The Mahdi Cult Went After Me... Here's My Response

The Rise of a New Cult Figure and the Charge of Scriptural Abuse

We are witnessing right in front of our very eyes, ladies and gentlemen, the rise of a new cult figure. He's got his followers behind him and a media team dedicated to elevating his platform. As it turns out, the new David Koresh has his own press secretaries, and they're going after my friends.

And me, apparently. And why? Because we had the audacity to point out that this person is abusing the scriptures to further his own agenda. But it's actually worse than that. As I started looking into this YouTuber, I can see that he's trying to situate himself as the new Jim Jones.

He wants one world order. Everyone abandoning their families to obey him. And he wants them to call him father. It's all in his manifesto, if you care to take a look at it. In this video, you're about to see this guy's public relations team spin their wild narrative.

Because yesterday, they went after me. But what is the substance of their arguments? Do they know the scripture? And are they accurately representing it for us? We're about to find out, so let's get right into it.

Welcome back to Wise Disciple. My name is Nate, and I'm helping you become the effective Christian that you are meant to be. Which means discerning the times and the false prophets who are seeking to lead people astray into destruction.

Make sure to like, sub, and share this one around, if it blesses you.

Misrepresenting the Video and the Need to Read John 9 in Context

One thing that I do have to say regarding what he was talking about, he said that he asked a Catholic friend as to what that meant for them, that Peter is the next pope. And he said that it's kind of like the role of a prime minister, right?

But, I mean, well, what is a prime minister? I mean, he even said in the video that, well, the prime minister deals with the affairs of the country.

Already incorrect. Look, first of all, my original video was 14 minutes. This one's like 45. I'm probably not going to be able to cover the whole thing because, actually, I don't need to in order to engage the substance of whatever they're going to argue.

But I'm already noting that they're attributing statements to me that I did not make. I never spoke to a Catholic friend, and I never sought to use any illustration for the pope in my video. As I've said many times, guys, I'm not a Roman Catholic.

Surely these press secretaries have to recognize that within the Christian tradition, you have Catholics, Orthodox, and Protestants. And, like I said, I'm not Catholic. Let me say this. They answered the question, though, so I had a question in the original video about what that statue was in front of the new quote-unquote pope, and they answered it for me, so I appreciate that.

It's a statue, apparently, of Ahmed al-Hassan and not Karl Marx, so thank you. I stand corrected.

All right.

Well, if Simon Peter is the prime minister, and let's say that Jesus is king, as an example, well, who is the one acting as ruler, then? Well, the one acting as ruler while Jesus is away would be, then, Simon Peter.

And on top of that, since he is the one who is dealing with the affairs of the people, and Jesus is not dealing with the affairs of the people when he's gone, this fulfills the words of Jesus when he says, I am the light of the world so long as I am in the world.

Okay.

So, let's do this. It's going to seem like I'm being pedantic right now, but I want to show you how this works. How this spin narrative from these guys operates, all right? Because it trades on you not knowing what the Bible actually teaches.

And this is what I was saying, like, in the last video, right? The reason why cult leaders and folks like this can gain so much popularity is directly proportional to the biblical illiteracy of society.

And I'm not saying that to be rude, by the way. I've been sounding the alarm on the problems of biblical illiteracy everywhere. Welcome to the channel if you're brand new, but you can go back and you can hear me in previous videos bring this issue up over and over again.

One of the main reasons why this channel exists is to promote biblical literacy, to get people into God's Word, and to keep studying it over time.

All right.

The Healing of the Blind Man in John 9

So, let me show you what this looks like. This young man just said that Peter is acting as ruler and dealing with the affairs of the people when Jesus is away. And then he quotes Jesus as saying, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.

Okay.

Look at this really quickly. This is John chapter 9, and this is where Jesus makes the statement, but he makes this statement within a context.

All right.

He is about to heal a blind man. And so, Jesus in chapter 9 verse 5 says, as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world. If you keep reading, though, you look at the next verse, you're going to see that he spits on the ground.

He makes mud with the saliva, right? Then he puts it on the man's eyes, and then he tells him to go wash in the pool of Siloam. By the way, look at the verses above. So, look at this. You'll see that this healing is part of Jesus teaching his disciples a valuable lesson.

Okay.

But here's the reading comprehension question for you. And let me acknowledge out loud, all right, it's very difficult for people like the ones criticizing me to see God's word apart from their own preconceived notions and their preconceived framework that they bring to the scripture, because they've made up their minds already.

It's very difficult to let God's word speak on its own and communicate what the Spirit of God is actually teaching. That's why I walk through the text very slowly, okay, so that you can see the flow of thought here.

Will these people do that for you? No, they won't. But I will. Okay, so again, here's the reading question for you. What is the theme or the main idea that is coming across in this particular moment, actually, that runs throughout the entire chapter?

See, these kinds of folks, they don't want you to go this deep into the scripture, because if you did, you'll see the game that they're playing with God's word. What is the theme? Do you see it? It centers on the true source of blindness.

You see that? So, verse 1, the whole account begins with a disciple seeing this blind man and then asking Jesus a question that betrays their very Jewish way of understanding malady and affliction. That is, they assume that sickness is always the consequence of a person's sin.

This is reminiscent of Job, actually, right? And Jesus is correcting their view, all right? It's not that this man sinned, and that's why he's blind. The point of Jesus healing this blind man is that he has a part to play to perform a work of God, okay?

So, Jesus says, verse 3, it's not that this man sinned or his parents, but that the works of God might be displayed in him. This man has a part to play in the lesson that Jesus is teaching those around him, all right?

Look at verse 4. We must work the works of him who sent me while it is day. Night is coming when no one can work. So, now Jesus enjoins everyone to be like this man and to perform the works of God. And so, watch this.

Jesus heals the man's blindness, and then what happens next? The man who can now see runs right into religious leaders who are spiritually blind. That's the rest of the story, okay? These are the Pharisees who refuse to see Jesus as their Messiah.

And I've mentioned this in previous videos, but it's crazy to think that the Pharisees who teach Torah, right? Who understand Tanakh, they cannot see the very same God who has been with them through the Old Testament.

Jesus identifies himself as such. These Pharisees cannot see their own Messiah. And the question is, why is that? Why are they blind? Jesus is using this blind man who can now see as a vehicle through which he can confront the Pharisees and say what he really wants to say about blindness.

Look at this. It's in verse 39. He's talking about the Pharisees. They know he is. The pronouncement over the Pharisees is the work of God that fulfills Old Testament prophecy. Remember, up at the beginning, Jesus said the works of God might be displayed through this man.

That's it. This is the overarching point for this entire story. Now, this explanation was a little long, but here's the $6 million question. Now that you understand, right, the whole entire story, let's go back to verse 5 and ask this question.

What is the goal of Jesus making this statement right here? As long as I'm in the world, I'm the light of the world. Is it because Jesus is concerned about secession of power? And that, well, he has it for now, but then after him, Peter will have it, and then, you know what, after that, we're going to have to determine who has this power of being the true successor over and over and over again throughout history.

No.

The point of this statement is that Jesus is revealing the truth about what's really happening on the ground in the first century. The religious leaders who are supposed to be working the works of God are not.

Why? Because they're blind. This is not the first time that Jesus brings this up, by the way. He brings this up on multiple occasions throughout his ministry, and the person and work of Jesus is shining a light on this very moment.

This stands on top of Old Testament pronouncements by Yahweh that his religious leaders that are supposed to lead his people have become corrupt. There is great precedent for what Jesus is doing and saying at this moment.

All right?

But what the people in this video are suggesting is, hey, Jesus is the light of the world, but only until he goes away, guys, in which case there will be no light unless there is an appointed successor to continue to be the light of the world.

That is an assumption that they're bringing to the text in order to draw their own specific conclusions, and it leaves no room for the Holy Spirit. These folks have no understanding of who he is and what his role is.

It also makes no sense of the fact that Jesus desires for all of his people to be the same light of the world. Look at this. Matthew 5, verse 14. You are the light of the world. Jesus is talking to his disciples.

You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.

The light on a lampstand. So you have to understand these terms, right? They have connections to the Old Testament. They mean something in a very Jewish context, you know? You have a lampstand. You have the word house.

You realize house is also another word for the temple of God, right? You realize the light on a lampstand is actually a picture of the menorah that was in the Jewish temple, which by extension, the menorah is a picture.

Do you understand how the menorah is shaped, you know? It's shaped in the shape of a tree. That's no accident, ladies and gentlemen. The menorah is a picture of the tree of life. In the Garden of Eden, Jesus is interlacing all of these images in order to say this, I want you to be the promise of eternal life for the world.

But wait a second. How can he do that? Jesus is the promise of eternal life to the world. How is it possible that we, the disciples, can be the same light that he says he is? And the answer is because he will be in us and operating through us by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is why Jesus promised the helper, the Holy Spirit, in John 14. And I went over that last time in the other video. This actually explains the powerful and dramatic move of the Holy Spirit to fall on the disciples in Acts chapter 2, on the day of Pentecost.

Whereas all of a sudden, you go from a curse of Babel, right, in Genesis, where people are speaking different languages to cause confusion. Now, everyone is speaking everyone's language. It's a reversal of Babel.

Why?

Because God is fulfilling all these Old Testament promises, but he's doing it through the person and work of the Holy Spirit. The same Holy Spirit that Jesus promised in the Gospels. And by the way, the Holy Spirit in Acts chapter 2 doesn't just fall on the disciples.

It falls, if you continue to read the story, it falls on all believers, including the Gentiles in a very pivotal moment in Acts chapter 10.

Right?

The early church in Jerusalem had trouble wrapping their minds around what the Lord was doing through the power of the Holy Spirit, such that Peter had to repeat the story again to them in Acts chapter 11.

You have to know the Bible, ladies and gentlemen. You have to know the book of Acts. This presence of the Holy Spirit is the basis for somebody like Paul to say, it's no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me in Galatians 2 .20.

You know, the presence of Christ has never left the world, ladies and gentlemen. His physical body surely has, but the body of Christ has not left. And anyone who wants to suggest to you otherwise is completely ignorant of what the church has accomplished throughout history.

Look at this, 1 Corinthians chapter 12, verse 27. Now, you are the body of Christ and individually members of it. You realize the word in the Greek there is plural. You, the church, are the body of Christ.

This is what I mean. These are basic Christian concepts that come out of the teaching of Jesus. We're all here living in the world and operating with the same light of Christ in us. And how is that possible?

Because of the Holy Spirit that Jesus has given all of us. Again, it started with the earliest disciples in Acts chapter 2, and it continues to spread to all in the church. Peter never took over as ruler because we're all meant to be the same light.

And if you have the eyes to see it, if you go to the scripture and you slow down and you really revere it and you try to be careful to read all of it, you'll see that. As a matter of fact, I mean, think about this, if Peter was the ruler that these people claim, Peter certainly had no idea that he was, you know?

When the early church developed their first issue of service and of division in Acts chapter 6, did Peter proclaim what to do as ruler?

No.

The twelve came together and made a decision. Look at this, Acts chapter 6, verse 2, and the twelve disciples summoned the full number of the disciples, that is, the whole church, and said, it is not right that we should give up preaching the word of God to serve tables.

Right?

So then they picked out brothers, seven men of good repute, full of, there it is, the Holy Spirit and of wisdom, and they appointed them for this duty.

Okay?

And why did they do this? So Peter can continue to rule?

No.

So that Peter can do what everyone else is doing equally. Look at verse 4. But we will devote ourselves to prayer and to the ministry of the word.

Period.

When the first Jerusalem council takes place, right, does Peter pronounce judgment as the ruler of God's people?

No.

Peter is one of a handful of disciples that gets up and debates what to do over whether the Gentiles should become full Jews in order to follow after Jesus. Verse 7, Peter gets up and makes his case, you know?

But then, after him, Paul and Barnabas get up, right? If you keep reading, make their case as well. James gets up, if you continue to read. By the way, James is the leader of the Jerusalem church at this moment in time.

James makes his case, and in verse 22, we're told that everyone, including the church, came to an agreement. Then it seemed good to the apostles and the elders, with the whole church, to choose men from among them and send them to Antioch with Paul and Barnabas.

And they sent the following letter, and you can continue it from there. Does that look like Peter was the ruler or the prime minister of God and telling everyone else what to do?

No.

See, friends, these people have no concept of what Jesus actually taught. They have no concept of what the word of God actually teaches, what the actual purpose of God is for his people. Now, it's obvious to those who revere God's word, and we're careful to follow the thematic thread all the way through Genesis to Revelation, because it's there, if you have the eyes to see it.

But to these kinds of folks, they start with their own framework, already established, and then they seek to find verses that fit into their framework. And you can miss it. You can miss what they're doing, unless you are diligent to know what God's word actually says.

And that's why I'm going through this video with you.

Matthew 16, Peter, and the Gates of Hades

But he goes on, for some reason, to criticize the Catholic interpretation of Matthew 16, in which Jesus tells Simon, verily you are Peter. And then he takes it into a whole different angle, a whole different interpretation that didn't even make any sense.

And this was the really crazy part.

Yeah, it didn't make any sense to you, because you refused to reject your framework and let God's word speak. You say I criticize the Catholic interpretation. I didn't criticize it. I walked through Matthew 16 in the previous video, and I explained it.

That's not a criticism. That's me doing what you folks refuse to do, which is to exegete the text yourselves. If I come to you and I say, Hey, you guys aren't reading the scripture correctly, right? And then you go back to your authority figure, and then he says, No, I've got the right reading of the scripture.

How are we supposed to adjudicate this particular issue, right? How are you supposed to figure this out? Is the answer not to go to the scripture itself and see who has the better reading of the text, whose interpretation accounts for everything that it says, and follows the flow of thought better?

Part of the video, right? Because Jesus, he says to Simon Peter, You know, you are Peter, the rock upon which I will build my church, right? So this is clearly he's, or he says, And I said to you that you are Peter, and on this rock, I will build my church.

Okay, so he's clearly meaning that, you know, Simon Peter, he is the rock upon which Jesus will build the church, because he is the continuation of the church. He's the continuation of the religion.

Look at that. Look at that. Didn't even continue to read the rest of Jesus' statement. Okay, you don't have an explanation for why Jesus talks about the gates of hell? You just immediately default back to your preconceived interpretation of the text and move on?

Guys, and lady, come on. For those of us who want to be careful to get God's word correct, you're playing games with it. You and your cult leader are playing games.

In this video, basically, what he's stating is that the rock is actually a specific mountain, and the church is a literal church, which is a really, really strange interpretation, because we know that Jesus, he spoke in parables, he spoke in allegories, and there's no literal church on that rock, right?

Exactly.

So it's one of those really strange misinterpretations of people, you know, twisting what is the clear reality in order to follow what they want to believe, basically.

And let's break it up, you know, for any

I encourage you to go back and look at what I said. It is well known in history that the site of Caesarea Philippi was a location for all kinds of false worship. This is not in dispute. In the first century, there was a worship site to the god Pan that was situated at the base of Mount Hermon.

Mount Hermon is in Caesarea Philippi, the base of Mount Hermon. Pan was believed to have been a portal or a gate to Hades. Again, this is not in dispute, historically speaking, in the first century. Now, what you have to do is recognize that you have the scripture placing Jesus at this location.

He's at Caesarea Philippi with his disciples, and he's talking about the gates of Hades at this very moment in Matthew 16. You have to explain why Jesus is bringing any of this up if your claim is that Jesus was only talking about Peter.

You see the PR move here to just dismiss what I'm saying? I'm actually making an argument. You know what I mean? They're just hand-waving at this point.

Anybody who wants to read it, it's in Matthew 16. You know, we have Peter and the disciples and Jesus together. And Peter identifies that Jesus is a Messiah, but he's not called Peter yet. His name is Simon.

And Jesus gives Simon a new name. He says, you are Peter. Peter means rock, right? And he says, and on this rock, I shall build my church. So the guy in the video, he's saying that, well, the land that they're in, which was Mount Teron, apparently, according to what the man was saying in the video, is the rock that Jesus would build his church on.

So he said, geographically speaking, Jesus is talking about the place that he is standing in. But then, just as you were mentioning, Alex, I mean, the thing is now...

So, I mean, that's not what I said. Which, you know, it also makes me realize how they can make this video in response. They're not really listening to what I'm saying. Not closely, you know? Which is a little disheartening, but also not very surprising, you know?

I think the man now has to answer for this. Otherwise, then he's falsifying what Jesus is saying or what Jesus said is false. And for sure, Jesus cannot speak a false saying, but for sure, an interpretation can be false.

If you were to say that when Jesus said, and on this rock, meaning this mountain, I shall build my church, where is the church of Jesus on that mountain?

So many assumptions. So many preconceived notions. Cannot see what the Bible says is the church. Missing the bigger picture. Bringing all this baggage to the Bible. Where is it?

It just doesn't make any sense, you know? And it's just another example. We see this a lot, you know? We saw the example of people claiming the saying of Jesus, where he said that, you know, it's easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich person to enter into heaven.

We've seen so many excuses and different explanations for what this really means, saying that, you know, the eye of a needle is a specific kind of gate that a camel can fit through, or that, you know, a camel means that it's a specific type of, like, rope or thread that can fit through the eye of a needle, you know?

These are just crazy excuses. And it shows how dangerous it is, actually, to be taking our religion from a book, because we can interpret words any way we want. We can just completely remove the meaning from everything and just say, you know, I'm going to do whatever I want.

And I'm, you know, according to this book, it actually says what I want, because I've twisted the meaning of it. So how is that ever

Scripture Alone, 2 Timothy 3:16, and the Danger of a Cult Leader

Hold on, hold on, hold on. The irony meter is just going off. The irony, it's so thick here. On the one hand, they're trying to use the same book that I am to argue for the proper interpretation of scripture.

And then literally a few seconds later, they're saying we shouldn't rely on the book, right? Because why? What we need is a new cult figure, ladies and gentlemen, right? What we need is someone to tell us what God's Word actually means so that we don't have to do all that hard thinking, you know?

Again, do you see the difference between someone like me and these folks? I'll show you the text. Every video is me walking through the text of scripture with you, talking out loud my thought process so that you understand what's going on and follow the flow of thought, you know?

They're just going to parrot what they've been told, but they certainly are not going to walk through the text. Because you know what? Biblical illiteracy is actually a good thing for them.

Why?

Well, because we can just get our new cult leader to tell us what God wants us to do.

Right?

Nothing could possibly go horrifically wrong with this kind of a scenario. Right, guys?

Following God, you know, and it's a scary idea, and it shows that no book is ever enough for us. We need the man who's appointed by God in every day and age. We need a man at the time, because otherwise the meanings are going to be twisted by people, even if it's not twisted by us, it's going to be twisted by someone, and we're going to get confused at some point, and we're going to end up being misguided.

You know, the only thing that we can be certain about is the man who's appointed by God. And yeah, even in the Bible, you know, if people claim that they're following Jesus or they've taken Jesus as their king from the Bible, you know, how can that be true?

You know, the Bible has, you know, a comparatively very small amount of things said by Jesus in it. You know, it's just one book. Like, how can we live our life by that? It doesn't give us enough information.

For sure not. I mean, imagine...

The Bible doesn't give us enough information, ladies and gentlemen. Think about that. Forget about 2 Timothy 3 .16, right? I don't even know why Paul would even write such a thing.

You know what I mean?

Look at this. All scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work.

So that the man of God may be what? Complete? What's another word for that?

Sufficient?

You know what I mean? These people are telling you lies, ladies and gentlemen. And they aren't trusting that you're going to do what they're doing, which is not opening up the Word of God to read it themselves carefully.

Can you see that? I honestly don't think I need to say much more here. But let's see another minute of this.

For sure, you know, my God, you know, I was actually thinking about that the past few days, that if anything would be cult-like mentality, it would be for sure what people are doing today, which is that they are demanding blind obedience to someone else's Holy Spirit.

It was something that I kind of like thought about today, that we actually have a lot of Christians like this pastor, for example, who is demanding that you accept his interpretation, no matter how twisted it is, because he says that the Holy Spirit told him that that's how the interpretation is, even though he's not appointed by God.

At this point, the characterization of me is so cartoonish and awful. And for some reason, they keep attributing things to me that I've never said. That these people have essentially left the stratosphere with Katy Perry.

You know what I mean? I encourage you to go back and look at any of my videos where I read the scripture, which is basically all of them, okay? Which, by the way, that would be a lot of time to do that, right?

But the point I'm making is this. You're not ever going to find me saying, this is what the scripture says because the Holy Spirit told me, and I demand you believe it. That's not, you're never going to find me saying that.

What you are going to find me consistently doing is going to the scripture, reading it in its context, and walking through the rationale in order to follow the flow of thought from the original author.

You know, it's sad, actually. I started with the story of Jesus healing the blind man, right? At the outset of this video, and how that was the vehicle through which Jesus could call out spiritual blindness.

You realize, if you truly evaluate what God has to say about spiritual blindness, people are not a victim of it. They are responsible for it. And the reality is, the Pharisees and the corrupt religious leaders, they refused to not only be open to what God was doing in the first century, but they also refused to recognize what God taught consistently throughout Tanakh, such that they were spiritually blind.

Jesus called them the blind leading the blind. And this, unfortunately, also describes these people. They are blind to the true nature of Jesus. And they are blind to what God's word actually teaches.

All of that could change, ladies and gentlemen, and I encourage you to pray for these two specifically. All of that could change if they would go back to the Bible and read it slowly. And not to bring their preconceived notions to the scripture and then read the verses.

Investigate what God's word is saying in its context. What it's saying and teaching about itself. But you know what? That requires careful reading. It requires careful exegesis and hermeneutics. But it is absolutely possible for these folks.

And for any of you who are on the sidelines, you're trying to make up your own mind, right? Look, don't believe me. Don't take my word for it. Let this be an invitation for you to open up God's word and read it for yourself.

Okay?

But when you do, be a careful reader and account for all of God's word, not just the parts that you like. All of it.

Amen?

All right.

Closing Thoughts, Patreon, and Bible Study Resources

A lot of the rest of the video ends up becoming a call-in show and an ad for the new Jim Jones guy. So I'm going to call it quits here, but now it's your turn.

Okay?

What do you think of this PR campaign for the new cult figure? Do you agree with me that we're witnessing the rise of the new David Koresh? Let me know in the comments below. All right, friends, if you enjoyed the insights here, you're going to love the Patreon community.

I'm doing a Bible study over there right now. You should join it just so that you can become a better student of the Bible. I promise you, I will never tell you that the Holy Spirit told me the meaning of a passage.

I'll just show you how to be a great reader of God's word. You can also get exclusive access to videos like this before they make it to YouTube. You can join me for exclusive live streams and ask me anything you want.

If you're into a deep Bible study, I encourage you to check out Logos. That's the app that I use to read the word with you here. There is a great offer. If you go to my exclusive link, it's Logos .com forward slash Wise Disciple.

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So click on the link for Biblingo and make sure to use the code Wise Disciple 10 at checkout. Hey, friends, I'm going to return soon with more videos. But in the meantime, I'll say bye for now.