Over opinionated with Josh Scott
Thank you for your time. Please enjoy and if you like the podcast feel free to check out my other episodes listed on my page. God Bless you All.
- Josh Scott, Host of Over Opinionated.
Over opinionated with Josh Scott
Broken Sanctuaries (replay)
When religious leaders abuse their authority, the wounds can feel deeper than almost any other relational breakdown, yet separating human failures from God's character is essential for spiritual healing.
• Church hurt occurs when religious leaders or communities harm believers through manipulation, judgment, or abuse of power
• Personal testimony of experiencing a church split when a pastor became controlling and manipulative
• Exploration of why church splits occur and the long-lasting trauma they create
• Biblical examples of how to respond when spiritual leaders fail or abuse their position
• The importance of distinguishing between God and the imperfect people who claim to represent Him
• Analysis of how legalistic attitudes drive people away from churches
• Strategies for healing from church trauma without abandoning faith
• Careful reflection on Trump's political statements regarding abortion and religion
• Emphasis on the need for Christians to hold political leaders accountable to biblical standards
Don't give up on your relationship with God because of hurtful experiences with His people. If you're struggling with church hurt, remember that God didn't cause your pain – people did – and He's waiting with open arms to welcome you back.
Alright, everyone, welcome back to Overopinionated. I apologize. I was not feeling well last week. I had the flu and I had strep throat. I'm still recovering from it a little bit, but I missed an episode. I missed last week after having a two hour long conversation with Theron McClain about Calvinism our long conversation with Theron McClain about Calvinism. And not too long ago before that, I missed another week because the episode we shot we weren't able to save. So I'm going to try to get on the ball and do more episodes. I apologize.
Speaker 1:I really love this podcast. I love talking about God. I love more than anything. I love talking about politics and stuff and I love my podcast. I love talking about God. I love more than anything. I love talking about politics and stuff and I love my audience. I love you guys and I like having a good show for you guys. But welcome back to Overopinionated. I'm going to do a brief little news update. I hope it's not more than 20 minutes long, you can skip along and then we're going to talk about church hurt and church splits and my experience with that and how to deal with that. With that being said, I'm recording. It is 4-9-20-24. It is Tuesday, 11 o'clock AM. I got home from work not too long ago and I'm shooting the show.
Speaker 1:President Donald Trump has done a few things since we've talked on here that I'm going to have to criticize him for and if you're a Trump guy, it's okay, I'm going to vote for Trump too. But we still have to criticize him as Christians, because not everything Trump does lives up to a biblical standard and we have to be honest about that. He's a politician, he's running for office. I personally think he needs to repent and ask Jesus as Lord and Savior, because I don't see any fruit there. I don't judge the man's soul and his eternal destiny, but you know, and I think Trump was a great president, but he just made his abortion statement, where he stands on abortion for the 2024 election. I'm going to play a little bit of it, then I'll pause it. So I'll play it a little bit and I'll pause it and I'll talk every once in a while and give you my thoughts on it.
Speaker 2:Under my leadership, the Republican Party will always support the creation of strong, thriving and healthy American families. We want to make it easier for mothers and families to have babies, not harder. That includes supporting the availability of fertility treatments like IVF in every state in America. Like the overwhelming majority of Americans, including the vast majority of Republicans, conservatives, christians and pro-life Americans, I strongly support the availability of IVF for couples who are trying to have a precious baby. What could be more beautiful or better than that? Today, I'm pleased.
Speaker 1:Okay. So he says precious baby. What could be more beautiful or wonderful than that? And I agree with that. That's why I wish his statement overall on this issue was better. Let's talk about IVF and virtual fertilization. Forgive me if I'm mispronouncing it. I have two cousins that were conceived by IVF. I'm against IVF but I love my two cousins. I'm glad they're here. Cousins, I'm glad they're here.
Speaker 1:The reason I'm against IVF overall is in IVF you are taking a sperm and an egg from a mother and you're putting them together and creating an embryo At that moment. It is a unique human life scientifically. And if you go out for the whole process of the pro-life ideology just creating as many embryos as we can and then freezing them and then putting them in the wombs of the mother I'm fine with I. Honestly, if it was just if you just use the embryos you created, I'd be okay. It wouldn't bother me nearly as much.
Speaker 1:But the problem is you're destroying tons and tons of embryos that are not conceived. So you make more embryos than the children you want to conceive. Because why? You might have a miscarriage. You might. You know, it just might not work.
Speaker 1:And so instead of making two embryos, if you want two children. You could make eight or ten, and these things are very expensive. Could make eight or ten, and these things are very expensive. Well, these, these, not these things, these human beings that have not developed yet, they're very expensive to hold in these freezers. You're talking about five, sometimes five thousand dollars a month. So, once you conceive, you're going to stop paying that money and you're going to disregard. You know, um, what it really is. You're going to stop paying that money and you're going to disregard. You know what it really is is. You're killing the embryos, so you're killing the children of the. You're killing the children that you didn't conceive inside the womb. It's because people don't look at them as human beings. Scientifically, they're human beings. They're not as big as us, they're not as developed as us, they don't have a heartbeat yet.
Speaker 1:And so, yeah, most republicans support it. Um, sadly, most, I think most republicans support abortion. Um, I don't think most republic Republicans are for getting rid of all abortion. I am, but the Republican Party is better on abortion than the Democrat Party by far. It allows abortion up to birth. But, yeah, this is something that's real serious. We shouldn't just say because, politically, it's a losing issue for us, and I admit it is a losing issue for us. We shouldn't just shrug our shoulders and say whatever. We're going to allow the killing of these unborn embryos that weren't conceived. But Trump's primary objective is winning the election. That's it. So I don't have faith that Trump has huge convictions on these issues. Now I give him full credit for getting Roe v Wade overturned, which was horrible, but I don't think he's deeply hardcore pro-life. He cares about these babies. I'm sorry Now I don't think he hates them, but let's keep going.
Speaker 2:The Alabama legislature has acted very quickly and passed legislation that preserves the availability of IVF in Alabama. They really did a great and fast job. The Republican Party should always be on the side of the miracle of life and the side of mothers father their beautiful babies, and that's what we are. Ivf is an important part of that, and our great Republican Party will always be with you in your quest for the ultimate joy in life. Many people have asked me what my position is on abortion and abortion rights, especially since I was proudly the person responsible for the ending of something that all legal scholars, both sides, wanted and, in fact, demanded be ended Roe v Wade.
Speaker 1:That's not true. Both sides of this debate did not want Roe v Wade to be overturned, because the left wing side wants you to be able to have sex free of consequence and be able to kill your baby before it's born. Um, yeah, he's just being a politician here. Both sides did not want to overturn Roe v Wade. Unfortunately, there are some Republicans that didn't want to overturn Roe v Wade. I even got in a heated debate with an elected former delegate uh, republican about if we should overturn Roe v Wade. So, okay, he's just wrong about that, but let's keep going regardless.
Speaker 2:It must be remembered that the Democrats are the radical ones on this position because they support abortion up to and even beyond the ninth month. The concept of having an abortion in the later months and even execution after birth and that's exactly what it is the baby is born, the baby is executed after birth is unacceptable and almost everyone agrees with that.
Speaker 1:He's right about that and that's why he's trying to be a moderate on abortion and some people will say, well, josh Trump's being ridiculous here. Some people will say, well, josh Trump's being ridiculous here. Nobody supports abortion after birth, which is actually a fantasize. The former governor of Virginia, ralph Northam, said on a radio interview that if, in case of a botched abortion, that the doctor could make it comfortable and then the mother, the family, the doctor would have a discussion. Now he walked back the words and said well, when I said discussion, I didn't mean terminating the pregnancy Bullcrap. We all knew what you meant and Trump, rightfully, has posted on his social media that clip from that interview.
Speaker 1:Several years ago, virginia Democrats still live out of today. Blue Virginia uh, tweeted out a post with the last uh Republican governors of the last 50 years of Virginia and said who was worse? And I tagged them and I said Ralph Norfolk was worse. It was okay. He said it was okay to kill a baby after a botched abortion. They said he never said that. I took the little clip from his exact quote. I retweeted it, put Blue Virginia in it. Yeah, they didn't like that. Blue Virginia doesn't like me, oh, okay, well, let's keep going. But yeah, he's trying to be a moderate on the issue because Democrats are for killing the baby all the way up to the moment of birth and you can say feed us all you want to. We know what's inside that womb, we're not stupid.
Speaker 2:But go ahead, mr president, keep going my view is, now that we have abortion, where everybody wanted it, from a legal standpoint, the states will determine, by vote or legislation, or perhaps both, and whatever they decide must be the law of the land, in this case, the law of the state. Many states will be different, many will have a different number of weeks, or some will have more conservative than others, and that's what they will be. At the end of the day, this is all about the will of the people. You must follow your heart or, in many cases, your religion or your faith. Do what's right for your family and do what's right for yourself.
Speaker 1:Do what's right for your children. All right, let's take a little pause there. So he's going to leave it up to the state. So Trump's okay with California killing babies all the way up to birth. He's not going to set a standard at 15 weeks, which I wish he would. That said no abortion after 15 weeks.
Speaker 1:Democrats are fighting hard on abortion. They're being aggressive. They want to codify Roe v Wade in the law, saying that you know the previous Supreme Court precedent saying all states have to abide by this. Why don't Republicans forgive me for my stutter why doesn't Republicans? Why do we not say let's make Dobbs, codify Dobbs as law of the land? So I mean we could do the same thing and you might say well, that's the case now, but who cares? Just do it, fight for life. And then he said this is up between the legislators. Yeah, I mean I'm all for state rights, but when states violate human rights, I stop supporting state rights.
Speaker 1:This goes back, man. This goes all the way back to the Civil War. This is a Civil War argument. This is a politician saying the states that want to have slavery can have slavery and the states that don't want to have slavery can have slavery. If Virginia wants slavery, virginia can have slavery. If Ohio wants no slavery, they don't have to have slavery. Now President Trump is saying if Virginia wants abortion, then Virginia can have abortion. If Alabama doesn't want abortion, then they don't have to have abortion. It's the same thing. It's the same thing. Um, it's the same parallel, isn't it? There's a lot of parallels between abortion and slavery, a lot, but um, if you want to go more into depth on abortion, go back to my previous uh episode. Why abortion is murder? Um, and he said he also said something that's dangerous you've got to follow your heart. He said, man, that's not what the bible says. The bible says the heart is, um, desperately wicked and don't follow it. Oh, man, who can know it? Alright, continue, mr President.
Speaker 2:Do what's right for our country and vote so important to vote. At the end of the day, it's all about will of the people. That's where we are right now and that's what we want the will of the people. I want to thank the six justices, Chief Justice John.
Speaker 1:I don't want the will of the people, but what about democracy? I want the will of the people, but what about democracy? And what? I want? The will of God and I support democracy. Okay, don't blow off your high horse here, democrats. But I want the will of God and if God says this is wrong, we shouldn't do it. I don't think we should do it. If God says this is wrong, we shouldn't do it. I don't think we should do it. If God says this is right we should do it, then I think we should do it.
Speaker 1:The separation of church and state Well, we've already went over this. But I don't want the church telling the state, I don't want a church denomination ruling the state, but I do want christians to get involved in politics and act like christians, and there's nothing that prohibits that in the constitution. That is not me establishing a religion. That's what we're fighting about. The establishment calls. The establishment calls Me following my faith and my heart in God is not me establishing an official religion. You know what they meant by official religion. It was a Christian denomination. Let's not kid ourselves. But let's continue with what the president has to say. We'll back it up a bit.
Speaker 2:Brett Kavanaugh, amy Coney Barrett and Neil Gorsuch incredible people for having the courage to allow this long-term, hard-fought battle to finally end. This 50-year battle over Roe v Wade took it out of the.
Speaker 1:Except Chief Justice John Roberts didn't vote to overturn Roe v Wade. I don't know what the crap he's talking about. It was a 5-4 decision, not a 6-3 decision. You know, justice Roberts didn't have enough courage to say that unborn babies shouldn't die. And listen the other five. They could have went stronger on this. They could have said under the 14th Amendment, abortion is wrong and should be outlawed. But under this court, that one, the only person I think, would have done that, is um thomas, justice thomas. But I am thankful, even if it's a vic, a victory that's not full we got. We do have to learn how to take partial victories, and this is why I'll tell you what the president should have done with the statement.
Speaker 2:But okay, I let president trump keep yapping for a little bit federal hands and brought it into the hearts, minds and vote of the people in each state was really something. Now it's up to the states to do the right thing. Like ronald reagan, I am strongly in favor of exceptions for rape, incest and life of the mother. You must follow your heart of this issue, but remember you must also win elections to restore our culture and, in fact, to save our country, which is currently and very sadly- Okay, right there he's saying evangelicals like me get in line and vote.
Speaker 1:Basically, he's saying follow your heart, but they're destroying our country. Now I am going to vote for Trump, but I'm also going to rake him over the hills for this crappy statement. He brings up Ronald Reagan because, you know, conservatives and evangelicals love Ronald Reagan. I love Ronald Reagan. He's a very. You know he's called the great communicator because he communicated greatly. He was a very. You know he's called the great communicator because he communicated greatly.
Speaker 1:He was a great president, but he wasn't God. He doesn't set the standard. And also he did some things that wasn't great, like the 1984 assault weapons ban. They did a ban that got rid of the right to own AR-15s and stuff like that. He did that. He signed that into law. So let's not forget that. And you know and Ronald Reagan was pro-life with you know, the exceptions I think there should be no exceptions with rape or incest. Only the only exceptions there should be is for life of the mother and when the baby passes away in the womb. You can get mad at me, you can hate me, but it's wrong to kill a baby, even if it's conceived in rape, it's still wrong. And I say in that instance, we help the mother, we love her, we support her, we don't shame her, but we don't kill the baby for the crimes of the father. Okay, well, let's keep going. Let's listen to Trump's rest of the speech.
Speaker 2:A nation in decline. Our nation needs help. It needs unity. It needs us all to work closely together Democrat, republican, liberal, conservative, everyone. We have to work together. We have to bring our nation back from the brink, and that's where it is. It's at the brink and we will. We will do it. I promise you. We will do it, always go by your heart, but we must win. We have to win. We are a failing nation, but we can be a failing nation no longer. We will make our nation great. We will make our nation greater than ever before. Thank you very much.
Speaker 1:Well. So someone put this up. Someone put this up for Trump because they thought it was the best way for him to win. This is the same thing Nikki Haley would have said I'm so disappointed.
Speaker 1:Now listen, there's some people that say you have to ban it outright, even in the federal government. If I could, I would, but I think we do have to have some incrementalism and we should have went with a 15 week ban. A lot of Americans would go for a 15 week ban. Guess what? In Europe, a 15 week ban is kind of common. In America we're scattered all over the place California, virginia you can get an abortion all the way up to the moment of birth.
Speaker 1:Texas, louisiana it's hard to get a surgical abortion. You can get an abortion pill, though. That's what people are doing. We need to outlaw them too, but a lot of pro-life establishment are afraid to outlaw the abortion bill. But whatever, I mean Republicans. What I'm saying right now is not popular with Republicans. The establishment would tell me to stop. But you know what? I don't care. I'm not in politics to just see Republicans win. I would like that, but I'd like them to actually do stuff when they win, and I'd like them to save unborn lives. That's why I started and that's why I'll keep going. And, yeah, I'm going to criticize our nominee when he's wrong, and Donald Trump is wrong about abortion. All right, everyone, I'm not going to lie, we're going to criticize Trump a little bit more. Okay, let's play just a little bit of this clip.
Speaker 2:And I have many. All Americans need a Bible in their home and I have many. It's my favorite book. It's a lot of people's favorite book. This Bible is a reminder that the biggest thing we have to bring back America and to make America great again is our religion. Religion is so important, it's so missing, but it's going to come back and it's going to come back strong, just like our country is going to come back strong. I'm proud to endorse and encourage you to get this Bible. We must make America pray again.
Speaker 1:Oh my gosh Cringe. Talk about the cringe. Oh man, I know Trump's a salesman.
Speaker 1:But man that's so cringe, it's so bad. Oh, including in your King James Version of the God Bless America Bible is a copy of the Constitution, the Bill of Rights, the Declaration of Independence, the Pledge of Allegiance. Okay, I love America, guys, I do, I love America. But man, this is bad. You're putting all of that in the Holy Bible. Guess what? The Constitution is not infallible. The Bible is literally above the Constitution. I mean I, like the family, listen, I've got a copy of the Constitution, right here, I'm holding it in there it is. I'm holding it in my hands. A copy of the Constitution, right here, I'm holding it in, there it is, holding it in my hands. Copy of the United States Constitution and Declaration of Independence. I got it. It's important. I've read it.
Speaker 1:It's not God's word and, man, I do have one patriotic Bible a teacher gave me when I graduated and it has a little bit. Sometimes it can get borderline, but it has the. It's called the American Patriots Bible. It's a New King James Version and it has the importance of the Bible throughout America. It has important quotes from presidents and generals and patriots about the Holy Word. But even that is still focused on the Bible. It's just got an American zing to it. You might not like it, but it's not what Trump's doing.
Speaker 1:Trump is selling a copy of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Pledge of Allegiance in the Bible. I mean, maybe it would be okay to have like in the very back, like the Bill of Rights, but if under disclaimer that this is not God's infallible word, these are your rights, that you should know. I just he's trying to make a quick buck for his campaign, his legal fees. Oh man, donald trump's gotta repent, man. I mean, I don't know how you can look at his position on abortion, which he's so wish-washy on, the fact that he said he's never asked for forgiveness. And this isn't supposed to be an anti-Donald Trump episode. I'm going to support him, I'm going to vote for him. Joe Biden's worse than him, but I also have to call out this crap. All right, shifting gears now.
Speaker 1:Wrestlemania 40. I just watched it. Roman Reigns has been defeated and the new WWE Universal Champion is Cody Rhodes. Now, yes, it's staged. Okay, don't give me that crap. Everyone knows it's staged, but it's good entertainment. And you know what else is staged Batman, captain America, marvel, star Wars, gunsmoke. Okay, I like those things too. It's just a good story, um, but Cody finally pulled it off. He won the big one that his dad was never able to, and very emotional man. It made me jerk a tear. I mean it really. It really made me emotional to see him and his family in the ring. A huge match with so many old WWE wrestlers, the Undertaker, john Cena, the Rock, you name it. They had it. It was well drawn up, very, very well drawn up. Congratulations to the American Nightmare, cody Rhodes.
Speaker 1:All right, everyone, we're going to get into our main topic of the night, about church hurt and church splits. So I've been through a church split. I've been through plenty of church hurt, church splits. So I've been through a church split. I've been through plenty of church hurt. Actually, everything I'm streaming from now on, everything I am Talking about on this podcast, is live streaming On TikTok. So if you want to go to TikTok At overopinionated, you can follow me and see how I shoot the podcast. You can actually see me talking. I'll be taking breaks and getting water and everything. The TikTok will see that, but you'll be paused.
Speaker 1:But let's talk about church hurt. So, as many of y'all know that have listened to my show, I've grown up in a church. My grandfather is a Pentecostal holiness pastor, a Trinitarian. My mom's side were a oneness Pentecostal holiness, which I believe in a heresy that says that God isn't part of a trinity, and that is a heresy and it's heartbreaking and I don't think that means they're all damned to hell, but it's still heartbreaking and concerning and I think many of them are misled. But let's talk about church hurt. Church hurt can hurt more than anything, and when I'm talking about church hurt is someone in the church or the church itself was extremely hateful toward you or your family for something that was not biblical that they should have been doing.
Speaker 1:I remember one time I attended my grandfather's church and I was in high school. I wore New Balance tennis shoes and the way I get shoes is I wear them everywhere. They're my work shoes, they're my church shoes. I don't dress up the church most of the time. Sometimes I will wear a polo and khakis or slacks. Very, you know, easter and Christmas I'll dress up, maybe wear a suit, but anyway I had these New Balance tennis shoes and they had orange shoestrings. They didn't look bad, it was sporty, but I had a polo on and I remember someone saying it's like, man, I wouldn't. It's like how could you go to church wearing those tennis shoes and that really?
Speaker 1:hurt me because, man, I want to go worship God, see my grandfather, and I heard them say that Now that's not the worst case scenario, but it is a case scenario. Um, just stupid stuff. The Bible. And the Bible condemns that man, he, he condemns it and God condemns it in the book of James I think it's the second chapter. You know, don't say to someone with a shiny ring, come set up front. Someone with the better clothes come set up front. And someone with the raggedy clothes in the back. He said it doesn't matter what kind of clothes you have, as long as it's modest, right, wear whatever clothes you want to and worship God. But that hurt. That's a small church hurt.
Speaker 1:I came from a church split, where it was really when we moved to Giles County after the divorce and dad got remarried. There's a church that was in the middle of town and that's the church I got saved in. It's a church I got baptized in almost 10 years ago next week and our pastor moved away and we got another pastor to come in. I even stood up and I said you know, we've been interviewing all these pastors and giving them a trial. I think you should hire him. Looking back on it, I shouldn't have done that. For the first two years it wasn't awful. Then he got so power hungry. If you literally he said, if you didn't obey him or listen to what he was saying that you were sinning, you were sinning against him, you were sinning against God, because God appointed him. He was the authority of the church and I believe in spiritual authority. Right, I believe you should listen to your pastor, listen to your authority, but if your pastor's telling you to do something outside his purview, I don't think you have to listen to that, you don't. He replaced the board members. The old board members left and then when he got his board members in, when they were elected, he controlled the whole church. The whole church went south. Man, it just there's a lot of hurt from that man. Now, a lot of us went up on the hill, as he called it. I remember there was a sermon. One of my sister's friends sent a clip of the sermon. It was like why don't you go up on the hill? It's a literal hill where we start going to church because we all knew the pastor from the church split. After our church split in half, half of the church went to the church on the hill because we all knew the pastor and he's a great godly man. I love that pastor but I still talk to him occasionally. But uh, man, um, I remember that half of us left and went to that church on the hill but it was hard.
Speaker 1:I grew up in that church. I, from elementary school all the way to high school, even I fought to stay in that church for over a year when I knew things weren't weren't being done biblically, when we were going into the new apostolic reformation crap, when we were um cause, we were charismatic you know, independent charismatic church when we were going into that new apostolic reformation crap, when we were going into that new apostolic reformation crap, where we were going into um, more hyper charismaticism, which I'm against um, and I knew it was unbiblical. But, man, for a whole year I tried I mean I and I, I I was going for a lot of anxiety. I was talking to this pastor. He's helping me. I felt a call in my life that I wanted to go and preach for the Lord and uh, you know, I challenged him on a few things biblically. I thought he was wrong on Um and he, you know, he told me that I was not called to preach and I, even for a part of me, I believed him. It's like, maybe I'm not called to preach, I have depression, I have anxiety and maybe he's right, maybe I'm not called to preach, but that pastor had no right to tell me that.
Speaker 1:None, he wasn't there to help me. He wasn't there to help me when I was at my weakest point, and part of it, I think, was because I challenged him on a few things that he was doing unbiblically. But I had a true heart for the Lord and I needed help, I needed spiritual guidance and he let me drown and I'm not the only one he just let drown spiritually. I saw him right after I got married. I had my car inspected, um, and he was he's a part-time mechanic and, uh, I went to this garage and he's doing some part-time work. It's just real awkward. Um, I wasn't mean to him. I wasn't mean to him, he wasn't mean to me. We just said hi and everything. I just, uh, waited in there, let my car be inspected and, uh, I went on my merry way. I've heard that he's repented from a lot of things I I would like to you know, um, there's some.
Speaker 1:I didn't leave the church the way I should have. There are some sinful parts on my end, um, even though I was mostly in the right and even though I was a lot younger, as junior, doing some spiritual things, um, that was um, spiritually I I think I was more in the right, but I should have left better. I shouldn't have um publicly called the church a cult, even though it was getting very culty. But I was hurt, man, I was hurt I. I put years and years and years into this church. It is the church I grew up in, the church my sisters were born in. I grew up in the church. My sisters were born in, not literally, but um, you know, they were born when they started going there. Man, I, as a church, I went to youth group in the church. I got saved in the church. I got baptized in Um and man, he, just he, ripped my heart out.
Speaker 1:Every time I drive past that church it breaks my heart because I know it's not the same church. It's not the church I left, it's not the church I grew up in. Um, and it hurts, but I know, um, I know that wasn't God's fault, I know it was man's fault, I know it was the pride of that pastor and not only him, some other people that were following along with him. That hurt me, but God didn't hurt me. God's still good. God is still love. It wasn't God that did that, it was man. And it's just a building. It's a building I still feel bad about every time I pass it. I don't pass it as much because I don't live in Pearsburg anymore.
Speaker 1:They changed the name of the church and my stepmom told me that they changed the name of the church. Part of me it broke my heart and then a part of me I shook my head. I was like, well, I'm glad they did, because I said the church's original name. I said that church that I went to. It doesn't exist anymore, not there. So I'm glad they changed the name of the church to wherever or whatever they did, because the church that I grew up in, with its name, that name, means a lot to me. And, um, and it's just a building now and listen, there's good people that still go there. There are saved people that still go there.
Speaker 1:I try my best and I've asked God to help me and I think he is slowly, not slowly on my part, not on God's part. I have to ask God and say, man, forgive me, help me to forgive this pastor Because he hurt me. Help me to forgive him and help me to forgive other things in my life. Man, it even hurts my heart to talk about now. I hope I'm not committing to sin talking about this. I don't think I am, but, um, I think it. It just hurts. It hurts to lose your own church like that and get it ripped from you. You know, um, give me one second guys. But yeah, um, I remember there's also one girl that was man, she's in and out of homosexuality and she her. She had a mom that went to her church and she hated me and her kid didn't like me. She might not have claimed to hate me, maybe she didn't, but she she definitely seemed like she hated me.
Speaker 1:Because I would say this is wrong and this is a sin. And then they would bring up well, you're overweight, well, you've, you've watched this on the internet, or blah, blah, blah, just coming up with so many excuses, but they would celebrate sin and that love is love crap. And I love, I want to love everyone, even homosexuals. But what God's word says is wrong is wrong, it is. That doesn't mean we hate them, but, man, they just said some hurtful things to me and I'm sure that they thought I was being hurtful, but I was trying to help them in love, especially their daughter and man. You can love people that are deep in sin, but don't condone their sin. Don't tell them that their sin's okay, it's not okay. Don't condone their sin. Don't tell them that their sin's okay, it's not okay, it's bad for them.
Speaker 1:I'm an overweight guy. I know that I've struggled with my weight my entire life. I might struggle with it until I die. That doesn't mean I'm proud of it. I'm not. I'm not proud of it. I think they're a little bit different of sins, because I don't take pride in it. I don't fly a fat pride flag around and I don't say this is my identity. I say God, I know I'm overweight. Please forgive me for my sin. I'm sorry, help me to eat better, help me to do better. Sometimes, some days I do, some days I don't. It's a struggle, a struggle, but um, you know, I don't take pride in that sin. And when, if you're overweight, if you ever call out someone's sin, they're gonna do well.
Speaker 1:Well, you, you use more than two notches on your belt loop, they're gonna do it and yeah, I'm a big, I'm a big dude, but, um, that doesn't mean homosexuality is okay, it's not. It's not. God condemns it. Multiple times he said god will judge the nations based on how they react to this. I mean, and god loves homosexuals. He died for homosexuals and I think you can struggle with homosexuality and still go to heaven. I know you can, because the same God that helped me, the same God that's helping me with my sexual sins okay, I'm married, it's not like I'm only attracted to one woman the same God that constantly helps me when I might have a unappealing look to someone, is the same God that'll help a homosexual. And you're going to fall, you're going to slip up. And if they fall and they watch nasty stuff on the internet, god still loves them and he'll still forgive them. All that means is you have to humble yourself and ask God for forgiveness. God will help you in your sin. I don't think if you die struggling with a sin, you go to hell. I don't believe that when Jesus said it's finished, he meant it. He didn't just mean you better have all your sins and your ducks in a row before you die or you're going to hell. No, repentance means turning your body, turning your mind from that evil, sin, nature, giving your heart to God. I mean, I went on a tangent there but, man, they hurt me A lot of the things that my mom had to grow up hearing. That hurt her.
Speaker 1:Now this is talking about the Pentecostal Oneness Church, which is a heresy. It's a heresy because God has revealed himself as a trinity. And I don't say that with hate, I say that with man a broken heart. I love my oneness family and I think some of them are going to heaven, despite what crap they have been taught. And I think some of them taught and I think some of them, if they, if they reject God and they say you know, you're not a real Christian because you believe in Trinity, they reject God. I mean, then I think that they're going down the path to hell. And, man, that hurts me to say, it hurts me to say, because that's a lot of my family on my mom's side. But I'm praying and I'm thankful for God's sovereign love. I am. But you know, talking about church hurt. A lot of church hurt came from that side of the family when my mom was trying to get close to god and she would hear um, you know, you can come to church but you can't sing in the choir. You can come to church but you can't do anything other than come to church because you've been married three times, because you have a tattoo, because this or that or this or that that hurts people.
Speaker 1:And Jesus condemned sacrificial sins. You think about the woman at the well, jesus, the woman's getting a drink at the well. Jesus said you know, if you drink of me, you won't be thirsty again. And Jesus asked the woman. He said where's your husband? And she said I don't have a husband. He said you're right, you've had five husbands and the man you're shacking up with now is not even your husband. That's harsh. But he also loved her. This is the first person he ever told that he was the Messiah to. He loved her.
Speaker 1:He loved this woman that's been married five times and was living in fornication with. He loved her, he sought her. He went out of his way to talk to her. A Samaritan, no less, that Jews did not like went out of his way to tell him, to tell her that he was the Messiah and if she drunk of his water, if she drunk of him, she wouldn't thirst again. And she went and she told the city man, that's a beautiful story.
Speaker 1:Jesus loved this woman who was married five times and was shacking up with a guy. She wasn't married to man. A lot of the red pillars and andrew taters be like oh well, god won't forgive her. She did, she done the only F and woo, woo, woo, shut up. You don't know how powerful God is.
Speaker 1:The same God that loved the woman that was married five times and in the fornication and told her I'm the Messiah, come to me. It's the same God that can forgive homosexuals. And told her I'm the Messiah, come to me. It's the same God that can forgive homosexuals. It's the same God that can forgive people that struggle for gluttony, people that struggle with this or that or that. And you're going to sit there and just tell my mom that she can't be in the choir Because she's been married more than once or she has a tattoo. Man, they want to go back to God.
Speaker 1:And these jerk people who haven't opened up their Bibles. They put their stipulations on them, ones that God hasn't put on. They don't realize that God can forgive all sins. Man, church hurt sucks, it sucks. And if you've been hurt by church hurt, if you're listening to me on TikTok, if you're listening to me on Spotify, wherever, let me tell you something God didn't try to. God didn't hurt you. It was man, and not all churches are like that.
Speaker 1:Now, in every church there's probably a crappy person. I'll admit that that doesn't mean you stop going to church. In every school there's a crappy person. In every school there's a crappy person. In every gym there's a crappy person. In every hospital. Any line of work anywhere in life, there's going to be crappy people. Don't stop pursuing your goals. Don't stop going lifting weights because there's someone laughing at you and, yeah, that hurts. I'm a big guy. I know how it is to go to the gym and not feel comfortable, but you still try to go. Don't go to school because someone's laughing at you, because you missed a question. You still got to go to school. So don't stop going to church, okay, and maybe pray for that person. Like they are lost, like they're going to hell, because they might be and they might need your love through your prayers.
Speaker 1:You know, I was thinking about this. King Saul was God's rightful king at the time, and King Saul had a servant king who would later be king, king David, and King Saul tried to kill David, david ran away. That was God's king, his anointed king. That was God's king. But David didn't blame God, he blamed the man. And when David had a chance to take out King Saul, he didn't do it. He cut a part of his garment off. At the end, when King Saul was using the restroom in a cave relieving himself, he cut the garment off in the cave and he showed it to King Saul and he said I had the opportunity to take you out, but I didn't because I know your God's anointed. Now I'm not saying, I'm not comparing King Saul to a bad pastor. If you, if there's a pastor out there that's being abusive and everything, I encourage you to go to another church. Reach out to me, reach out to someone that you trust in the faith, but have that same attitude David did and say this was not God's fault, it was man's fault. So this is your Bible verse of the day. I'm going to read it from the NIV, 1 Samuel, chapter 24, and we'll talk about it.
Speaker 1:Verse 1. After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told David is in the desert of Angol. I mispronounced that place name, forgive me. So Saul took 3,000 young, able men from all Israel and sent out to look for David and his men near the crags of the wild goats. He came to the sheep's pen along the way. A cave was there and Saul went in to relieve himself. David and his men were far back in the cave. The men said David was consciously strucken for cutting off a corner of his robe. He said to his men the Lord forbid that I should do such a thing to my master, the Lord anointed. Or lay on my hand on him, for he is in the anointed of the Lord. For these words, david sharply rebuked his men and did not allow them to attack Saul, and Saul left the cave and went his way.
Speaker 1:This shows a few things. Now I can see a pastor misusing this and saying Well, even if I am wrong, I'm God's anointed, you can't touch me. There's a very grain of truth to that, but you can misuse that wrongfully. What I think this is saying is number one show respect to who God has appointed. Number two it shows that God. It shows that David didn't. I think that this also shows that David didn't blame God for the crap Saul was doing, because he didn't say look how evil Saul is, god must hate me Now. He showed respect to the anointed king God put in place, that's true, but he also was running away, okay, so do I think if a pastor is being a jerk in a sermon, you should stand up and rebuke him? No, the only time I think he should do that is when he's doing heresy. That is totally against God's word. That will lead someone to hell. Okay, but I think you should just leave, like David did.
Speaker 1:Try to get away from the situation. Don't talk bad about them. Don't do this or that. Notice, when I did this podcast, it might be a little risky, but I never mentioned the name of my old church. Now, if you press me, you can find it easy. I'm not going to deny anything. I didn't use the name of the pastor because some people won't know and some people won't go out there to try to get that information, and that's a good thing. You shouldn't so. I'm not trying to dishonor that pastor. I'm also not going to hide away from the story that happened to me. I'm also not going to hide away from the story that happened to me, and that's just one event. So church hurt man, it sucks.
Speaker 1:Try to stay away from the pitfall of saying there are fake people in church. I'm going to stay away from God. Okay, if you do that, then there's fake people everywhere. Everywhere you go, there's fake people. You don't want to get in that pit hole. You don't want to get in that pit hole, guys, worship God. Run back to him, just like the prodigal son man. When the father saw the prodigal son was broken, he was going back to the father. The father ran to the prodigal son and wrapped his arms around him. I think God will do that for you. I know he will. I love you guys.
Speaker 1:I plan on having some better shows. I plan on having more updated shows. I plan on having more updated shows. Please forgive me, I've been sick. I want to do better. We got the 2024 election we got to cover. We got more biblical topics we have to cover. Maybe we go more in-depth in Bible topics. We didn't go too far in-depth. I just gave you part of a testimony testimony, so I hope that helps someone out. I want to say God bless you. I love all of you and please have a great day. In Jesus name. See you later.
