Lighting Questions

Hello listeners, today is Friday, October the 28th, 2022. I'm Ryan Hill.

I'm John Galantis. And you're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Apadon Shah, a daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can find us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com, or if you have any questions for Dr. Shah, anything you'd like to write in and suggest that we talk about, send us a text at 252-582-5028. You can follow Dr. Shah on his website, ApadonShah.com, and you can support us here at Clearview Church by visiting ClearviewTodayShow.com.

There's a donate button there where you can give to what we're doing, and every donation that you make goes not only to supporting this radio show, but supporting our countless other ministries for building the kingdom of God. Well, as a reminder, guys, the statewide general election is coming up on November the 8th, 2022. John and I are going to be out of the polls next week interviewing you guys, asking you questions, seeing where you guys stand on some of these issues, and this is an encouragement to you. Go vote.

That's right. Go vote. Vote your convictions. I don't know how I can say that any clearer. Just like this, like this right here. Take your glasses off.

Take the glasses off. Go vote. Hey. Hey. Go vote.

Go vote. I'm not. Is it more serious without the glasses? People always say I look rude.

I feel like it might be. Without my glasses. I'll put them back on. This is how I talk to my son. Hey. Stop. Go vote. If I get up from this chair.

Ooh. I better not get up from this chair. That's a debt.

That is a debt. I better not get up from this chair. I got no intention to get up out the chair, but the hope is my voice is harsh and loud enough that they stop the behavior, because if it's not, they're just going to get away with it.

I ain't getting up out of the chair. And we want you to go vote. Mid-term elections. Very important. November the 8th. We want you to go vote.

We want to see out there. That's right. That's right.

About. I'm so sorry. That's okay.

I'm sorry. We're going to be talking more about that with Dr. Sean in just a few minutes. But before we do that, can I make a confession?

Yeah. I am really struggling this morning. You just heard me trip over my words. I've got coffee this morning.

I've got bags under the eyes. I was going to comment on them, but I thought it would be rude to do so. I appreciate you not like you letting me bring that up.

Yeah. But I am. Let me tell me. Can I tell you the story about this dream I had? Actually, this is crazy.

I got a balance. Oh, no. Go for it. So, and the weird thing about this is I rarely ever remember dreams. Like I know they say that if you have a dream and like the, whatever sequence plays out, you're not going to remember the dream.

I rarely remember them, but this one is like fresh in my mind. Go for it. So I was having a conversation with myself, which is already weird. Immediate question marks. Or is it two of you there?

Yes. Like you're looking at yourself. I am me and I am also looking at me.

So it's not like a Gollum situation. No, no, no. Okay. I was looking at myself in the room having a conversation. Okay. We might be dressed differently.

I'm not sure. But okay. We were, we were dialoguing, having a conversation and as other me was talking, there was a giant spider that crawled across his, my face, just like, just this gargantuan disgusting, like tarantula thing. Okay.

I was going to say, when you say giant wolf spider or like tarantula, like tarantula, but bigger than a tarantula, like she loves style. Not that big. Okay.

I mean, it was face size, but it was face size. Okay. Okay. I'm like, Oh my gosh. It's a spider. And I woke up, set bolt upright in the bed and I'm like, swatting my own face trying to get this. When did this happen? This was a couple of nights ago.

Oh my gosh. And you haven't slept right since then. Since then I'm, every time I lay down, I'm like, spider spider.

It's like home alone style where like, I know it's there for life. That's just in there. It's freaking me out. I'm not like super terrified of spiders, but that was the most heinous, horrible looking spider I've ever seen. People really hate spiders.

That's one thing. I'm scared of a lot of animals like frogs, especially, uh, slugs, any, any like creepy crawly animal. I really don't like spiders are surprisingly one of the ones that I've never been afraid now. If it's like huge, like, Oh yeah, I'm probably not going to step on that.

I'll like crush it with something else, but I don't know. Spiders have never really terrified me. I'm hoping, I'm holding that hope that if one bites me, I'll get superpowers. I think that is how that works.

I think if I can do it, I'll either get superpowers or I'll get like very sick, right? So hopefully the former, not the latter. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, listen, I'll be praying for you, man. Cause that, that sounds horrible. I appreciate that.

I might have developed a fear of spiders in my adult, my adult years. Yeah. We've got Dr. Sean, the studio this morning and we're going to bring him in in just a few minutes. I wonder how he feels about spiders. I don't know. Let's ask him. I'll ask him.

We bring him in today's Friday. And that means that we're going to be doing our lightning round questions. Let me put a lightning sound effect right here.

Yeah. That was thunder. That was actually thunder.

That'd be a thunder. Sorry about that. So we've been, we've been collecting these questions from you guys all week long by texting that number two five two five eight two five zero two eight.

That number is still live. So you feel free to text those questions in. If they don't make it into today's lightning round, we are doing the lightning round questions every Friday, every single Friday. That's what I was going to say every single Friday. So, so send them in all through the week. Send those questions in.

If we don't get them in that Friday, it's likely they'll show up in the fall. It'll have to be about a certain topic today. They're all kind of about a topic.

They're all kind of about, you know, the political realm because that's what we're talking about with the elections coming up. But any questions you have. Right. Absolutely. And like we said, the lightning round questions are every Friday show or again, if you have any questions or suggestions for future topics, you can text that same number two five two five eight two five zero two eight, or visit us online at clearviewtodayshow.com.

We'll be right right. Sorry. See, I'm tired. I'm tired because of the spider dream.

Just go to bed. I'll be back with Dr. Shaw after this. What will people say about you when the crisis is over? Will they say that you lived out what you proclaimed all your life? Will they say that your actions matched your confession?

Ultimately, what will God say about you? Not only that, but as a Christian, are you being a lighthouse for others during the storm? Dr. Abaddon Shaw and his wife, Nicole, have composed a book of 30 daily devotions to help you navigate your faith through whatever crisis you may be facing. The book is called 30 days through a crisis, daily devotions to navigate your faith. Our prayer is that as you read this book, God will guide and strengthen you through his word into the image of his son by the Holy Spirit.

That's 30 days through a crisis and you can pick up your copy on Amazon right now. Let us know how it's helped you by emailing us at info at clearviewbc.org and don't forget, you can also support what we're doing at Clearview by visiting us at clearviewbc.org forward slash give. Thanks for listening. We'll be right back to the show. Welcome back to Clearview Today with Dr. Abaddon Shaw, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ.

You can find us online at clearviewtodayshow.com or send us a text at 252-582-5028. We've got Dr. Shaw in the studio with us today. Dr. Shaw, it's Friday.

That means we are one week in officially. How are you feeling? How are you feeling about the show? What are you thinking? I'm feeling really good.

This is typically where they would play, it's finally Friday. The weekend's almost here, but that means you're about to preach tomorrow and Sunday. I'm really grateful to you guys because you all have done an exceptional job, John, Ryan, David, Nicholas. You guys have done a great job, Kelsey as well from behind the scenes of helping this show come together, this daily show, and the response from people has been amazing. Amen. I'm blown away and I'm so grateful that people are benefiting from this show.

They're glad that this show is on the air because you have this apprehension. Should we? What if nobody listens? What if nobody cares? I don't really like this. But people in the first week itself, to actually be grateful and thankful and right to us, we read them.

Every single one, every single letter you send, we're reading them. Thank you. Yes.

I put them up on my refrigerator at home. There you go. At least the first one I did.

Right next to the crayon art from Gavin. That's right. Well, I threw that in the trash can.

I'm joking. Well, thank you, Dr. Shaw, for leading us through this radio show. I mean, it's your influence, it's your vision for this show that makes it what it is. And just, I mean, the fact that we're a weekend now is just... I couldn't have imagined a better opening week.

I mean, we planned for weeks leading up to this, and I could not imagine a more impactful opening week. Yeah. It was so, so encouraging. That's awesome. If you guys are joining us for the first time, if you've never listened to the show a day in your life, Dr. Abadan Shaw is a PhD in New Testament textual criticism.

He's a professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor, and the host of today's episode. That's right. That's right. And today is Friday.

So that means that we are doing lightning round questions today. I thought you were going to say it's the pizza party day. Pizza party? No, it's not pizza party. Sorry.

Sorry to disappoint. No, it's okay. I just... Friday pizza party, I thought that's what we said. I understand. Well, today is lightning round questions day, which means that we're going to read questions that have been submitted all week long from people who are listening and watching the show.

Yes. So those questions that we've been telling you to send in, this is why they matter, because it's our Friday episode. We got a ton of questions, but because we kept talking about the election, the election's coming up on November the 8th, we kind of talked about that at the beginning of the episode.

We wanted to kind of keep them focused. So we chose ones that were specifically politically minded, which means if you don't get your question read today, don't despair. We will read them.

That's right. We will read them. Every single Friday, we're going to be doing lightning round questions.

So keep sending those questions in. If it doesn't show up in the week that you send it, it may just be on next Friday's episode. Right.

Right. Or the Friday after. Or the Friday after.

Or the Friday after. I'm done. Don't push it too far out. They're going to get us going. No promises after that.

All right. That comes from Kim T. And Kim writes, if there's separation of church and state, should Christians even get involved in politics? Is there any biblical mandate that says we should? You know, there are a lot of people today coming from Christian backgrounds, pastors, theologians, magazine editors, you know, who claim that, you know, Christians should stay out of politics. And it's just those two things are not supposed to meet and understand their concerns.

I do understand where they're coming from, because sometimes things can get so political that Jesus is on the side somewhere in the corner. And we're more concerned about political parties and agendas and campaigns than about Jesus Christ, the gospel, the Word of God, seeing lives changed, people coming to know Christ. And so I always want to make sure that we keep the main thing, the main thing. And the main thing is Jesus Christ and His Word.

That's the main thing. But does it mean that we cannot talk about politics? Does it mean that we cannot discuss politics in church?

That's, I would beg to differ. Because you want to find a political book, read the Bible, all right? Read the Word of God, start in Genesis, and there's plenty of things about politics. And I know politics is a dirty word now with politicians doing shady things and underhanded things and taking advantage of people and, you know, all lobbying for something, but they have an ulterior motive as kind of funding their company and their agenda.

I get it. So I'm not talking about that kind of politics. What I am talking about, politics for the glory of God, where we're trying to make this world a little better place. Albeit we understand that in the end, Christ is going to come and make the new heavens the new earth. We know that.

We know that's going to happen ultimately. But until then, we are to do everything possible to make this place a better place. I mean, isn't that what Matthew chapter five is talking about when it says, let your, you know, light so shine before men that they will see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven, right? You know, and in the same passages talks about being a city on a hill, being a lamp on a lamp stand and not hiding it under a bushel. So I believe that there is a place, a very legitimate place that even Jesus talked about where we are to be a city on a hill.

And that's, I'll be the first to tell you, that's much more than just a political party. Right. There is a place for us to stand for issues. There's a place for us to stand for values.

There's a place for us to stand for our freedoms and people say that church and politics don't mix. Okay. Well, then how are you planning on voting? Yeah. Because one day those very people that you're saying, well, I don't want to get involved and we'll be making decisions or whether or not you have the freedom to assemble. Right. A great point.

Right. You know, I'm not here to use any scare tactics. I don't believe in doing that. I get it that some people do and say, vote for me now.

If you don't vote for me, all hell's going to break loose. I am not going to do that. That's not fair.

That's not right. But haven't you noticed that one by one, the world is encroaching on the freedoms of Christians? Yes.

Yes. Especially in this nation. I'm wondering also like, okay, even if you, let's say you take religion out of it completely, you're still going to vote based on your convictions, your personal convictions.

If my convictions come from the Bible, am I now barred from voting? That cannot be what is meant by separation of church and state. Right. Right. Right.

Oh, absolutely not. And of course, you know, when we're talking about the separation of church and state, you know, that was those who understand American politics, the colonial politics where, you know, the Danbury Baptist had written the Thomas Jefferson asking him, hey, are you going to protect us? What about us? Why the Anglican church was a church in charge up until the revolutionary war, but now it's the Episcopal church.

Is there any place for us people? And of course, Jefferson told them about the separation of church and state, that he's not going to allow any one denomination to control the entire nation, that everybody will have the freedom to worship according to their conscience. But keep in mind, that was a freedom to worship. Right. It didn't mean Christians are not welcome in politics. Right. Right. So I think, I totally agree, the aversion some people have of starting some political, you know, agenda, it just gets so messy and nasty. And you know, right now, when you watch some of the ads of the mud slinging ads that are going on, it's just not a good feeling, but we need to stand for the truth. That's true. I have a question from John F. Are our religious freedoms really in jeopardy?

Are Christians making a big deal out of nothing? Oh, well, all you have to do is truly read the newspapers. Yeah. Right. And I know media is slanted and media works, not because let's just say this way in our journalism class, you know, broadcast journalism major, we were told like, if 20 buses get to the bus terminal on time, no big deal, but it's that one bus that gets in a wreck, that's what makes news. Yeah.

Forget about the 20 buses that make it on time, was that one bus? So I know media can sometime hype things up and pretend to be conservative and say, oh, everything is coming. I understand that. But having said that, there are forces behind the scenes that want to stop the message of the gospel. Yeah. There are forces behind the scenes that want to make, you know, the truth about sin, that it is a sin and they don't want us to talk about that.

And so when will it be that we will be told that talking against sin is hate speech? Yeah. I mean, I think that I'm glad you brought up the hate speech because it's soon going to become, because there's already things that you can't say. Yeah.

So no one's really arguing that. But how long is it going to be until it's, these are the things that you have to say. I think we're already seeing that. Yeah.

We're already seeing that. I think we're one midterm away. Yeah.

We're two years away, two years away from some big catastrophic changes. Which ties back into the first question that we talked about, like, hey, it is critical that you go out and vote. It's not just like, yeah, you should probably think about it.

No, you, it's your responsibility. Yeah. I think we said this in an earlier episode, but one vote, I mean, people tend to think that it's like, okay, I'm not going to vote because my one vote doesn't matter.

But when a lot of people start thinking about that, we've already seen in these past elections, that doesn't work. And I tell people, educate yourself. Yeah.

Don't, don't, don't even listen to everything I'm saying. Go educate yourself. Go dig in and find out what those candidates are standing for and see if that's what you believe. That's right. But even more than that, see if that's what the Bible says.

Yeah. So we've got another question here from Linda B. Linda writes, what can Christians actually do to make an impact in the political realm? You know, in the past two years, especially in the first year, I had people ask me if I had read Romans 13, especially the first three verses about submitting to the government. And I said, yes, I have read those verses and I believe that's very important for Christians to be model citizens, to submit to those rulers that God has placed over us. Having said that, have you read how much resistance language is there in the Paul's letters and Peter's letters? This is a cutting edge research that is coming out, I would say in the past, maybe 20 years in New Testament studies, studying the politically charged language in the New Testament, especially in the epistles of Paul. It's all over the place. Now you have to have the eyes and the understanding, especially from the Greek text to see, oh, they are saying you need to submit to those authorities, but at the same time, pay attention to how often they keep calling Jesus their king.

Right. Look at how many times Paul and Peter are telling, do not bow down. And John talking about, I see many Antichrist here. They are shaking their fist towards the Romans, towards those in power in whichever community they are, telling them, yes, we will submit to the laws, but no, we will not bow before your gods. It's almost too easy and I think we saw a lot of Christians doing this in 2020 where you can just take that verse, submit to governing authorities, post it on Facebook with no context whatsoever of what's going on during Paul's time. No context of what's going on in the verses preceding it, just say, hey, submit to the authorities. That's in the Bible. And now suddenly Christians are that submissive meek, mild, just I'll swallow whatever you take and persevere rather than fighting back. And that's again, if you truly want to study the letters of Paul and Peter and John, what you'll find is that they are saying, be model citizens, obey those in authority over you.

But do know for sure your allegiance ultimately belongs to Jesus Christ. Do not give in to that. Don't let them persecute, don't let them break you.

They may persecute you, but they cannot break you. And if we keep that in mind, that's when we will have the proper balance. We need the proper balance in this culture. I think people are swinging from one end to the other and claiming that they're in the middle. They're not in the middle. They're swinging from one end or the other of the pendulum. Either they're saying, just walk away from all this, or they're saying, just give in to it.

We need to be good citizens and be given to it. And they're saying, oh, I'm in the middle when I say that. No, you are not in the middle. Being in the middle means, yes, I'm going to submit to the authority, but I will keep resisting.

Why will I keep resisting? Because ultimately my allegiance is to my King, Jesus Christ. And so I'm going to obey him. And if he tells me to keep preaching the gospel, I'm going to keep doing that. If he tells me to walk in purity and holiness, then I'm going to do that. So you cannot make me say yes to that lifestyle or whatever is coming down the pike and say, oh, yeah, that's, you know, I don't want to say anything against that because that sounds so hateful. No, you need to speak up.

If God calls that sin, then it is sin. Right. Yeah, absolutely.

Who do you think you are that you're going to go back on what the Bible says or what God says? If this is the standard, then stand up and let it be the standard. Absolutely. Exactly.

You need to do that. I think that's one of the things I admire the most about you, Dr. Shah, is during 2020 when everyone else was saying, okay, guys, now it's time to live it out. Now it's time for us to sit down and take our take and live out that Romans 13. We got to submit. We got to obey.

Yes. At the same time, this is not what we've been called to do. And there is a higher authority that we have to answer to because what churches we're saying is listen, they are the ones in power. We are not essential. Right. And we can't. We cannot do that. And when we encourage all the churches to say, hey, whatever you need to do, take precautions. Be careful.

Get a robust online presence, but do not ever let the world tell you that you're not essential. Right. Right. And I'm so thankful that we maintain that mindset and we encourage others to maintain that mindset as well. Don't walk away from your role as a shepherd, especially when the sheep need you the most. Absolutely. Got another question from Mandy G. This one kind of, I think is she might've been in cahoots with Linda B because this one's pretty much the same thing, but is there a point where we can disobey the law in order to follow our Christian convictions?

That is a tough one. And that day may come and I believe it may not be that far away, but we'll have to say, just like the early Christians said, you may have to take my life, but I will not submit my faith. I will not give in to you. And you know, that's the reason why many of the early Christians were willing to be thrown to the lions. That's really a part of history. Some people are trying to revise that history. I don't know how they can do that.

There's plenty of evidence of that. That's why they were being thrown in the gladiatorial games and they were burned at the stakes because they said, no, we're not going to bow before you, you know, like Polycarp and others. You know, I've served my master all these years and today you're telling me 86 years, right? Yeah. You're telling me to deny him.

I can't do that. Yeah. Wow. So coming from a culture, you know, coming from a world where Christianity was not the foundation, um, to America where Christianity is the foundation of this nation. I'm not saying our nation's history is perfect. Yeah. America has things that we need to clean up and do better.

Right? And having said that, I believe the Christian foundation of the United States is worth fighting for. Did you see opposition to Christianity growing up that you feel like if, if we don't get a handle on this, it will turn into that. Oh yes.

Oh yes. The darkness will always try to keep, uh, to keep taking out the light. It'll always try that. And so the light has to keep shining, right?

The light has to keep shining. So our, I think the last question we're going to have time for today is, uh, it comes from Rebecca in Rebecca writes, can we look to any biblical examples of politically minded individuals? Oh my goodness. Where do we start? Uh, you want to go on the, in the old Testament for time's sake, um, Daniel, Shadrach, Meshach, Abednego.

That's true. There you have some very powerful examples, uh, Esther, again, a very powerful example. So in the new Testament, John the Baptist, uh, you know, when people say, let's keep that out of politics, John the Baptist was calling out, you know, Herod saying, Hey, you've taken your brother's wife and you cannot do that, you know, calling him out. And so also Jesus, Jesus also called out the political leaders of the time, uh, whether they were the Pharisees, the scribes, the Sadducees, the religious leaders, and even the Romans. I mean, he stood before Pilate and, and talked to him until Pilate was getting ridiculous and Jesus refused to answer him. And Pilate says, you know, Hey, I have the power to take you live or give you. And he said, no power would be given to you unless that has been given to you. Yeah. You really don't realize how much of the Bible is steeped in politics and it's so insane that there's such a movement to take the Bible out of politics. And Paul, Paul stood before Festus and Agrippa and all these guys, he preached the gospel to them.

And they said, you know, you've lost your mind, Paul, much learning has made you mad or you almost persuaded me to become a Christian. Yes. Yes. I remember that.

And then John, of course, he is sitting on the island of Patmos because not because he's taken a vacation. Yeah. He's been thrown there. Yeah. He's not, he's not chilling on a tropical beach.

No, I mean, he ain't having a good time. Yeah. Yeah.

He's been thrown there as a, because he's been exiled. Wow. Wow. So Dr. Shaw, as we close now, unfortunately, that's all the time we have for questions today.

Keeps any of those questions in two, five, two, five, eight, two, five, zero, two, eight. We'd love to hear from you guys, Dr. Shaw. What advice would you give people as we're headed toward the elections? How should people be thinking of their, their faith and politics together? I would say pray, you know, this is where I'm weak as well, uh, because you know, sometimes you forget to pray.

I think we, we, we feel like, well, it'll be what it'll be. But why don't we pray, pray just the way the old Testament talks about that. If my people call by my name, we'll humble themselves, pray, seek my face, turn from their wicked ways, then I'll hear from heaven, forgive their sins and heal their land. I totally understand it's given to Israel.

It's about a land promise. I understand all of that, but can we not apply that? Right.

I think so. Can we not apply the principles? Of course we can. If we, if we relegate everything as, Oh no, that's, that's for a whole different context and covenant, then might as well put the whole Bible back. Yeah.

Can we say that God is going to be faithful here, but he's not going to be faithful over here. So definitely the word of God has been given. Right.

All those things happen to them as examples to help us in our faith. That's right. So let's pray for our nation. Exactly. Amen. Absolutely.

Guys. Unfortunately we are out of time for today's episode, but don't fret. We'll be back next week. Keep sending in your questions though. Yes. Keep sending in the questions.

Phone number one more time, 252-582-5028. Send us those questions. If you didn't get them on today's episode, they will be likely on next Fridays or maybe the Friday after that. We will bank those questions. We try to group them together based on what we're talking about. Yeah. Try to keep a theme together. Yeah.

And make sure you stop by clearveetodayshow.com. There's a link there to give you can support us, partner with us as we seek to reach the reach the world. I mean, you have a partner in that. That's very important. All of your gifts, all of your donations, all of your contributions, not only help the radio ministry, but they're helping the world.

They're helping modern day Christianity to be spread. And that's why we are grateful to all the platforms that we have that we're able to be able to push this message out and your giving is helping us do that. Yeah, absolutely. We were a big part of it.

We really want this to be a partnership. That's how we're thinking of it. So we want you to think of that as well. You're an extension of us and the ministry that God has brought us together for. Exactly.

Do we have any last minute advice before we go? I got one. Okay. Anytime that you go home and you take a shower, right? At the very end of the shower, just turn the water to cold. Just let the cold water rush over your head for just like two minutes. Just two minutes.

Yes. I will die. You don't have to go all the way to ice cold, but just turn it to chilly, cold water. It feels really good. I'm telling you, you want to take a hot, no, take a hot shower.

Then when you're about to get out, just turn it to cold for a little bit. I promise you. I promise you. If you have any listeners at home, I promise you, I have been roasted for this.

I've been lambasted for this. Do it. And then text us in at what phone number? 252-582-5028.

I don't have it in front of me. Except you won't be able to text because your hands will be shaking because you're so cold. That's true. That's true.

A shock to your system. Oh my goodness. I think you guys should do it. It's going to make you feel way better.

I don't know about that. Well, that is all the time we have for today's episode. We love you guys and we'll see you next week on Clearview Today. Bye. Bye. Gary Coxe.