Lighthouse Faith

Heresies have existed in Christianity for more than two-thousand years, since the faith began. Early followers of Jesus Christ fought hard, first to understand the faith, and then to create doctrines that more faithful through the centuries could follow. The Nicene Creed, promulgated at the Council of Nicaea in the 4th century, comes out of that struggle, and is still the accepted profession of faith for the majority of Christian denominations whether Protestant, Orthodox or Roman Catholic. But a new heresy has seeped into Christianity, one that has been hard to detect, but there non-the-less. Pastor Lucas Miles is working to expose the dark deeds of heretics in his book, "Woke Jesus: The False Messiah Destroying Christianity." On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, recorded at NRB (National Religious Broadcaster's Convention) in Orlando, Florida, Miles talks about the book and about how the new woke culture has infiltrated the Christian pulpit. Miles is also a writer, film producer, president of Nfluence Network, and lead pastor of Nfluence Church in Granger, Indiana. He has taken a lot of hits from critics in the Church, as he exposes Critical Race Theory (CRT), Black Lives Matter (BLM), and other social causes that run counter to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The bottom line is, people need to know the true faith, in order to detect the heresies.

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The depths of depravity of human sin are never more blatantly on display than in the horrors of human trafficking. It is the focus of actor Jim Caviezel's new movie, "Sound of Freedom", being released on July 4th, the day America celebrates its independence. We fought the Revolutionary War to gain that freedom from British rule. Less than a century later the country was embroiled in the Civil War to end race-based, chattel slavery in America. But sadly, the evil of slavery persists in every part of the world, and yes, here in America. It's called human trafficking. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Caviezel, who also portrayed Jesus in the Mel Gibson blockbuster, "Passion of the Christ", talks about his new film in which he plays real life Federal Agent Tim Ballard, who quit his job to rescue children caught in the web of human trafficking. It's an action film with a heart. It's also about redemption, something Caviezel, a devout Christian, looks for in his film projects, even if he may not always play the good guy. He says, "I don't go to the devil to play the devil. I go to God to tell me who the devil is." In "Sound of Freedom", Caviezel is definitely the good guy... fighting against a lot of evil.

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For theologian and Bible scholar Dr. Alex McFarland, there is no separating America's Constitution from the Bible. Where does the right to life and liberty come from? From Buddha? No. From the pagan god of Ekron? No. How about from ourselves? No! The only worldview that provides a framework for those basic rights is in the Bible. There's a lot of debate over whether America is a Christian nation. For McFarland, there is no question that our U.S. Constitution is founded on biblical principles. Lighthouse Faith podcast caught up with McFarland a few weeks ago at this year's NRB (National Religious Broadcaster's Convention) in Orlando. It's the largest gathering of mostly Christian and Jewish media in the world. In typical McFarland style, his southern boy humility and charm offer a soothing delivery of a rather contentious conflict.

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Author Nancy Pearcey says the problem with our view of manhood today is that "There are two competing scripts for masculinity." They are the God Man vs the Real Man. The Bible says men are made in God's image, as are women. And that men's unique masculine strengths are not given to them just to get whatever they want, but to provide, protect and take care of the people they love. So where did the idea infiltrate culture that masculinity is toxic? The irony is that the secular view of masculinity created the image of toxicity, or "The Real Man" image. Pearcey says, “Culture imposes this 'real man' script on men that contains a lot of the traits that, of course, we consider toxic: entitlement, dominance, control, and so on. When these traits are disconnected from the moral vision of the God man, it can slide into being toxic." On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Pearcey, a professor at Houston Baptist University, talks about the dichotomy of masculinity in today’s culture in her new book, “The Toxic War on Masculinity: How Christianity Reconciles the Sexes.” Her data, mined from social science research, shows how toxic masculinity comes from the secular culture. Says Pearcey, "The problem is that men are being accused of being toxic, and the solution actually turns out to be a Christian view of masculinity."

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As many prepare to celebrate their dads on Father's Day (June 18), statistics show there's a huge problem of fatherlessness in the country. According to a report, 39 percent of students in the United States, from the first grade to their senior year of high school, do not have a father at home. And fatherlessness is the cause of several other social issues like crime. 85 percent of youth who are currently in prison grew up in a fatherless home. But it can also lead to drug addiction, depression, high abortion rates, teen pregnancy, and even suicide is linked to fatherlessness. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Pastor Sean Teis says the solution can be found in the church. Teis's ministry, God is My Dad, equips single mothers, fatherless children, grandparents raising grandchildren, and also fathers, with ways to combat the effects of Fatherlessness. Teis, who grew up without a father, gives churches practical resources to better minister to fatherless families. Teis says when a child grows up without a father, there's a hole in his or her heart. And the only guaranteed source for repairing that hole is a relationship with God the Father. No parent is perfect, and even kids who live with their fathers can still experience a dysfunctional relationship that scars them for life. Fathers are vital to children's emotional and spiritual health. Teis says today's culture needs to embrace fathers.

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Abraham Hamilton III, the General Consul and Public Policy Analyst for the American Family Association, homeschools his children. It's not because of any recent objections, but because he says public schools were created for the purpose of evangelizing children into the church of humanism. When parents point to indoctrination by public schools today, Hamilton says the reason is far more foundational than most people understand. He says, "We did not just arrive here accidentally. It has been the product of an intentional plan using the school system, by and large as a primary mechanism to accomplish it." On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast recorded at the National Religious Broadcasters convention (NRB) in Orlando, Hamilton unleashes a diatribe on the origins of public education. He cites former Dean of Education at Harvard University, Chester Pierce, saying, "He literally said children when they come to our schools at four or five years old, they come sick because they have this weird allegiance to a transcendent being known as God". Secular Humanism, or Humanism, is legally considered a religion for Establishment Clause purposes. Yet it is the default faith of the public square, and public schools. According to a Loyola Law School Journal article, "Secular Humanism refers to a philosophy that 'replaces a worship of the transcendent or supernatural deity with the deification of man and humankind.'" Hamilton has a plethora of things to say about many other issues and problems facing families today, all with the same cause: an absence of the knowledge of God.

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FOX News Correspondent Benjamin Hall is grateful to be alive, grateful to have survived a bomb blast, while still mourning the deaths of the four others traveling in the vehicle with him covering the war in Ukraine. But there is something he's sure of: he was saved by an angel, a messenger from God. Millions of people know the harrowing story of Hall's recovery from the attack. His book "Saved: A War Reporter's Mission to Make it Home," recounts the details of the attack on March 14, 2022. And while he's talked a lot about it and his long recovery in various interviews, he's rarely delved into the spiritual aspects of the ordeal. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Hall talks about how he truly believes that an angel saved him. That a voice and clear presence of his six-year-old daughter telling him to get out of the car, is the reason he's alive today. Angels are God's messengers. On a previous Lighthouse Faith podcast, scientist Dr. Hugh Ross explains how and why these angelic beings come to us and why. For Hall, he doesn't know why he was saved. But for whatever purpose, he's grateful.

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Recent polls showing how many Generation Z adults believe Jesus was NOT sinless, shows the chasm between real theological knowledge and what the secular culture is preaching. This is a problem. So, what's a Christian supposed to do when faced with erroneous, and often heretical beliefs about their faith? Learn the core beliefs and learn them well. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, Dr. Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of First Baptist Dallas Church, talks about how "Christians are refusing to embrace the most basic knowledge about their faith." That is why he wrote the book, "What Every Christian Should Know". The book encapsulates ten core beliefs for standing strong in a shifting world. It's bad enough faithful Christians confront non-believers, but it's worse when professed Christians get their doctrinal information from a culture that has no vested interest in the truth of Christianity. The Gospel of Jesus Christ is not a political ideology. It's a faith that is simple to grasp, challenging to live out, but ultimately, existentially satisfying.

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This the last podcast I did with Dr. Timothy Keller who passed away on Friday May 19, 2023, after battling pancreatic cancer. He was 72. It is with such a heavy heart that I think of him this day and this last podcast. He was my pastor and my mentor. He influenced millions through the ministry at Redeemer Presbyterian Church and his books. He brought untold numbers of people to Christ. For me I know there would be no Lighthouse Faith podcast without Tim Keller, because there would be no Lighthouse Faith book… because Tim Keller taught me and countless others how to find a deeper level of faith in Jesus Christ that we never imagined was possible. Tim lived to glorify God through faith in Jesus Christ. We honor him by doing the same.

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It is the site where Moses first saw the burning bush, where God commanded him to tell Pharoah, "Let my people go!" It is where the Israelites traveled to after being freed from slavery in Egypt, by God's Holy hand, and where He gave them His law, The Ten Commandments. Mount Sinai is a critical and monumental part of the redemptive narrative in the Bible. And yet archeologists have not definitively pinpointed its exact location. St. Catherine's Eastern Orthodox Monastery is built in the Sinai Peninsula, where tradition holds Mt. Sinai sits, but yet there's no archeological evidence that over a million people were there, or camped there, or created a Golden Calf to worship after growing tired of waiting for Moses who spent some 40 days atop the mountain receiving the law. On this episode of Lighthouse Faith podcast, documentary filmmaker Tim Mahoney talks about his new "Patterns of Evidence" documentary "Journey To Mount Sinai." Mahoney says he's uncovered evidence that points to Mt. Sinai being in a totally different location than archeologists have previously explored, which is why they've found few fragments of clues indicating the site. In fact, Mahoney's film highlights five possible locations, the strongest one being in Saudia Arabia. The film will be released through Fathom Events May 15-17.

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