The Pactum: Discernment
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In this episode, Pat is joined by Mike Abendroth of No Compromise Radio. Listen in as they talk about discernment, on location in Israel.
- 00:08
- Welcome to the Pactum and No Compromise Radio, Pat Abendroth with Mike Abendroth.
- 00:14
- What in the world was all that background noise, Mike? Welcome to No Compromise Radio with the Pactum. I hear birds,
- 00:20
- I hear buses, motorcycles, I think I can maybe hear Modest Yahoo down there. There's a
- 00:26
- Modest right there, there's a Yahoo. We say down there because we're on what, the fourth floor outside in Yerusalem.
- 00:34
- I think technically, Pat, because the ground level is zero here in the Middle East, we're on the fifth floor in the
- 00:40
- USA. So it's kind of fun, exciting, background noise. What's Patrick Ennis doing here?
- 00:45
- Why is he here? It has a little texture. He's our bodyguard. He's our tatted out bodyguard. I know, but I don't know if he has a license to carry here in Jerusalem.
- 00:53
- And sound engineer. Well, we are going to talk about discernment today because people wanted us to talk about discernment.
- 01:00
- You think we should at least tell people what we're doing here? That would be another show. Maybe that's a good idea. Sure. What are we doing here?
- 01:06
- What did we do today? Yesterday it was Masada. My legs are so sore right now, I can't believe it. So Pat ran up Masada about 18 minutes, 17 minutes, something like that.
- 01:16
- It took me 45 minutes, and I blame my old COVID lungs and my age and stuff like that, but I made it up.
- 01:24
- Pat, it was 107 flights I went up yesterday between En Gedi and Masada.
- 01:30
- Okay, and at the top of Masada, we were still, what, 100 feet below sea level. The air felt good.
- 01:35
- We're here leading a tour together, Omaha Bible Church with Bethlehem Bible Church, Hacktom No Compromise Radio, and we've got a busload of about 45 people, and we're on a pilgrimage.
- 01:46
- Yeah. Touching all the sacred sites. Tell me before we start, how many holy places have you kissed?
- 01:55
- I saw you bending down over there, and I didn't know what you were doing. I think I gave you a holy kiss, but that's the extent of it.
- 02:00
- Remember a few years ago, we came here and put on some kind of robe or something, and then you knighted me?
- 02:06
- I still have that picture. I don't post it, though, because I was too fat. We're having a great time.
- 02:14
- Right about now, we're sleep -deprived. How many days into the trip are we? I don't know. I don't know, but if there's background noise, we just wanted it to be, you know, this is live in Israel.
- 02:23
- This is what it's like here in the city. And hopefully you can discern that. Uh -huh, discernment.
- 02:28
- Uh -huh. Now, see, one of the things about the Pactum that I'm still upset about, even though I've been on the
- 02:33
- Pactum once or twice. Even though you're wearing a free Pactum t -shirt. That's correct, the red one. You have a Pactum bottle. You've been wearing a Pactum sweatshirt all week.
- 02:39
- I know. Everything's about Mike and Pat. What are you upset about? I'm upset about Mike and Pat, and it's Grimes, not Evendrott. This is true.
- 02:45
- So finally now, the real Pactum comes alive, the neopactum, Mike and Pat. We are doing this for No Compromise as well, right?
- 02:52
- Well, that's right. I'm sitting as a guest, but I should be more aggressive. No go. What do you want to talk about today?
- 03:00
- All right, so we are going to talk about discernment. So what is discernment? I think you used to think your ministry,
- 03:07
- No Compromise, used to be a discernment ministry and it's no longer. Maybe we'll talk about that in a little while. Sure.
- 03:12
- So, a man on the street says, tell me what discernment is. What is it? Well, it's interesting because from the get -go -
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- At this point in time, listeners, Mike is dodging the question with a story. No, no, no, no, no. I'm going to give the biblical answer because people, you know, like the
- 03:28
- Bible. The Bereans were told, or were commended, rather, for their discernment, right?
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- And so it wasn't individually discerning, it was the group, the Bereans, studying the scriptures to see if what
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- Paul said was true. I like that. And also it's commanded in 1 Thessalonians, discern all things.
- 03:48
- But the best way I like to define discernment is, remember King Shlomo?
- 03:54
- I do. I mean, King Solomon? I do. And he says in 1 Kings chapter 3, when God asked him, whatever you want,
- 04:02
- I will give you. Did you know the word discern, or discernment's in there? We all just default to wisdom.
- 04:08
- Sure. So it says - How about that siren? I discern that that might be someone doing the wrong thing, is what
- 04:14
- I discern in the Middle East. I do, too. Solomon says a lot of things, but he says -
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- They're coming for you, Patrick. Give your servant, therefore, an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?
- 04:38
- It pleased the Lord, because you've asked for this, and not for yourself, et cetera. But you've asked for understanding to discern what is right.
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- So I like to include that, Pat, in my definition of discernment, 1 Kings chapter 3.
- 04:51
- That's good. I like to say, discernment is the ability to understand what's right and what's wrong.
- 04:59
- It could be used for unbelievers in determining what's right or wrong with medical knowledge, but particularly for Christians and spiritual things, what's right according to God's Word.
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- He sets the standard of the plumb line, or the canon, if you will, and what's wrong. So it's discerning what's right and wrong according to God's Word.
- 05:18
- I like it that you avoided the word to judge, right? Because you don't want to judge. But I did look it up in a dictionary, and it says the ability to judge, right?
- 05:27
- Something is authentic. That's a good word. People like that word. So we're going to say, determining whether or not something is authentic or inauthentic.
- 05:34
- Pat, could there be a more authentic place than right now? I mean, this is a holy land with a holy—we're on the balcony.
- 05:42
- It's everything about this is holy. I may change the church name that I pastor to Discernment Church.
- 05:50
- I did also think, Pat, on a side note, we went to the Catholic church today that commemorates
- 05:56
- Peter's denial, and it's called something like Peter and the Rooster Church or something.
- 06:03
- It might be a good name. I thought, instead of Collide and Collision and Journey and I'm Hip and everything else, why won't these new secret sensitive churches and hipster churches start calling themselves the church
- 06:14
- I denied Jesus three times, Rooster Church? Rooster Church with Rooster Cobbburn.
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- So if a ministry is only about discernment, then I don't really care much for them.
- 06:29
- But every Christian should discern what's right and wrong. Right. I think it was the Jewish people that would say, you ought not to have an open mind because then anything can go in and anything can go out.
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- And so open -minded people were not looked upon with pleasure. People with closed minds.
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- Be careful what goes in your mind and be careful what leaves your mind. So we make determinations all the time, right?
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- How many decisions do we make? That's right. That's wrong. All the time. So we're discerning what's the best. Where's the best place to eat lunch?
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- What's the best route to the old city? You had a better lunch than I did today by a factor of three,
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- I think. It's true. I think it cost three times as much as well. There is that. So we're talking about this because it's important.
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- It's a mandate for Christians. Gullibility is not a Christian virtue. So we want to know what's true.
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- We want to know what's right, what honors God. And therefore we will have to say, that's not right. It's not true.
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- It does not honor God. And Christians should be more discerning than they are generally speaking.
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- We don't want to go too far. Like you said, discernment ministry and it's, you know, cage phase, against everything, mean spirited.
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- But Christians should be able to say, that's biblical, that's not biblical. That's good for me spiritually, that's not good for me spiritually.
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- And there are so many kinds of examples where people are super gullible. And then we come across as mean spirited because we say, that didn't happen.
- 07:53
- That's not true. That's not good for you. That's not good. I think you're on to something there, Pat. When we're trying to design and,
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- I mean, to define discernment, what discernment is not, right? Opposite and contrast.
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- And one of the words is gullible. I think another word is ignorant, right? Even Paul in Colossians chapter one, he prays for the
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- Colossian church, that they might walk in a manner worthy. And one of the ways you walk in a manner worthy of the
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- Lord is you increase in the knowledge of God. Because the more you know about God, the more you know about errors.
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- And so we don't want to be ignorant. We don't want to be gullible. We don't want to say, well, we're in the kingdom. We believed in Jesus, the resurrected
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- Messiah. And then that don't, I don't want to be bothered with doctrine, right? Just tell me how to live.
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- And so we're not after that either. You were helping people today with discernment, talking about Jesus saying, not my will, but your will be done or something like that.
- 08:47
- And you were trying to help them understand Jesus. And as the eternal son, he obviously would not have a contrary will to the father.
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- But in his humanness, he could say such things. Well, we were there. You don't want to be a heretic and deny the equality of the son with the father and you're helping people to be more discerning in reading their
- 09:06
- Bible, right? That's exactly right. And I think Pactam has done a good job on discernment because you've taught positive things.
- 09:14
- And what's the Bible teach about covenant of works or the deity of Christ? And I think your number one show so far has been,
- 09:20
- I think on preaching based upon your opinion or ratings.
- 09:28
- But then there's been some things, you know, what about theonomy? What about this? What about that? Because what's an elder supposed to do?
- 09:34
- He's supposed to teach sound doctrine and refute those that contradict. What did Jesus do? This is the truth and these people are in error.
- 09:42
- So biblical basis, let's just give folks a list of five texts or some texts that come to mind.
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- You've already mentioned one from Solomon. You've already alluded to first Thessalonians five, examine everything carefully, hold fast to that which is good.
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- What are some other ones? I don't know. I walked 20 ,000 steps today. How am I supposed to remember what the Bible says?
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- Jesus says in Matthew chapter seven, where he says, beware of the false prophets. That's being discerning. Good.
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- Because there are true prophets, false prophets. Right. You will recognize them by their fruits. Test the spirits.
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- Exactly. Oh, I know. This is one I think I stole from you a long time ago. Does the
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- Bible say anywhere? Contain lies. True. That's true.
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- Does the Bible teach lies? False. That's being discerning. Does the Bible say anywhere, do not believe?
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- Remember that? That's provocative. I don't remember saying it. Oh, yeah. Well, I think I got it from you, but if not, maybe, maybe it was when
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- Sinclair Ferguson and I were like on the golf course together. Oh, it could be. I mean, I'm, you know, commonly
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- I'm confused with Sinclair Ferguson, my accent. This relates to discernment and you asked me for some verses.
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- So here we go. Okay. Kind, wonderful, fatherly
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- John, the apostle, the apostle of love, beloved.
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- You kind of wonder what he's going to say there in first John chapter four. Do not believe.
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- Now, there's not a comma there or a semicolon if there were such a thing in Greek. But it has our attention.
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- But it has our attention. Beloved. Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God.
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- Why? For many false prophets have gone out into the world. So there we have to discern.
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- And of course, the big context is there are people that are going to run around and say Jesus didn't assume human, the eternal son did not assume human nature incarnations fabricated flesh is bad are a lot of other reasons.
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- And so test the spirits. We could say discern the spirit. Because many of them are false, right?
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- I can look around here. Let's see that guy wearing that funny thing. He's false. That lady wearing that funny thing around her head.
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- She's false. I mean, we're in the land of I think Patrick Ennis is going to dress up like Moses tonight and you'll probably have 900 followers by tomorrow.
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- You just can't find some kind of staff or anything. Titus Titus two one says, but as for you teach what accords with sound doctrine, the implication is there.
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- Don't teach what doesn't accord with sound doctor Titus one nine an elder, he must hold firm to the trustworthy word as taught so that he might be able to give instruction in sound doctrine, healthy doctrine, and also to rebuke those who contradict it, discerning even though the word isn't used to be a spiritual leader, to be spiritually fit.
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- You have to be discerning and not just the leaders. They're obviously teaching people how to do it themselves. Pat, I agree on the kind of very practical side since you know, people love practical things, right?
- 12:54
- Someone was recommending the podcast on this trip to a relative and they said, now you'll have to get past the sarcasm.
- 13:05
- So go ahead. Well, you know, sarcasm, sardonic smile, sarcophagus we saw today.
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- Who's sarcophagus? Did we see a Caiaphas sarcophagus? No, no. Herod's. That was really interesting.
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- Discovered in 2007. Uh huh. But it didn't look too wide. I thought here was going to be a lot fatter, but maybe, you know, our guide said the
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- Jews described him as fat and short and basically he wouldn't fit through the walkways if he were that fat, the way they described him.
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- Oh. So he said, notice in the casket or the coffin, the sarcophagus or whatever it's called here, he said, and it looks like he was tall and not fat.
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- And so the conclusion is the Jews hated him so much because he was so evil that they said all kinds of derogatory things, even that weren't true about him.
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- That's interesting. That's like Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. They're rewriting it to take out the word fat because that girl that stole all the blueberries they called her fat.
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- See? See how we do this? Madam Blueberry. Oh, no way. That's vegetarian. Madam Blueberry.
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- I'm so. Yeah. I mean, this is practical. So this went in this sense.
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- You know what? If you are not discerning, you're going to end up giving your money to false teachers and pastors who were in it for the money.
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- And they'll get on TV saying, send your money to Jesus for a blessing. Here's my address. And you see it happen all the time.
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- Absolutely. These guys are making tons of bank from gullible Christians. I don't like that.
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- It makes me mad. Ephesians 4 talks about how we shouldn't be carried about by every wind of doctrine.
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- Right? We need to be stable. And the emphasis there is that's why we need good Bible teachers in our lives. But still.
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- So our listeners are going to think that we're in the worst part of the world. They're going to think we're in like the
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- West Bank or something like that. This is just like we're in West Jerusalem. We're in the nice part of town just a year away.
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- 530 p .m. Nice part of town. It sounds like we're in Jericho. But that's not true.
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- We also learned while we were here, Pat, that the police cars always have their blue lights on.
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- But they're only after you if the sirens go on. So that's kind of a good fact.
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- Discernment ministries. Let's maybe talk about this, Pat, for a second. Maybe we're jumping ahead.
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- What about the people that are a true discernment ministry in the negative sense? They're always criticizing people.
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- Let's all they do is find out the false things. Criticize. That ministry is horrible. That ministry is horrible.
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- You can't believe anything about them because they get 20 % of the things wrong. We don't go for that either, right?
- 15:43
- We don't go for that either. And sometimes when a ministry builds itself around something very niche, what ends up happening is there's nothing to be discerning about that week or that month.
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- And you have a newsletter or podcast or whatever. You find it. And maybe you find it where you ought not even be finding it.
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- I used to get fed by the Berean Call by Dave Hunt. And his buddies, right?
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- The Psychoheresy Awareness Newsletter. And we would then learn that James Dobson actually said something about something he ought not to have.
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- And then we'd have to blast away. Every month it would be in the letter. They get out of balance.
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- It's just how it is. So people tend to get mean spirited and it's always negative.
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- You'd think, I'd hate to be married to such a person. What would that be like? Right. I'd hate to be pastored by such a person.
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- It's always negative, even if it's supposed to be about joy and rejoicing. When I do talk about,
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- I don't mean people, but what people believe, when I talk about them at No Compromise Radio, Pat, I regularly say to myself,
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- You know, on Sundays I'm preaching Christ, and so I want to address this issue for people in the congregation and their sake, because they ought not to be reading
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- Joyce Meyer books, or Tim Keller books, or John Piper books, or something like that. So it's a good outlet, it keeps it out of the pulpit.
- 17:08
- Right. That's good. But I don't want my whole life summarized by, Oh, that's the attack dog.
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- Right? He did the video, Where's Beth Moore's Husband? Or whatever. The number one listened to episode of No Compromise.
- 17:22
- It's actually switched around, I think it was maybe T .D. Jake's Now, or Mark Driscoll, or something like that. I don't know.
- 17:28
- And maybe in five years we're going to do this, and it'll be on Assurance, right? I know. A different chord.
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- I can't know ratings per se, Pat, because we have a variety of different downloads for NoCo, but I do know for people that want to give on Patreon, and I've hardly ever said give on Patreon, well
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- I've never said it. Right, once you've got the Ferrari. I asked for an owl once, they did send me an owl, and then
- 17:53
- I asked for a Land Rover after that, but I haven't gotten it. People did give more money to No Compromise Radio Ministry, when
- 18:00
- I was much more of a discernment ministry. Mike, why do you think? Because people love that.
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- They love controversy. Red meat. Uh -huh. They love to tune in and figure out what's going on with the latest little
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- Kenneth Copeland, Kenneth Hagan, and who's saying what, and what did Thulean do, and everything else.
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- So I guess if we want to both increase our reach... Be more negative.
- 18:27
- Yeah, I can't keep up with all that. That's true. I hate it. What's the latest with the Gospel Coalition?
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- What's going on with all these celebrity Christians and everything else? So let's talk about church history, and the role of church history as it would relate, and historical theology as it would relate to being discerning.
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- So we have a Bible. The Bible is God's inerrant, infallible Word, inspired
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- Word, and it's the only special revelation we think that we need. So why would we pay attention to church history, historical theology, and why is it really important to do so when it comes to being discerning?
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- I've been asking the congregation that for a long time. I've told them to quit reading all the creeds and confessions, and why are they trying to read old
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- Luther books and Calvins? I don't know. Is it something called the Institutes or something? Why would they ever bother?
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- I mean, you can get it on microfiche at the library, if you ever need to study. I think it's your associate pastor,
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- Chris Peterson, who's one of the smartest people I think I've ever met. I think he talks a lot about tree trunks, using it as an illustration of the church, and how she's grown since the apostolic age, and built one man's work upon another upon another.
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- There's these weird offshoots of weird branches of bad teaching and stuff like that.
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- But the Lord said He would build His church. The Lord has laid the foundation of the church with the apostles and prophets, and now
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- He gives pastors and teachers, and He's still building the church. And I say to myself, how could
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- I then ignore the gifts that God has given the church? Fallible men, sinful men, but men like John Calvin and Zwingli and all these other guys, and Caspar Olivianus, shout out to our friend
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- Scott Clark, Caspar the Friendly Olivianus, as I call him. Why would I ignore that?
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- That's just unwise. But we see that a lot, don't we? We do. So the Spirit has been working in the life of the church.
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- Men and women have fought for these things, suffered for these things. We should at least pay attention to what they've done.
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- Water under the bridge. Maybe we don't have to step in it theologically so many times. I think of the recent controversy that's still brewing behind the scenes with the person of Christ, the eternal functional subordination of the
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- Son kind of thing, people denying the deity of Christ in a certain sense because He's somehow lesser than the
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- Father. Well, we believe that stuff because it was taught to us by Biblicists, because they had
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- Bible verses that seemed to teach it. And then, all of a sudden, you find out this was a huge debate that's already been, you know, they've already duped it out.
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- And, oh, when we pay attention to all the passages, we say, He's equal. Very God of very
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- God, begotten, not made. So we say, that was wrong, that was bad. And if we only would have paid attention to a little bit of church history, we wouldn't have been functional heretics.
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- Yeah, I mean, how many times do we just need to go back and say, we fought that battle before? Is sanctification monergistic or not?
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- What is sola fide, right? Is repentance the fruit of faith? Do you have to forsake sin in order to come to Christ?
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- All of these things. And the heretics and the Orthodox both say they believe the Bible is true. That's exactly right.
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- So maybe we should pay attention to some of the history if we're trying to be discerning. And I think it's fair, Pat, for us to call out some of these guys who continue in spite of the prodding, in spite of the appeals, in spite of the calls to study the
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- Bible again, especially in light of church history. When Owen Strand or someone says, you know what,
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- I will not stop teaching my brand of eternal functional subordination, or ESS, I will not stop.
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- I don't care what you tell me. What does it say about Christianity to say, well, we'll just continue to platform the person that's teaching heresy.
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- Because he's conservative. Right, or he's against woke stuff or something. And I think we have to be very clear.
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- Over the years, have I taught heretical things without being a heretic? We're not calling people heretics, but that is a heretical teaching.
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- And if you can't get this right after you've been exposed to church history and studying the Bible in light of it, then
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- I don't think you should teach anything else. You have to sit down until you can learn the basics, the
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- ABCs. And once you learn the ABCs, like Trinity, then you can move on to other things.
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- So if I'm a brand new Christian, or no, maybe I just want to be more discerning, what would some good resources be that we could recommend to people to start maybe becoming more mature when it comes to historical theology, understanding basic Bible doctrines to do a better job?
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- Where do we start? Good question, Pat. I almost want to say it's unique to each person.
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- Because we've all been taught certain things. So let's say we've been taught a good doctrine of the
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- Holy Spirit. Because the charismatics maybe abuse the doctrine of the Holy Spirit, pneumatology, so we've been taught the
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- Holy Spirit's book with Sinclair Ferguson. And we understand that he's a person, and he convicts, and he guides, and so we understand him pretty well.
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- Then why start there? But if we don't understand, let's say, doctrine of God, we don't understand the
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- Trinity, we don't understand how Jesus doesn't empty himself of all but love.
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- Right. Why don't we start with those little books like that little Scott Swain book and that little
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- Wellen book? Those are excellent. To start. Those would be two books that I would say right away, read the
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- Swain book, read the Wellen book. One's on the Trinity, one's on the person of Christ. I think Crossway, is
- 24:16
- Crossway putting out that series? Yeah, excellent little book. Easy to read. Yeah. You know, you can get both men's longer versions of the books, but those are the kind of things, and that's what
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- I did, Pat. I thought, I did not understand Canonic Theory very much, and Eternal Functional Subordination very much.
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- I need to go back and study some. Those are some of the books that I read to make sure I understood. I'm also going to say
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- Confessions, because it's not just one individual. Because sometimes, I like both books you mentioned, and they're helpful, but Confessions are so helpful because they're
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- Catholic, as in universal, and they've stood the test of time, so it would be nice if we, in a sense, put
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- Historic Confessions above even some of our favorites. You know what? Too bad I didn't give the best answer first, and you gave the best answer second.
- 25:06
- I got your back. If you study, for instance, the Athanasius Creed, with truths from Athanasius, although he didn't write it, you're going to figure out pretty fast,
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- Oh, I'm not going to subordinate the Son. Oh, something happened with the Incarnation, but in terms of essence and everything else, there's no hierarchy, and just because you call somebody
- 25:27
- Father doesn't mean they're greater. I mean, if we're going to go that route and be Biblicists, every father started off as a son, but the
- 25:35
- Father in Heaven did not start off as a son, so it's not one -to -one. It's a relationship kind of language.
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- So the Creeds and Confessions are excellent ways to start. Mike, to wrap up,
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- I have an example, a contemporary example. I almost hate to use it because I don't want to give him any shade or any free press, but two people have asked me about this in the last week, and they said,
- 25:56
- What do I think of this? And so they sent me this link from New Protestant, and on this website called
- 26:02
- New Protestant it says, $25 ,000 challenge, and then it says, Hey Evangelicals, Did you know
- 26:09
- Martin Luther was a heretic? Faith alone is not enough, and that's all in yellow.
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- That's helpful. Getting to Heaven also requires that we do the work, that's in italics, do the work of faithfully obeying
- 26:22
- God's command. Think we're wrong? Come to our church, and we'll pay you $25 ,000. So how about it?
- 26:32
- Should we do it? $25 ,000? Is that shekels, or is that dollars, I wonder? I think it's USD.
- 26:37
- I think it's funny money. Well, A, who determines if we're right when we criticize the guy?
- 26:44
- He'll say we're wrong. But more importantly, oh, it's faith plus obedience.
- 26:50
- Back to church history, back to the confessions, back to what has the church taught, from Anselm to Athanasius.
- 26:56
- Back to Romans 4 -5. Right. What is going on? I have to obey? Who determines how much to obey?
- 27:03
- It's just like, it's similar to me to John Piper, even though Piper wouldn't be so crass, and he'd teach the right thing elsewhere.
- 27:09
- But it's like Piper. You have to be desiring God. You have to have obedience to God to be finally justified.
- 27:17
- Who determines how much? I guess the celebrity who's got a big blog and a big platform,
- 27:23
- I guess. Can you imagine having this guy as your pastor? And I read through it. It's totally cultic.
- 27:28
- I remember the same guy was denying the act of obedience of Christ not long ago. Because I saw a
- 27:34
- YouTube video. Because, Pat, if you talk about your personal obedience to your congregation, you won't talk much about Jesus' obedience.
- 27:41
- Sorry to interrupt. So, in response, it's, yeah, no wonder the guy's some kind of half -cocked, half -baked, false teacher, cult engineer.
- 27:50
- But, yeah, it gets people's attention. They need to be discerning, to be well -grounded in the Scriptures, well -grounded in what
- 27:57
- Christians have always concluded. And you say, what kind of person is this? The kind of person I'm going to tell people to stay away from and not get impressed to.
- 28:04
- What about discernment with all these big, like, conferences and everything like that?
- 28:10
- What do we do? You've got all these people now on the platform, and some are good, and some have bad things.
- 28:18
- It's hard to keep up because I just saw a celebrity pastor who's done some good things, you know, anti -woke and all this.
- 28:25
- Vodibachum. And the next thing you know, now they're promoting groups that are heretics.
- 28:30
- How can... They're going to speak at their conferences. I wish I was wrong, but how can Vodibachum sign up to go speak at Doug Wilson's deal, or with Doug Wilson, unless he was asked by Wilson, come and refute everything
- 28:42
- I've done? Yeah, and you know it's not the case. And yet I have sheep that I'm responsible for. You know, it's no big deal to me, whatever, but I have sheep
- 28:49
- I'm responsible for that, you know, like the teaching. So now I've got to deal with it.
- 28:55
- Preacher for hire, if you were asked to go speak in Moscow, Idaho, to kind of lend credibility to Moscow...
- 29:01
- I can't do it. Not in a million years can I do it, knowing what has been taught, what has been done. And that kind of stuff, if this all proves to be true, how can
- 29:09
- I then say this person has discernment in any way, shape, or form?
- 29:15
- I can't. It's a sad thing. So, interesting to see what happens in these days. We're going to have to be discerning and pray for wisdom, and we're certainly asking you all as you're listening to do that very thing, to be loving, kind, and gracious, but you also have to be clear thinking and clear headed when someone's wrong.
- 29:34
- The risk of being self -serving, because both you and I are pastors, the local church is where it's at, right?
- 29:46
- You can't as a congregation say, you know what, my pastor feeds me every single week, he preaches
- 29:51
- Christ every week, he's there to marry Barry and everything else, and you know what, but Vody's right,
- 30:00
- Wilson's right, Piper's right, we'll take care of we'll take their opinions as higher than our pastor.
- 30:08
- We're not trying to say we're better, smarter, anything like that, but there's going to be a day of reckoning where you're going to watch these guys crumble and fall like we've seen crumble and fall, where you think, you know what, what about your local pastor?
- 30:20
- When I ask people who their favorite preacher is, and they humbly just say, my pastor, you've never heard of him, he preaches in front of 30 people in South Dakota, and he loves my family by preaching
- 30:31
- Christ. That's what I love. Keep listening to him. Keep listening to him, and don't be infatuated with the celebrities.
- 30:39
- We've seen enough celebrities, Mike, and there's some kind, gracious people that we know who are bigger names, but we've seen enough where prima donna, this, that, and the other thing, and I wish people could see it to say, you know what,
- 30:54
- I can't put my trust in him. They shouldn't put their trust in us either, but they should put their trust in the
- 30:59
- Lord Jesus Christ, secondarily so to those who boast in him and point to him.
- 31:06
- I know. Ready to wrap up here in Jerusalem? The sun is going down here in Jerusalem. I think there's fewer crimes committed because it's much quieter.
- 31:12
- Maybe so. Maybe so. Thanks for doing this. This is a lot of fun. I can't wait to see how it turns out.
- 31:18
- Thank you for listening. We appreciate it. If anybody has any complaints about name dropping, it's pat at the patdom dot com.
- 31:27
- That's right. Reach out. We'd love to hear from you. I take the emails mark at no compromise radio dot com.
- 31:38
- With that, we're going to sign off from the west side of the city in Jerusalem.