WWUTT 2210 Q&A Keeping Our Sanity, Baptists in Presbyterian Churches, Pi in the Bible

How do we care about the things that are going on in the culture today and not be consumed by them?

Can a Baptist attend a Presbyterian church? And does the Bible air about Pi 3 .14?

The answers when we understand the text. This is

When We Understand The Text, a daily Bible commentary to help encourage your time in God's Word, that we may grow up in every way in Christ Jesus.

Tell your friends about our ministry at www .wutt .com. Here once again is

Pastor Gabe. Thank you, Becky. You're welcome. Proverbs 2, once again, where we read that Yahweh gives wisdom.

From His mouth come knowledge and discernment. He stores up sound wisdom for the upright, a shield to those who walk in integrity, to guard the paths of justice, and He keeps the way of His Holy Ones.

Then you will understand righteousness and justice and equity, every good track.

For wisdom will enter your heart, and knowledge will be pleasant to your soul. Discretion will keep you.

Discernment will guard you, to deliver you from the way of evil, from the man who speaks perverse things, from those who forsake the paths of righteousness to walk in the ways of the darkness, who are glad to do evil, and they rejoice in the perversity of evil, whose paths are crooked and who are devious in their tracks, to deliver you from the strange woman, from the foreign woman who flatters with her words, who forsakes the close companion of her youth and forgets the covenant of her

God. For her house sinks down to death, and her tracks descend to the dead.

All who go to her will not return, and they will not reach the paths of life.

So that you will walk in the way of good men, and keep to the paths of the righteous.

For the upright will dwell in the land, and the blameless will remain in it. But the wicked will be cut off from the land, and the treacherous will be torn away from it.

I would sure like to see that happen after observing the opening ceremonies of the Olympics taking place in Paris, France.

Oh, really? Yes. I did not see it. Please God, drive the wicked from the land.

Oh, it was reprehensible. So they had gay men and women, men dressed in drag, that were even imitating the

Lord's Supper. Oh, wow. Yeah. So you had drag queens that were sitting there imitating

Wow. the Lord's Supper as painted by Leonardo da Vinci. Wow. You know, it's interesting that these wicked people can't ever come up with their own ceremonies.

You know what I mean? Yeah. Like they always have to imitate religious symbols and mock them.

And the thing they hate the most, of course, namely Christianity. They're not mocking

Islam. Right. They're not mocking Hinduism or Buddhism or anything. It's Christianity.

Yeah. Those Christian symbols. In Paris, France. Yeah. And before the whole world, as you have all nations that are gathered together, which nations are rising up against this reprehensible behavior in their opening ceremonies and things that they're broadcasting on television and saying, this is wicked, this is evil, people.

Yeah. It is mocking God who will not be mocked. And he will pour out his judgment.

Is there anybody, like any countries that are offended? Not that I've heard yet.

Okay. I guess we'll find out. Because it's worldwide. You think about Paris. Yeah. I mean,

Notre Dame is there. But France is so – like whenever I watch foreign films, if I watch anything that's in French, it's usually really bad.

Oh, yeah. Like as far as content wise. And so I can't watch anymore. Right. I haven't even –

I want to learn French and hear things in French, but I just –

I can't do it. Yeah, I remember when Annie – does Annie still have an obsession with Paris, like wanting to go to Paris?

It's more of Mariah now. Okay. Yeah, so our kids, especially a couple of our girls.

Annie kind of wanted to go, but she's kind of let off of that quite a bit. I made some sort of response to her one time.

I hope I didn't squash a dream or anything. Oh, no. What'd you say? Well, just talking about wanting to go to Paris, and I said, forget it.

Oh, yeah. I think in my mind I had – I was thinking of finances.

No way. Fair enough. There's no way that's going to work. But also just thinking of how depraved the culture is.

I don't want to go on a vacation to New York City either. It's true. It's not just Paris.

It's not just pick and choose. Right. It's – yeah. It's the way things are. But it's so wonderful to hear about how the wisdom of God will protect us from these things.

And though we might see this stuff being reprehensible, we're not drawn in by it, it does repulse us.

But instead of just sitting around and groaning about it, which I can have a tendency to do if I'm not careful, then find those things that are beautiful that God has given to us.

All this stuff that happens, like what we saw in the opening ceremonies of the

Olympics, mocks God, it mocks what is beautiful and good. It mocks the family. Yeah. And so instead of being entertained by that,

I'm going to turn around and have fun with my wife and kids. Yeah, for sure. They were watching –

I saw that they were watching a YouTube video where the guys would do these fun trick games and things like this.

So while they were watching it, I grabbed some of our excess water bottles. Oh, is that why they're all over the house?

That's right. Now they're all over the house. And I set up some things to be able to knock them down with balls and stuff like that.

And we did like water bottle bowling. And Bubba got the small basketball and he threw it toward the bottles where I had them set up like bowling pins and got a strike.

Oh, that's awesome. And our nine -year -old was like, how did he do that? Why does he get the strike?

The two -year -old got the strike, but the nine -year -old couldn't get it. Anyway, so you see things like that.

Now, let's get together and enjoy that which is beautiful. Yes. And especially be out there sharing the gospel because this wicked world is coming into judgment.

It will come into destruction. And the only way that we can be saved from all of this evil nastiness, which will perish.

The only way to be saved from the judgment of God that is coming is to believe in the

Lord Jesus Christ. Trust in him for your salvation. You know, I hear stories every once in a while from somebody who will say that they had a loved one who got too sucked into the news.

Like you're talking a Christian family. Uh -huh. That they were probably even regular churchgoers.

Okay. And somebody in the family, it's usually the husband. I don't mean to dig on the guys, but it usually is.

Gets obsessed with cable news. Yeah. Or something. Any more, it's probably social media.

It might be what you're watching on Twitter or Facebook. I mean, it could even be.

What's that? What's the message board site that everybody goes to? I can't remember the name of it now.

I never use it. I have no idea. Anyway, so you just get sucked into that world and you surround yourself with people who think and believe like you and have the same concerns that you have.

Yeah. And you fall into the same conspiracy theories. Yeah. And it just feeds it and feeds it and feeds it.

And no matter how genuine it was when you got into it. Right. Like all of your views were

Christian. They were right -leaning. They were conservative. Uh -huh. But the more you go down that rabbit hole, the more it sucks you into this pessimistic, discouraged grumpiness.

Yeah. Groaning about the way things are, being obsessed about things. You start to suspect everybody else.

And no matter how good your intentions were in the beginning, it's not godly. None of this is godly.

Yeah. You have isolated yourself from reality, from trusting in God. And now you just think everything is a conspiracy and what do we got to do to stop these guys?

Yeah. And it can lead to some really, really dark thoughts, some things that will isolate you from other people and cut relationships out of your life.

It will affect everybody that is around you. Yeah, for sure. Not just you, although it's damaging enough to yourself.

Uh -huh. So we have to be careful about these things. And hence, God saying to Isaiah in Isaiah chapter 8, don't call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy.

And do not fear what they fear nor be in dread. But the Lord of hosts,

Yahweh of hosts in the LSB, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear and let him be your dread.

And he will become a sanctuary and a stone of offense and a rock of stumbling to both houses of Israel.

A trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem. And many shall stumble on it.

They shall fall and be broken. They shall be snared and taken. So which is it going to be for you?

Are you looking to God who saves you and who is sovereign and holds all things that are happening in his hand?

He's in control of all of it. Right. Do you trust him or will you let the concerns of this world consume you?

And then eventually you might even perish in judgment as well. Yeah. Beware of becoming like the thorns in the parable of the sower.

Matthew 13. Oh, yeah. In Mark 3. So the thorns represented the cares and the concerns of the world and the deceitfulness of riches.

But even the anxiety of things that are going on in the world was also represented by the thorns. So the message of the kingdom falls to the ground.

It produces a plant but gets choked out by the thorns. Which again represent the deceitfulness of riches and the cares and the anxieties and concerns of this world.

Right. Will that be you? Be careful about that. Be careful about what you are letting get into your head no matter, again, no matter how good your intentions might have been.

Yeah. I started from a Christian base point. Great. Then you have got to keep going back to Christ.

Yeah. You got to keep grounded in the word. Right. You got to keep your head on straight and keep your mind from going.

I mean, the mind is a crazy thing about how far it can go. I mean, just look around and observe people around you that, you know, the world is depraved.

Or even myself. I mean, I know how obsessed I can get with things. Yeah. And just sit and dwell on things.

Some people might not be aware, you know, like self -aware. Right. Yet. Yet. And so, even if they are looking around them, they can see that, oh, man, that person is crazy.

You know, like, what are they thinking? I can't even imagine myself. No. No. Your brain is capable of it just like theirs is.

Well, yeah. And you are kind of pointing out the problem there, too. It's like they are looking at everybody else's problems.

Yep. And not realizing your own brain is starting to get sucked into that. Yeah. And before long, you are going to be as gone as they are.

Yep. It's crazy. Get away from the computer. Get away from your smartphone. Spend some time with family.

Amen. Spend some time in the Word. With the family in the Word. Your church.

Your church. Yes. Definitely. Hope you have a great church that you can attend. I still get emails every once in a while from folks saying, you know, struggling to find a good church and things like that.

Just had a great one the other day, and this is a question that we've responded to before, about how the only reformed gospel -preaching church that this woman could find in her area was the

Presbyterian Church. Oh, okay. But she's a Baptist, by conviction. Oh, yeah. So, can

I attend that church? In fact, let me go ahead and bring up her question here. This was on social media. It's not in my email inbox.

But, hey, so this is the Friday edition of the broadcast. Yes. We take questions from the listeners, and you can submit your questions to whenweunderstandthetext at gmail .com

or... The voicemail. As this person did. Well, yeah, the voicemail. But as this person did

DM'd me, I won't always remember that they're here. Like, I'll respond to them in the week, and if I don't copy them and throw them in...

And paste, yeah. Yeah, then I'm not going to remember to do this on Friday. Yeah. But this is from Aviana, and she said,

Pastor Gabe, I have a question pertaining to your post about pedo -baptism. So, I had made some posts on X earlier this week about infant baptism versus credo -baptism.

Okay. And if you miss some of those posts, well, hold tight, because tomorrow, on the special edition of the broadcast, it's going to be the audio version of the stuff that I had discussed this week on social media.

Oh, nice. So, hang tight. You can either go to the blog and read it, PastorGabe .com, or the audio version will be on the special edition tomorrow.

So, anyway, Aviana, seeing these posts that I had made, she said, I've been looking for a church in my area, and I found one that is an

Orthodox Presbyterian church. The church identifies as Reformed, and from what

I've been told, the only big difference that I might encounter in that church is the belief in pedo -baptism. So far, everything else

I've seen about the church seems promising. Would you consider it a good idea to attend a church like this as someone who does not come from that kind of background or believe in pedo -baptism?

Now, we've answered questions like this before. Yes. Like those who have written in and have said, I attend a

Presbyterian church. My convictions are Baptist. Should I be looking for something else? And so,

I responded to her and said, appreciate your question, and it all depends on what this church requires and what you, in your conscience, are comfortable with.

So, you should be upfront about any convictions when you talk with their elders. Say that you're

Baptist by conviction. I don't believe in infant baptism. I don't know if Avianna's married, but if she gets married and has kids, would she say to them,

I would not baptize my kids here. So, my children would not be baptized. I love being able to worship with you, but just my convictions don't go that way.

I love that you preach the gospel, and that's why I'm here. Yeah. So, you say that you want to be there because they preach the gospel.

There's not another church that's like it that you have found. And most likely, you're not going to be allowed to become a member.

So, we even have one or two people in our own congregation at a Reformed Baptist church that are pedo -Baptist.

By their convictions, they're still welcome to be with us and worship and be involved in what we do, eat with us at our potluck.

We don't even withhold the Lord's Supper from them. But they can't be members, and they can't vote.

Right. Because then that changes the policy of the church, and what if we got enough people in there that were pedo -Baptists that took the church in that direction?

Right. That's true. So, you can't become a member and become a voting member, but you can still fellowship with us.

We don't see it as a reason to have to break fellowship. Right. So, hopefully, they won't keep you from the

Lord's table just because you have these Baptist convictions. But if they do, then it might be better for you to try and find a more solid

Baptist church, if at all possible. And maybe, since they're so solid, they can suggest another one in the area.

They usually know. That's right. Yeah. They usually know. Yeah. They're usually familiar with, hey, we do know of a

Reformed Baptist church over here. Because, especially when I was in Kansas, I made it a point to know where the

Presbyterian churches were, especially. Yeah. That were the most aligned with us in our soteriology, in our theological views and things like that.

So that I could, a person who comes, who wants the Reformed teaching, but they are pedo -Baptists in their conviction,

I could tell them, this church might be where you want to go. Yeah. Instead of with us. I wish that you would be

Baptist, but that's all right. If you feel like that you are more aligned with this church in your convictions, then that's where I would recommend that you go.

And maybe they do know that. Yeah. So they can give you that kind of recommendation as well. Yeah. So hopefully she'll be able to get plugged in somewhere, and that'll cut the time down as far as finding a church that is.

Right. If she needs to go to a different one. You've exhausted your resources to try to find something.

Maybe this church knows. Yeah. And can direct you that way. For sure. Now, we were talking about some political things a moment ago, and I meant to transition from that into this first question, because this is actually left over from last week.

I didn't get the chance to get to this question. So here's going to be a total subject change. We're going back to the political stuff.

This question comes from Gary, and he says, Pastor Gabe, I have been a loyal listener of When We Understand the

Text for approximately eight years, and I enjoy listening in podcast format.

I have especially enjoyed your Q &As over the years and rarely ever miss one. My brother introduced me to your podcast, and you have featured his questions on your

Q &A more than once over the last few years. You know, sometimes that's because I actually can't remember all the names of everybody.

Like, you could ask a question next week, and I probably won't remember that it was your question I answered the week before.

Unless you put in the email. Yes. You've already answered this question. Yeah, if you say that, then

I'm probably going to grab it. But I wonder how many times listeners have heard, like, the name

John or whatever. I mean, we've had multiple Johns. Oh, of course. Somebody hears John, boy, Gabe really likes

John's questions. Yeah. Well, if John asks good questions, I'm going to use his question.

Yeah. So anyway, Gary goes on. My question is centered on how to address the liberal theology of a whole division of Christianity that is basically full of hatred of Donald Trump.

And they come up with everything and anything to paint other Christians in a bad light if they support

Republicans or Donald Trump. I'm constantly hammered with, oh, you

MAGA people or you Trump supporter or whatever. And I'm going, you really have no idea who I am.

Yeah. I have never been praising of Donald Trump, except when he has done some policy things that are worth saying.

Thank you, Mr. President. But, you know, otherwise, I've been very critical of Trump. Oh, yeah.

Ever. Even long before he was the leading guy running for president back in 2015. But anyway.

Yeah. So there is like this whole group of people that just paints all Christians in a negative light because now they have this perspective of Christianity supports

Donald Trump. So then Gary goes on. More specifically, they are upset about the attention that Trump is getting as a result of his assassination attempt without getting into the whole conversation about divine providence or if it was a miracle and looking at the big picture.

I want to share the viewpoint of someone who has that liberal theology and his post on social media.

I'm including screenshots below the post in question of a man by the name of Reverend Benjamin Kramer.

I can't remember if it's pronounced Kramer or Kramer, but we're going to say Kramer for the sake of not sounding like I'm talking about a coffee, a coffee additive.

I would love to hear your take on this person's twisting of what many

Christians have said about the assassination attempt. I listened to several other Christian podcasts as well as John MacArthur, and I haven't heard anyone use some of these terms mentioned, such as God's chosen one.

So I feel like he is using things that a very small percentage of people have said and tried to apply those to an entire segment of conservative

Christianity. So here's the post from Benjamin Kramer. And by the way, Kramer, in case you're not familiar with him, he's not that well known, but he does have a pretty substantial media presence on social media.

Andy Stanley, for example, has retweeted Benjamin Kramer. So if Stanley likes Kramer, yeah, you know where that's going, gives you kind of an idea.

Yeah, he's mostly liberal. He believes that women can be pastors, which he's a Wesleyan minister, incidentally.

Okay. They believe that anyway. Yeah, that's common in their denomination. He's critical of conservative

Christianity. He's even critical of Christians who say that marriage must be between a man and a woman.

And he opposes patriarchy, twists scripture to fit a social justice hermeneutic.

That just kind of gives you an idea of Benjamin Kramer's theology. So here's the post that he made.

He said the following. I used to think taking God's name in vain was just using

God as a cuss word. OMG, etc. Right. He used to think that's what taking

God's name in vain is. Now, before I continue, that is taking God's name in vain. It is.

That's not the only way we take God's name in vain. Right. But what's he getting at? So he says, now

I think it looks like a politician and political party using God as a mascot for their own pursuit of power.

Yeah. Now, on the one hand, I do agree with that. Mm -hmm. I think that a lot of Republicans have done that, incidentally.

Oh, yeah. And he's not the only one to make this criticism. Even when George W. Bush was running for president back in 2000.

Mm -hmm. Even there, you could make the criticism that Bush was just using God's name to gain a certain following or segment of people.

Sure. Yep, I get that. So Kramer goes on, now I think it looks like an entire

Christian movement treating a presidential candidate as God's chosen one for the sake of its own pursuit of power.

Now, on the one hand, I do see where he identifies a certain group of people as seeing

Trump as God's chosen one. I do get that vibe. Sure, yeah. I mean, you see people that will post the pictures of Trump sitting at his desk with Jesus over his shoulder holding his pen for him and helping him sign his legislation.

Oh, wow. You've never seen those paintings? No. Yeah, that's right. Well, I've tried to avoid a lot. So, yeah, there's definitely that.

Wow. And as we had discussed last week, there does seem to be this religious fervor that exists among kind of the

MAGA segment. Especially after, just as Gary pointed out, after the assassination attempt, it just became even more crazy.

We played that clip from Marjorie Taylor Greene, who said that there was an angel in the

American flag and it was divine intervention and all this kind of thing. Yeah, it was by God's providence that Trump was saved from that bullet.

Oh, yeah, for sure. No argument there at all, but the way that people have turned this into some sort of religious moment. Yeah, like he's a holy one.

Yeah. So, yeah, God's chosen one? Absolutely. And there is a certain sense in which we recognize that appointed elected officials have been put there by God.

Oh, yeah, for sure. That's Romans 13. That's in the Bible. That's Daniel chapter two. God sets up kings and removes kings.

So, he's the one that puts these particular people in place. Even the wicked rulers that get raised up and positioned in those places.

Joe Biden has been put there by God. Yep. And Trump being as immoral as he is and even being the, quote unquote, conservative candidate.

Yeah. That's even a judgment on people who claim to be conservative but really are not.

Yeah. So, in that sense, you can interpret God's chosen one that way.

Yeah. Just don't interpret it in the way that God, you know, God's chosen one is

Christ. He's the anointed one. He's the Messiah. Amen. Not any politician.

So, then going on, now I think it looks like Christians clamoring to use God's word to sanctify and justify every action of their preferred presidential candidate.

That can happen. And again, I've seen that happen going back decades. Yep. Incidentally, there are people on the left that do the same thing.

Uh -huh. They will justify all of Biden's actions with Scripture. Biden justified his actions with Scripture.

Huh. He would regularly quote Scripture in his speeches. You don't remember his reference to the palms as the palmist said.

Oh, yes. Mm -hmm. Because he couldn't read that the teleprompter said psalms and not palms. Nope. That was a favorite.

I don't remember that one. That's a favorite one. But, I mean, he's even used the Bible to justify his support of the

LGBTQ movement. Yeah, I'm sure. I'm not surprised. Now, a guy like Kramer, though, is not going, he's not pointing this criticism at that.

Okay. He's not pointing it at Biden and Kamala. He's pointing it at Trump and Vance.

Okay. So, this is the - Only one direction. Exactly. It's only going one way. Okay. This is the problem with these kinds of criticisms.

I can agree with where you're coming from. Mm -hmm. But both sides do it. Yep. For sure.

So, why are you tearing down the one and not the other? That's a valid question.

Is it just because he's trying to make a point on one side or - It's because he hates the right. Oh, okay.

He's a liberal. Oh, okay. Fair enough. Because remember, he's critical of Christians even who say that marriage is between a man and a woman.

That's true. That's true. Because if he was just speaking to the Republicans, then there's no need to point out the liberals fault.

You know, kind of like, oh, I like apples. What about oranges? You know? Yeah. That sort of argument.

But at the same time, if he's speaking to everybody about how just the

Republicans are doing wrong, then that's different. Right. I mean, this was the same criticism that I had of Russell Moore and David French.

Mm -hmm. When they started to make their transition from, I mean, really being on the right to on the left.

Yeah. While showing colors. Yeah. That's probably a better way to put it. They were showing their true colors there. Yeah. So, it just became entirely critical of Trump.

Mm -hmm. And anybody who would support Trump or even vote for Trump. Mm -hmm. Like your average Christian American that just doesn't want the leftists in power.

Yeah. I remember that. And so, what do we got to do? Well, we got to vote for these other guys. I may not agree with everything that they do.

Mm -hmm. But I'm going to vote for them anyway because they're not as bad as these people. Well, even them, French and Moore and their ilk will criticize anybody that would even cast a vote for Trump at all.

Mm -hmm. Yeah. So, what's your solution then? Yeah. Great question. What is your solution? And you're not going to make any sort of criticisms of the left at all.

Yeah. Then you're just letting them run ramshot over everything. Yeah. When all your criticisms are just of the right because they're not as conservative as you think that they should be.

Mm -hmm. Which I'm in agreement with that. Sure. Yeah. But at the same time.

I am an equal opportunity critic. Yeah, right. You're both wrong. There you go. It's just one is far more left than the other.

I like it. So, anyway, Kramer goes on, Well, once again, both sides do it.

Mm -hmm. I cannot even tell you how many paintings of Obama I saw when

Obama became president. Even one that had him made up like Jesus with the halo over him and everything like that.

Yeah. One of the magazines even printed one of this. I can't remember if it was Newsweek or Time. Oh.

But they were calling Obama a messiah. So, you're going to make this criticism of the right but not of the left?

No joke. They both do it. Well, that was before, you know. They've forgotten. Now, I think it looks like Christians using

God's name to win by any means necessary simply because they hate their enemies so much, taking vengeance, which is supposed to be

God's alone, as their own political agenda and imposing their own way in the world. Listen, it is just fine for you to vote for a candidate because you hate the policies of the other side.

Yep. That is a perfectly valid reason. It is. Again, I don't like what has happened to the

Republican Party. The platform that they have embraced is even more liberal than Clinton's platform in the 90s.

Right. And when was the last time that an independent party or one other than the Republican or the

Democrat has won? How long has it been? Never? I mean, yeah. I thought there was one.

Like a green. Oh, the Green Party? No. Yeah, wasn't there a winner from them? There was

Ralph Nader, yeah, of the Green Party. Oh. He didn't win anything. No, he didn't win anything. Was there anybody who's won?

Millard Fillmore, apparently. Fillmore? Was of the Whig Party.

He was the 13th president of the United States. That's what I was going to say. He's an early guy. Yeah, 1850 to 53.

The last president to not be affiliated with either the Democrat or the Republican Party.

There you go, folks. So it's happened. It has happened. Miracles do happen. It's just been forever since it happened.

Yeah, it's been over 150 years ago. So chances are. We're stuck.

We are stuck, yeah. That's what the chances are. We have what we have. Let me finish what he's got here.

Okay, go ahead. Now I think it looks like using God's name to justify the worship of power. I don't even know what that means.

The reputation of the church in America will long be damaged by this unrelenting, insistent use of God's name to justify political idolatry.

The reputation of the church in America will long be damaged. Well, the true church will not be.

Amen to that, yeah. The gates of hell will not prevail against it. So the true church is still strong, going well, worshiping the true

King who is Christ. There are people who claim to be Christians who are really not, that have gone after things and politicized their ideologies, platformed their candidates to try to do the things that they think want to have happen.

And that's, again, on both sides. Oh, yeah, for sure. It's both the Democrats and the Republicans.

It's true that the majority of evangelicals will go toward the right. Trump will get most of the evangelical vote.

But remember that Biden, in all of the Roman Catholics that voted for him, got the majority

Roman Catholic vote. It's true. Who are also professing Christians, however you regard

Roman Catholicism. So there is still a very religious leaning that goes left.

Though they may have more irreligious people on the left than are on the right, it's still a problem on both sides.

Yeah, for sure. But Biden's not our candidate anymore for Democrats, right?

No, he's not. It's Kamala Harris. Oh, is it Harris? Okay, so it's not officially anybody on the

Democrat ticket. Fair enough. Biden gave his endorsement. He's dropped out now. Right.

Again, this is like all the stuff that's happened since the last time we have recorded a podcast.

Biden's dropped out, and he's given his endorsement of the vice president, of course, Kamala Harris. But there is not officially given by the

Democrat Party that she's our nominee. Okay. They still have the Democrat National Convention coming up.

We still got time. And the delegates have to recast their votes because Biden already had the delegates.

Yeah, that's true. Yeah. So they now have to shift in the direction of Kamala. Okay. Although it hasn't officially been stated, that's kind of where things stand.

Yeah. Okay. That's where it is. So a Marxist. That's interesting. We'll have a Marxist running on the

Democrat ticket for president of the United States here in 2024. This will be interesting.

A Marxist versus a Republican who's the Democrat of 30 years ago.

Yeah. Who's more liberal, more left than Democrats of 30 years ago. That's where things stand.

That's pretty accurate. But yeah, as we said last week, pray for America. Oh, please do. Do not fret.

Trust in God. That's right. I think it would be better economically. Things would certainly feel more comfortable for us and the finances that we have had to wrestle with as a family.

If Trump were president, that would certainly be easier. Yes. But I'm still going to trust God that he knows the outcome.

Amen. Whether or not he's using either one of these candidates to bring America back toward him or bring us to judgment.

Yeah. Because it looks more like the latter than the former. But we can pray for revival in America and still be out there sharing the gospel.

Yes. Transformation in this country is not going to happen. America is not going to be made great again.

Right. Or made great in any fashion. Without Christ. Without the gospel of Christ. Amen.

So continue preaching the good news of the kingdom that others may be convicted in heart of their sin and come to faith in the

Lord Jesus Christ and live. And if there's any transformation that will happen in whatever nation you live in, that's how it will happen, through the preaching of the gospel.

Yes. This next question comes from Jason in Alexandria, Minnesota.

He says, have you ever covered the matter of Pi and the Bible regarding the bowl slash pool in 1

Kings 7? What? Yes, Pi. So do you know the whole controversy?

Like P -I -E or P -I? P -I. Okay. Yeah, not P -I -E. I was, you know, I'm a little hungry here.

So I was just curious. Unfortunately, Pi is not mentioned in the Bible. P -I -E.

I didn't think it was. But I mean, it could be a delicacy that we're overlooking that's called something else.

Right. It has another name. I know. I wish I could say this is a sanctified food.

All right. Pizza as well. I can't find pizza in the Bible either, but.

Yeah. Well, the unleavened bread is pretty close, right? No. Unleavened bread, you know, because it doesn't rise.

No. No. No. You just spread some toppings. No, I don't eat thin crust pizza.

Oh, that's right. You don't. Pizza's pizza. That's like ordering a cracker with cheese and pepperoni on it.

Pizza's pizza, unless you put anchovies on it and then it's done. I'll eat the pizza anyway, even if it's thin crust.

But I mean, you can get crackers and pepperoni and cheese at the store. That's a snack. For supper,

I want a thick crust. It's called a Lunchable. Yeah, that's right. You got me here. Oh, dear.

Okay, so P .I. P .I. P .I. Okay. I had a math teacher in middle school who used to say, whenever you, so he would ask a question, or he's in the middle of asking a question, and hands go up right away.

Especially, you know, those bookworm people in the class. They think they know the question he's going to ask, and they think they know the answer.

And so he would fool them by saying, what are the first 100 digits of pi? Yes. And then boom, now they're stuck.

So, 3 .141592653. That's as much as I can remember.

I got 3 .14. Yeah, that's typical. That's your typical abbreviated pi.

That's as far as I go until I look it up. Yeah. But it's 3 .141.

Now, it's an infinitive number, right? Right. It keeps going. Exactly. You can't come up with the end of pi.

That's what I was thinking. Yes. So anyway, how do you create your videos, Jason says.

How difficult is it, and how long does it take? I'm asking because I might try to, I might try my hand at creating my own videos and not plagiarizing your style, of course.

I don't care if you do it in my style. That's fine with me. I might just wind up doing the talking head type thing instead of trying to edit videos.

That was the way I started when we were trying to come up with video ideas. Yeah. The talking head thing is just, you know, you're looking into a camera and talking.

Right. Man, I just don't like that. Yep. I just don't enjoy it at all. You didn't even like your picture on t -shirts or anything.

Oh, heaven's sake. No. Yes. Yeah. Or your picture on the back of a book that you, you know, like how they always have the author picture.

Yeah. That was never your thing. It's the easiest thing to do, because you just look at a camera and talk, and then you take that video and you post it on YouTube.

That's the easiest thing to do. Sure. And the creativity that is required to come up with the stuff that I do that doesn't have my face on it talking takes a while.

Because I have an idea of what I want to have, but when I do the image searches and I can't find it, then

I have to kind of morph the idea into something else. Right. That'll work. It can be mentally exhausting.

Yeah. Like, it can drain you. And it depends on the topic, too. Exactly. Because I know, like, you've struggled with some of those topics.

Right now, the one that I'm trying to finish on Sodom and Gomorrah, I've been working on it for a year.

Yeah, you have. And I love the first six or seven minutes of it that I've completed.

The beginning, the first third of it is fantastic. I'm like, I love this. I wish I could just publish this.

Yeah. But then the next two thirds of it, I've struggled with so much. Anyway, yeah, going on here, this is kind of answering

Jason's question, how long does it take me to do this? Sure. I've done a little bit of it. So a year. Or. Yeah.

I mean, it can depend. And this is a 20 plus minute video, the one on Sodom and Gomorrah. This isn't like the minute and a half videos that I do.

I don't think any one of those have ever taken me a year. Yeah, I don't think so. It's just a few days. So anyway, he says,

I've done a little bit more editing, and I don't like the process much. Neither do I. So I relate to you on it.

Yes. Least favorite. Thank you for everything that you do. Okay. So to answer, I'll answer the last portion first, since we're already talking about that, and then we'll come back to pie.

Okay. So how long does it take me to do a video? Well, a minute and a half to two minute video, either one takes me about the same time.

Even though one video might be 30 seconds longer, it still takes me roughly the same amount of time to do them. It's anywhere from four to eight hours.

Four to eight hours, not 48 hours. Right. And that's after the script has been written, after I've recorded my voice.

Once I get that done, everything builds around the script of the video.

So I've written it, I've recorded it. And then I start finding the images to go along with the substance.

And then sometimes you scrap it in the middle and you re -record it. Oh, yeah. Because it just doesn't work. Yeah, there are times where as I've continued to listen to it, which

I've probably listened to it 30 or 40 times by the time you... Yeah. By the time you finally get to hear it for the first time, there will be something in there

I just didn't like. Mm -hmm. Sometimes I... The wording could be better, different. Yeah. Sometimes I don't like it and I don't want to change it because I know how much work that will be.

And I just push it through anyway. Mm -hmm. And then it gets published and somebody makes the very criticism that was bugging me already.

Yeah. And then I'm like, ah, I should have changed it. And I will pull the video. Yep. And make the change.

I've done that before. Yep. Not a lot, but it's happened a few times. So, yeah.

And finding images, all of that's image search on Google. Mm -hmm. I don't like using AI. I will try to avoid it if I can.

Yeah. I have used some image services in the past, which would be something like 25 bucks a month for unlimited access to their database.

Mm -hmm. And it may not be unlimited. It might be 30 downloads a month or something like that. But that's still enough because they'll backlog and I'll have enough of those that I can -

Reuse. I can come back to and reuse. Yeah, sure. And things like that. However, with the way finances are right now, I'm not using any of those services.

Yeah. I've cut that out entirely. But those are helpful. And by the way, image searches on Google have become more difficult because more of these companies have managed to lock down their photos.

Oh, yeah. Adding watermarks and things like that, where it used to be a lot easier to do.

When I first started doing what the publicly available images - Oh, yeah. I remember that.

Were easier to find than they are now. Yeah. Now, stuff is watermarked or behind paywall and stuff like that.

Or they give you the small image like 300 by 200. Oh, yeah. And then it's all blurry when you make it bigger.

When you try to make it bigger, yeah. So, it's harder. It's harder to do now than it used to be.

But that's generally the way that I would go about doing it. Some of it is pre -planned.

Some of it is flying by the seat of my pants. And just coming up with stuff as I find it. And, oh, that would be a great image to add here.

Yeah. I have found things before that made me go, I love that picture so much. I'm changing the script so that I can use it.

Yep. I've done that before, too. Yeah. The ideas for the videos will come first from my own church.

It'll be conversations that I have with people and questions that they will ask. And it will make me go, oh, that would be a good idea for a video.

Yeah. As my kids have gotten older, they've contributed some good ideas as well. Yep, they have. And it's usually something that you've heard more than once.

Yeah. So, like, it's something that's widespread and asked often. Yeah. And then it's just, you know, okay, this one needs to be answered.

And then there will be current events. Yeah, that, too. Or something that trends on social media.

A certain false teacher just recently said something dumb. Mm -hmm. And even then, I don't really jump on it right away.

Like, I'm not one of those video sites where once something bad comes up, the next day you can expect a video from Gabe.

That's probably not going to be the case. Yeah, no. I'm pretty busy as it is. Yep. I mean, you've noticed how hard it is for me to catch up even with the podcast episodes.

Yes. Let alone trying to make videos that go with yesterday's news. Mm -hmm. I've got one right now that is in response.

The stuff that we talked about last week, like the abuse of Ephesians 611. Oh, uh -huh. Tying that in with Trump's assassination attempt.

So, I have that video sitting in my folder. Here we are almost two weeks later.

Yeah. And I still haven't gotten that one out yet. So, yeah, there was a guy who was a critic of mine even a few years ago.

He's not around anymore, actually. But he was a critic of mine, and he would say of Gabe, he's always a day late and a dollar short.

Okay. And I was like, I don't care. I'm not trying to make them to be like a content creator in the sense of -

It's not news. I got to be out there before anybody else or else I'm not going to get credit for this. Something like that.

And it's never been my objective. Yeah. If I happen to be before anybody else, that's providential.

Yep. That's what I was going to say. I'm really not trying to put stuff out there and be like the first to jump on this or whatever.

I mean, you know, with my church, what we're going through right now, we just started Titus, a study in the book of Titus.

We're going to be going through Titus. And as things come up in Titus, well, then we'll address them as they pertain to real life, how we live, how things are coming up in the news, stuff like that.

The Bible is the one that's guiding our way on those discussions. We're not getting in a frenzy or in a panic or anything like that because of stuff that's happening in the world.

We're taking these things as we go through Scripture. Right. Not as we go through life. And then

Scripture, the way that it applies to our lives, then we find that application in the way that we live. Yeah.

So anyway, the YouTube videos pretty much come about the same sort of way. It's whatever I have a desire to want to make a video on right now.

But that gives you a little bit of an idea. Your creative flow. Yeah. Yeah. And again, the longer videos take much longer.

I still come back to the Sodom and Gomorrah one every once in a while, but it's taking me a while.

It's taking me a lot longer to do that. I've wanted to do a – Well, I mean, we've moved since then, too.

Yeah, right. I recorded it in Texas. Yep. So when I finally get that one done, the audio was recorded in Texas, and the video was finished in Arizona, God willing.

Yes. Now, what was I saying before that? I'm sorry. I interrupted.

You don't have to be sorry. It probably wasn't that important. So you were talking about the length of it and the –

Oh, yeah. I remember I was going to say now. I wanted to do a what? Movie. Oh, yeah? A when we understand the text movie.

Wow. But it would just be 45 minutes, and it would be like a sermon length.

Okay. And I would do the story of the whole Bible. Oh, wow. So the Bible in 45 minutes. Wow. What do

I need to know? Yeah. That's still – That's out there. That's an idea. I haven't gotten to it yet, but that's –

That's pretty cool. I even know the way that I want to start it, like the first frames all the way down through. All right.

Yep. Anyway, we'll talk about that another time. Yeah. That's another subject. That's another subject.

Two more emails here. These are more – Oh, did you answer his pie question? Oh, yeah. No, the pie question. Okay. Yeah. Going back to this.

So have I done a video covering pie? No, I haven't done that one yet. So this is in 1 Kings 7.

Hang on. I did have 1 Kings 7 up, but then I went to – Got distracted. Then I went to something else 7 up.

1 Kings 7 up. What? That's what I said. 1 Kings 7 up. I had 1 Kings 7 up.

Oh, yeah. You did. You did say that. So 7 up. 7 up. All right. All right.

Where was this? There's rabbit trailing everywhere today. So let's go into the text here.

This is the description of Solomon's temple. Solomon building the temple. Okay. And the portion that begins in 1

Kings 7, verse 23, is describing the big basin that sits on top of the 12 statues of cattle underneath.

Right. So it's in the description of the basin that it is said – the description of the basin that it is said there's a mathematical error.

And so, therefore, the Bible commits an error. Let me read that portion, and then I'm just going to draw from this other website.

I won't even give it to you in my words. I'm going to give it to you in somebody else's words. All right. So 1 Kings 7, verse 23, he made the sea of cast metal.

The sea being this basin of water. It was round, 10 cubits from brim to brim, and 5 cubits high, and a line 30 cubits measured its circumference.

Under its brim were gourds for 10 cubits, encompassing the sea all around.

The gourds were in two rows, east with it when it was cast. It stood on 12 oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, three facing east.

The sea was set on them, and all their rear parts were inward. Its thickness was a hand breadth, and its brim was made like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily.

It held 2 ,000 baths. If you have one of those Bibles, like the ESV Study Bible, for example, it will have pictures on the inside that show illustrations of the temple, and you'll see that big basin full of water on top of the 12 cattle.

You've probably seen a picture of that before. So given that it says that the basin was round 10 cubits from brim to brim, and its 30 cubits measured its circumference, that means we come up with a figure of pi that is 3, rather than 3 .14.

Okay. So does that mean that the Bible is in error? Now, 1 Kings 7 .23, this is from a website called

Evidence Unseen, and here's the claim. Solomon's worker Hiram made a sea of bronze for the temple.

1 Kings 7 .23 states Hiram made the sea of cast metal 10 cubits from brim to brim, circular in form, and its height was 5 cubits and 30 cubits in circumference.

This would make pi as a 3 to 1 ratio, when we know that pi is actually 3 .14.

Isn't this an example of a clear error in the Bible? Response. The text never says that Hiram's sea of bronze was a perfect circle.

Instead, it states that it was circular. Moreover, we do not consider approximations to be errors.

For instance, imagine if someone was giving directions and said, turn left on Main Street and the grocery store is a mile north of there.

Now, what if you found out that the grocery store was actually 1 .1 miles north of the intersection?

Would you call that person a liar? Of course not. Errors are only committed if we would expect more specificity.

Consider, for example, the figure stated above. Pi is not technically speaking 3 .14. In fact, more specifically, it is, as I said earlier, 3 .14159265359

repeating. Et cetera, et cetera. Not really repeating, yeah. It would be et cetera, et cetera.

Was this an error? Of course not. It is only an error if we are expecting more specificity.

So there's your response to the pi problem. P -I.

P -I. Not P -I -E. Sad. Although, yes, P -I -E is also a pi problem because there's not pi in the

Bible. I know. That's the problem. That's all right. I'm glad it's in my lifetime. Unless it's under a different name, in which case, hey, listeners, do you know of P -I -E in the

Bible? Let me know. Curious minds want to know. When we understand the text at gmail .com or go to wwutt .com

and click on the voicemail tab. Yeah. Send us a voicemail. We'd love to hear your voice.

Okay, two quick messages here at the close. Yes, let's do it. Both of these are more complimentary here. Stephen says,

Pastor Gabe and Becky, thank you for such a wonderful ministry. First and foremost, it is great to hear God's word exposited.

Not sure what happened, but I've looked through Spotify, Podbean, and the podcast I use mostly, but I have not seen

Thursday's episode 2204 come through in any format. I was wondering if you had something to do with the so -called update that messed everyone up, or it might be something else.

Would love to hear as soon as it comes available. Thank you for your commitment to the word of God in this ministry.

May God bless you and your family. Yes, so that was 2204, which was the episode

I was late on last week because I had been on the road. Oh, right. And we mentioned something about that in the

Q &A that I was behind on. It even posted after I did the Q &A. Oh, okay. But it is up there now.

Sorry for the delay. Yeah. And yesterday's podcast was late, too.

So the one that I did as an introduction to the book of Hosea, that one was a little late.

But thank you for being patient. You're getting caught up, too. Slowly but surely. I'm catching up here after being busy with a thousand other things.

We've also got the kids going back to school. Oh, my goodness. So much stuff. School starts so early in Arizona.

Why? It's already started. Yeah, in a lot of places, it's already started. And we're still in July. Like the middle of July, they start school here.

It's kind of crazy. Why are you making students go to school in 115 -degree weather? So that way they don't stay at home and get bored,

I guess. Most of our kids are homeschooled, by the way. But still, we've got to keep up with everybody else's schedule, everything that is going on.

And get all the school supplies and curriculum all sorted out. We're still in a co -op, and they start in August, right?

Yeah, at the beginning of August, yeah. So this next comment, this comes from Sandy in Washington State.

She says, I could not figure out how to post this on Spotify, so here it is. This is her podcast review.

Okay. She says, For anyone seeking a thoughtful and engaging Bible study podcast, look no further than when we understand the text.

Hosted by Pastor Gabriel Hughes, WWUTT dives deep into Scripture, offering clear explanations and insightful commentary.

What truly sets WHAT apart is its focus on discernment. Pastor Hughes doesn't shy away from complex topics, equipping listeners to analyze the

Bible for themselves. I just had a young man contact me the other day, as a matter of fact, and he was pushing back on my understanding of baptism.

Okay. Because I mentioned baptism a moment ago. Uh -huh. And everything that I responded to him with, everything.

I went ahead and entertained his question, and we had about an hour -long conversation on DMs, on social media.

Wow, okay. And everything that I responded to him with was from Scripture. Yet at the very end of the conversation, he made a criticism of me relying upon the tradition.

No, relying on the traditions of man. Oh, what, really? And I'm like, dude, I had this whole conversation with you.

Oh, wow. Showing you Scripture. And even at the end, I said, look, here's another thing, a commentary that I wrote,

I'm going to point you toward, to challenge. It was a way that he was interpreting Born of Water and the

Spirit in John 3. Okay. And so I was trying to challenge his understanding of that and say, here, read this commentary, it'll help you more.

So I was even giving him tools and resources. Yeah. And I'm asking him questions so that he can think through this.

I'm not just spoon -feeding him. No, babe, that's the wrong thing. Anyway.

But yeah, that was kind of a funny criticism. So going on, Sandy says, he encourages critical thinking and a return to the text, providing the tools needed to separate truth from popular misconceptions.

But what isn't just about theory? Pastor Hughes excels at biblical application.

He bridges the gap between Scripture and daily life, making the lessons learned relevant and actionable. By the end of each episode, you'll walk away with a deeper understanding of the

Bible and how to apply its wisdom to your own circumstances. Whether you're a seasoned believer or just starting your faith journey, what is a valuable resource?

With its emphasis on clear teaching, discernment, and practical application, this podcast will surely enrich your understanding of the

Bible and its impact on your life. Bless your family. Thank you for your commitment to advancing God's glorious kingdom.

Sandy. But Sandy says in the subject, I couldn't figure out how to post this on Spotify, so here it is.

I love it. That is so sweet. We so appreciate it, Sandy. But I can't do that for you, unfortunately.

Thank you. But yeah, we thank you for the very kind words. And if you are so inclined, please leave us a review on whatever podcast app you use.

Yes, please. It helps people to find us. And especially if you include in your review something like Bible study, then that will help come up in someone's search when they're looking for good

Bible study material on the podcast. Thank you for your patience with me once again.

I'm sorry for the delay in some of these episodes. We're a little bit late with this Friday one even. Well, but it's still

Friday. It's still Friday. It's still Friday. Some places. Friday evening for most people. In some places, yes.

But I think I'm now caught up and we'll get back to our regularly scheduled programming.

Lord willing. Lord willing next week. Amen. I'm still in Mark on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday.

And like I said, just started Hosea on Thursday. We'll be back with another Q &A.

Same bat time, same bat channel. All right, let's finish with prayer. Heavenly Father, we thank you so much for this time together and opening your word and being reminded of your truth.

And I pray that your truth gives some stillness to our mind, to our conscience, to our spirits, especially with how crazy and chaotic the world can be.

And social media will challenge us to try to stay on top of everything and have an opinion about everything.

And it can be absolutely exhausting and emotionally overwhelming if we let these things consume us, which can so very easily happen.

Let us be consumed with Christ. Help us to come back to your word and see how through history you have accomplished those things that you have promised you will do.

And the same promises that you fulfilled for your people in the past, you are fulfilling for the future as well.

We have nothing to fear, no anxiety to overtake us when we know that God is still on his throne.

So give us wisdom as we read in Proverbs that we may know how to discern the days and at the same time know how to live in them and not be overwhelmed by what we see happening.

For the promise we have in Scripture is that God will deliver the righteous and he will bring judgment upon the wicked.

May this also drive our hearts to want to share the gospel with others. For we know that it is only through the belief in the gospel of Jesus Christ that a person can be saved from that judgment that is coming and have eternal life with God forever in glory.

Come quickly, Lord Jesus. We pray in your precious name. Amen. Amen. Especially when

I was in Kansas, I made it a point to know where the Presbyterian churches were especially. Yeah.

That were the most aligned with us in our soteriology, in our theological views and things like that.

So that I could, a person who comes who wants the Reformed teaching but they are pedobaptist in their conviction,

I could tell them this church might be where you want to go instead of with us. I wish that you would be

Baptist. But that's all right. If you feel like that you are more aligned with this church in your convictions, then that's where I would recommend that you go.

And maybe they do know that. So they can give you that kind of recommendation as well. Nothing else?

No. That was pretty much it. Okay. Say a yeah or something in there.

So I got a break in this. Yeah. So this, do that again.

That's funny. All right. Do it again.

Yeah. It works naturally.

But when I just artificially try to get you to, my head can't come back into it.

Somehow I have to now transition. No, I've got you. I'll say a line or so.