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Today's secret word was actually forgotten by John. So make sure to leave a four star review and note that as the reason why. For more suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028 or you can email us at contact at Clearview Today show.com.
That's right. We want you guys to help us keep the conversation moving forward. You can do that by supporting the show. You can share it online with your friends and family. Leave us a good five star review on iTunes or Spotify anywhere you get your podcasting content from. Link is in the description below. We are here today with our wonderful guest, our wonderful guest, our wonderful host is what I ought to say, Dr. Abidanshah.
I was so used to having Nicole on the show the past couple of days. Dr. Abidanshah is a Ph.D. in New Testament textual criticism professor at Carolina University, author, full-time pastor and host of today's show. And deserving of our applause. Thank you from the imaginary audience to our live studio audience that is not actually here. Happy Friday, my friend. We finally made it to the week.
Yes, we did. How have you been? How's the week? It's been great. It's been wonderful. I had a good week. A lot got accomplished and I'm happy for the direction of our nation.
A lot of good things are happening there. And so, yeah, this is a this is the big week. Yes, it is the beginning, the beginning of end times prophecy proper. Yes, building up to it. Five or six, five weeks, six weeks build up, five weeks, five weeks, five weeks. Now this is it.
That's it. Are you excited? I am excited and nervous because I, you know, I have to kind of gauge and see how much to cover, what to cover, because we're not starting in Revelation, as you know, we're going to Romans. Because Romans, even if it's not necessarily a systematic theology, it is the closest you can get to Paul's core doctrine.
And so this is where you find out what he believes about the beginning, middle and end, how he what he believes about how the gospel came, why the gospel came and then how the gospel works. And then what happens to God's people? Because they were also part of the plan.
They were the ones who brought the plan. But now what happens to them? Right. What happens to the Israel of God? And that's the reason why we're in Romans, because we want to know how to think about Israel. Right. And a lot of prophecy teachers, they act as if Israel no longer exists. They have been superseded by the church. And we're here to say that's not true.
Yeah, it's a huge undertaking of a series. When you said you were nervous, I had the thought occur to me. I'm not a preacher. I'm not a scholar.
I'm not anything like that. But I feel like if a pastor were to take on end times prophecy and they weren't a little bit nervous, they're probably not ready. Probably not ready to take on end times prophecy.
That's a great point. I've done it before. I've preached to the entire passages through Daniel, Revelation, Matthew 24, First Thessalonians. I've done it all. And it took me, I would say, almost two years. Yeah. Or at least a year and eight months.
And it was exhausting. But this is not like a refresher. This is new content. The purpose is not as much to just say, hey, look, end times prophecy will happen or see some of the signs of the end time prophecy.
It's not like that. This one is more to how to study end times prophecy. What are some of those foundational pillars that you have to have in place in order to build end times prophecy?
Very excited about that. Our version of the day today is coming from First Corinthians chapter one, verse 31. That as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord.
Ooh, I love that. Like if you glory in something, if you find yourself good at something, if you find yourself succeeding, you glory in the Lord. I guess it's like you don't really want to think of yourself, your success as glory. You know, is that what he's saying?
Your success, your your skills? Well, in the context, you know, this is First Corinthians. So Paul is writing to this church that is struggling with self glorification.
They are, you know, they're struggling with who is superior and who's inferior. We're smarter than Paul or some of our teachers are better than Paul. And so Paul says in verse 26, for you see your calling, brethren, that not many wise, according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble are called. But God has chosen the foolish things of the world to put to shame the wise. And God has chosen the weak things of the world to put to shame the things which are mighty and the base things of the world and the things which are despised. God has chosen and the things which are not to bring to nothing the things that are that no flesh should glory in his presence.
So this is not just about, man, I'm so good at doing this. And it's great because I get so much joy, so much energy from singing or serving or preaching or whatever. This is more about people thinking that they are better than you because I'm Jewish or I am gentile.
I'm better than you. And Paul is saying no flesh should glory in his presence. But of him you are in Christ Jesus who became for us wisdom from God and righteousness and sanctification and redemption means everything that we are is because of Christ. Then it says in verse 31 that as it is written, he who glories, let him glory in the Lord. So, yeah, you can have talents and be complimented for that and feel good about it and say, thank you, Lord. But just know everything you are is because of what Christ has done for us.
That's true. That's where our boast is. Our boast is in his cross. You know, we actually have a song that reflects that, The Battle Stains of Calvary, where that's like the big soaring chorus. I remember when Dr. Shah and David and I sat down to write that song where the verse was super, super down.
It was super low. It was talking about the actual battle stains, the actual cross itself. But then our boast, you know, our celebration, our victory. And I think that that verse reminds me of that, even though that wasn't like a... Yeah, it is, because it wasn't like a fundamental verse to that song, but it takes me back to that place, to the cross, where it became like a symbol of celebration. That's right. It's weird how God works, like the symbol of death and torture and sin has become our symbol of hope. It puts our celebration on the right place, right?
That's right. Anything that we are, we bring to the table, it's all good gifts from God and what he's done for us and the gift of Christ paying the price for us. You don't have to walk around feeling I'm a nothing, I'm a nobody. It's OK to feel good. It's OK to have goals and ambitions and enjoy success in whatever realm, whether it's ministry or secular world.
There's nothing wrong with that. But at the end of the day, you know it's because of God. That's right. It's because of Christ. It's everything that you are is because of him. And I think that's the key. Sometimes people have the idea that if I'm spiritual, that I need to walk around going, I'm a nothing, I'm a nobody.
I'm just a worm. Step on me. That's what humility is. That's what humility is. But I think that's pride because if you really step on them, you'll find out. Real quick.
They don't like that. You're right. Man, he's got a temper. Not so much a worm. He's not a worm. He's more like a snake.
I've got fangs like a snake. We got a lot of texts yesterday. Maybe we can take a break and come back to this. But we got a lot of texts yesterday talking about this toxic connectivity.
Seems like we hit the nail on the head a lot closer than we thought. Because it's crazy. It feels like it's only your church. It's only your ministry that goes through this. And so we got a bunch of texts after the episode aired yesterday saying, oh my goodness, I'm going through the exact same thing. So it felt like maybe we wanted to continue that conversation today. Which in a way, it's good to know that you're not alone. But also there are things and strategies that we can implement in order to move forward in a God-honoring way.
So don't go anywhere. We're going to take a quick break and be right back with more Clearview Today. That's right. Every single donation, big or small, goes directly to the production of this show. It helps us keep the lights on in the studio.
It helps keep the mics hot and running. So if these conversations are making a difference in your day, or if you just want to help us keep the gospel of Jesus Christ in the airwaves, we would appreciate your support. You can give by visiting our website. That's ClearviewTodayShow.com. And just click on that button that says Give Today. And remember, your support truly makes a difference in our show. Thank you for being part of this community. Now let's get back to the show. Welcome back to Clearview Today with Dr. Abbadon Shaw, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. You can visit us online at ClearviewTodayShow.com.
Or if you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028. That's right, Dr. Shaw. We had a great conversation yesterday about some of the toxic people that can get into your ministry. Toxic people who, this isn't just toxic people like what you would imagine, right? Like the person who's intentionally and on the surface causing division. These are people who wrap their toxicity up in positivity, right? In like, what am I trying to say?
In like connecting with people. Tending to the wounded, tending to the broken hearted. These feel good people.
Going around preambulating with bad behavior. Can I tell you, I know what they said to you in that Sunday School. I didn't think that was right. Yeah. And they're like, yes. No, I think that's true. Let me just talk.
Can I share my heart with you for a second? I know what Pastor said. I don't think that's, he should not have said that from the pulpit. I know what you're going through. And if he knew that, I think he wouldn't have said that.
I am queasy. I think when we talked about it yesterday, it really resonated with a lot of people. Because we got some texts saying I'm going through the exact same thing. And David asked a question, Dr. Shaw, that I think it was kind of towards the end. We didn't really have time to delve into it. I thought we could talk about it today. How do you know? How do you know who's like a toxic person versus who's just annoying?
You know, who just doesn't have a clue? Well, they are so deceptive because they come bearing gifts of mercy and encouragement. It's something that we all need. I mean, you need mercy in your life. Mercy is something that you don't deserve. Like, man, you had a bad day or you acted badly. And so mercy is saying, hey, I see your faults, but I overlook them because we all have faults or you deserve a break.
OK, that's mercy. Encouragement. We all need encouragement because we get down, we get discouraged, we get disappointed. And so we need somebody to come tell us you'll be OK or just keep fighting or just hang in there. There's a better day coming. So we need mercy.
We need encouragement. These people see that and they use it. They use it to somehow gratify the need in their life to control people, to control situations, to go against the man. Whoever the man may be, it may be a boss. It may be a supervisor. It may be a worship pastor. It may be the student ministry leader.
It may be the senior pastor of the church. They just see their goal as I'm going to use these two things, mercy and encouragement, to get people to lean on me. And if they lean on me, then I can I can in that process become their leader or become their spokesperson or become their advocate against this evil person. It's not it's not a desire to cause division in and of itself. It's filling a need in their life. And they're and they're willing to cause division to do that. I won't even say they're willing to.
I think causing division helps meet that need because it juxtaposes them against the evil empire, them against somebody who is a tyrant or a despot or a dictator or some meanie. You know, this is I am the nice one and they are the meanies. Yeah. And I am here to save you. Save the day. Trust me. Look to me. I'm your best friend. I have come.
I have come for you. Where does that mindset of that behavior come from? How does that develop in a person?
That's exactly what I was about to ask too. You know, I've thought about that a lot over the years and just examining and just kind of looking at the people who have demonstrated that. I feel like that's they grew up in a in a in a situation of turmoil where they had to survive. They had they dealt with pain and hurt.
They they they went through struggles where people didn't come to the rescue and come to help them. And so they feel like now this is my chance. This is my chance to rescue the wounded, to lift up those who have who are broken hearted. And I'm going to fight for them. I'm going to fight against this injustice. I'm going to fight for the underdog.
And and so even if you're not an underdog, even if you're not broken hearted, they will make you one so that now they can rescue you. Do you see it more in men, women or a good mixture of both? I would say sorry, ladies, but it happens a lot more with women. See, I was thinking the same thing.
Yeah, I was thinking the same thing. Men are not very likely, in my experience, to be sent because it often happens like over a group text. You see it a lot in group text. It's not like secret meetings happening out behind the church at Applebee's or whatever. It's usually over text like, hey, praying for you for this reason or whatever.
And and then it escalates from there. A lot of times they'll get people in group text. Right. I've noticed that a lot, too.
It's it's it's often in group text. And men are much less likely to do that way than women are. It seems to if it's if it's feeling based. I mean, women are naturally more emotional than men. That's not to say men aren't emotional and all and that's not to say all women are emotional. Right. Right. It's just as a general rule, women are more in touch with emotional things than men. And the problem is, it's not like the men are exempt from this situation or they're sitting there, the innocent bystanders. That's not the case. Right. Men, instead of being leaders, which does not mean like you have to tell your wife to behave herself or your mom to stop acting that way or your sister or your aunt to stop causing trouble in the church or in the business or in the community.
What I mean is leadership in the sense of bringing positivity or a Christ focus or helping people live by scripture and truth. They succumb to being a follower. They rather just take the easy way out, which is I'm going to go along with her.
Yeah. Because if I don't, I may become the enemy. I don't want to become the enemy. So I'm going to go along with her and fight her battles now. Now we're against all these people here or this person here. And I think it's because they don't do their job, then now we have a problem. And then before you know it, other people are being dragged into a mess.
That's what I was about to ask. Do you find that instead of coming to whoever they've got a problem with, they typically go to other families? Oh, 100 percent.
Yeah, 100 percent. They will always try to do that because going to the person will solve the problem. Going to the pastor, going to the business owner, going to the leader in that family would solve the problem. But then they don't meet the need of their life to save the day. They don't, you know, are not going to feel needed.
So I cannot solve the problem. I have to keep this thing stirred up. So as long as I keep this thing stirred up, then the problem goes on.
This person now becomes a I mean, gone from being just like a little mouse to being this this T-Rex. And I have to fight them. Do you find that that's a good that whether they come to you or not or whether they come to the person that they have got beef with or not is a good indicator of like David's question yesterday.
Is this person just kind of disagreeable or they toxic? Like if someone comes to me like like as a worship leader, if someone comes to me like time after time and like, I don't like the music. I don't like getting rid of the music stands. I don't like switching over to numbers.
I don't like the way the lyrics are. But they're not going around. They're just constantly disagreeable. You would say that's probably not a toxic person. That's just someone you have to manage. Right.
I want to know. OK, so different settings, different issues. OK, so different reasons there. In a church setting, I want to know what that person makes of the preaching. In a church setting, I want to know if that person values the preaching hour, not just to sit there and be there, you know, just to I got to listen to this word and just critique him. Or I'm going to listen to this word because I know that's the right thing to do. Because I have to do this because I know preaching, hearing the word is important.
They're still not in the right headspace. Right. I want to know if that person truly values not just any preaching, but the preaching of that church.
Because if they don't, if they're either being dismissive or they don't come or they're listening to it out of obligation, not out of no, that's good preaching. That's what. Yeah, I can work anything else out because the word of God coming from that man's mouth is the word of God. It's the truth. It is right.
I'll work everything out because I cannot I cannot see myself not getting that on a daily basis. That's a good point. I think there have been people who I thought were toxic. They were. But they did. I had I had a person tell me one time that they thought that you seriously were one of the top preachers, top 10 preachers in the nation. Right.
And I could tell that there was a genuine love for not only your preaching, but for this church as well. Right. It just seemed like wherever this person went. There was always some problem, not not not not like a toxic problem, but there was always something. We have to talk about something.
We got to come to terms on this or we got to figure this out or you know what I mean? And so, like, I think I know who you're talking about. Here's the problem with that person getting that person to sit in the service was a chore. Oh, that's true. Yeah.
So they can say that about me. So maybe we can add a third category to that. One is being dismissive. Another one is obligation.
The third one is just superficial. Yeah. I mean, on the surface, you're saying the right things, which is like, man, he's an awesome preacher. There's no one like him.
It's we're so blessed to have him. But you typically don't listen. Yeah. You're not you're not there. Yeah.
And if you're there, you're just looking somewhere else. Good point. Right.
You sit next to your wife, but you're but you're but you're completely in a different world. Then you are in the same category. Yeah. Good point.
Good point. We one of the things that we did at Clearview that I think is really smart is we learned from these mistakes. We recognized them.
And then you. So when new members come, you put these things up front. So we had we had Clearview 101, which is our new members class last weekend. And one of the things that we always do is we put these things up front, like, hey, guys, just let you know, we value the unity of our church very much. And so we and so we make it a point to tell people in no uncertain terms, we will shut down gossip.
We'll get involved. Right. If we see that this is going on and we're not accusing anybody in this room of bringing this. But if we see it, just don't be don't be alarmed when the staff or the leadership steps in.
That's right. Because we're gone through this problem. We're expecting it and we're on the lookout for it.
Well, it goes back to something that Dr. Shaw, you and Nicole were talking about on previous episodes that this is this is our ministry. We're going to fight for it matters. This we're going to protect this. We're going to fight for it. We're going to go to bat for it because, you know, we're not just going to be the picture of Christians where we just kind of roll over and take whatever is coming to us.
You know, this God's given us this platform, God's given us this place, and we're building something here worth fighting for. Have you seen pastors wait till the last minute to get involved or ministry leaders wait till the last minute? Most pastors, unfortunately, they're my brothers in Christ, but most pastors are intimidated. I won't I won't call them cowardly, but they're intimidated to confront people in this area. They're intimidated to say anything because because maybe maybe the deacon board or the elder board or whatever it is has sort of browbeat them to stay in their zone, to stay in their little, you know, stay inside your fence. Sometimes it is they feel like, well, I'm not going to be here long anyways. Why stir things up? Because they're not going to give me a raise. They could make my life difficult. So I'm just going to leave that alone. I'm not going to touch that sacred cow. So they they kind of back off.
You know, and that's that does not help matters. You have to go all in without like being contentious or or fighting all the time. We have to go all in and say, I'm if I'm the pastor, I'm called to be the leader. I'm going to do what I can to lead this church the right way.
Not being a bully, not I'm the one. I'm the head honcho here. No, that no, I've been called to be a shepherd of this church under the great shepherd, the good shepherd, Jesus Christ. One day I'll have to answer to him. So with that in mind, I'm going to lead these sheep. I'm not going to be naive to the systems that are established here or the power who are the power brokers and all that. I know what's going on and I'm going to respect that. I'm going to walk through those lines. I'm going to take the path of least resistance.
But at the same time, I'm I'm working towards a goal. Right. Many times pastors don't think like that. Now, if I can shift for a few seconds from ministry context to secular context, because it can happen in your workplace.
Right. It can happen in a school setting. It can happen among the staff. It can happen in a shop. So it happens everywhere.
How do you know? Here we talked about preaching is one of the good telltale sign of where a person is. Are they toxic? You know, how do they think about the preaching moment? In a secular setting, I would look at it as how do they think about the customer? How do they think about the customer? If if they're OK with bad mouthing the business to the customer. If they're OK with talking about their superior to the customer. Then that's a toxic person.
There's a toxic person there because what they what they have no desire to build your business. They're only in it for their for their self and their gratification. Whatever God gratifies them maybe gets two other fellow employees on their side or a couple of people in the neighborhood or whatever.
You know, they're not concerned about the greater good. If you lose the customer right. You can kind of apply that in the church setting, too.
But that sounds too, you know, too, too, too worldly. Right. But in a secular setting, I want to know how do they treat the customer? That's a good point.
And even if they're nice to the customer, it's more for an ulterior motive, like I am the good guy and I work for a jerk here. But hey, it is what it is. But come to see me. Come see me.
I'll take care of you. That is not good. Right. Because that person will come to that shop or that store or whatever your business is. Only as long as that person is there when they're not there, they're not going to come back. Yeah, that's because this place is terrible. That owners are terrible. But that guy that was my guy.
I used to go there because of him. Yeah. No, he is toxic. Right.
Building loyalty to themselves rather than the brand or the business or the business owner. What do you what do you do if you're listening to this episode and you're saying, golly, that sounds like me. I didn't think I was toxic. I would label myself a toxic person. But but I'm seeing some tendencies.
I mean, look, everybody's got like deniable plausibility, right? No, no, no, that's not me. But if you're if you're honest with yourself and you're listening to this and you're saying that sounds kind of like me, I don't want to be toxic. I want to change.
I know it's going to be a big ask, but you have to really admit your guilt and say I have an issue. Maybe it's because of how my mom was. Maybe it's because how my grandmother was. Maybe it's because how my parents were. Maybe it's because of what I went through. Maybe it's because of, you know, some trials and pains in my life.
But I have sort of molded myself into this personality. And it's dysfunctional. It is toxic. It does not glorify God. It does not make me look good. It does not benefit people. And it's hurting my family. It does not benefit the business.
If it's a secular setting, it does not. It's terrible. I don't get but one shot at this life and this is how I'm going to live. I'm going to stop. I'm going to stop.
I'm going to hit a reset. You know, I'm going to flush this out of my system by God's grace. I'm going to dive into the word of God, the truth of God. I'm going to listen to the voice of the Holy Spirit. I don't want to act like this. I know we're running short on time.
Any word of encouragement for pastors and ministry leaders who are like, brother, I'm right in the middle of this right now. Yeah, deal with this currently. Yeah. Just know that, as we mentioned in our last episode, or when we talked about this the last time, this is an old problem. This is not just you.
It's not unique to you. Moses dealt with that. You know, in fact, he dealt with it in the sense of he and Aaron against the people of Israel. But then he dealt with it with he against Aaron and Miriam. They turned against him. God only speaks to you.
Like, are you serious? My own brother. Yeah, I thought you were coming.
And my own sister. I mean, y'all had been praying for me to come back and help lead the people, right? Here I am. And you're turning against me? Come on. Come on. They even called his wife names, right? I mean, she was, she was, you know, a dark skinned person. So they were upset at that, you know, that.
So it's like, come on. It doesn't make you a bad leader or else Moses is a bad leader. Jesus is a bad leader.
Jesus had one toxic guy in his own group. Yeah. Yeah. Good point.
And Paul had to deal with the same toxicity with people. So just know you're not alone. See God's grace.
Find some godly, wise leaders and don't quit. Yeah, that's right. Absolutely. Make sure you guys join us tomorrow. Same time, same station. We're going to be diving into another great topic here on the Clear View Today Show. Thanks again to our sponsors for making today's episode possible. And don't forget that you can support us by subscribing to the show on iTunes if you want to re-listen. And you can always support us financially at ClearViewTodayShow.com. Jon, what do you want to leave our listeners with as we go into the weekend? Definitely want to leave you with Dr. Sean Nicole's book, 30 Days of Praying for America, Daily Devotions to Heal Our Nation.
This is book three in the 30-day series. You can get that on Amazon right now. You can also get all of our original music on Spotify, iTunes, and Amazon. We've got a brand new single coming out. It's called Great and Awesome. In fact, just tomorrow we are going to track... Well, by the time you're listening to this, we'll be in Kannapolis tracking the final vocals for this single.
So make sure you get it as soon as it comes out. Very exciting. Make sure you guys find a place to plug in and worship this weekend. If you're local in the area, we'd love to see you here at Clear View Church Saturday night at 6.30, Sunday morning at 8.30, and 11 o'clock with Sunday School at 9.45. And we'll see you bright and early Monday morning. We love you guys. We'll see you Monday on Clear View today.
