Monday, February 17th | Jesus the SAVIOR!

Happy Monday everybody and thank you for listening to The Clearview Today Show. Today's episode of Clearview Today and today's secret word is brought to you by Lebleu Ultra Pure Water. Unlike other bottled waters, Lebleu's Ultra Pure filtration system provides water that's free from contaminants and infused with only the essentials that your body needs. Make the smart choice today and experience the difference of Lebleu Ultra Pure Water. You can order online at Lebleu. That's L-E-B-L-E-L-E. E-U dot com. And when you check out, use promo code today.

That's T-O-D-A-Y to get 10% off your next order. It'll save you money and it supports us here at The Clearview Today Show. You're listening to Clearview Today with Dr. Abaddon Shah, the daily show that engages mind and heart for the gospel of Jesus Christ. I'm Ryan Hill. I'm John Galantis. You can find us online at Clearview Today Show dot com. If you have any questions for Dr. Shah or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028 or you can email us at contact at Clearview Today Show dot com.

That's right. You guys can help us keep the conversation going by supporting the show. You can share it online with your friends and your family. There's a good five star view on iTunes or Spotify anywhere you get your podcasting content from. Link is in the description below. And we are here with our host, Dr. Abaddon Shah, who is a Ph.D. in New Testament textual criticism, professor at Carolina University, author, full time pastor and the host of today's show. Dr. Shah, welcome.

Round of applause. Great way to start off the week with our Clearview Today audience. Yes, thank you.

Thank you. Our verse of the day today is coming to us from First John chapter two, verse 17. And the world is passing away and the lust of it, but he who does the will of God abides forever. This temporary world we live in, it's helpful to remind ourselves of that, that everything that we're striving for at the end of the day, it is going to pass away. But the things that we as the church, as Christians and as Christian leaders in our community strive for are eternal things. It's eternal glories. That's right. And that's the world that will not end. And our obedience doesn't matter because that passage is really about obeying God.

That's right. And so obedience matters. Don't think that whatever you do right now in the moment with the emotions, that it doesn't have consequences.

Whatever you're doing, whether it's bad or complacency or passive aggressiveness or whatever it is, just know there are costs to it. Oh, very much. You know, none of those things go unnoticed.

Very much. February 17th, I do want to say a very happy birthday to my wife, Ellie, who's listening at the house. Happy birthday, Ellie. And in honor of your birthday, I just have one question for you. Did I do that?

Ellie immediately said yes. Yes, unfortunately you did. So this is the segment of our show.

It's called Did I Do That? We talk about embarrassing or cringe-worthy things. Some of those moments that just make you want to just stick your head in the sand and never come off. Just crawl into a rock. Right. So, Dr. Jha, I want to know, has this ever happened to you? Have you ever been at a table, right, and you're sitting and all of a sudden you feel a foot on your foot or a foot on your leg or a knee on your leg? Have you ever been and you're like, what do I do?

Right. Has that ever happened to you? It happened, but it was more like a kick or somebody kicked me or something like that. Not like somebody put a foot on me and kept it there. See, we've got a pretty big table here.

So the chances of anybody accidentally playing footsie with anybody are... Sometimes our knees hit, you and I, but we're right next to each other. So we went to a church member's house for lunch. Okay. And I wasn't there because I was meeting with a family. Right, for a funeral. For a funeral.

David stayed behind. The staff, along with your sister, Libna, who was kind of helping out and doing some stuff for winter break at the church. We all went to this church member's house. He loves to cook for us. They cook good Italian food for us. I was super excited, right?

We get there. They're a dog family, meaning they got dogs around the house. And so the dogs started yip, yip, yipping. They were like, we're going to put the dogs away.

I was like, no problem at all. So we sit down, start eating. It's a great, great meal. Everybody's talking, having a good time.

Coming across from your sister, Libna, we're having a great time. We're talking. I'm talking to Ryan.

I'm talking to some people. All of a sudden I feel a foot on my leg and I just kind of move it away. Oh, she's not even looking at me. She's eating her food.

I'm like, oh, she's just... Stretch your leg out. Just kind of like, it doesn't accidentally hit you under the table. But it keeps happening.

Yeah. It just keeps happening. And then the foot isn't going away. So I start to move my leg and her foot goes along on my leg.

It's following me. So now I'm looking at her like... Hey, what are you doing? What's happening? Stop. Trying to say with my eyes, stop.

Yeah. And her foot starts moving up my leg towards my knee. So I move it away kind of quick. And I'm looking at her like, what are you doing? And she's not looking at me at all. She is not making eye contact. So I'm sitting beside Ryan and I'm trying to... You're in that weird place where it's like, hey, we're trying to keep the tone light and keep from making this really awkward.

But I'm about to have to address this. She keeps on doing it and she doesn't stop. And she keeps moving further up my leg. So finally, I'm like, Libna. And she doesn't hear me. Because everyone's talking. Everyone's having a good time. So I'm like, Libna.

Libna. She's not looking at me. I'm like, what the heck?

I look under the table. It's the dog. The dog has its head in my lap and is nestling up to my leg. They put one dog in the crate. The other dog was not put away.

One state. And I didn't know about it. Was very quietly moving around. You know how sometimes dogs on a hardwood floor... Yeah, me too. And I'm glad I didn't bring it up because I was about... It was getting to the point where it's like, if I don't address this right now, it's going to happen.

And it could get... Because stuff could get serious. So I was really close to being like, hey, Libna. Stop. And I looked under the table and the dog is looking up at me. And I have to tell you the relief that went through my body. I was like, thank you.

Thank you, Libna. Well, I have a story. And hopefully it's instructive about life. And it's a similar story. I had no part in it, but I heard the story when I was very young. It was a young man was applying for a pretty high position in the armed forces. And so he went for the interview. And he sat down across from this team of people. It was not a wide table.

So it was close enough for you to touch the other person with your feet. And so this young man was sitting across and several high ranking officers. I mean, you're talking about like majors and colonels across from him. And so they're asking him questions, trying to see if this guy will do the job.

Will he be the leader they hope he will be? So you're down there. And so they kick him. This one guy kicks him. And the guy realizes somebody just kicked me. It was not just like a little tap. It was like kick. I'm sorry. Yeah, that hurt, didn't it?

I'm sorry. And the guy's like. And then he kind of backs off. And he puts his feet down further away. And the interview goes on. And another kick. They're trying to see if he'll call him out or something?

No, they're trying. Just go with the story. And so he's like, what in the world? That's twice.

And so question, question, question. And all of a sudden, third kick came. They just keep kicking him. Yeah, the same guy just kicked him. Third kick. And the guy hauled off and kicked him back.

Really? He just kicked the guy back. He knew who was kicking him.

And we could just see the way they were sitting. It cannot be this guy is too far away to kick me here. It's got to be him. And the guy said, the interview's over. You're hired. Really?

Hired him? I like it. Because it was something about knowing when to fight back.

I love it. So that was one of the tests that they had for him, which is like, is he going to fight back? Or will he be intimidated? And he fought back. So they were like, OK, you're it. You're it. Did your dad tell you that story? Yeah. That's awesome.

A long time ago. That's really, really awesome. Good words to live by. That's right. Yeah. And that's kind of what we're talking about today, knowing when to fight back. That's true.

That's right. We do this kind of thing. Don't go anywhere. We're going to take a quick break and be right back with more Clearview Today. Hey, Clearview Today family. Thank you so much for tuning into the show. We're having a great time so far. Listen, if this show has been a source of encouragement and insight for you, we want to take a second and just ask you to consider supporting us financially.

I know that might ruffle feathers a little bit, but think about it. You're listening to this show seemingly because you care about spreading the life changing message of Jesus Christ to the world. Well, your giving allows us to continue sharing that message with other listeners just like you. Your support is more than just encouragement to us. When you give, you're becoming our partner. You're joining with us to spread God's truth and love to a hurting world. And your gift is a reflection of your faith. And believe it or not, it's going to make an eternal impact in someone's life.

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You can visit us online at ClearViewTodayShow.com. If you have any questions or suggestions for new topics, send us a text to 252-582-5028. Dr. Abbadan Shah, we're talking about, you know, we just said it before the break, knowing when to fight back. One of the things I think that I've really grown as a person, as a Christian, is over the years, that line for me, that when do I fight back, has moved significantly up.

And what I mean, I don't mean it's blank, I'm pushing it further. It's come closer and closer to home. There's things, there's doctrines, there are Christian principles and behaviors that people, I think, are too quick to say, eh, leave it alone. That doesn't really matter.

That's not worth fighting over. And I think I was that way, like, get your primary issues out of the way and leave those secondary churches, disagree to disagree. And as I've matured as a Christian, I thought that would get worse. It's actually gotten much better. I've brought the line way closer to home.

And yet there are times where it's not even a secondary tertiary, like, there are just people who, and I didn't know this before, like, starting the show, there are people who just outright deny those primary doctrines of Christianity and will still call themselves Christians. It matters what you fight for, you know, just like the illustration I gave a few moments ago, you know, before the little break we had, where people fight over silly things. I'm stronger than you, I'm smarter than you. You did this to me, I'll do that to you.

You try me on, you're going to find out, you know, like the small town, low level garbage. And then there are things that are worth fighting for. That's right. Okay. Those are, those are things that are worth dying for. Okay.

And that is starting with the belief system, starting with the value system, the word of God, the importance of salvation, who Christ is, who the Trinity, those are the things worth fighting for. That's right. We have a video right now of an Episcopalian minister preaching. I can't believe 213 people actually liked this video, it was posted three days ago, but he's saying some pretty, some pretty crazy things. And Dr. Shuss sent this to us.

I thought it was, it would be really good to talk about on the show. Yeah. I don't know why stuff like that comes to my feet, I guess, because I've watched them and I look for them. So then more and more comes like, you'd like that?

Try this. Well, I think the show, the show also is getting a lot, like, I mean, I think Instagram just knows that we, we talk about these things and people really want to hear flags. We call people out, not that we're constantly like doing witch hunting, but, but we do call people out who are walking away from the faith or purposely trying to alter the faith or biblical values. They're trying to compromise them. We will call them out. Right. And that's, and that's biblical. You should say that. Right. That's, that's worth fighting for.

Those are things worth kicking back. Exactly. Very quickly, there was one word in those bedrock beliefs that began for me to be uncomfortable. Problematic. When people now come to our church, many of them will first check the website to see what this church is about, what they believe. And many of the folks who did that would tell me out of the community, Brent, I looked up your church and it sounded reasonable, but when I got to that word, savior, what's the problem? It was a problem because I'm from another faith tradition, or it's a problem because I don't believe that everyone has to accept Jesus as personal Lord and savior, like the fundamentalists say, or that everyone has to define savior in the way that the fundamentalists define it. And it soon became that I kept having to explain that word. And I knew that many people would never give me the opportunity to explain that word. And in membership classes, when we would go through the vision, mission, values, and bedrock beliefs, that was almost always the point that was raised by somebody that they had a problem with. And so twice in my 40 years here, I tried to get the word changed.

And because I quickly realized that one crucifixion was enough, I backed off and thought, okay, this is not the right time to do that because it upsets some folks. Then I had to figure out my own definition of the word. And so today I want to talk about my definition, how I approach that word. I believe that in scripture, the phrase salvation means healing our relationship with God. And for me, savior means the person or persons or situation that helped me to heal my relationship with God, who points me in the right direction in healing that relationship with God. And so for me, being born in Canada, being born in New Brunswick in the Bible Belt, being raised a strict fundamentalist Baptist, I have no problem saying that Jesus is my personal Lord and savior.

That's where I come from. The gospels, we have the example of Jesus' life. So teacher example are there, but it also has savior. And I would hope that someday this church would see the possibility of changing that word because it is a stumbling block for so many who want to be here.

It is a stumbling block for people who do interfaith work. How do we explain that phrase to Muslims and to Jews and to Hindus? I think the word guide just as effectively describes the meaning that Jesus is the one who guides us back into a healing relationship with God, doesn't say he's the only guide. So he's just outright, he's just straight up like Jesus is not the way of salvation.

And I like there's a comment here. If you go back to it, well, there was a comment that said the Bible is clear. Teaching Christ is a stumbling block.

It's supposed to be that way, right? But this Episcopalian, whoever, is going to somehow, well, you know, change all that and fix the problem. It's nothing new. What he did or sometimes coming from that church or that type of a denomination, that's not a surprise. I mean, they've been doing that, not that guy, 50, 60 years, hundreds of years, hundreds of years.

Just to take the priority off of Christ. Yeah, I mean, you go back to 1600s, 1700s, you would see, 1700s, I would say, not as much 1600, but even then there was there, but 1700s, 1800s, just coming. I mean, it's been happening. There's nothing new. In fact, they have said worse things than that. Really? Right, right.

But it's sad because nobody says anything and a few people chime in on Instagram or TikTok or Facebook, but overall people say, hey, you know, who cares? I guess I just don't understand how you can stand in front of people and say, just even, not even as a Christian, take just an English speaker, how you can say that a savior and a guide, a guide just as effectively communicates the same thing that savior does. How can you, how can anybody who speaks English say that?

Just for starters, his so-called research or study, whatever he did, is faulty, is horrible. So there is salvation, okay, and, you know, this word, Greek word, does mean being saved, means you are in trouble and you are being saved. Right. Now he may, you know, coming from that Baptist background that he very quickly, you know, brought up the fundamentalist background that I'm fine with saying that, but I don't want you to, no, you know how to talk the talk.

You know how to, you know, do that. But salvation is about being saved. It's not just a healing thing, right? It's not like our relationship is in trouble and I can only get into heaven if our relationship is good enough.

It's not repairing a friendship, right? It's that I'm in real danger of going to a real literal place and I have to be saved from that place. Right.

That's right. That concept has been there. And I want us to maybe look through scriptures for a few moments, just kind of see what that means, because, you know, let's begin right here, Hebrews chapter two, verses one through four. It says, Therefore we must give the more earnest heed to the things we have heard, lest we drift away. For if the word spoken through angels proves steadfast, and every transgression and disobedience received a just reward, how shall we escape if we neglect so great a salvation? Yeah. What am I escaping from if I'm just healing a relationship? Look to your guide, one of many, because he isn't the only one.

He absolutely is. And I know this Hebrews is a loaded book, it has, you know, it's easy to understand and I don't want to get into trying to explain all the context, but these were second generation Jewish background believers who were going back to the old faith, which was now empty. Up until that point, it had meaning and purpose. But when they rejected the Messiah, now they had a wedding without a bridegroom, they cannot have that. Right. Prior to that, it was fine.

Prior to that, it was great. It was pointing towards the coming Messiah, even though they were different sects in Judaism, they were all sort of waiting for that Messiah to come. Yeah, some of them misunderstood things. Some of them, you know, held up human figures as the Messiah, but they always knew behind all this is the real deal, and the real deal is going to come. The real deal came, he checked off all the boxes, he did everything that he was supposed to do, died, buried, rose again, did all the miracles, fulfilled all the prophecies he was supposed to fulfill in that first coming, everything was done. And when the establishment, OK, common people received him with joy. Many of the Pharisees, the scribes and even the priests received him. But the establishment rejected him because it was not profitable to receive him.

It was not good for business, whether it was a temple business or the business with Rome, it was not good. Did the common people move to reject him after, was it like the establishment rejected him therefore the common, or did the common people stay with him all throughout? No, common people stayed with him.

Got you, got you. The crowd that said, crucify him, we, you know, we mess up, you know, exegetically when we start to think the crowd that followed Jesus is the crowd that also said, crucify him. Not true. This was a crowd that was instigated by the chief priests and the Pharisees. That's a good point to make, that's a good point to make.

They were paid or they were said, you know, get, we got to kill this guy, but he's messing us up. The vast majority, it's safe to say then that the vast majority of people always believed and stuck with Jesus. And most of them were not from Jerusalem. Most of the people who followed Jesus were outside Jerusalem. The Jerusalem crowd was different than the multitudes that followed him and hung at every word of his, ate the food and, and heard the messages and saw the healings. That was not exactly the same crowd, right? Those were people like in Judea and Samaria and like all those places he was doing. Galilee, Galilee was a big hub of Jesus's ministry.

Jerusalem was a confrontation. Good point. Good point.

So, so what we do is we was like crowd, crowd is all the same, it's a crowd and that's not, that's not really true. That's a great point. So you know, so they were going back to the old religion and Paul was telling them, if you go back, you will not be safe anymore. You will not escape the judgment that is coming.

It means there's a very real and present danger here. Right. And salvation is not just about, I am sorta, you know, meandering my way through life trying to get back to God. No, salvation is you are hanging over the lake of fire and somebody is rescuing you. And lake of fire is not just hell. Right. I would, of course there is a lake of fire and there is a hell, but the, the, what we're escaping is the judgment of God, the wrath of God. Good point. Good point. And the hell, like hell, the destination is not the final threat, it's God's wrath. It's God's judgment. That's right.

That's right. I wonder what he would say, like an Episcopalian minister like that, or even him himself, if you say, you know, if, if I don't have Jesus as my guide, what is the, what is the danger there? What, what danger am I in? Why, what is the urgency to have Jesus as my guide? Yeah, that was going to be my question, is there, is there any salvation, is there any need to be saved from something?

You know? No, but that's why the traditional understanding of justification is important. The traditional understanding of the penal substitutionary atonement is important. The traditional understanding of propitiation for our sins is important. See, his problem is that he has taken a, an aberrant, a false view of the gospel of justification of atonement and of propitiation.

And so he's simply reflecting his, his theology. And this is a mild theology, like, like, you are a good person. You don't need to be saved. You just need to be lulled back to God. You just need to be caressed and brought to God. No, you're not, you're not a bad person, and God is not this angry God. I mean, they may have daddy issues, they may have family issues going up, so, so it's like trigger when you say God's wrath is upon you, oh, I cannot take that, okay? That's giving me a headache.

I just can't take it. Well, fact is fact, right? You cannot argue with that. When you read the Bible carefully, that's what it's about. For example, you know, in Ephesians chapter one, verse seven, in him, meaning in Christ Jesus, we have redemption through his blood. Redemption means a payment of a ransom. According to the Old Testament law, if a person were to lose his inheritance or be sold into slavery, he and his property could be redeemed if a family member could pay the money, okay? So we were in slavery to sin, but Jesus Christ paid the price for our sins. That's the idea behind redemption. I don't know how his, his thing, his idea of guide, and not just guide, but one of many guides.

I thought that was crazy too. One of the things that, and maybe we can talk about this on a show, and we'll be reading this in the new 30 days book that's going to be coming out pretty soon. But one of the messages that you preached to the book of Judges, it was on the tribe of Dan and how they completely reshaped worship, like worship of God to fit whatever was convenient for them to fit their circumstances. And at first glance, you look at it and you go, like, even look at this Episcopalian man, you say, well, he's still worshiping God. He's still giving honor to God.

It just looks a little bit different. But then you talk about like in that sermon, and I think everyone should go, I'll link that sermon below in the show notes here, but Dan suffered such a heavy pride. They never ever, even in the book of Revelation, they don't ever come back. And so we think that, well, as long as we're still worshiping God, if it looks a little bit different, it's okay. It's like, you can't shape worship to fit your circumstances. God takes that almost more seriously than just outright rebellion. It completely flips worship on its head from what it's supposed to be because it's no longer God focused, it's us focused.

It's about what God, how he permits who we are, how everything that we are is good and we need to be loved and we need to be validated when in reality, God is the one who is just, God is the one who is holy, we are the ones who need to change, we are the ones with the problem. Yes. And there's a very real danger in what this guy is saying, because I think he's taking it to an extreme, but I think a lot of Christians do it without realizing is that we fit Jesus into worship that suits us, that suits our style or suits, and I'm not saying that like the style of music or whatever, but that suits my lifestyle, I'm going to find a church that preaches what I want to hear, or I'm going to find a pastor who at the end of the day aligns with my beliefs rather than let me go find out what the truth is and change myself to it. Right. And I think even though he's a very extreme example, I think a lot of Christians do a form of this without realizing. Yeah.

Yeah. And I get it because he often brings up the fundamentalists. I hear him, but what he's saying is that fundamentalists are very judgmental, hardcore, harsh people. I get it.

And I don't think they need to be that way. I think we can still preach the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ without any adulteration, without any compromise. We can talk about the wrath of God against sin. We can talk about the holiness of God. We can talk about the blood sacrifice of Jesus on the cross. We can talk about the need to be saved. And we can talk about how when we receive Jesus Christ, not only is God's wrath lifted, but our names are written in the book of life and we don't have to burn in hell forever and ever. I think we can say all those things and still do it with love and compassion.

That's right. I think sometimes, yeah, he may have a point that we fundamentalists may not convey that love and compassion, the grace and mercy that is needed to say, hey, God loves you. This is there in the scripture. I mean, the verse we often quote, for God so loved the world.

That's true. The love part is always there. Jesus came because he loves us. God loves us. And so I think if anything I'm learning from him, definitely not the garbage about Jesus being one of the guides or salvation is just about healing and being guided back to God.

I think that's garbage. But yeah, of course, if anything I learned from that video is that maybe we need to talk more about the grace and the mercy of God as well. Good point. Yeah.

Good point. You can't have truth without mercy. Yeah. That's right. Truth and mercy come together. That's right. And they came together in Christ.

That's right. Amen. If you guys enjoyed today's episode, write in and let us know.

252-582-5028. Make sure you join us tomorrow. Same time, same station. We're going to be diving into another great topic here on the Clear Read Today show. Thanks again to our sponsors for making today's episode possible. And don't forget, 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 cleareadtodayshow.com. John, anything you want to plug as we close? Yes, absolutely. I want to plug Dr. Sean and Nicole's book, 30 Days of Praying for America.

These are daily devotions to heal your nation. I mentioned it earlier that we have a new book coming out. We're going to be talking about that pretty soon, but this is book three of potentially four. Well, not potentially four, future four that are coming out, but you can buy all of these on Amazon.

They are the 30 Days devotional series. You can also get all of our original music on iTunes, Spotify, Rhapsody, Amazon, anywhere that you get digital music. You can buy our original album, Heaven Here and Now, plus our new single, Great and Awesome.

It's available right now wherever digital music is streamed or sold. It's spectacular. Also give me the womp womp because I forgot to send the word. I was going to say... I was just about to ask. I was like, did anyone have the single word? So I was really close to buzzing Dr. Sean when he said unadulterated. Oh, really? But he was so in the moment, I was like, this is actually really... I thought maybe a baron, but you said a baron before. A baron has been one of them before.

When he said unadulterated, I was like, I bet you that's it, but this point is actually really good right now. I don't want to kill them. No, I didn't do it. I didn't have a word.

No word. David gets the womp womp. No secret word today. Yeah. Womp womp.

Womp womp. There you go. Make sure you guys join us tomorrow. Same time, same station. We love you guys. We'll see you guys in the next video, and I'll see you guys in the next video. See you next time.