Fake News In Church Pt 2

0:02 Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone. It is Monday, August the nineteenth, twenty twenty four. It is currently nine forty five am Central Time, and I am coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located right here in Abilene, Texas. And once again I find myself asking why why did I even do this? Why? I always find myself in these situations where I question what I started, and I know, I know that that's kind of repetitive, and you're like, you say that all the time. I know, but don't you find it somewhat humorous? Sometimes?

0:51 The way these sermon reviews go right In my mind, the sermon review is always going to be, Oh, it's going to be awesome. They're going to mention this, and we're going to be able to look at the TI and I'm gonna like this, and then I'm gonna be able to make this point and oh, it's going to be this really positive thing. And time and time and time and time again, I end up asking myself, you know, midway through the sermon review, why why am I doing a sermon review? Why do I do these sermon reviews, because it always ends up more frustrating than sometimes it does being beneficial, at least from my perspective. Now, I guess, I guess in one sense. I don't know if the audience perceives it this way, but I hope the audience at least sees this. No matter how frustrating the sermon review is, at least you are being given the opportunity to hear two perspectives. In one episode. You're hearing the perspective of the sermon I'm reviewing, and you're hearing my perspective.

1:52 So you're getting two perspectives, maybe two different approaches to the text, two different interpretations, two different you know, systems of the So I do hope you find that to be beneficial. You may find it entertaining, because I always start off so positive. Oh, this should be interesting, this should be good. Oh Okay, I don't know where this is going to go, because I mean, I mean, it is fun at least a little bit for me, because I don't even know where it's going, right, Because you know, when I review a sermon, it's you know, I'm reviewing it in real time. I don't listen to it in advance, so I guess it is fun. Nobody really knows where it's going, but you probably start laughing because you realize, oh, we're fifteen ten minutes in, fifteen minutes in, and already it's taking a turn. So I don't know, maybe you find it fun. I try to be positive sometimes, but sometimes I just throw out my hands. I'm like, what in the world, and this one that we're currently reviewing, I am, I guess this one frustrates me so much because I don't really understand exactly what the point is, all right, So so this, this is what happened yesterday at Victory Baptist Church. We had no water. Right We don't know if there's some water issue going on in the Ovello, Texas area, but we were we had no water, so we had we had to we there were a few people there for Sunday school, so we went ahead and had Sunday school. But then we had to call everyone else, contact everyone else, sent out a notification, Hey,

3:23 don't come to church because there's no water. So then we canceled what would have been the worship hour. We had the Sunday school hour, and we canceled the worship power. So that means I only had one hour of teaching to upload, all right. So when I came home, I was like, well, I'm gonna have to do something. I need to turn on the microphone and do something. And so I was just debating with myself what to do, and then all of a sudden, I get a notification on one of my podcast apps and the notification said fake news from the church. Fake news from the church. Now, at first I thought, oh, this is like some news podcasts and they've done some investigative report about how churches spread fake news. I'm like, okay, I'm always yelling and screaming about that. Okay, let me look. And I'm like, wait a minute. This is not from like a news podcast.

4:11 This is from a church. I'm like, oh, this is interesting. The name of the church is FBC Independence, FBC Independence or it's known as the FBC Independence Podcast. It comes from FBC. I'm assuming first Baptist church in Independence, Missouri. I'm like, okay, this looks interesting. Fake news in the church, So what are they going to do? So my initial thought, well, maybe this is a sermon where the pastor has had it, he's tired of Christians. And tired of ministries and tired of churches spreading quote unquote fake news from the pulpit, that they're spreading fraudilent information, misinformation, disinformation, half truth, misrepresenting things, and he tired of it and he's going to let everyone out. I'm like, Okay, that's that could be interesting, and that would be something I would definitely agree with, because I get tired of all the misinformation and fraudulent information that churches put forth. Okay, all right, so maybe I'm going to be in totally a total agreement. Then I thought, well, maybe what he's going to do. Maybe he's going to say fake news from the church, and he's going to look at how churches teach fake things or fraudulent things while claiming them to be true. I'm like, okay.

5:32 Or maybe there was also a little concern because, as I stated in part one of this review, I loathe the term fake news. I hate it right because what fake news has become is if you don't like the information, or if you disagree with the information, or if the information goes against your political ideology, or if you just whatever the case is, you don't like it, you just label it fake news. It's become weaponized, and basically now it allows anyone. Right. He's like, someone will make some comment, maybe about Donald Trump, and you say, well, actually it was reported that's not true, and that's not true. Fake news, fake news, No, what Donald Trump said was fake No, no, no, if you have a report that says what he said was wrong, that's fake news. So now it's weaponized, so nobody can challenge your ideology, nobody can change challenge your perspective because what you believe to be true is true.

6:26 Any information that contradicts what you think is true is now fake news. That's why I hate the term so much. We cannot function as a society where you can just think whatever you want to think, and any information that contradicts it you just immediately label it fake news. I can't stand that. So then I thought, well, maybe, you know, I'm worried, maybe he's going to he's going to do the whole thing that a lot of Christians say, well, you know what they say out there in the media, it's all fake news. And in a roundabout way, he didn't disappoint He kind of went right there. So that was so I was kind of like, so, what is this sermon because he talked about fake news yellow journalism, and I'm like, he kind of made those synonymous when they're really not quite synonymous. Okay, so what's your real point. Well, he kind of did this whole introduction about fake news.

7:17 Then he went to Romans chapter three. He went to Romans chapter three, verse nine, and he read, what then are we better than they? Not at all, For we have previously charged both Jews and Greeks that they are all under sin? And then he starts reading verse ten and following, there is none righteous, no not one. There is none who understands, there is none who seeks God after God. They have all turned aside. They've all together become unprofitable. There is none who does good, no not one. Then he jumped down to verse twenty eight. Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith apart from the deeds of the law. That's all Romans chapter three. If I didn't give you the name of the book.

8:01 When he kind of pivoted to Romans three, first, I got very interested because we're kind of we're doing a series in our study of the Book of Romans on the word. Therefore, well, he read a there four passage in Romans. He was in Romans three, but then I was confused, Well, wait a minute, what does Romans three nine to twenty eight have to do with fake news? He just spent all of this time talking about fake news. Well, then he said, okay, there's a problem in the Church of Rome, and this problem was they were very basically, you know, God loves the Jews. God loves the Jews and he doesn't love the Gentiles. So there was a problem in the church. And then Paul began to try to fix the problem. Well, then he tried to kind of say that the problem was like fake news. I guess the fake news was God only loves the Jews, and he said that it came from the culture. But I'm like, well, no, this was a theological understanding, and so I didn't know how he was attaching it to fake news. It was kind of weird, right, So he never really addressed it. He never really addressed how the problem was resolved. Then he kind of moved to somewhere else.

9:14 Then he started talking about his mom, who didn't like new music, only like traditional music. And the whole thing was kind of like, so, what is the sermon about? Is this sermon about fake news? Or is this sermon about Romans three nine to twenty eight. If it's about nine to twenty eight, then let's figure out what the problem was, how Paul addressed the problem and what we can learn from it. But he didn't seem too interested in actually dealing with Romans Chapter three, even though that's the text. So then I'm like, okay, so what is the fake news? I don't really understand exactly what the sermon is even actually about that. So he said many things that I agreed with, he said some things I wasn't so sure about, But the main frustration we found ourselves was I don't really know what the sermon is about, which then led me to as I began this episode, saying, why why did I end up here? I really thought it was going to be I don't know. I guess I had all kinds of ideas. But that's why we listen to sermons, right, We never know what we're going to get, but we have to do something positive with it.

10:19 So we will deal with Romans three. We may not deal with it here in this episode. If he doesn't deal with it, then we'll just we'll just you know, make comment on whatever he talks about. But in our Romans series, we're going to be doing all these messages on We're going to go through every therefore through the entire book of Romans. And then we looked yesterday at four Greek words that are translated therefore that there are slight differences to each one. Well, we'll get to the Romans three twenty eight therefore, which will make us go back and look at Romans three nine and following, so we will look at that just may not be in this particular message. But I don't know. I don't I think he's getting ready to give us some list of what he calls fake news in the church. I don't know if this has anything to do with Romans three, if it has anything to do with his mom not liking new music. I don't really know what this has to do with. But we're about to find out. I backed this up a little bit. He's just finishing the story about his mom not liking new music. All I can really do is just kind of walk us up to the edge of the pool and say let's jump in, and then we'll just we'll go from there. If you miss part one, go back and listen to it. Let's let's hope Part two. I don't know what we're gonna we're gonna do. I'm gonna do my very best to try to find something positive to come from this. But here we go.

11:45 Remember the test is always biblical teaching. When you say something, have a conviction, it's okay to hold it. But before you say I test it, does the Bible say X done? Now we talked about this in part one. Let me talk about it again in part two. I know the Church loves to say that the test is what does the Bible say? Whatever you think, whatever you believe, whatever conviction you have, the test is what does the Bible say? That sounds so good, it sounds so righteous, it sounds so perfect. But let me remind you over and over again the reality. Look the way we sell Christianity as everyone holds up a Bible and go, this is the authority, and what we say and what we believe and what we do is based on the inerrant and fallible word of God, and everybody says amen, and everybody acts like, well, see it's all it's how perfect for us. But here's the reality. When you strip away all of the religiosity and the bravado and the fake spirituality. Here's the reality.

12:56 As much as we want to say the Bible is the authority, what becomes the authority is your interpretation of the Bible. People who believe Christians should not own a television, who should not go to a movie theater, who should not play cards, who should not listen to any music that has, you know, a drum. Whatever. The women should not cut their hair, women should not wear makeup, whatever the case. No matter what the view is, everyone who holds those convictions and say they will say they gave it the Bible test and that the Bible agrees with them. The Pentecostal believes the Bible agrees with them, The Church of Christ believes the Bible agrees with them. The Lutheran believes the Bible agrees with them. You go just the Presbyterian, the Baptist, name the different kind of Baptists, the Methodists.

13:48 You just go from denomination to the Charismatics. It doesn't matter the assemblies of God. You just go from denomination, church to church. Everyone will say, oh, I gave it the Biblical test and the Bible agrees with me. It sounds so good. To say, hey, whatever your conviction is, you have to give it the biblical test. Does the Bible support it? That sounds great. The reality is, though everyone thinks the Bible agrees with them, everyone thinks the Bible agrees with them. Everyone anyone who emails me to argue with me, or to tell me I'm wrong, or to tell me I'm stupid, or they believe the Bible is on their side. Well, obviously I would believe the Bible is on my side. So it's great to say that.

14:34 But the reality is, this is the way it really really works when you really just want to be honest. We are the authority, we are the test. Now we think, we like to believe that the Bible is, but it really isn't. And you say, well, so what is the solution. I think the solution is that we have to acknowledge we already have this problem, and then we have to see if we can strip away our presuppositions, our previous understanding of the text. And every time we come to the Bible we study it anew, and we actually study the text carefully using Bible study methods, which we've talked about trying to handle things hermeneutically in a way where we truly understand how the text is put together, and that we're really willing to admit when the Bible seems to go against or does not support what we think.

15:28 We have to be very brutally honest with ourselves, and we've got to constantly see how we are, you know, how we're kind of you know. Sometimes I'll use this as an illustration. Maybe it's not the best illustration, but there's always the discussion about Wuiji boards, right, and everyone that no, no, you're moving it. You're you're moving it because you've got your hand on it. No, no, I'm not moving it. No you're moving it. Well, I think it's the same thing with the Bible. Everyone puts their hands on it, like, no, you're moving it. No I'm not moving it. Well you're moving it up, I'm moving it down. No, no, no, stop, get your hands off of it. It's God's word. But no matter how much we want to admit it or not, we move it. We make it say what we wanted to say. People disagree with me because they believe the Bible disagrees with me.

16:14 I may disagree with them because I believe the Bible disagrees with them. Obviously, not everyone can be right, but it sounds good to say it must pass the biblical test. Well, the test it must pass ultimately is what you think, because that's ultimately who the authority is. Doesn't then you got to be careful. Sometimes fake news tends to divide us because there are these kinds of people and those kinds of people, like in the passage in Roman Jews and non Jews. Now, the problem with the gentiles in church wasn't that they didn't claim Jesus. They claimed the very same Jesus.

16:54 They got baptized, they got saved, they made all those commitments, they were tigers and all those things in it church. It's just they had a different background. And because they had a different background, well they ate different foods, they liked different music, they dressed differently. They were just different. And it was just so much easier to say, well, my people are God's people. See what I don't like about the way he's presenting the wrong Now see now he's back to the Romans problem. Okay, I don't like the way he presents the problem. He seems to look at it. Oh wait, these gentiles come in we don't like this, we don't like that. Oh, it's just easier for us to say, well, we're God's chosen.

17:42 This way of thinking did not happen because the Gentiles came into the church. This way of thinking predated the gentiles arrival in the church. They already thought this way. They already thought, we are God's chosen people. God is going to send the Messiah. He's going to destroy all of our enemies, and he's going to establish the key them on earth, and we're gonna rull and reign with him. They already understood themselves to be we are children of Abraham, we are God's chosen. They already understood that. They didn't need the Gentiles to show up to go, oh, well, it's just easier to say this. No, they already thought that. That's why as soon as the gentiles come in, they're like, what do we do with the gentiles? And there was immediate conflict because the identity of the early church was Jewish and they did not like the Gentiles. They thought the Gentiles in a sense, were defiled, were corrupted, not to eat with them, not to have anything to do with them. This way of thinking predated the Gentiles arrival.

18:38 It's not that they came up with this idea because the Gentiles were there. They already held the idea. They only presented and spoke the idea when the Gentiles arrived. They were already speaking the idea before the Gentiles arrival. So I don't like the way he's kind of reshaping what actually occurred. Again, I don't know if this is about Romans three or he keeps saying it's about fake I don't really know what the sermon actually is about yet, but hopefully we'll find out. And that's what they said in regardless of what the preacher said. People were hanging on to that because old habits die hard, you know. And so Paul had to write listen, and then he wrote the passages we read We're all sinners, none righteous, no, not to one.

19:24 So on screen are some. Ideas of fake news and how it can take shape. Don't want to spend too much time here using false teachings or giving false teachings for instance. You know, churches are good about this, and I hope this doesn't offend you, but it has been on placards. God hates fags, and you know what I mean. You know what I'm talking about, right, And there was a time that it never was acceptable, but it was common to hear that kind of thing. And I was taught things like that growing up, and taught things like that and even in college that there were certain groups God probably hated them.

20:04 Okay, now, wow he went there. Okay, again, I don't really understand exactly the structure of a sermon, but let's just set all of that aside. That there was that in the church. There has been times where these placards would show up that God hates and then a very derogatory term, a very derogatory term that is, that was used to refer to homosexuals. Now, yes, I have witnessed that kind of nonsense in the church. I have fought against it almost since day one. I remember my church in Papilion, Nebraska, there was a past a guest speaker who came to the church and talked about punching homosexual in the face. And I literally could not believe what I was hearing. I was so angry. There was literally almost promoting like you know, hatred and vi against someone because of their sexual preference. And I'm like, for crying out loud, this is ridiculous. Yeah, so I have seen and heard this kind of thing inside the church. It is horrific. It is horrible, it is ungodly. It's not showing love to our enemy, which we are literally called to do. There's nothing righteous about it. It is ridiculous.

21:24 And this mindset what drives me crazy, has sometimes it's used by people who don't even who don't even really go to church. I remember being in Airman Leadership School at off At Air Force Base, and the military loved and some of our you know, training courses and some of our educational things that we had to do. They would sometimes bring us all in and then that would put these different signs on the wall. One would be agree strongly agree, disagree strongly disagree, and then they would throw out controversial subjects and you would have to get up and go to the side of the room and then everyone would argue. Now, what they wanted to demonstrate is that everyone in the military comes from radically different backgrounds, with radically different beliefs, but yet you have to come together for the for the mission and to be able to you know, to work together. But what would drive me crazy is one of the things they brought up one time, uh in Aerman leadership school was the thing of homosexuality. And then you had all these people start yelling and screaming about homosexuality, that it's wrong and it doesn't belong in the military and all this stuff. And then they would start they would start make trying to make our well, God hates it and the Bible condemns it.

22:32 And then I would look at these guys, I'm like, where were you last night? You were at the strip club? You you were, you were sharing your pornography. But yet you're gonna use the Bible to condemn homosexuality. What what? What ridiculous? That's ridiculous. Okay, if you're gonna come on, we're we're all sinners now, by by no means am I saying we justify sin. What I'm saying is when the church does put forth this idea of hate someone because of a sexual preference, that look, you can say that the sexual preference is wrong, you can say the action is sinful, you can say that it's ungodly. But just remember, while you're pointing at their sexual sin, you better look at your own sexual sin. Come on, you better look at your own Better look at your own lust, your own desires, all the things you have done, all the things you want to do, all the things you may be looking at now. Again, I don't know what this has to do with fake news, but I guess what he's trying to demonstrate is the church has promoted this idea that God hates this particular group, and then that is fake news. So this would be fake news being originated inside the church. He's using the term fake news.

23:48 I would just say, this is just utterly, horribly, just sinful. And what it demonstrates sometimes is our hatred for sin and oh getting I'm getting ready to take off some people. But I definitely have known Christian men who yell and scream about how horrible homosexuality is, so horrible homosexuality is, And then you find out that those same men yelling and screaming about it, maybe at an unguarded time or maybe when they come for help, they will admit that they have a porn problem. And then when you find out what they're some of the porn that they're looking at, you're like, well, that's that's two women. I thought you loathed and hated homosexuality. See, so sometimes our hatred, it's just because we dis we two men that may disgust us, that may be vile to us, but it may be a fleshly hatred. It may be a fleshly discussed and has nothing to do with godliness. Yeah, so I mean that something that has to be discuss So all right, so let's see where he's going to take this. This is kind of a I'm trying to figure out why he so tried to shape this under the guise of fake news. But okay, let's see where he goes with this.

25:12 I am I am, I'm very much in agreement with him bringing this up because I think the church should be ashamed of its history of running around usually you know, yelling at some homosexual gathering or march or parade or whatever, and out there yelling and screaming just vile things, and somehow thinking that you're preaching the gospel when all you're doing is screaming and yelling at people, and you're not, in any way, shape or form even having a meaningful conversation. So you're presenting the gospel. I think those things issues do need to be addressed. Nothing could be further from the truth. Of course, Number one, you should never use the word fag and references to homosexuals because it's denigrating and insulting and it's intended to hurt them and separate them. And see, this is one of the key hallmarks of fake news.

25:58 It separates people. Whenever you do something, say something, believe something, it separates people into groups good and bad. Well, that's a q fake news because the Bible doesn't do that. There are none righteous, no, not one. We're all sinners, bound for Hell. We're all desperate, see, and so the Bible is the test there. But the Church has done that and sometimes that's extreme. But sometimes you'll hear people talk about homosexuals are different people in a group, and they talk about what pagans they are, what sinners, and you've got to be careful. I understand biblical conviction, but how we think of people personally isn't always something that the Bible is talking about. The Bible wants us to love and be gracious towards people, and that's so hard we focus I use that homosexual issue. In the scriptures.

26:55 There are at least four or five different passages where Paul or others give a law list of sin. And you've seen those lists and interesting reading. Read them all and see which ones really gets you messed up, because there's always a homosexual issue because we don't know what to do with that, don't know. Can't I be nice to them? Or should it be nice to them? Should I shun them? Blah blah blah, And people do that and you know that. But then there's those other sins arrogance, prideful gluttons, Oh my gosh, there's that fat sugar thing, and envy and gossip and all sorts of unrighteousness, people who fight too much. Who decorate each other.

27:36 See, all those things are there, and there's this pesky truth in scripture, and there's the test scripture. Sin is sin, It all separates you from God. So if that be the case, then if somehow you're interpreting a passage that allows you to be disgusted and hate and dismiss other people, well your rationale doesn't pass the test. Test. Again, is is it consistent with Biblical teaching? That has to be it. Not how you feel, not what some preachers said, but what does a Bible teach? And that's a tough one. Any rule or believe the serge to give you the ability to separate yourself from others has to be rejected because, well, like Paul said, none righteous, not even one.

28:24 And he's talking to us, isn't he. He's making some very very strong points here, like I may not understand the structure of a sermon, but this is some very this is a powerful point, because he's absolutely right. In the Bible, there's a lot of times there's these lists, this and this and this and this is unrighteous, and it gives you this list and many of those lists if they include homosexuality, they include it right with all these other things. And everyone will act one way towards homosexuality that don't even come close to acting that way about all those others. They're not gonna be yelling and screaming at the glutton. That's someone who is slothful. They're not gonna be yelling and screaming if someone is prideful or arrogant. We treat some sins radically different than we do other sins. And I've always been bothered by someone commits that sin. It's the end, they're finished, they're done. But then they won't they won't handle this sin or this sin or this sin the same way I've talked about this so many times. I learned this even in Bible College. I'll never forget. We were looking at some of the passages and talking about well, divorce and remarriage, right, Well, the Bible in some cases seem to make it very clear that if you get divorced and get remarried, you become an adulterer, an adulteress, all right.

29:40 Some trying to argue, well, no, well, if you get divorced for this reason, then you can get remarried. Others say, well, no, you may be able to get divorced for that reason, but you cannot get remarried because if you get remarried, because what God has joined together, no man can put us under. So you're still in a sense connected in God's eyes to that other person we'll say, if they commit this sin. And so there's always this back and forth about whether you can or can. Nobody can ever agree, right, But there is a strong possibility, in fact, a strong probability that in almost every single church there are people who were married, they got divorced, and they got remarried, and biblically speaking, that remarriage means they are living in adultery, they're living in adultery. And guess what, do they get treated as adulterers? No? Do they get barred from the Lord's Supper? No, you have adulterers sitting in the church, many cases, may be teaching Sunday school, maybe a deacon who knows who, depending on the type of church, who knows that they could be serving in all kinds of positions. Nobody sees them.

30:45 They don't have to abstain from it, and they're just perfectly okay, and you know, but there there. But then if someone else in the church commits this sin or this sin, oh, we have to have church discipline. We have to, and we make it a big deal and it's public scandal. But you've got ten people in your church who are living literally living in adultery. Well, you know, divorce and remarriage. That's kind of complicated, and we make all kinds of excuses. Now that's just one example, and I'll never remember. I never forget that. In Bible College, our Bible Institute, the pastors like you just basically rip those verses out of your Bible because you're never gonna be able to apply them in any meaningful way. You're gonna lose half your church because you're gonna have people in your church who are married, who were married, who got divorced and remarried, and in many cases, biblically speaking, they're probably living in adultery. And you're like, so we just what, we just grate on a curve. We just look the other way. And there's plenty of sins where the church does that. This sin, death, the grab the rocks, we're having a stoning at midnight, grab the nails, We're having a crucifixion. We're gonna have public scandal, we're gonna destroy, we're gonna embarrass, We're and others were like, okay, it's you know, a little pride, a little gossip, a little slander, a little this, a little and it's like, why do we have such a weird scale? Because we get involved.

32:12 And sometimes the sins you hate, you either hate them because you know deep down you have a problem with it and you struggle with it. Sometimes people's hatred for a sin is simply projection. They're projecting it's their hatred for themselves. They know deep down that's what they desire it they struggle with it. So sometimes people's extreme hate is simply a cover. Sometimes their extreme hate is simply because their flesh despises it and they don't like it. It's more a lot so much of our dealing with sin is so fleshly. We so many a lot of times we're not very spiritual and how we approach it. But he's very right that the Bible in many cases puts all of these sins together, and we pull out certain ones and we treat those differently than the rest. Yeah, I know that doesn't make anyone happy, but I think it has to be. Look, I admire him even though I don't understand the structure of this sermon, and I still don't even know what Romans three really had to do with any of this, and I don't even really know what the text is. I do admire the fact he's willing to go in and deal with these very controversial issues because they need to be dealt with. So I do admire that. All right, let's see what else he has for us.

33:32 Another thing, when you promote or tolerate distortions of biblical truth. This is when you hear something that is wrong, it just never occurs you to correct it or. Stand against it. Well, that's just him or you just you don't care enough to get or it doesn't involve you. And that's easy to do. In our culture, we hear a lot of things that are so negative and so critical and so unbiblical, and it really may not affect our circle. So we just don't worry about it. We don't think about it, we don't say anything about it. And maybe we should. And again, you don't need to go looking for a fight, really, but when it comes up, if it does come up, you know, sometimes be willing to say the uncomfortable thing.

34:15 Well, maybe maybe we're wrong. I just finished a book on the year nineteen twenty seven, and that was a big year in our nation's history. Some of you know that. A lot of big things happened, you know, Babe Ruth did his big thing, and several other things. And one of the things that was so common is the rise of the kkk Ku klux Klan. Now you know this, You know what they are, and you know what they stood for. Absolute racism. Were the Hoods, and for some reason in the early twenties they became wildly popular all the way across America, not just in the Deep South, but in big cities even in the North. They were just kind of the cool kids, which is bizarre because we understand what they are now, But there was a for about seven or eight years where they were just wildly popular. The craziest thing I read in this story about the Kkak. They were so popular that they had Christmas parties for kids everybody invited, not really white kids only, and Santa would wear a hat not I mean the hood, and he would pass out gifts. The backdrop was a burning cross.

35:28 Now we find that so offensive, and yet no one it didn't occur to almost anyone many Christians to say there was something wrong with that. It just didn't occur to them. So I don't know if they were blinded by their ideology or their preachers were of Missilidi. I mean, I don't understand some of those things. But what happens is. Christians can just become so complacent or unthinking, or they just go with the flow, and the pressures of the day and of the culture tend to sway us where not only do we not test things against scripture, and never even occurs to. Us to test things against scripture. So we have to look at trends and culture and how we feel and how we talk and all those kinds of things, and you know, we do it fast forward decades.

36:14 You know, sometimes we do it now. I have friends that say, you can't be a Christian and be a Democrat. And then I have friends who say, you can't be a Christian and be a Republican, or you can't be a Christian and believe in abortion, you can't be a Christian and believe that people. Should have guns. And we tack all those things on it, and all those are distortions of the truth, aren't they. Wow, he's going in. Well, a couple of things. First, he's absolutely right that there's been times in church history where the Christians have been silent or support absolutely abhorrent, horrible things, which once again demonstrates my overarching philosophy. As much as we want to say the Bible is the authority, we because the authority. And it's amazing how we can make the Bible support whatever we want it to support.

37:05 And I'm so glad he brought this distortion up. I am so sick and tired of Christian saying you can't do you can't vote this way, you can't believe this and be a Christian. I am so sick of that. All right, you are a Christian because of your faith and the finished work of Jesus Christ. That is what makes you a Christian. If you may believe things that contradict what Christianity teaches, you may believe or support things that are an agreement with Christianity or in opposition to Christian teaching, that does not make you a Christian or make you less than a Christian. Your Christianity is you've put your faith in a finished work of Jesus Christ.

37:47 From that point forward, you are a Christian because you have put your faith in Christ. You have believed on Him, and now you are in him. He is in you. You are now a child of God. You are kept by Him. Now, all these things we believe or don't believe, whether we may argue, well, I don't know if that's really an agreement with Christianity. Well I don't know if that's really an agreement with Christianity. You can have that debate, but it's utterly mindless. It's ridiculous, it's dumb. It's ignorant to look at people going who whoa, whoa, whoa, oh whoa? You support that, Well, you can't be a Christian. How dare you say that because now you're making Christianity is.

38:29 To be a Christian, you must not only believe this, you must vote this way. You must support this political ideology. Your Christianity is not dependent on what you vote for. Don't vote for who you support politically, what your political ideology is. Your Christianity is based on the finished work of Jesus Christ. And anytime you throw these other things in there, you're distorting the gospel. You're corrupting the gospel. You're polluting the gospel. You're destroying the gospel, and you're adding things to the gospel that you have no right to add to it because the gospel is not yours. So I'm in complete agreement with him there that this stuff is just a distortion. But I've heard that you cannot be a Christian and vote Democrat. Whoop? What what is that scripture? Let me see? Let me see. I think I think I remember it. I think it goes something like this, for God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten son, that whosoever believed in him should not perish but have every lasting life. It doesn't say if you believe in him. Plus you don't vote Democrat. You're adding things, you're distorting the gospel. You may disagree with the way they vote. You may make an a a argument that biblically you can't support these You may be able to make that argument that, but that don't call their Christianity into question. The Christianity is because they put their faith in Christ. They've trusting in Christ.

39:59 They they are accepting Christ's sacrifice for them, his substitutionary atonement for them. They're acknowledging their sin. They know they need His righteousness, they need his that's salvation. It has nothing to do with who you vote for. And if you say that you're the problem, not them. Now it's not. They're not the problem because they voted Democrat. You're a problem because you're distorting the gospel. You're the heretic, not them, because you are destroying the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Any church or pastor who says those non things, they have left biblical Christianity. They've now destroyed the Gospel. That's where I get frustrated how someone votes or doesn't vote. I may agree, may disagree. What I'm more concerned with. I'm not going to argue with them about who they vote for.

40:53 You know what I want to talk about is, hey, let's study the Bible. Let's read scripture, because if he continue to read scripture and study scripture, that may begin to impact how they see certain social or cultural issues. I don't need to fight about it. I need to get them in the Word of God. I need to get them reading the Bible. I need to get them studying the Bible. I need them doing Bible study methods. I need them to learn hermoneutics, I need them to learn theology, I need them to learn church history. That's what I don't need to fight all these stupid culture wars and all these political issues, where then we so do and guess what, well, we're over there fighting this. We're distorting. We're destroying and distorting the Gospel. That should be what concerns you.

41:39 Strangely enough, Christians can have wrong ideas. Following Jesus doesn't mean everything you believe is correct. And sometimes the Bible doesn't give clear teachings on some things. They give hints and directions, But the Bible doesn't say thou shalt not have an AR fifteen in your as. It just doesn't say that. The fact is when Jesus and his disciples are prayed to hit the road. They said they had a couple of swords. You know what he said. He did not say put him down. We're not going to be armed. He said that would be enough and just dropped it. So you know, the Bible doesn't always give clear teachings on some issues, so you have to be careful. Fake news is when you draw a line these people are Christian and these people aren't. The test is the biblical message what determines who is a Christian?

42:33 Do they follow Jesus as savior. That's it. People can follow Jesus as Savior and have messed up politics. I would argue they believe in Jesus as Savior. They're trusting in him, They've put their faith in him. We are saved by grace alone, through faith alone, not by following, but by believing. All right, I think that is important. But you're right, Christians have all kinds of messed up ideas. Since when do you get to determine this idea now if it's in and now when if it's a thiological where you're denying the deity of Christ, or do you're denying substitution in other words, you're denying key fundamental doctrines but messed up ideas. That the church has been made up of messed up ideas for two thousand years.

43:29 Yes, I don't like it anymore than you do. So what we have to do is be our best, think before we talk, and be careful when you talk. You know, I reference Martha Smith. You don't know her. She dead now. She got her PhD in psychology when she was sixty five years old, and she was a hoot. She was hilarious, and it was so hard to have a conversation with her. She had this annoying practice of thinking before she talked, and it was. Just so hard. You know, in a normal conversation, you talk back and forth and you say kind of crazy things. And Martha didn't do that. And I'd say something and she'd and then she would say something, and sometimes it caught me off guard because she had obviously thought through it, and I didn't do that all the time. So and she would teach me that, you know, got to be careful how you say things, so before you speak about those people, and before your convictions divide up people into groups. Does it pass the test of scripture? We're all sinners. Fortunately God helps us. On screen is another idea we can go to that next grace. God has given the church the truth about His love and grace for all. As I said, fake news in the church always divides. That's the goal. It always labels people. That's the goal of fake news in the church. And people don't always call it fake news. They call it convictions. God has told

44:59 me God, I feel I really believe in those kinds of things. Whenever someone says that, just sharpen your hearing. See what they say on screen is the real news of the Gospel. Follow along as I get read again in verses nine through eleven. What then, are we better than they? Well, not at all. We've already charged it. Both Jews and Greeks are all under sin, as it is written, None are I just not even one. There is none who understands, none who seeks for God. Pretty clear, isn't it. He's quoting no Testament scripture, of course, and he's saying, listen for you guys, start dividing up into groups and saying these are good and these are bad.

45:44 Here's the word. And they all knew this. The Jewish people, remember, were the ones that were doing this, and so what did he do? He quoted Jewish scripture to them, still relevant, guys. He was saying, So there's no group. Baptists aren't better than Catholics, Catholics aren't better than Methodists, and so on and so forth. All that nonsense that we've always talked about, that was all just well, it's just nonsense, fake news. Sometimes Baptists are better than others on some things. Once in a while, sometimes Methodists got it down, and I hate to admit it, sometimes Catholics got a better grasp with them some things than we do.

46:26 And that's the way it is. But no one group is the group. There's no cool kids in the kingdom. And you know what I mean by that, right, everybody's in the same boat, no special group Verse twelve. Look at that. If you would all have turned aside together, they have become useless. There is none who does good, not even one. When you talk to a sinner, remember your sin sure changes things. When you remember your sin, when you were ever conscious of where you've been and how you were and what you said just yesterday or this morning. When you do that, then it's really hard to dismiss someone or talk down to him because you remember, and that's a good idea.

47:18 We all struggle against sin. Now as you get older, I have observed that the grosser sins that are physically manifested don't bother us too much anymore. We're too tired or too old to worry about that, you know those. Oh, that is such a good part. He makes a lot of good points now when he when he says that we're you know, Catholics, Baptists, I would argue, philologically, there are differences, and those differences must be maintained, and those differences must be argued and must be fought. I completely would would would add that, however, he's completely a right that Catholics, Methodists, Baptists. We're all sinners. We all struggle, we all fail, we all make mistakes, we all do horrible things. I mean, that is the case. We sometimes always act like we're better than them. But this, this is a very important point that he's that he is making here, is that we we all sin, we all fall short, we all do, we all make these mistakes.

48:19 We we all we nobody has any corner on the truth right, And I'm gonna I'm gonna back this up just a little bit because I want you to hear this again, because he's making some very good points here, and I'll pick this back up right here we go do this. The Jewish people, remember, were the ones that were doing this. And so what did he do? He quoted Jewish scripture to them. Still relevant guys. He was saying, So there's no special group. Bab just aren't better than Catholics, Catholics aren't better than Methodists, and so on and so forth. All that nonsense I've always talked about that was all just well, it's just nonsense, fake news. Sometimes Baptists are better than others on some things. Once in a while, sometimes Methodists got it down, and I hate to admit it, sometimes Catholics got a better grasp with them some things than we do. And that's the way it is. But no one group is the group. There's no cool kids in the kingdom. And you know what I mean by that, right, everybody's in the same boat, no special group Verse twelve.

49:26 Look at that. If you would all have turned aside together, they have become useless. There is none who does good, not even one. When you talk to a sinner, remember your sin sure changes things. When you remember your sin, when you were ever conscious of where you've been and how you were and what you said just yesterday or this morning. When you do that, then it's really hard to dismiss someone are talked down to them because you remember. And that's a good idea. We all struggle against sin as you get older. I have observed that the grocer sins that are physically manifested don't bother us too much anymore.

50:14 Work Now, okay, first, some great points. It is very true whenever you think of someone else's sin, remember your own sin. We're always so worried about ever remember your sin. But I love this point right here. So many times Christians who get older, they're the ones who will hold two Well, if you do this, if you do this, if you do this, you're not saved, you're not saved. You're not saved. You're not saved. Well, it's easy to talk a big game when you get older, and many of the grosser sins you're no longer struggling with. You've moved past that stage. Your hormones aren't raging. This is not happening. You don't have this. Now you're married, you have a wife, you're you're older, you go to bed at nine o'clock at night, and so now you can talk a big game about how godly you are and how righteous you are, how holy you are, and how nobody else belongs in the Kingdom of God other than you because you're perfect. You're only perfect because now you're sixty and you go to bed at seven PM. I get so tired of that. Right, But they forget all the sins they were struggling with. Well, wait, you claim to be a Christian. And remember when you were doing this, and you were doing this, and you were doing this, and you were doing this, and you were doing this. Oh, you weren't walking around yelling and screaming for lordship. If you do these things, you're not in the Kingdom of God.

51:45 But now that you've moved past that stage of life, now all of a sudden, you're like, well, if you do this, if you do this, then you're probably not saved. You used to do those very things. Well, claiming to be a Christian? What changed? Oh, you're now in a new stage of life. Now what you forget is not just because you're not struggling with those more grosser sins. If we use the term. Just because you're now not struggling with the more external demonstration doesn't mean you still don't have all kinds of sins internally. So what you need to do is be more aware of your sin and then worrying about anybody else. Instead of trying to figure out who is or isn't in the Kingdom of God, you probably should worry about your own spiritual life and your own self. And remember people's salvation is not dependent on what they do or don't do. It's depending on what Christ did.

52:37 We're too tired or too old to worry about that, you know, those big things. We're not going to kill somebody or not going to do drugs. Probably it costs too much all those things. But there's plenty of sins that we can do sitting in our chair, aren't there. Sure you can just sit there and sin. You don't even have to talk, and there you go, so acknowledge them, confess it to God, of course, and carry that with you. I said this yesterday, I thought this this morning. And so when you start talking to people whose lives are a train wreck, remember you know, every morning I am reminded of my sin as they deal with the daycare families, and a lot of them do have problems. There are a lot of problems with the addictions and all those kinds of things, and their lives are a mess.

53:28 And it's easy to feel superior. Until I remember what I said yesterday or what I said this morning or whatever. You know, we're all the same. We all struggle against the sin, and that eliminates if you can keep that conscious, that eliminates this whole arrogant thing and. Us in them. And you don't get to do that anymore if you're conscious of your sin. One other thing, look of verses twenty seven through thirty, if you would, for then is boasting? It is excluded by what kind of law of works? Know, but by a law of faith. Before we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law. Or is God the God of the Jews only?

54:14 Is he not the God of the gentiles? Also yes of gentiles? Also, since indeed God who will justify the circumcise by faith and the uncircumcised through faith is one. Everybody's saved the same way. You don't necessarily talk about it the same I remember one time I was sitting with a group of Presbyterians got to watch them, pesky Presbyterians. They were from South Korea and they were in seminary, and it was obvious they were Christian. I mean, they were Christian just like us. They believe the same thing.

54:55 They were in the same school, going to go and preach the same gospel. And they were hardcore Jesus people. And they had suffered for their faith. And they didn't talk about Jesus the way I did. They used different terminology, and I wanted to correct them. That's how arrogant I was. But I shut my mouth and listened, and over the course of I got to know them. Over the course of years in school together, they were the real deal. They just didn't talk like I was. Their culture was very different that Middle Eastern and Far Eastern culture. They talked different. And I don't even know how to explain it, but you know, we think like Western people. They thought like Eastern people, and they talked different. But they were still saved.

55:39 You know how people get saved. They followed Jesus as savior. They receive Him under their heart, they confess their sins, they allow the Holy Spirit to cleanse them. They make commitments to Jesus. That's how people get saved. That's how everybody gets saved. By the way, they may talk about it different. Sometimes when you hear people talk it's an epiphany, a punctiliar point in time that they just knew right then they were saved. For other people, it's different, a little bit more gradual maybe. And I used to think that people couldn't point a time when they got saved, that they probably weren't saved. And you know what, I was wrong. I was testing them by a rule that some preacher had taught me. Fake news. That's not what the scripture say. The scriptures say you follow Jesus's savior.

56:32 That's it. Only Jesus can change all this mess we are. You know, you can use self discipline and maybe get your mouth under control, and that's a good thing. By the way, controlling your mouth is a good thing. It's a life's skill. So do that, and then in that process asked Jesus to help you. Jesus helped me to shut my mouth. I do that often. Jesus helped me to shut my mouth. Jesus helped me to avoid stupid. Jesus helped me to keep my mouth shut. You know over and over and over because that's one of my weaknesses, my mouth, which is awkward for a preacher. Let me tell you, you know, but you got to watch that how you talk represents Christ.

57:14 So when I talk to day care mama's about abortion or something, and they do ask me, I, you know, I have all these things and this is what I want to say, but I want to reflect Christ. And so that mitigates a lot of my passions and convictions and all those kinds of things. Because people look to you for Jesus on screen is a final passage of scripture. Read this with me if you would, for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves. It is the gift of God, not as. A result of works, so that no one may boast, For we are as workmanship created in Christ Jesus, for good works which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them. Wrote it to everybody, Jew and gentile alike, Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Catholic.

58:16 For the Muslim, that's the choice, isn't it? For everybody? That's the choice. Follow Jesus, receive him as savior, trust Him to save you. Base your life on biblical teachings and devotion to Jesus, and begin to realize that we're all in this together. This is a big boat, and we all need Jesus the same way. It's going to come and lead us in a hymn of imitation. And there's the end. Very he dealt with some very controversial subjects. You can tell people in the congregation were very quiet. He probably stepped on some toes. I really do appreciate he dealing with some of these. I still don't quite understand structure of it. It seems that the basic thesis is that the Church has put forth ideas that are fake or fraudulent. I don't trying to connect it to fake news. I understand he was trying to use the language of popular culture because it's such an issue.

59:19 I didn't really understand the structure of it. But he dealt with very interesting concepts that you and I, as Christians, we are in this Christian world where concepts and ideas are put forth that are not accurate. They are fake. They're put forth as if they're accurate. They're put forth as if they're true. They're put forth as if they are spiritual, righteous, and godly, but in many cases they are fraudulent. There are misrepresentations, there are corruptions of truth, and they actually are false. If you want to refer to it as fake news. Okay, fake news is such a loaded that you have to look at it from so many different perspectives. It kind of distracts from this.

1:00:05 He utilized Romans three, not so much as here. I mean, he didn't really deal with the text. He utilized the text, which okay, great, But some of those issues he brought up I think are rather profound and they have to be dealt with, and because they are issues within the church. So it was kind of a It didn't go in any direction that I thought it would go, but yet it touched some of the issues. So I had to address issues that really wasn't related to the overall sermon. But the overall sermon did bring up issues that I think we need to discuss. So I think as Christians, what we have to ask ourselves is how many times in your life, in my life, has these fraudulent, fague corruption of biblical truth has so become a part of our thinking that we have promoted it and believed it. Yeah, I don't know what else to say that is, if you want to look up their podcast, it's f BC.

1:01:12 I'm assuming this stands for First Baptist Church, FBC Independence Podcast, FBC Independence Podcast. You should will find it on any podcasting app. This is the ministry of FBC and Independence Missouri. And yeah, they have Yeah, they put their sermons online and you can go listen to that. I don't even know how I found the church. I have no idea how it came across the church. I don't even know. I don't even know when I started subscribing to them. But there you have it that that was the sermon from Sunday that was preached yesterday. And uh, I think they're gonna maybe he says he's gonna do like a series on kind of some fake news. I don't I don't know again, I know, you know, using fake news.

1:02:02 It just seemed like he kind of hurt himself other than saying, hey, you know, we're gonna look at some fraudulent or fraudulent things taught in the church, are fake things taught in the church, and then say, hey, there's this. I would have never even brought up fake news, I don't think, only because the term is so loaded. You have to go with how it's weaponized, how it's used. And just so that we note here at the beginning of this, when you talked about fake news, He's like, you basically can't believe anything you hear. You can't basically believe anything you read. But did you notice that in the sermon he made a reference to well, all the information he found out about study about us Sugar versus Fat? Well, what source did you get that from? You're believing a source he talked about a book about nineteen twenty seven. Well, how do you if you can't we can't trust anything, then how did you trust the information you got about the Sugar Association and what they did about Blaze, I mean fat versus Sugar? And then how did you believe the book in nineteen twenty seven? See, whenever people say you can't believe anything, it's all fake, Isn't it amazing?

1:03:08 They always then reference things that they supposedly can believe. So, yeah, that's kind of a contradiction in the sermon in and of itself. But SA that's why she had never brought up fake news. What he should have done is said in Romans chapter three, we have an example of where there was a fraudulent way of thinking that it entered into that was in the minds of the people of the Roman Church. The Jews in the church thought that Gentiles basically didn't belong. This was a fraudulent way to think. This was a corruption of the Gospel message. But they're not unique. Here are some of the fraudulent ways we think. And then he could gone through the things he listed that would be how I would structure it. But that's just a structural argument. That's just to me. The fake news did more distracting me from what he was trying to do. Or he could have just started with, hey, here's Romans three. Now, what's going on here, here's what's going on now. We're going to utilize this to look at how these wrong ideas are present in the church today.

1:04:12 And I have four of them or five of them, I can't remember how many he gave. Now, if someone, if someone wants to go structure it, to structure your notes that way, then I think that would be beneficial. But there you have it. Hopefully that was beneficial. Yeah, well, if we can do something with this, we will if we can. Again, whenever I can, I mean I pretty much agree with everything he said. I just don't like the way he handled the fake news thing. Pretty much. We were a massive agreement there so, which is awesome. But now, even though whether I agree or whether I criticize, I always want to take a sermon and then do something with it. So I'm going to see what I can do with it, and we'll just see. But thank you for listening. Everyone, have a great day. God bless