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Watching the Great Falling Away: Discerning Truth in the Age of Deception

Last week, we talked about some controversy in the Christian music industry. This week, we're going to be talking more about the apparent great falling away happening right before our eyes. The great falling away and the great deception, the lie coming from Thessalonians and the day is coming according to Hebrews. And so we keep our eyes open for it.

Last week I wanted to talk about how AI and the progression of it is really interfering in the Christian life, making it a little bit more difficult. Also, some Bible translations as they're kind of going awry. And I also wanted to talk about Michael Tate, but then things just kind of got bigger and bigger and bigger. So last week we focused on that Christian music industry controversy.

Since then, with the Michael Tate scenario, it really kind of beared out what we said in the last show was really true - where there's smoke there's probably a lot more fire. Turns out there's a lot more fire. There's other bands in the Christian world that are much like Michael Tate and this is heartbreaking to me, but that's one of the reasons why no one said anything because it's not that they wanted to not expose Michael. They didn't want to expose maybe a whole lot more.

One of my points last week was let's just hold our water. When revelations like this come out, we have a tendency to either judge or just say, "Ah, we got to forgive. It's okay." And my point was, let's hold our water. Let's let everything come out. Let's really understand what we're looking at and then we can make a judgment, and that has proved pretty good advice in the light of what's gone on for the last week.

We've been talking about how sin splatters. We've been talking about how the need for repentance and forgiveness is there and there is a softening of our heart, but we still look for justice and we still look for getting some of this up and out of the industry. Why? Because I don't think we're going to. So, we got to try.

The Great Deception: AI in Christian Content

As AI continues to move forward, it impacts every single aspect of life, but particularly our online stuff that we do. Not that long ago, I saw a report that AI was asked, who are credible Bible teachers today, right now? And surprisingly, AI had John MacArthur on the list. That was kind of shocking because I'm so skeptical. I assumed AI was just going to put false teachers out there.

Is that a good thing or a bad thing? With just a short bit of time, sure enough, more stories came out indicating - this is from protestia.com - that there are YouTube channels out there that are AI generated using John MacArthur's voice. This particular one that they focus on is called John MacArthur World and all of it is AI.

I watched a few videos from that over the last month, and I thought it was spot-on. Not only that, but I thought it was like on the harsher side, you know, and I don't mean that in a negative way. I mean in a positive way where it was like "here's the facts, Jack. Either deal with it or not." The phrase we use as a pastor is we milk a lot of cows, but we churn our own butter. But there was some quotes that came directly from that that I'm like, "This is good. I may use that." But you can tell it's AI, and you can also tell that that means your radar should go way up.

Not only should your radar go up, but you've got to learn to discern. That is just a mantra that I have for myself, and I hope other Christians do as well. Because here's the thing. On John MacArthur World Channel, these Bible teachings, maybe not all of them, but a significant number of them are completely AI generated. And so, what does Satan do to deceive you? He surrounds that deception with a whole lot of truth. And so that channel might have some stuff that is actually John MacArthur stuff but at least some of it that we know of is completely AI generated.

That's how they suck you in. You accept it as John MacArthur and then you get fed these lies. Now, there's like over a hundred videos on that channel right now. And there's hundreds and thousands of people that are listening to it. And if you look at the comments, there's lots of very positive comments that people are liking this, people are absorbing this, and people are accepting this.

There are some telltale signs and there always is when it comes to when Satan starts doing his dirty work. It can be subtle but you'll find it if you're looking. A couple of them are this:

1. In order to pick up on the fact that it is AI generated, you'd have to number one be a discerning slash mature Christian. And I don't mean that you're old. I just mean that you've been walking very seriously with the Lord for a significant amount of time.
2. You would also need to be really familiar with John MacArthur, what he teaches, and how he teaches.

Here's some telltale signs that people picked out that this is not John MacArthur:

First, there were some really surprising titles on some of the videos like "Van Halen News Boys and what they have in common." One was "Seven surprising biblical truths about black people in scripture." You think John MacArthur is really going to have a message titled that? No. MacArthur's teachings always wrap around every child's red blood runs through their veins and every tribe, nation, and tongue is going to be singing praises to the king.

Another one: "What really happens eight days before death?" I don't think scripture really talks about that.

Another weird one, and you see this a lot: "God's urgent message. Watch this before April 8th, 2025." That's just a title to give people to click. It's clickbait.

And "What truly happens seven days after death." This is just weirdness. And if you know John MacArthur, those are not titles of his messages. John MacArthur exegetes the Bible. And then he tries to speak the truth as lovingly as he can.

There's other telltale signs, like terminology. One of them was the Bible references. Instead of saying First Corinthians, the AI generated sermon would say One Corinthians. In some countries, other people do reference it like that, but John MacArthur does not.

A lot of other people notice that just the cadence of how John MacArthur speaks - it's not his normal cadence. And so there are some people who can truly pick it out but for the vast majority of people they can't.

And John MacArthur's not the only one. Vodie Baucham as well. There are channels that come across like it's a Vodie Baucham channel. It's not. And it's AI generated. And listeners after listening for a while, they realize, "Ooh, this sermon is departing from his reformed Baptist theology." And so they know it's not him. Also, same thing with the cadence. It's just so mechanical even though it really does sound like him.

Now today it might be somewhat possible to pick out that it's AI generated but over time it is going to get harder and harder because you have to remember AI is learning - it's teaching itself to get better and better and better and someday it's going to be really tough to tell the difference.

The church that I pastor was founded on this concept. We have to get back to what are the basic tenets. And the basic tenets we have at this church and that Vodie has in his teaching and that MacArthur has in his teaching is that the Bible's true word for word, cover to cover, and our final authority for our life on earth. And we understand that it's a massive thing. It's not just why is there not a chapter in the Bible on baptism? Why is there not a chapter on the Bible on whatever fill in the blank? Because it's all throughout the whole thing. It's a conglomerate truth that we know is written by the spirit of God because otherwise it's absolutely impossible for this to have happened.

Jay Johnson was telling me that him and some of his cohorts, they had a pastor's convention that he went to. And they actually were playing with AI and they were asking it theological questions and that it went 10 for 10 - spot-on answers to theological questions. But that's not always the case, is it? No. And that's what Satan does. He pretends you're his friend until he's not. And he wants to get your trust and he wants to you to start believing him. And so yeah, it's not going to pop off the page and say, "I'm heresy written all over." No, it's subtle. It's very subtle and it's going to start out like everything else. Starts out good and then it just slowly goes bad, just like restaurants when they first start up - they're the greatest thing and they're so good. And then over time and it's like 15 years later, you realize we haven't been there in a long time because they've really gotten not as great.

Two Essential Practices for Christians Today

The virtual world is just that - virtual. It's not trustworthy. You have to be oh so very careful. It's fluid. It can be edited. It can be duplicated. It can morph. And we are to the point where it's really hard to even know what to trust anymore.

So then you ask yourself, well, what do you do? Because a lot of our time is spent online. But there's two things that I think the Christian today really needs to do:

1. Get Plugged into a Local Church

Number one, you need to get plugged into a local church. Get to know personally the person standing in the pulpit. Get to know the people who are sitting and listening to this teaching week after week after week and be discerning and be careful.

Now, I realize that's actually getting harder and harder and harder to do these days. And so, that's why it's like do it now. Find one now that not only will feed you, but that you can then help stay strong as well.

I've always used the analogy of the deserted island. You know, the Tom Hanks character has been on a deserted island on Castaway and they show up to rescue him and there's three huts. And they're like, "What are the three huts?" And he says, "Well, the first one, that's where I live." And they said, "Well, what's the second one over there?" He goes, "Well, that's where I go to church." And they said, "What about the third one over there?" He goes, "That's where I used to go to church."

It's not really the humor in it. It's not a gutbuster. It's a chuckle because of the truth wrapped around it that we have a consumer Christianity problem. And so finding a good ground church and staying in it and plugging in means that's going to be your forever family. You're with forever family people there that love Jesus. You take a coal out of the pile of coals when you're going to grill and you take one and set it aside, it goes out pretty quick. It's cold. Cut one from the herd and they're vulnerable. So, we're stronger together. And a good ground church is going to have a structure with leadership that if good will keep the church from going off the deep end.

We've been to Israel many many times over many years now. And every time we went, we said, "Oh, it's such a privilege to go because there may come a day where we can't." Here we are. That's been the last year and a half. So I think that really applies to finding a church, plugging in and helping that church sustain. Do it now. You may not have one in the future. It may take you some time to find one, but that just means it's all that more important to find one that is good ground.

So take time to seek out and anchor into a good church where there's good ground, good teaching. They're actually opening up the Bible. They're encouraging you to open up the Bible, read it for yourself. They're not just cherry-picking a verse here and a verse there, but they're teaching you passages and they're supporting their teachings by other scriptures that support that passage and your interpretation of it.

2. Get a Credible Bible Translation

The second thing that you really need to do is you need to get yourself at least one credible translation of the Bible. Again, it's getting harder and harder to do. Translations are coming out so fast and furious.

When they first actually put the Bible onto paper so that the average person could read it, that was a long, arduous process. If people really understood how hard it was to take the original language, the original manuscripts, translate them into English, and how it went through Latin and the Vulgate and all that stuff to finally get to English and then how the English language sometimes doesn't even match up.

I am talking about the book. The book because the paper copies won't be updated. They're not going to be tweaked. And so have a paper copy because the devices, the computers can be altered and changed and it can happen in a blink of an eye as far as when AI starts taking over. You can have your app on your phone completely changed and one verse can say something totally different than what it did last week. You wouldn't know. And it'll be subtle. It'll be a deceptive thing.

Get yourself at least one. And I say at least one because the more the merrier. I like having the paper Bible there and I have King James, I have NIV, and I have them laid out so I can just quickly go, all right, we're going to compare and contrast. We're going to be in Ephesians chapter 4. What does verse four say in this one and this one? And it really brings out the context, and context context context is everything. It gives us understanding.

Bible Translations Guide

Best Translations:

1. The NASB, the New American Standard Bible - When scholars are surveyed, and this has been going on for several years, NASB tops the list over and over again, judged by Bible scholars, that this is the most accurate, best Bible for them to teach and learn and grow out of.
2. King James Version - Of course, the King James version has withstood the test of time. People still use it even though it's kind of hard to read for some people. "Thy verily doeth I agree with ye." There's some King James version only guys out there that I think are some of the most deep Bible scholars out there and they get a lot out of it and God bless them.
3. Legacy Standard Bible - That's one of the newest translations to come out. It's very credible. When you look at the group of people behind it that worked on it and approved it and went through the actual process of writing a translation, it's very, very good. It's very, very credible. It is a little bit more difficult to read than like the NASB a little bit. There's a few phrases where it's like "What does that mean exactly?" That's where study notes and stuff really help.
4. ESV, English Standard Version - That's kind of my go-to. There was a guy who put out a little meme that had like little pictures of male study guys based around their version. Like the King James version was a guy holding a big Bible and he had wire rim glasses. And when it came to the ESV, it was the hipster guy with a coffee, you know, because of how it's gone. But the ESV to me is the blend of the four that I've listed. If you blend those into one, I think you come out with ESV.
5. CSB, Christian Standard Bible - I think the little brother to ESV is the one that I use at home. It's my home Bible. I'm preaching out of Revelation 2 and chapter 3 for the next six weeks. And I read them all first out of the CSB and then I go back and my study Bible is NASB and then I use ESV on the screen and that's what I preach from.

Most Commonly Used Translations:

1. NIV - These aren't necessarily the most accurate, but they're not bad and they are the most commonly used. NIV, as we talked about, I think that one is updated and changed more than any other version because it just constantly changes. Even on my phone, I'll look it up and it's like, "Oh, that's different than what my paper says."
2. New King James - I like the New King James. I like it a lot. In fact, if you took away all my other translations and gave me that, I'd be okay.

NIV, it just feels like if you go to an ice cream shop and you get a shake or a malt, and it gets kind of really runny and most of the ice cream's out of it. That's what I feel like when I read the NIV. It just doesn't feel like it's got the same substance.

Not Good Translations:

1. The Paraphrases - The Message would be one of them. The Living Bible is another one. You have to realize these are just paraphrases. You are not actually reading scripture when you open up that book.
2. New Living Translation (NLT) - The New Living Translation is beautifully written. However, it is one of the really less accurate translations. I even hesitate to use the word translation for the New Living Translation. The good is that the NLT can be a reading of the Bible where you can consume a lot and you can listen to it or read it and kind of get the overall gist of it. The bad with the NLT is that there are enough verses that you can slice and take out of context that it is the number one translation used by bona fide false teachers out there. And they take one verse and they twist it into saying something that it never said, that God is speaking something that God never spoke. And so it's been a lighter fluid for the flame of deception for many false teachers.
3. The Passion Bible - The Passion Bible is a very new Bible that came out. It's hot off the presses. It's selling very well. This is a dumpster fire. If you have the Passion Bible, just throw it away. Just get rid of it because it's really in error. The Passion really is a paraphrase and it doesn't acknowledge that it's a paraphrase. But here's how you can tell: Like The Message, The Passion - one guy sat down and basically rewrote the Bible. That's not how translations come into being. There's a method in which a group of scholars with credentials and credibility and who are accepted by Christianity at large, they will come together. They'll go through the Bible word by word, thought for thought. They will write down what they think, how they could translate that better or into another language or whatever. And then that group of men, they come to an agreement of some sort as to what really is a good word-for-word or thought-for-thought translation.

I've heard several very credible teachers who not only say this is not a good translation, but they warn people it's in error. It is actually in error and get rid of it. Just throw it away. Just avoid it.

Right On or Way Off?

It is time for Right On or Way Off. And this is where I am going to throw three statements at Chris and this time at Steven as well. And they're going to tell me whether these statements are right on or way off.

Statement #1: Faith is a response to evidence, not a rejoicing in the absence of evidence.

Chris (Right On): I always believe that we don't have blind faith, our faith is based on the actual evidence. And when you look at it through even like a detective view or an investigative journalist like the dude from Case for Christ, you can see that we are basing our faith. When you talk about faith, I'm not talking about generic faith. Like, I have faith I'm sitting in this chair, it's not going to collapse. Why? Because I believe in the science and the manufacturing that went around building this chair strong enough.

Steven (Way Off): Well, now having to defend my devil's advocate position, I was going to go at it from a standpoint that I can already defend biblically that I'm wrong. I was going to go at it from the point of tribes in Africa, people that may never see the scriptures. But then I think it's in Matthew at the end of Matthew where it talks about no one will be without an excuse. So back to Chris's point, there is evidence of a creator at the bare minimum if you just look around at our creation. So I answered way off and I'm wrong.

Emilee's Explanation: It's absolutely right because both of you referenced Hebrews 11 verse one where it says, "Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen." And so we don't want to confuse faith with hope. Faith is the assurance in whatever it is you're hoping for. That's a great verse. That really is like a Webster definition right there.

But then if you drop down to verse seven, God gives a couple examples of faith. He uses Cain and Abel. But down in verse seven, he actually references Noah. And he says, "By faith, Noah being warned by God concerning events as yet unseen in reverent fear, constructed an ark for the saving of his household."

He heard God's word. He had never seen a flood before. And then there was no water even in the area. How is this area going to flood? It kind of didn't make sense. But number one, God said it. And what did Noah see? What did he understand? He understood that God is righteous. He was seeking after God. And God called him a righteous person. And he could see the evil around him. And he knew God was also powerful. He understood that God made the world. So he understood God could certainly destroy the world. And so when he heard God's word, he believed it because of the evidence even though he couldn't yet see it.

Now contrast that with Adam and Eve. You have the total opposite effect where God told them don't eat from the tree of good and evil. And when Eve started listening to Satan, she was looking at evidence, but she put her faith in what Satan was saying. And then all of a sudden, she had no faith in what God had said.

Don't confuse hope with faith. Faith is the assurance of those things that are hoped for and those things that we can really have assurance in are the things that God told us specifically.

Statement #2: Scientists and politicians have been lying to us. The Bible even says the earth is flat.

Steven (Way Off): Well, you had me with the first part of that statement. I was ready to go. They're lying to us. Earth is flat? Maybe not on that one.

I think right now it's infiltrating the church. It's also infiltrating some sects of conservatism even just politically. And then those that don't know scripture well can kind of get baffled into "oh yeah that sounds right" from the Bible.

I guess what I would go to is all the evidence or the mentions in scripture about the relationship of the earth, the moon, the sun, the stars and just the fact that if the earth is out of alignment and even how does the different phases of the moon work in relationship to the sun? I know what I don't know too is scientifically explaining all that, but I've heard enough of it, read the Bible enough that it's really hard to come to the conclusion that the earth is flat.

I would ask a pilot. I've actually seen videos of where they talk to a pilot and if you look at your path from one place to another, it is spherical rather than just a straight shot. So yeah, I would say way off. But in a lot of other areas, yes, scientists in the government are lying to us.

Chris (Way Off): In the Bible it actually says, I think it's Job I could be wrong, where God sits on the sphere of the earth and it talks about it being a sphere. The other thing is just common sense. I mean we have flown all over the world and if you actually have your GPS working right now with satellites in orbit and we can go to the space station, you can see it. You can see the sphere of the earth. It's not flat.

And so if you just took off in an airplane and just started flying east, you would eventually come back to your hometown. And so if you were traveling in a straight line, it wouldn't make sense on a flat earth model.

Plus, here's the other thing. Where's the money? Where's the money in the flat earth theory?

Emilee: That statement is indeed way off. You are both right. You both get a point. Congratulations. And what I loved is both you guys just demonstrated our statement before. Like we maybe can't go out into space ourselves and visually look at it. We haven't seen it from space, but looking at all the other evidence, flight patterns, a big one - yeah, I'm going to believe that. And then when you get into God's word and you see that it says, a lot of translations say that the earth is a circle, but that word in the original language can also be translated as a sphere.

Statement #3: A cupcake without frosting is just a muffin.

Chris (Right On): I say right on because I was able to catch that he was going way off and I know he's really competitive and I don't want him to lose. This way this way he has a chance to tie. I think it's a turn of phrase that you got to have frosting to make a good cupcake.

Steven (Way Off): I hate frosting. But you give me a good chocolate cupcake, I will wipe off the frosting and give it to my daughter. Oh wow. And I just like the cupcake. And a cupcake - I don't know this for a fact cuz I don't bake, I grill - but I believe the ingredients are different in a cupcake than a muffin. I believe there's more sugar in a cupcake than a muffin.

Emilee: That statement is way off. That's exactly right. Now, that statement comes as a suggestion from one of our listeners, Allan from Michigan, and going by his judgment. He says, "Way off. A glazed bagel doesn't become a doughnut. It's still a bagel."

So, Steven gets that point. You guys are tied two to two. And I don't even have another question. You're tying great minds think alike. We all win.

Final Thoughts

Steven: Final thoughts - pray for Israel right now and then maybe some of the questions we talked about - really dig in to find the truth because we are being deceived left and right. So, whatever the topic may be, whether it's cupcakes or political or theological, dig in and find what the real truth is.

Chris: Freshroadmedia.com - and behind Emilee, you have Bible Sidekick and Burden Stone. We also have the movie Colors of Character and the movie Bible Idiots. I had a hand in all of those and so I would encourage you to make a gift this month, help us upgrade some of the stuff in the studio and we'll send you one of those.

No one's getting paid. Everybody is doing this as a volunteer. We're doing this as an act of like a passion project. And I get up in front of my congregation all the time and I say, "Share the gospel any way you can." Well, this is something that Emilee and I can do. And so, we're going to keep doing it.

We're taking the whole month of July off. We're going to try to retool the studio. And right now, we don't have enough funds to make that happen. So, if you would want to help out, that would be great.

Don't forget to like and subscribe if you haven't already. Tell your friends, tell your family, tell your enemies because we would love to have everyone join us. And don't forget you can connect with us. Emilee at emroadia.com or Chris at chris@freshroadmedia.com. If you have a suggestion for Right On Way Off we'd love it. And we will see you back here next week on No Apology with Emilee and Chris.