Feb. 17, 2025

10 Secrets About Church

10 Secrets About Church

A discussion about a YouTube video called, 10 Secrets Pastors Don’t Want You to Know About Church.

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A discussion about a YouTube video called, 10 Secrets Pastors Don’t Want You to Know About Church.

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Looking at our world from a theological perspective. This is

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the Theology Central podcast making Theology Central. Good morning everyone.

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It is Monday, February seventeenth, twenty twenty five. It is

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currently ten forty five am Central Time, and I am

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coming to you live from the Theology Central studio located

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right here in Abilene, Texas. Now, I don't know for

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you when you first walked into a church. I don't

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know if you grew up in the church and so

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you just was always around church culture, church people, church events,

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going to church, youth group, all just all of the

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things that make up church. You it may just be

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a part of your life. You don't really know a

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life of anything different. Others may you may have walked

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into church the first time, maybe as a teenager, maybe

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as an adult. So for some of you you may

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not be able to answer this. Others of you you

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may be very quick to answer this. What was like

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for you? What were the things about church that either

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kind of shocked you, surprised you confused you you were like, wait,

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I did because maybe you had kind of an idea

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of what church was going to be like and then

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maybe you found out it wasn't quite like that. I mean,

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were you kind of what was the first thing that

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kind of shocked you or or surprised you or confused you.

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What was the first time Maybe even if you grew

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up in it, maybe at some point you were kind

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of like, I don't think this is what church was

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supposed to be, or this is not the way I

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think it should be. What was that first thing for you?

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Now for me, I'm trying to think where because I

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had just, you know, very brief encounters with church, you know,

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kind of growing up, I didn't have a lot. My

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first when I really kind of entered church was after

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I became a Christian as a teenager, and a couple

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of things that kind of shocked me about church was well,

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one when my you know, when my mother was in

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the hospital dying, and then I got in trouble for

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not at not mowing the lawn of the church. That

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was a little shocking. The way people kind of handled that.

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You kind of realize people were kind of selfish, they

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were self centered sometimes that their way of supposedly offering

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comfort was a little bit confounding and confused. You notice

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that that churches seemed to be somewhat I don't know

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if I like the term. It's like this group seems

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still like this, and this group seems to like this

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and possible, you know, fighting within the church. That kind

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of surprised me a little bit. I think I was

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somewhat shocked to find that. You know that if you

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put if you take everyone in church and you put

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them in a room where everybody's you know, having food eating,

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that a lot of the conversations that it's not really

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about doctrine, theology, the sermon, the Bible. It's about all kinds.

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It's just about normal stuff. Their job, this hunting trucks,

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or their kids, their grandkids, like just normal stuff. Because

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in my mind, oh, these people are passionate about the

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Word of God. They care about doctrine, they care about theology.

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So I was somewhat surprised by that. I mean, I

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was obviously extremely shocked and surprised. I've told the story

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countless times when the pastor's wife smashed the window out

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of the front door of the house I was in

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because I was listening to foreigner and pulled me out

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by my ear and told me I couldnot have a

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personal relationship with Jesus Christ by listening to that kind

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of music. That whole story was crazy. Now I know,

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I'm not going into all the details of what happened,

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but it was nuts. So oh I time seeing a

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teenage girl who had become pregnant put behind the pulpit

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to offer an apology to everyone for becoming pregnant, but

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the teenage boy was nowhere to be found. Some of

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those situations we're kind of bizarre. I've said some really

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weird things in churches that kind of shocked me. Now again,

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I may have been naive, right, I may have approached

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it thinking, oh, it's going to be like this, and

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what you ultimately realize Ultimately Now, some people's theology doesn't

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want to admit this is the church is filled with sinners.

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Right.

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We may be Christians, but we are still sinners. As

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much as Christians don't like to admit that. We like

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to no, no, no, we are all new creatures of

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the old is gone. Everything is new. We've been set

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free from the power of sin. Basically, we can be holy.

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The reality is, if you're involved in church, you see

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they are a center. They are a ciner. I'm a sinner.

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They do this, they do that, they say this. There's backstabbing,

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there's gossip, there's slander, there's complaining. There's people basically playing

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a political game to get power, to get influence. They're

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trying to take over this this they're waiting for it

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to get this person out so they can do this all.

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I mean, it's just as sinful and as ungodly as

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basically any other institution. I know we don't want to

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admit that. I know we don't want to admit that,

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but I think that's the way we have to approach

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it now. The reason I'm asking these questions and talking

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about all of this is earlier this morning, I came

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across a YouTube video purely by accident, I was. I

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was there checking make sure there was no comments or

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anything on any of you know, our content that we

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uploaded YouTube. I was making sure someone you know, hadn't

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said anything rude or you know, anything along those lines.

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And I guess the algorithm, you know, said hey, you

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should watch this, and it was the name of the

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video is it's not was it is ten secrets pastors

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don't want you to know about church. Ten secrets pastors

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don't want you to know about church. Now, that's that

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that that type of video title is perfect for YouTube.

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I was watching a Christian YouTuber the other day or

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about a week ago. He was kind of complaining and

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kind of frustrated with Christian YouTube, thinking about quitting it

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because all the videos. If you're if you're gonna have

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a video that's gonna be successful on YouTube in the

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Christian world, it's got to be it's gotta be something

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about shocking and this has been revealed. It's always got

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to be some kind of sensational title. It can't just

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be my teaching on first Peter chapter one, verses one

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through four. No no, no, no, no no, that's not

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going to get that many views. It can't be a

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discussion about the hypostatic union. No no, It's going to

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be shocking secrets about the hypostatic union. And you got

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to have, you know, the little thumbnail artwork of someone

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looking shocked or or some expression of surprise on their face.

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And it's going to be hidden secrets discovered. This found this,

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you know, exposed the hair receipt of this. Taylor Swift

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is satan. You know, it's gonna be some kind of

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sensational thing and then you'll get all the clicks and

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all the downloads, which just kind of shows you the mentality.

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I don't know of a lot of the Christian world,

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but I know the same thing to be true in

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Christian podcasting. If I want to get the downloads, if

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I want to get the streams, I just need to

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have a title that's like shocking this that oh talk

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about whatever the controversial. Chase the controversy. Chase the controversy.

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Be first with the controversy and then or create the controversy,

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especially if you can like call someone else, call some

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other minister out by name, and then they respond to you.

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It's kind of like the same thing happens in rap music,

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right if you're if you are Kendrick and Drake and

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you call each other out, well, then everyone's like, oh,

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so what are they gonna say, Oh, let's go listen

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to their song? Are they responding, Oh, now they've got

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a song? And then well, ultimately both people just make

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more money. Well in the Christian world, some in Christian

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podcasting world, Christian YouTube world, the same thing can happen.

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So the tile fits the typical algorithm that the Christian

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YouTube world wants. Ten secrets, Oh we got secrets. These

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are things pastors don't want you to know about church,

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all right, So I mean it got my attention. So

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what we're gonna do is we're going to review this.

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I have not listened to any of it. I have

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no idea of these are interesting secrets?

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Are there?

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Are these just ridiculous things? Are they? Are they legitimate claims?

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Are they full? I don't know. I don't know what

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we're gonna say, but I do agree that I think

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I don't know if we call them secrets. I think

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there's a lot of things when you enter into the

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church that can be somewhat shocking or surprising going. I

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didn't really think it would be this way. I didn't

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think it would go down this way. And I really

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started learning. I started really beginning to understand how messed

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up the church can be when I started talking to

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different pastors. In fact, the one that opened my eyes

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the most was he was a chad. When I was

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in the United States Air Force stationed at Dias Air

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Force Base, the chaplain at the time, I would go

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to lunch with him, we would hang out some. He

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went through I mean, the reason he was a chaplain

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is he never wanted to be a pastor again, because

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he told all of these stories of things that happened

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when he was a pastor, and I was like, what

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in the world what was going I mean, it was

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crazy stories. And then I've heard other pastors tell stories

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that are just absolutely crazy. Charles Stanley has the famous

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story that it was a business meeting and he got

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punched by a deacon, and I'm like, what in the

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world was going on. I've heard other even people from

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my church, some of their stories. When my church first

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started the church, some of the other people had come

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from that church that it became so like contentious and

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divisive that they tried to come to church and they

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had armed guards at the door not letting them in.

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And You're like, you hear these stories and You're like,

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what in the world was going on? What was happening

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in churches? But I see now philologically, I'm much better

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prepared to understand it. There was a time I didn't

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understand it, especially when I was extremely into lordship. It'd

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be like, well, nobody is saved, nobody in the church

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is saved. Well, if you keep going that direction, sooner

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or later you're gonna have to acknowledge that you're not saved.

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Right now, since I've kind of moved away from that understanding,

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my perspective is a little bit easier now. It's a

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little bit easier to process. The church is made up

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of sinners and they still sin, and that sin shows

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itself in church all the time, all the time, and

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that the people in the church, no matter how godly

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they try to pretend they want what they want, they're

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gonna get what they want. And if they don't get

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what they want, either they're getting read of view, or

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they're leaving okay, or they're going to divide the entire church.

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People are selfish, self centered, and it's and they it's

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just it's a mess. It's but in some ways we

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should expect that. So I'm saying all of that to

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say that what he thinks are secrets, I don't know

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how secretive they're going to be, and I don't know

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if they're going to prove what he I'm assuming he's

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going to try to use this to try to prove something.

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It may only prove that your theology needs to acknowledge that. Yes,

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and my position, I'm a new creature. Old things are

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passed away, all things have become new, but in practice,

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I'm still very much a sinner, and so are you,

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and sinners sin, and that sin manifests itself and countless ways,

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even within church culture. So that's that's the starting point

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I want to get through. I don't know if we'll

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get through old ten secrets these. It's only eleven minute video,

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so I think we should be able to get through ten.

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You know, we're not going to get through all ten, right,

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because I should have labeled this part one, because there's

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just no way, right, because I'm going to start talking

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about each one and that'll probably be forty five minutes.

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Are you ready? What do you think Number one is?

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What do you think? What do you think? What's your prediction?

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What do you think is the first secret? This video

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is going to say, here's a secret about the church

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that pastors don't want you to know. I'm going to guess.

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I'm going to bet it's going to be something like

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the church is a business and they don't want you

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to know it's a business. I bet it's going to

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go something like that. That's my guess. I could be wrong.

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What do you think? Let's find out?

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Here we go, Christians, if your pastors were completely honest

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with you about how church works, you'd probably walk away.

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And okay, wait, that's coming out the gate fast, right,

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that's coming out to get hot. Right. So hey, Christians,

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if you knew certain things that your pastors don't want

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you to know, if you knew the things your pastor knows,

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you'd probably walk away and never come back to church.

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Do you think that's true? I'm just curious what would

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be the what would be the tipping point for you

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that you would just like, you know, I'm done with

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the entire you know, institution of the church as far

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as like a physical place, a building, I'm done with that.

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I'm done with that. Is there a tipping point for you?

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For some people? I don't think there is. I think

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it doesn't matter what the church does, and doesn't matter

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what they discover, what they find out. That may be

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done with that church, but they're going to go find another.

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Now.

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Is there a tipping point for you? You're like, I'm done,

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I'm just done with the whole thing. Is there a

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tipping point for you? Let's start that over again. Yeah,

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we're not going to get too far, are we?

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All right?

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Let's start again? Right here we go.

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Christians, if your pastors were completely honest with you about

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how church works, you'd probably walk away. And that's exactly

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why they're not telling you the full truth. Pastors are

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trained not just in theology, but also on how to

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sell their church. It's a business, and that's not even

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the worst part. It's a system designed to keep people

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in line, keep the money flowing in, and to keep

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you from questioning too much. And I know this because

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I used to be one of them. I stood on

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the platform week over week, believing that I was doing

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the work of God. But looking back, I realized how

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much I kept hidden, sometimes because I was trained to

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and sometimes because I didn't even recognize the problems myself.

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Now here's the irony. When I was.

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Ordained, I actually believed that we were about to fix

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the world, like we were Batman swooping in to save Gotham.

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But in reality, it turns out we were more like

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the Kardashians, busy brand building, thriving on drama, and selling

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illusions for ratings. So today we're counting down the top

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ten things pastors don't want you to know about church.

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Wow, he's coming in strong there, He's coming in very strong.

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He mentioned a business like right, right, I mean, right

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out right out of the gate. Now, I do believe

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though a little bit of what he's saying here to this,

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I'm gonna try to I'm gonna try to look at

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this from on one hand, I'm gonna be critical and

279
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try to and try to look at it from a

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thiological perspective. This is theology central. But I'm also gonna

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try to look at it from the side of what

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being a pastor, right, and what you kind of experience.

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So I'm gonna I'm gonna try to offer maybe that

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perspective as well. So I will say this that that

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analogy that when you get ordained, you think you're gonna

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fix the world, you're gonna be like Batman. You know

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you're gonna you're gonna come, come, come in and basically

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save Gotham. There is a little bit of truth to that,

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right When you when you feel called to the ministry,

290
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you get kind of excited, right, You get like, oh, yes,

291
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I'm gonna dedicate my life to doctrine, to theology, to

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church history. I'm gonna dedicate my life life to studying

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the Bible, and then I'm gonna preach it. And then,

294
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at least in my mind again, because I didn't have

295
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a lot of that history with the church, I still

296
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was under this impression that if you show up at

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church and you're ready and you're ready to teach, and

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you're ready to study and you're ready to dig into scripture,

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that the people are going to eat it up. They're

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gonna want more. They're gonna want more, and they're gonna

301
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show up Sunday school. They're gonna show up Sunday morning.

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They're gonna show up Sunday night. They're gonna be their Wednesday.

303
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They're gonna be there and they're gonna be asking for

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more services, and they're gonna want to talk about doctrine.

305
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They're gonna want to talk about theology. And it's gonna

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be all these people with the same pursuit to learn

307
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the Bible, and they're gonna be hungry for it, and

308
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they're gonna care more. They don't care about anything else,

309
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they don't care about activities and all that. They just

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want the scriptures. And you think you're gonna be and

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it's gonna be amazing. They're gonna be calling you for

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spiritual advice and spiritual counsel and you're gonna be able

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to help them, and they're gonna be they're gonna be

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asking you theological questions, and you have this vision of

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what it's going to be and then you kind of

316
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get there and you're like, this, what just happened here?

317
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What is going on? And then people you find out

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people don't like this, and they don't like this, and

319
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they don't want this, and they don't like this, and

320
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I don't like when you do this, and then you're like,

321
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for crying out loud, and then you start realizing my entire,

322
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my entire understanding of what this was going to be like,

323
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it's not what it's like. And then, and I always

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say this, I was always in a unique position, right.

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I was in a unique position right from the very beginning.

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I mean I had problems right from the word go,

327
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right right from the word go. And I remember the

328
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first major meeting, I basically looked at I look, they

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were trying to pay me. I'm like, no, you're not

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paying me another cent. I don't want your money because

331
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you're not gonna hold it over my head. Because it

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was almost you could almost hear the implication basically, we

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pay you, we own you. And I'm like, no, no, no,

334
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You've got the wrong guy. You're not gonna pay amy,

335
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and you sure don't own me, and you sure are

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not gonna tell me what I can and can't do.

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Like I definitely pushed back on that strongly. Right, So

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I was in a position where I didn't need it, right.

339
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I was by vocational. My full time job was the military.

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My livelihood was in the military, so I could push back.

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But man, can you imagine you dedicate your life, you

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go to Bible College, you go to seminary, you're ready,

343
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you come swooping in, You're gonna save Gotham, and then

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almost immediately you're punched in the face and like, back off.

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This is the way it's going to be. And you've

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then begin to realize, wait, I gotta choose my battles here,

347
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or I'm gonna lose my job, or I'm gonna lose people.

348
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If you lose people, then you lose money, and then

349
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they can't pay you. And so then you're faced with

350
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a very ugly reality at that very moment, what do

351
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I do here? Everyone? People in the pukes are what

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you should just be bold and you should stand for God,

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and God will take care of you. It's easy for

354
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you to talk big when your livelihood is not directly

355
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connected to it. So yeah, I think you get there.

356
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I think you have this impression of how it's going

357
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to be, and I think this is where the problems begin.

358
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Right the pastor has this, I mean, think about this.

359
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The pastor has felt this call to be in ministry.

360
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They've spent their life now getting trained, Bible, college, seminary,

361
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depending how much education they've got. They spent you know, months,

362
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years of their lives thinking and dreaming of what it's

363
00:19:30.799 --> 00:19:34.880
going to be like to be a pastor, preparing, preparing, studying,

364
00:19:35.039 --> 00:19:37.920
writing sermons, thinking about the sermons they want to preach,

365
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that their whole life is committed to that. And then

366
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they get there. But the people in the pew, they're

367
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just like, this is just another church service. You're just

368
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another pastor. It's just another sermon. It's just another Bible study.

369
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Now for the pastor, no, no, no, this is a sermon.

370
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This is a Bible study like they're coaching it four

371
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different then the person, especially if you've grown up in

372
00:20:03.599 --> 00:20:05.440
the church, you're just like, you're just another guy with

373
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another sermon. I've heard a million of them, and now

374
00:20:08.000 --> 00:20:09.680
I'm going to hear a million one, right. You know,

375
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It's like I think that they're already sets up a

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difference there, and I always try to explain the difference

377
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from behind the pulpit versus sitting in the pew. There

378
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is always a difference, and I think that difference creates

379
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some of the problems the pastor sees it one way,

380
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and then the pastor has to begin to kind of

381
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WHOA I've got to manage my expectations here, and he says,

382
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he says pastors are trained not only in theology or

383
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in preaching, but also in selling the church. Well, I

384
00:20:42.640 --> 00:20:46.680
can say, in all everything I've ever done and all

385
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of my schooling, I don't think I was ever taught

386
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to sell the church. I think there was always sometimes

387
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some courses available and maybe how to do this or

388
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how to do that, but I didn't care about I

389
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wanted to take more courses on theology or church history

390
00:20:59.680 --> 00:21:03.559
for the Bible states, something along those lines. But I

391
00:21:03.559 --> 00:21:05.480
think I think, I think, I don't know if you're

392
00:21:05.559 --> 00:21:08.240
necessarily trained in selling the church, but I think you

393
00:21:08.319 --> 00:21:11.640
catch on really quick that you got to figure out

394
00:21:11.680 --> 00:21:13.680
how to sell the church. You have to kind of

395
00:21:13.680 --> 00:21:15.960
figure out how to build the brand. You have to

396
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kind of figure out how to market the church. Why,

397
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because one there may be expectations by people in the pew,

398
00:21:22.839 --> 00:21:25.559
whether they say it or not. If the church isn't growing,

399
00:21:25.880 --> 00:21:28.440
if people aren't coming in, they have a tendency to

400
00:21:28.440 --> 00:21:32.920
start thinking, well, the church is dead, the church is dying.

401
00:21:33.160 --> 00:21:35.839
I don't feel revival, maybe because the pastor is not

402
00:21:35.920 --> 00:21:39.319
spiritual enough. Then there's almost this unspoken rule that you're

403
00:21:39.400 --> 00:21:43.720
the problem. You're the problem, this church is dying. God

404
00:21:43.799 --> 00:21:46.680
is not moving. You're and and then you they will

405
00:21:46.680 --> 00:21:49.039
point the fingers. They won't point the fingers at them,

406
00:21:49.160 --> 00:21:52.839
they'll point the fingers at the pastor. And then and

407
00:21:52.440 --> 00:21:55.200
then and well then if the church isn't growing and

408
00:21:55.279 --> 00:21:58.000
people are start to leave, well then you know, then

409
00:21:58.079 --> 00:22:01.880
finances become a problem. So then you have to kind

410
00:22:01.880 --> 00:22:04.319
of figure out how to build the brand, how to

411
00:22:04.400 --> 00:22:08.759
market the church, and inevitably what happens. And I know

412
00:22:08.799 --> 00:22:15.079
people don't like to acknowledge this. Evangelistic campaigns. Are they

413
00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:19.440
truly motivated because you care about people's soul? Or are

414
00:22:19.440 --> 00:22:23.240
they motivated because you care about those empty pews? And

415
00:22:23.279 --> 00:22:29.359
what that represents now that motive it's hard to determine, right.

416
00:22:29.759 --> 00:22:31.359
There can be a part of it that it's a

417
00:22:31.359 --> 00:22:34.240
good motive, but there can be this other, unspoken motive

418
00:22:34.279 --> 00:22:36.000
that no one wants to talk about. We got to

419
00:22:36.000 --> 00:22:40.920
get people here, because if we don't, we're in trouble, right,

420
00:22:41.200 --> 00:22:44.160
So we'll start this over and let it play. And

421
00:22:45.400 --> 00:22:47.359
that's kind of his introduction, and then he's going to

422
00:22:47.400 --> 00:22:49.960
start with the first secret that pastors don't want you

423
00:22:50.000 --> 00:22:50.240
to know.

424
00:22:50.359 --> 00:22:52.960
Here we go, Christians.

425
00:22:52.960 --> 00:22:55.680
If your pastors were completely honest with you about how

426
00:22:55.799 --> 00:22:59.359
church works, you probably walk away. And that's exactly why

427
00:22:59.359 --> 00:23:01.960
they're not telling you the full truth. Pastors are trained

428
00:23:02.000 --> 00:23:04.839
not just in theology, but also in how to sell

429
00:23:04.920 --> 00:23:08.119
their church. It's a business, and that's not even the

430
00:23:08.160 --> 00:23:11.480
worst part. It's a system designed to keep people in line,

431
00:23:11.680 --> 00:23:14.079
keep the money flowing in, and to keep you from

432
00:23:14.160 --> 00:23:17.119
questioning too much. And I know this because I used

433
00:23:17.160 --> 00:23:19.720
to be one of them. I stood on the platform

434
00:23:19.799 --> 00:23:22.079
week over week, believing that I was doing the work

435
00:23:22.079 --> 00:23:24.720
of God. But looking back, I realized how much I

436
00:23:24.799 --> 00:23:28.720
kept hidden, sometimes because I was trained to and sometimes

437
00:23:28.759 --> 00:23:32.000
because I didn't even recognize the problems myself. Now here's

438
00:23:32.000 --> 00:23:35.359
the irony. When I was ordained, I actually believed that

439
00:23:35.440 --> 00:23:38.160
we were about to fix the world, like we were

440
00:23:38.279 --> 00:23:41.599
Batman swooping in to save Gotham. But in reality, it

441
00:23:41.680 --> 00:23:45.359
turns out we were more like the Kardashians, busy brand building,

442
00:23:45.440 --> 00:23:48.680
thriving on drama, and selling illusions for ratings.

443
00:23:49.000 --> 00:23:50.279
So today we're.

444
00:23:50.119 --> 00:23:53.200
Counting down the top ten things pastors don't want you

445
00:23:53.240 --> 00:23:57.440
to know about church, and trust me, if church goers

446
00:23:57.519 --> 00:24:01.200
knew these things, a whole lot more would be empty.

447
00:24:01.839 --> 00:24:05.480
Let's get started, so number ten, Church is a business,

448
00:24:05.519 --> 00:24:09.200
not a ministry. Churches love to brand themselves as spiritual homes,

449
00:24:09.240 --> 00:24:12.799
places of worship where the focus is on faith, community, worship,

450
00:24:12.839 --> 00:24:15.759
and prayer. But behind the scenes, churches are structured more

451
00:24:15.839 --> 00:24:19.160
like businesses than sanctuaries. They rely on a steady stream

452
00:24:19.200 --> 00:24:22.880
of revenue, they market themselves, and they have clear financial

453
00:24:22.920 --> 00:24:26.559
incentives to grow their congregations. The moment money is involved,

454
00:24:26.559 --> 00:24:29.200
it stops being a simple place of worship and starts

455
00:24:29.240 --> 00:24:33.039
functioning like a corporation with tax exemptions. Pastors may not

456
00:24:33.079 --> 00:24:37.519
call themselves CEOs, but they manage their churches like CEOs,

457
00:24:38.000 --> 00:24:44.240
overseeing budgets, payrollet building expansions, and even marketing strategy strategies

458
00:24:44.279 --> 00:24:45.359
to draw in new members.

459
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This isn't to.

460
00:24:46.279 --> 00:24:49.119
Say that every church is a money hungry empire, but

461
00:24:49.160 --> 00:24:53.559
the reality is without money, churches cannot operate, and that

462
00:24:53.640 --> 00:24:57.359
financial dependence shapes every decision they make. From the messages

463
00:24:57.400 --> 00:25:00.559
they preach to the programs they find. Notice how the

464
00:25:00.599 --> 00:25:04.519
humble pastor's face is plastered on billboards, newsletters, and social

465
00:25:04.559 --> 00:25:09.039
media ads. They make Apple's marketing team look reserved. Turns out,

466
00:25:09.279 --> 00:25:12.960
if you can't hook new fish, the donation pund goes

467
00:25:13.079 --> 00:25:14.160
dry real quick.

468
00:25:16.599 --> 00:25:21.559
Now, there's a lot of truth there behind the scenes.

469
00:25:21.680 --> 00:25:24.839
It is a business. There's no way to get around it.

470
00:25:24.839 --> 00:25:28.400
It's a business. You got to have money because it

471
00:25:28.519 --> 00:25:31.799
costs money to keep the building going. You gotta keep

472
00:25:31.960 --> 00:25:34.559
new people coming in because you got to keep the

473
00:25:34.599 --> 00:25:39.119
donations flowing. And like it or not, it does shape everything.

474
00:25:39.599 --> 00:25:41.759
Look a pastor that first of all, you got to

475
00:25:41.799 --> 00:25:43.559
kind of figure out your lane. So you got to

476
00:25:43.559 --> 00:25:45.799
figure out your theological team. You got to figure out

477
00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:48.720
which what your theological team is. Right. Once you figure

478
00:25:48.720 --> 00:25:52.640
out your theological team, you cannot veer, you cannot swerve

479
00:25:52.640 --> 00:25:55.759
from that. It's not a place for studying and questioning

480
00:25:55.839 --> 00:25:58.240
and struggling and trying to figure it out. No no, no, no

481
00:25:58.119 --> 00:26:00.000
no no no no, no no no. You've got to

482
00:26:00.200 --> 00:26:02.640
stay on brand. You got to stay on message, you

483
00:26:02.680 --> 00:26:05.240
got to stay on point. Right. Hey, we're this kind

484
00:26:05.240 --> 00:26:08.319
of church. We don't veer all you have to say

485
00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:10.920
because you're gonna tick someone off. And you tick someone off,

486
00:26:10.920 --> 00:26:15.160
they leave, Boom, there goes another donation. Boom, someone else leaves,

487
00:26:15.240 --> 00:26:18.400
there goes more donations. Once the donation starts going with,

488
00:26:18.519 --> 00:26:20.920
then guess what. Now you don't have money to market.

489
00:26:21.079 --> 00:26:23.640
Now you don't have money to promote, or you have

490
00:26:23.680 --> 00:26:25.880
to start cutting staff, or you don't have this, or

491
00:26:25.880 --> 00:26:28.319
you don't have that. And if you don't have the money,

492
00:26:28.480 --> 00:26:32.440
then it all begins to fall apart. There's no way

493
00:26:32.440 --> 00:26:34.759
to get you and say people say, well, what do

494
00:26:34.799 --> 00:26:36.559
you do? Well? I think you first just have to

495
00:26:36.640 --> 00:26:42.000
acknowledge money is essential and then have to be honest

496
00:26:42.000 --> 00:26:44.880
with your motivations. Okay, are we trying to get more

497
00:26:44.920 --> 00:26:47.480
people because we care about souls or because we care

498
00:26:47.519 --> 00:26:52.200
about donations. It's hard for someone to admit that. Am

499
00:26:52.279 --> 00:26:56.640
I preaching and really struggling with the text because that's

500
00:26:56.680 --> 00:26:58.920
what we're supposed to do. Or am I avoiding it

501
00:26:58.960 --> 00:27:00.880
because well, I'm gonna take some and so off. I'm

502
00:27:00.920 --> 00:27:03.160
gonna take so and so off. Look, when I start,

503
00:27:03.440 --> 00:27:06.920
I can go back from my own experiences when I

504
00:27:06.960 --> 00:27:10.119
when I started kind of moving away from lordship, I'm

505
00:27:10.160 --> 00:27:13.359
beginning to call into question some of it and started

506
00:27:13.400 --> 00:27:16.559
trying to go with a proper distinction between law and gospel.

507
00:27:16.759 --> 00:27:18.920
The writing was on the wall. I knew I was

508
00:27:18.960 --> 00:27:20.960
going to lose people. I knew I was going to

509
00:27:21.000 --> 00:27:26.519
lose people. And over time, you just just you You're

510
00:27:26.559 --> 00:27:29.519
not allowed to do that. You have to stay. This

511
00:27:29.599 --> 00:27:32.640
is what we are. And there's no room for any

512
00:27:32.680 --> 00:27:36.759
type of intellectual growth. There's no growth philologically. You just

513
00:27:37.319 --> 00:27:39.279
all you got to do is just keep saying what

514
00:27:39.319 --> 00:27:42.319
you're supposed to say. And and now everyone in the

515
00:27:42.359 --> 00:27:44.599
pew will be like, we're hungry for the word of God.

516
00:27:44.839 --> 00:27:45.839
We want to study.

517
00:27:46.200 --> 00:27:49.559
No, they don't. They just want to hear what the

518
00:27:49.599 --> 00:27:53.480
philological system that they have chosen. And so and so.

519
00:27:53.680 --> 00:27:55.519
If you care about money, well you got to get

520
00:27:55.519 --> 00:27:58.319
be careful. Are you going to take people off? You

521
00:27:58.400 --> 00:28:01.440
got to give people what they want. You got you

522
00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:03.640
and you. And it means if you need a little

523
00:28:03.640 --> 00:28:06.079
bit of entertainment, if you need a little bit of programs,

524
00:28:06.240 --> 00:28:07.920
if you need a little of this, you need a

525
00:28:07.920 --> 00:28:09.519
little of that. You got to make sure you have

526
00:28:09.559 --> 00:28:11.640
a good balance and a good mix to keep the

527
00:28:11.960 --> 00:28:15.319
So much of the church structure is there to keep

528
00:28:16.200 --> 00:28:18.759
the people happy, because if the people aren't happy, what

529
00:28:18.880 --> 00:28:21.079
is almost inevitably the first thing they do when they're

530
00:28:21.119 --> 00:28:24.599
not happy, They stop giving money. They don't give money,

531
00:28:24.720 --> 00:28:28.799
the church goes away. And I've said it so many times.

532
00:28:28.960 --> 00:28:31.519
The reality is it's a business. And if we're really

533
00:28:31.640 --> 00:28:36.559
honest about the business of it, I call it. That's

534
00:28:36.599 --> 00:28:39.759
where I really get frustrated, because if it's a business,

535
00:28:39.920 --> 00:28:42.359
then look at what you're actually getting for the money

536
00:28:42.400 --> 00:28:45.160
it takes to keep that business operating. Right, If it's

537
00:28:45.200 --> 00:28:48.920
a business, what are you getting from that business? What

538
00:28:49.319 --> 00:28:54.119
two sermons a week if you're lucky, maybe three sermons

539
00:28:54.160 --> 00:28:59.519
a week if you're lucky. For now, look at how

540
00:28:59.599 --> 00:29:01.920
much money it takes to keep the church operating, and

541
00:29:01.960 --> 00:29:05.359
look what you're actually getting the quality of preaching, the

542
00:29:05.880 --> 00:29:09.759
depth of the preaching. Is it really a place where

543
00:29:09.799 --> 00:29:12.480
there's great learning? Now, because in many cases you can

544
00:29:12.519 --> 00:29:16.039
take the entire year of sermons from any church, and

545
00:29:16.119 --> 00:29:18.240
I challenge you to do this. I mean, we're only

546
00:29:18.279 --> 00:29:21.079
in February of twenty twenty five right now. Church, go

547
00:29:21.119 --> 00:29:23.759
to go to your church and start asking people about

548
00:29:23.799 --> 00:29:27.279
all the sermons preached in twenty twenty four. Do they

549
00:29:27.279 --> 00:29:30.440
even remember any of them? What was the most significant thing?

550
00:29:31.079 --> 00:29:33.480
There's a high probability that don't have a clue. So

551
00:29:33.680 --> 00:29:35.920
all of those sermons were preached in twenty twenty four,

552
00:29:36.079 --> 00:29:40.119
nobody even remembers them, nobody even cares. But look at

553
00:29:40.119 --> 00:29:42.279
how much money it took to keep the building operating.

554
00:29:42.519 --> 00:29:46.079
But what what did everyone get for all the money spent? What?

555
00:29:46.079 --> 00:29:49.079
What did you? Did you have some fun time at

556
00:29:49.119 --> 00:29:52.000
a pot luck? Or did you have They may remember

557
00:29:52.039 --> 00:29:54.799
the little activities more than they remember any of the

558
00:29:54.839 --> 00:29:58.720
actual teaching. It's hard enough to get people to remember

559
00:29:58.759 --> 00:30:00.720
what you preached two weeks ago. It's hard enough to

560
00:30:00.720 --> 00:30:02.559
get them to remember what you preached a month ago.

561
00:30:02.680 --> 00:30:04.359
But look at how much money it took to keep

562
00:30:04.400 --> 00:30:10.680
the church operating for that month. Now, I've been very

563
00:30:10.720 --> 00:30:13.599
critical of that, right because I know that for what

564
00:30:13.640 --> 00:30:19.000
it takes to operate a church for a year. You

565
00:30:19.119 --> 00:30:22.440
give me the budget of almost any church. You hand

566
00:30:22.480 --> 00:30:24.920
that to me, give it to me what it would

567
00:30:24.920 --> 00:30:27.559
take to keep most churches going for a year. I

568
00:30:27.599 --> 00:30:32.599
guarantee you I will produce five hundred times the amount

569
00:30:32.720 --> 00:30:35.839
of content that they can even come close to producing.

570
00:30:37.920 --> 00:30:42.559
I'll be on the air morning, afternoon, evening. Okay, I

571
00:30:42.599 --> 00:30:46.559
mean give me a break. One person with a microphone

572
00:30:46.559 --> 00:30:54.279
and a computer and an internet connection that can can

573
00:30:54.319 --> 00:30:57.279
produce far more teaching, far more preaching, and far more

574
00:30:57.279 --> 00:30:59.839
any It can can do anything else. When people say,

575
00:30:59.880 --> 00:31:04.200
well there's not a personal connection. What personal connection that

576
00:31:04.240 --> 00:31:06.079
you go sit in the pew and you don't remember

577
00:31:06.119 --> 00:31:08.559
the sermon that was preached a week later? Oh wow,

578
00:31:08.599 --> 00:31:15.759
what great personal connection. So I mean like, it's a business.

579
00:31:15.839 --> 00:31:18.400
There's no way to get around it. It's a business.

580
00:31:20.599 --> 00:31:22.319
You say, well, there's no way to fix that. There

581
00:31:22.400 --> 00:31:25.519
really isn't. But I think what we have to do

582
00:31:25.599 --> 00:31:31.079
is then be honest with Because it's a business, everything

583
00:31:31.240 --> 00:31:33.839
is tainted to some level.

584
00:31:35.839 --> 00:31:39.200
But let's look at number nine. Your tithes don't go

585
00:31:39.279 --> 00:31:42.319
where you think they do. Pastors love to emphasize the

586
00:31:42.400 --> 00:31:45.079
importance of tithe and claiming it's a direct act of

587
00:31:45.160 --> 00:31:47.400
faith and that the money is used to support the

588
00:31:47.519 --> 00:31:51.079
church's mission. But let's be real, most of your tithe

589
00:31:51.200 --> 00:31:54.880
goes towards salaries, maintenance, and operating calls. While some churches

590
00:31:54.960 --> 00:31:57.480
do charitable work, the bulk of their funds are spent

591
00:31:57.680 --> 00:32:01.920
keeping the organization afloat, covering things like staff salaries, including

592
00:32:01.960 --> 00:32:06.240
the pastor's paycheck, which can sometimes be quite significant, but

593
00:32:06.359 --> 00:32:11.240
also mortgage or rent for the church, building utilities, maintenance renovations,

594
00:32:11.759 --> 00:32:15.960
and of course marketing campaigns to attract new members. Meanwhile,

595
00:32:16.279 --> 00:32:19.039
very little actually makes its way to the poor and needy.

596
00:32:19.200 --> 00:32:21.640
Churches that push tithing the hardest tend to be the

597
00:32:21.640 --> 00:32:24.960
ones most focused on sustaining their own institution, not on

598
00:32:25.039 --> 00:32:29.240
helping their communities. It's like donating to a charity that

599
00:32:29.279 --> 00:32:33.000
promises to save endangered pandas, but ninety percent of the

600
00:32:33.039 --> 00:32:36.039
funds go to pende costumes for the staff and building

601
00:32:36.079 --> 00:32:39.799
plush office spaces. Then they hand out three granola bars

602
00:32:39.799 --> 00:32:42.960
to a homeless guy, snap of picture and call it outreach.

603
00:32:47.160 --> 00:32:49.599
Man, he's going in hard. Well, that's kind of what

604
00:32:49.640 --> 00:32:52.480
I was just saying. You took take how much money

605
00:32:52.480 --> 00:32:57.319
it goes to keep that building going. All the funds

606
00:32:57.359 --> 00:32:59.839
coming in is to keep the building going. The funds

607
00:33:00.000 --> 00:33:02.400
coming in. I know we're saying, well, we tie that

608
00:33:02.640 --> 00:33:06.000
we give money because you know, we're worshiping God, and

609
00:33:06.079 --> 00:33:10.359
we turn it into we phrase it, we wrap it

610
00:33:10.480 --> 00:33:13.920
up in this robe of self righteousness and worship and

611
00:33:14.880 --> 00:33:18.519
giving to God. But you're giving to keep a building operating.

612
00:33:18.559 --> 00:33:22.480
You're giving money to keep the building going, to pay staff,

613
00:33:22.960 --> 00:33:26.039
to buy curriculum or whatever the case may be, to

614
00:33:26.440 --> 00:33:30.920
upkeep to the ac the heat, the lights, the church

615
00:33:31.039 --> 00:33:38.720
sign and marketing. Now what are you getting from all

616
00:33:38.799 --> 00:33:43.599
that money that goes in? Again, It's almost like I've

617
00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:48.000
talked about this before and I don't think anyone's ever

618
00:33:48.000 --> 00:33:51.079
taken me up on it, But I mean anybody listening

619
00:33:51.079 --> 00:33:53.319
can do it. Contact your church and say, hey, can

620
00:33:53.400 --> 00:33:57.799
I have the financials for last year and just look

621
00:33:57.880 --> 00:34:00.680
for twenty twenty four how much money came in, how

622
00:34:00.759 --> 00:34:02.720
much money did it cost to go through this? And

623
00:34:02.759 --> 00:34:04.240
then you sit down and you can look on the

624
00:34:04.319 --> 00:34:06.759
church website, you can look wherever how many sermons did

625
00:34:06.799 --> 00:34:10.320
it actually get for that much money, How many Bible

626
00:34:10.360 --> 00:34:13.880
studies were there, and what was the depth of that teaching?

627
00:34:15.159 --> 00:34:20.000
What was the significance of that teaching. Now you may say,

628
00:34:20.039 --> 00:34:21.920
well it Dea doesn't matter because I got to go

629
00:34:22.239 --> 00:34:24.280
to the potluck and then we had this, and then

630
00:34:24.280 --> 00:34:26.519
we had this, and we had this, and maybe all

631
00:34:26.599 --> 00:34:28.639
those other things are worth that much money to you.

632
00:34:28.679 --> 00:34:31.519
Maybe it is, and that's great. If you feel that

633
00:34:31.880 --> 00:34:38.039
you're getting your money's worth, then okay. But if the

634
00:34:38.119 --> 00:34:40.159
church is really supposed to be about a place where

635
00:34:40.199 --> 00:34:45.039
saints are equipped, where teaching is king, or preaching and

636
00:34:45.079 --> 00:34:48.480
teaching and theology is king, I will argue in many cases,

637
00:34:48.599 --> 00:34:51.480
the people give money to keep the church operating and

638
00:34:51.519 --> 00:34:55.079
then they get most of their spiritual nourishment their theology,

639
00:34:55.119 --> 00:34:58.000
and they're teaching from something outside other than their church.

640
00:34:58.159 --> 00:35:01.239
So you're paying all the money for the church to operate, Well,

641
00:35:01.320 --> 00:35:04.719
you're taking well, you're getting actually spiritually fed by other

642
00:35:04.800 --> 00:35:07.559
ministries that you don't give to them. But you're giving

643
00:35:07.559 --> 00:35:09.840
to the church just to keep the building going. But

644
00:35:09.880 --> 00:35:12.719
you actually have to go somewhere else to get spiritually fed.

645
00:35:15.280 --> 00:35:19.559
That's that's great. So what is the money going to?

646
00:35:19.840 --> 00:35:22.559
So it's a business. And then most cases, so number

647
00:35:22.559 --> 00:35:25.360
ten was it's a business, and number nine was in

648
00:35:25.400 --> 00:35:27.440
most cases, your money's not going to where you think

649
00:35:27.440 --> 00:35:31.719
it's going. It's going to just keep the institution operating

650
00:35:32.480 --> 00:35:35.559
because it's a business. What do you think? Number eight is?

651
00:35:37.880 --> 00:35:38.440
Number eight.

652
00:35:38.559 --> 00:35:43.360
Most pastors doubt but can't admit it, believe it or not.

653
00:35:43.880 --> 00:35:46.880
Many pastors experience doubt about their faith, but they can't

654
00:35:46.880 --> 00:35:49.920
afford to be honest about it. If a pastor publicly

655
00:35:50.000 --> 00:35:54.760
questions God's existence, the Bible's reliability, or key theological concepts,

656
00:35:54.880 --> 00:35:58.559
they risk losing their influence, their job, their congregation, and

657
00:35:58.639 --> 00:36:02.920
even their reputation. Instead, they bury their doubts and continue preaching,

658
00:36:03.480 --> 00:36:06.280
even if deep down they no longer believe what they're saying.

659
00:36:06.519 --> 00:36:09.920
This creates a culture of performance rather than genuine belief,

660
00:36:10.039 --> 00:36:13.280
where pastors feel trapped in their roles, unable to leave

661
00:36:13.639 --> 00:36:16.960
even if they no longer believe. They might spend years

662
00:36:17.039 --> 00:36:19.960
secretly questioning their faith, all while standing in front of

663
00:36:19.960 --> 00:36:23.920
a congregation preaching certainty. I can remember late night google

664
00:36:23.920 --> 00:36:27.519
binges myself about fossil evidence and contradictions in scripture, and

665
00:36:27.559 --> 00:36:30.079
then waking up Sunday morning to deliver a message on

666
00:36:30.280 --> 00:36:33.360
unwavering faith, talk about living a double life.

667
00:36:33.679 --> 00:36:39.360
Number Yeah, the church is a place for performance. You

668
00:36:39.440 --> 00:36:42.880
can't be brutally honest. In many cases, you can't be

669
00:36:43.159 --> 00:36:45.960
nobody really can't. Everyone's got to put on their little

670
00:36:46.280 --> 00:36:49.199
robe of self righteousness as, oh, we're all doing great,

671
00:36:49.199 --> 00:36:56.239
we're all overcoming, we're all victorious. Everything certainty, certainty, certainty, certainty, certainty, certainty.

672
00:36:56.480 --> 00:36:59.760
And you can't, of course, you can't challenge any fill

673
00:36:59.719 --> 00:37:02.480
a lot, you can't. You gotta just gotta give the

674
00:37:02.480 --> 00:37:04.639
people what they want. They don't want to hear any doubt.

675
00:37:04.679 --> 00:37:07.199
They don't want to hear anything. And I think to

676
00:37:07.280 --> 00:37:10.360
me that calls that demonstrates a weak faith. I've said

677
00:37:10.360 --> 00:37:12.639
it before. A faith that cannot be questioned, a faith

678
00:37:12.679 --> 00:37:15.440
that cannot be challenged, a faith that you never struggle with,

679
00:37:15.719 --> 00:37:18.639
is not really a faith. It's just you playing dress up.

680
00:37:19.840 --> 00:37:22.400
Church is where everyone goes to play dress up. You

681
00:37:22.800 --> 00:37:24.920
play dress up as a kid, and then you become

682
00:37:24.960 --> 00:37:27.360
a Christian and you play dress up by going church

683
00:37:27.480 --> 00:37:29.920
is just where we play church. It's like playing house.

684
00:37:30.159 --> 00:37:32.320
We all dress up and play our parts and play

685
00:37:32.360 --> 00:37:34.760
our role, and we all sound so oh this and

686
00:37:34.920 --> 00:37:40.920
God and this and whatever. Nobody can be the real

687
00:37:41.119 --> 00:37:43.960
them can be there. You can't really talk about your

688
00:37:44.280 --> 00:37:47.320
real struggles with sin. You're real now, I understand there's

689
00:37:47.360 --> 00:37:49.280
a time and place. I'm not saying everybody walks into

690
00:37:49.360 --> 00:37:53.719
church and starts confessing all of their vile sin. I'm saying, though,

691
00:37:53.960 --> 00:37:55.960
we could be a little bit more honest. You don't

692
00:37:56.000 --> 00:37:58.760
have to confess everything, but you can be more honest that, hey,

693
00:37:59.119 --> 00:38:03.119
we're sinners, your sinners were I said, always like those

694
00:38:03.280 --> 00:38:05.599
bad people out there, we can be like, well, we're

695
00:38:05.599 --> 00:38:09.840
not so good in here either. We got our own doubts,

696
00:38:09.960 --> 00:38:13.079
we got our own struggles, we got our own our

697
00:38:13.159 --> 00:38:15.440
own questions, and you know, and it's also it would

698
00:38:15.440 --> 00:38:18.599
be more refreshing of people. You know this text. I

699
00:38:18.599 --> 00:38:24.440
struggle with this. This makes no sense. What is going on? Now?

700
00:38:24.480 --> 00:38:27.000
You do that enough, you'll lose people in your church.

701
00:38:27.480 --> 00:38:30.559
You can't do that. Can't do that. You gotta walk

702
00:38:30.639 --> 00:38:35.199
the party line. It's not a place for the church

703
00:38:35.280 --> 00:38:37.199
is not a place for people who struggle. It's not

704
00:38:37.239 --> 00:38:39.440
a place for people who doubt. It's not a place

705
00:38:39.480 --> 00:38:48.679
for sinners. Now, one of the things most refreshing about

706
00:38:48.719 --> 00:38:53.800
being just a podcaster is I can offend people and

707
00:38:53.840 --> 00:38:56.199
take people off, but I can be real. I mean,

708
00:38:56.360 --> 00:38:58.280
I mean, what was it a couple of days ago?

709
00:38:58.280 --> 00:38:59.920
I don't remember a couple of weeks ago. Whenever I

710
00:39:00.760 --> 00:39:04.159
said I'm a degenerate, right that I can acknowledge I'm

711
00:39:04.159 --> 00:39:07.559
a sinner, I'm a degenerate, I can I can acknowledge

712
00:39:07.599 --> 00:39:10.360
my struggles and my doubts, I can ignore. I can

713
00:39:10.400 --> 00:39:13.119
say whatever I want in a podcast, right, people may

714
00:39:13.159 --> 00:39:17.679
stop listening. But okay, now again, if I really if now,

715
00:39:18.039 --> 00:39:21.079
if I if I really felt like, man, i gotta

716
00:39:21.159 --> 00:39:23.639
use this podcast to make money, I gotta make a

717
00:39:23.639 --> 00:39:25.800
certain amount of money or I'm in trouble, well, then

718
00:39:25.880 --> 00:39:29.400
guess what it would impact podcasting as well. I mean

719
00:39:29.760 --> 00:39:32.880
the same, the same problem can happen in podcasting as well.

720
00:39:33.440 --> 00:39:35.480
Then you play the part. You gotta play the part.

721
00:39:35.679 --> 00:39:39.800
And I think many Christian podcasters who who find their

722
00:39:39.840 --> 00:39:43.760
their audience and and keep saying the company line, they

723
00:39:43.800 --> 00:39:47.320
tend to do better. I tend to offend anyone and everyone.

724
00:39:47.960 --> 00:39:50.679
People who are reformed. I tick off people are not reformed.

725
00:39:50.719 --> 00:39:53.599
I take off all millennial lists, I take off dispensation lists.

726
00:39:53.679 --> 00:39:56.760
I tick off. It doesn't matter. I take off everyone

727
00:40:00.000 --> 00:40:02.360
because I'm not going to be beholden to a company line,

728
00:40:02.400 --> 00:40:04.880
a party line. I don't care. I'm my job is

729
00:40:04.880 --> 00:40:06.800
supposed to be trying to figure this out. And what

730
00:40:06.920 --> 00:40:08.800
I try to do is like I'm just a sinner

731
00:40:08.840 --> 00:40:12.039
with a microphone trying to figure this out. I got questions,

732
00:40:12.159 --> 00:40:15.119
I got doubts. Sometimes it makes sense. Sometimes I don't

733
00:40:15.159 --> 00:40:19.400
have any clue. I don't understand what's going on. I

734
00:40:19.480 --> 00:40:26.360
said before, my problems begin with these words. Everybody knows

735
00:40:26.360 --> 00:40:29.440
where I'm turning. In the beginning. God created the heaven

736
00:40:29.480 --> 00:40:31.199
and the earth. That's where I'm all my problems begin.

737
00:40:31.239 --> 00:40:32.840
Because as soon as I'm like, wait, wait, wait, wait,

738
00:40:32.920 --> 00:40:35.760
that God who's about to create is all knowing and

739
00:40:35.840 --> 00:40:38.239
all powerful, and I know exactly how this world's going

740
00:40:38.320 --> 00:40:40.440
to turn out, and I want to scream at the text,

741
00:40:40.480 --> 00:40:43.360
don't don't do it, don't create? Why are you going

742
00:40:43.400 --> 00:40:43.920
to create?

743
00:40:43.960 --> 00:40:44.159
And what?

744
00:40:44.280 --> 00:40:44.440
Wait?

745
00:40:44.440 --> 00:40:46.760
Wait wait, before you even created the world, did you

746
00:40:46.800 --> 00:40:50.360
already create this person named Satan, this angelic being named Satan?

747
00:40:50.480 --> 00:40:52.079
And who and I can go through all of my

748
00:40:52.159 --> 00:40:54.360
questions and all of my doubts, and all my philosophy

749
00:40:54.519 --> 00:40:58.119
and my struggle struggle, struggle, struggle, struggle, struggle, struggle, and

750
00:40:58.159 --> 00:41:00.360
then and then I talk about my struggle with prayer. Oh,

751
00:41:00.400 --> 00:41:02.280
you want me to pray about this situation? So you

752
00:41:02.360 --> 00:41:04.360
want me to pray to the very God who didn't

753
00:41:04.480 --> 00:41:07.119
who allowed the situation? You want to pray? You want

754
00:41:07.159 --> 00:41:09.119
me to pray to the very God who didn't intervene

755
00:41:09.159 --> 00:41:12.840
to stop the situation. He allowed the situation, and depending

756
00:41:12.840 --> 00:41:15.639
on your theology, he decreed the situation. But now I'm

757
00:41:15.639 --> 00:41:18.280
supposed to pray to him about the situation. Well, if

758
00:41:18.280 --> 00:41:20.159
he didn't do anything to stop it, if he didn't

759
00:41:20.159 --> 00:41:22.679
do anything to intervene, why am I praying to him now?

760
00:41:22.800 --> 00:41:30.599
What he's going to intervene after the fact. You know,

761
00:41:30.760 --> 00:41:33.719
a plane crashes, we'll pray for the family members, pray,

762
00:41:33.840 --> 00:41:37.480
pray for the survivors, But we're gonna pray to the

763
00:41:37.519 --> 00:41:41.119
God who didn't do anything to stop the plane from crashing.

764
00:41:41.679 --> 00:41:44.159
How do we understand that? Say, I'm not supposed to

765
00:41:44.159 --> 00:41:46.440
see in church, I can't say that. Well, in my church,

766
00:41:46.480 --> 00:41:49.480
I can because there's nobody left, right, But if the

767
00:41:49.559 --> 00:41:52.239
church had one hundred people, I could not say that

768
00:41:52.280 --> 00:41:54.480
because I would probably lose twenty five fifty in a

769
00:41:54.559 --> 00:41:59.119
Sunday And I can't really even say it in a

770
00:41:59.199 --> 00:42:01.599
Christian podcast because I'm gonna lose fifty percent of my

771
00:42:01.639 --> 00:42:08.440
audience doing that. So church becomes a place where everyone

772
00:42:08.559 --> 00:42:12.639
dresses up and pretends. In many cases, the pastors have

773
00:42:12.719 --> 00:42:15.840
to be has to be the great pretender. Was that

774
00:42:15.960 --> 00:42:17.400
Jackson Brown who did that song?

775
00:42:17.440 --> 00:42:17.639
I think?

776
00:42:17.679 --> 00:42:20.039
All right, I think it was Jackson Brown, the great Pretender?

777
00:42:20.079 --> 00:42:23.000
I'm almost positive. Okay, you can check my musical knowledge there.

778
00:42:23.039 --> 00:42:25.599
I think it was Jackson Brown. All right, But I digress,

779
00:42:25.679 --> 00:42:29.880
I digress, right. So the point is, yeah, and I

780
00:42:29.880 --> 00:42:31.719
think a lot of people in the pew the same way.

781
00:42:31.960 --> 00:42:34.599
They feel like they can't really be real, they can't

782
00:42:34.599 --> 00:42:40.039
be truthful. Now, originally small groups was supposed to be

783
00:42:40.079 --> 00:42:43.679
the solution. You're around a small group of people whom

784
00:42:43.719 --> 00:42:45.800
you can trust, and you can be real and you

785
00:42:45.840 --> 00:42:50.679
can be genuine. Maybe there's some small groups out there

786
00:42:50.960 --> 00:42:52.760
like that. But if you have to have the small

787
00:42:52.800 --> 00:42:56.440
group where you can be real and genuine, then why

788
00:42:56.440 --> 00:42:58.119
are we paying all this money to keep the church

789
00:42:58.199 --> 00:43:02.760
operating when we and small groups all already are confounding

790
00:43:02.760 --> 00:43:05.039
and confusing. We spend all of this money to keep

791
00:43:05.079 --> 00:43:07.960
the building operating, but then we meet in small groups

792
00:43:08.079 --> 00:43:10.000
outside of the church. Well, why are we paying all

793
00:43:10.039 --> 00:43:13.239
the money to get the building operating? Okay, all right,

794
00:43:13.320 --> 00:43:16.039
so yeah, that's a whole different thing. But all right,

795
00:43:17.360 --> 00:43:19.000
let's see what next. The next one is.

796
00:43:20.599 --> 00:43:23.519
Seven. Church leadership is a boys club.

797
00:43:23.639 --> 00:43:27.199
Despite the modern push for gender equality, church leadership remains

798
00:43:27.400 --> 00:43:31.480
overwhelmingly male dominated. Many churches still refuse to allow women

799
00:43:31.519 --> 00:43:34.679
to service pastors or whole leadership positions. Even in churches

800
00:43:34.679 --> 00:43:37.800
that claim to be progressive, women often find themselves stuck

801
00:43:37.840 --> 00:43:41.800
in subordinate roles, expected to support men rather than lead

802
00:43:41.880 --> 00:43:45.039
alongside them. The Bible is often used as justification for this,

803
00:43:45.159 --> 00:43:48.800
citing versus about women being submissive or women being seen

804
00:43:48.960 --> 00:43:53.239
as the weaker vessel. But let's be honest, this is

805
00:43:53.440 --> 00:43:58.159
about maintaining control. Keeping leadership male centered insures that power

806
00:43:58.159 --> 00:44:00.840
stays in the hand of men, preventing challenges to the

807
00:44:00.920 --> 00:44:04.760
traditional hierarchy. You know, there's nothing like a progressive church

808
00:44:04.840 --> 00:44:07.880
that puts women on the women's committee to decorate, cook

809
00:44:07.920 --> 00:44:11.840
and occasionally read announcements. But heaven forbid, they speak from

810
00:44:11.920 --> 00:44:16.840
the platform with actual authority, equal rights, more like equal

811
00:44:16.880 --> 00:44:18.960
pop luck contributions.

812
00:44:20.760 --> 00:44:26.119
Now, that gets into a whole philological dispute and Bible interpretation,

813
00:44:26.360 --> 00:44:28.519
because I think we can pretty much agree, whether you

814
00:44:28.719 --> 00:44:31.760
like it or not, the Bible seems pretty clear that

815
00:44:32.079 --> 00:44:34.840
it's men who are supposed to be called the ministry.

816
00:44:34.960 --> 00:44:37.480
Men are supposed to be the pastors. Whether you like

817
00:44:37.599 --> 00:44:40.239
that or not, that does seem to be the Biblical model.

818
00:44:40.639 --> 00:44:44.400
All right. Now, we could argue, you know that, you

819
00:44:44.400 --> 00:44:47.880
could have some arguments there, but you know, I don't

820
00:44:47.880 --> 00:44:50.760
think calling it a boys club. I don't think first

821
00:44:50.760 --> 00:44:53.119
that's not a secret. That's not some secret pastors don't

822
00:44:53.119 --> 00:44:54.480
want you to know. I mean, that's right out there

823
00:44:54.480 --> 00:44:56.960
in the open. It's not like, hey, pastors don't want

824
00:44:56.960 --> 00:44:59.039
you to know these secrets, and if you knew these secrets,

825
00:44:59.280 --> 00:45:01.920
you would not come back to church. Everyone knows that

826
00:45:01.960 --> 00:45:06.400
for the most part, churches believe and mail leadership within

827
00:45:06.480 --> 00:45:09.039
the church. I mean, I think that that's pretty much

828
00:45:09.079 --> 00:45:12.400
a given. I don't think that's a secret. And we could, well,

829
00:45:12.440 --> 00:45:15.000
we could spend a couple of hours trying to debate

830
00:45:15.039 --> 00:45:18.679
that philologically and biblically, but you would have a hard

831
00:45:18.719 --> 00:45:21.960
time going to the Bible going mmm. I think within

832
00:45:22.000 --> 00:45:24.400
the church it does seem to be pretty much that way.

833
00:45:25.400 --> 00:45:28.840
You could challenge some of those texts, maybe, but you're

834
00:45:28.840 --> 00:45:30.400
gonna have a hard time there.

835
00:45:30.840 --> 00:45:34.960
All right, let's go to the next one, number six.

836
00:45:35.320 --> 00:45:39.840
The church thrives on guilt and fear. Ever wonder why

837
00:45:39.880 --> 00:45:42.719
so many church messages focus on sin, judgment, and hell.

838
00:45:42.920 --> 00:45:48.320
It's because fear, guilt, and shame are powerful motivators. If

839
00:45:48.360 --> 00:45:51.599
people feel like they're constantly failing, they'll keep coming back

840
00:45:51.639 --> 00:45:55.079
for forgiveness and guidance. And if they fear punishment, whether

841
00:45:55.119 --> 00:45:58.559
in the form of hell fire or social rejection, which

842
00:45:58.559 --> 00:46:00.960
is also a form of social life version by the way,

843
00:46:01.079 --> 00:46:04.320
they'll comply with whatever the church tells them to do.

844
00:46:04.559 --> 00:46:07.840
This is why messages about love and grace are often

845
00:46:07.960 --> 00:46:12.519
paired with warnings about sin and damnation, warnings about missing

846
00:46:12.559 --> 00:46:16.320
the mark. It keeps people emotionally dependent on the church,

847
00:46:16.519 --> 00:46:19.760
making them less likely to leave. It's like a soap

848
00:46:19.800 --> 00:46:22.760
opera plot device keep the audience hooked with a cycle

849
00:46:22.800 --> 00:46:26.679
of danger and rescue, sin and salvation so that they

850
00:46:26.760 --> 00:46:30.599
never miss an episode. The only difference is in church,

851
00:46:31.159 --> 00:46:34.079
you're both the guilty sinner and the audience.

852
00:46:36.679 --> 00:46:39.679
Now we could get into do you think the church

853
00:46:39.760 --> 00:46:44.920
uses guilt and shame and sin as almost a tool

854
00:46:45.039 --> 00:46:47.280
to keep you or control you. I know people have

855
00:46:47.360 --> 00:46:51.199
made that accusation. I don't think there's any question that

856
00:46:51.280 --> 00:46:53.119
if you listen to sermons all the time, We've discussed

857
00:46:53.159 --> 00:46:55.960
it all the time. It's very much, a very much

858
00:46:56.000 --> 00:46:59.039
a moralistic message. Do this, don't do this, do this,

859
00:46:59.079 --> 00:47:01.039
don't do this. Bet some of you are doing this.

860
00:47:01.119 --> 00:47:02.719
Some of you are doing this. Some of you need

861
00:47:02.719 --> 00:47:04.559
to stop doing this. You need to do this more.

862
00:47:04.679 --> 00:47:06.280
You need to do this more, You need to do

863
00:47:06.320 --> 00:47:12.599
this more. Andevitably, whatever your failures are, whatever your weaknesses are,

864
00:47:12.960 --> 00:47:16.800
almost inevitably, I think this is almost true. You're almost

865
00:47:16.840 --> 00:47:21.440
always pointed to in some ways the church as the

866
00:47:21.480 --> 00:47:23.400
thing that will help you. You need to get plugged

867
00:47:23.440 --> 00:47:25.199
into a small group. You need to make sure you're

868
00:47:25.199 --> 00:47:28.199
showing up to church, and some of it. Maybe then

869
00:47:28.239 --> 00:47:30.400
outside of church, you need to be memorizing your Bible,

870
00:47:30.440 --> 00:47:32.079
you need to be studying your Bible. But they'll still

871
00:47:32.159 --> 00:47:33.559
kind of point you to the church as the thing

872
00:47:33.559 --> 00:47:36.400
that will help you do these things. So I don't

873
00:47:36.400 --> 00:47:39.880
think it's I don't think it's inaccurate to say the

874
00:47:39.960 --> 00:47:44.679
church thrives on moralistic messages where you are made to

875
00:47:44.719 --> 00:47:48.679
feel guilty, shame and condemned, and then in many ways

876
00:47:48.800 --> 00:47:53.079
you're pointed to going to church, more, praying, more, reading

877
00:47:53.159 --> 00:47:57.079
your Bible, more, doing more as the ultimate solution. Rarely

878
00:47:57.119 --> 00:48:01.159
are you pointed to the imputed righteousness of Christ. Rarely

879
00:48:01.199 --> 00:48:03.599
are you pointed to that. You're almost always pointed into

880
00:48:03.639 --> 00:48:05.440
four or five steps of things you need to do,

881
00:48:05.480 --> 00:48:08.119
and almost I think most of the time the church

882
00:48:08.199 --> 00:48:11.039
is kind of connected to those things, if not explicitly

883
00:48:11.079 --> 00:48:14.320
connected to those things. So do you think the church,

884
00:48:14.480 --> 00:48:18.440
how do you think the church uses this cycle? Preach

885
00:48:18.480 --> 00:48:20.920
a sermon, this is what you should be doing. You're

886
00:48:20.960 --> 00:48:23.199
not doing it. You should be doing this. You're probably

887
00:48:23.239 --> 00:48:25.039
guilty of this. You're not doing this. You're not doing this.

888
00:48:25.119 --> 00:48:26.800
You're not doing this. You should be doing this. You

889
00:48:26.800 --> 00:48:30.519
should be doing this. Now here's a solution, And almost inevitably,

890
00:48:30.599 --> 00:48:34.000
it's it's about doing things. It's not your hope is

891
00:48:34.039 --> 00:48:36.679
the imputed righteousness of Christ. It's and you doing or

892
00:48:36.719 --> 00:48:40.039
stop doing things. I think that they're I don't know

893
00:48:40.079 --> 00:48:41.880
if I would frame it just the way he did,

894
00:48:41.920 --> 00:48:44.599
but I think there's a little bit of I think

895
00:48:44.599 --> 00:48:45.599
there's something to that.

896
00:48:47.679 --> 00:48:51.800
Number five. Most church growth is just people switching churches.

897
00:48:52.559 --> 00:48:54.679
Churches love to brag about growth, but.

898
00:48:54.880 --> 00:48:55.639
Here's the truth.

899
00:48:55.880 --> 00:48:59.800
Most new members aren't actually new believers. I've been sounding

900
00:48:59.800 --> 00:49:02.320
this alarm for a little while now. They're just Christians

901
00:49:02.360 --> 00:49:05.480
moving from one church to another church. And most times

902
00:49:05.519 --> 00:49:09.639
they're not even good Christians. But pastors measure success by attendants.

903
00:49:09.840 --> 00:49:12.159
But what they don't tell you is that many churches

904
00:49:12.239 --> 00:49:15.719
actively recruit from other congregations rather than bringing in people

905
00:49:15.719 --> 00:49:20.440
who weren't already believers. They rely on reshuffling the same

906
00:49:20.519 --> 00:49:24.280
pool of Christians rather than converting new members. Churches with

907
00:49:24.320 --> 00:49:27.920
the best music, entertainment, and social programs tend to win

908
00:49:28.000 --> 00:49:32.039
the battle for members, but in reality, very few churches

909
00:49:32.119 --> 00:49:36.079
are actually growing the Christian faith. Most are just competing

910
00:49:36.159 --> 00:49:38.920
for the same market. They might as well hand out

911
00:49:38.960 --> 00:49:42.280
transfer forms at the door. You know, please tell me

912
00:49:42.320 --> 00:49:44.920
about your seven most recent churches number.

913
00:49:47.159 --> 00:49:50.239
There's a lot of truth to that. There's a lot

914
00:49:50.280 --> 00:49:55.039
of truth to that, right, I mean, in most cases,

915
00:49:55.199 --> 00:49:57.920
people coming to your church are coming from the people

916
00:49:57.920 --> 00:50:00.719
who come to your church are coming from another church.

917
00:50:01.199 --> 00:50:03.400
And many cases they'll talk about how the previous church

918
00:50:03.440 --> 00:50:05.159
didn't do this and didn't do this and do this,

919
00:50:05.280 --> 00:50:07.119
and they're coming to your church. Now, what you should

920
00:50:07.159 --> 00:50:09.239
just be prepared for is all the things they're saying

921
00:50:09.280 --> 00:50:11.639
they're coming to your church for. Pretty soon they're gonna

922
00:50:11.639 --> 00:50:13.800
then be complaining about you and go to another church.

923
00:50:15.320 --> 00:50:17.360
But that's how it kind of works. And I've told

924
00:50:17.360 --> 00:50:20.880
the story before, right, And maybe my perception is not

925
00:50:21.079 --> 00:50:24.920
completely accurate, and maybe my perception is not completely fair.

926
00:50:25.639 --> 00:50:28.840
But I remember receiving a phone call that a new

927
00:50:28.880 --> 00:50:31.920
pastor was in town and he was calling all the

928
00:50:31.960 --> 00:50:35.119
pastors to go to lunch with them, right, And I

929
00:50:35.239 --> 00:50:37.079
was like, Oh, this is kind of cool. I've never

930
00:50:37.320 --> 00:50:39.840
met you know, maybe I could become friends with a pastor.

931
00:50:39.880 --> 00:50:42.639
That would kind of be cool, because I always felt

932
00:50:42.679 --> 00:50:45.719
throughout my Christian life that I was always kind of

933
00:50:45.760 --> 00:50:49.360
excluded from other pastors, Right, I like, I just never

934
00:50:49.440 --> 00:50:51.840
really fit in in that world, right, And I'm like, okay,

935
00:50:51.880 --> 00:50:54.039
this could be we go out to lunch too, So

936
00:50:54.039 --> 00:50:56.199
so we went to lunch. He asked me all kinds

937
00:50:56.239 --> 00:50:59.360
of questions about my church, questions about my church, about

938
00:50:59.400 --> 00:51:03.639
the people, about the attendance, all these kinds of questions, right,

939
00:51:04.440 --> 00:51:06.480
And I remember when it was over, I'm like I

940
00:51:06.559 --> 00:51:10.440
kind of felt, kind of felt a little weird, and

941
00:51:10.480 --> 00:51:12.960
I'm like, well, you know, that's cool, and I think

942
00:51:13.000 --> 00:51:14.920
he said, you know, we'll get together again. I never

943
00:51:14.960 --> 00:51:17.760
heard from him again ever. They never called me back,

944
00:51:18.079 --> 00:51:20.920
never invited me to another meal, nothing, never heard from

945
00:51:20.960 --> 00:51:25.599
him again. But every single person who's left my church,

946
00:51:26.719 --> 00:51:34.000
guess where they went to that church. Maybe it's just

947
00:51:34.079 --> 00:51:37.519
a coincidence. I don't know. He came in, got all

948
00:51:37.559 --> 00:51:41.119
the info, and then every single person who left came

949
00:51:41.199 --> 00:51:46.000
to him, came to him. I'm like, I don't know.

950
00:51:46.440 --> 00:51:49.719
Maybe it's a coincidence. Maybe not. I don't know. It

951
00:51:49.960 --> 00:51:53.639
just felt weird. Whether you like it or not, that's

952
00:51:53.679 --> 00:51:58.000
the way it works. This church is going great, everyone's

953
00:51:58.039 --> 00:52:00.679
building it up. It's great, and then for whatever reason,

954
00:52:00.880 --> 00:52:03.960
things start going a little south. People get disgruntled, people

955
00:52:04.000 --> 00:52:06.880
get disillusioned, and then they go to another church, and

956
00:52:06.920 --> 00:52:09.800
then that's the next big church. And then some churches

957
00:52:09.840 --> 00:52:13.519
can maintain that being the big kid on the block

958
00:52:13.760 --> 00:52:16.119
for a long time. But so much of it is

959
00:52:16.199 --> 00:52:19.239
just transfer. People go from here and they go to here,

960
00:52:19.360 --> 00:52:21.880
and they go to here, and why why do people

961
00:52:21.920 --> 00:52:24.039
go from this church to another church to another church?

962
00:52:24.199 --> 00:52:26.679
Because they go to church to get what they want.

963
00:52:26.840 --> 00:52:29.159
They are self centered and they're going to go to

964
00:52:29.239 --> 00:52:30.920
church to get what they want. If they don't get

965
00:52:30.920 --> 00:52:32.480
what they want, they'll go somewhere else to get what

966
00:52:32.519 --> 00:52:35.840
they want, which then calls into question what church is

967
00:52:35.880 --> 00:52:40.880
even about in the first place. What you should pass

968
00:52:40.920 --> 00:52:42.480
around is like, hey, go ahead and put in the

969
00:52:42.519 --> 00:52:45.119
offering plate your five things that you're not happy with

970
00:52:45.199 --> 00:52:46.960
and the five things you want us to do, and

971
00:52:47.000 --> 00:52:48.960
we'll make sure we'll get right on it. Because this

972
00:52:49.079 --> 00:52:53.840
is burger king. We do it your way right away.

973
00:52:53.880 --> 00:52:56.239
We got to keep you happy. And every single time

974
00:52:56.239 --> 00:52:59.440
I've had those conversations where people call or complain or say, oh,

975
00:52:59.519 --> 00:53:01.400
I've got to you know, of course, if I get

976
00:53:01.400 --> 00:53:03.639
a call on a Monday, it's never oh I want

977
00:53:03.639 --> 00:53:07.000
to talk about the sermon. Nobody ever cares to talk. No, no, no no.

978
00:53:07.079 --> 00:53:09.199
If you get the call, almost inevitably it's going to

979
00:53:09.199 --> 00:53:11.360
be a complaint, a problem. And so many times that

980
00:53:11.559 --> 00:53:13.800
I would say to people, so let me get this right.

981
00:53:14.719 --> 00:53:17.440
If I do what you want, what if the people

982
00:53:17.440 --> 00:53:19.360
across from the pew don't like it? They never have

983
00:53:19.400 --> 00:53:21.320
an answer. They'll be like, well, I'm not telling you

984
00:53:21.360 --> 00:53:23.239
what to do. Yeah, you're telling me what to do.

985
00:53:23.440 --> 00:53:26.159
That's why we're having this meeting. You don't like what

986
00:53:26.199 --> 00:53:27.800
I do, you want me to change it, but you

987
00:53:27.880 --> 00:53:30.280
don't care if the people across the pew may not

988
00:53:30.400 --> 00:53:32.480
like what you want, you don't care, because all he

989
00:53:32.559 --> 00:53:38.639
cares about your stinking self. I think the biggest secret

990
00:53:38.719 --> 00:53:41.559
about being a pastor of the people in the pew

991
00:53:41.559 --> 00:53:43.440
don't want to know is that the people in the

992
00:53:43.440 --> 00:53:49.199
pew can almost destroy your entire enjoyment of ministry. That's

993
00:53:49.280 --> 00:53:53.239
the reality of it. I think that's another good thing

994
00:53:53.280 --> 00:53:55.519
about just doing a podcast is oh, yeah, you'll get

995
00:53:55.519 --> 00:54:02.280
the emails, you'll get the comments on YouTube, whatever. Because again,

996
00:54:02.320 --> 00:54:06.039
in many cases, if your livelihood is not connected to it,

997
00:54:06.719 --> 00:54:09.719
then you were above it that you can rise above it.

998
00:54:09.760 --> 00:54:12.119
You're you're not both pulled into it. But if your

999
00:54:12.239 --> 00:54:14.800
livelihood is connected to it, I mean, that's like a

1000
00:54:14.920 --> 00:54:17.360
knife in the heart. That's like, oh, no, what's going

1001
00:54:17.400 --> 00:54:19.159
to happen now, Oh, we're going to lose people. I'm

1002
00:54:19.159 --> 00:54:21.760
getting ready to lose people. And almost inevitably, you know,

1003
00:54:22.840 --> 00:54:25.960
after you have those meetings, you know they're gone. They

1004
00:54:25.960 --> 00:54:28.440
may be here for another month, but they're gone two months,

1005
00:54:28.440 --> 00:54:30.719
three months, you almost know the writing's on the wall

1006
00:54:30.760 --> 00:54:34.280
and you're like, okay, whatever, just lost another family. That's great.

1007
00:54:34.440 --> 00:54:36.800
Sometimes it happens so quick you don't even know what happened.

1008
00:54:36.840 --> 00:54:38.719
You're like, I don't even know what happened. They're just

1009
00:54:38.719 --> 00:54:40.880
not coming back. Sometimes they don't even bother to give

1010
00:54:40.880 --> 00:54:43.000
you an explain. Sometimes they just not show up and

1011
00:54:43.039 --> 00:54:45.599
they don't even bother to tell you anything. They just leave.

1012
00:54:46.000 --> 00:54:48.360
In some ways great, but you know they don't even

1013
00:54:49.559 --> 00:54:55.639
It can be crazy the way it works. So I

1014
00:54:55.679 --> 00:55:03.599
mean there's a yeah, yeah, we can get into a

1015
00:55:03.679 --> 00:55:07.679
lot of that that. When it comes to churches, it's

1016
00:55:07.679 --> 00:55:09.599
just people going from one church to another church. And

1017
00:55:09.639 --> 00:55:12.519
what you have to ask yourself is they always will

1018
00:55:12.559 --> 00:55:15.000
frame it that they left that church because that church

1019
00:55:15.119 --> 00:55:18.360
was bad. That church did this, and that church did that,

1020
00:55:18.719 --> 00:55:21.079
and that church did this. There was a time I

1021
00:55:21.079 --> 00:55:23.119
would be like I would eat that up, like, oh man,

1022
00:55:23.320 --> 00:55:25.760
those churches are all messed up. Well, I'm glad you're

1023
00:55:25.800 --> 00:55:29.320
here now. It's kind of like, oh, really they did

1024
00:55:29.360 --> 00:55:32.400
all of that? Could you give me the I'm gonna

1025
00:55:32.400 --> 00:55:34.039
look that up and see if I can find when

1026
00:55:34.079 --> 00:55:36.039
did they preach that sermon and said that, When did

1027
00:55:36.079 --> 00:55:38.199
they do that? You almost want to call the other

1028
00:55:38.280 --> 00:55:40.440
church and go, hey, these people are saying some pretty

1029
00:55:40.480 --> 00:55:43.639
messed up stuff about you, because in many cases, I

1030
00:55:43.679 --> 00:55:46.599
sometimes now question the legitimacy of what you're being told,

1031
00:55:46.760 --> 00:55:49.119
because I know that once they leave my church, they're

1032
00:55:49.159 --> 00:55:51.039
going to be telling the next church all the things

1033
00:55:51.119 --> 00:55:55.079
I supposedly did wrong. So every pastor should just catch

1034
00:55:55.119 --> 00:55:57.039
on whatever they tell you about why they left. You

1035
00:55:57.119 --> 00:56:00.719
kind of want to just be like, maybe you should

1036
00:56:00.760 --> 00:56:02.360
just go back and try to fix it, because I

1037
00:56:02.400 --> 00:56:06.280
doubt I'm going to do any better. Right, It's almost

1038
00:56:06.280 --> 00:56:08.519
like now I'm like, oh, that's all they did. Well, wait,

1039
00:56:08.920 --> 00:56:11.400
you're coming here, I'm gonna do I'm going to do

1040
00:56:11.440 --> 00:56:14.480
one hundred times worse than that. Now, when you're young,

1041
00:56:14.480 --> 00:56:17.360
you're like, no, no, I'm I'm going to provide you

1042
00:56:17.440 --> 00:56:20.519
a good place. But now you kind of realize, no,

1043
00:56:20.760 --> 00:56:22.800
I actually you don't want to come here. I'm far

1044
00:56:22.840 --> 00:56:26.320
worse than your last church. Your last pastor is one

1045
00:56:26.400 --> 00:56:29.239
hundred times better than I am. He's more godly, he's

1046
00:56:29.280 --> 00:56:34.039
more spiritual, he's more compassionate. Go back, go back, This

1047
00:56:34.119 --> 00:56:36.880
is the wrong place, that's what you almost want to say.

1048
00:56:38.960 --> 00:56:43.800
Before worship. Music is designed to manipulate you. The emotional

1049
00:56:43.920 --> 00:56:48.519
high people feel during worship isn't divine, it's a calculated technique.

1050
00:56:48.920 --> 00:56:53.239
Churches use repetitive lyrics, rising melodies, and atmospheric lighting to

1051
00:56:53.280 --> 00:56:57.199
create an altered state of mind, making attendees more emotionally.

1052
00:56:56.719 --> 00:56:58.199
Receptive to the messaging.

1053
00:56:58.320 --> 00:57:01.719
Now, this is a form of the designed to make

1054
00:57:01.760 --> 00:57:04.159
you feel connected to God, when it's really just a

1055
00:57:04.159 --> 00:57:08.480
psychological response to sound, rhythm, and community studies have shown

1056
00:57:08.559 --> 00:57:11.920
that the same emotional responses occur at secular concerts and

1057
00:57:12.000 --> 00:57:16.760
political rallies. It's not divine intervention, it's human psychology at work.

1058
00:57:17.000 --> 00:57:19.480
And sure we called it the Holy Spirit. But if

1059
00:57:19.480 --> 00:57:22.159
you swapped out the lyrics for R and B love songs,

1060
00:57:22.280 --> 00:57:26.519
you'd see the same tears, same goosebumps. The difference no

1061
00:57:26.639 --> 00:57:30.760
altar call out of Beyonce concert, contrary to popular Christian conspiracy.

1062
00:57:31.000 --> 00:57:35.800
Three, it's true, man, A lot of things in church

1063
00:57:35.840 --> 00:57:39.679
are just straight manipulative. The way the sermons are done,

1064
00:57:39.760 --> 00:57:43.440
that little sad illustration at the end right to get

1065
00:57:43.440 --> 00:57:49.519
everyone crying to come to the altar. Singing certain songs

1066
00:57:49.559 --> 00:57:52.239
a certain way at a certain time. You know when

1067
00:57:52.280 --> 00:57:54.119
you do when you're going to do the altar call,

1068
00:57:54.440 --> 00:57:56.280
then you you know, you play a certain hymn a

1069
00:57:56.280 --> 00:57:59.000
certain way, or you may sing a cappella or you

1070
00:57:59.039 --> 00:57:59.920
may do an instrument.

1071
00:58:00.639 --> 00:58:00.760
Right.

1072
00:58:00.840 --> 00:58:05.599
Yeah, the lighting, the staging, the way the pastors bring

1073
00:58:05.679 --> 00:58:11.239
the message to our emotional dramatic climax. Okay, all everything,

1074
00:58:11.280 --> 00:58:15.360
it's manipulative. It's one of the things I loathe about

1075
00:58:15.440 --> 00:58:19.079
church camps. Let's take the kids, let's remove them from

1076
00:58:19.239 --> 00:58:24.159
their you know, normal environment. We're gonna isolate them. We're

1077
00:58:24.199 --> 00:58:27.880
gonna separate them, isolate them, and then in doctrinate them

1078
00:58:28.920 --> 00:58:31.920
and manipulate them. And you'll get sometimes at church camp,

1079
00:58:31.960 --> 00:58:36.480
all the teenagers they're hugging and crying, oh and yeah,

1080
00:58:36.519 --> 00:58:38.039
and then they come home and then they get hit

1081
00:58:38.119 --> 00:58:40.320
in the face with reality and look what happened. Well,

1082
00:58:40.320 --> 00:58:43.800
you've been emotionally manipulated for a week. You were separated,

1083
00:58:43.840 --> 00:58:46.639
you were isolated, you were indoctrinated, you were manipulated. That's

1084
00:58:46.679 --> 00:58:50.559
what happened. That's called church camp. Well, churches could do

1085
00:58:50.639 --> 00:58:54.079
the same thing isolated. That may not be the isolation,

1086
00:58:54.320 --> 00:58:57.719
but it's still the manipulative techniques and we'll say, oh,

1087
00:58:57.800 --> 00:59:03.000
I felt God, you felt the human structure of manipulation,

1088
00:59:03.119 --> 00:59:05.119
and you don't get it. And I've been into some

1089
00:59:05.159 --> 00:59:07.599
of those churches with the lighting. You're like, what is this?

1090
00:59:07.880 --> 00:59:11.000
What is this a church or a nightclub? What is this?

1091
00:59:16.079 --> 00:59:16.159
All?

1092
00:59:16.239 --> 00:59:18.000
Right? Go, let's finish this up.

1093
00:59:19.480 --> 00:59:22.679
Your pastor has more power over you than you think.

1094
00:59:22.880 --> 00:59:26.159
Many pastors go beyond spiritual guidance and seek to control

1095
00:59:26.360 --> 00:59:29.360
your personal decisions, from who you vote for to who

1096
00:59:29.400 --> 00:59:32.719
you love to how you parent. This isn't just advice.

1097
00:59:33.000 --> 00:59:37.199
It's social pressure disguised as doctrine. Some churches even shun

1098
00:59:37.280 --> 00:59:40.639
members who step out of line, using ostracization as a

1099
00:59:40.719 --> 00:59:43.679
means of control. If you challenge the pastor's authority or

1100
00:59:43.760 --> 00:59:47.320
question a doctrine, you may find yourself quietly pushed out

1101
00:59:47.800 --> 00:59:51.159
or publicly shamed. It's not just faith, it's a power

1102
00:59:51.199 --> 00:59:55.639
structure designed to maintain order and compliance. I once tried

1103
00:59:55.679 --> 00:59:58.639
to post a very neutral comment on a controversial topic,

1104
00:59:58.679 --> 01:00:01.639
and next thing I knew, I was hauled into several

1105
01:00:01.840 --> 01:00:06.559
spiritual concern meetings with church leaders. They were more upset

1106
01:00:06.599 --> 01:00:09.039
about my differing opinion than they would have been if

1107
01:00:09.079 --> 01:00:14.320
I had robbed a bank that speaks volumes number two. Oh.

1108
01:00:14.360 --> 01:00:17.079
I could go into stories about being called into those meetings,

1109
01:00:19.760 --> 01:00:22.800
as many pastors try to exhort a great amount of

1110
01:00:22.920 --> 01:00:26.199
power over the people, a lot of control. I was

1111
01:00:26.239 --> 01:00:30.119
called into those meetings constantly when I was an independent

1112
01:00:30.119 --> 01:00:35.079
fundamental Baptist in Nebraska. Those meetings were crazy, the control.

1113
01:00:35.400 --> 01:00:37.119
You can't do this, you can't do this, you can't

1114
01:00:37.119 --> 01:00:38.559
do this, you can't do this, you can't do this.

1115
01:00:38.599 --> 01:00:40.000
Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this?

1116
01:00:40.239 --> 01:00:40.719
And it was.

1117
01:00:40.679 --> 01:00:43.719
Control, control, control, control. When you then call out the

1118
01:00:43.960 --> 01:00:46.519
controlling nature of it that it's almost like a cult,

1119
01:00:46.639 --> 01:00:48.920
well then you're done, and then you're finished. And then

1120
01:00:48.960 --> 01:00:50.760
while I can go through all the stories of everything

1121
01:00:50.840 --> 01:00:55.599
that happened there, that thing fell apart, that ended in

1122
01:00:55.800 --> 01:01:00.559
such a disaster, and what happened. I was not excommunicated.

1123
01:01:00.280 --> 01:01:03.480
I wasn't said that I committed some sin, but everyone

1124
01:01:03.599 --> 01:01:05.599
was told to break fellowship with us and no longer

1125
01:01:05.599 --> 01:01:07.159
to have anything to do with us. Even though I

1126
01:01:07.199 --> 01:01:11.079
did not commit a specific sin. I was dangerous. I was,

1127
01:01:11.360 --> 01:01:14.039
and so we had to leave that church, and everyone

1128
01:01:14.079 --> 01:01:16.199
there was supposed to no longer have contact with us,

1129
01:01:16.280 --> 01:01:19.119
and break off all contact. I mean, what an amazing,

1130
01:01:20.000 --> 01:01:24.239
wonderful Christian experience that was. Even though I was warned

1131
01:01:24.400 --> 01:01:27.000
by a man in the church that hey, the pastor

1132
01:01:27.199 --> 01:01:29.239
is coming for you, and he's he said, he's going

1133
01:01:29.320 --> 01:01:32.159
to squash you like a bug. He's coming to destroy you,

1134
01:01:32.239 --> 01:01:34.360
and I'm warning you. And then when the pastor came

1135
01:01:34.480 --> 01:01:36.559
and tried to destroy me and squashed me like a bug,

1136
01:01:37.480 --> 01:01:39.800
and then I ended up, you know, basically leaving the

1137
01:01:39.880 --> 01:01:42.639
church because everything blew up. That man who knew what

1138
01:01:42.719 --> 01:01:45.880
was happening, knewing I was being set up, knew he

1139
01:01:46.280 --> 01:01:48.400
went silent and didn't tell the rest of the church.

1140
01:01:48.440 --> 01:01:51.639
Oh wait, actually the pastor told me he was coming

1141
01:01:51.639 --> 01:01:54.039
for Trevor. He no, no, no, no, no, no, no, left

1142
01:01:54.079 --> 01:01:56.639
that all left that all blank. It didn't didn't bother

1143
01:01:56.719 --> 01:02:01.199
to didn't bother to say a word. You gotta love that.

1144
01:02:01.360 --> 01:02:05.880
You gotta love that protect it himself, didn't bother to

1145
01:02:05.920 --> 01:02:08.519
stand up and protect me. I got called into those meetings,

1146
01:02:08.559 --> 01:02:11.079
and some of those meetings are crazy, the way they

1147
01:02:11.079 --> 01:02:11.519
go down.

1148
01:02:13.159 --> 01:02:13.400
Two.

1149
01:02:13.679 --> 01:02:20.960
Christianity survives because of indoctrination. Most believers didn't choose Christianity,

1150
01:02:21.079 --> 01:02:23.599
they were born into it. Churches know that if kids

1151
01:02:23.719 --> 01:02:27.639
aren't indoctrinated early, they're far less likely to adopt religious

1152
01:02:27.679 --> 01:02:29.000
belief later in life.

1153
01:02:29.000 --> 01:02:31.079
This is why many churches.

1154
01:02:30.840 --> 01:02:36.159
Are very glad to support other fantasy and fairy tale characters,

1155
01:02:36.320 --> 01:02:38.639
because they know it all works together for their good.

1156
01:02:38.840 --> 01:02:42.239
That's why youth ministries exist, not to teach kids how

1157
01:02:42.280 --> 01:02:44.559
to think, but to go ahead and tell them what

1158
01:02:44.719 --> 01:02:47.719
to think. From a young age. Children are conditioned to

1159
01:02:47.760 --> 01:02:51.880
accept religious teachings as fact, discouraging critical thinking about their faith.

1160
01:02:52.199 --> 01:02:56.199
Without this early reinforcement, Christianity would struggle to sustain itself.

1161
01:02:56.400 --> 01:02:59.800
Some of my earliest memories are coloring pictures of out

1162
01:02:59.800 --> 01:03:02.639
of the Bibles, such as Noah's Ark, but never quite

1163
01:03:02.639 --> 01:03:06.840
allowed to ask, so wait, God drowned everybody else. That's

1164
01:03:06.960 --> 01:03:09.320
kind of extreme, isn't it. It just gave me more

1165
01:03:09.360 --> 01:03:12.960
crayons and told me to thank God for his mercy.

1166
01:03:13.320 --> 01:03:17.000
Isn't it beautiful? How they love to have us painting

1167
01:03:17.880 --> 01:03:24.360
as children acts of well you know that, all right?

1168
01:03:24.800 --> 01:03:26.320
And before we get to number one.

1169
01:03:27.880 --> 01:03:30.960
And I would say, the church is great even for adults,

1170
01:03:31.280 --> 01:03:35.119
teaching them want to think, not how to think, because

1171
01:03:35.159 --> 01:03:39.639
if you start thinking, and you start questioning, and you

1172
01:03:39.679 --> 01:03:45.400
start challenging, Christianity will push you out so fast. You're

1173
01:03:45.440 --> 01:03:49.000
not supposed to do that, right, You'll listen to a sermon.

1174
01:03:49.039 --> 01:03:51.079
I was listening to a sermon this morning. In fact,

1175
01:03:51.280 --> 01:03:53.360
I'm gonna probably do a podcast about it. Where they

1176
01:03:53.440 --> 01:03:56.119
were like, we are free from the power of sin.

1177
01:03:56.440 --> 01:03:58.880
You've been set free from the power of sin. The

1178
01:03:59.000 --> 01:04:02.079
power of sin's been broken in your life. You're set free.

1179
01:04:02.239 --> 01:04:04.280
And I wanted I was trying to raise my hand,

1180
01:04:04.320 --> 01:04:06.000
of course, and I'm listening to it online. I wanted

1181
01:04:06.000 --> 01:04:07.400
to raise my hand. Who wha wa, Wait a minute.

1182
01:04:07.400 --> 01:04:09.119
If I'm free from the power of sin, then i

1183
01:04:09.159 --> 01:04:12.159
can be perfect, right, Because if I'm free from the power,

1184
01:04:12.199 --> 01:04:15.119
if something is holding me back from perfection, then I'm

1185
01:04:15.119 --> 01:04:17.760
not free. So am I free? Or am I not free?

1186
01:04:17.840 --> 01:04:20.159
I cannot be perfect. I can't be holy as God

1187
01:04:20.239 --> 01:04:21.880
is holy. So there's got to be a reason I

1188
01:04:21.880 --> 01:04:24.320
can't be whatever's the thing keeping me back. You can't

1189
01:04:24.320 --> 01:04:26.239
tell me I'm free from the very thing keeping me

1190
01:04:26.280 --> 01:04:28.440
from being perfect. So clearly I'm not free from the

1191
01:04:28.480 --> 01:04:30.840
power of sin unless you're talking about the power of

1192
01:04:30.880 --> 01:04:33.639
sin from a positional perspective. So you're not able to

1193
01:04:33.719 --> 01:04:38.400
challenge that. When pastors say, oh, if anyone's in crisis,

1194
01:04:38.400 --> 01:04:40.159
a new creature. Old things passed away, all things have

1195
01:04:40.199 --> 01:04:41.719
become new. You can like, wait a minute, wait a minute,

1196
01:04:41.760 --> 01:04:44.239
wait a minute, wait a minute, wait a minute. If

1197
01:04:44.320 --> 01:04:47.559
that's true, then there should be no sin. So maybe

1198
01:04:47.599 --> 01:04:50.599
that's true. Positionally, you're not supposed to challenge that the

1199
01:04:50.639 --> 01:04:53.199
story of Noah Noah in the Ark, I mean, come on,

1200
01:04:53.480 --> 01:04:55.559
Noah's Ark, I mean, come on that. You talk about

1201
01:04:55.559 --> 01:04:58.599
a story we want to in church? We painted at

1202
01:04:58.639 --> 01:05:01.000
Oh look there's mister and missus know us standing on

1203
01:05:01.039 --> 01:05:03.119
the deck of the boat with a giraffe behind him,

1204
01:05:03.159 --> 01:05:06.119
smiling with a rainbow over it, and every oh, it's beautiful.

1205
01:05:06.199 --> 01:05:13.639
We don't show all the dead bodies floating in the water. Hey,

1206
01:05:13.840 --> 01:05:16.920
you know Abraham and Sarah. What a story? Well how

1207
01:05:16.960 --> 01:05:17.599
about Hagar?

1208
01:05:17.639 --> 01:05:18.000
What? What?

1209
01:05:18.000 --> 01:05:19.920
What went down there? I don't know if that was

1210
01:05:20.159 --> 01:05:22.480
like there's some very messed up things. But we're not

1211
01:05:22.519 --> 01:05:24.920
supposed to talk about that. We're not supposed to challenge that.

1212
01:05:26.239 --> 01:05:29.280
Churches teach people what to think, they don't teach them

1213
01:05:29.320 --> 01:05:31.719
how to think. Because if they taught them how to think,

1214
01:05:34.400 --> 01:05:39.519
problems would begin to emerge. You begin to question things.

1215
01:05:40.079 --> 01:05:42.599
You begin to question this, and you begin to question that,

1216
01:05:42.639 --> 01:05:43.880
and you're like, well, I don't know if that makes

1217
01:05:43.920 --> 01:05:51.880
any sense. Shhh, we don't think here, We just accept Here.

1218
01:05:54.880 --> 01:05:56.360
If you like what I do and want to show

1219
01:05:56.400 --> 01:05:59.039
you support, click the light button, subscribe to the channel,

1220
01:05:59.119 --> 01:06:01.400
hit the alert note of cation bell, and if you can,

1221
01:06:01.760 --> 01:06:04.400
please share this to your social media. That's how we

1222
01:06:04.400 --> 01:06:07.559
can continue to make a difference. Now on with number

1223
01:06:07.599 --> 01:06:11.320
one on our list. The church needs you more than

1224
01:06:11.320 --> 01:06:14.519
you need it. Without your money, attendance, and loyalty, the

1225
01:06:14.599 --> 01:06:17.639
church ceases to exist. It tells you that you need

1226
01:06:17.679 --> 01:06:21.360
it for morality, purpose and salvation. The truth is the

1227
01:06:21.480 --> 01:06:24.960
church is dependent on you, not the other way around.

1228
01:06:25.039 --> 01:06:28.239
And once you realize that, you're free. At the end

1229
01:06:28.320 --> 01:06:31.760
of the day, church isn't about truth. It's about control.

1230
01:06:31.920 --> 01:06:35.719
Pastors won't admit that because their entire livelihood depends on

1231
01:06:35.800 --> 01:06:38.559
people staying in the system. But you don't have to.

1232
01:06:39.440 --> 01:06:42.639
You can think for yourself. You can walk away, and

1233
01:06:42.679 --> 01:06:46.119
when you do, you'll realize you never needed the church

1234
01:06:46.159 --> 01:06:49.920
to begin with. The minute you say, actually, I'm good

1235
01:06:49.960 --> 01:06:53.119
without Sunday morning guilt trips and enforced tithes is the

1236
01:06:53.159 --> 01:07:01.599
minute you discover a whole world of authenticity, autonomy, and agency.

1237
01:07:02.840 --> 01:07:06.119
There you have it. Those are the ten secrets. Now

1238
01:07:06.679 --> 01:07:08.719
you can agree or disagree. Do you agree that the

1239
01:07:08.800 --> 01:07:10.639
church needs you more than you need the church?

1240
01:07:10.920 --> 01:07:11.079
Well?

1241
01:07:11.119 --> 01:07:14.800
Now again, if you're in a sacramental system, you desperately

1242
01:07:14.840 --> 01:07:17.920
need the church. You desperately need the church. Right, But

1243
01:07:17.960 --> 01:07:22.440
if you're not in a sacramental system, do you need

1244
01:07:22.440 --> 01:07:26.519
the church or does the church need you? Well, considering

1245
01:07:26.639 --> 01:07:29.679
an every time I've asked this question, go back and

1246
01:07:29.719 --> 01:07:31.840
look at your Christian life. What was the source of

1247
01:07:32.000 --> 01:07:34.679
most of your spiritual growth? Where you learn the most,

1248
01:07:34.880 --> 01:07:38.679
You've been taught the most. Almost every single case, people

1249
01:07:38.719 --> 01:07:41.079
don't point to their local church. Now they may point

1250
01:07:41.079 --> 01:07:44.239
to another church, so then okay, but they're not even

1251
01:07:44.239 --> 01:07:46.119
members of that church. In many cases, they're not even

1252
01:07:46.159 --> 01:07:49.360
supporting that church financially. So in many cases, the churches

1253
01:07:49.400 --> 01:07:52.480
people go to, they give their attendance, they give their loyalty,

1254
01:07:52.480 --> 01:07:56.079
and they give their money. That's not the place they're

1255
01:07:56.079 --> 01:07:59.239
even getting spiritually fed. The places that spiritually fed them.

1256
01:07:59.519 --> 01:08:02.599
They don't get anything from the people. So then does

1257
01:08:02.639 --> 01:08:06.079
that church? So how does that even work? So the

1258
01:08:06.199 --> 01:08:09.679
church needs you because you show up, they need of tendance,

1259
01:08:09.880 --> 01:08:11.800
and you give your money too, and you give your

1260
01:08:11.840 --> 01:08:14.559
loyalty to and you volunteer for and you help with. Well,

1261
01:08:14.599 --> 01:08:17.319
then that great. They get all of your attention, they

1262
01:08:17.319 --> 01:08:19.079
get all of your money, they get all of your

1263
01:08:19.119 --> 01:08:22.520
loyalty because they need you. But obviously you don't need

1264
01:08:22.560 --> 01:08:25.439
it because you're getting all of your spiritual food, nourishment, teaching,

1265
01:08:25.479 --> 01:08:32.760
discipleship elsewhere. And that interesting. Now I can get frustrated

1266
01:08:32.800 --> 01:08:36.399
by that because in many cases you provide hour after

1267
01:08:36.439 --> 01:08:38.760
hour after hour after hour after hour after hour after

1268
01:08:38.800 --> 01:08:41.319
hour after hour after hour, hour hour aft hour of

1269
01:08:41.359 --> 01:08:45.640
teaching and you're like, oh, okay, great, I'm providing it. But

1270
01:08:47.720 --> 01:08:51.640
those those institutions get all the support. That sometimes can

1271
01:08:51.680 --> 01:08:54.119
be a little like how does that supposed to actually work?

1272
01:08:54.359 --> 01:08:57.600
I don't have any good answers there, but what it

1273
01:08:57.600 --> 01:09:01.840
may demonstrate I think whats the point is how much

1274
01:09:01.840 --> 01:09:04.840
do you need it? How much do they need you?

1275
01:09:06.159 --> 01:09:09.000
Because I mean, let's just be honest. In twenty twenty five,

1276
01:09:09.279 --> 01:09:12.039
come on, let's just be honest. Not nobody wants me

1277
01:09:12.119 --> 01:09:14.840
to say this, but let's be honest. You could stop

1278
01:09:14.880 --> 01:09:18.479
going to your church at this very moment, you can

1279
01:09:18.520 --> 01:09:20.920
make a decision. You're never going back to your church.

1280
01:09:21.439 --> 01:09:21.840
You know what.

1281
01:09:22.680 --> 01:09:29.319
You would still have access to a lifetime of sermons, devotionals,

1282
01:09:29.720 --> 01:09:36.079
Bible study, philologicals. You would not lose one thing other

1283
01:09:36.119 --> 01:09:39.159
than maybe the social aspects of it. Now, you may

1284
01:09:39.239 --> 01:09:42.760
need it for the social aspect, so maybe you do

1285
01:09:42.840 --> 01:09:44.439
need the church more than it needs you if you

1286
01:09:44.479 --> 01:09:48.239
need the social aspect. But if it's for doctrine, theology, teaching,

1287
01:09:48.399 --> 01:09:53.560
Bible study, give me a break. First of all, the

1288
01:09:53.640 --> 01:09:58.119
church is probably not even providing you that much, so

1289
01:09:58.439 --> 01:10:02.479
you don't need them they need you. Do you realize

1290
01:10:02.520 --> 01:10:04.640
all the stuff you have available to you on the

1291
01:10:04.640 --> 01:10:06.479
palm of your hand. I mean again, just take the

1292
01:10:06.520 --> 01:10:10.319
sermon's two point Oh app now those are churches, yes,

1293
01:10:11.239 --> 01:10:13.720
so then you would need those churches. You don't need

1294
01:10:13.760 --> 01:10:16.680
your church. Then it becomes all kind of convoluted and

1295
01:10:16.760 --> 01:10:22.960
mixed up, right, Well, those are the ten secrets pastors

1296
01:10:22.960 --> 01:10:24.600
don't want you to know. Again the name of the video.

1297
01:10:24.600 --> 01:10:27.520
It's on YouTube. Ten secrets pastors don't want you to

1298
01:10:27.560 --> 01:10:32.840
know about church? All right, and yeah, you should look

1299
01:10:32.840 --> 01:10:34.960
it up and then you can see. I'm not saying

1300
01:10:34.960 --> 01:10:38.800
I agree with everything he has. I'm not he Definitely

1301
01:10:38.880 --> 01:10:41.479
he's selling some merch. I can tell you that selling

1302
01:10:41.520 --> 01:10:45.199
a hoodie for forty nine dollars in one sense trust issues.

1303
01:10:46.720 --> 01:10:49.520
Then he has a think Responsibly a T shirt for

1304
01:10:49.600 --> 01:10:55.720
twenty dollars, and a think responsibly or responsibly not responsibly

1305
01:10:55.760 --> 01:10:59.319
responsibly and blue for nineteen ninety nine. So I didn't

1306
01:10:59.319 --> 01:11:04.000
look at all of their So he's created his own marketplace.

1307
01:11:04.520 --> 01:11:07.720
He's got a book. He's got a book out let.

1308
01:11:07.800 --> 01:11:11.479
Stee here if I can get to it. He's got

1309
01:11:11.479 --> 01:11:16.479
a book he out Yeah, it's called The Black non

1310
01:11:16.600 --> 01:11:22.119
Believer next Door, An Ex Pastor's Journey, Volume one, All right,

1311
01:11:22.439 --> 01:11:24.520
what does it mean to question the very beliefs that

1312
01:11:24.640 --> 01:11:28.960
shaped your identity? Black non Believers next Door dives into

1313
01:11:29.319 --> 01:11:31.800
the deeply personal story of a black man's journey from

1314
01:11:31.800 --> 01:11:35.760
the heart of faith to a life defined by self discovery, honesty,

1315
01:11:35.800 --> 01:11:37.960
and the courage to live authentically.

1316
01:11:39.680 --> 01:11:39.840
Right.

1317
01:11:39.920 --> 01:11:42.840
So it's his story of going from pastor to an

1318
01:11:42.880 --> 01:11:46.359
ex pastor. Obviously, it sounds like he may have just

1319
01:11:46.600 --> 01:11:49.760
completely walked away from Christianity. Possibly he may now have

1320
01:11:50.079 --> 01:11:53.640
just completely denied Christianity. So obviously his time in church

1321
01:11:53.720 --> 01:11:55.880
did not go very well. Now what most Christians will

1322
01:11:55.920 --> 01:11:57.359
do will just discount it so well, he was never

1323
01:11:57.359 --> 01:11:59.079
a believer in the first place, so who cares next,

1324
01:11:59.159 --> 01:12:02.840
let's move on. But sometimes listening to someone who's been

1325
01:12:02.880 --> 01:12:07.039
in it, and you can some of those criticisms I

1326
01:12:07.039 --> 01:12:12.720
think are legitimate criticisms. All right, there you have it.

1327
01:12:12.840 --> 01:12:16.319
Those are the ten Secrets. You can look up the book.

1328
01:12:16.520 --> 01:12:18.119
You may want to read it. You can get it

1329
01:12:18.199 --> 01:12:26.119
for it's eleven ninety nine for the kindle in nineteen

1330
01:12:26.159 --> 01:12:29.239
ninety nine and paperback. It's kind of expensive considering the

1331
01:12:29.279 --> 01:12:32.000
books is only one hundred and eighteen pages, but still

1332
01:12:32.000 --> 01:12:34.760
maybe interesting to pursue. And again you can look up.

1333
01:12:35.680 --> 01:12:40.079
You can look up the video on YouTube. Ten secrets

1334
01:12:40.079 --> 01:12:42.760
pastors don't want you to know about church. He's got

1335
01:12:43.000 --> 01:12:45.359
other videos here as well. I'm not going to see

1336
01:12:45.399 --> 01:12:47.439
here and look through all of his library, but you

1337
01:12:47.479 --> 01:12:50.000
can look and see if he offers any other criticisms.

1338
01:12:50.000 --> 01:12:52.039
It's always I always find it interesting to hear an

1339
01:12:52.039 --> 01:12:55.920
ex pastor's perspective because in many cases their criticisms are

1340
01:12:56.039 --> 01:12:58.520
based here's what we have to do. We may not

1341
01:12:58.640 --> 01:13:01.359
agree with say they're deny I love Christianity, or they're

1342
01:13:01.399 --> 01:13:04.279
walking away from Christianity. I can understand why we would

1343
01:13:04.279 --> 01:13:06.479
not agree with that, but that doesn't mean we don't

1344
01:13:06.560 --> 01:13:11.119
listen to the essence of the criticism, because there may

1345
01:13:11.159 --> 01:13:14.119
be something in that criticism that we do need to

1346
01:13:14.159 --> 01:13:16.159
face ourselves and go, well, you know, there's a little

1347
01:13:16.159 --> 01:13:19.399
bit of truth there, not saying it should lead us

1348
01:13:19.399 --> 01:13:23.239
to his ultimate conclusion. But I mean, come on, I

1349
01:13:23.279 --> 01:13:25.880
do believe the church needs to start teaching people how

1350
01:13:25.920 --> 01:13:29.000
to think, not just what to think, because critical thinking

1351
01:13:29.279 --> 01:13:32.159
is clearly lacking, and we hear that sometimes in sermons

1352
01:13:32.159 --> 01:13:35.560
where you're just like, what is happening here? This is

1353
01:13:35.600 --> 01:13:39.159
a mess? What is going on here? So all right,

1354
01:13:39.319 --> 01:13:42.239
I'll stop there. I didn't think I made it through

1355
01:13:42.279 --> 01:13:44.119
all ten. I'm glad I did instead of breaking it

1356
01:13:44.199 --> 01:13:48.000
up into multiple parts. Thank you for listening. Everyone, have

1357
01:13:48.039 --> 01:13:53.439
a great day. Now go think God bless