The Spiritual Condition of America, Politics, Culture, and Current Events Analyzed Through the Lens of Scripture. Welcome to the Alex McFarland Show. What do you do when you're calling out to God? You're seeking the Lord and you need answers, you need guidance, and yet it seems like God is silent. Hi, Alex McFarland here, and we are coming to you from the floor of the NRB convention.
So, I will just say up front: there's going to be some noise in the background. We're at our annual convention that we come to, where there are Christian communicators from all around the world. We have a fantastic show today, so please overlook, if you can, the background noise. These are all the ministries that you know and love: David Jeremiah, TPUSA, so many great colleagues that we've loved and worked with for years and years. And today, I'm having another conversation with just a valued friend and colleague in the ministry.
Autumn Miles. And you might remember Autumn was on with us probably about a year ago. She had a book out, but there's a brand new book, and I'm so excited about this book. I want you to read it. Seriously, there are so many books.
This is one you really don't want to miss. Why is God silent? Why does God allow things in our life sometimes that are painful and hard to go through? And get the title of this book because it's just so perfect for the subject and for the times. Holy Ghosted.
What Job's Pain Teaches Us About Surviving Spiritual Silence. Autumn, welcome back. It's great to have you. Thank you. Thank you for creating an incredibly well-done book on one of my favorite subjects and biblical books, the book of Job.
And you know, everybody's writing books on, you know, how to thrive and how to succeed. Like, nobody writes a book on the book of Job, and yet it's one of the greatest biblical books. I love that book. And not only did you write a book on it, I mean, you nailed it. Good job, and let's talk.
Thank you. Thank you for having me. Thank you. I'm excited. No one, everyone hates the book of Job.
And they keep telling me every interview that I'm on. They're like, I don't read it. I mean, I've had pastors tell me that. I don't read it because when I do, my life falls apart. And so I'm the girl, I wrote about Rahab.
I wrote about gangster prayer, which is a totally different take on prayer. And I'm like, what else do people not want to write on or talk about? Yeah. Job.
So your girl went in there.
Well, you went there and you did a good job. I love this book because here's the thing: we don't much talk about it, but even godly, faithful Christians, they love the Lord, they're following Jesus, and in a fallen world, hard things come along. Bad stuff happens. It doesn't mean God has abandoned us, or it doesn't mean God doesn't love us. But as you say in the book, when it seems like God is silent, That's really an opportunity for growth, isn't it?
Talk to us about the premise of your book, Holy Ghosted. It's, by the way, published by Charisma House. We've worked with them before. Fantastic publisher. Holy Ghosted by Autumn Miles.
Give us the synopsis.
Well, I think in my ministry, what God has allowed, we take questions all the time. And the number one question that we get is, how do I hear from God? I cannot hear from God. And someone needs to acknowledge, yes, there are hard places in God. Listen, Alex, the world has coined this narrative.
There are hard places in God. Why would God allow bad things to happen to good people? That's why you don't follow him. And the church needs to take that back. We need to acknowledge there are hard places in God like silence.
And we have to give a resource to combat. What do we do in seasons of silence?
So, the number one question we get is: I can't hear from God, how do I do that? And so I was reading the book of Job for 38 solid chapters. God does not speak. He does not say one word. Job during that time.
Loses all 10 of his children, everything that he has. He loses his mental health, his reputation among his friends and everyone who knows him. All the neighbors were trashing him. Everyone was trashing him. They really stepped away from him because bad theology during that time was telling them: if all this was happening to Job, there must be some sin in him.
You're a sinful man. You're sinful. You need to repent. Fess up. What?
Right. Autumn, forgive me for jumping in here, but all right, I taught this last summer at the Billy Graham Conference Center. And I spent probably a year doing a really deep dive on Job. And I counted, and maybe I'm accurate on this, but basically there were 17 trials he went through. 17 very, very severe testings.
And somebody should make a movie of it. But there's this scene where Job is sitting on the ground, his whole world has fallen down, and he's scraping his skin with a fragment of a broken pot, picking at scabs on his skin. And it's the most painful, I mean, it's like heartbreaking. But here's the thing. He went through all these trials.
To silence the mouth of the one the Bible calls the accuser. Right. Satan. Because basically, Satan threw a challenge before God. Talk about that if you would.
But there's a couple things I think we really need to point out about this conversation between Satan and God. And God, yeah. First of all, God instigates it. And he instigates it, and he's the one that asks Satan, have you considered my servant Job? And I believe studying the book for a while, I believe one of the reasons that he did that is because he had measured the faith of Job.
Job doesn't know how deep his faith is at this point, but God did. And most of us don't know. We have no idea. We really don't know. Jeremiah 17, forget now, hold that thought.
But it says, the heart is deceitful and wicked above all things. Who can know it? The thing is, even as a born-again believer, we really don't always know the state of our own heart. Right. Yes.
And that's one of the things that all of these trials began to reveal. I mean, I'm thinking losing all 10 of his children. I have four children. Once he lost all of those, that shakes you. That had to shake you.
I'm sure it definitely shook his wife. His wife replied to him, curse God and die.
So it definitely shook her. And who can blame her? But with him, it just seems like with every one of those 17 trials, He replied with this deep Reverent faith. I know that my Redeemer lives. Shall we expect good from the Lord and not bad as well?
And I think when we go through this kind of thing, when Satan is allowed to come in, the hedge of protection is removed because it is something that God allows. We can look at Jesus for that. As well, as an example. We then begin to learn. Is our faith just with our mouth?
Or do we deep in our soul truly believe that God is who we profess Him to be? And that's the beautiful thing. That is the one thing that Satan was after when He took everything. He wasn't after His kids, He wasn't after His money, He wasn't after His reputation. He didn't care.
It was a means to grab. Job's faith. And Job refused to give it. And that's why I wanted to write on Job, because that is the only thing. Faith is the only thing that is eternal.
And it's the one thing that Satan can't steal. You have to give it. You have to surrender it. And folks, as you're listening, the voice you're hearing is Autumn Miles. She's an author, a speaker, a friend of this ministry.
And we enthusiastically recommend her brand new book, Holy Ghosted. You know, I mentioned teaching at the Billy Graham Conference Center. And whenever you get invited there, they kind of ask you to do a book of the Bible. And in 20 years, I've done like Colossians and Acts and 1st and 2 Peter, Romans, the book of Genesis.
So, like in late 23, we're looking at 25, and I was there last summer. And they said, hey, we. Would like for you to teach the book of Job because the Billy Graham Conference Center is like 30 years old. They said, We don't think anybody has ever taught.
So, do you see? People don't like to go there. They're scared. Yeah, again, let's cue this up and we've got to take a brief break. But God said, Have you considered Job?
And the devil said, Oh, yeah, sure. Job praises you because you've blessed him so big. You let me beat up on him a little bit, he'll curse you to your face. God says, I don't think so. You can do anything, just don't kill him.
But And we're going to come back. We've got a brief break. We're coming to you live from NRB. It's noisy, but it's an exciting little beehive of activity here. Stay tuned.
More about Job, how his story just might help you navigate your own story after this break. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland, a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Christian author and speaker Alex McFarland is an advocate for Christian apologetics. Teaching in more than 2,200 churches around the world, schools, and college campuses, Alex is driven by a desire to help people grow in relationship with God.
He arms his audiences with the tools they need to defend their faith, while also empowering the unchurched to find out the truth for themselves. In the midst of a culture obsessed with relativism, Alex is a sound voice who speaks timeless truths of Christianity in a timely way. With 18 published books to his name, it's no surprise that CNN, Fox, The Wall Street Journal, and other media outlets have described Alex as a religion and culture expert. To learn more about Alex and to book him as a speaker at your next event, Visit alexmacfarland.com. Or you can contact us directly by emailing booking at alexmacfarland.com.
He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to the Alex McFarlane Show. Hey, welcome back to the program. Alex McFarland here, along with the Autumn Miles, Holy Ghosted brand new book. Autumn, I guess this is out now, right?
Yes, been out for a couple weeks.
Okay, BarnesNoble, Amazon.com. What's your website for your ministry, by the way? AutumnMiles.com. AutumnMiles.com. And you're on the road speaking and ministering a lot?
On the road speaking, ministering. Got a podcast and do a lot on social media, super active on social media with little bits and stuff about the Lord. We're like media ministry these days. Yeah. What's your prime, if somebody wanted to invite you to their city, I mean, what is your bullseye?
What's the ideal event that you like to go to? I love women's events. I've done lots of them. That's kind of my sweet spot. I love that.
But I also love to do church services as well.
So anything you got, I would love to come.
Well, I appreciate you, and you're a strong communicator, and you always keep Jesus way out front. And that's, God honors that. You know, in the ministry, listen to this autumn, and I want you to relate it to your book. I interviewed 32 of the world's top atheists. This was Seven or eight years ago, I was gonna, a publisher asked me to write a book on atheism.
And it became two books: one on agnosticism and hard skepticism, and then one on flat-out atheists. But I went to Barnes Noble, picked out 32. Names of atheist authors. And I spent almost three years trying to contact them. And I said, okay.
Tell me why you're not a believer. I don't want to believe what's false. Disconvert me. You know, I'm a Christian.
So if all of this is a myth, please explain why.
Now, I came expecting heavy philosophy and oh, Charles Darwin and evolution.
Okay, out of 32 atheists that I had a one-on-one conversation with. 28 were ex-quote unquote ex-Christians. Really? Two were ex-Roman Catholics and two were Jewish.
Okay. 32 out of 32 said At some point during a calendar year, they pray.
Now, these are atheists.
Now, one guy said, he said, I was almost in a terrible car wreck, and I cried out, Oh God, oh God, save me. I said, well, did the semi hit you? He said, well, no. I said, well, boom, God answered that prayer. Yes, he did.
But here's my point. Out of the 32 atheists that I've interviewed, The 28 that at one time were vibrant Christians. It wasn't philosophy. It wasn't some smoking gun that disproved the Bible. It was an emotional.
My loved one got sick with cancer. We fasted, we prayed, they passed away anyway. Where's God and all that? The reason I'm taking time to cue this up, Autumn, is how imperative is it when we're going through emotional duress and we're going through a hard time like Job did, how important is it to not bail out on God when we're in the emotional Grinder.
Well, you know what I mean? Yes, there's a couple things I want to bring up. The silence is a real thing, we do experience that from God. And in a season of silence from God, Satan wants to fill the void. He wants to pastor us, okay?
And so he tells us little things like probably what he told those atheists: your God allowed this to happen. And when there's a season of silence, he is loud, okay? He is telling us everything that we will receive on behalf of, you know, good sense.
Well, that makes sense. Why would a good God allow my beloved to get cancer? And we start believing that, and we start receiving it, and it starts to change our view of God.
So. One thing that I would warn: if you're in a season of silence, be careful who you listen to. Amen. Because your mind won't be silent if God is silent, because Satan is active. And you see in the book of Job, he used his friends, he used his wife, he used his own thoughts to kind of war against himself.
So that's one of the things that I would really, really caution against. A lot of people cannot reconcile. Why does this hard thing happen to me when I've been faithful? And so they bail. They leave God in relief when what they need to do is lean into God for a greater revelation.
Amen. And we're seeing a lot of people leave the faith because things they can't understand.
Well, guess what? There are places in God that no one understands. I don't care who we've interviewed over the tenure of our ministries. I don't care who we've met. I have never met a deep theologian that have said, oh, yeah, I understand this.
I understand why God allows this to happen. And if someone says they do, I would caution them. Caution you. God is God. Obviously, our puny little finite mind can't fully apprehend God.
No, He's the Almighty. And I will say this, and we've all got. A story and a journey, and there's mountaintops and there's deep dark valleys. I will tell you, I'm 61, we had family businesses, economic issues. Like, you know, families are like brownies, mostly sweet with a few nuts.
And so we've all, you know. God is faithful. I'm telling you. And we've had some desert seasons. God is faithful.
But here's the thing: that I don't think we're being honest with people if we say, come to Jesus and your life will be milk and cookies forever. Everything is hunky-dory. It's a sunny summer day, and life is a picnic. Even for godly, faithful, Fully committed believers, stuff happens, doesn't it? I remember one time I was, and this would be in the chapter where you can be completely honest with God.
Several people have read the book and I actually interviewed a bunch of prisoners last week who are not getting paroled. They want to get paroled. They've changed their life and they're saying, we have changed our life and yet God is not answering our requests for parole. Why is that? And I was able to just have a ministry moment with him and say, listen.
Have you told God what you're telling me? Have you told God right now you're mad at him? You're mad at him because he hasn't answered your prayer. The book of Job inspired me to be that much more raw and real in my prayer life. When I'm speaking about God, there was one time I had a great opportunity, a great career opportunity, and at the last minute it fell through.
And I was talking to God and this is what I was saying. Stupid stuff. I know you're going to make all things work together for good. I'm fine. I'm fine.
I know you're good. Like all this stuff. And the Holy Spirit stopped me and He said, That's not how you really feel about me right now, is it, Autumn? And I was like. Nope.
That's not how I feel. And he said, How do you really? Tell me how you really feel. It's kind of uncanny how God really, really knows us. He knows us.
And I said, I'm mad at you. You could have allowed me to get this opportunity, and you didn't. You shut it down, and I was looking for it, and all of this stuff. And as soon as I was authentic, raw, and actually truthful with God, it was as if He said, okay.
Now we can build intimacy that we haven't had quite yet. There was a place in God that me not being truthful with God was keeping me from. And being truthful and raw and honest with God, built intimacy with Him. Amen. Folks, the voice you're hearing is Autumn Miles.
We're at NRB. She's the author of the new book, Holy Ghosted: What to Do When God is Silent. It's lessons from the book of Job. It's a fantastic book. We've got to take a brief break.
You can listen again at alexmacfarland.com. We're on all the social media platforms and all the, you know, wherever you get digital content. And you might want to share this with somebody. And Autumn, your website is autumnmiles.com.
Okay, stay tuned, folks. We've got a brief break. More from National Religious Broadcasters and the Silence of God and How It's an Opportunity for Growth. After this brief break, don't go away. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland, a religion and culture expert.
Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. Producer Mike for the Alex McFarlane Show, listen to this. Alex is the Christian voice we need right now. I love listening to him, and the guests he has on the show are just amazing. I highly recommend his podcast.
Great words, Alex.
Well, we give God the glory. We thank the listeners for kind sentiments like that, but we give God all the glory. But, folks, please listen in, spread the word. You're spreading the gospel. Tell others about our programming, and we sincerely thank you.
He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to the Alex McFarlane Show. Hey, welcome back to the program. Alex McFarlane here with Autumn Miles. We're going to resume in just a moment, but I want to ask everybody to please go to the website alexmacfarlane.com.
We've got a fantastic year. Our youth camps are coming up summer of 26. Between a couple of youth conferences and seven youth camps, we'll have around 2,300 teenagers learning the gospel, biblical worldview. And folks, we need some sponsors. $400 will buy a week of camp, and we do all the fun camp stuff, the horseback riding, the hiking, roasting marshmallows, all that.
But what we do at our camp, we teach the gospel. Every year we have hundreds of young people give their heart to Christ. They go deep in their discipleship, biblical worldview. Because here's the thing: we don't want your Kid to make a decision for Christ and graduate high school and graduate away from God. And so I would ask you to please pray for our camps.
Consider sponsoring a tax-deductible contribution of $400. We'll buy a week of summer camp in beautiful places like Montana, the Hudson River Valley of upstate New Jersey.
So, if you would, please go to alexmacfarland.com. There's a donate now button, and you can give securely online. Also, look at my calendar. My tour schedule includes the Billy Graham Conference Center. I'll be there teaching the book of Revelation.
I'll also be there with Gary Habermas doing apologetics, events, publishing, broadcasting seven days a week. It is our joy, with your prayers and help, to tell the gospel to the world. Finally, United in Prayer, alexmcfarland.com/slash united in prayer. Every Tuesday, we send you a devotional, a little brief. It'll take you about five minutes.
But we want to make 26 the year that you really lean in deeply to your prayer life. And you know, as I'm talking with our friend and colleague, Autumn Miles. The strength of a Christian is basically the strength of their prayer life. Would you agree? Absolutely.
Yeah, I wrote a whole book on that called Gangster Prayer. Yeah, I love that. We have kind of a saying around here: specific prayers get specific answers. That's right, yes. I think you pray generally.
How are you going to know that God's going to answer that? You have no idea. Bless all the children in the world.
Well, no, let's pray for that one child that really needs it and let's see what God does in that child's life.
So I'm right there with you. Totally off topic, but what's your thoughts on fasting and prayer? Fasting is my favorite thing ever. I know. I truly believe, and the scriptures tell us this: there are certain miracles, there are certain breakthroughs, there are certain things that will not happen without fasting and prayer.
Mark 9:26. I had no idea. I started fasting about 25 years ago. The first time I fasted, I thought, I don't want to fast. But I read that verse.
I was so convicted by it. And I am telling you what, it radically, my life today is a result of fasting. Exactly. I recommend it to every. It is the sweet, supernatural.
No one knows why, no one knows how, but it works. God honors it. He really does. And folks, the way fasting works is like whenever your tummy growls and you're hungry, that's a reminder to pray. Yes.
And I tell people: if you're going to, praying is wonderful, and we need to pray. But if you fast and pray, buckle up because God works in a big way.
So let me ask you this: if somebody's in a season like Job was of silence, and Lord, help me, help me, help me, and for a moment it seems like God is not responding, is that a time to seek a spiritual breakthrough by fasting? Absolutely. If there is any confusion, Any misunderstanding, anything that just you just, our human mind just can't wrap our head around, I think that's an invitation to fast, okay? Yeah, we fasted, my husband and I fasted for, I believe it was almost 40 days for my mother-in-law, who was extremely sick. We went before the throne room together every single day, all day long, and was asking God either to take her home to heaven because she was suffering or heal her in Jesus' name.
And it was one of those things where we couldn't understand why God was allowing it. And so we went that extra step of fasting. Amen. Well, yes, I highly recommend it. And getting back to your book, Holy Ghosted, folks, I get a dozen books a week that cross my desk, and people say, Here's my brand new book, please promote it.
A lot of great books, and I thank the Lord for all these wonderful things. But this book I really, really recommend. I'm reading it even as we speak. But one of the most mature things, and I love the book of Job, and I know you know this, it's among the oldest part of the Old Testament. But this is.
One of the most mature statements, and you can only make it by the power of the Holy Spirit. I want you to comment on it. at a season in my family's life My dad was dying of cancer. My parents were born again. They were saved.
But my dad had cancer. He was losing his business, nearly a million dollars in debt. I was making $18,000 as a youth pastor. We had no clue what to do. And I came across this statement.
And maybe it's the cry of Someone's heart listening right now. Though he slay me, yet will I trust him. What is meant by that statement? By our friend Job says this. Though he slay me, yet will I trust him.
I mean, I think that is. where we all want to be. And Job realized, now he made that statement about midway through the book.
So he's not even at the end of the book.
So he still has a lot more suffering, a lot more mental anguish, a lot more accusations from his friends. But one of the things that he realized is, I believe he actually realized, I just talked about this on my podcast, is airing this today actually. He before all these trials struck. He knew that God was the answer. If you think about it, and I know you know the book of Job, he went before God and made sacrifices on behalf of his children.
It's so sweet. Because if they sinned, he didn't want it to be held against him. It's precious.
So before all of these trials struck, he was sacrificing to God because somewhere along the way, building his businesses, raising his children, he learned that God was faithful. He had shown himself faithful even in the good times. Why would God forsake him now? And I think that's one of those places where we say it when we're in a situation like you were in or a situation like he was in. We say it because it comes from a deep understanding that God is great no matter what he does to me.
And again, this was Job, and I think it's true in the life of many a believer. Job went through 17 trials. To silence the mouth of the one the Bible calls the accuser. And folks, if you're in a hard place right now, you say, Why? I'm a faithful Christian family.
Well, look, the devil, he can't take you to hell if you're born again. but he tries to harass you, discourage you, break your heart. And Romans says he is the serpent, is the accuser of the brethren. Autumn, don't you think it glorifies God when we creatures and we have a free will? We come to Jesus, we get saved.
And even in the hard times, we're at the moment. I don't see the whole picture, but yet I say within my heart, Jesus has been good to me. Jesus has never failed me. This moment is pretty tough, but I will trust him. I will praise him because tomorrow is coming and my God will not fail me.
And I might have a hard day right now, but I'm going to praise his name because the devil will not get the last word. Don't you think God is honored? Absolutely. Absolutely. I think he's honored.
The beautiful thing about the book of Job is we see God tricking Satan. Yeah, exactly. He pulled one over on Satan. He knew that Job was going to prevail. He knew that Job would say, though he slay me, yet will I trust him.
He had already seen it. He knew it was going to happen.
So God tricked the great trickster. And I love the end where God made Satan stand and watch. You know, he saw him restoring his family, his fortune, his reputation. Seven times. That's the end of the book.
And you have to think to yourself. There, Satan is watching. Wow, everything I did amounted to nothing. That is why I want their faith, and that is why I fight so hard to get it because I just want one on a tally board for myself, but it's not going to happen. We're almost out of time, and folks, what about you?
You're hearing this and autumn could go for hours and so so could I. Here's what I'm saying. Jesus is Lord. Jesus rose from the grave. He beat death.
He can help you through your situation.
So today is the day in your heart, and this will be transformative. If you would say within your heart, I'm going to trust God. I'm not going to believe what's false. I'm not going to believe the one that the Bible calls the father of lies, Satan. I'm going to believe God.
And so perhaps today you need to come to Jesus. Maybe you need to come back to Jesus. And we say this. He's as close by as a prayer. On our website, alexmacfarland.com, there's a tab.
What does God say about my relationship with him? Today is the day that you can begin a relationship with Jesus. And I say it. I know Autumn will give me a big amen. God is faithful and he is worthy of our trust.
Absolutely. Yes. Where else would we go? Exactly. The new book, Holy Ghosted by Autumn Miles, Charisma House Publishing.
Thank you for this resource. Thank you for being with us. God bless you. Stay bold. Stand strong.
And may the Lord bless you in all things. Alex McFarlane Ministries are made possible through the prayers and financial support of partners like you. For over 20 years, this ministry has been bringing individuals into a personal relationship with Christ and has been equipping people to stand strong for truth. Learn more and donate securely online at alexmacfarlane.com. You may also reach us by calling 1-877-YESGOD and the number 1.
That's 1-877-YESGOD1. Thanks for joining us. We'll see you again on the next edition of the Alex McFarlane Show.
