the Proclaim & Defend Podcast

If you are a pastor, please read all of this. If you are not, please forward it to your pastor. He needs to hear it. And of course, read it yourself.

Discouraging times need an encouraging message.

The end of the first century was coming to a close. John, the last remaining Apostle was in exile on Patmos, and Jesus had not yet returned. With the passing of each year and the martyrdom of the Apostles, the hope of the 1st Century church wavered. At first, they expected Him to come at any time. Then, as time passed, they surely expected the time to be closer. But now John is coming to the end of his earthly sojourn and Christ will not return in His glory before the Apostolic age ends.

Not only that, but the church had also endured several seasons of persecution—first under the Jews, then Nero, and now under Domitian.

In this setting Jesus speaks these words of encouragement and challenge to His people. This message is intended for the churches of John’s day, but also for all the churches of the age between the close of the canon and the ultimate return of Christ.

It is for us.

The Jesus who was, who is, and who is to come.

The self-descriptions of Jesus in Revelation 1 are profound. He is the timeless one. He is the Alpha and Omega. He is the beginning and the end. He is the first and the last. He is the one who was, who is, and who is to come. He is the one who lives, was dead, and now lives forevermore. …

Read the rest of this post here, or just listen to the podcast.

A pastor outside the FBFI once asked me that question. He could not understand why the chaplaincy is such an important part of the FBFI.

For many who are hunkered down in the day-to-day battle of local church ministry, the military chaplaincy seems light years away. Community chaplains sometimes have contact with local churches, and some of our local church pastors are having rich ministry as community chaplains with police departments, fire departments, hospitals, and other organizations. However, many pastors and church members do not understand the enormity of the responsibility and opportunity that the chaplaincy is for us.

Canadian Military Chaplains can’t mention God in public.

In an August 12, 2026 article in Christianity Today, Adam MacInnis explained a new directive from Canadian Military leadership. …

Read the rest of the article here, or just listen to the podcast.

Today I’m joined by my friend, Dave Huffstutler. Dave wrote an article for the July/August edition of FrontLine which was about growing churches: “Built to Grow: Understanding and Advancing the Mission of the Church.”

Dave’s article is about “Four Features of Church Growth in Acts.” Dave isn’t giving us “four principles for success” or “the Acts formula” for church growth. Rather he is observing features of growing church life in the book of Acts that parallel the kinds of church life we want to foster in our own churches.

We had a wide-ranging discussion on many aspects of church life. It was a blessing to talk to Dave about it, then to think through it again in the editing process. In the interview, I mentioned our own church’s upcoming 40th anniversary celebration. Well, that “upcoming” turns out to be last Sunday, so we are moving now into our 41st year. The things we talked about in the conversation are things we have tried to do in our church and, really, every Bible-believing church tries to do all the time. It’s helpful to think about them again and ask ourselves questions about how we are doing and how we could be perhaps doing a little better in some areas of our own church life.

Well, that’s enough from me. I’ll get into my conversation with Dave in just a moment, but first, let me remind you that Dave’s article is available on our Substack right away for paying subscribers. We have previews for everyone else. I hope you will join with us and support the ministry of the FBFI by becoming a paying subscriber.

And now for my interview with Dave Huffstutler.

The Article:

Four Features of Church Growth in Acts: Rediscovering the New Testament Pattern

The Contents & Editorial for the July/August FrontLine:

FrontLine: Built to Grow: Understanding and Advancing the Mission of the Church

“Sin is at the root of most psychological problems.” -- Gilbert Fremont

As I rode to a Diamondbacks baseball game with some men from our church last night, we began discussed about all the billboards advertising accident lawyers. You know the bunch. They are nationwide. Sweet James out of California, Morgan and Morgan out of Florida, and many more. I am old enough to remember when lawyers weren’t allowed to advertise. I am not sure that the commercialization of the legal profession has helped much or made the courts any more effective in producing justice.

Now it’s the therapist’s turn. “Mental health” issues have almost become a badge of honor today. Insurance companies are covering it, and they are now advertising. The marketing strategy for the industry seems to be what it has been for most other products through the years.

“Everybody needs to have one.”

Really? …

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Today I’m joined by my friend, Ryan Martin. He’s writing in the July/August edition of FrontLine which was about growing churches: “Built to Grow: Understanding and Advancing the Mission of the Church.” Ryan’s article is on Jonathan Edwards and David Brainerd and what we can learn from their long-ago approach to ministry and apply it to modern churches today.

I guess every church wants to grow. We all have many friends and family members we would love to see come to Christ and join the fellowship. Our neighbours, too! The more folks who come to Christ and join the local church, the better church life becomes.

There are many obstacles, and we can learn from how men in the past faced obstacles as we evangelize in the present. Ryan Martin helps us discern some of the good examples these men set for us.

Before we get into the discussion, let me remind you that Ryan’s article is available on our Substack right away for paying subscribers. We have previews for everyone else. I hope you will join with us and support the ministry of the FBFI by becoming a paying subscriber.

The Article:

Edwards and Brainerd on Church Growth: Rediscovering Historical Insight

The Contents & Editorial for the July/August FrontLine:

FrontLine: Built to Grow: Understanding and Advancing the Mission of the Church

In an article published this week in Torah.com, Jack Sasson asked an interesting question.

“Why is ‘Do not covet’ in the decalogue?’”

The Decalogue forbids patently reprehensible acts, but the prohibition against coveting is a potentially victimless offense and is the only one that exclusively addresses men. Moreover, this tenth commandment has no clear parallels in ancient Near Eastern law.

As we trace through the Commandments in Exodus 20, all are public, outwardly discernible sins with offended parties—divine, human, or both.

The first four commandments (Exodus 20:3-11) demand fealty to Jehovah. It must be exclusive—no polytheism. It must not be expressed in idol worship. He must be honored in all speech. He must be honored specifically on the Sabbath.

The next five commandments in verses 12-16 are one-another commands that protect people from people. Honor your parents. Do not murder. Honor marriage and remain faithful to your spouse. Do not take what is not yours. Do not commit perjury, damaging your neighbor.

But then comes that last commandment (Exodus 20:17), which is about a heart attitude—about desire. After noting that this commandment is exclusively addressed to men (It doesn’t mention coveting your neighbor’s husband, and women could not own property in the ancient Near Eastern world), Sasson says this about this commandment.

Another oddity makes the Tenth Commandment stand out from the others: The previous commandments forbid patently reprehensible acts such as stealing, murdering, kidnapping, or committing perjury. By contrast, coveting in the Tenth Commandment is an emotional capitulation to intense envy, remediable only through introspection and self-examination.

It is truly a commandment about jealousy and envy and is at the heart of all biblical sin. This might be one of the most important commandments of all. …

For the rest of this post click here: Covetousness: The Different Commandment - Proclaim & Defend

… or just listen to the podcast

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My father entered heaven in January of 2021. For our family, it was a traumatic experience.

The Covid-19 virus spread through our church rapidly in December of 2020. We had to cancel services because there were no pastoral staff members healthy enough to lead. My father contracted the disease in that wave. He fought it off for several weeks at home before his low blood oxygen level demanded he go to the hospital. But even in the hospital, he did not improve.

No one in our family was allowed to visit him there. Once he was moved to ICU, even my daughter, a nurse in that same hospital, was refused access to him. We communicated regularly with doctors and nurses and with him. He was intubated for several weeks, and then eventually weaned off the machine. Even off the ventilator, he still needed a pressurized mask to breathe.

Dad had a hard time in the hospital separated from family. He was struggling for every breath and he was alone. On the day he died, we were Facetiming him and we listed to a doctor and nurse pressure him to remove his mask and die. I confronted them both by video and demanded that they stop trying to convince him to give up and die. They kept saying things like, “you might get better, but your health will never be the same.” They said they were just trying to be honest with him, but in the desperation of that moment, that was not honesty, it was pressure to give up. Eventually he asked for the mask to be removed, and with his hand he signed “I love you” to our family, before he breathed his last. …

Read the rest of this post here: End of Life Decisions and the Christian Family - Proclaim & Defend

… or just listen to the podcast!

With this podcast we introduce the July/August edition of FrontLine magazine. The associate editor for this edition was Mark Herbster.

The theme was Built to Grow: Understanding and Advancing the Mission of the Church — the point of this podcast is to explain what Mark and the authors were after in fleshing out the theme.

To summarize though, there are two extremes in looking at church growth. There is the extreme of going after numerical growth almost at any cost. In reaction to that is the extreme of disdaining growth and becoming too inward focused. Our writers are focusing on a balance between the extremes.

Normally, we publish an article in connection with the podcast. However, this time we have already published the introduction to this edition of FrontLine on Proclaim & Defend. You will find the link here in our show notes.

Before we turn to this interview, let me encourage you to subscribe to our Substack or to FrontLine magazine itself. I hope you will join with us and support the ministry of the FBFI by becoming a paying subscriber.

The Contents & Editorial for the July/August FrontLine:

FrontLine: Built to Grow: Understanding and Advancing the Mission of the Church

Romans 13:7

The powers that be are ordained of God.

Every person in this room who names Christ experientially is part of two Kingdoms. We are all part of the Kingdom of God and we will enjoy together the blessings of that future Kingdom when Jesus Christ reigns. But we also have been placed by God in this country and at this time by His wisdom and Providential choice. He has done so for His glory, for His purpose, and for our good. And today, in spite of the political climate, social woes, and sinfulness that surrounds us, we should take the time to be thankful.

Last weekend, we celebrated the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. As far as nations go in the history of the world, we are still an infant nation. And yet, so much has transpired in such a short time.

We have survived and thrived.

Our nation has seen the advancement and experimentation of governmental practices in a way not seen since dawn of the history of mankind. We endured numerous wars, and a Civil War with more American casualties than all other American wars combined. We endured the 20th Century, its World Wars, genocides, and communist upheaval. With 231 million people dying in war in that century, it was, by far, the bloodiest in recorded history, and yet we, as a nation not only remain, but remain strong.

We have seen technological advances like no other. My grandfather courted my grandmother in a horse drawn cart, today couples fly in just a few hours to distant places of the world for their weddings. They travel to and from airports in self-driving vehicles with computerized brains that were impossible to imagine even just a few years ago. Rockets fly into space nearly every day, tens of thousands of satellites circle our planet. Our healthcare system is the best in human history, and the best in world today in spite of whatever flaws it might have.

Our nation, these United States of America, is far from perfect—even from the beginning. We were founded on the principles of liberty and justice, but we have had to struggle continuously to secure those ideals with conflict, blood and tears. Those battles continue to this day. Every generation must fight its own battles to preserve freedom.

We enjoy God’s abundance.

This is not a perfect nation because we are far from a perfect people, but it is a blessed nation. We are blessed with some of the most beautiful and plentiful natural resources of any nation on earth. Our farms are rich and vibrant, orchards are heavy with fruit, fields nourish millions of domesticated animals necessary for our survival. We are a nation rich in mineral resources and could live independently from the rest of the world should we so choose. Our 68 national parks and 138 national monuments preserve the beauty of our Creator’s handiwork for everyone to enjoy, even those who do not acknowledge Him. Our borders are free from the threat of invading militaries because of our unique geography. These are the undeserved gifts of God. …

Read the rest of this post here: Thank God for Liberty - Proclaim & Defend

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The Jewish Curse

“His blood be upon us and upon our children.”

In the past week, the ousted President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, blamed his election loss on cheating and interference by Israel. At the same time, he had repeatedly called his opponents fascists. And no, it doesn’t make sense.

It seems popular today to blame nearly everything bad in the world on Israel, and sometimes the Jews broadly. Antisemitism is alive and well, and it is rooted in church history.

When Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, he set the stage for modern antisemitism. It existed before that time—the Book of Esther is an example. While the 1st Century New Testament Church was made up of converted Jews and gentiles, the 1st Century Jewish persecution of the Church did not produce fraternal feelings between the two religions (Romans 12:28). Early church history records the struggles.

Once the Church became entwined with the state, Christian baptism became a qualification for citizenship (in the late 4th century) and the Jewish communities within the Roman Catholic sphere became outsiders.

While modern Catholics argue that antisemitism is not part of historic Church dogma, that idea is incongruent with the fact that the victims of the Spanish Inquisition were “unorthodox” Christians and Jews.

…

Read the rest of this post here: The Jewish Curse - Proclaim & Defend

or just listen to the podcast.