The Called Out Cafe Podcast

Choose Your Jesus Wisely Episode 15: How Serious is All This?

Lets talk about how God views how serious it is to allow false gods to infiltrate our minds and lives...

Choose Your Jesus Wisely Episode 14: The Great SAW Part 2

This is a continuation of the last episode's look at a popular false Christian God: The God of Service And Works. A God being worshipped at a Church near you this Sunday!

Choose Your Jesus Wisely Episode 13: The Great SAW

There are many classic Christian false gods we could discuss. Any false god is a bad false god. However, in this and the next episode, we will do a case study on one particular false god, I am calling, “the god of Service And Works,” or “SAW,” for short. I am doing so to illustrate how some false gods have boldly infiltrated mainstream and evangelical churches. Nowhere in scripture is the Ekklesia (the Church) called to serve and save the world, yet many churches have made that their top priority.

Pulling together the information you have heard up to this point in this series, we will look at how to defend against SAW by applying the principles of biblical watchfulness.

Choose Your Jesus Wisely Episode 12: The Christian Jedi Masters

Since the “priests” of false Christian gods don’t have the Holy Spirit on their side, they utilize what I call “Christian-Jedi mind tricks” to manipulate their followers. This includes the use of guilt, peer pressure, loyalty, nostalgia, tradition, and fear. These feelings can motivate people to follow the agenda of humans while saying they are acting in the name of Jesus. Being directed or manipulated by humans rather than being led by the Holy Spirit, and yet attributing what we are doing to Jesus, is another way we “take the name of the Lord in vain.” This is the topic of this episode of the Called-Out Café. 

Choose Your Jesus Wisely Episode 11 Paul’s Instructions to the Galatians

The Apostle Paul’s letter to the Called-Out in the region of Galatia was a cohesive focused message and not a series of mini disjointed teachings. Paul’s main message was that of relying on the good news that the grace which comes through authentic belief in Jesus is not only sufficient for one’s salvation, but that to add anything to it, is to nullify it. Paul wrote that when one tries to add anything to what Jesus has already done, it is as if they are worshipping a false god. A god that needs their help to save them.

Today, it is extremely common to hear the gospel of assisting God with one’s salvation being preached in evangelical and mainline churches. The God of the Bible needs no assistance. Only false gods welcome such efforts. Please join me in this episode as we take a look at the book of Galatians.

Choose Your Jesus Wisely Episode 10 the Force Vs. the Faith

In this episode we will talk about how the words “belief,” faith,” and “hope” have evolved over the centuries. Many Christian false gods rely upon the modern, unbiblical understanding of these words.

The modern usage of the word “faith,” has taken on somewhat of a mystical meaning that is used in support of many incorrect teachings. It means to continue to believe something despite any proof or good reason to do so. And “to hope” means little more than “to make a wish” or express a desire. Yet as used in the Bible, it means to have a realistic and confident expectation that something will occur.

To biblically “believe” means to have knowledge and understanding of something. Having greater “faith,” or belief, means to have acquired more knowledge and understanding.  Authentic faith is solely reliant on basing one’s beliefs on the authentic truth.

Choose Your Jesus Wisely Episode 9 Imitating the Master Christians

Many pastors and Bible teachers view Bible characters as what can be compared to "Christian Jedi Masters." They are examples for us to imitate to bring about a desired outcome which would be either beneficial to ourselves or the body of Christ. However, due to the uniqueness of the story God is telling us in the Bible, most often what happened to the handful of humanity that He communicated His story through in the Bible was not normative and we should not expect the same outcomes as they experienced.

Countless Christians reduce the Bible to a self-help guide, how-to manual, or rule book.  If we read it in that way, that is all we will ever see. we will only ever enjoy limited success in what we are attempting to use it for, since we will have tragically missed the point of what the Bible is: God’s story of who He is, starring Jesus. If we want to follow Jesus, we need to get to know and understand the Jesus of the Bible.

Please join me in this episode as we talk about these things.

Choose Your Jesus Wisely Episode 8: Truth Hacks

Within Christianity there are many views on the Bible: what it is, and how to read or study it. If one is an authentic Child of God, they understand that the Bible, in its original form, contains the inspired word of God: God’s message and plan that He has revealed to mankind. The job of the truth seeker is to understand the original meaning of the author of the Bible, which is ultimately God. It is not to judge what the Bible says, read into it, or fit what it says into “orthodox” doctrines of the Church. In this episode, in addition to talking about a few sound principles of studying the Bible, we will look at the most common Bible study methods in use today, and how it unfortunately contributes to creating our own False Christian gods. 

Choose Your Jesus Wisely Episode 7: A Commitment to the Truth

There are many reasons people choose to believe lies. Even lies about God. In this episode I talk about "cognitive dissonance" and some of the reasons people choose to believe things, even relating to God, that are not true. 

Choose Your Jesus Wisely Episode 6: The Truth

In this episode of the Called-Out Cafe: Billions of people think they are correct in their beliefs regarding God as they follow their own version of the “truth.” There is only one authentic Truth: God’s Truth. It is the authentic Truth that informs us about the one and only, real, authentic Jesus. The authentic Child of God, as opposed to the imitation child of God, or cultural Christian, bases their beliefs in the authentic Jesus, on the authentic truth contained in scripture.