Bible Leadership Podcast [BLP]

Ep 72: Guarding Truth In A Noisy Feed

• Mark Carter & Erica Adkins • Season 2 • Episode 72

Share episode

Use Left/Right to seek, Home/End to jump to start or end. Hold shift to jump forward or backward.

0:00 | 25:52

In a world where anyone can say anything confidently, Christians must learn to guard truth by submitting their convictions to the authority of Scripture—not the volume of the feed.

In this episode, Mark Carter and Erica Adkins react to several viral TikToks from Fierce Church that touch on God’s existence, Halloween, politics, and the gospel itself. What starts as a fun conversation quickly turns into a sober reflection on how easily false ideas can sound true online—especially to young and impressionable listeners. Together, they unpack why confidence is not the same as correctness, why personal conviction must never replace biblical authority, and why the true gospel must be guarded with both clarity and compassion.

📋 Key Takeaways 

  • Confidence is not truth. Saying something loudly or passionately does not make it biblically sound.
  • Convictions ≠ doctrine. Personal preferences or spiritual sensitivities must never be elevated to universal truth unless Scripture clearly teaches them.
  • The gospel cannot lose the cross. Any message that removes sin, guilt, and substitutionary atonement is no longer the gospel—no matter how kind it sounds.
  • Jesus alone gets your allegiance. Political parties, cultural movements, and personalities must never replace Christ as Savior and Lord.

💬 Quotes & Soundbites

“You are not the decider of truth just because you think something.”

“To equate your conviction level with theological truth is dangerous.”


📖 Scripture Tie-Ins

  • 1 Timothy 4:16 – “Keep a close watch on your life and doctrine.”
  • Galatians 1:6–9 – Warning against a different gospel.
  • 2 Timothy 4:3–4 – Itching ears and teachers who suit desires.
  • 1 Corinthians 1:10–13 – Unity in Christ, not allegiance to personalities.
  • Romans 3:23–26 – Sin, justification, and the necessity of the cross.

🛠️ Next Steps for Listeners

Reflect

  • Where am I more shaped by online voices than by Scripture?
  • Have I confused personal conviction with biblical command?

Practice

  • Take one belief you hold strongly and ask: Where does Scripture clearly teach this?
  • Slow down your media intake this week and replace it with time in God’s Word.

Pray

  • Ask God for discernment, humility, and courage to love truth more than approval.

Resources

  • 📘 The Discipline of Pausing:  https://bibleleadership.com/pause
  • 🔗 https://bibleleadership.com/quicklinks

Follow us on Socials: @bibleleaderpod

Check out our website: Bibleleadership.com

Sign up for our newsletter: http://bit.ly/3NmVmNM

SPEAKER_03:

In this time, anybody can get online and say anything. The tone is such that because I think it, it is legit.

SPEAKER_04:

But to equate your conviction levels with theological sound truth is a danger.

SPEAKER_03:

Everyone who heard that TikTok, there's a percentage of them like, nah, that sounds right. And it replaces what the actual gospel is. They're like, I now have a category for what Jesus is about. It's like what that gal said. Hey, what's happening everybody? Welcome back to the BLP. Hey, we're gonna do something a little bit different today, guys. We just thought we would hang out for a while and watch some TikToks that we've done from Fierce Church. So most of you know we're connected to Fierce Church. Like this is an offshoot ministry of Fierce. Uh, and we produce TikToks for Fierce. Some of the reasons we do that are one, to have fun, but two, really to kind of cut into the digital culture and interact with that to the degree that I can. Like, I don't really like to just comment on people's rants online. That's just I don't feel like I have time. That's not a great use of my time. Sure. But I don't mind weighing in occasionally on a response video or just something else. I really feel like the Lord's laid in my heart. So we're gonna watch some of the top viewed TikToks from Fierce. Yeah. By the way, if you're not subscribed to Fierce's TikTok channel, go ahead and check that out. YouTube, Instagram, all those things where you get this stuff. They handles all at Fierce Church. Um, but let's take a look at that. We'll just get some thoughts on like if that was any good or not.

SPEAKER_04:

So Yeah. All right. Um, you know, let's dive in first to is there a God? That's one of our most watched.

SPEAKER_00:

God isn't real since you're so sure. Kind of intelligent design is there in creating beings that can get cancer. Look at the trees, look at the stars in the sky. Obviously, there's no God.

SPEAKER_03:

Well, there's cancer and there's bad stuff. Why would a God do that? Just because you can't see a purpose in something does not mean there isn't a purpose in something. Assuming that you could know, that you could understand God's purpose, my dog can't understand my purpose because I'm a higher being. And God would, if he could invent a universe, would have to be higher than the thing who lives in it. It's the same way with God. God has a purpose. He's not saying it's nice or friendly all the time. It's always friendly toward us. It doesn't feel friendly. He then talks about the stars and the trees. Bro, declare the glory of God.

SPEAKER_04:

Alright. So this guy was postulating, there can't be a God. I'm looking at nature and whatever, but what else would you add to that?

SPEAKER_03:

Like, yeah, so this was um, and I've seen this was a he it must be a little bit of a famous clip because I've seen other famous pastors respond to that in that clip. Okay, um, since we recorded that. But um, you know, I'm taken by the fact that in this time anybody can get online and say anything. Yeah. And the the tone is such that because I think it, it is legit, it is well thought out, and and this would boss his heart, man, but it is so it's it's kind of ridiculous. Like, like his his art his that's not even an argument. It's just like, this is what I think, therefore it is true. It's it's I'm not trying to diss him. It's it's a sophomoric way to talk about something. Um, and so uh I just wanted to, in in case there's young, impressionable people watching that, I mean, I just wanted to give some kind of an adult response. Yeah. Of like, bro, that's not good thinking. Yeah. Um, you you're not the the decider of truth because you think something, that's how it is. And so it was it was a weak sauce argument. So uh I just wanted to get insight. Hey, there's actually really good reasons to believe in God, and just because you can't think one at your 17-year-old self, um, doesn't mean there's not really smart people that have thought this through.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. I think that's one of the risks in our culture right now is everybody thinks they're the expert on whatever. Um, one of our followers, David Russo, actually just put a TikTok out yesterday that was hysterical of how how is every how is everybody all of a sudden an expert about everything? Everyone is. Everyone's an expert. Um and I think if we're all honest, so we think that of ourselves about different things too. So a little bit of humility, a little bit of maturity.

SPEAKER_03:

You know, it's I I go back to my father-in-law when Wikipedia first came out. Um I was excited about Google and that online stuff. And he and he was like, wait a minute, anybody can just amend Wikipedia? And he was pushing that. Like, so everybody's an expert suddenly. Yeah. Um, because there was a time when I was a kid, like, if you said something wrong, people were like, you're an idiot. You know, like look it up. Like that can't be true.

SPEAKER_04:

Grab the Encyclopedia Britannica and figure it out.

SPEAKER_03:

Um so you couldn't just say stuff and get away with it very well. Yeah. Uh and so that's that's downstream of where anybody can just say anything. Yep. Unfortunately, I my fear is that young people just believe anything because they haven't been taught to like think critically about anything some kid says. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04:

Well, and with the access to all kinds of information at all points, finding good sources and being critical of whatever you read is probably a wise thing to do.

SPEAKER_03:

Amen. And the urgency I think comes up again for leaders. There's an there's entire generations of people on the online world that are online all day long. All day. That are listening to young ones spout. I mean, dude, I don't know about y'all, but when I was 15, like the insights that I had about the world were all stupid. And so um just that that's what but kids are listening to other kids. Yeah. And and the the platform makes it seem authoritative. Like well, they're on YouTube, so they must be uh, you know, important or whatever. But just doesn't translate, man.

SPEAKER_04:

You say anything confidently enough, somebody's gonna believe it. Exactly. Watch out there.

SPEAKER_03:

So truth is important, God's word more than ever.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, heck yeah. All right, so one of our absolutely most watched ones is your response to Halloween and whether or not it's like super evil and no one should follow it ever, or whether there might be just some merit in having fun with it. So let's watch that video next.

SPEAKER_02:

Kids are just wearing an instant costume. Stop celebrating it. This month is full of spells, it is full of evil. The devil is thriving during this month and definitely during Halloween.

SPEAKER_03:

This version of Christianity goes beyond what the scripture has said. So the scripture is very, very clear about yeah, don't talk to the dead, don't do witchcraft, all that's real. But the Halloween stuff she's talking about, yeah, if it's satanic worship, that's bad. But trick-or-treating, getting candy, dressing up like a bumblebee, saying that is evil. Just because someone can associate evil with that, doesn't mean it's actually evil. Satanists try every day to cast spells, and they try worshiping Satan every day. The day doesn't belong to the devil. Like, there's all kinds of evil going on in this world today, right now. That doesn't mean I'm participating in it just because I'm aware of it happening somewhere. We did an entire message on this. I would encourage you to go to our website and check it out, fierce.church. To condemn an entire category of things is just not in the Bible. And that's one of the challenges about this is responding to first, it's hard to respond to a Christian because there's intrinsically there's a, but I'm on your team. Yeah. So like I would give this girl props. I would even encourage people to go check out the original video that she did on Halloween. Like she sh you can tell her heart is right. Yeah. And everybody listening right now might not agree with what I think about Halloween, but um it it's I don't even want to like argue with Christians, especially within a sick 60-second window. Because I think most of the stuff that theologically we would talk about, yeah, it's it would be better to have a round table, like okay, fair point, also this, also this. Like truth is so um There's nuance nuanced in so many from so many angles. Yeah. And the the platform makes it like it's one or the other. So um I think I'm right, of course, but uh I want to give her props because I think she's uh she's a true Christian sister, and I I even didn't want to diss her. Um and I've I've shared her thoughts in previous times. I think the the thing that this misses is the value of truth alone as supreme and gets to be Lord over us. There's so much in in churches, in individual lives, and a line that people understand some truth and then they infer something that isn't in the Bible, and their inference becomes what's true rather than a heart that is consistently keeping a close li uh watch on your life and your doctrine, like go back to the word. Okay, go back to the word, go back to the word. And and this challenges the authority of God's word. Um we we I even did a a bit of a series on spiritual warfare and dealing with demons and the contrast of that between what people are saying happens during you know a boobash party that that we do. Yeah. Um kind of a side issue, but but the point was to try to help Christians understand you've gotta stick in only within God's word. Yeah. Or you're you're liable to lead people astray.

SPEAKER_04:

Aaron Powell, yeah. That's really good. I think everyone's allowed to have different conviction levels, but to equate your conviction levels with theological sound truth is a danger.

SPEAKER_03:

That's a great point, E. Yeah. People have you have the liberty in Christ to do however you're feeling what you should do. But to say that's what is true for everybody all times, that alone is scripture.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. And I I think uh maybe a sillier way to think about it is there are some denominations that believe you need to be in a suit and tie to go to church. Right. And there are some that think jeans and a t-shirt, like you can just come as you are to the Lord. But to to say, well, no, this has to be, or no, this has to be, it's just arrogance if it's not clearly spelled out in scripture.

SPEAKER_03:

And it's death. It's it's she's not meaning to do it this way, but it's it's shaming someone for doing something that God is not shaming them about. Like God doesn't agree with that opinion. Yeah. He doesn't care if you wear a suit or jeans.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

But you're shame if you shame either one saying this is what God thinks, he's like, that's not what I think.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Yeah. That's good. That's awesome. Okay. Poof. Another hot topic. Christians and politics.

SPEAKER_03:

Oh boy, here we go.

SPEAKER_04:

Oh boy. Let's jump into this one.

SPEAKER_03:

You have one savior, and that is Jesus. None of your political people will save you. Corinthians chapter 1, verse 10 through 13. Paul is pleading with the Corinthians because they've all attached to different leaders. He's like, You guys should be getting along, you guys should be in unity as Christians. Yet some of you are clinging to Apollo, some of you are clinging to Peter. That doesn't make any sense because the one you should be clinging to is Jesus Christ. He's the only one that is crucified for you. What you have when you have Christians on either side of the right or the left or somewhere in between, but they're primarily like, these are the guys that I roll with, or these are the guys I think are right. The same thing that went wrong with the Corinthians is gonna be going wrong with us, which means we're gonna say, I support this party, and I look at you guys and I'm like, here's where you're wrong and we're right. Instead of, like Jesus taught, you will not call anyone teacher, you will not call anyone father because you have one teacher and you have one father. There's gotta be a guard in our hearts that says, I don't let the right or the left decide for me what I'm gonna think about other people. Anytime you endorse somebody's character who's still alive, you don't know what stupid thing they're gonna do in the future. Told everybody they were right. One who's right is Jesus. In every generation, it is sin to have your allegiance to somebody who is not the Messiah if you are a Christian. So I want to challenge you to denounce all that. Have your opinions about different policies, but denounce allegiance to a person or a party. You have one savior, it is Jesus.

SPEAKER_04:

I can't help but think of, I think it's DC talk, uh one God, one body, one faith alone, which I think is originally from the Apostles' Creed, right? But that like there's one and everything else is subservient, absolutely. So dive into this one.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah, thanks. Um I think it's it's it's missed by every one of us that the powers of our world, demons and then demons through people, yeah, um, are telling stories. They're telling, they're giving a story of what is happening. Yeah. That story is being manifested online and on the news and and all that stuff. And it's it's saying, hey, this is what you should believe about reality, this is what you should believe about these people, this is what you should believe about this is important. Yeah. And every and and therefore, these are your enemies and these are your friends. Yeah. And that's just that's a worldview that isn't the Bible. Um, and it doesn't exalt the worldview of the Bible, which is to say everyone's jacked up, everyone's a sinner, everybody needs to be saved by grace through faith, and everybody's free, and everyone has different opinions, and everyone um can process and grow and that kind of thing. Um and so in our time, I I think there's been such a danger with saying this party is the Christian party. I think and I think we're seeing that right now. I think as things break down on the right, for example, there's there's been for many years like, yeah, this is the Christian side or whatever. Yeah. Until it does something or somebody says something who kind of represents the party, that's like, wow, that's dramatically unchristian. Yeah. It it locks me. If if I've thrown in with them or that movement, I'm locked into whatever they say, even if I'm like, geez, I wouldn't have said that. Instead of just saying, hey, let's go issue by issue, there's there's ways that we should dissect that issue according to what the Bible says about it. Yeah. Instead of, I'm all in on this team, I'm only all in. Listen, according to the Bible, I shouldn't even be all in on my team. I'm all in on the Jesus team. Yeah. I shouldn't even really be all in on the church team in in some respects because, or at least church people team, because uh there's gonna be tears among the wheat according to Jesus. So like there's gonna be goofballs that do all kinds of stupid crap, in addition to the people that are just being sanctified out of stuff. Yeah. So if I just stick with Jesus, I don't have to defend my party ever. I can just be like, hey man, here's some things I think that are really Christ-like that are growing great on either side. I think this particular party at this particular point in history, because it changes over history, is getting a lot of things right. Yeah. But even so, all these clowns that might say different things because they're in a bad mood, because they're in a fight with somebody else, because somebody triggered them, that represent the party, they don't represent me, and they definitely don't represent my Jesus. Yeah. Jesus alone gets to represent Jesus.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, that's really good. I think we get we get in that trap of aligning with one side or another, and we forget that there's actual humans where we probably have so much more in common than we think at that moment, because we've we've put ourselves in a bucket of this or that.

SPEAKER_03:

Exactly. Yeah. And I want to contribute to Jesus' story, not their story. Yeah. So like these these the demonic powers today that are trying to pit this wing against this wing, that's not even my story. Like that's a live story, that's a distraction story. My story is I need Christ today, and so does every other human on earth. Yeah. And the kingdoms of this world are headed for the end.

SPEAKER_04:

And that's it. I think, goodness. Um, I I think one of the things in in even, you know, we just finished our uh the Discipline of Pausing series. One of the things that I came out of is I need to have a way more kingdom of heaven, yes, end of the world mindset. Yep. Because this is passing away, and my days on this earth are passing away. And so if I want to have any impact, if I want to see the kingdom of heaven come down, like your kingdom come, your will be done on earth as it is in heaven, I've got to have my mind far less set on the little pawns that are moving right here and more on Jesus, what are you doing? What do you want to achieve right now? Exactly. And that happens face to face, individualized versus just totally agree.

SPEAKER_03:

And I think we have a hard time panning out and looking at the moment and time that we're in and asking the question, is it gonna matter in a hundred years? Like, think about people who lived 150 years ago and what they were all in on. They're like, this is the most important part. And then they go to hell, like they're they're either in heaven or hell right now. And like, I just know the question is coming, like, you spent a lot of your life building that, and in a hundred years it's already gone. Yeah. So, like, that's a big regret. I don't want that regret. I want to build one kingdom the whole time I'm here.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, yeah. That's so, so, so, so good. Okay, you got room for one more? Let's do it. All right, we've got um a lady kind of preaching a false gospel. So let's dive into that one.

SPEAKER_01:

Pastor, of course I believe in healing brokenness, but you will never hear about shame, judgment, or even sin at this church. Of course I believe in the salvific nature of the cross, but it was because Jesus nonviolently stood up to empire and refused to fight back or back down, not because some immature, unhealthy parent of a god required blood and guns.

SPEAKER_03:

So while general kindness is good on planet Earth, here's my concern. She says she won't bring up sin, and yet she believes in the salvific nature of the cross. For what? From what? The cross saves us from sin. So she's a pastor, but I'm not sure exactly what she's pastoring people toward, other than general kindness. There's a lot of kind people out there right now. You don't need a Jesus for that. Um, there's a lot of people before Jesus that were very kind. Jesus isn't just that. Jesus comes not to show us what kindness looks like, though he does, he comes to save us from the consequences of sin. Conscience still knows that you are a sinner. You still do things that betray humans and betray God. So I would encourage you, check out a real gospel. Paul would call this in Galatians chapter one a false gospel. You want to stay away from this thing. Get around a gospel that tells you it is kind, and it's even kind about the fact that you're a sinner, but it's dead serious. Dude, there's a consequence for being a sinner without a savior. That's what Jesus is for. Yeah, man. That is the most frightful of the ones we've talked about by far. You know, the first one, it's so sillily not even argued, it was only asserted. Um that it's hard to take seriously.

SPEAKER_04:

Is there a God supposition? Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Um this one is you can hear the whispers of demons in it. So this is doctrines of demons. So there's one, there's slander against a true God. He's an immature parent that requires blood and guts. Like I can hear a demon saying that, like, about our Heavenly Father. Um it is a it is a Jesus nice guy moral teacher without the substitutionary atonement necessary for ever any human to be reconciled to God. So this is again a place where it's it's it's a wolf in sheep's clothing. And I know that as a lost person, I would have settled a whole bunch of stuff, but I would that was wrong. So I I you know, I'm sure in her fallen state, which she must be, um, she j probably genuinely wants to help people. Yeah. But the way she's going about it is not the truth of God's word. Yeah. And it sets her up as an so everyone who heard that TikTok, there's a percentage of them like, yeah, that sounds right. And it replaces what the actual gospel is. They're like, I now have a category for what Jesus is about. It's like what that gal said. Versus, no, dude, that's just that is the enemy trying to criticize God and remove the fact that you sin it all. Yeah. Um, which is gonna give you over to more sin.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

So that one was a that was a toughie for me.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Um, it makes me think of 2 Timothy 4, 3, which says, For the time will come when men will not tolerate sound doctrine. Oh, we won't tolerate it. But with itching ears, they will gather around themselves teachers who suit their own desires. And I like I I I think I hear her heart a little bit in trying to like, we don't want to bring shame to you. And we like, I don't, I'm not gonna preach shame to you, and I'm not gonna make you feel like a bad thing. Which I I think there's beauty in that, but I think she's going about it absolutely the wrong way. Because you are a beautiful thing because you've been made new by Jesus who came and substitutiary atonement. So can you mention that? Can you talk about that a little bit? Get like flesh that out. What does that actually mean? Why, why was it necessary?

SPEAKER_03:

That means um for me to be for my sin to go away, it must be paid for. Yeah. I can pay for it, or someone perfect can pay for it and pay with their life. And that's what Jesus did. And I get to trade with him. The substitutionary atonement is I take the the merits of what he did for me on the cross, he takes my curse and dies in my place.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

If that doesn't happen, I am yet unforgiven and unredeemed, and I have to pay for my sin.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Um so And that shame can then never actually be released. Like there is there is consequence for sin. There is there there is there is a uh I think a little bit of a I don't want to say godly shame, but uh, but what's the like a regret for oh shoot.

SPEAKER_03:

She neutralized the power of the sense of guilt. So like there's a sh there's an inappropriate shaming. There's there's when when a parent shames a child for being weak or doing something in a disappointing way that isn't even necessarily sin. Sure. Yeah, that's wicked itself. But there's there's a conscience that the Lord put inside of us that is like Um, you're a sinner and you did something wrong. Yeah. Therefore, run to Jesus. Like you need it, it's my alert system that says I need a savior.

SPEAKER_05:

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

She took that away just now. She took everyone who heard that, or a percentage of them at least, hear, okay, I don't if I ever feel guilt, that means I'm doing something wrong, or they're doing something wrong because they're making me feel bad.

SPEAKER_04:

They're making me feel bad. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03:

Instead of, no, that was actually a that's a an alarm system the Lord put in you. Yeah. So that's another place where it's a doctrine of demon, the demons want folks to believe you can ignore your conscience and you can run from anybody that suggests the possibility that you ever did anything wrong.

SPEAKER_04:

Wow. Because it's just untrue.

SPEAKER_03:

Yeah. Super not true.

SPEAKER_04:

We mess up all the time.

SPEAKER_03:

God bless her. I pray that she she comes to know the true Jesus and lives her life preaching his word.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah. Wow. Okay. So we we've gone through five different of our TikToks. Mark, why why do you think this is important? This is, I mean, it's kind of fun to react to it here together today.

SPEAKER_03:

But I think mostly because it's fun. Um I hope it's fun. It's a little bit different, yeah. Hope that our folks had fun. Yeah. Um but and and maybe it's just another opportunity to. I mean, all of those are kind of like bigger issues, maybe not all of them super relevant today, but it's still it's an example of if if we're gonna be a leader in church places, whether it's secular or the church, yeah, some kind of a Christian leader. I'm not the example of this. I'm just saying there's gotta be some degree to which we are standing against the flow and saying this is not the way. Um watch me, I'm gonna do the way, but also not trying to condemn anybody, but in a hopefully in a winsome way. See that, young ones, that's not the way. Don't go there.

SPEAKER_04:

Yeah, that's good. Well, y'all, we we're about 16 episodes into our revamp of the BLP. And so we'd love for you to like join us. I we hope that you're subscribing. Like, click the subscribe button, get get connected to us. But also, you could go to Bible leadership.com slash quick links and actually sign up like for our weekly newsletter. We'd love to actually send you a survey in the coming weeks because we want to know like what do you want to hear? This is a fun like off one off of like, hey, let's watch some videos. But maybe there's some other things that you want to learn about, you want to know about, you want to hear our response to. Yep, that's a great way to give us your feedback. So again, Bible leadership.com slash quick links is gonna get you to that really quick. Also, don't forget, we have uh tell them about that, Professor Current.

SPEAKER_03:

It takes all the eight questions that we walked through with you know, real slow to grasp it. And it becomes more of a workbook, like it helps you do those. Honestly, um, it's more robust than what I work from, and I will use this in future years because it's it's it's it's more clear than the like the obsidian note that I have.

SPEAKER_04:

But um yeah. Awesome. All right, any final notes before we shut down?

SPEAKER_03:

Just want to thank you guys. Thanks so much for watching. Um, we need you, we're trying to be helpful, so let us know if we are, and we'll see you next week.

SPEAKER_04:

All right, yeah, see ya.

SPEAKER_03:

All right, everybody. Thank you so much for tuning in today. Hey, if this was helpful, would you consider liking and sharing, putting it places where other people who need this kind of content are going to find it? Also, you may know that we have a lot of other places you can find our stuff TikTok, Instagram, all the things. So go ahead and check those out in places where you're going to be anyway. And don't forget to lead strong today.