Sorry, Chase (Part 5)!

Gary Pollard

This week’s article will be the last in the series. It seemed good to me to do one pillar a week for this series, but this one makes five articles. That’s a bit much for one video, and takes on the spirit of something I cannot stand: debunking. That’s not my intent with this series. As has hopefully been clear, my goal is not to debunk the video (The ancients decoded reality) in its entirety, but to correct the observations where Christianity is concerned, and the implication that Christianity is no better or worse than any other world religion. I’ve stated (ad nauseam) that the overall content is excellent, there is much to be gained from his observations. But without a sound framework, it would be very easy for a believer or seeker to conclude that Christianity is just one entree on the menu. We briefly looked at the problem of Christianity’s historical approach to the symbolism and esoterism in scripture, and the need for a framework that doesn’t merely reduce the symbolism to a prosaic or literalist or unidimensional interpretation. Today we will look at the remaining pillars in Mr. Hughes’ video. 

The third universal observation is: Your mind is not a camera, it is a projector. To support this, he cites many of the same ancient texts. 

  1. What you think, you become (Dhammapada) 
  2. The all is mind (Hermetic texts)
  3. The world you perceive is shaped by the mind’s illusions (Hindu Vedanta) 
  4. The universe arises from consciousness (Upanishads)
  5. Reality is the moving image of eternity (Plato)

He looks to quantum physics, relying on the assumptions we’ve made concerning this poorly-understood field. He notes that observation changes the behavior of physical particles. The essence of his argument is that “two people can look at the exact same moment and come away with something different.” And, “We think they’re interpretations, but what they are is filters that reshape reality before reality reaches you.” He has some good observations here — “…the moment we stop letting fear hijack the projector, we start seeing reality pretty clearly for the first time.” His point being that fear robs us of our peace and willingness to surrender control. The problem is that there’s not really any way to confirm or deny this one, so it must be placed in the category of speculation. In my personal opinion, evidence seems to point to consciousness as being non-local. God gives each person the level of consciousness he deems appropriate, that consciousness returns to him at death, and will be “installed” in whatever kind of body we’ll enjoy at the resurrection. But this is difficult to definitively prove, and I defer again to John: Loved ones, we are children of God now, but what we will be has not yet been made clear to us. We know that when he is revealed we will be just like him, and that we will see him just as he is now. Even the inspired writers didn’t exactly understand the nature of the new body, only that our new bodies would necessarily have expanded consciousness. We cannot see him now, but we will see him when he is revealed to the world. 

The fourth observation is one we will partially disagree with: The enemy is not the world, the enemy is the ego. He says, “The only real enemy is the ego. Not demons, not bad luck, not other people, not the world.” This conclusion is a false dichotomy, and does not require much refutation for most Christians. “Friendship with the world is enmity towards God.” “Our fight is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers and powers of darkness.” To support one aspect of his point, though, we can point to James. He says that our tendency to sin comes from within ourselves — we fall prey to our own desires and become trapped in sin. So yes, our ego is an enemy, but not to the exclusion of the world and its influence or the unseen powers and their influences. The rest of his point is a discussion of the ego and its role in the psychological and social pathologies we deal with, and seems to be helpful overall.

The fifth and final observation: Everything is connected. “We see this in ancient temples and modern physics laboratories. Everything’s connected, everything’s one system, everything influences everything, that’s how everything it gets.” 

He points to the famous observation from the Hermetic texts, “As above, so below.” The Kabbalah, “All creation emerges from a single tree of life.” Again, quantum physics, “No particle is truly separate, every particle has some entanglement,” and many others. His point seems to be summarized by the following: “Nothing stands alone, so every action ripples, every emotion radiates, every intention vibrates through the whole. You are not some separate node in the universe, you’re a node in the cosmic brain firing inside of infinity. And your life is not happening to you, it is happening with you, through you, and as you.” 

The only aspect of this that we can confidently correct is the phrase, “You are not some separate node in the universe…” Scripture does teach that all things (and all consciousness) come from one Source. But this point is incompatible with Christianity in that each person faces their own judgment. Since he points to the Egyptian Pyramid Texts, we must point out that they also believed in individual judgment. Yes, we all come from one source and exist within one framework sustained by one All-Father. But this does not diminish the individuality each person has — why else would murder be considered wrong? If we’re all just “nodes in a cosmic brain”, what makes individual life special if consciousness is not anchored to unique identities within individual bodies? I would also point out that “as above so below” and other similar sentiments have more to do with the fact that things happening in the heavens have their counterparts on the earth. This does not necessarily support his supposition. 

In summary, most of his observations and conclusions are excellent overall, and would be beneficial to implement for anyone looking self-improvement in this life. However, many of his conclusions where Christianity is concerned are flawed. If this is implemented as a self-improvement tool, excellent. But to be adopted as an overall worldview or system of religion (which is functionally what this becomes) is not something a Christian can do and still be called “Christian.”

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Touching Generosity

Neal Pollard

It seems there are endless stories out there that are very similar in nature. 88-year-old Army veteran Ed Bombas lost his pension and healthcare when General Motors went bankrupt and his wife was sick. He was having to work 40 hours a week to meet his expenses. An Australian TikTok influencer helped raise $1.5 million so he could retire. What about Richard, the elderly DoorDash driver who had to go back to work to pay for expensive mediation for his wife. A woman who saw him slowly negotiating her steps via her Ring doorbell set up a GoFundMe for him, and it has nearly reached $1 million. Or Betty, the 81-year-old waitress at an Eat’n Park in Pittsburgh, whose plight touched a customer who raised $300,000 to help the woman who lived on less than $1,000 in social security to retire. Perhaps you focus on the sad sagas of these senior citizens, forced to work despite limitations. But, the sheer outpouring from people touched by the adverse circumstances of sympathetic strugglers should restore at least some of our faith in humanity. Ed, Richard, and Betty all seem endearing, but so are those who have given.

What words do you use to describe generosity that was exhibited to people far less sympathetic and deserving? Paul writes, “For while we were still helpless, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will hardly die for a righteous man; though perhaps for the good man someone would dare even to die. But God demonstrates His own love toward us, in that while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us” (Romans 5:6-8). Words like “helpless,” “righteous,” and “good” might describe some, but words like “ungodly” and “sinners” describe “us.” It takes in those three elderly folks, as well as the rest of the world including you and me. Paul has already summoned other descriptive terms, like “ungodliness” and “unrighteousness” (1:18; 3:5), “without excuse” (1:20), “foolish heart was darkened” (1:21), “fools” (1:22), “lusts” and “impurity” (1:24), “degrading passions” (1:26), “shameless deeds” and “error” (1:27), “depraved minds” and “not proper” (1:28), a litany of wicked behaviors (1:29-32), “without excuse” and “condemned” (2:1), “stubbornness” and “unrepentant hearts” (2:5), “selfish ambitions” and “disobedient” (2:8), “evil” (2:9), and “condemned” (3:9). This is not even exhaustive. Paul sums up by saying there is none righteous (3:10), that all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God (3:23), and that all sinned (5:12). 

But look at the generosity of God to such undeserving people as we all are. Christ gave His life for us (5:6). God loved us enough to enable it to happen (5:8). He reconciles and saves us (5:9). He gives us the gift of grace (5:15-17) and justification (5:18). He makes us righteous (5:19). He gives us eternal life (5:21), infinitely more than $1.5 million and more enduring than a few years at the end of our lives. The One who owns it all gave the very best for totally undeserving people who weren’t victims of undeserved circumstances. We got ourselves into a mess by choice, and God gets us out of it by His choice! 

The recipients of monetary help in those stories and videos shed tears and expressed unbelief. How should we respond, in view of God’s unparalleled generosity? 

https://www.lifeandfavor.org/faq

Continue reading “Touching Generosity”

When the Heart Cries “Real” but the Word Says “No”

Brent Pollard

A young man recently walked away from the church. He was troubled—genuinely so—convinced that demons from his past involvement with the occult were hounding him. He came seeking baptism, and we believe he hoped the gift of the Holy Spirit would arm him with miraculous power to fight what he feared. When Scripture did not tell him what he wished to hear, he turned to YouTube “prophets” who did. He found individuals who offered “deliverance prayers” and validated every feeling he carried. In the end, it did not matter what God’s word said, because it did not match what he felt.

His story grieves us. But it also instructs us, for it lays bare a danger that threatens every soul in every generation: the temptation to enthrone experience over revelation.

The Question of “That Which Is Perfect”

This young man, like many sincere believers, points to 1 Corinthians 13.10 and argues that “the perfect” refers to the second coming of Christ—meaning miraculous gifts continue until He returns. It is not a novel interpretation; many good-hearted people hold it. But the text itself resists it. Paul chose a neuter Greek word, rendered “that” in English. Had he meant the Lord Jesus, he would have used the masculine—”He.” The members of the Godhead are never called “that.” This is not a trivial grammatical point. It is the Holy Spirit’s own precision, and we tamper with it at our peril.

What, then, is “that which is perfect”? It is the completed, fully revealed word of God—the faith once for all delivered to the saints (Jude 3). When the last apostolic pen was laid down, revelation was finished, and the scaffolding of miraculous gifts, having served its glorious purpose, was taken away.

Witnesses from the Ancient Church

We do not stand alone in this conviction. The testimony of early Christian writers confirms what Scripture teaches. John Chrysostom, writing in the fourth century, observed plainly that the miraculous gifts Paul described had ceased. Those baptized in his day, he noted, no longer spoke in the tongues of all nations as believers had in the first century. Augustine of Hippo agreed, writing that such miracles “were no longer permitted to continue in our time,” lest they become commonplace and lose their power to produce faith. Cyril of Alexandria taught that the miraculous gift of languages at Pentecost was a temporary sign intended for the Jews—kept for life by those who first received it, but not passed beyond their generation.

These men were not skeptics. They were devoted servants of Christ who recognized what the New Testament itself describes: miraculous gifts were conferred exclusively through the laying on of the apostles’ hands (Acts 8.14–17), and an apostle had to meet the requirements of Acts 1.21–22. Since no one alive today meets those requirements, the chain of miraculous conferral has been broken—not by human failure, but by divine design.

We might also note a striking practical detail. Paul, who possessed the gift of healing, left his fellow minister Trophimus sick at Miletus (2 Timothy 4.20) and advised Timothy to treat his stomach ailments with a little wine rather than a miracle (1 Timothy 5.23). Even the apostle did not wield miraculous power as a tool of personal convenience. The gifts served God’s purposes, not man’s preferences.

What, Then, Are These Experiences?

If the miraculous gifts have ceased, what are we to make of the experiences people report? What of the young man who felt delivered? What of those who speak in ecstatic utterances and weep with the certainty that God has touched them?

We need not question their sincerity to question the source. The human mind is a remarkable instrument. When people pray or worship with deep intensity, the brain can enter a focused state in which the speech-filtering centers quiet down, allowing sounds and syllables to flow without conscious direction. It feels powerful precisely because it is unforced. But unforced is not the same as supernatural.

These experiences are also learned. In communities where speaking in tongues is practiced, people observe it, absorb its patterns, and are taught—directly or by imitation—how to interpret inner stirrings as the Spirit’s movement. Over time, the brain begins responding on cue. If everyone around you treats something as real, your mind learns to experience it accordingly.

Moreover, these moments often bring genuine emotional relief—a sense of belonging, closeness to God, even catharsis. A sudden thought becomes “God spoke to me.” A warm sensation becomes “the Spirit moved.” Ecstatic syllables become “tongues.” The brain, emotions, and social environment conspire together to produce something that feels deeply true. But feeling deeply true and being true are not the same thing.

Truth Is Not a Feeling

Here we must plant our feet on the bedrock of Scripture. Jesus Himself defined the matter with crystalline clarity: “Sanctify them in the truth; your word is truth” (John 17.17). Truth is not discovered through sensation. It is revealed through God’s word.

Scripture warns us repeatedly against trusting the heart’s verdict. Solomon writes, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way to death” (Proverbs 14.12). Jeremiah is blunter still: “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately sick; who can understand it?” (Jeremiah 17.9). Sincerity, however passionate, does not guarantee truth. A man may be sincerely wrong, and his sincerity will not cushion the consequences.

Test Everything

God has never asked us to accept spiritual experiences without scrutiny. John commands, “Do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God” (1 John 4.1). Paul echoes, “Test everything; hold fast what is good” (1 Thessalonians 5.21). The question is never merely “Did something happen?” but always “Does this align with what God has revealed?”

Consider what biblical tongues actually were. At Pentecost, the apostles spoke recognizable human languages. Listeners understood them in their native tongues. The purpose was communication—the delivery of God’s message to real people in real words. That bears no resemblance to unintelligible sounds requiring no translation, only the interpretation of feelings.

And let us remember: God is not the author of confusion (1 Corinthians 14.33). Even when miraculous gifts operated in the first century, they were orderly, controlled, and intelligible. If an experience bypasses understanding entirely, that alone should give us pause.

The Spirit and the Word Are Never at Odds

The Holy Spirit does not operate independently from the word He revealed (John 16.13). He will not contradict what He has already spoken. If an experience cannot be verified by Scripture, it must not be attributed to the Spirit, no matter how vivid, how comforting, or how tearfully sincere the one who claims it.

God never asks us to choose between truth and experience. If something is truly from Him, it will stand in perfect agreement with His word. Where the two appear to conflict, it is not the word that must yield.

Let us, then, be a people who love truth more than feeling, who treasure revelation above sensation, and who test all things—not because we lack faith, but because we possess it. For the God who gave us His word did not give it so we might set it aside when something more exciting comes along. He gave it because it was enough. It has always been enough. And by His grace, it will carry us all the way home.

Cut Flowers Die

Carl Pollard

There is something beautiful about cut flowers. For a little while, they still look alive. Their color remains, and their shape stays intact. But everyone knows the same thing about cut flowers, they are dying. Why? Because they have been separated from their source of life.

Isn’t that a fitting picture of morality without God? A person can cut off the flower and still admire it for a while. And in the same way, a society can cut itself off from God and still hold on to certain moral values for a time. People may continue speaking about honesty, kindness, fidelity, justice, compassion, and decency. Outwardly, the flower is still there, but cut flowers die.

If morality is the flower, then God is the root. If righteous living is the fruit, then God’s word is the seed. Once people sever morality from the authority of Scripture, they may preserve the appearance of goodness for a generation or two, but it will not last! Morality can’t survive long when it’s disconnected from the One who defines what is good.

God Is The Source Of What Is Good

The Bible doesn’t present morality as something man invented. Goodness doesn’t begin with culture, education, public opinion, or human consensus. It begins with God! 

Psalm 119:68 says, “You are good and do good; teach me Your statutes.” Good is rooted in God’s character. He is the standard.

James 1:17 says, “Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and comes down from the Father of lights.” If every truly good gift comes from above, then moral truth does too. Man doesn’t discover morality by looking within himself. He learns morality by reading the Word of God. Micah 6:8 says, “He has shown you, O man, what is good.” Micah doesn’t say man figured out what is good, he says God has shown him. Moral truth is revealed truth! 

Morality Without God Cannot Stand

Many people want the flower without the root. They want the benefits of biblical morality without submission to biblical authority. They want strong families without God’s design for the family. They want justice without acknowledging the Judge of all the earth. They want dignity, value, love, sacrifice, and truth, but they don’t want the God who gives those words meaning.

But once morality is detached from God, it becomes unstable. Why is honesty good? Why is murder wrong? Why is sexual purity honorable? Why should someone sacrifice for another person? Why should the strong protect the weak? Why should truth matter more than desire?

If theres no God, then those questions have no fixed answer. Morality becomes preference, tradition, social convenience, or majority opinion. And what one generation calls virtue, the next generation may call oppression. What one culture honors, another may reject. Without God, morality becomes negotiable! 

Judges 21:25 describes the chaos that results when God’s rule is cast aside,

“Everyone did what was right in his own eyes.” That is the natural end of morality cut loose from God. When man becomes his own standard, he doesn’t gain freedom, he finds confusion. 

Proverbs 14:12, “There is a way that seems right to a man, but its end is the way of death.” What “seems right” isn’t enough. Human instinct isnt a trustworthy moral compass. Feelings change, cultures drift, and hearts deceive.

Jeremiah 10:23 says, “O Lord, I know the way of man is not in himself; it is not in man who walks to direct his own steps.” Man can’t author a lasting morality because he was never meant to be his own god.

Cut flowers are beautiful, but eventually they whither and die. Moral decency without God is doomed to fail. 

Sorry, Chase! (Part 4)

Gary Pollard

The second universal observation, as posited in the otherwise excellent research presented by Chase Hughes (The ancients decoded reality), is mostly spot-on! “Fear is an illusion, and love is the truth.” And, “Fear is the greatest lie ever told. Love is the only thing that’s real.” He cites the bible first, and it is in this citation where (as far as I can tell) his only error, from a Christian’s perspective, is.  

He says, “The most quoted phrase in the entire bible is ‘be not afraid.’” Some variation of this command, according to the infallible internet, is indeed one of the most quoted in the entire bible. But then he says, “A quote from Jesus, ‘Perfect love casts out fear.’” Most of you have already spotted it! The error is a minor one, and he more than likely misspoke. I point it out only because it’s a well-known passage written by John, spoken by John (I Jn 4.18). If God’s love is fully matured in us, we can be without fear on the day when God judges the world. We will be without fear, because in this world we are like Jesus. No fear exists with love. None, because matured love throws fear away. This fear is of punishment! Anyone who is always afraid has not been made mature in their love.

So his overall point stands, if misattributed. In this case, though, that fear helps us know where our love is in the maturing process. If we’re still afraid (of death or of judgment), our love has not matured enough. So in the passage he cited, fear definitely means that something is wrong! 

From a Christian perspective, one kind of fear is critical to maintain: of the power, presence, and holiness of God. Better words for this kind of fear may be sublime (delightful horror) and awe (admiration and fear, reducing feelings of self-entitlement). Our motivation to follow God transitions from fear to love as we mature. It’s impossible to see something large and powerful (like a tornado or hurricane or comet) and not feel at least a little something in the pit of your stomach. Those are tiny manifestations of his power — a healthy fear/awe of the power behind those phenomena is not a bad thing. It keeps our view of self properly calibrated. Some variation of “fear God” is found about 300 times in scripture, which is as much or more than “be not afraid”. 

It is interesting that love is so powerful a discipline that every culture in antiquity praised it. Chase cites the following: 

  1. Buddhism:  “Hatred does not cease by hatred. By love alone is hatred healed.”
  2. Bhagavad Gita: “The path of devotion, love, leads to liberation. The path of ignorance, fear, leads to suffering.” Yoda apparently read the Bhagavad Gita. 
  3. Tao Te Ching: “Courage comes from love. Paralysis comes from fear.” 
  4. Dhammapada: “The mind is everything.” (This is explained further in his video)
  5. Sufi: “Your job is not to seek for love, but to find and remove the barriers you built against it.” 

Finally, “Fear is an illusion that keeps us asleep. Love is the frequency or the thing that wakes us up. Fear shrinks the self, love expands the self. Fear breeds ego, and love dissolves it. Fear isolates you, and love reminds you [who] you actually are. Fear makes you chase approval, validation, money, control; it makes us compare ourself to everybody else. Fear makes us live like something is missing — love, in the ancient sense, isn’t romantic. It’s oneness, alignment, essentially the recognition that we’re made of the same stuff… That’s why fear feels bad, because it’s biologically incompatible with what you actually are. Every mistake you’ve ever made, every relationship that blew up, every regret you carry, every time you sabotage your own potential, that’s all fear. Every ancient teacher: you’re suffering because you believe a lie. The moment you drop fear, you don’t just…find love. You don’t find love, you return to it. It’s why you’re born with it.” 

As you can see, his observations are mostly excellent! But if the observations imply universal compatibility between faiths, we have a problem. What videos like this do for us, though, is encourage us to return to a healthy interest in the esoteric aspects of scripture. Paul, John, Clement, and Origen (and many others) were no strangers to the esoteric. We have long abandoned its pursuit, perhaps because it was hijacked early on by Gnostics and other odd groups. Armed with only reaction, we’ll always be two steps behind. The difficulty lies in approaching the esoteric with a proper framework. There’s no shortage of esoterism and symbolism in scripture, we just tend to gloss over it or dilute it with reductionistic literalism. We are left, then, with only secular (often pagan) resources to tackle biblical esoterism. This is obviously dangerous! Whether we like it or not, it’s in the Zeitgeist. And because we’ve largely abandoned it, Gnosticism is now touted as being the earliest form of Christianity. What’s a seeker or curious believer to do in the face of these complex, often-convincing arguments without a mature framework to bring to the study of esoterism? Building such a framework would be an invaluable project for a group of Christian scholars to tackle! 

DYING OF FRIGHT WOULD BE HORRIFYING 

Dale Pollard

Charles Walton was a guy who lived in rural England back in the day (1890s). His death was a mysterious one and over the years the details have become a little blurry. Here’s the quick and skinny version.

Walton reportedly believed he had been cursed by a local witch after a dispute in his village. According to accounts recorded by local investigators and later writers of English folklore— he became increasingly terrified that supernatural forces were after him. One night he was found dead in bed with no obvious physical cause of death. The local doctor reportedly suggested that extreme fright and stress may have caused heart failure.

Cases like this are sometimes explained medically through what modern doctors recognize as “stress-triggered cardiac events,” such as Takotsubo cardiomyopathy or sudden cardiac arrest brought on by intense fear. The author admits his inability to pronounce any of that correctly or with confidence. 

PAGANS & JEWS & ROMANS— OH MY!

The Bible gives the perfect case study on the negative effects that fear has on us spiritually by providing insight into Timothy’s mind. 

On the outside he faces pagan people, jealous Jews, and the sword swinging soldiers of Rome. On the inside, the Christians who make up this young congregation are being led and taught by a young man— Timothy. He battles self doubt and a lack of confidence in his own abilities. To top it off, his mentor is in prison. 

Paul perfectly pens the inspired words that would lift young Timothy’s spirit by reminding him that the human spirit was designed to handle and persevere under such daunting circumstances. Paul writes (from a cell), 

“God did not give us a spirit of fear but of power, love, and a sound mind.” 2 Timothy 1.7

The spirit (πνεῦμα) referred to here is not the Holy Spirit, but it’s the “disposition or influence which fills and governs the soul of any one” (Strong, G4154). 

God did not give us the spirit of skittishness so that we’d cower under confrontation or burn out under prospects of suffering.

Holiness amidst hostility is an ability that comes standard on the base model human spirit. It’s not a possibility, it’s a guarantee. So if we weren’t originally given a spirit of fear, what do we have? 

THREE GOOD WORDS 

Each key word in the verse gives the reader a little more when they’re dissected— check them out. 

Power

We’re equipped with power (δύναμις) that is, “inherent power, power residing in a thing by virtue of its nature” (Strongs, G1410). 

Love 

That aggressive strength is powerfully combined with love (ἀγάπη). In this case the word refers to an affection or good will towards others. The God given spirit is not heartless. We have the power to show affection yet some chose to pretend as if their personalities are simply not capable of showing this attribute. 

Self-control 

A sound mind (σωφρονισμός) is simply the ability to control yourself (Strong, G4995). 

WE’RE PROGRAMMED TO WIN 

We share a commonality with Paul’s protégé — (the reader would be shocked at the many attempts made trying to spell pro-toe-Shay). 

Like Timothy, we’ve been fashioned in the image of an eternal Being and our spirits drive an immortal soul. We aren’t designed to live in a constant state of timidity, we’re creations of courage. 

Courage is not the absence of a fearful feeling but it’s the ability to face that fear— and move forward.  

SUPERFLUITY OF NAUGHTINESS

Neal Pollard

As a young preacher, James 1:18-27 was one of the first sections of Scripture I memorized. James is a practical book, and I was using a Dickson study Bible given to me by Wendell Winkler and the Bible Department at Faulkner University upon my graduation. The study Bible was in the King James Version, the version I had grown up with. The Elizabethan English and archaic words made memorizing, to me, much easier than other versions. 

James 1:21 reads, “Wherefore lay apart all filthiness and superfluity of naughtiness, and receive with meekness the engrafted word, which is able to save your souls.” Disparagers of the version might admit that there is a certain poetry to the words and cadence in verses like this: “lay apart,” “engrafted,” and “superfluity of naughtiness.” Apologists might admit that people do not speak that way and stumble upon such unfamiliar words in personal study. 

What is “superfluity of naughtiness”? How does it function in this verse and context? The NASB’s rendering is disappointingly inadequate, yielding “all that remains.” The ESV comes much closer with “rampant.” The NLT does not even translate it. The NKJ gives a pretty good idea with “overflow.” This word, found in its various forms in only four New Testament verses (Romans 5:17; 2 Corinthians 8:2 and 10:15, and here), means “Over and above, an overflowing, something above the ordinary” (Zodhiates). It refers to “extraordinary” or “more than usual” things (TDNT, Vol. 6, 61). It is “much greater” (Newman, 141). “Naughtiness” is simply the state of wickedness, evil, and depravity “with the implication of that which is harmful and damaging” (Louw-Nida, 753).

James has been talking about how to properly receive God’s Word. That word makes one spiritually reborn (18) and saves the soul (21). It will bless one’s actions (25). According to James 1:21 and the surrounding context, we must destroy all obstacles to that necessary result. Barriers include stubbornness (19), anger at the word (19-20), hearing without doing (22-24), forgetfulness (25), failing to bridle the tongue (26), deceiving the heart (26), and, in our verse, “rampant wickedness.”

You cannot allow the word to work on your heart so long as you hold on to mean-spirited, vicious attitudes and dispositions or depravity in your heart. But, when you lay it aside or put it away, and you open and humble your heart, you are in position to hear what God has to say and let it positively influence you. 

What is your superfluity of naughtiness? Is it bitterness because of trials (1:2-4,12)? Is it double-mindedness (1:8)? Is it improper attitudes toward money (1:9-11)? Is it various lusts and enticements of the world (1:13-15)? It is whatever we hang onto that drowns out God’s word. Like a malignant tumor, rampant wickedness must be completely removed from our hearts and minds. Only then can we allow the power of the word to work on and transform us from the inside out! 

This Week’s “Light Of The World” (March 15, 2026)

Jesus And Salvation

The Tongue, The Truth, And The Tangled Web:

Why Honesty Is Not Just A Policy But A Posture Of The Soul

Brent Pollard

Sir Walter Scott warned us well: “Oh, what a tangled web we weave, when first we practice to deceive.” There is a reason this line has endured for two centuries. It endures because it is true, and truth has a way of outlasting the cleverest fabrication. A lie is not a single act; it is a seed that demands constant tending. The deceiver must water it with more lies, fertilize it with half-truths, and build an ever-expanding greenhouse of falsehood to keep the fragile plant alive. And yet, for all this labor, the harvest is always the same—exposure, shame, and broken trust. The liar works harder than the honest man, and his wages are ruin.

The Anatomy of Deception

We must be honest about dishonesty. People lie for different reasons, and those reasons matter—not because they excuse the lie, but because understanding the disease helps us apply the remedy. Some lies are born of cowardice. Others spring from vanity. Still others are calculated instruments of plunder.

Consider the pathological liar—a person so enslaved to falsehood that he fabricates elaborate stories without any discernible motive. Clinically, this pattern must persist for more than six months to warrant the label, though we are tempted to apply it more liberally. The pathological liar is not scheming for profit; he is performing for an audience that exists largely in his own mind. He seeks to appear grander, more interesting, more worthy of attention than reality permits. His is a pitiable bondage—chained not to external gain but to an internal compulsion that even he may not fully understand.

The scammer, by contrast, is coldly deliberate. While the pathological liar deceives from compulsion, the scammer deceives from calculation. His target is your wallet, your identity, your trust—anything of value he can extract and exploit. He is the wolf who has studied the sheep’s gait and practiced the sheep’s bleat. One thinks of the elaborate call-center operations where criminals masquerade as computer technicians, preying on the elderly and the trusting. The scammer’s lie is a tool, sharpened and wielded with precision, and it is wielded without conscience.

The Colors We Give Our Lies

It is a curious thing that our culture has developed an entire color wheel for deception, as though assigning a shade to a lie could soften its edges. The “white lie” lubricates the gears of social interaction—a small, supposedly harmless falsehood meant to spare another’s feelings. The “black lie” is its dark counterpart: intentional, exploitative, and universally condemned. Between these poles lie “gray lies,” told for mixed motives—partly to help another and partly to help oneself. These are said to be the most common variety, and perhaps the most insidious, because their ambiguity allows us to excuse them.

Then there is the “blue lie,” told to benefit a group—covering a colleague’s mistake, protecting the team’s reputation. And the “red lie,” which is deception as a weapon, driven by spite so consuming that the liar will injure himself if it means injuring his enemy. This last variety reveals the darkest truth about lying: it is not merely a moral failure but a spiritual sickness. A man so enslaved to vengeance that he will set fire to his own house to burn his neighbor’s—that is a soul in desperate need of deliverance.

But here is the point we must not miss: this spectrum of color is a human invention. God does not grade our lies on a curve.

What God Says About Lying

Scripture treats deception with an unsparing directness that should arrest every honest reader. Solomon declares that “lying lips are an abomination to the Lord” (Proverbs 12.22, ESV). That word—abomination—is not casual disapproval. It is visceral revulsion. It is the word used for the most grievous offenses against the holy character of God. And John, writing from Patmos, places liars in the company of the cowardly, the faithless, the murderers, and the sexually immoral, all of whom face the lake of fire (Revelation 21.8). There is no footnote exempting the “white” variety.

The reason is not arbitrary. Lying is an assault on the very nature of God. He is truth (John 14.6). He cannot lie (Titus 1.2). And the devil, that ancient serpent, is identified as the “father of lies” (John 8.44)—the original architect of deception whose native tongue is falsehood. Every lie, however small, however well-intentioned, speaks a word in the devil’s language. Every lie, to some degree, allies itself with the one who deceived Eve in the garden and who continues to deceive the nations.

And yet Scripture does not categorize lies by color. It categorizes them by function. Bearing false witness perverts justice and destroys the innocent (Exodus 20.16). Hypocrisy dons a mask of righteousness to conceal a rotting interior (Matthew 23.28). Flattery deploys smooth words as instruments of manipulation (Psalm 12.2). And self-deception—perhaps the most dangerous of all—convinces us that we have no sin, thus cutting us off from the very grace that could heal us (1 John 1.8).

When Survival Demands the Impossible

We would be dishonest ourselves if we did not acknowledge the hard cases. Rahab lied to protect the Israelite spies at Jericho (Joshua 2.4ff), and James commends her for her actions (James 2.25). Certain Germans during the Second World War—Oskar Schindler, Karl Plagge, and others—lied to the SS to rescue Jews from the gas chambers. These are the extreme edges of moral experience, where the preservation of innocent life collided with the command to speak truth.

But we must be careful not to build a theology of exceptions from a handful of extraordinary moments. Most of us will never face the Gestapo at our door. Most of our lies arise only to spare someone’s feelings or shield us from inconvenience. When survival is genuinely at stake, we may find ourselves trusting in God’s grace to cover what necessity demands. But we must never mistake that trust for permission, nor should we pretend that a lie ceases to be a lie simply because the motive was noble. Even in the direst circumstance, we are speaking a falsehood—and we do so in the sober awareness that we need mercy, not congratulations.

Practical Disciplines for Truthful Living

Practice the discipline of silence. The simplest way to reduce the frequency of our lies is to reduce the frequency of our words. Solomon understood this. Even a fool, he observed, can pass for wise if he keeps his mouth shut (Proverbs 17.28). And again: “When words are many, transgression is not lacking” (Proverbs 10.19, ESV). James echoes this counsel with an urgency that suggests the early church needed the reminder as badly as we do: “Let every person be quick to hear, slow to speak” (James 1.19, ESV). When Elijah stood on Horeb, God was not in the wind, the earthquake, or the fire—He was in the still, small voice (1 Kings 19.12). There is something about silence that makes room for God to speak. Words are powerful, and power must be handled with care. The man who speaks less has fewer opportunities to sin—and more opportunities to listen, which is where wisdom begins.

Cultivate a radical simplicity of speech. Elaborate explanations are the breeding ground of exaggeration. Complex oaths are the refuge of the uncommitted. Jesus cut through all of it with surgical precision: “Let what you say be simply ‘Yes’ or ‘No’” (Matthew 5.37, ESV). In His day, men would swear by the temple if they wanted an escape clause, but swear by the gold of the temple if they actually intended to keep their word (Matthew 23.16–22). Jesus condemned the entire charade. Our speech should be so plain, so dependable, that oaths become unnecessary. Solomon warned that there is more hope for a fool than for a man who is hasty in his words (Proverbs 29.20). Let us, then, be deliberate. Let our yes mean yes and our no mean no, and let us leave the embellishments to novelists.

Guard the heart from which your words flow. Jesus warned that the mouth speaks from the overflow of the heart (Matthew 12.34). If the well is poisoned, it does not matter how fine the cup—the water will still be toxic. Truthful speech begins not with technique but with character. It begins with the prayer of the psalmist: “Search me, O God, and know my heart! Try me and know my thoughts! And see if there be any grievous way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting!” (Psalm 139.23–24, ESV). It continues with the daily plea: “Set a guard, O Lord, over my mouth; keep watch over the door of my lips!” (Psalm 141.3, ESV). The man who invites God to search his motives will find that honesty becomes less of a discipline and more of a disposition.

Establish a practice of immediate confession. When a lie escapes—and it will, for we are fallen creatures—the remedy is swift confession. Confess to God, who is faithful and just, to be forgiven (1 John 1.9). Confess to the person wronged, for healing comes through the honesty we should have practiced in the first place (James 5.16). Immediate confession prevents a pattern from forming. It breaks the cycle before the web can be woven. And it must be paired with the commitment to speak the truth in love (Ephesians 4.15)—for honesty without love is cruelty, and love without honesty is sentimentality. Neither one honors the God who is both perfectly true and perfectly kind.

A Posture of the Soul

Honesty is not merely a policy. Policies can be revised, suspended, or abandoned when they become inconvenient. Honesty is a posture of the soul before a God who cannot lie and who will not be mocked. It is the daily, deliberate alignment of our words with reality, which is to say, the alignment of our words with the character of the One who created reality and sustains it by the word of His power.

In a world that grades deception by color and excuses it by circumstance, we are called to a higher standard—one rooted not in social convention but in the very nature of our Creator. Let us, then, be people whose words need no footnotes, whose promises require no collateral, and whose speech reflects the One in whom there is no shadow of turning. For when we commit ourselves to truth, we do more than avoid sin—we bear witness to the Father of lights in a world darkened by the father of lies.

How To Handle Anxiety

Carl Pollard

Anxiety is one of the most common struggles people face today. Worry about finances, family, health, and the future can weigh heavily on our minds. While modern culture often treats anxiety purely as a psychological problem, Scripture addresses it as a spiritual battle of trust and perspective. The Bible doesn’t ignore anxiety, it provides a clear path for confronting it through faith.

One of the most direct teachings on anxiety comes from Philippians 4:6–7, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

The Command: Reject Anxiety

Sounds pretty straight forward, but Paul begins with a clear instruction: “Do not be anxious about anything.” The Greek word for anxious (merimnao) literally means “to be pulled in different directions.” Anxiety divides the mind between trust in God and fear of circumstances.

This command doesn’t deny that life contains real problems. Instead, it teaches that Christian’s aren’t meant to carry those burdens alone. Anxiety often grows when we try to control what only God can control. And we feed it constantly by trying to be in control! 

The Exchange: Prayer Instead of Worry

Paul replaces anxiety with a specific practice, prayer. Notice the progression in the verse:

  • Prayer, general communication with God.
  • Supplication, specific requests for help.
  • Thanksgiving, gratitude for what God has already done.

Thanksgiving is especially important. Gratitude shifts the focus from what might go wrong to what God has already proven faithful to do. When we intentionally bring our concerns to God, anxiety is exchanged for dependence.

The Result: God’s Guarding Peace

Paul promises that when we practice this pattern, “the peace of God… will guard your hearts and minds.” The word guard is a military term describing soldiers protecting a city. God’s peace stands guard over our inner life, protecting the heart (emotions) and the mind (thoughts).

Notice Paul says, this peace “surpasses understanding.” This doesn’t mean every problem disappears. Instead, God gives a calm confidence even when circumstances remain uncertain.

Jesus addressed anxiety in Matthew 6:25–34. Three times He tells His listeners “do not worry.” His reasoning centers on God’s care. God feeds the birds of the air. God clothes the lilies of the field. Humans are far more valuable than either! 

Jesus concludes in Matthew 6:33, “Seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you.” The biblical solution to anxiety isnt control of circumstances but proper priority. When life is centered on God’s kingdom, daily needs fall into their proper place.

Scripture gives several practical steps for dealing with anxiety. 

1. Identify the source of worry. Anxiety often grows from fear of the future or loss of control.

2. Replace worry with prayer immediately.

Instead of rehearsing problems mentally, bring them to God. If you’re already thinking about them, think about it with God. 

3. Practice intentional gratitude. Remembering God’s past faithfulness strengthens trust for the present.

4. Focus on today.

Jesus said, “Do not worry about tomorrow” (Matthew 6:34). A lot of anxiety comes from imagining problems that haven’t happened yet. 

The Bible doesn’t promise a life free from stressful circumstances, but it promises something better, the peace of God. Anxiety shrinks when we remember who God is, trust His care, and continually bring our concerns to Him in prayer.

When the heart learns to surrender control to God, worry gives way to confidence, and fear is replaced with peace.

Sorry, Chase! (Part 3)

Gary Pollard

At long last, we’re going to look at the five pillars — the main observations of Hughes in his video The ancients decoded reality. In case this is the first article you’re reading in the series, a brief explanation is in order. This content creator clearly spent a great deal of time and effort in studying all of these ancient texts and looking for similarities between them (over 180 sources spanning multiple cultures, epochs, languages, and religions). Most of his observations are excellent and intellectually stimulating! Some of his conclusions, where Christianity is concerned at least, are erroneous. Because (reference the first article) he posits cross-compatibility between all religions, this would make Christianity just another in an ocean of faiths. Jesus, in this framework, would be just another wise man, no different from Siddhartha Gautama or Lao Tze or Solon. The problem, from a Christian’s perspective, is that this denies Jesus’s status as God-man. No message is from God if it doesn’t acknowledge Jesus as coming from God. It comes from the enemies of Christ, the ones you heard were coming and are in the world right now (I Jn 4.1-3). 

I don’t for a second believe that Mr. Hughes is intentionally leading the Christians in his audience away from truth. He seems to be wholly genuine and has provided helpful (even life-changing) material for millions of people. But if the foundation isn’t solid, the message will be flawed. Whether with intent or as a result of ignorance, the potential for damage to a Christian’s faith is the same. Ironically, he quotes a passage from I John in the video in the same short chapter as the verse quoted above. 

Anyway, the first main observation is this: “You are not separate. You never were, you never could be.” He cites: 

  1. Upanishads: “You are that” (not connected to it, not loved by it, you are the thing itself.  Jesus said, “The entire kingdom of God is within you, not in a building or a book, in you”)
  2. Sufi texts: “You are not a drop in the ocean, you are the entire ocean in a drop.” 
  3. Hermetic texts: “All is one” 
  4. Taoism: “Everything is the Dao, expressing itself in ten thousand forms” 
  5. Popul Vuh: “Heart of sky, heart of earth” 
  6. Buddhism: “There is no separate self” 
  7. Kabbala: “Creation is one emanation divided only in appearance” 

On the face of things, this argument is not a bad one — and it certainly contains elements of truth. Jesus very often quoted from the ancient texts of the Jews, and used the ίερα γράμματα to establish eternal principles. Yes, the kingdom of God isn’t in any building or exclusively contained within any book. But his kingdom is also not comprised of all people allowing reality to experience itself through their eyes. Multiple times in the gospels he clearly taught that some will inherit that kingdom, and some will not. He told one teacher of the law, “You are close to God’s kingdom” (Mk 12.34). 

According to Mt 3.2 and 4.17, personal changes have to be made to be accepted in God’s kingdom. 

In Mt 5.3, that kingdom belongs to certain people (poor in spirit, persecuted because of faith). 

In 5.20, anyone who isn’t morally better than the Pharisees is barred from God’s kingdom. 

In 7.21, not everyone who claims to serve him will enter the kingdom. 

Multiple times, he says that God’s kingdom is “almost here” (3.2, 4.17, 10.7), and instructed his followers to pray that God’s kingdom would come (6.10, 33). If it existed exclusively within them (and/or within all people), how would some be excluded and some not? Why pray for and anticipate its arrival if it was already within them? We know it was something tangible because he said, “Some of you will still be alive when they see the Son of Man come with his kingdom” (Mt 16.28). 

God’s kingdom ≠ The Universe expressing itself in ten thousand forms. It is the new, someday-perfected, ideal form of personal and cultural identity. This is an identity that won’t be realized fully until Jesus returns (and is today made up of his followers). It transcends national borders, cultures, languages, and any other barrier that historically has prevented people separated by these things from playing nice with each other. It’s a return to the relationship we had with each other and with him before humanity fell. 

Besides this (critical!) aspect, the rest is good general advice — isolation is not fundamentally real, obsession with self leads to unethical behavior, etc. We are not, however, one field of consciousness expressing itself through billions of different viewpoints. The extreme emphasis in the New Testament on others-above-self calls for more concrete distinction between individuals than this worldview allows. We are truly, though, one. Not by our very nature, but because Jesus made it possible for everyone to be unified through his name, by his power. This means that there are, unfortunately, people who will not be one with him. Our hope is that by doing for others what we want them to do for us, we can lead them to the Source who is Truth and who will unify all of creation in himself when earth’s number is up. 

A Great Sermon On Death

What do you know about Jehoram?

Let’s Be Preoccupied

Neal Pollard

Being engrossed in thought or distracted can be a bad thing, when you are driving, operating heavy equipment, or conversing with your spouse. But if you are preoccupied with those tasks, you should be commended. There is a word found a handful of times in the New Testament which conveys a powerful thought. The word is προσκαρτερέω (prostartereo). Depending on context and whether it is connected with a person or an object, it is translated “stand ready” (Mark 3:9), “devoting” (Acts 1:14; 2:42; 6:4; Rom. 12:12; 13:6; Col. 4:2), “continuing” (Acts 2:46; 8:13), and “personal attendants” (Acts 10:7, noun form). Two of the passages speak of physical laborers who were focused on a task for one who had the right or power to command them (Mark 3:9; Acts 10:7; the Greek Old Testament uses this word in Numbers 13:21 when Moses tells the spies to “make an effort then to get some of the fruit of the land”). One speaks of how earthly rulers are servants of God, devoted to their rule). The other passages refer to actions Christians took the initiative to do.

What preoccupied the time, thoughts, and energies of the early saints?

  • Prayer (Acts 1:14; 2:42; 6:4; Col. 4:2).
  • The Apostles’ Teaching (Acts 2:42).
  • Fellowship (Acts 2:42).
  • The Lord’s Supper (Acts 2:42).
  • The Ministry Of The Word (Acts 6:4).

It’s not a long and complicated list. They were engrossed in the public and private practice of prayer. They were riveted on studying and knowing and sharing the Word. They were dialed in to spending time with each other (and welcoming others to become part of them). They were obsessed with coming together to praise and adore God in worship. It affected their whole lives all the time.

The word carries the idea “of decisive or unflinching perseverance” and “emphasizes the persistent and submissive perseverance and tenaciousness of a self-enclosed group collectively oriented toward specific goals” (EDNT, 172). As you evaluate your life, what are your preoccupations? Your obsessions? What are you constantly driven to think, say, and do? Does it reflect the undivided attention of the early Christians, who by such preoccupation took the gospel to the whole world (Col. 1:23) and turned it upside down (Acts 17:6)? Devoutness to exclusively the things that will be destroyed when Christ returns is a tragic distraction! Let’s boil life down to the irreducible imperatives, “the good part, which shall not be taken away from…” us (Luke 10:42).

God’s Hardest Questions?

Light Of The World (Season 6, Episode 13)

DON’T WORRY ABOUT WORRY

Dale Pollard

Jesus addressed worry head-on in His Sermon on the Mount. He said, “Therefore I tell you, do not worry about your life, what you will eat or drink; or about your body, what you will wear. Is not life more than food, and the body more than clothes?” (Matthew 6:25)

He pointed to the birds of the air—they don’t plant crops or store food, yet our heavenly Father feeds them. He points out the wildflowers—they don’t labor or spin, yet they’re more beautifully dressed than even King Solomon. Then came the question: “Are you not much more valuable than they?” (26).

Worry changes nothing, Jesus explains, but it steals today’s peace. His solution is simple and profound. 

“Seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, and all these things will be given to you as well. Therefore do not worry about tomorrow, for tomorrow will worry about itself. Each day has enough trouble of its own” (33-34). 

When we make God’s purposes our top priority, He promises to take care of the rest.

 Gideon: When the Deliverer Becomes the Danger

Brent Pollard

Few stories in Scripture trace spiritual decline more vividly than Gideon’s. Here was a man summoned from obscurity by the voice of God Himself. He was fearful, hiding grain from Midianite raiders in a winepress. Yet God called him a “mighty man of valor” before he had drawn a sword (Judges 6.12 ESV). Through divine power—not human strategy—Gideon led three hundred men to scatter an army beyond counting.

He had torn down his father’s altar to Baal. He had cut down the Asherah pole. He had obeyed when obedience was costly.

But the final chapter of his life tells a different story. It is the kind every Christian needs to hear, because its warning is not aimed at the faithless. It is aimed at those who have tasted victory and grown comfortable in its shadow.

The Dangerous Moment After the Battle

When Gideon returned from defeating Midian, Israel greeted him with a stunning proposal:

“Rule over us, you and your son and your grandson also, for you have saved us from the hand of Midian” (Judges 8.22 ESV).

Notice the fatal error buried in the compliment: “You have saved us.” Not God. Gideon.

This temptation is ancient and persistent. Whenever God works through a man, there is always a crowd ready to worship the instrument rather than the Hand that wielded it. Israel looked at the victory and saw a hero. They should have looked at the victory and fallen before God.

To his credit, Gideon refused.

“I will not rule over you, and my son will not rule over you; the LORD will rule over you” (Judges 8.23 ESV).

In that moment, he spoke a profound truth: God does not share His throne. He does not delegate sovereignty to human dynasties. He is King—not merely as a title but as an unalterable reality (1 Samuel 8.7; Isaiah 43.15; 1 Timothy 6.15).

There are no great men of God—only men of a great God. Reverse that order, and the fall has already begun.

A Nation Looking for a King It Already Had

Israel’s request was more than flattery; it was bad theology. They wanted a hereditary monarchy: Gideon, then his son, then his grandson.

But God had already defined their identity:

“You shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exodus 19.6 ESV).

Their king was not meant to sit in a palace. Their king spoke from Sinai. He led them through the wilderness as a pillar of cloud and fire (Exodus 13.21) and promised to drive out their enemies if they remained faithful (Exodus 23.20–33; Deuteronomy 7.17–24).

Israel wanted something visible, permanent, and human. God offered something invisible, eternal, and divine. The tragedy of the human heart is that it often prefers the former.

The same impulse appears in every generation. People long for a leader they can see rather than a God they must trust. When the church looks to personalities rather than Christ, it has already taken the first step toward Gideon’s error.

Gold in the Wrong Hands

Although Gideon declined the crown, he did not decline the gold.

He asked each soldier for a gold earring from the Midianite plunder. The request seemed modest, and the soldiers gladly complied. They spread out a garment and tossed in their share.

The total reached seventeen hundred shekels—roughly forty to seventy-five pounds of gold—along with ornaments, pendants, royal garments from Midian’s kings, and camel collars (Judges 8.26).

It was a fortune. And fortunes have a way of bending the soul.

The issue was not the amount but what Gideon did with it. Wealth itself is not condemned in Scripture, but it always tests the heart (1 Timothy 6.9–10; Proverbs 30.8–9; Matthew 6.21).

The real question is never what we possess, but what possesses us.

The Ephod That Became an Idol

Gideon used the gold to make an ephod and placed it in his hometown of Ophrah.

In its proper setting, the ephod was a priestly garment associated with worship and divine inquiry. The high priest wore one described in Exodus 28.6–14, and simpler versions were worn by Samuel (1 Samuel 2.18) and David (2 Samuel 6.14).

But during times of spiritual confusion, the ephod could be used in false worship. In Judges 17–18, Micah’s household shrine included one alongside carved images. Hosea later listed the ephod among the religious symbols Israel would lose in exile (Hosea 3.4).

What Gideon intended is uncertain. Perhaps it was meant as a memorial. Perhaps it was intended as a means of seeking God’s will.

But the result was devastating.

“And all Israel whored after it there, and it became a snare to Gideon and to his family” (Judges 8.27 ESV).

The irony is painful. The man who destroyed Baal’s altar created something that led Israel into spiritual adultery. The destroyer of idols became the maker of a new one.

The danger did not come from outside. It came from within—from the very victory that should have driven him closer to God.

When Good Things Become Ultimate Things

The language of Judges 8.27 is deliberately shocking. Israel “whored after” the ephod. Throughout the Old Testament, idolatry is described not merely as error but as adultery—the betrayal of a covenant relationship (Ezekiel 16.15–34; Jeremiah 3.6–10; Hosea 2.2–5).

God had delivered Israel from oppression and scattered an innumerable army with three hundred men. Yet Israel redirected its devotion toward a golden garment in a small town.

The pattern is ancient and ongoing. God acts. Man receives. Man then worships the gift rather than the Giver.

Israel did this with the bronze serpent Moses made until Hezekiah destroyed it because people burned incense to it (2 Kings 18.4). They trusted in the temple building rather than the God who dwelt there (Jeremiah 7.4).

Any good thing—a tradition, a practice, a religious symbol, even memories of past faithfulness—can become a substitute for the living God. The most dangerous idols are often the most religious-looking ones.

A Private Life That Told the Truth

The closing verses reveal a man whose private life contradicted his public words.

Gideon had many wives and seventy sons. He also kept a concubine in Shechem who bore him a son named Abimelech—“my father is king” (Judges 8.30–31).

Read that name again. Gideon publicly refused the crown, yet he named his son “my father is king.”

His mouth said one thing. His life said another.

Spiritual compromise rarely announces itself. It grows quietly through private choices until the consequences can no longer be hidden. Gideon’s household increasingly resembled that of a ruler rather than a servant.

Scripture repeatedly warns that the heart is deceitful (Jeremiah 17.9). A man may refuse a crown with his lips while building a palace with his life.

What Happened After the Funeral

When Gideon died, the collapse was immediate.

“As soon as Gideon died, the people of Israel turned again and whored after the Baals and made Baal-berith their god” (Judges 8.33–34 ESV).

They forgot the LORD who had delivered them. They also failed to show kindness to Gideon’s family (Judges 8.35). Soon, his son Abimelech would drench Shechem in blood while seizing the power his father had publicly declined (Judges 9).

This is what happens when faith depends on a man rather than God. When the man dies, the faith dies with him.

Israel’s devotion to the Lord lasted exactly as long as Gideon lived. That is not faith. It is borrowed conviction—and borrowed conviction always comes due.

Every generation must choose for itself whether it will serve the Lord (Joshua 24.15; Deuteronomy 6.6–9).

Five Warnings from Gideon’s Decline

Gideon’s early chapters inspire courage. His final chapter demands self-examination.

First, no past victory guarantees future faithfulness. Gideon defeated Midian but could not defeat the pride that followed the battle (1 Corinthians 10.12; Philippians 3.13–14).

Second, leaders must point beyond themselves. When people credit the preacher rather than the Lord, something has gone wrong (John 3.30; 1 Corinthians 3.5–7).

Third, religious traditions can become traps. The ephod itself was not evil, but devotion to it became a snare.

Fourth, private compromise eventually produces public consequences. The hidden life always surfaces (Luke 12.2–3; Numbers 32.23).

Fifth, faith must be personally owned, not merely inherited. Secondhand religion cannot survive the loss of its human source (2 Timothy 1.5; Deuteronomy 4.9).

The Reign That Never Fails

Gideon began as a hesitant servant who trusted God and obeyed His call. Through him, the Lord delivered an entire nation from oppression.

But his story reminds us that the battle for faithfulness does not end with a single victory. It continues every day until we stand before God.

Even those who have torn down altars can build new ones without realizing it.

In the end, Gideon’s greatest words remain his truest legacy:

“The LORD will rule over you” (Judges 8.23 ESV).

Not Gideon. Not any man. The Lord.

And when God truly reigns—over a heart, a home, or a congregation—His people remain secure. Not because they are strong, but because He is.

“The LORD is king forever and ever” (Psalm 10.16 ESV).

That is the only throne that never topples. That is the only reign that never ends.

The Invitation

Carl Pollard

Revelation 3:20, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.”

This verse is one of the most well known invitations in Scripture, but it is often misunderstood. Many assume Jesus is speaking to unbelievers about initial salvation. While the principle certainly applies, the context shows that Jesus is actually speaking to Christians who have grown spiritually indifferent.

Revelation 3:20 is part of Jesus’ message to the church in Laodicea (Revelation 3:14–22). The Laodiceans believed they were spiritually healthy. They said, “I am rich, have become wealthy, and have need of nothing” (Revelation 3:17). Yet Jesus exposed their reality they were, “wretched, miserable, poor, blind, and naked.”

Their problem was lukewarm faith (Revelation 3:16). They were not openly hostile to Christ, but they were not passionately devoted either. They had allowed comfort and self sufficiency to push Jesus to the margins of their lives.

Jesus uses a powerful image, He is standing outside the door knocking. The church belonged to Him, and yet He was outside.

This idea is one of patient persistence. Jesus isn’t breaking the door down. He’s knocking and calling. The responsibility rests on the individual, “If anyone hears my voice and opens the door.” Faith is personal. Each person must respond.

Jesus promises something beautiful, “I will come in to him and eat with him, and he with me.” In the first century, sharing a meal represented fellowship, acceptance, and relationship. Jesus is offering restored intimacy.

The Laodiceans had religion without love. Christ was offering them the very thing they lacked, true communion with Him!

This verse forces an uncomfortable question, Is Jesus really at the center of our lives, or have we pushed Him outside? It’s possible to attend church, know the Bible, and still live spiritually distant from Christ. Like the Laodiceans, we may feel self sufficient while our relationship with Him grows cold.

But the good news is that Jesus still knocks. He calls us back through His Word, through conviction, and through moments that soften our hearts. When we respond, He doesn’t reject us, He restores us.

Christ doesn’t want our attendance or routine. He wants our fellowship! The door only has one handle, and it’s on the inside. The question is simple, Will we open it?

THE EXCLUSIVITY OF JESUS

Sorry, Chase (Part 3)!

Gary Pollard

Last week we looked at the problem of language and its inability to capture the infinite (or even things on much larger scales/broader scopes than we’re used to). Chase Hughes, whose video The ancients decoded reality we’ve been examining, gives valuable insights into the many similarities between ancient cultural parables, mythologies, and symbolism. These similarities certainly do exist, and were very probably the result of each culture witnessing the same events. Since we are Christians — and Christianity is one of the ancient traditions he discusses — I think it’s important to examine some of his conclusions and try to establish the boundary of legitimate speculation on the topic. 

As has already been said, the line must be drawn at the conclusion that all world religions are more-or-less interchangeable. Many of the pillars of these faiths are mutually exclusive, at least in their current forms. Jesus made it clear that he was the only path to the Father, so this precludes worship of any other god(s). However, all humans are made in God’s image, and all witnessed the same displays of his power. Comparative mythology/religion is an extremely useful tool in trying to understand the events of the past — many of which the Bible (and several non-canonical sources)  corroborates, often through symbolic and apocalyptic terminology. 

In the past couple of articles, I’ve made it clear that Chase’s work is otherwise excellent, at least as it relates to this topic (which has been my only exposure to his material). However, because of his well-earned popularity, it is likely that other Christians will or have watched this video (as of today it has 2.8 million views) — and there are many others like it on other similar channels. Because most people don’t have any interest in the actual content of these ancient writings, because he presents his arguments in a very compelling way, because it can be difficult for some people to “spit out the bones,” and because the way many exegete the Bible (with little or no acknowledgment of the symbolism in accounts considered exclusively historical) can present difficulties in justifying physical and literary evidence with the text of scripture, I felt it was important to point out where, in my opinion, his conclusions (where Christianity is concerned) were erroneous. This is not intended to be a “debunk” series as much as a “clarify” series. 

So, to finish out last week’s consideration of the language problem, we’ll look at his concluding remarks. Next week we should be able to get into his main observations. 

[Imagine] standing in front of a sunrise so massive and overwhelming that words feel absolutely stupid to describe it. Now imagine trying to explain that sunrise to somebody who has never seen light before. This is why ancient texts seem contradictory — the problem wasn’t the message, it was the translation. Different cultures, different metaphors, different symbols. It was the same truth filtered through different, and extremely human, limitations. And when you finally zoom out far enough, the differences disappear. The metaphors line up, the symbols overlap, and — in my estimation — the contradictions dissolve. You start to see that these were fragments of maps, and once I noticed that something insane happened. The patterns in these texts started connecting like constellations across all these continents, across millennia, across belief systems that supposedly are against each other. They weren’t opposing each other at all, they were completing each other. And that’s when these five truths revealed themselves (08:25-09:38). 

As with the last two weeks’ observations, this is mostly true! Where we’ll have to disagree is at the alleged disappearance of contradictions and at the complementary nature of supposedly-opposed belief systems. By this logic, anything at a sufficiently low resolution is indistinguishable from anything else. Is it a bird or a plane or a flying superhuman? Those are three very different things — even though operating in the same domain — when viewed from a great distance, but the truth of what that thing is is fixed regardless of observational errors. 

The ancient religions of the world, by and large, observed the same phenomena and came away with slightly different conclusions. It didn’t take long for those conclusions to morph into identity systems, with cults loyal to one god or set of gods becoming hostile toward other cults who followed their gods’ antagonist. In the very oldest stories and mythologies, it seems that much of the basis for these religions was a cosmic drama with heavenly bodies being personified to preserve the story and scope of the event. Nearly all of them identify their chief gods with the planets, the sun, and the moon, and described the way their gods had interacted with earth in the ancient past — nearly always in catastrophic ways. 

So while their observations were originally mostly true, they degraded over time into the actual worship of these stars, planets, and “hosts of heaven”. The acts of worship, as we’ve already said, were often extremely dysfunctional. Human (even infant!) sacrifice, ritualized prostitution, and other harmful practices were not-uncommon expressions of devotion when the highest power was perceived to be no greater than some created thing in the heavens. Christianity fundamentally differed from its contemporaries and predecessors in that it called for devotion to the Creator rather than to any aspect of his creation. 

Because of their close cultural and linguistic ties (and probably the shared trauma of living through “days of the Lord”), even the Jews often had difficulty avoiding the worship of the “queen of heaven” (Venus) and other personified heavenly bodies worshipped by their neighbors. But when they actually followed the divine law they were given, they were wholly incompatible with neighboring cultures. All people originally worshipped the one true God (Gen 4.26), which is likely why we see so many similarities between the ancient religious systems. There is only one Truth, and deviations from it (because of human nature) are inevitable. Those who still wanted to align their aims and behavior with Truth would either leave the corrupted system or reform it. Either way, there are divisions — sometimes for good reason. 

So while it is certainly true that most perceived contradictions are the result of interpretation or translation errors, it is not true that those difference dissolve entirely at a certain resolution. Those differences exist precisely because of a deviation from truth. Even though much of the content of these texts aligns with the teachings of scripture, much is also totally incompatible. As we’ll see when we get to his main observations (the five truths), the rest of the world sometimes missed the point of the human experience. This life is a trial run! Compared to immortality, 100 years is a microsecond. The point is to emulate the Creator to the best of our ability and to love others selflessly. The enlightenment and realization of Truth that the rest of the world focused on is not something we can achieve in this body. We all want the same thing, but the only way to get it — and the most fundamental difference between the religions — is through Jesus. 

Something New And Exciting From Kathy Pollard

Sign up on the home page of our website. Kathy writes, “If you love getting REAL mail, check out “A Tiny Spark,” our new snail mail club! I tried my best to tuck all the things I love into one envelope and it’s intended to spark joy! This month’s interview of Kristy Huntsman is GOLD!!  She shares time management tips, her favorite recipes, and Bible study tips for those who struggle with it.”