1. What is violence? Are words violence? Is silence violence?

2. What logic do people use to justify political violence?

3. Historical and current examples of political violence

4. How do Christians respond to political violence from their enemies?

5. How do Christians respond to political violence from “allies”?

6. How might Christians work to deescalate political violence?

7. What might Christians do if it doesn't deescalate but intensifies?

“Whoever has worldly wealth and sees his brother in need but closes his heart against him—how can God’s love remain in him? Dear children, let us love not only with word or with our tongue, but also in action and truth” (1 John 3:17-18).

1. The Lamb opening the first of the seals

2. The identity of the rider on the white horse

3. The identity of the rider on the red horse

4. The identity of the rider on the black horse

5. The identity of the rider on the pale horse

6. What does this vision mean for the Christian Church

God promises that his Word goes out like a conqueror. St. John writes, “And I looked, and there was a white horse, and its rider held a bow. A crown was given to him, and he went out conquering and to conquer” (Rev 6:2).

1. I will show you what must happen after these things

2. The identity of the twenty-four elders

3. The identity of the four living creatures

4. Singing the Sanctus

5. The elders and living creatures join in praising God

6. What does this vision mean for the Christian Church

We join with the four living creatures and the twenty-four elders in singing, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive the glory and the honor and the power, for you have created all things, and because of your will they existed and were created”
(Revelation 4:11).

1. What is the purpose of exploration (oceans, American West, North Pole, moon, space, etc.);

2. Does “fill the earth and subdue it” include the moon, Mars, and beyond;

3. Purpose of space colonization – earth is fragile, extinction event, benefit to society, or “it’s there”

4. Could the colonization of Mars and moon stations become like the Tower of Babel

5. What might a Christian Church on the moon look like

6. Biblical themes in space movies like “The Martian,” “Project Hail Mary,” “Apollo 13”, etc.

God blessed them and said to them, “Be fruitful, multiply, fill the earth, and subdue it. Have dominion over the fish of the sea, over the birds of the sky, and over every living thing that moves on the earth” (Genesis 1:28).

1. The importance of Laodicea

2. The Amen and true witness

3. Lukewarm Christianity that desires to be nice

4. Buy gold, white garments, and salve

5. Take this seriously and repent

6. Jesus is standing at the door and knocking

7. Sitting with Jesus on his throne.

“Look, I stand at the door and I am knocking. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, I will go in with him and dine with him, and he with me. To the one who is victorious I will give the right to sit with me on my throne, just as I was victorious and sat down with my Father on his throne.”

1. The importance of Philadelphia

2. The Key of David

3. An open door no one can shut

4. Those from the synagogue of Satan will bow down

5. Patient endurance and the hour of testing

6. Hold on to what you have

7. A pillar in God’s temple and name written on God’s city

“The one who is victorious I will make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he will never leave it again. I will also write on him the name of my God and the name of the city of my God—the new Jerusalem, which is coming down out of heaven from my God—and my new name.”

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).