405: Listener Mailbag, “In Trump We Trust,” & Drew Dyck’s Pandemic Picks
- Phil Vischer
- May 20, 2020
- 1 min read
Updated: Jun 18, 2020
The podcast crew responds to listener feedback and questions posted on HolyPost.com like, is it ok for Christians to be concerned about the mark of the beast if we avoid nutty conspiracy theories? New research finds white evangelicals consider Donald Trump the most trustworthy source for COVID-19 news and generally distrust public health officials and journalists.
This leads Phil to explain the tactics of demagogues and why today’s evangelicals are drawn to them. Also this week, Drew Dyck is back with his latest book and media recommendations to engage while you’re sheltering at home.
Links to this week's stories:
GOP Lawmaker Opposes Coronavirus Face Masks Because They Cover ‘The Image Of God’ - HuffPost
Where Do White Evangelicals Get Their Coronavirus News? The White House - Christianity Today
Opinion | Trump Is Staking Out His Own Universe of ‘Alternative Facts’ - The New York Times
i wrote a whole separate post but my baby refreshed my page and i lost it all. basically, comparing daniel 2, daniel 7, and rev 13 and the beasts matching up with the metals, matching up with all the major ancient kingdoms (babylon, persia, greece, rome) right up to the defeat and splits of them (for example, leopard with 4 horns matching up with greece, alexander the great's kingdom was split 4 ways, rome being split into 10 kingdoms, none of the kingdoms in the end will ever adhere to one another even tho they try - all those european nations always trying to gain power and control by intermarriage, etc) keep looking. i agree with Christian thinking we should know thes…
the thing that frustrates me about all the conspiracy is - what are we supposed to do about it? how does "knowing" help anybody? does it inform, strengthen, encourage, uplift the church and bring glory to God to know these suspicions? or does it encourage fearing every corner and event? if its the latter, we can be sure its not of God. that being said, i agree with Christian's wondering about knowing these things. i do feel it is important to know the Bible's signs and warnings. if we dont know them, then we are left to be surprised at the coming - which is something we are warned against in multiple places in the Bible (theif in the night)…
Kelsie, no I am not Tim Keller. I'm nowhere near as wise or brave. You can tell that by the sour grapes in the middle of my semi-serious rant. Sorry for the grumpy with idiots on Facebook section. I'd delete it, but honestly I was grumpy enough to write it so i'll live with the consequences of being taken less seriously in this space for my foolishness.
I'm a missionary with an evangelical organization and while my grumpiness occasionally gets me in trouble with people, I haven't expressed the totality of my thoughts on a whole host of social issues due to cowardice over losing support.
On the "how to shift this culture and what role so we play in it?" topic..I think you all are doing pretty well. I think the how to is as follows: 1. Mic N.T. Wright all the time - Give the upcoming generation of leaders a grandfatherly voice who is incredibly challenging but who would be unphased by others opinion of him. 2. Turn the mic way down on the voices of those who preach a false gospel (a political one) 3. Hand the mic to people who haven't had a turn with it for a while - so women and minorities. When Christine asked "Where are all the people like us?" I'm willing to bet a lot of them are in those…
The take that people fixating on prophecy is idolatry is spot-on. I have OCD which causes me to, among other things, feel like every small action I take will influence the future. I can empathize with the conspiracy theorists in their longing to feel in-control, but I hope they join me in fighting against that longing and trusting God.