The Laymens Lounge

Today talking with Pastor Timothy Decker author of “A Revolutionary Reading of Romans 13: A Biblical Case for Lawful Subjection to the Civil Magistrate and Dutiful Resistance to Tyrants”

Does Romans 13 command Christians a near unqualified obedience toward the civil magistrate? Is there an appropriate occasion and even a duty to resist tyranny, even if the tyranny is not sinful, per se? The aim of this book is to shed light on the fact that Paul's appeal for submission to governmental authorities in Romans 13 is far narrower than it so often gets treated. The many events and crises of 2020 revealed the broad brush strokes Christians often painted with it and thereby abuse of it. It is here argued that the apostle Paul wrote Romans 13 within a specific historical context, a pastoral occasion if you will, to take up the matter of warding off the common Jewish revolutionary spirit so pervasive in that period. Such a sentiment of private revolution among church members of Rome would have undermined a Gentile government and thereby destroyed the gospel influence of the Christian church in Rome. In this way, this book offers a revolutionary reading of Romans 13—that Paul opposed private revolution among private citizens. Therefore, rightly understood, Romans 13 teaches lawful subjection to the civil magistrate while at the same time affirming a Christian's duty to resist tyranny.

Today we are talking with the delightful Dr Paula Maddox. Author of "THINK Globally LEAD Strategically: A Christian Guide to Building Effective Leaders" and are reminded of the wisdom of slowing down and listening. Dr Maddox, like Proverbs and Francis Schaffer reminds us to walk/talk in humility and be wise with our words and lead with our ears.

Many Christians are wearied by the self-censorship at our workplaces for fear the blue-haired they/them in the next cubicle will report us for microaggression and misgendering the man with the dress. Join us as we sit down Andrew Crapuchettes, founder/CEO of RedBalloon, America's largest and most successful non-woke job board and talent connector. In this interview we discuss the potential folly of a college degree, why businesses will still push the woke agenda even if it costs them customers, how organizing at the worker-level to fight against woke-requirements is both a legal and advisable action plan, and how to find a good job for freedom loving, God fearing Christians who have conviction that the lord really is Lord of all.

Join us as we sit down with Stephen Wolfe, author of “The Case for Christian Nationalism,” and consider what the specifics of a Christian Nation might look like when applied (what to do with Mormon? Effeminates and butch ladies with blue hair? Taylor Swift, etc.).

A Church for the Rest of Us

What is the CREC (Communion of Reformed Evangelical Churches)? How can such a small group of churches make such a national impact? What itches does this crew scratch, and what is it about these churches that result in such a jolly band? All this and more as we sit down and chat with CREC’s Presiding Minister Uri Brito.

After receiving a devastating brain cancer diagnosis, Jay Hewitt had a decision to make: Should he give up on faith or practice what he preached and trust that with God all things are possible? In I Am Weak, I Am Strong, Jay chronicles his journey of turning toward Jesus even when circumstances urged him to turn away. Faith in action for Jay included competing in an IRONMAN triathlon while undergoing cancer treatment. His race was a grand gesture of love for his young daughter--and a call to resilience for all of us. Join us, in this episode of The Laymens Lounge, as we survey a few areas where our Lord caused Jay to be strong in the midst of his weakness.

Join us as we sit down with Zachary Garris author of "Masculine Christianity" and ask: Should wives always submit to their husbands (what if he is a pagan? What if he's a lazy gamer)? Can women at least Pray in Church (or must they always remain silent)? Can a woman be a professor (or is she really to have no teaching authority over a man)? Can a woman Tweet out an admonishment? What is the connection between universal suffrage, feminism and being trans.? All this and more...

The Western church has gone feminist. God has given men authority in the home, church, and society. Yet the church has rebelled against God’s design and embraced the unbelieving world’s teaching that women should take on the same roles and duties as men rather than focus on the home and children. Christian scholarship and Bible commentaries are dominated by feminist arguments that both husband and wife should submit to each other (“mutual submission”), that women may be pastors and preach sermons to men, and that the Apostle Paul’s teaching on men and women was limited to Greco-Roman culture and has been transcended by our unity in Christ.
Sadly, the conservative response to feminism—complementarianism—compromised several historic Christian teachings and has thus given feminism an even stronger foothold in the church. Many complementarians fail to root gender roles in the differing natures of men and women. As a result, they have refused to apply the Bible’s teaching about men and women beyond the home and church, leading to the embrace of women in civil office and military combat. In addition, the vast majority of complementarians have adopted the novel interpretation of 1 Corinthians 14:34-35 (“the women should keep silent in the churches”) that Paul only prohibited women from evaluating prophecy, which has opened the door to women preaching and teaching men in the church.
The result is that the Western church has become effeminate and weak. Pastors are afraid to teach important Bible passages on the roles and duties of men and women, and it is no surprise that young Christian women are trading babies for careers outside the home and that churches are regularly capitulating to subversions of biblical sexual ethics. What the church needs is to recover its masculine calling, where men embrace their God-given authority—and responsibility—in the home, church, and society. This book affirms the historic Christian teaching on men and women, critiques feminist scholarship, and urges complementarians to hold a more robust and consistent position. This is a call to return to the Bible’s teaching on men and women. This is a call to Masculine Christianity..

Join us as we sit down with Biblical Theologian and captain-of-common-sense Bnonn Tennant and discuss the telos of man, white knights, weak pastors, singing like a man, and why it is good to be man.