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Five Questions for November
We've got something new coming your way. It's a little thing we're calling Five Questions. These are questions that have come to us via email, floating around on social media, hanging around with people after church and chatting, or in the deep labyrinth of the modern stream of consciousness. We've narrowed it down to five questions for November.
This is an ongoing thing. If you have questions, please feel free to email us at emilee@freshroadmedia.com or chris@freshroadmedia.com. These are just questions we're hearing that have kind of come to the surface of late.
Question One: When Is It Appropriate to Put Up the Tree and Decorate for Christmas?
Probably the most important question we have today.
When is the appropriate time to put up the tree and decorate for Christmas? Listen to Christmas music, all that stuff. When can you start doing it?
Probably when your wife says it's time. That's what I would say.
Well, I would say that the earliest you want to do is November 1st and the latest you want to do is the Friday after Thanksgiving. Some people just need to get that bird out of the way before they can put up a stocking or a tree or a menorah, whatever your flavor is. We have two Christmas trees and a menorah. We have a couple other Christmas trees that remain in the closet because they were the kids' Christmas trees.
Five Valid Answers
This question has a lot of answers to it.
Answer Number One: July. Christmas in July, it's a thing. It has become a thing. People are actually starting to not just watch Christmas movies—that's where it really all started. Families that can't get together during the holidays are choosing to do it in the summer in July and it kind of gets you through the year. So July, it is perfectly okay anytime during that month to turn on the Christmas music, put up a little decoration if you want, get together with family and exchange some gifts.
Answer Number Two: Whatever Works for You. Christmas is kind of like fashion. Over the years it's changed dramatically. But what we find in contemporary culture, Christmas is like fashion. It's almost like whatever works for you, whatever makes you look great, whatever is appropriate for your job or whatever, just go with that. Everything's acceptable. Everything from a miniskirt to a maxi skirt, from pants to dresses to whatever.
I disagree so strongly. When do I get a rebuttal?
Answer Number Three: December 1st or Later. Traditionally a lot of families have put it up later in December. This is particularly because if you're getting a real tree, it's not going to last that long. You got to keep it hydrated. You don't want needles all over. They can be pretty painful and a little bit of a fire hazard. So people with real trees might opt to put their tree up and really decorate and start the holidays December 1st or after.
Answer Number Four: Thanksgiving Weekend. What has become very common is this fourth answer because the vast majority of Americans do have some time off over that Thanksgiving weekend. That has become a very popular time to go ahead and put up the Christmas tree, put up the lights and so on.
Answer Number Five: Before Thanksgiving If You're Traveling. If you're traveling during Thanksgiving or you're not going to be home much over the Thanksgiving holiday, Thanksgiving weekend, you can put your Christmas lights and decorations and play Christmas music prior to Thanksgiving. So November works as well.
One of the things we have done is we've done them as early as the first weekend in November and we've done them as late as the first weekend in December. Some of that's been just based on personal preference.
Fashion Faux Pas Are Dead
Here's the thing I want to add. In our culture, in our modern culture, we have moved on from something called fashion faux pas. They don't exist anymore—only in certain tribal cultures like certain elite maybe country club vibe or you have a club of some sort where you have to wear the hat or whatever. But other than that, our culture has gone away from anything like that. We have faith tattoos now. People can wear whatever they want. We have a lot of guys at our church that wear their hats and they don't take them off for prayer or anything and nobody cares because that kind of structured culture faux pas just really doesn't exist. It has faded away.
The Christmas Music Problem
I want to add about Christmas music. Christmas music is one of the most divisive items on the planet. Is that First Christopher verse 2, chapter 4? Where are you pulling this out of?
Out of being in radio for 45 years.
The when of starting the Christmas music is always up for debate. The last time we were on the air in a music format was 2013. It's been 12 years and it's been 12 glorious years. Peaceful, loving—we did a lot of talk radio. We made Christian documentaries. We've been preaching and speaking and doing comedy around the country. It's been great. It's been a fun career. It's been a great life.
But I do not miss music-driven Christian radio. Not for one hour of one day. And Christmas music is a big reason why.
You cannot please anybody no matter what you do. November 1st is when the last year we were on—in December of 2012—and we started on November 1st to sprinkle some stuff in. Well, our competitor went all Christmas music. And so you've got a split audience. Some love it and they can't get enough. Others can't stand it and they'll turn the station the minute it comes on.
What happens is there's this compromise made where absolutely everybody is unhappy. We're doing the Chris and Emilee show and we've got eight songs to play during the hour plus some bits and we'll sprinkle in a little Christmas music and it just was so out of place. Or we go all Christmas music before Thanksgiving. That's terrible. You lose a huge part of your audience.
But then after Thanksgiving, you start the Christmas music and the race was on to be the most Christmas station. Who's going to play the most Christmas music per hour? And that's where the ratings were because if you're trying to win over women 25-54, a lot of them love the Christmas music. A lot of them don't. We know stations that now do it November 1st. They're full Christmas music all the time all the way through. And it's expanding because it's what people want. You got to give the people what they want.
The December 26th Problem
September 30th when you hear "Come on, ring those bells" one more time, you do not have the Christmas spirit. See, and that is a problem to me, too. The 26th, back to regular programming? Cold turkey. That is not the way to go.
Emilee and I have argued over this because we had an internet radio station from 2013 to 2018 where we programmed it ourselves and it was music-driven internet radio. Emilee could not take the 26th going back to regular.
No, it was so jarring. It was so jarring and really depressing. You kind of got to ramp up and then you got to kind of ramp back down again. And here's the thing. The holiday season is not over on the 26th. That's the problem. You've still got New Year's to look forward to and you have Epiphany. These are clear, concise, rational explanations as to why you don't just chop it off on the 26th.
Question Two: What YouTubes Do You Follow?
That's a really good question because culture is kind of moving to the video on demand and we're finding very specific and unique people that we just really connect with and we follow them.
Yeah. The reason that we said YouTube when we were coming up with these questions was because there's a couple people that they don't have any other podcasts. They just have YouTube channels.
Justin Peters
Justin Peters has a YouTube channel and he's just this evangelist guy, Bible teacher, soft-spoken, and he just kind of lays out facts and he just lays out the Word of God and he follows the Bible wherever it goes. I like the stuff he does.
The Gospel of Christ with John Henry
The other one is called the Gospel of Christ. It's John Henry. He's another one who only has a YouTube channel. And I love John Henry. He's from Haiti originally and he uses the word "Bible says." The Bible says this. The Bible says this, the Bible says this, the Bible says that.
Sometimes I come home and I'm like, "Hey, did the Bible says guy drop a new one today?" I like his approach to the Bible. It's called Gospel of Christ with John Henry. Good dude.
Chris Rosebrough, Fighting for the Faith
And then lastly, I would say probably Chris Rosebrough, Fighting for the Faith. He's been the Pirate Christian for years. He's had radio. He's done a lot of different things. He's a Lutheran pastor in Grand Forks, North Dakota. But he's a Bible scholar and where we differ with maybe some of the strict Lutheran doctrine, he has grace for most of it. He says why he believes it, but most of it is he always starts his show by saying this:
"Let's compare what people are saying in the name of God to the Word of God."
And that's what I like to see is that there are people making all kinds of claims out there. And the biggest challenge that I have in my life is to try to teach the people God has given me to shepherd to avoid those. You just search sermons or Christianity, you can get all kinds of different false teaching and whack jobs out there and it's heartbreaking when people get sucked into stuff like that.
More Channels We Watch
Fighting for the Faith—that's one that Chris both you and I do watch together and also Gospel of Christ with John Henry. We watch both of those. And then I have some Formula One YouTube channels, but I didn't think that's—NASCAR.
I also like to watch anything with Voddie Baucham. Voddie Baucham has a channel, but then he also shows up on other channels and so I will if I see that another YouTube channel is posting something of his, I will watch that as well. So I just kind of look for him.
Grace to You Ministries with John MacArthur. They just withstand the test of time. You can watch one of his messages 10, 20 years from now and it will be spot-on and solid.
And then another one that I really like to watch—and I don't look at him like he's a pastor—is Nate Sala. He's got a YouTube channel called Wise Disciple. The reason that I like to watch him is that he will just ask questions and talk about things in a way to kind of help people understand things better. He always takes us to the Word of God and I just really like the way he communicates and really does teach a lot. He's pretty clear when he's like, "I don't know for sure. I could be wrong." But I do like listening to him.
Leaving the Message
But there is one other one and they have a podcast but aside from the podcast, he has a teaching series and that is found on Leaving the Message. He's the grandson of one of the biggest false teachers ever—Branham. And he's come out and he's kind of exposed the whole history of the hyper charismatic movement and just kind of the bad stuff that's behind it all.
If you are of that movement, if you have been influenced by it or you think you still might be influenced by it, go to YouTube, search Leaving the Message and just check out some of the stuff that this guy has brought out because it's very well documented how this movement really rose up, who was behind it. And he takes a very close look at the people that are referred to in that movement as God's generals. Who are they? What were they like? What were their lives like? And it is eyeopening.
Let's just say they're not God's generals.
Why We Need These Channels
The key thing is finding content because there's not much out there. We've canceled our Netflix. There's hardly anything on Amazon Prime. I mean, there's just nothing out there that's good. Even Angel Studios—I'm a guild member—there are some decent shows every now and then, but there's no content that you can go to. So that's why we started going to some of these different YouTube channels.
There's business-oriented ones, there's relationship ones. There's a guy out of England, out of Manchester, England, who travels around. He'll do like 12 hours on a luxury train, and then his next video is 12 hours on the worst train in Pakistan. I find the guy fascinating.
Question Three: What Books Are You Reading?
This one's a similar one. And I like this question because I like to ask other people this question. What books are you reading? That's always a good question.
One Perfect Life by John MacArthur
I've been reading this on and off for a couple years. In fact, there's actually a shot in Bible Idiots that is of me sleeping in the back of the vehicle actually reading this book—One Perfect Life.
It's called One Perfect Life by John MacArthur, and he and his team take the life of Jesus as unveiled in Scripture and they lay it out in like a chronological order. So one minute you're reading John, the next second you're reading Mark, then you're back to John again. And it's just fascinating.
What happened was Emilee and I wanted to read it together. So we bought a second one. And now we're just reading through it right now. Each one of the chapters is like this where you've got the top is the narrative and the bottom are actually Bible notes. Extensive notes and that's what I like about that book is there's a lot to learn.
One Perfect Life, John MacArthur, The Complete Story of the Lord Jesus. Highly recommend it. That's what I'm reading right now.
Confessions of Augustine of Hippo
This is actually the second time I've read it, but I am reading Confessions of Augustine of Hippo. Confessions of St. Augustine written a long time ago.
The reason that I say I'm reading it for the second time is the first time that I read it was the old English translation and it was very very difficult and a lot of it just went over my head. But I found parts of it just absolutely riveting. Well, they have a new book out that has updated English because this was written in like the 300s or 400s.
It was written a long time ago, not in English either. And so it was translated into English many many moons ago. And that of course was old English. Well, this one is a lot easier to read. It's in modern English.
He wrote it between AD 397 and 400. Most scholars specifically date the work to 397 through 398. He was the bishop of Hippo and these were his earliest spiritual autobiographies.
If you haven't read it, read it. Get the modern English translation because this is basically he wrote down his internal wrestlings and discoveries of who God is and it's absolutely breathtaking. Some of the ideas and the thoughts and the profoundness of God himself is written out so well that it's going to encourage you in your faith.
Just the way he contemplates how big God is, how merciful God is, how all knowing he is. It's really very profound. It's one thing to say, "Yeah, God is merciful." It's another thing to read Augustine's thoughts about how he wrestled with the mercy of God.
Bible Sidekick: Study Helps for New Believers
One more book I want to bring up just because I look back over the last 15 years and it's kind of shocking sometimes that I was actually a part of it. But there's a book out there that is designed to help you mine truth out of God's Word. And it's called Bible Sidekick: Study Helps for New Believers.
Shameless plug.
We haven't made any money on this book and we probably never will. But here's the thing. I know it's changing lives because people will make a donation to Fresh Road Media. We've donated the book to Fresh Road Media so that they can send it out to people.
The aims and benefits of Bible study. What are you trying to get out of Bible study? Very helpful. What's the big picture? What's the Bible all about? Nuts and bolts. How to use the Bible? Close-ups, book introductions, author portraits, must-reads, key memory verses, takeaways, speed bumps, evidence for the Bible's divine inspiration. It's all in this book.
The way I explain to people is that the real scholar is Bill Ray and I was kind of his sidekick helping write some stuff and then I would help write other things down into more common man language. But Bill did most of the heavy lifting on this and it is an amazing product. I still use it. I still use it as a reference guide. I will go and get different things when I'm studying for my sermons. And what's really crazy is I'll read something and I'll be like, "Wow, that's really good." Then I'll realize I wrote that like 15 years ago.
And we know it wasn't AI because that wasn't around back then.
If you go to freshroadmedia.com and you give a gift of any amount, a one-time gift, in the comments reach out to us in the gift comments and just say, "Hey, I'd like a copy of Bible Sidekick." We'll get you one. You can also get one on Amazon.
The thing with the Bible Sidekick, like One Perfect Life with John MacArthur, is it's big picture. It really helps you see the big picture all at once. All 66 books are covered. History's covered. Basically, picture four or five seminary books condensed into one 500-page volume and written so that a seventh grader could read it and understand it. That is Bible Sidekick.
Question Four: Is Trump the Antichrist?
This is a little bit out in left field. We've been hearing rumblings about that, particularly from people that really don't like him. But let's talk a little bit about that because it's not a bad question. We need to be looking and understanding what God's Word has to say about that.
Recent Developments: The Board of Peace
We are broadcasting on the 19th of November 2025. And this week, earlier this week, the world had a vote at the United Nations Security Council, and it acknowledged and endorsed something called the Board of Peace.
If you've not heard of that, it'll be chaired by Donald Trump. Donald Trump could have this chairmanship for the next 10 years, long after he's president. He could take the world stage with the United Nations and be the guy. He could possibly resign as presidency to Vance next year or the year after. Just pure speculation. But it's a huge approval from the United Nations and it's designed to further peace all over the world.
Start thinking Antichrist thoughts as I share this with you right now.
The countries on the UN Security Council that voted on this—first of all, China and Russia abstained. That way they could keep their hands clean. But that is really kind of a vote of confidence at the end of the day. Then you've got France, the United Kingdom, Algeria, Denmark, Greece, Guyana, South Korea, Pakistan, Panama, Sierra Leone, Slovenia, and Somalia.
Also, there's other countries that the committee strongly wanted to put this in place. And of course, these are the ones that are really going after Trump's support right now. And that includes Qatar, Egypt, United Arab Emirates, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Turkey, and Jordan.
Does that not sound like a coalition that an Antichrist would be bringing up?
The Trump Complex
Here's the other thing. No one in human history that I can go back and find—and I'm talking about in the modern broadcast world where we have records and I go all the way back to Lincoln and even our founding fathers because they had documents that were made, newspapers that were printed. Maybe Alexander the Great had a Trump complex. I have no idea, nor would anybody.
But I have not seen anybody that stands up and says, "Look at me. Look at what I did. I did this. I did this. You guys need to respect me." And part of it, I think, is because of how much of a beatdown he's gotten. But that is—we're getting Trump fatigue with that. Then the other side is you have his people—they're always coming out. "This couldn't have been done without a president like Donald Trump. If it wasn't for Trump, none of this would have been happening."
That to me feels Antichrist. Antichristesque. It really does.
But Alas...
But alas, Trump is not the Antichrist. Unless he converts to being a Muslim and presents himself as the Mahdi, the 12th Imam, he's not going to be the Antichrist.
I cover this in detail in a message called The Last Deception. I'm going to put the link for The Last Deception Salvaged by God in the comments. That's the message where I had like a vest and a dress shirt on and the collar was sticking out the whole time.
The Last Deception: The Muslim Antichrist is our Jesus and our Antichrist is their Messiah. And there's a lot of potential evidence to examine to come up with that. So I would say no, Trump is not the Antichrist. I really would be highly skeptical if that was the case.
What God's Word Actually Says
When you get into God's Word, there's a lot of writing about the Antichrist. In fact, there's more than one. And so there's some common threads when you start throwing that word around.
Number one, the world kind of doesn't like Trump. Just take a look around and there's a lot of people who do not like him. And generally speaking, these are people that do not hold a biblical worldview. They would actually be closer to an anti-Christian mindset than the Christian mindset. And by and large, people who are Christians look at him and say, "Well, he's probably one of the better options that we have right now."
In 2 Thessalonians chapter 2, verse 9, it talks about how the world's going to clamor after him and we're not really seeing that yet. The second that starts to happen—I mean, what if all of a sudden all the Democrats decide to just say, "Yeah, let's give Trump..." I get where people can think that. I like the fact that people are opening their eyes and looking at evidence.
But one of the things that concerns me is how Americans want to use American bias. We think that our world is the only world. Don't you remember back in the '80s we had people saying Ronald Reagan is the Antichrist. Ronald Wilson Reagan 666. His name says it all.
Go to the description and look for the link for Salvaged by God Last Day's Deception. Watch that. Listen to that. And I'm telling you, you'll be encouraged.
2 Thessalonians 2:9 says, "The coming of the lawless one is by the activity of Satan with all power and false signs and wonders."
False signs and wonders. Have you seen him perform any of those lately? I have not yet. He's got a pretty good golf swing, though. He eats McDonald's and is still living. If that's not a sign and wonder, I don't know what is. I have not seen a business executive look more cool in a garbage truck than Donald Trump does.
2 Thessalonians chapter 2 particularly is a great chapter to be studying because it talks in depth about it and you'll see other things in there as well. But let's flip over to Revelation 13 verse 14:
"And by the signs that it is allowed to work in the presence of the beast, it deceives those who dwell on the earth, telling them to make an image for the beast that was wounded by the sword and yet lived."
So the people that are going to clamor after him again are people without the biblical worldview. The people who don't know the gospel. And honestly, right now, when I listen to Trump talk, he is very open about, "Yeah, I don't totally understand that. I'm probably wrong here. I don't really know how that works." I don't know that he has a full grasp of what the gospel is.
And so when you are looking at this Antichrist, this Antichrist is going to draw these worldly people to him. And right now—not that that can't change—that is not happening. He's not performing signs and wonders. And he doesn't have the anti-Christian community clamoring after him. He really does not.
Look more into Second Thessalonians because in that chapter 2, it describes how he's going to set himself up as God and defy all other gods, being God. And again, he's not doing this. He appears to be very very Christian friendly, more so than the vast majority of leaders right now.
You read the Bible, the Antichrist will be very, very Jew friendly as well. And if it is the Mahdi, the 12th Imam, he's going to bring peace to everybody. I don't see Trump being that guy.
The Discernment Problem
That doesn't mean that it's not possible. He does have some of these tendencies. And I mean, look, on his council of religion or church or whatever he calls it, he's got one of the biggest false teachers on the planet leading it. So there's a discernment issue that should be concerning for everybody. Just saying.
I totally agree with you and that's in part why I like to read books from guys who are already dead because you know they're not going to go off the deep end. People that are still alive and living and kicking, they can turn. They can not be what they appear to be.
You do make a really good point about who his advisor is because when you look at that movement within the visible church, not the authentic church, but the visible church—I mean, you could include the Paul Whites and the Steven Furticks as even being more Antichristlike than Trump in that Furtick has said, "I am God Almighty." It's one of these things that they teach that we become God. That is so anti-biblical. It's not even funny.
Furtick is an anomaly because he's such a lightweight. He has no depth of biblical understanding. I don't know how he grew this big church. You look for authentic Christianity and a lot of times it won't be in the big cathedrals. It won't be anyone claiming themselves as God. That's a big warning sign.
And I'm telling you right now, we're seeing that from the pulpits all over, not just here in the United States, but in other places as well. Even missionaries that go to Africa and places like that are teaching that we become gods and that we don't need Jesus as salvation or for repentance or anything. We just have to come to the realization that, oh, we're gods too.
That is so Antichrist. That is so anti-biblical and it is so being preached by the apostate church today.
Question Five: What Happened to Mike Shaw?
What is going on with Mike Shaw? Today I say we do this. Bring him on the show. Bring him out of the basement where we've been keeping him.
Where you been? What you been doing?
Mike's Life in Texas
Well, I've been in Texas and I work. And that's really what's been going on with me. I work for a city here and so my job is to tell the stories of Van Alstyne and it's a target-rich environment. And so now that we're especially approaching the holidays, my life is really busy right now shooting videos, editing videos, making posts on social media, being at all the events. I mean, it's been a blast to be honest.
The Show Is Growing
The show here's growing and the show was incubated with Mike in Iowa for two years with us. I've been calling it a hobby show at the top of the hour when we get going and Emilee's mad at me about that. She's like, "No, people will financially support it so that we can grow the ministry and we can reach out more, but you keep calling..." No one wants to support your hobby, Chris.
Well, but you know, all the funding we get, we put into spreading the Word. And now, No Apology has over 7,000 subscribers on YouTube and Spotify and on Rumble and other places. It's got a little bit of an audience. And what I love is when we hear from people that say, "Yeah, it's like when we drive from here to there, we listen or when I'm out walking or when I'm in my garden." And it just feels like—they don't use the words, but they use the same phrases like companion Christian broadcasting, Companion Christian Radio. And so that's what we're trying to do. And we've missed you and people are asking what's going on with you, Mike.
Relationships Matter
Well, you know why? To tie it all together. Relationships matter. I made some relationships there in two years that still blow my mind. I've made forever friends there and I can't wait to get back.
Weatherman Mike, if you've been with the show for a short period of time, you don't know who he is. He was a weatherman for years and he can't let it get out of his system. He's still the weatherman. Recovering weatherman.
Relationships matter and that's why I love you guys and I'm glad I still get to be a part. And then also when you're talking about people who watch the show, those relationships matter too because you are forming those relationships with each and every show. So I'm just happy to be a small part.
Yeah, we are happy to have you still a part of this.
Mike's Church Plant
I wanted to ask you before we got into Right On or Way Off—you still do the voices for our announcements when we're done with communion. We do communion every Sunday in Jesus's church that I pastor. Good save.
In the church that I pastor, we do communion every week in a memorial fashion. Anyway, at the end of communion, I always say, children are dismissed for Kids Encounter Church. And here's some video announcements. And Mike, you still do the video announcements for our church. I feel connected to you that way.
But you have a church plant going on in Texas. Before we get into anything else, I want you to tell us about that church plant because it started out with you and like six or seven people. And now last we talked you guys were up to 30 or 40 people already.
Yeah, we are. And it fluctuates wildly and I think that's common for new church plants like that. So yeah, some weeks we'll have 40 or 50 and then some weeks it's 25. But still doing great. We only launched in September.
You have a good solid core, right?
Yeah, we do. A good probably a good 20 people. I'm leading Bible study Sunday nights kind of like I did there on Wednesday nights. And the pastor's crazy, man. He let me preach one weekend.
Well, you were going to preach when you got here. So any pastor who lets me preach, you can't trust him.
No, it's always an honor. I love it. I'm building new relationships there.
The plan is for Mike to come back to Harlan, Iowa, and preach when he comes back whether that's the spring, the summer, whenever that works out. But we're glad you're back on the program.
Right On or Way Off
One of the bits that stood the test of time on the old Chris and Emilee show was like the Rush Hour Riddle, Rise and Shine Story Time, Devotions in Motion. You've got the motion, we've got the devotion. And for this program, No Apology, it is Right On or Way Off. People miss it when we don't do it. So the band's back together and we are ready to jam once again.
Time for Right On, Way Off.
Emilee gives us a statement. It is a pure statement, not a question. And we have to determine whether it's right on or way off. And Emilee is the judge, jury, executioner. So if you disagree with it, you disagree with her. And that can be a problem.
Don't do it. Just don't do it. Take my advice. You don't want to be that guy.
Well, Mike's in Texas now, so he's kind of in a safe zone.
God said, "Stand firm and persevere, man." That's what I'm going to do.
I think I have some fairly easy ones for us because it has been a little while. Maybe you're a little rusty. I don't know.
Statement One: Spiritual Authority
"Spiritual authority is the God-given right and power to govern and command in the spiritual realm."
Is that right on or is that way off?
Paddles up. Some things never change.
Chris, since you had your paddle up first, we're going to start with you. You said that was way off. Both of you said it was way off, actually. Chris, what are your thoughts?
Chris's Response
I'm going way off because of the potential danger of it being right on because whenever Emilee does this, there is always linguistic things that you have to listen for. And the thing that I listened for was spiritual authority. Now spiritual authority I'm applying to the human being and that may not be what the statement is. So it could be right on but the human being claiming spiritual authority in the word "command" in the spirit realm. "I command you in Jesus' name." I mean that has turned out to just be a joke. And people who try to exercise that I find to be unbiblical most of the time.
When Jesus gave some of that spiritual authority, he gave it to those people for that circumstance. And not that he won't. It's possible for us to be given some spiritual authority that we can exercise in a commanding way. But I find that the Bible tells us to be faithful servants to execute what we know is plain out of the text of the Bible and to always be ready for Jesus to come and return and take us home at any given moment. And in that world, there is a sovereignty of God that lays over everything that's way above and beyond commanding people because I have spiritual authority.
Mike's Response
I'm way off. I agree with what Chris said. I mean, I've seen it abused. I left a church once because I had a pastor who was basically commanding God or the Holy Spirit. He said even if I might be so bold to command the Holy Spirit. I'm like okay, see you. That was too much for me.
You go to the Bible for these things, right? So in Ephesians 6, you put on the whole armor of God. You have a shield to protect yourself from the fiery darts of the devil and you have the word. The sword is the word. And so there's nothing in there about taking spiritual authority. It's about standing in your authority—standing in God's authority. Let me correct myself. And when you've done everything, stand.
So you just stand in the Word. You stand in God's authority. When we pray in Jesus' name, it's not like abracadabra. What we're saying is because of our position in Christ—we're in Christ because we're in unity with our Lord and Savior—then we can come to the throne of grace. We don't command otherwise. We'll let God handle that stuff.
The Authority Discussion
I have the authority of the local church here, Fresh Encounter. As pastor, I have a lot of authority. In fact, this is a pastor-led, board-supported church. The board can tell whether I get a pay raise or pay cut. They can fire me. They can establish that no, we still want you to be our pastor. That's the extent of their authority. The rest of it lies on my shoulders.
And the number one thing you do when you are given that kind of authority is you give it back. We have unity in my board. There are some things that I've wanted to try for the church and the board wasn't on board. They just weren't. And so the smart wise leadership thing to do is to pull back and go with the men that God has put around you.
It's just like alcohol. Everybody knows I love a good French wine with a nice steak. That's like my best thing in my life. I mean, we do that rather than go on vacations, but it's a moderation thing.
Have you seen the price of beef? The price of beef will just shock you. Anyway, that is kind of what we use as our vacation thing.
Here's the deal. You have the authority in Christ and the freedom in Christ to not drink or to have that one glass and call it a day. Everybody's like, "Well, I have the freedom in Christ to do whatever I want." Yes. And what you choose to want to do says a lot about God's authority over your life.
The Verdict
This is a huge topic. I did not realize I was opening up such a huge can of worms. I could go on to reply to what Chris said, but it's only an hour show.
The freedom isn't the freedom to do what you want. It's the freedom to do what you ought to do. That's what freedom is. You're no longer a slave to sin.
Getting back to the statement, spiritual authority is the God-given right and power to govern and command in the spiritual realm. That is WAY OFF. You guys are both correct. You both get a point. Congratulations. And you both nailed it as to why that is.
I like how Mike says, get back into God's Word because spiritual authority and authority is mentioned a lot in God's Word. There's just passages all over. But the bottom line is this. Matthew 28:18, Jesus came to them and said, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me." He's got all the authority on heaven and on earth. It's been given.
And he said that as he's speaking to who? His disciples who would become apostles. They were going to be given very special supernatural gifts. And so we do have spiritual authority. However, our spiritual authority when you read through the Scriptures is earthly authority. God has established governments who have authority. God has established the family and who is to be the head of the family. So there is authority in the church, there is authority in the family and there is authority in government that God has established. But that is an earthly authority. That is not an authority to command things in the heavenly realms. This is a complete misinterpretation of Scripture.
What we need to remember when it comes to spiritual authority, we as Christians, the number one thing to keep in mind, we have been placed under the authority of Christ and the apostles. That's who we are as believers.
Boom.
We need to realize that when it comes to spiritual authority, we have all been placed under the authority of Christ. And that's where it goes sideways when people forget the chain of command.
Remember the chain of command. I'm under my pastor's authority, he's under Jesus's authority. And so if the pastor's going to do an end-around, then see you.
Statement Two: Dreams, Visions, and Scripture
"From the beginning, I've asked God to send me neither dreams nor visions, nor angels, but to give me the right understanding of his Word, the Holy Scriptures. For as long as I have God's Word, I know that I am walking in his way and that I shall not fall into error or delusion."
That's a mouthful. Did you guys grasp it? Do you need me to read it again?
I'm good.
All right. Paddles up, boys.
Mike's Response
Everything that you talked about—God's Word is given to us for a reason because it's His Word. You know what God's Word says about God's Word? That heaven and earth may pass away, but God's Word remains. And so if you're standing in God's Word, you're in safety. That's where safety is.
So if you have an angel, you have a spirit, you have a so-called apostle, or any other so-called authority, if what they're telling you doesn't agree with God's Word, flee. Now if what they're telling you does agree with God's Word, consider it. But always be anchored in the Word and you can't go wrong.
Chris's Response
The whole journey of my life through all of different walks of advertising and broadcasting and morning shows and talk shows and documentaries, films, and pastoring churches, it all comes back to me being the Bible idiot. And that is it doesn't matter what we're talking about. What does the Bible actually say? And is it clear in context?
"Well, we believe that if you baptize it, it does this." Now, where does it actually say that in context? "We believe if you're not baptized, you're going to hell." Where does it say that? The Scripture says, "Repent and be baptized." So out of good old-fashioned obedience, you should be baptized. The communion when you take it, it offers you grace and it turns into Jesus. No. What does it say? It says, "Do this in remembrance of him."
What does the Bible actually say has been where I have taken my whole being. And most of the time what I see is people want to put themselves into the Scripture. They want some special juice. They want some special revelation that maybe is above and beyond what the Scriptures actually say. And when you get rid of all of that peripheral and you simply live out the biblical faith, simple faith in Jesus as laid out in the Bible, there's a peace that comes over. And I always use the phrase, it is well with you.
And repentant means turning from your ways. You're not adding Jesus on to what you have going on. And because of all the false conversions, that's where we get a lot of these different things where we need this, we need that, we need the other thing, but the Bible itself is sufficient.
The Quote's Origin
I'll give you an extra point if you know who said it.
I'm going to say either John MacArthur or Martin Luther. I'm going with both. I'm splitting my cards, dealer. I'm doubling down. Maybe Luther said it first and then MacArthur said it again later.
I'm going to go modern. Go MacArthur.
Oh, it's Martin Luther. Sorry.
No one gets an extra point. You're still tied one to one.
The Deeper Discussion
And I really like this quote because when you again go back to read God's Word, every time someone was given a dream or saw an angel, what happened? They were terrified often. And no one went around asking God, "Give me a dream. Give me a dream. Please send me a dream or a vision." God just shows up as he wills. He's sovereign.
Here's the thing. You have written testimony by the people who were eyewitnesses to Christ. It's been preserved over the centuries. Why would you want to trust your own machinations of your mind? How do you know that's a dream from God? How do you know that that was an angel and not a demon? That would be really hard to prove. But when you've got God's Word that has been preserved, eyewitnesses, there's nothing truer than that.
The Bible's very clear that God is no respecter of persons. So in that world when something unique like that happens, what I always try to encourage myself and anybody that ever talks to me in counseling about it is: How does this advance the kingdom? How does this advance the gospel? How does this strengthen you so that God can use you better?
And a lot of times if you have experiences like that and the first thing you want to do is run out and tell everybody or run out and make a social media post and look at me, it probably isn't from God. Satan also counterfeits that kind of junk.
God's goal is his kingdom and his kingdom is the bride of Christ that he's going to present to his son who overcame, the spotless Lamb who overcame. Then the son is going to turn around and share the bride back with God. And so to be just part of that group, that bride of Christ, to be part of that that was saved and set apart is enough. And the Scriptures lay it out.
Just be mindful of the fact—the instances where there was a dream, kings and rulers were tortured by those dreams that God sent. And people like Paul or Joseph who were told by God that your other brothers are going to bow down to you and you're going to go share the gospel with the kings of the world. What fun trip did that turn out to be? It was very very difficult. And of course the shepherds—I think about them a lot when the angel shows up. They were just absolutely terrified.
We have the Word of God. So it says in First Corinthians that certain things will cease, and certain things have ceased. And you know, young men still dream dreams. Old men see visions, but they're usually not in a special revelation kind of world. It usually goes in line with Scripture and it's there to strengthen people to be better used by God or it's flat out there to advance the gospel of Jesus Christ.
We've all had our own specific instances of where God has encouraged us individually in that way and it's been huge. And it's awesome to be a son or daughter of God where you are in communion with God and able to receive those kinds of messages. But me personally, God has not said, "Mike, go tell the world this," except for when I'm preparing for a sermon, he might direct me on what to write and how to.
And those subconscious promptings and stuff always line up with Scripture and always line up with appropriately living out your faith. Every time.
When you talk about preparing for a sermon and you feel God leading you, where is he leading you to? He's leading you right into his own Word.
Hebrews 1:1 very simple: "Long ago at many times and in many ways God spoke to our fathers by the prophets but in these last days he has spoken to us by his Son."
His son Jesus was the full revelation of God himself. And so the only accurate 100% reliable revelation of that is in his Word. God speaks to us through his Word by his Son.
Statement Three: Christmas Gift Equality
"However many gifts your spouse buys you for Christmas, you must buy an equal number of gifts for them to unwrap as well."
Is that right on or is that way off?
Paddles up, boys.
Oh, here we go. Chris says right on. Mike says way off. This is going to determine who our winner is today.
Chris's Defense
First of all, we're having this conversation as we speak. And I don't know if you know this, but nobody really sprints out to rural America to pastor a church for the money. So God has blessed us and he continues to bless us. And I always stress that contentment with godliness is great gain. But no, we don't come close to making what we used to make as far as finances. But the joy we have in the Lord here outweighs all of it. But that means at Christmas time there's a budget.
And so she has a budget and I have a budget. There's a simple dollar figure that we don't want to exceed. And now she is wrapping the seventh gift for me to open on Christmas Eve. Somehow in this budget, she's gotten seven gifts. Now I've gotten her one gift so far and I spent $2 on it and I overpaid. So now I've got six to go and I got to stay within this budget or you know pretty close to it. We're not so legalistic that if you go a couple dollars over that somebody's going to do a backflip. But still the game is afoot. This is what we're doing with our Christmas. And so now I have to find six more gifts to buy her and wrap to put under the tree so that we can go every other person on Christmas Eve. I think that's right on.
Mike's Counterpoint
Well, a couple caveats. First of all, I haven't been married in a very long time. And then the other part of that is it didn't work out in the end. So take my advice with a huge grain of salt. And I'm not saying this was the issue that was the problem. There might have been other things going on.
So yeah, I mean, it's like, listen to you guys. It's an arms race. Maybe Chris will decide to get eight presents and then Emilee is like, "Oh no, I have to get another present." Then it'll be nine and then the next thing it's going to be 10 and then 12. And where does it stop? Oh my goodness. A little sanity, please.
And that's where we get the 12 days of Christmas and a partridge in a pear tree. It stops at 12.
So what are you saying, Mike? Are you saying that I have to get six more gifts to save the marriage?
Well, again, that's the caveat. But the reason why I feel so strongly about this is like I don't know what the budget is, but if she spends seven presents on the budget and you spend two, it's the same budget, you're still even. If that even matters.
The Verdict
Thanks for taking my side, bud.
That statement is WAY OFF. Mike pulls it out in the end. He's absolutely correct there. The single divorce guy gets it. Who knew? Follow Mike for more marriage tips.
But yeah, it doesn't matter. Here's the thing. We have a budget and I just found some things and we had an agreement, Chris, that we're going to go really light this year. It's a fairly small budget. There's no big gifts under the tree. They're very small, just fun little things. Nothing major. That was the deal. And we were supposed to just go buy a whole bunch of presents for the other person to open. There was no prior "we're going to buy exactly 10 gifts or we're going to buy exactly seven gifts." There was none of that. It was just go find some fun stuff that you think the other person would like.
So it does not have to match up. Mike does make a good point. The budget is the budget. And I have always been very staunch about who cares what it even costs. If it's something that the other person would like, get it for them.
The Aftermath
All right, I have the $2 gift already and I'm going to buy a present for you that's at budget and then I'm just going to go around the house and grab stuff and wrap it up so that you'll open up. Oh, a can of cream of mushroom soup.
If you want a Christmas like that, go ahead. We'll see how that works out. A pair of socks. I think I have a pair just like this. As a matter of fact, you do. Got them out of your drawer a couple weeks ago.
Or you can just do one sock to replace the one that went through the micro black hole in the dryer. She opens one sock. A little later she can open the second one. Now I'm getting up to seven now.
And the other problem is she is an artist and so she can wrap gifts that look like they come out of the Smithsonian and that's half the fun. And I like gift bags because my corners don't come out very good.
I've tried to teach you.
It's not that he can't, it's that he won't. But it's okay. A present is a present and it's all wonderful.
The Winner
Mike ends up with three points. Chris, you have two. You could have even possibly tied him, but you even got the bonus question wrong. So Mike takes home the trophy today. Congratulations.
[Discussion about the bronze goat trophy ensues, including jokes about it being a "graven image" and the "graven craven" and memories of moving pottery items around the house to annoy Emilee.]
Final Thoughts
Well, Mike, thanks for hanging out with us today. Anything you want to leave with the audience before you go back to your Texas life?
Well, I mean, it's a time to be thankful and we have so much to be thankful for—family and friends and it's just great to be reunited with you guys again here on the show. And you know, say hi to Iowa for me. I miss you guys even as I love my life here. It's weird. I wish I was two people.
We know the feeling with people we've left all over the country in different states. Facebook doesn't really do it, but we know that forever family is going to get together and we're all going to party in the new Jerusalem.
Thanks for being with us, Mike.
My final thoughts, Emilee, is that you get into the Word of God. You stay into the Word of God. Let it be your final authority. Let the Word of God be sufficient. Don't try to add anything to it.
And don't forget if you really want to get into last days discussions, there are some things at Salvaged by God for you, including in the description The Last Deception, a message I delivered a year and a half ago, but it's there for you. And so thank you guys for being a part of this show by listening, watching, whatever you're doing.
There you go. And a reminder, don't forget to—if you haven't already—like, subscribe, and share this with people if you've been blessed by it or if you had a little fun with us. And then remember, join us back here again next week and I promise you next week we will have a Thanksgiving show.