think there aren't weren't there policies things that they did or didn't do that may have actually made this worse

So that were that whole worldview of caring more about caring less about people and caring more about diversity equity and inclusion and in Spotted owls or whatever, you know that worldview may have actually made it worse

I'm not going to say that it's the judgment of God because I don't know it could be

I wouldn't rule that out, but I'm not one to say it is because I There's no way

I can say that definitively. But yes My brother and my nephew are artists and they will tell you that the policies should not cut the brush to not

Husband the forests around that area play a huge part into their wildfires and why but why don't they cut the brush?

Okay, so they care more about animals than people

It's the whole area I don't know if you guys remember that big snowstorm.

We had a Halloween I do remember the reason that it was so bad because a lot especially in Congress It wouldn't allow them to cut the trees away from the power lines.

Yeah Yes Yes, and they created such a bad result because they didn't care for and husband nature

So that's a worldview issue and if people in government had a