REVERENT AND REBELLIOUS

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 years. The Gospel has laste...

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 possible. We also look at a group of ...

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 were never aimed at them to begi...

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 next guy is someone Jesus spots in the cr...

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 they are. However, a woman of Syro-Phoenician ...

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't have a sword, sell your cloak and buy on...

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 everything he had and give the money to...

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 it away! And if your right hand causes yo...

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 misguided doctrines have found their way into ...

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 the heavenly realm at the same time? The theo...

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 to stir up what had become a morally...

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's grace? One was a British monk who wanted Chri...