Beards & Bible Podcast

The Word of Faith Movement: Dangerous Heresies, Misunderstandings & Our Need for Discernment (pt. 1)

What is faith?
The Bible says in Hebrews 11 that without it, we can’t please God and that it’s the assurance of things hoped for and the conviction of things not yet seen. But does that we can “speak our tomorrow” into existence because of this force called, “faith”?
The Word of Faith movement is a mainly Pentecostal movement that came up in the late 20th century. Word of Faith teaching states that because we as human beings are made in the image of God (and whatever God declared through His Words came to be), words can be used to manipulate the force of faith, and thus we can actually create what many claim Scripture promises.
Speaking of what Scripture promises, many Word of Faith teachers declare that God’s will is for us as Christians to always be financially prosperous and never sick. Health and wealth are promised to us as believers. We just have to believe it and declare it. We have that authority.
But wait…what if Christians are poor? And sick? Does that mean they don’t have faith? What about the millions of faithful believers living in abject poverty and religious persecution in developing countries around the world? Are they poor and imprisoned because they just don’t have enough faith?
Or the faithful believer who lost a spouse, a child, or a loved one to an illness, even after they prayed for them? Did they just not have enough faith?
What does the Word of Faith movement actually teach? Is it Biblical? And how do we see its influence in the church today?
 

Kanye West, the “Red Media” canard, and the rise of Antisemitism.

The U.S. has seen a rise in antisemitic incidents over the past few years, with 941 incidents in 2015 jumping to 2,717 tracked in 2021 by the Anti-Defamation League. Four years ago, a gunman stormed into a synagogue in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and killed 11 people in the deadliest attack on Jewish people on US soil.
On October 29th, there was a strange message seen scrolling on the outside of TIAA Bank Field during the Florida-Georgia college football game. In florescent letters, the words “Kanye is right about the jews” were visible scrolling across the exterior of the stadium structure, referencing recent antisemitic comments from the rapper Kanye West. Kanye West has drawn significant amounts of criticism, media coverage, and also support for his some of his comments espousing a conspiracy against the Jewish people.  
It’s unclear how that message was projected onto the stadium wall at the Georgia Florida game. It’s also unclear how long the message was visible outside the stadium.
But what is clear is that there is a growing narrative in the U.S. that states the Jewish people are somehow responsible for a global conspiracy of control over media, politics, and economics. And the Jewish people are now being scapegoated for all manner of societal problems and ills.
For students of history, this narrative is eerily similar to others that were peddled in 1930s Germany, the Jim Crow era American south, and the Pogroms of the Russian Empire.
What does God and His Word have to say about this? As Christians, what are to make of these claims? And is Kanye West for real crazy? Antisemitic? Or just…super confused?

For Better or For Worse- Navigating Rocky Seasons in Marriage (w/ Stacey Rutledge & Jenni Brooker)

If you’re married, you made a promise to your spouse that you would love and care for them,  
“…for better, for worse, for richer, for poorer, in sickness and health, to love and to cherish, until death do us part.”
And if you’re both normal human beings, it probably didn’t take long for the “worse” part to show up. Real talk: every marriage goes through difficult, challenging, painful, and frustrating seasons. Even godly, Jesus loving, husbands and wives sometimes fight.
Even the healthiest marriages go through seasons of conflict, disappointment, and disunity. Sometimes those seasons are marked by angry, explosive fighting, and sometimes those seasons are marked by quiet, lonely indifference.  
So when you find yourself in a rocky season of your marriage, what do you do? How can you get help? How do you reach a resolution?

Introducing: Committed Masculinity Podcast (a limited series podcast reviewing Josh’s new book)

Committed Masculinity is a limited series podcast that explores the issues and challenges facing Christian men who are serious about Jesus’ invitation to be a disciple. The podcast will review the content of each chapter of the book ”Committed: Biblical Masculinity” by Josh Brooker and then discuss the issues on each episode with special guests.
https://committedmasculinity.podbean.com/
 
Committed: Biblical Masculinity on Amazon 
https://www.amazon.com/Committed-Biblical-Masculinity-Josh-Brooker/dp/B0B8XZ65WZ/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3T3SU9UBUKYWN&keywords=committed+biblical+masculinity&qid=1664568585&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIwLjAwIiwicXNhIjoiMC4wMCIsInFzcCI6IjAuMDAifQ%3D%3D&sprefix=committed+biblical%2Caps%2C132&sr=8-1

Revival in the Land pt.4-The Toronto Blessing, Brownsville Revival, and Lakeland Outpouring

On January 20, 1994, in a small Vineyard church in Toronto, Canada a supposed outpouring of God’s Spirit occurred in a small meeting of 120 people. Over the course of the next 12 ½ years, meetings would continue 6 nights a week, and Charisma Magazine reported that an estimated 4,000 churches in England and another 7,000 churches in North America had been impacted by this new revival movement.
 
A little over a year late, on June 18, Father’s Day, 1995, a similar revival broke out at Brownsville Assembly of God in Pensacola, Florida. Over the course of the next five years, the church would open its doors for Tuesday-through-Saturday evening revival services to accommodate the thousands of people who arrived and waited in the church parking lot before dawn for a chance to enter the packed sanctuary, some even camping overnight waiting for the doors to open. Leaders of the revival would later estimate that over 200,000 people from all walks of life received Christ as a result of the revival.
 
Some 13 years later, in April of 2008, a controversial Canadian faith healer began holding revival services in Lakeland, Florida. The revival attracted up to 10,000 attendees nightly and around 30,000 over the week. By May 29, it was estimated that over 140,000 people from over forty nations had visited, and 1.2 million had watched via the Internet.
 
But were all of these recent “revivals” truly moves of God? How do we understand their impact? How do they differ from other historic revivals? What do we make of their controversies?

Revival in the Land, pt. 3- Azuza Street and the Jesus People

Today, there are more than 500 million Pentecostal and charismatic believers across the globe and it is the fastest-growing form of Christianity today. Most church historians agree that the events that took place at the Azusa Street Revival in 1906 in Los Angeles California are responsible for the beginning of what we know as the modern-day Pentecostal Movement. But what happened at Azuza street?
In the late 1960s/early 1970s, a movement began in California known as the “Jesus people”. Thousands of teenagers and young people came to faith in Christ, many of whom came from drugs, eastern mysticism, and the hippie subcultures of the west coast. The impact of the Jesus people movement is still felt today in mainstream American churches- from the birth of modern praise and worship music to the rise of more informal stylistic worship services. How did it all get started?
What can we learn from these both of these revivals? Can God do it again, and move in such a way in our generation?
 

Revival in the Land pt. 2- The Great Awakening & the 2nd Great Awakening

The Great Awakening (1730-1755) and the Second Great Awakening (1790-1840) were two religious movements that had a massive impact on the role of Christianity in America. The impact and results of both of these movements is still felt today- not only in our churches and understanding of religious practice, but also in the fabric and makeup of American society in general.
 
But how much of these movements can be credited to a supernatural move of God? And which things within these movements perhaps can be attributed to other things? What about the controversies that caused denominational splits and the rise of various cult groups? How do we seek to understand these things from an objective, unbiased, and nuanced perspective?

Revival in the Land, pt. 1: What is a Revival? Are they Biblical and how and why do they Happen?

A “revival” is a spiritual reawakening from a state of dormancy or stagnation in the life of a believer. It encompasses the resurfacing of a love for God, an appreciation of God’s holiness, a passion for His Word and His church, a convicting awareness of personal and corporate sin, a spirit of humility, and a desire for repentance and growth in righteousness.
Revival movements throughout church history have been understood as moves of God that result in waves of increased spiritual interest or renewal in the life of a church congregation or society, with a local, national or global effect. Proponents view revivals as the restoration of the church itself to a vital and fervent relationship with God after a period of moral decline.
But are revivals Biblical? If so, what does the Bible say about them? What about some of the more bizarre and controversial activity that seems to accompany modern revival movements? Is that from God too? Or from some place else?

It’s the Economy, Stupid: Stewarding God’s money well amidst inflation, recession, and economic uncertainty.

You’ve probably noticed at this point this past summer- your dollar isn’t going as far as it used to. Gas prices are up, grocery prices are up, and just about everything else seems more expensive. It’s not just your imagination- inflation is at a 40 year high. It’s risen 9% in one year’s time, and it rose 7% in 2021. Not only is inflation up, we’re either headed towards a recession or are already in one, depending on which economist you ask. The S&P 500 had its worst first half of a year since 1970, and it is down 19 percent since January. Things are bad. And they just might be getting worse.
But we’re Christians! Why should we even think about money? Shouldn’t we be just trusting God?
What does the Bible say about managing our money during economic uncertainty? And how can continue to be generous and trust God when we don’t know how much it’ll cost to fill up our gas tank this time next week?

Ready to Give a Defense: Christian Apologetics and How to Talk Reasonably about Your Faith

Many skeptics claim that Christians are naïve, unintelligent, and gullible people who blindly put their faith in a set of beliefs that aren’t at all supported by rational evidence.
Other skeptics say that there’s just not enough evidence out there to persuade any one to embrace the teachings of Jesus. So why even bother? Just embrace your own understanding of spirituality, pick the path that works for you, or don’t… just don’t worry about it. You do you.
Skeptics commonly bring objections to the Christian faith that are centered around the existence of God, the exclusivity of the Christian gospel, the inspiration of Scripture, the existence of miracles, and seeming the contradictions in the Biblical text and Christian thought.
So are they right? Are Christians naïve, gullible, unintelligent simpletons who blindly place their faith in a set of beliefs for reason at all, besides maybe, wishful thinking? How do we as Christians answer skeptics? How do we have conversations with others who may find our beliefs offensive?
And how we can do that with kindness, love, and grace?