Following up on Paul's recent post summarizing Kruger's book on spiritual abuse, Drew and Paul sit down to discuss the topic drawing from their experiences. They discuss how spiritual abuse has been a problem in our community, ways that we can prevent it and care for those damaged by it, and how to be vigilant while at the same time trusting and supportive of godly leaders.

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With a new face on the podcast, Katie Heffner, Elijah discusses the history of Christians and science and talks about the complicated relationship that Anabaptists have had with higher education and science. Why aren't more Anabaptist young people becoming researchers, engineers and mathematicians?

You can read Katie's recent blog post here.

Watch the video version of this podcast on YouTube.

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If we aren't careful, we fall prey to seeing the gospel as the start of our Christian journey, but not realize that to the New Testament authors, the gospel is also the ongoing way that we learn how to live like Jesus. It is the story of what Jesus did, and the means by which, through the Spirit, we learn what we can and should do. Elijah and Drew talk about how Anabaptists can fall prey to minimizing the gospel, and what we should do to keep it central.

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What about the pagan origins of Christmas? Or Santa Claus and heavy commercialization? Drew and Elijah discuss some of these common objections, talk about their past experience with the holiday, and give some pointers on how to make Christmas a meaningful, spiritually rich holiday.

Find the YouTube version here. 

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In this first live-audience podcast episode, Paul and Elijah consider the church's relationship to Israel. In light of the current conflict, it is crucial to understand how we are to think about the modern Jewish state. They argue that we should not be looking to the modern geopolitical nation of Israel for prophetic fulfillment, whether or not there is a future wave of Jewish people who come to faith. We are to view the people of God as composed of people with the faith of Abraham in the Messiah, not unbelieving ethnic Israel.

Find the video version of this podcast here.

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Heaven is what modern Christians tend to think about, but resurrection is what the apostles thought about. If creation was good, created by God, then the necessity of re-creation follows! Paul and Elijah do a dive into Scripture and early Christian thought to understand what the orthodox Christian hope is for the future. What happens after death? And as N.T. Wright says so often, what happens in the "life after life after death"?

Find the video version of this episode here.

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Our modern Christian concept of our ultimate hope is of floating up to a disembodied sky heaven. The Christian Hope is of Jesus reigning as king on earth, and heaven reunited to earth. How did we get off-track? Paul and Elijah argue that dualism, gnostic thought, and misguided interpretation of Scripture has informed our hymns, theology, and understanding of our future.

Watch the video version of this episode here.

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Ever gotten stuck on a Proverb that you didn't understand? Or heard questionable advice on wealth-making from an obscure proverb? Or perhaps puzzled (or felt guilty) over why life doesn't always turn out the way Proverbs seems to indicate it should? Paul and Elijah talk genre, interpretation, and application of this important wisdom book.

https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/proverbs/
https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/wisdom-proverbs/

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Drew and Elijah continue their discussion on some of the fallout with teachings from Gothard and IBLP. In this podcast, they talk about the tendency in some settings to view submission to authority as a formula for success. Godly authorities are a necessary part of every Christian's life, but what about when authorities seem to be acting in unloving, unbiblical ways?

Find the video version of this podcast here.

See Drew's most recent post on the umbrella of authority here.

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Have you ever felt guilty about enjoying an innocent activity? On the heels of Drew's recent post on Jinger's recent book, Becoming Free Indeed, Drew and Elijah discuss a specific example from the book about her oversensitivity as a child. Jinger often felt guilty playing broom ball with her family, because she felt she should be doing something more spiritual.

Read Drew's article on the book here

Watch this episode on YouTube

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Should we avoid people who are bitter? What does bitterness even mean? Drew and Elijah discuss how bitterness has been misunderstood and weaponized against people who get hurt. Unforgiveness is something to overcome at all costs, but it is not the same as biblical bitterness.

Watch this episode on YouTube

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In this special Q&A episode, Elijah and Paul discuss a few of your questions related to the book of Revelation. Questions include: Could other apocalyptic works be borrowing from Revelation instead of vice versa? If Revelation is an example of “apocalyptic” literature, then did John really see the things he said he saw? What’s your take on postmillennialism? What about specific-sounding land promises given to Israel in the Bible? 

Be sure to check out the 3-episode series on Revelation and “end times” matters!

E1 How Should We Read the Symbolism in Revelation?
E2 What Is the Mark of the Beast?
E3 How Can We Apply Revelation Today?

Find this episode on YouTube

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Revelation was written to a group of late first-century churches. It was meant to encourage and exhort them to be “conquerors.” But we’re far removed from them. On the other side, Revelation envisages events still in our future. How do we read and practically apply Revelation today, as believers far removed from the first century and still awaiting the final vision to unfold? Join Elijah and Paul as they discuss practically reading and applying the book in our lives and churches today.

Be sure to check out episodes 1 and 2 of this 3-part series here and here.

Find the video version of this podcast here.

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Serious Christians are often on the lookout for the “mark of the beast.” And for good reason—it’s spiritually fatal! But should we be looking suspiciously at new technologies, vaccines, or payment methods? In fact, is this “mark” a specific, one-time “thing” for the final generation only, or is it an image that warns all believers? What should we be on the lookout for? Join Elijah and Paul as they dig into the “mark of the beast” in Revelation and reveal how important it is for us today (but not perhaps how you might think). Hint: It’s related to the “seal of God.”

It’s important that you check out the first episode of this series, which lays a foundation for this episode. Find it here.

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How do you read Revelation? Or do you read it at all? Maybe you find it fascinating, but don't know how to find any meaning in it. Or maybe you feel a bit jaded by controversies over strange symbolism in the book. Join Elijah and Paul in this first episode of a series on Revelation where they sweep away some common misconceptions about the book of Revelation and "end-times" theology.  Hint: John wrote Revelation in a very specific genre of literature... and we should read it accordingly.

Video episode link:
https://youtu.be/1cYR_tki-DU

For more on this topic, read this article from The Gospel Coalition:
https://www.thegospelcoalition.org/article/recapitulation-revelation/

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Drew and Elijah talk about how to use technology without it keeping us from things that matter. Realistically, for most of us, the quality of our lives will suffer if we don't make intentional choices about how we use--and don't use--our phones.

We are on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/@thinktruth7992

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Drew and Elijah acknowledge that we all use some arbitrary lines in fleshing out principles, at least individually. But how do we keep this separate from strong positions we take, especially publicly?

 The podcast is launched with a discussion on a comment Drew received on a recent post:  https://think-truth.org/2023/02/28/pcc-the-kings-singers-and-the-culture-wars/

Think Truth is on YouTube! https://www.youtube.com/@thinktruth7992 

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Drew and Elijah discuss their initial thought on the Asbury revivals. They also discuss their broader view of revivalism, in light of some of their past experiences.

https://think-truth.org

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Drew and Elijah continue their discussion on modesty. Here they talk about the process of overcoming lust and lay out practical specifics for determining modesty standards.

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Drew and Elijah have a lively discussion about Elijah's popular article on the Think Truth blog: https://think-truth.org/2022/10/20/how-modesty-is-weaponized/

Are modesty and beauty fundamentally at odds? Do we need to accept a tradeoff between the two? Can we be fully modest and fully beautiful?

Link for Followers of the Way modesty panel discussion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaZijOAGwS0

We're on YouTube! You can continue to enjoy our podcast in audio form with your favourite podcast app, or you can see the same podcasts in video format on YouTube. Thanks to our generous donors who made this upgrade possible! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbCNzgrK3YA

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In this last episode in their Holy Spirit series, Drew and Elijah talk about how easy it is to set up a dichotomy between serious thinking and experiences of the Spirit. Why does there often seem to be two camps and how can they learn to work together?

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Should we be seeing more manifestations of the Spirit today, especially of the kind we see in the book of Acts? And how do the miracles we see in Acts connect to the teaching of the Epistles? Drew and Elijah continue their Holy Spirit series by going back to the very beginning of the outpouring of the Spirit.

Are you a fan of the podcast? We're running a fundraiser to upgrade our podcasting equipment. We'd appreciate your help here: https://gofund.me/fa00d7db

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Drew and Elijah start a new series on the Holy Spirit. They discuss different beliefs about how the Spirit works in our lives, how we should seek to grow in the Spirit, and how we should view the gifts of the Spirit. 

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Yesterday Trump announced his candidacy for the 2024 GOP nomination. Drew and Elijah discuss how the church should respond. Is there a good reason for Christians to support Trump?  And how does widespread evangelical support for Trump affect our Christian witness? 

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In the last episode in their pacifism series, Drew and Elijah delve into just war theory. By its own standards, how many wars have been just? And does the theory present a compelling biblical argument for war being necessary? 

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