REVERENT AND REBELLIOUS

"When the Church Lost the Plot — Episode 4: The Prosperity Gospel. The Prosperity Gospel has an answer for everything Jesus said about money. It just ignores all of it. We trace the theology, follow the money, name the human cost — and recover the genuine abundance Jesus actually promised. Spoiler: it's better than a private jet."

When the Church Lost the Plot — Episode 3: The Inquisition. They called burning people alive an act of faith. They tortured people for doubting and called it protecting the truth. And somehow they never noticed that Jesus was tried by the same system — that He was the one on the receiving end of the midnight arrest, the coerced confession, the predetermined verdict. The Inquisition lasted 650 year...

Episode 2 of When the Church Lost the Plot is here — and this one hits! How did Bible-believing Christians use Scripture to defend slavery? What did they get so wrong? After all, isn't slavery everywhere in the Bible? Today, we dig into a lot more than history. We dig into the Curse of Ham, the household codes, Paul's letter to Philemon, and the hermeneutic of convenience that made it all...

When the Church Lost the Plot — Episode 1: The Crusades. Good intentions. Bad theology. Unchecked power. Three ingredients that turned a call to protect Christian pilgrims into two centuries of holy violence. We trace the honest history, name the theological errors, follow the human cost, and ask the question every generation of Christians needs to ask: Does this look like Jesus?

Jesus said that anyone who divorces and remarries commits adultery. Full stop. But what was He actually doing when He said it — and who was He protecting? In this series finale of The Hard Sayings of Jesus, we dig into every Gospel account of Jesus on divorce, unpack the explosive rabbinic debate He was walking into, and make the case that the words the church has used to shame divorced people wer...

In Luke 9, Jesus and His disciples encounter some would-be followers. It makes sense because at this time, Jesus is becoming quite popular! The first one comes and says I will follow You. Jesus says to him foxes have holes, birds have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head. In other words, you have no idea what you're getting yourself into. This is not glamorous work! But the ne...

Jesus and His disciples have just been through an extremely stressful time. They had a dust-up with the Pharisees that was not pretty. Jesus decides they need a little getaway. A chance to breathe. He takes them to the region of Tyre and Sidon. There will be no Jews there. It's a pagan place. It's foreign territory. He books this house for them to stay in, and doesn't tell anyone where...

There are two times in the Gospels that Jesus talks about swords. One time, He says, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword! He follows that with, I have come to turn a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law. A man's enemies will be the members of his own household! That sounds aggressive! Another time, He says, if you don&#39...

One day, Jesus encountered a rich young ruler. He had it all going on. He was wealthy, respected, upright in character and integrity, and of high status. He had to be every young woman's dream! There was one thing lacking in his life, though. He wanted eternal life! Everything I have right now, forever! At first, Jesus said to keep the commandments. I have, he said. So, Jesus told him to sell...

This episode begins a new series called Hard Sayings of Jesus. We often see Jesus as the softer side of God, the One who always had love and blessing on His lips. But Jesus said some harsh words! He also taught some things that will make your head spin! Today, we are looking at a portion of the Sermon on the Mount, where Jesus says, "If your right hand causes you to sin, gouge it out! Throw i...

We spent the last six weeks talking about all of the ancient heresies and their impact on early Christianity. We looked at the councils that were convened and the creeds that were created to combat these dangerous doctrines. It turns out, bad theology dies hard! The ancient heresies don't die; they just put on different clothes. Today, we are talking about the ways and the places these misguid...

This one gets in the weeds! But stick with it. As we dive into these final ancient heresies, you'll discover why Christians have been arguing about this stuff literally for centuries! Today's heresies have to do with the two distinct natures of Christ. He is fully human, yet fully divine. How do those 2 natures fit together in one person? How do they interact with the physical world and th...

We are just about to wrap up our series on the heresies that threatened to compromise the witness of the early church. Today, we tackle two heresies in one episode. The first is Montanism. In the mid-100s, a guy named Montanus claimed that the Age of the Spirit had arrived, and new revelation was coming through him and his two female prophetesses, Priscilla and Maximilla. This new revelation was t...

Have you ever heard phrases like this? You have everything you need already inside you. God helps those who help themselves. Your breakthrough is just one decision away. If you have, you have just heard America's favorite heresy. It's called Pelagianism, and it's everywhere! In the early 5th century, two men went to war over this question. Can humans save themselves, or do we need God&...

We talked about Arianism, which said Jesus was purely a created being. We talked about Gnosticism, which said that everything material is corrupt, and Jesus was a divine created being sent to bring us special knowledge. Last time we talked about Marcionism, which said there were two Gods: the Old Testament God, who was evil, and the New Testament God, who was kind and merciful. Jesus was a created...

Today, we meet Marcion! He was an insanely rich ship owner who waltzed into Rome one day with a boatload of money and a new take on Christianity. He had long been troubled by the messiness in the Scriptures. He was bothered by things like the blood of Jesus and the gruesomeness of the cross. What most bothered him was the extreme violence and barbaric atmosphere of the Old Testament! Surely the Go...

Let's take a trip back in time. Let's go back to the 2nd and 3rd centuries AD, when early Christians were trying to figure out and codify what Christianity really was! The apostles defined it pretty clearly. It was all about Jesus! He was the Son of God - God incarnate - God come in human flesh! He lived - died - rose again bodily from the dead, and rules the world through the presence and...

Maybe you've heard of it. Maybe you have it memorized. Maybe you have no idea what the Nicene Creed is, or any other creed for that matter! Creeds are statements of faith, but they are so much more! A creed is a line in the sand, a standard of beliefs that are agreed upon, abided by, and ferociously guarded. The Nicene Creed is perhaps the most famous. It arose from a Council called by none ot...

When we read the Gospel of Matthew, we immediately get bogged down in all of the begets and begottens, so we skip over that part and get to the good stuff! Likewise, when we read the Gospel of Luke, we love to read about Zechariah, Mary, Joseph, and all the magnificence that comes with the Christmas narrative. Then we run into this boring list of who's who and what's what, so we skip over...

You say you want a revolution, well you know. We all want to change the world! That's the tone of Zecharia's prophetic song! After 9 months of being unable to speak, he names his child John, his mouth is opened, his tongue is loosed, and this incredible song erupts from the depths of his soul! It is a song of revolution, of overthrow, of a coming Messiah who will free them from the oppress...

This is a well-worn passage in the Christmas story found in the Gospel of Luke. Mary is visited by an angel who tells her some amazing and disturbing news. She is going to conceive a child by God and from God who will be the Savior of the world! She is unsettled at first, but her tone changes when she realizes what she's been chosen to do! She breaks out in song! We often see this as a sweet l...

Here we go again! This is another conversation that arose out of an intersection between faith and culture. We've talked about the antichrist before. We had a whole episode on it in our Revelation series. But just a few weeks ago, multi-billionaire Peter Thiel gave a series of lectures in an exclusive setting in San Francisco. He fancies himself to be a sort of modern-day futurist. I guess if...

This world has gone crazy! It's understandable. We are constantly bombarded with information, events, trends, and disruption. Things move so fast and furiously that we get overwhelmed by conflict and chaos. In the midst of all this, the temptation is to retreat - to go back in time to when life was simpler, slower, easier to navigate. We are seeing trends among younger people. trad-wives, home...

You may have heard of this phenomenon by the terms euthanasia, assisted suicide, or physician-assisted suicide. Perhaps you're familiar with the original Dr. Death - Jack Kevorkian. What you may not know is that this is now an established and growing practice in many countries, including ten states in the U.S.! Traditionally, the guidelines and policies surrounding what is now called medical a...

One of the most talked-about and controversial episodes in the Bible is found in Ezekiel 1. In this passage, the prophet Ezekiel describes an otherworldly vision he receives unexpectedly. It is wild! He sees fire, lightning, and clouds of smoke. He hears thunder and a cacophony of noise! Winged creatures appear, each with four faces and eyes all over them! Then a wild-looking throne, with wheels i...