April 8, 2024 Show with Tobias Riemenschneider on “The Belligerent Manliness of Christ”

Live from historic downtown Carlisle, Pennsylvania, home of founding father James Wilson, 19th century hymn writer

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Jim Thorpe, it's Iron Sharpens Iron. This is a radio platform in which pastors,

Christian scholars, and theologians address the burning issues facing the church and the world today.

Proverbs, chapter 27, verse 17, tells us iron sharpens iron, so one man sharpens another.

Matthew Henry said that in this passage, we are cautioned to take heed with whom we converse and directed to have in view in conversation to make one another wiser and better.

It is our hope that this goal will be accomplished over the next two hours, and we hope to hear from you, the listener, with your own questions.

And now, here's your host, Chris Arnzen. Good afternoon,

Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, Lake City, Florida, and the rest of humanity living on the planet

Earth who are listening via live streaming at ironsharpensironradio .com.

This is Chris Arnzen, your host of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, wishing you all a happy Eclipse Day on Monday, April the 8th, 2024.

And today, the world, or at least a part of it, is experiencing a rare astronomical experience apparently like no other.

Today's eclipse will be unusually accessible to millions of people, and it was widely anticipated not only for its remarkable period of darkness, but for its rare timing.

No total solar eclipse will be visible from the contiguous United States again until 2044, 20 years from now.

But I'm even more excited, much more excited, infinitely more excited about today's guest.

Today's guest is a returning guest, and his name is Pastor Tobias Riemenschneider, pastor of Evangelical Reformed Baptist Church in Frankfurt, Germany.

He's a trained lawyer, the founder of Pro Reggae Ministries, and he's an anti -abortion activist, co -author of the

Frankfurt Declaration of Christian and Civil Liberties, and the author of the book

Resisting Tyranny, a Christian Response to Government Overreach. And today we are addressing the theme of an utterly remarkable sermon

Tobias recently preached in Mesa, Arizona at Apologia Church.

The theme of that message was the belligerent manliness of Christ. I was utterly amazed listening and watching this sermon on YouTube, knowing that that was the very first sermon

Pastor Tobias ever preached in the English language, German being his native tongue, and you would have never guessed that in a million years, and you will never have guessed it when you watch this video, and I hope that all of you do, because he looked and sounded extremely comfortable speaking and preaching in the

English language. But it's my honor and privilege to welcome you back to Iron Trump and Zion Radio, Pastor Tobias Riemenschneider.

Thank you so much for having me on again, Chris, and it's great to know that I'm more exciting than a total eclipse.

Well, you definitely are, actually, at least to me. And by the way, more important than anything that we are going to discuss today,

Pastor Tobias Riemenschneider informed me that my fake

German accent in my parody of Martin Luther, Party, Hardy, Marty, and the

Protesters, several songs that I created and recorded a number of years ago, over 20 years ago, he got a kick out of that audio recording and said that my

German accent was spot -on. I can now go home to glory, knowing—

Yeah, it was very convincing. I share

Simeon's readiness now to depart this earth. But for the sake of our listeners who have not heard you yet on The Dividing Line, Dr.

James R. White's webcast, or my dear friend Pastor Keith Foskey's podcast, your

Calvinist podcast with Keith Foskey, for the sake of those who missed the last time you were on Iron Trump and Zion Radio as well, why don't you tell our listeners in more detail about Evangelical Reformed Baptist Church in Frankfurt, Germany.

Yes, so the church was constituted in November 2016.

So what is this now? Coming up to eight years, the church planting work began in April 2014.

And it was actually not started by me, but by my co -pastor Peter Schilt. He was sent to Frankfurt to plant a new

Reformed Baptist church. And on the very first Bible study he had in his living room in Frankfurt, I was there, and I stayed and became his partner and co -pastor when the church was constituted.

We are a 1689 Reformed Baptist church, one of only very few in Germany.

We now have about, on each given Sunday, about 150, 160 people attending our services, many of them young families with children.

So of this 160 people, about 60 are young children. So we are a young and a growing church.

And yeah, we also try not to just do church on the

Lord's Day, just to come together to preach and listen on the Lord's Day. But we want to have an effect on the culture, even also helping other

Christians in the Germansburg speaking world. We are doing podcasts. We are on the streets evangelizing.

We are fighting abortion. We are currently in the process of building a school, a classical

Christian school, and also a publisher for Reformed theology, which is also very needed in Germany.

So we are trying the best we can to not just live for us, but to be a light to others in our country and to advance the kingdom of Christ.

Hallelujah. Well, if anybody is visiting

Germany on vacation or perhaps you're among our listeners in Germany, we do have

Iron Trip and Zion Radio listeners in Germany. And the fact that over the past years,

I've gotten at least five church recommendation requests from listeners in Germany for churches near the various cities in which they live is proof of the fact that we do have

German listeners in Germany. And in fact, I just recently requested of Pastor Tobias recommendations for two listeners, two different listeners in Germany and two different cities who are looking for solid

Reformed churches and preferably Reformed Baptist churches. So we both know, both

Pastor Tobias and I, and especially Pastor Tobias since he lives there, that a lot of prayer needs to ascend to our

Lord's throne of grace that the doctrines of the

Protestant Reformation would be rekindled in that very country where Martin Luther was used of God to spark the flames of the

Protestant Reformation and that the true doctrines of sovereign grace would be one day prevalent in that country.

And sadly and tragically, they are scarcely found in churches there today.

And I would hope that even within my lifetime, there would come a point where when a listener in Germany asks for a church recommendation,

I can easily find one for them no matter what city they live in. And I know that that is a great burden on your heart as well, brother.

Yes, I'm just reminded. So yesterday on the Lord's Day, we had visitors from Zurich, from Switzerland, and they came all the way,

I'm not sure, six, seven hours or so. They drove to visit our church and they brought a huge basket, a gift basket with beautiful stuff from Switzerland.

I'm sure those two, so far for my co -pastor Peter and I, and I'm sure those two gift baskets were very expensive because they were really good stuff in there.

And just to show you how great the need actually is. So there are people from Zurich in Switzerland driving up to us six, seven hours, giving us these presents because they are so grateful that they can listen to something.

They don't really have anything in their vicinity, at least not that they know of. So there's really a great need in the

German speaking world for more reformed churches. And that's just one story to illustrate that maybe.

Yeah, well, if anybody, as I was starting to say, if anybody either who lives in Germany or is visiting

Germany, or if they have family, friends, and loved ones living in Germany, especially if they live in Frankfurt, Germany, you can visit the website of the

Evangelical Reformed Baptist Church of Frankfurt at erb -frankfurt .de,

erb -frankfurt .de, I'm sorry.

And if you are not living in or visiting

Frankfurt but some other city, contact Pastor Tobias and perhaps he'll be able to help you find a solid church.

Even if it's not one that agrees with our Reformed faith and our confession, perhaps it will at least be a gospel -centered,

Christ -centered, and faithful gospel preaching church. And we will repeat that information later on in the program.

And please also tell us, our listeners, about the Frankfurt Declaration of Christian and Civil Liberties.

Oh, yeah. So I wrote this declaration together with two pastors, one from France, he's actually an

American pastor, but he has been a missionary to France for 40 years, and a pastor from South Africa.

And we met over, I'm not exactly sure, for at least half a year, maybe longer.

We regularly met to write this declaration. And this is in response especially to the state measures regarding COVID.

We felt that this was a huge overreach of the state, at least in many countries, certainly in Germany and other countries.

And we thought that the church needs to respond to that with a declaration.

And so that was the idea. We drafted this declaration. It's not just about COVID, it's broader.

We tried to get something, to put together something that is not just relevant for a few

COVID years, but tackles those issues on a more basic level, which will hopefully be helpful for years, and maybe even longer to come.

It is really dealing with the core issues that we face in our societies and our cultures.

What is truth? Who does decide what is good, and what is evil, what is right, and what is wrong?

Does the state decide this, or does God decide this? And also, how should individuals, how should

Christians, and how should the church respond to overreaches? So what if the state says, well, there is no

God over me, so this makes me God, and I now say what is good and what is evil, and I call good evil and evil good.

For example, I tell you now that it is good to be a homosexual or a transgender, and you have to agree and to follow along.

How should the church respond to those issues? So I hope this is a document that will be helpful on a very basic level, how to deal with all the issues we see in our current culture, at least in the

Western world. Yes, and this Frankfurt Declaration is available in a number of languages, including

English, and you can find out more about it at frankfurtdeclaration .com,

frankfurtdeclaration .com. Isn't it fascinating how the minions of Satan, the evil ones, and in particular leftists, will always accuse their enemies of the very things that they are doing.

Yes, yes, exactly. And they always make the charge that it is we conservative

Bible -believing Christians that are trying to take over governments and so on and impose our beliefs and will upon all the citizens of any nation where you happen to live, and and in reality they are aggressively doing that.

And since they make the false claim that it is different for them because their views are not religious in nature, they seem to get away with this, and leftist ideology and anti -Christian worldview is religious.

It's just a very dangerous false and satanic religion, right? Right. All the people who claim that they have no religion, they just don't know they have, but we are always influenced by some spirit.

It's either the spirit of God, the Holy Spirit, or it is some demonic spirit.

And yeah, people who claim they have no religion are just either they are not really telling the truth or they just don't know how influenced they actually are by those religions, by those ideologies that are anti -Christian.

Amen. Well, today our specific topic, as I've already mentioned, is the theme of a sermon that I recently viewed that was preached by Tobias Riemenschneider at Apologia Church in Mesa, Arizona during one of his visits here to the

States. And it was his very first English sermon that he's ever preached.

By the way, was this your first visit to the States? No, it was my third time. Actually, the first time was 22 years ago, in 2002.

That was the first time I encountered born -again Christians. I was with a host family in Wisconsin, and that was the beginning of my conversion.

And then I came back a few years later to visit them again. But I've not been to the

States for probably 10 years now or so. So it's the first time in a long time.

Well, you know, you just reminded me, one of our listeners, Mary in Cork, Ireland, was so thrilled to hear of your testimony, because she listened to our previous interview.

And she operates a boarding house, for lack of a better term.

You know, travelers rent rooms in her home in Cork, Ireland, from all over the world, and she is a

Christian. So she was very encouraged that the evangelism and the not only speaking and declaring the gospel of Christ verbally, but living it out right before the eyes of those lodging in her home, gave her more confidence that the

Lord was going to use that to bring souls to saving faith. Yes. So I hope you're listening today,

Mary in Cork, Ireland. But the theme, the belligerent manliness of Christ.

Belligerent, first of all. I think typically, at least in America, when that comes up in a phrase, it's usually some kind of an insult.

Like, stop being so belligerent. But really, it just means, does it not, that you are ready to do battle over worthy causes?

Not to invent reasons to go to war with people, or to be the hostile aggressor against the innocents, but, you know, protecting those that you love from harm, whether it be in your home or whether it be in your nation.

And so belligerent does not need to be viewed as a negative adjective, correct?

Right, right. So I think it comes from the Latin bellum, right?

I think that's still in there, bellum, which means war. So it means being ready to go to war. And I know that it has some negative connotation, or at least can have some negative connotations.

So I knew this title would be a little provoking, but I wanted it to be that way.

You know, in our modern culture, and it's actually been going on for decades, but even if you didn't use a provocative term like that, the very notion of highlighting the masculinity of Christ is tragically going to raise eyebrows with many people, even in so -called conservative

Bible -believing churches and homes. Yeah, yeah. And, you know,

I've preached this message in German two weeks or so before I preached it in America.

I still changed a lot. I worked at least two or three more days on the message to make some changes, yeah, to adapt it a little bit to the situation in America.

But I basically essentially preached the same message in Germany and in America.

And I think I preached it both times, once at my church, once at Apologia Church. I think

I preached it both times in a, well, in a setting, yeah, to an audience that is a little used to that, maybe.

But I, of course, know that there are many to whom this very idea of a manly and maybe sometimes even aggressive and belligerent

Christ is very foreign, and they have huge issues with that.

Yeah, because that's not, you know, and even, so, you know, the comments are activated under the sermon, so you can read a bit through the comments.

And I did that, because in my church, we do not have the comments activated, they're deactivated.

So it was interesting for me to read a little bit through the comments. And, you know, you sometimes get this, that people are really trying to warn you, yeah, but if you build an entire theology out of this, but no one is saying that we are doing that, you know.

And it's interesting how careful everyone wants to be when it's about the manliness and the strength of Christ.

But if I've preached a sermon on the meekness or the gentleness of Christ, I'm pretty sure no one would have warned against making a theology out of this also.

So, and of course, there are probably more dangers. I'm not even sure if that's true, but there might be more dangers if you want to imitate a belligerent manliness of Christ, because Christ, of course, has a holy and always sinless wrath, and everything he does and says is sinless and holy.

And we, of course, often don't have. So our wrath might be partly holy and partly unholy.

So of course, there are some traps. But the entire idea of the sermon was, no, we are called to imitate

Christ. And I believe we are called to imitate him in everything, because everything he does is absolutely good and righteous and holy.

And that's not just true for his meekness and gentleness and love, but it's also true for his manliness and strength and harsh words he sometimes used.

Now, how do you think many Christians, I mean, it's possible that this might even include the majority of Christians, at least professing

Christians, arrived at this notion of Jesus Christ being this pacifist that—it's amazing that even some who believe in the inerrancy of Scripture, you wonder, how did they come up with this idea of reading the

Gospels and reading the Bible? You sometimes wonder, did they get this idea from television and movie depictions of Jesus, where Jesus Christ is always depicted, or at least many times, most of the time, especially in the past, as if he is walking around on a heavy dose of Valium or something and almost bordering on effeminate.

And the only time that you see him with the manly side come out is when they accurately depict him driving out the money changers from the temple.

They usually include that story, because it is such an amazing story, and it would be ridiculous to leave it out.

But where did this come from? I mean, to your knowledge, I don't know how much searching you've done into history about this, but,

I mean, was that always a prevalent error in church history dating back centuries even, or even millennia, where people were passing on this understanding of Jesus as being almost, to give an analogy or a stereotype, the hippie who is tranquilized on some kind of drug and never raises his voice or never shows an ounce of robust manliness in his public ministry?

Yeah, so I guess it's difficult to say where this started. I don't think,

I mean, I'm sure that feminism has something to do with it, because feminism now tells us that any manliness is toxic, but I don't think it started with feminism.

I think it started much earlier, even if you look at older pictures, hundreds of years old, where the pictures that depict

Jesus. So, normally he is shown as a very handsome, soft, long -haired, almost metrosexual man.

I think Wally Bauckham, in his famous sermon, Sisyphus Jesus, he said, you know, he has such beautiful hair, he could work as a shampoo model.

In fact, every single depiction on film, and basically in art as well, that I've ever seen of Jesus, they all violate the scripture because they make him a

GQ model. They use an actor that is stunningly handsome to portray him, and the

Bible is clear that he was not. Yeah, yeah. And, you know, even if you look back, there is this, oh, what's the word?

So, they have this cloth where they claim that's actually the cloth that Jesus was wrapped in.

Oh, the shroud of turn. Exactly, exactly, the shroud of turn, exactly. And even that shows

Jesus, a picture of Jesus that is close to that one, right, with this long hair and so on.

And, of course, you know, we don't know exactly how Jesus looked. The Bible doesn't explain that to us.

So, you know, I was wondering if this maybe even has something to do, and I'm just speculating,

I'm not sure of that, maybe even goes back to the times of the

New Testament, when we had at least some rise of proto -Gnosticism or even worship of angels, if something of that has something to do with that.

So, a Jesus that is not really a man anymore, but is more like some angelic being that really has no human emotions anymore.

So, it seems to me that something like that has happened, that we actually made

Jesus not really a human, not really a man, but something more like an angelic being floating over everything.

But Jesus was and still is a true man and true God, but He's also truly man.

And this aspect, I think, got somehow lost. You know, if you read through some of those passages, you know,

I preached especially on Matthew 23, where Jesus, for the last time, really takes on the

Pharisees and scribes in the temple. If you read this and imagine how this actually happened back then, 2 ,000 years ago, it's really difficult to read this and not see how much emotion was in there and how much wrath and even fear.

And I think that's how we have to read the Bible. We have to understand that He was not just truly

God, but also truly man, and He had emotions, and there was wrath, and there was fear, and only then actually make those scenes really sense.

You talked about the cleansing of the temple, the turning over of tables, and so on.

I always, and I think many Christians probably have, had really difficulties with those passages, because that was not

Jesus like, that was not Christ like, and I couldn't really understand why did Christ behave in that way.

But if you actually read the Bible correctly, yeah, really imagine how did this really happen, and Jesus really acting as a man in this real situation, with real emotions, and so on,

I think then things become much more clearer, and Christ becomes much more a true man, and not just some,

I don't know, angelic being floating above everything. Yeah, in fact, it recalls to my memory from decades ago on one of Bill Maher's old television shows,

I don't know if you have any idea, being a native of Germany and still a citizen there, if you have any knowledge of who

Bill Maher is, but he's a former stand -up comedian who has become a political talk show host, and he is typically quite left -wing, although sometimes he surprises his listeners by coming up with common -sense approaches that would tend to be more popular amongst conservatives.

But years ago he was interviewing a Christian, and I can't remember who it was, that was definitely a theologically

Reformed Christian. In fact, I remember he had a baseball cap that had a picture of John Calvin's face on it, and he was talking about how

Christ is going to punish the wicked and so on, and Bill Maher said, that's not the

Jesus we all know and love. And for the first time

I can recall ever, Bill Maher being silenced, you know, to the point where he couldn't respond, is when this guest said,

Mr. Maher, you don't know the first thing about Jesus Christ. And it was patently obvious he didn't, but that is a very common understanding.

I can even remember being at a Bible study, and the pastor, who is a sovereign grace -believing man of Calvinist, Reformed Baptist, was saying that we should not, in our evangelism, walk around saying to everyone we meet, even when we don't know if they're saved or lost, and they're total strangers to us,

Jesus loves you and died for you. And this woman, and who was a member of the church, when she was asked, because she was protesting this, and she was asked to point out a scripture, any scripture, where that was the line of evangelism by anyone in New Testament days, and she couldn't find any verse, because there is none, and she said, well,

I don't care. I'm still going to tell people that, because it's this idea that we only want to focus on the kind and loving

Jesus, and we are offering, in our bad terminology that's unbiblical, false comfort and hope to people who are reprobates and enemies of Christ.

Am I going too far there? No, you're absolutely right. So it would be a lie to tell someone

God loves you, Christ loves you, when he is a reprobate, because the Bible actually says that God hates those.

Many would say, no, God hates sin, but he loves the sinner. Well, that is true for us who are saved, who are

Christians. He loves us, even though we still sin, but the reprobate sinner, it's,

I think it's Psalm 11 or 12, it's all over the Psalms, but somewhere specifically it says his soul hates them.

So all his being, all his feelings, speaking human way, but his entire being hates the sinner, not just the sin, the sinner, and his wrath is upon those who are his enemies, and who do not turn and believe in Christ.

In fact, R .C. Sproul responded to that statement, Jesus hates the sin, but loves the sinner.

R .C. Sproul responded, but he sends sinners to hell. He doesn't send sins to hell.

Exactly. Yeah, right. No one in hell will say, oh, God loves me, he just hates my sin.

No, that's not how it is. Well, let's pick up where we left off there, because we have to go to our first break.

If anybody has a question for Pastor Tobias Riemenschneider on the belligerent manliness of Jesus Christ, our email address is chrisarnsen at gmail .com,

c -h -r -i -s -a -r -n -z -e -n at gmail .com. Give us your first name at least, city and state and country of residence.

Don't go away. We're going to be right back. Armored Republic exists to equip free men with tools of liberty to defend

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But today, I want to introduce you to my senior pastor, Doug McMasters of New High Park Baptist Church on Long Island.

Doug McMasters here, former director of pastoral correspondence at Grace to You, the radio ministry of John MacArthur.

In the film Chariots of Fire, Olympic gold medalist runner Eric Liddell remarked that he felt

God's pleasure when he ran. He knew his efforts sprang from the gifts and calling of God.

I sensed that same God -given pleasure when ministering the word and helping others gain a deeper knowledge and love for God.

That love starts with the wonderful news that the Lord Jesus Christ is a savior who died for sinners and that God forgives all who come to him in repentance, trusting solely in Christ to deliver them.

I would be delighted to have the honor and privilege of ministering to you if you live in the Long Island area or Queens or Brooklyn or the

Bronx in New York City. For details on New High Park Baptist Church, visit nhpbc .com.

That's nhpbc .com. You can also call us at 516 -352 -9672.

That's 516 -352 -9672. That's New High Park Baptist Church, a congregation in love with each other, passionate for Christ, committed to learning and being shaped by God's word and delighting in the gospel of God's sovereign grace.

God bless you. I'm Pastor Bill Shishko of The Haven, an

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today and mention Iron Sharpens Iron Radio. We do have a listener questions.

I wasn't planning on taking a listener question so soon, but since it has relevance to what we were just saying before the break, we have

Prudence in Watermill, Long Island, New York, who asks, where in the

Bible does it say Jesus was ugly? Well, it doesn't say that, but in Isaiah 53 -2, it says that he has no stately former majesty that we would look at him, nor an appearance that we would take pleasure in him, and other translations, like the

King James Bible, uses the phrase that he hath no form nor comeliness, and more modern translations say he had no beauty or majesty to attract us to him.

So, he was probably just an average -looking Jew. Am I right, Tobias? Oh, sorry about that.

I had you on mute, Tobias. Oh, okay. I said he was probably just an average -looking

Jew, correct? Yes. So, there was nothing in his outward appearance that would have drawn people especially to him.

So, probably not a model. Right. So, if you could,

I think I interrupted you before the break, so if you wanted to continue on the thread that you were planning to take us.

Yes, yes. Happy to do so. Maybe just one thing I said before that we have this image of Jesus like an angelic being floating over everything.

Of course, we also have unbiblical images of angels, especially if you think an angel is a rather hubby baby.

No, they are indeed very old and huge creatures that can kill thousands of the best soldiers in one night.

Yeah, and they struck terror in the minds and hearts of people when they saw them. Exactly, exactly.

So, also angels are not just beautiful models and some effeminate beings also.

So, yeah, but just to make that clear. And so, where we left off,

I guess, is why is it that we have this image of Jesus that we even would tell people, you know,

Jesus loves you, Jesus loves everyone, which is just not true. That's not the biblical teaching.

And some people would say, you know, yeah, but it said Jesus, so did God love the world? That's true.

He loves the world he has made, but that does not mean that he loves every single sinner, especially as the

Bible tells us otherwise. And I think one reason why we have this effeminate and rather weak and just all forgiving and all loving

Jesus is that he is harmless. No, he is not a man to be afraid of him.

He's a nice guy, you know, he means you no harm. And that is something everyone can easily cope with.

Even the unbeliever can like a Jesus like that. But if you have actually the biblical view of Jesus, then he becomes terrifying.

You know, when we read in Revelation that people, all people will cry out even to the mountains, you know, to fall on them and hide them from the wrath of the

Lamb. So that is Jesus. His wrath is so terrifying that people would rather be smashed by rocks.

And so if you or in the beginning of Revelation, when John first sees Jesus, he falls on his face like dead.

So that is what happens if you see Jesus. You almost die. So that's the fear he strikes in people.

And of course, no one likes that. No one wants that. So we rather have a weak and friendly and harmless Jesus.

And the problem is, if that is our Jesus, then the church becomes like him.

So the church also becomes effeminate and weak and eventually harmless.

Harmless to Satan and his kingdom. There's no real power left in the church to actually go to battle, to actually fight

Satan, fight darkness and really advance the kingdom with all the means

Christ gave us. And that's not just being nice and friendly to everyone, but that's also using the word of God as a sword that pierces and a hammer that smashes.

Now, I think we have to be careful. I don't want anybody to misunderstand what we're saying, because the proclamation of the gospel can be false in two ways.

It can be false in probably the most dominant way it is false in our modern day, when we give comfort and encouragement to those who are still in a state of rebellion, who are even mocking the gospel, or perhaps are just plainly apathetic and ignoring it.

Such people should not have comfort while they are still in that state. And most people, most professing

Christians today, I think, err on that end. But there is the danger, and this does occur even today, where we present a

Christ who is unapproachable. We present a Christ that gives no hope to those who are being drawn, who are searching to have peace with God by the mercy and grace of God.

The only reason they're searching is because he is drawing them. But we can present a

Christ that is only terrifying, and that is not what we should be doing, is it? Right.

And you can see, so I believe most people before, so a step in their conversion is to become afraid of God.

Because normally, you first have to realize I'm a sinner, and there is a holy

God and a just God, and I'm under his wrath, and he will actually judge me. So that is part of most conversion experiences somehow, right?

But you're right, there's also the time when Jesus stands there and opens his arms and says, everyone who's heavy laden, just come to me,

I will give you rest. So the message of the gospel is not just Christ is your judge, even though that's mostly what we have to, even if you look at how did

Peter on Pentecost, or how did Paul, for example, in Athens, how did they proclaim the gospel?

It's always confronting people with their sin, and showing them Christ as their judge, but then also showing them

Christ as their savior. And if you look in the gospels, how Christ himself, how

Jesus spoke to the people, whenever someone came and was humble, and was believing, and was searching, he never cast him out, he never sent him away.

He was always very loving, and he would always be a perfect savior for everyone.

But then when he's confronted with those hypocrites, with those false teachers, then he gets angry, right?

Then there comes the harsh words. And I think that's always how you have to keep balance, to show

Christ as forgiving, and loving, and saving for everyone who approaches him humbly, and asking for forgiveness, but also as the judge of those who don't.

Now, do you think there was a reason why he was clearly more bold in his belligerence, as we've used in the theme of today, towards religious leaders, the

Pharisees, than he was toward the woman at the well? Even though he was very honest in his rebuke of her, he didn't candy -coat anything, but he was far more bold in his condemnation of the

Pharisees. Do you think, what is the reason, in your opinion? Yes, so the

Pharisees, those shepherds, I'm always reminded of Ezekiel, I think it's

Ezekiel 40, I'm not completely sure, but there's this entire chapter, even more than a chapter, against the shepherds, right?

So I believe there's a special wrath Christ has against false shepherds, because they are, they should know better.

So they are the ones responsible for the sheep. And Christ even says, it is in Matthew 23, for example, you know, you as scribes and Pharisees, you don't enter the kingdom of God, and you won't let those who want to enter the kingdom of God.

So they have a special responsibility, and if they are lost, it's not just them, but they also close the kingdom farther by not preaching truth, you know, binding heavy burdens on people and so on.

So there's a special responsibility and a special grief and wrath of Christ against those who will also hinder sheep to enter the kingdom.

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That's also the email address where you can send in a question to Pastor Tobias Riemenschneider, and we are talking about the belligerent manliness of Christ.

chrisarnson at gmail .com gives his first name at least, city and state, and country of residence.

And Tobias, why don't you move on to what was the main catalyst, or catalyst plural, that led you to want to preach on this powerful theme at Apologia Church?

What are the things probably, especially in Germany, going on that led you to believe this is an area where the church is failing miserably?

Yeah, so I believe that the church in general, of course not every single church, but the church in general has been too weak, too effeminate, not belligerent enough, not willing enough to go to war for quite some time, for at least,

I would say, a few decades. And I think we see now what the fruits of that are.

The church is losing influence rapidly, and the kingdom of darkness returns in many places.

So I believe we are called by Christ to actually go to war.

And of course, when I say that, I don't mean to pick up arms. But even though there might be a case where even that might be, you know, if you look at the

American Revolution. So there might be a time where you can even take us up arms.

But what I'm speaking about is, of course, the arm of God and the sword of the

Spirit, that this is God's Word, right? So we have to really go out and proclaim the kingdom of Christ, and to confront the culture, and have a strong message, and even present a strong and manly church.

I believe that the reason why many churches lack, especially men, is because there's not so much attractive to men, when everything you actually do and say is rather weak and effeminate, starting with the sermons and the person of the preacher, and continuing with your worship songs.

You know, if you just have a look at the psalms, so the songs that God sings are adequate for church service, for worshipping him, and you compare what the psalms speak about, how often they speak about our enemies and about warfare, and so on and so forth, and you compare that to most modern worship songs, there's a big difference between those two.

But to get more specific, so I believe this is a general problem the church has, and has been having for decades, but to be very specific, what triggered this,

I believe it's, for one, it's just my personal experience. I'm someone who preaches clearly, and who addresses all those topics, cultural topics, political topics.

I'm not a politician. I'm not talking all the time about politics, but I believe Christ, I believe the word of God has something to say with regard to every area of life, including culture and including politics, and I believe we have to be bold in proclaiming the whole counsel of God, and not fear men.

For example, I've preached on the topics of homosexuality and transgenderism, and I know that this is a little dangerous, because there are many who will not like it, but we should not fear men, but should fear

God alone. So I'm trying to do that. I'm trying to be faithful and bold in my preaching, and I've experienced over and over again that Christians, and especially other leaders, especially other pastors, have a huge issue with that.

They don't like that. They sometimes tell me I should be more like them, nicer, and not confronting so much.

So that is something from personal experience, but then especially, you know, we have a

Bible reading challenge. My church started a Bible reading challenge at the beginning of this year, and so we normally read two or three chapters a day, and that is different from what

I normally did in my family devotions. I only read a few verses and then talked about those, and so now

I'm forced, because of this Bible reading challenge, to read through entire chapters, and when

I read through Matthew 21, 22, 23, and really read those chapters in context, it became so obvious, clear to me, more than before, how manly and how belligerent, if you want to use that word, and how strong and fearless Christ acts in these chapters, and I thought, well,

I have to preach about this, you know, and then when I came, when

I knew, okay, I have to talk about, I also have to preach in America, I thought this might also be a good topic for America, because, you know,

I'm listening a lot to what's happening in America. I'm listening to sermons and podcasts and radio shows from America, so I noticed that you got pretty much the same problem we have in Germany, maybe not as fierce as we have it in Germany.

In Germany, you always have to be nice. I think you Americans are a little bit more willing to go to war, but you essentially have the same issue, and I thought this might be something

I could address, and especially, you know, there was this interview with Ligon Duncan, I'm sure some of the listeners know about this, where he attacked

Doug Wilson, and I thought, well, that's exactly what I mean. Someone who just preached truth, maybe not without fault, but who is bold and addresses all these things and is not afraid of the opinions of men, and he gets attacked by another leader, by another pastor, for being not

Christ -like, when instead he was Christ -like, and the critique was not

Christ -like. Yeah, I hope and pray that Ligon comes back to a correct understanding of things, because he is a brilliant theologian.

I've had him on this program. He wrote a glowing endorsement for this show years ago, but sadly he has been influenced by the woke movement and strongly supports

Jamar Tisby, his assistant, who is one of the leading figures in the woke and social justice movement, but it's interesting that you say that in Germany you always have to be kind, even the way that you folks say

I love you is frightening. Ich liebe dich. Right, right.

But it's interesting that you said that, because we have a listener, Susan, in East Setauk at Long Island, New York, who said, only a

German could preach a sermon titled, The Belligerent Manliness of Christ.

Now, apparently, from what you're saying, however, that she may have an older stereotype in her mind of German men that perhaps is not the norm now.

Well, why don't you explain that? Right. So, you know, I think in my

German version of this sermon, I even said, you know, if Luther was alive today, no one would support him.

No one would fight with him. They would all say, Luther, you are too aggressive. You are too belligerent.

Be more like us. Be a little nicer. Don't confront everyone. You're just, you know, you're just causing trouble.

Stop that. Yeah. So I believe, yeah, I believe German men were more manly in general in the past.

Yeah, but as it is today, it is difficult to find a preacher that will preach really fearless and manly.

And maybe it's a matter of opinion, but I don't know how manly you could look wearing lederhosen.

Well, depends on your, you know, I guess it depends on your legs. But can you address some areas that I may have overlooked in my questions, where it is evident that the church at large is failing in the way we depict

Christ as far as his manliness? One thought that I have in my head is that there's probably nobody that's consciously, whether they're conservative or liberal, who is consciously saying we must portray

Christ as effeminate or less than manly. But it's where the flaw is, where the serious problem is, what they view as manhood.

It's an erroneous, flawed view of manhood. I'm assuming you agree with that.

Yes. So when I prepared the sermon first in German, I looked up in several dictionaries, what does manly mean?

And it was interesting what synonyms they gave you. It is strong, it is fearless, it is daring, it is not afraid of danger, willing to go to war, willing to even die.

And so it's all this manliness. And we can't confuse that with what are the tasks of a man and so on.

It's just what does manliness in and of itself mean? It really means being strong, fearless, determined, resolute, unwavering.

And this is something that I believe is actually, yeah, you know, that's what feminism, that what our culture today would tell us is toxic.

And I believe we are influenced by that. We believe this is something toxic. This is not

Christ -like. You have to be soft. You have to be always meek and gentle and mild.

And I think what many don't understand is that, you know, when

Christ, when he turned over the tables, when he confronted the Pharisees and the scribes really harshly, he continued to be the meekest and most gentle man that ever walked the earth.

So those things don't exclude each other. They are just two different sides of the same coin, but they go together.

You know, if you love God, you will hate evil. That's actually a quotation from the

Bible somewhere in Proverbs. I think I even mentioned that in the sermon. So if you love your family, you will fight to protect it.

And even with Christ, when he did those things, when he turned over tables, what was the explanation given?

The zeal for the house of the Lord has, what is the English rendering, has eaten him up or something like that, right?

So if you have zeal for God, you will have wrath towards those who mock

God and yeah, don't obey. By the way, let me ask you a question. I don't want to take us off on a rabbit trail, but a very highly respected, reformed, at least soteriologically reformed

Christian, who I actually consider a modern day hero, was describing

Christ chasing out the money changers from the temple with the whip that he himself created.

And this person said that Jesus never made contact with the whip. He just scared them away.

What are your thoughts on that? So I think there are two possibilities to translate that passage.

I think you can, and that's, for example, the version, the Bible translation I normally use in German, makes it clear that Jesus used the whip on those animals that were there, but not on the humans.

I'm not sure exactly what the best rendering there would be, but I think it's highly unlikely that he makes the whip and then not use it.

So just blow it up in the air, see I got a whip. I think he used it and maybe he only used it on those cattle, on those animals.

But I think he probably, you've made use of it, otherwise it wouldn't really make much sense to make it in the first place, right?

Right, and where I was coming to a disagreement with this person, and I'm not mentioning his name because he may have changed his view, is that would he have been wrong,

Christ, and actually sinned, which we know that he never did, if he was actually physically making contact with the whip and intentionally whipping humans.

I don't think he would have been wrong at all. No, well, he's

God in the flesh, and those men deserve death. So he would be right, absolutely righteous, in just killing them right away.

So of course it would also be righteous for him to take up a whip and actually whip them with it.

So and this is something, yeah, you see the entire scheme. It's not just how did Jesus behave in this one instance, it's actually who is

Jesus, who is God. So and he is a God that has a holy wrath, and that will judge, and that will actually kill people forever in hell.

And so of course, and on the other hand, we have to understand that we actually deserve it, that sin actually deserves this.

And then I think you see that Christ did not overreact when he cleansed the temple.

Right. And we have a listener, Buck, in Atlanta, Georgia, who says, in spite of how aggressively the left may cry out against our stereotypes of manliness that they would claim we hold to, do you believe that any of them really think that that is an appropriate way for men to behave, meaning to be fearful, or at least not active in wanting to protect those around them, weak, effeminate, etc.?

Yeah. So manliness is not something you only learn once you become a

Christian and read the Bible. That will help you to have a more biblical, more godly understanding of manliness.

But manliness is something that God actually incorporated into nature.

So he made some men, and they should be manly.

And that's actually part of nature, not just of Christianity. So if someone really believes that a man should not be manly, then he must be given over by God to a point where he doesn't understand and cherish nature anymore.

So he must be far, far down the line to actually believe that. And I think he will probably stop believing it once he comes into a situation where he actually needs some men to protect him.

So I would believe if Germany or America, and I don't want that to happen, but if Germany or America were attacked, and we find ourselves in a war, really in a struggle for survival,

I think all those ideologies would be gone immediately. No one would talk about toxic manliness, but everyone would call for those men who can actually fight and are fearless and can protect us and save us.

Yeah, that reminds me of a hilarious meme I recently saw. It looked like a photograph from the 1950s of a woman in the kitchen with a big smile on her face, holding a tray of food that she just pulled out of the oven.

And it said, feminists when they reinstate the draft before World War III.

But no wife wants a man, of course, if he's physically disabled and can't get out of bed for some reason, that's a different story.

But no wife wants a man if you hear a broken glass in the middle of the night from downstairs in the kitchen or the living room.

No wife's going to want the man, hey, honey, can you go downstairs and see what that is? It's just ridiculous.

I mean, I'm sure even lesbian couples, when an intruder is breaking into their home, they're wishing that there was a strong, fearless man around or even a man who may be not physically strong, but fearless nonetheless when it comes to protecting his loved ones.

Now, when I say fearless, he may be terrified, but he's overcoming them or acting in courage in spite of his fears is probably a better way of saying.

Right. So being fearless in that sense, it doesn't mean to not experience fear.

Jesus experienced fear in the garden, Gethsemane.

So manliness doesn't mean I don't know fear. Manliness means I overcome fear.

I know that there are things that I have to do as a man and I will do them no matter how much fear

I might have. I have to overcome those fears and I have to act like men have to act.

And yeah, and that's something that is actually in our nature. And it's also in the nature of women to actually want something like that from a man and not be like a man and not be so fearless and and in the middle of the night, go downstairs to see what's happening.

Yeah, that's not what women should do, what they are supposed to do. That's what actually men are for. And I believe everyone deep down knows that because it's it's in our nature.

Yes. And do you think I know that you don't have a second amendment in Germany?

I don't know if you have anything that that mirrors that. But this whole call for gun control.

Yeah. Uh, isn't that a part of a feminizing leaders of homes that even citizens of of states and so on where you making a nation, a nation of ducks in a barrel or fish in a barrel, however you want to say it, sitting ducks where tyranny could easily erupt when those in in political authority know that a nation is is a citizens of a nation or the subjects of a nation are defenseless.

And that is just a part of of enforcing mandating a feminacy, isn't it?

Right. So I believe that the reason why manliness is labeled as toxic and fought against,

I believe that is actually to render men harmless. You know, if you want to if you want to have a strong state who enforces a new religion, a new state ideology, that will be very difficult if you have strong and manly men that are willing to fight against against this state tyranny and the state overreach and against this new religion.

They are willing to fight or protect their wives and children. It will be difficult. So you have to you have to weaken those men.

And the question regarding gun control, I love that question because I so I come from from a

German, from a European context. And in Europe and in Germany, guns are basically outlawed.

So if if I wanted to to own a gun in Germany, I would have to be a a sport.

I would do that as I have to do it as a sport or I need to be a hunter.

Yeah. So it needs to be a good reason why I should be allowed to carry a gun. And even then, I wouldn't allow it to just carry it with me.

Yeah. So actually, when I was in the USA, when I was in in in Phoenix, we went to a shooting range and that was great.

That was basically the first time that I actually shot shot a gun.

So in Germany, you don't have you don't have guns. You're not allowed to bear arms.

You're not even allowed to to bear knives if they are too big and so on. Didn't Hitler start that there?

When I don't I don't know that that is possible, but I don't know. I don't know. I had heard that one of the very first things he did when the

Nazis gained control was to remove firearms from citizens homes.

Yeah. Oh, I have to look that up. That is that's interesting. But it wouldn't take me by surprise because if like I said, if you want to if you want to have a strong state and everyone needs to bow down to this state and the new state ideology, that's what you have to do.

You have to weaken. You have to render harmless the men. And so and you know, growing up in this

German context, I always thought like everyone else here does, that Americans are crazy because they they are allowed to have guns.

Right. And how dangerous is that if everyone carries around some guns, you will have mass shootings and so on.

So and then I became a Christian and I began to think more biblical.

And especially during Covid, I really understood how important it is that you actually have the right to bear arms, because what are you to do against a state that turns tyrannical if you're not even allowed to bear arms?

I mean, to be honest, even the arms you are allowed to bear, if it if it really came to a showdown between the the people and the military,

I mean, all your all the arms you have won't even be really effective against the military forces.

Right. But but still, I wouldn't know how to defend my children if the state came to take my children away because I'm not willing to to vaccinate them.

What should I do? Well, I could I could fight with my bare fists. Right. But yeah, so I told a long story, but to make it short,

I totally agree with you. I thought completely different from my German background. But now thinking more biblical,

I completely agree men need to have the right to bear arms, to be able to defend themselves, to defend their families and even to defend their country against a government that turns tyrannical if that happens.

Yeah, you might be surprised or you may not be surprised at all that the heated discussions

I've had in the past with reform Baptists in the

UK who just describe Americans as gun worshippers, gun crazy, and they this trust in the government that they have.

Yeah. Like that's mommy and daddy taking care of us. The best answer that I have heard about the dangers of gun control in any nation, the best answer

I heard was from Alan Keyes. I don't know if you know Alan or I've ever heard of him.

He ran, I believe it was the 1990s, maybe early 2000s. I can't remember right now.

He ran in the Republican Party primaries for president.

It was actually when George W. Bush first won. But he had actually moved over from the

Republican Party to the Reform Party. And I went to a fundraiser of his and somebody asked what his problem was with gun control.

And he quoted Lord Acton because power corrupts and absolute power corrupts.

Absolutely. You can't. Yes. You can't give so much power to any people who are in places of authority in government where everyone else living in that nation is defenseless because it may even make a mildly, mildly bad sinner, a tyrannical satanic sinner and dictator just because of the drunkenness on power.

Right. And you know, what comes to my mind is it might be the same soteriology, oh that's a difficult word, soteriology, reforms or Calvinistic hero of the faith.

Maybe that's the same one you talked about. I don't know. But there's one of those heroes of the faith that actually said when he was asking what would you do if someone came and wanted to,

I'm not sure, harm or murder your wife and children, would you actually defend them?

And he said, no, I would not because I believe we are basically pacifists as Christians.

Yes, I know. I know you're talking about and he said I would not want to kill them and send them to hell.

Yeah. When actually the Bible explicitly allows us to even kill someone like that, you know, somewhere

Exodus even said if someone breaks into your house, you can kill him. You don't have to be very careful.

And so, and I think this is, yeah, it would be manly if someone comes and wants and breaks into my house, wants to harm my wife and children.

I will, as good as I can, I will try to make sure that he has no opportunity to do so.

And if that means he dies in the process, then it's his fault and not mine.

That is manliness. And yes, amen. And the thing that's absurd about that counsel that Reformed Baptist man gave is that so you're going to let these killers that have broken into your home live so that they can move on to another home and send those people to hell by killing them.

You know, I mean, you know, it's not, and the thing that's amazing, it's not a

Calvinist argument. We are not in control of the eternal destinies of humans. Right, right.

And see, and actually, so I'm not accusing him of that, but actually, if you argue like that and behave like that, what you're actually doing is you're turning everything upside down.

You're actually declaring good to be evil and evil to be good because you show love to those murders, but basically hatred to your own family, right?

Because if you would love them, you would protect them. And so you turn things upside down. No, you should love your family and be able to defend them and maybe die for them if necessary.

And you should hate those evildoers. And yeah, you should not twist things.

Like the father who may be giving away food, clothing, and toys to the neighborhood children while his own children starve.

Right. Yeah. And that's not a good deed. It would be a good deed in general, but not if you don't care for those who you are called to care for the most.

That is not a good deed. It's an evil deed, actually. We have to go to our final break. Don't go away. We'll be right back.

James White of Alpha Omega Ministries here. If you've watched my Dividing Line webcast often enough, you know

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John Sampson, pastor of King's Church in Peoria, Arizona, taking a moment of your day to talk about Chris Arnson and the

Iron Sharpens Iron podcast. I consider Chris a true friend and man of high integrity. He's a skilled interviewer who's not afraid to ask the big penetrating questions while always defending the key doctrines of the

Christian faith. I've always been happy to point people to this podcast knowing it's one of the very few safe places on the internet where folk won't be led astray.

I believe this podcast needs to be heard far and wide. This is a day of great spiritual compromise and yet God has raised

Chris up for just such a time and knowing this, it's up to us as members of the body of Christ to stand with such a ministry in prayer and in finances.

I'm pleased to do so and would like to ask you to prayerfully consider joining me in supporting

Iron Sharpens Iron financially. Would you consider sending either a one -time gift or even becoming a regular monthly partner with this ministry?

I know it would be a huge encouragement to Chris if you would. All the details can be found at ironsharpensironradio .com

where you can click support. That's ironsharpensironradio .com. I'm Dr.

Tony Costa, professor of apologetics and Islam at Toronto Baptist Seminary. I'm thrilled to introduce to you a church where I've been invited to speak and have grown to love,

Hope Reform Baptist Church in Coram, Long Island, New York, pastored by Rich Jensen and Christopher McDowell.

It's such a joy to witness and experience fellowship with people of God like the dear saints at Hope Reform Baptist Church in Coram who have an intensely passionate desire to continue digging deeper and deeper into the unfathomable riches of Christ in his holy word and to enthusiastically proclaim

Christ Jesus the King and his doctrines of sovereign grace in Suffolk County, Long Island and beyond.

I hope you also have the privilege of discovering this precious congregation and receive the blessing of being showered by their love as I have.

For more information on Hope Reform Baptist Church, go to hopereformedli .net.

That's hopereformedli .net or call 631 -696 -5711.

That's 631 -696 -5711. Tell the folks at Hope Reform Baptist Church of Coram, Long Island, New York that you heard about them from Tony Costa on Iron Sharpens Iron.

When Iron Sharpens Iron Radio first launched in 2005, the publishers of the

New American Standard Bible were among my very first sponsors. It gives me joy knowing that many scholars and pastors in the

Iron Sharpens Iron Radio audience have been sticking with or switching to the

NASB. I'm Dr. Joe Moorcraft, pastor of Heritage Presbyterian Church in Cumming, Georgia, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Anthony Uvino, founder of thereformrookie .com

and co -founder of New York Apologetics, and the NASB is my Bible of choice.

I'm Pastor Tim Bushong of Syracuse Baptist Church in Syracuse, Indiana, and the NASB is my

Bible of choice. I'm Eli Ayala, founder of Revealed Apologetics and staff member with the

Historical Bible Society, and the NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Josh Miller of Grace Bible Fellowship Church in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Joe Bianchi, president of Calvi Press Publishing in Greenville, South Carolina, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. I'm Pastor Jake Korn of Switzerland Community Church in Switzerland, Florida, and the

NASB is my Bible of choice. Puritan Reformed is a

Bible -believing, kingdom -building, devil -fighting church. We are devoted to upholding the apostolic doctrine and practice preserved in Scripture alone.

Puritan Reformed teaches men to rule and lead as image -bearing prophets, priests, and kings.

We teach families to worship together as families. Puritan is committed to teaching the whole counsel of God so that the earth will be filled with the knowledge of God as the waters cover the sea.

We sing the Psalms, teach the law, proclaim the gospel, make disciples, maintain discipline, and exalt

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Join us in the glorious cause of advancing Christ's crown and covenant over the kings of the earth.

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Greetings. This is Brian McLaughlin, president of the SecureComm Group and supporter of Chris Armisen's Iron Shopping Zion radio program.

SecureComm provides the highest level of security systems for residential buildings, municipalities, churches, commercial properties, and much more.

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But today, I want to introduce you to my senior pastor, Doug McMasters of New High Park Baptist Church on Long Island.

Doug McMasters here, former director of pastoral correspondence at Grace to You, the radio ministry of John MacArthur.

In the film Chariots of Fire, the Olympic gold medalist runner Eric Liddell remarked that he felt

God's pleasure when he ran. He knew his efforts sprang from the gifts and calling of God.

I sensed that same God -given pleasure when ministering the Word and helping others gain a deeper knowledge and love for God.

That love starts with the wonderful news that the Lord Jesus Christ is a Savior who died for sinners, and that God forgives all who come to Him in repentance, trusting solely in Christ to deliver them.

I would be delighted to have the honor and privilege of ministering to you if you live in the Long Island area, or Queens, or Brooklyn, or the

Bronx, in New York City. For details on New High Park Baptist Church, visit nhpbc .com.

That's nhpbc .com. You can also call us at 516 -352 -9672.

That's 516 -352 -9672. That's New High Park Baptist Church, a congregation in love with each other, passionate for Christ, committed to learning and being shaped by God's Word, and delighting in the gospel of God's sovereign grace.

God bless you. Chris Arnzen here.

I am forever grateful to Cumberland Valley Bible Book Service for their generous financial support of Iron Sharpens Iron Radio, but that's not the only reason

I love them. CVBBS .com carries the finest in theologically reformed literature from 16th century classics,

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Now shipping worldwide. Welcome back. I want everybody to remember that Iron Sharpens Iron Radio is made possible in part through the financial support of the law firm of Dan Botafuoco and Botafuoco and Associates.

If you are the victim of a very serious personal injury or medical malpractice, call

Dan Botafuoco at 1 -800 -NOW -HURT, 1 -800 -NOW -HURT, or visit his website, 1 -800 -NOW -HURT .com,

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Dan at his phone number or website, 1 -800 -NOW -HURT, or 1 -800 -NOW -HURT .com.

Always mention that you heard about Botafuoco and Associates from Iron Sharpens Iron Radio.

Also, I want to remind all men in ministry leadership that you are invited to the next Iron Sharpens Iron Radio Free Pastors Luncheon, and this luncheon will be held on Thursday, June the 6th, 11 a .m.

to 2 p .m. at Church of the Living Christ in Loisville, Pennsylvania, featuring for the very first time

Dr. Joel Beakey as our keynote speaker. He is founder and president of Puritan Reformed Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Everything is free. The meal is free, and every man in attendance will leave that luncheon with a heavy sack of free brand -new books personally selected by me and donated by Christian publishers all over the

United States and United Kingdom. If you'd like to register for this free event, go to—or send me an email,

I should say, to chrisarnson at gmail .com, chrisarnson at gmail .com,

and put Pastors Luncheon in the subject line. Last but not least,

Grace Christian Academy of Long Island in Merrick, New York, is having their spring musical on Thursday, April 18th at 7 p .m.,

Friday, April 19th at 7 p .m., and Saturday, April 20th at 1 p .m.

The musical is Cinderella, and if you would like to attend this event, which will be held at the

Levittown Baptist Church in Levittown, Long Island, go to gcali .com,

gcali .com to register. And now we are back with Tobias Riemenschneider with our final segment of today's interview on the belligerent manliness of Christ, and we have

Enzo, just like Enzo the baker in one of my favorite movies.

We have Enzo in Warren, Maine, and he said, I listened to your excellent sermon on YouTube, and you had mentioned that there are a group of Christians who are promoting the ideal man as being one who goes to the gym regularly and eats lots of red meat to produce more testosterone in his blood system.

You came to an objection to that. Can you explain that in more detail? Yes. So I think

I have to disclose that I am a vegetarian, and I'm not going to the gym.

And to be honest, I should, because I'm too fat. So even vegetarians can be fat.

Yes, they can. You know, there's this thing called chocolate. So the real reason for this is, you know, you see that on social media a lot, and I even saw a few

Christians and pastors picking up on that, that how do you become a man? Well, it's by eating meat and rising testosterone levels and hitting the gym and getting real muscular, because this also boosts your self -esteem.

And that's just not what the Bible teaches, right? So I'm not against eating meat or going to the gym, but that's not how you become a man in the biblical sense.

This might even be helpful to some degree, but I believe that the Bible actually equips us with everything we need to act in a way pleasing to God and also to act like men in a way that's pleasing to God.

And I don't see the Bible talking about or Jesus giving the example of eating lots of raw meat or something like that and lifting weights to become a man.

But what real manliness, biblical manliness is, we already talked about this, right? It's this fearlessness and overcoming fear and being strong and resolute and zealous for the things of God and even willing to fight and to suffer and to die to protect what is good.

And I don't know, maybe high testosterone levels can help you with that, but I don't think that's where it really comes from.

It comes from a change of your heart, a change of your mind, and that is affected by the

Spirit of Christ that actually makes you, remakes you in the image of Christ and by reading the

Word and imitating Christ. And that's where real manliness comes from.

Now, obviously, I want to reiterate, you don't think there's anything at all wrong with men who love being physically fit and going to the gym and eating healthy, but when that becomes an idol or when that becomes an unbiblical or even an anti -biblical litmus test for manliness, that's when do you have the problem.

Right. If you think that's what makes you a man, then that's not what the Bible teaches. That's not what makes you a man.

And the only problem I have with those men is that they are probably more attractive than I because they have all those muscles.

Well, it was an interesting scene. I don't know if it was a part of the actual true story, but in Hacksaw Ridge, when the

Seventh -day Adventist soldier who was a pacifist when it came to refusing to carry a gun, but he wanted to be there as a medic to assist soldiers when they were wounded and so on.

He was braver than his whole platoon and the big muscular guy who looked like an

Adonis was the one cowering in fear during their assault from the enemy.

Right. But we are out of time, unfortunately. And just quickly, you are not saying that a man who is soft -spoken and maybe even known as a gentle and mild -mannered man is not manly?

No. The only thing is, if that's all he can be, that would be a problem. But that is part of being manly, also being soft and gentle.

And so we have to look at all that manliness encompasses, and we can look at Christ for that.

And we see all of that in Christ, meekness and gentleness and soft -spokenness, but also, if necessary, this strong harshness and belligerence.

Yeah. So you have to be able to imitate all of these as necessary.

Well, if you want more information on Tobias Riemann -Schneider, go to his website erb -frankfurt .de

erb -frankfurt .de, and you can also go to frankfurtdeclaration .com, frankfurtdeclaration .com.

It was truly an utter joy having you on the show again, Tobias. I look forward to many more interviews with you.

I want you all to always remember for the rest of your lives that Jesus Christ is a far greater Savior than you are a sinner.