Reformed Operator

Watch out, it gets spicy again! For this Episode, RO Actual, aka Dave hosts Pastor Joel Webbon: founding Pastor of The Response Church, President of Right Response Ministries. He’ll be leading a team to plant Covenant Bible Church in Hutto, Texas early next year. Pastor Joel is also a Reformed Baptist holding to the 1689 Second London Baptist Confession. 

SPICY!!!! We hit four Jalapeños again. Pastor Joel lays out much of the state of evangelical preaching. It’s been weighed and often found wanting. Either being woke’s righteousness or neo-antinomian nonsense, aka the particular bane of the young restless, reformed church (A29 especially, looking at you- Matt Chandler). Hipster church has become too concerned with being cool. Jesus wasn't peddling pumpkin spice or Eric Mason in the lobby. 

As much as we love logos, we should love The Logos more. 

FREE EBOOK: William Perkins' The Art of Prophesying can be downloaded free in Kindle, Apple Books, and PDF HERE. 

Joel talks about Milk and Meat. Most pastors now preach a warm glass of milk, maybe a sweet milkshake, or, perhaps milquetoast-ery in lieu of any meat. Joel warns of the dangers of getting cute with Jesus by turning him into Palestinian Mr. Rogers

Preaching gathers the sheep and scatters the wolves and goats. 

What odor does your sermon emit? Do goats and wolves feel comfortable? Do sheep get fed? Are we satisfying itching ears or souls?

Dave warns of the bribe of the approval of man, citing Lot as an example. 

Preaching is worship, and it should firstly exalt, bless and glorify God. It is the tip of the spear of worship. The pastor is also preaching to the people. Preaching is for the purity and protection of the church. 

Joel asserts that the preacher says, "God's word applies to you! Repent! ...We preach to sheep, to people, to nations, and even principalities and powers, we are crying out to see heaven brought to earth." 

Joel talks a little on a twofold purpose and a threefold audience. 

Who is to preach according to God's Word? Joel proceeds to answer this question with a series of Biblical texts. Only men are called to preach, and "you gotta want it." Joel talks some about internal and external call. 

1 Timothy 3:1-7,  Titus 1:5-16

We talk a little about the fruit of the spirit. Spoiler alert, they're not hammers, nails, or screwdrivers. They're a package deal. 

We also talk about holding the line, and knowing what the standard is and where to find it. 

A final trumpet blast to those who are unwilling to bear the standard, draw lines, speak up, or have been lead astray by vain philosophy. 

Go be bold and zealous. Remember to be and not merely seem. 

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This is a reading of the Essay "The Cowardice of Hiding From Home or: Dissipative Structures in Space and Time". There's more than one way to be a coward. We live in a fallen world, how do we bring order? In everything we do being done as a slave of Jesus Christ. 

You can read the Essay on our website. 

Reformed. Jolly. Salty. Spicy. Long. But so worth it.

A long caveat on the Overton Window:

SPICY ALERT: Part of our Goal here at Reformed Operator is to open the Overton window, and by that we mean reforming the window to somewhere reasonable. In a culture dead-set on never being offended, we need to discuss things that are offensive to a culture offended by Christ. The term Patriarchy gets a bad rap because of twisted men abusing it. The way we understand biblical patriarchy is covenantal headship stemming from the difference in nature of men and women. RO does not reject complementarianism, but rather some of the unique sects emerging i.e., “thin comp.” We argue that “thin comp” creates unbiblical intersectional distinctions driven by gross caricatures. Most of the examples given in this episode stem from several episodes of a popular women’s theology podcast. Their understanding is driven by intersectional distinctions that drive at voluntary roles and a bizarre idealism, rather than driven by distinct natures and duties. Feminism has created a straw man of the scriptural understanding of patriarchy and is dangerously close to removing the term completely from the church, effectively making something that is used in scripture into a heinous caricature. Ultimately demeaning scripture by perverting hermeneutics through dialectical idealism and shifting the system of covenantal headship in a “progressive” way. We don’t believe the term patriarchy should be surrendered to abusers and we understand the recoil of some at the mere mention of the word. Thus ends our qualification, now go get a water. It’s about to get spicy.

If you have questions, comments, or suggestions email us at [email protected] or reach out to us on twitter.

Everyone's favorite passage in scripture! 1 Corinthians 11:1-16. Shots Fired. It's a 4 out of 5 jalapeño on the SPICY!!!!! scale. Dave’s guest this week is Pastor Sean of The Response Church- who came on to discuss a topic hotter than election (or the presidential race). 

Yes, we went there! You guessed it! Our episode name is a pun poking fun at two "Thin Complementarian" books and a bonus head coverings reference.  

They run the gauntlet, head (re)coverings, authority, submission, servant lordship, and some spicy asides that might stun you. 

Sean (and Baptist Dave) holds to the Textus Receptus or "Received Text view."

Check out "The Amazing Dr. Ransom's Bestiary of Adorable Fallacies" 

We smash the common complaints against the "Father Rule" laid out in scripture. The flames of the Straw People rise high. Domestic abuse? Weird views on the Lord's Supper? 

-Patriarchy as (Presby) Dave and Sean understand it has taken some hard hits. It's sloppy, and often completely misused, abused, and taken to extremes. Their argument? Don't throw the baby out with the bath water.
Patriarchy could also be called simply covenantal headship. The man is the head of the home and is the breadwinner. 

-Complementarianism (a synthesis, or golden mean, of sorts) is currently splitting into two camps according to the trends:

THICK- Men and Women have distinct natures that give forth roles (or duties)

THIN- Men and Women have distinct but voluntary roles. These roles are voluntary and are categorized as "should" not must. 

-Egalitarianism Simply put, this is androgyny. Men and women are the same and can do as they please. There is no distinction in capacity in the church or home. 

Sean throws in a Baptist Catechism for use in your household if you feel the inclination.

You can find Dave's recommended Children's Catechism here. Reformed Operator discriminates, but not too hard on our 1689 pals. The missing members from Sean's Baptist Church rolls aren't actually dead people... they're Presbyterians (we stole them)! 

We talk status and value in the world's eyes. What is true glory?

We talk Westminster Larger Catechism with selections from between 123-133. 

Independent Fundamentalist Baptists (IFB) takes heavies all around. 

Dave gives a crash course on Hegel's Dialectical Idealism, Marx's Dialectical Materialism. The postmodern assault on faithful biblical hermeneutics is put on notice.

ESV takes heavies for its μαλακοὶ translation. (See 1 Cor 6:9 where'd effeminate go?)

The baptists go back to Calvin to bring "libidinous" back into the conversation. Ask your doctor about your libidinous. 

Dave busts out some parity in the federal (covenantal) government systems, military, common law, and the christian life. 

Get after it, men. You need to die daily and lovingly honor your wife  while protecting, honoring, cherishing, and serving her. 

Dave also started our twitter awhile back and has some clever Dog Whistle commentary. 

Don't be better with balls than a bible, football fans. Dave mentions the origins of fan, fanatic, and fanum. You can't call cadence with the church if you aren't in one. Don't be a coward at home. We know it's hard, but we also know you don't take excuses. You just get after it. 

You need the finished work of Christ by grace through faith. Pray. Strive. Stand Firm. Get in a church now. 

Godspeed.

This is a reading of the Essay: "Everyone's Lost Here, But Everyone's Right." Scripture is the standard, set our conscience and all we do by it. Then...

Say it.

Do it.

Hold them to it.

Read the Essay Here

Yea, you've heard this passage before. But not like this. 

Dave (our host) brings Pastor Ben (PBR) into the studio for some practical application and examination of Ephesians 6:10-20. 

Men spend too much time exposing weak points unnecessarily. Just begging to be struck down by the schemes of Satan. 

Are you better at handling balls than a Bible? That's a real problem.  Skip the stats on Sunday and set sermons from scripture as your standard. Check our Twitter for our suggested reading plan, and daily updates. We do McCheynne's reading plan. 

PRACTICAL APPLICATION: What do you do about the group that wants to hit the Strip Club on a work trip? Especially as a junior man in the military. 

PRACTICAL APPLICATION: What do you do when you find yourself in a situation where there's just a woman and you in an office at work? 

Our culture has a lot to say about value, but have you actually considered the cost?

Are you just waiting to be wounded in combat? Are you training for war? Your enemy is. What are you doing about it? 

Monergism Free Ebook: William Gurnall's "The Christian in Complete Armor"

Get it, and get over to our website for more resources and essays to help in your training. Because it's never over. 

PBR closes out the episode with a call to spiritual warfare, not a physical warfare. Our natural worship of God is simple. We're not looking for violence in the streets, rather, we're for men laying waste to satan's camp by simply dying to themselves in battle daily.

The battles are small, simple things (too often neglected with cowardice) like praying, leading your wife, daily setting aside time to study the word of God, repenting, sharing the gospel with neighbors and co-workers. A simple call to action; but it isn't easy. 

Get out of your comfort zone and pick up your cross. 

Get more at Reformed Operator

MEMENTO MORI
-RO->

This is a reading of our Essay "Who's Poisoning Your Kids?". This essay is intended as a primer for critical thinking on film and television with a christian worldview. 

You can read the essay here.

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This is a reading of the Essay "The Content of Discontent or: How I Learned to Stomp Snakes From the Garden." The essay is a play on words focusing on the media-driven content that drives us to be discontented.

You can find the Essay here.

A reading of our "What is a Reformed Operator?" essay. A brief look into what we aim at here. 

The essay can be read here. 

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This is a reading of the Essay: "White Privilege: A Brief Treatise on Worldly-Minded Conspiracy Theories Devoted to the Exploding of the Church." This essay explores the roots and epistemology of the current all-out assault on the church, hollow and deceptive philosophy disguised as tools.

You can read the Essay here.

October 31st is known as Halloween, but it has a better name: Reformation Day. As men in church we're inundated with words filling spaces with more voids, coated with sugar and spice. We don't play those games. We speak plain, biblical Truth. We know we war not against flesh and blood and we have a King. Christ the King. We hearken to the original commandos, the raiders who brought the ark with dry feet. Remember you must die; get to work. It sounds easy, but it's the hardest thing we do. Be. Don't Seem. -RO->