1. The importance of Sardis

2. The seven spirits and seven stars

3. Reputation for being alive but are dead

4. Remember what you received and heard

5. Wake up or Jesus will come like a thief

6. A few who haven’t defiled their clothes

7. Will not erase your name from the Book of Life

“The one who is victorious in this way will be clothed in white clothing. I certainly will not erase his name from the Book of Life, and I will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels.”

1. The importance of Thyatira

2. Flaming eyes and bronze feet

3. Patient endurance and doing more than previously

4. Allowing Jezebel to deceive

5. Satan’s deep things

6. Hold fast

7. Authority over the nations

“To the one who is victorious and continues to do my works until the end, I will give him authority over the nations, and he will rule them with an iron staff and shatter them like clay pots, just as I myself have received authority from my Father. I will also give him the morning star.”

1. The sharp, two-edged sword

2. Pergamum and the throne of Satan

3. Not renouncing the faith

4. The teaching of Balaam

5. The sin of the Nicolaitans

6. Repent or Jesus will fight with his sword

7. Hidden manna and the white stone

“Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious I will give some of the hidden manna. I will also give him a white stone with a new name written on it, which no one will know except the one who receives it.”

1. The First and the Last

2. The importance of Smyrna

3. Suffering, poverty, and blasphemy

4. The synagogue of Satan

5. Do not fear

6. Be faithful until death

7. Won’t be hurt by the second death

“Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. He who is victorious will not be hurt at all by the second death.”

1. The importance of Ephesus

2. No tolerance for evil people

3. Continual testing

4. Patient endurance

5. Forsaking their first love

6. Hating immoral living

7. Eating from the tree of life

“Whoever has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To the one who is victorious I will give the privilege to eat from the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God.”

1. Jews continue to play a special role in God’s plan

2. God has granted the Jewish people the land of Israel forever

3. The Jewish people will be converted en masse at the end of the age

4. The Old Testament sacrifices must be reinstated at the Temple for Jesus to return

5. Jesus will return to establish an earthly kingdom in Jerusalem.

The claims of Christian Zionists are too small for God’s Servant to merely restore physical Israel to glory. God’s grace is both for Jews and Gentiles who believe in God’s Servant for salvation. All believers become God’s spiritual Israel. (Read Romans 9-11.) “The Lord said: It is too small a thing that you should just be my servant to raise up only the tribes of Jacob and to restore the ones I have preserved in Israel, so I will appoint you to be a light for the nations, so that my salvation will be known to the end of the earth” (Is 49:6).

American Heresy: Christian Zionism and the Scriptural Response

1. How pervasive is AI

2. AI as a useful/dangerous tool

3. How is AI an “echo chamber”

4. AI replacing relationships

5. AI as digital necromancy

6. The Christian responsibility to manage AI

The Devil likes to twist everything that God creates. AI a tool in our toolbelt. Just like Jesus’ miracles were tools. The miracles were meant to lead people to listen to his words and be in fellowship with the Creator. We can use AI – just like we might use social media or online services – to bring people into physical contact with God’s people; bring them into the church for worship and Bible study; and create and strengthen faith through the Word and Sacraments.

1. Specific types of gambling

2. The increasing prevalence

3. The addictiveness of greed

4. The entertainment of gambling

5. Can Christians gamble professionally or intermittently with a clear conscience?

Gambling promotes reliance on luck or chance, whereas Christians are called to trust in God's provision. Christians don’t believe in luck. We believe in hard work and God’s providence. A Christian t-shirt summarizes this well. It says, “Luck is for heretics. Proverbs 16:33.” That verse from Solomon is, “Lots are cast into the pouch, but the Lord determines all their decisions.”

1. The curriculum and socialization

2. The philosophy of homeschooling

3. Can busy parents homeschool

4. The efficiency of time

5. Is it a competition with WELS schools?

Find the MWUTT podcast by searching for RWJ Daily in your favorite podcast app. Search for Men Who Understood The Times on YouTube. Please subscribe, like, comment, and share these podcasts and YouTube videos. Whatever way you choose to educate your children, put God at the center because at the end of the day, he will always be more important than any ABC or 123. It is your parental responsibility to catechize your children in God’s truths and doctrines. “These words that I am commanding you today are to be on your heart. Teach them diligently to your children, and speak about them when you sit in your house and when you walk on the road, when you lie down and when you get up” (Deut. 6:6-7).

Register for the WELS Homeschool Conference at Resurrection Lutheran Church in Maumee OH. It will be a time of fellowship with a couple keynotes, following the end of the Youth Rally at BGSU (22 minutes away).

1. The premise of using preferred pronouns for outreach

2. Speaking both truth and love at the same time

3. Keeping both the 1st and 8th Commandments while witnessing

4. But this is difficult and we won’t seem nice

5. Using Law and Gospel to witness to individuals

6. What about attending a gay wedding?

God desires for us to identify, confront, and prune sins so that Christ through the nourishment of his Word and Sacraments can cause the Christian to bear fruits of faith. Jesus taught, “Every branch in me that does not bear fruit, he is going to cut off. And he prunes every branch that does bear fruit, so that it will bear more fruit” (John 15:2).

Resources

: Brief #32: Preferable Pronouns

: Pronouns in the WELS

: Preferred Pronouns and the Bride of Christ

1. The theological beliefs of MLK;

2. How does MLK’s denial of Christ change the metrics;

3. MLK’s “I Have a Dream” speech;

4. The specific things he taught – including justifying riots as “the language of the unheard”;

5. How the Civil Rights Movement enables the LGBTQ movement and the Obergefell decision; 6. Should Christians celebrate King?

As we examine the life, faith, and legacy of MLK, it is good to follow St. John’s advice: “Dear friends, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see if they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world. This is how you can recognize the Spirit of God: Every spirit who confesses that Jesus Christ has come in the flesh is from God, and every spirit who does not confess Jesus is not from God” (1 John 4:1-3).

1. The events at a Southern Baptist Church in the Minneapolis area;

2. Do protestors have a right to interrupt worship services;

3. Should these protestors face prosecution;

4. How does your church respond when invaded during worship;

5. What kinds of discussions on ICE, immigration, protesting, etc., should our churches be having.
   

“There is nothing like the wrath of a man who never wanted to be violent” (Alexander Solzhenitsyn). We are called to peaceful people as Christians. But God also prepares us to be violent when justice for and protection of the innocent is called for. “A time to love, and a time to hate; a time for war, and a time for peace” (Ecc. 3:8).

1. False equivalencies, weaponizing of history, and media perspectives;

2. Vocation of citizens, state, and law enforcement officers under Romans 13;

3. Acting with compassion to immigrants, citizens, and officers;

4. Legitimate resistance and lesser magistrates;

5. Christian doctrine should shape politics, not politics shape doctrine.

Resist and protest – those are your rights under the First Amendment. Before you resist and protest, examine all sides of the situation. Get your news from multiple news sources – not just your own “echo chamber.” Once you’ve gained the information, search the Scriptures. Apply God’s Word to the situation. Talk to fellow Christians and your pastor. Talk to God in prayer. Then, if you still feel the need to resist and protest, resist and protest while still keeping the 1st, 2nd, 4th, and 8th Commandments.

Immigration Show Notes

Protest with Christian Sanctification Notes

1. History of Mormonism/Personal Connection with LDS in your neighborhood

2. Core Differences between Christianity and LDS:

   1. Sin

   2. Grace

   3. Faith

   4. Works

3. Outreach to your LDS neighbors.

Find the podcast by searching for RWJ Daily in your favorite podcast app. Search for Men Who Understood The Times on YouTube. Please subscribe, like, comment, and share these podcasts and YouTube videos. LDS believes Joseph Smith received the Book of Mormon from the angel Moroni. It is important to remember St. Paul’s instruction: “Even if we or an angel from heaven would preach any gospel other than the one we preached to you—a curse on him” (Gal 1:8).

1. What is SEL? (Hint: It’s Social Emotional Learning.)

2. What is the lure of SEL?

3. What is the SEL interplay with Marxism?

4. Why is SEL detrimental to education?

5. Where do we see SEL within the WELS and our education system?

6. Why must we combat this?

Find the podcast by searching for RWJ Daily in your favorite podcast app. Search for Men Who Understood The Times on YouTube. Please subscribe, like, comment, and share these podcasts and YouTube videos. “Do not participate in fruitless deeds of darkness. Instead, expose them” (Ephesians 5:11). If we disagree with this gender identity and sexual orientation language – which we do as Christians – then we don’t want to participate in any way this language. To put the best construction on it, this language is confusing students and teachers. To be honest, this language is demonic. We should not have anything to do with it. We are called upon by Christ’s apostle to be exposing it.

Additional Resources:

• Josh’s paper “The Need for Discernment with SEL in the Lutheran Classroom”

• Josh’s presentation at the 2025 Apologetics Conference:

1. Is America “The Great American Melting Pot” as portrayed in “Schoolhouse Rock”?

2. Are all civilizations equal?

3. Who’s responsible for all the Somali fraud Nick Shirley is exposing in MN;

4. Is Somali fraud part of their culture or their religion?

5. Is calling out fraud, prison, and deportation racist? 6. Why should we care as Christian American citizens?

Find the podcast by searching for RWJ Daily in your favorite podcast app. Search for Men Who Understood The Times on YouTube. Please subscribe, like, comment, and share these podcasts and YouTube videos. We care about fraud because God cares about fraud. Wise Solomon wrote, “Food gained by fraud tastes sweet, but one ends up with a mouth full of gravel” (Prov 20:17). We also know that diversity is not our strength. Unity is our strength. St. Paul writes, “I appeal to you, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought” (1 Cor 1:10).

In this episode we examine:

1. Our Favorite Christmas Movies (and why “Die Hard”) belongs in this list

2. Family Christmas traditions (going to worship the Christ Child is the most important tradition)

3. The Holy Family as “refugees”

4. How the Christmas message counteracts the pagan ideologies of our day.

We are also in the planning stages of a conference in Las Vegas entitled, “Men (and Women) Who Want to Discuss the Times.” Please let us know in the comments if you’re interested in attending a conference like this.

The incarnation of the divinity wrapped in humanity is the truth our culture needs amid so many of the Devil’s lies. “The Word became flesh and dwelled among us. We have seen his glory, the glory he has as the only-begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).

We examine:

1. The effects of feminism on culture;

2. The effects of feminism on church and family;

3. What biblical masculinity looks like;

4. What men – especially young men – are looking for in culture and church;

5. Where men are finding improper teaching on masculinity;

6. How to preach and teach hard Christianity in our churches and classrooms;

7. How hard Christianity can change our churches, families, and culture.

Find the podcast by searching for RWJ Daily in your favorite podcast app. Search for Men Who Understood The Times on YouTube. Please subscribe, like, comment, and share these podcasts and YouTube videos. Isaiah encourages, “Strengthen the weak hands, and make the shaky knees steady. Tell those who have a fearful heart: Be strong. Do not be afraid. Look! Your God will come with vengeance. With God’s own retribution, he will come and save you” (Isaiah 35:3-4). Get lean and in shape to be God’s retribution. Strengthen your hands and knees so you are prepared to be God’s vengeance when he calls you into battle.