August 11, 2014 Podcast

Show open and the famous-people email gag

The show opens from the Pathway Studios in Johnston with the standard intro and station plugs (livefromthepath.org, Saturday nights at 7 on 99.3 KTIA). A host runs a comedy bit claiming emails from famous listeners, culminating in a mangled Arnold Schwarzenegger impression ('I am the gummy bear of candy corn') and the punchline that in radio it's 'a setup' and in real life 'a whiff.'

Tonight's lineup preview

A host previews the night: an in-studio interview with the band As We Are (playing the next night at the alt venue, 4801 Franklin in Des Moines, with Echo), Pope-style advice from Mike, Dear LFTP letters, and Dan's 'what's happening' news roundup (Ebola, Tony Stewart, ISIS).

In-studio interview: As We Are

Dale, the lead singer of As We Are (addressed by name in the audio), answers for the band: they're from the Mount Vernon/Centralia area of Southern Illinois, play poppy, catchy, high-energy Americana-tinged rock, and tour because they love it and keep finding themselves 'in the right place at the right time' to bless people. The host plugs tomorrow's $5 show (doors 6:30) and the band's Facebook page.

What's happening: Ebola missionaries - how far is too far?

• How far is too far for a Christ-follower to go in helping people who are infectious, when it could endanger their family or country?

Dan (addressed by name) presents the news: missionaries infected with Ebola in Liberia are back in the US in quarantine, and some fear an outbreak. The panel debates how far a Christ-follower should go in helping the infectious: Eric (addressed in the audio as 'David Herrick') says lean toward sharing Jesus over relief work unless it advances the kingdom; Ben says don't close a door God hasn't closed, but don't 'jump into a pool of piranhas and yell Jesus on the way in'; Boova (addressed as 'Buba') picks 'every risk is acceptable' when making disciples of all nations.

What's happening: Tony Stewart and the biblical approach to anger

• What is the most biblical approach to interacting with someone when you are angry?

Dan frames the Tony Stewart-Kevin Ward Jr. racetrack tragedy as a question about anger: A) speak your mind freely, B) hold your tongue until calm, C) fake a smile then kick your dog. Dale (the As We Are lead singer) jokes 'kick your dog'; Boova picks B - don't let anger rule your actions, calm down so the interaction builds up rather than berates; Eric picks B - anger plus speed guarantees an accident, slow down and don't act in anger; Ben dissents, saying sometimes A is right, since passion needs some 'stank' - how else do people know you're impassioned?

What's happening: the ISIS ultimatum - pay, flee, or convert

• If ISIS gave you three days - give up Christ, leave, or pay a fine - what do you do?

Dan lays out ISIS's persecution of Christians (convert, pay a fine, or die; three-day ultimatums) and asks what the panel would do if it happened here. Mike (addressed by name) picks B, run - he doesn't want to fund them; Boova moves from A to B for the same reason; Dan wouldn't trust them either. Ben's answer: the right answer is to do what God has him doing - his instinct is to run, but dying there is 'not off the table' if God calls for it, citing 'be warned, brothers, we are not to be like those who have no hope' (1 Thess 4:13). Eric agrees with Ben: B is the clear answer unless God directly says otherwise - option A means living as a second-class citizen they can bleed dry.

Muslims who follow Jesus and the 'messianic Muslim' idea

Eric (addressed in the audio as 'David Herrick') gives an extended reflection: there are Muslims who honestly follow Jesus - 'I'm a Muslim by following Jesus' - finding in him guaranteed peace with God, and the Quran venerates Jesus more highly than Muhammad. He draws the messianic-Jew parallel: a 'messianic Muslim' keeps Islamic identity while following Jesus as Messiah. Pressed on whether Muhammad is a false prophet, Eric declines to label him: 'I've never met him... I just don't know the guy.' A host adds that Muslims are reporting dreams of Jesus in this season, and that 'the church tends to grow on the blood of the saints.'

Pope-style advice: Mike on being burned by a fellow believer

• Was I wrong to trust a fellow believer who burned me, and how do I keep it from happening again?

The recurring bit: Mike - addressed in the audio as 'the mistaken pope' after someone told crowds he is the pope - gives the week's Pope-style advice. Mike tells of a fellow believer he trusted with prayer-request information about non-Christian neighbors, who then used it against them; he felt burned and betrayed. His landing: stay open and vulnerable anyway - be 'faithful in the means' and let God handle the ends; getting burned shouldn't stop the conversations, though some discernment about untrustworthy rooms is warranted. Eric adds that Christians are 'spiritually poor' and will drop the ball; Ben (addressed by name) sums it up: you can't control what others do with your counsel - 'what that guy did reveals him.'

Mid-show break: plugs, sponsors, and the post-break tease

Mid-show break: plugs for livefromthepath.org (past clips, the Secular vs. Solomon game, the John Acuff interview from two months back), As We Are's Facebook page, and tomorrow's show; sponsor reads for Bob Eisenlauer of the Eisenhower Team (buying and selling homes) and Westfield Veterinary Hospital in Johnston; a 30-second filler bit; and a tease - Boova had 'the most fake praising and prayer session of my entire life,' coming up after the break.

Boova's fake-faith confession from the 24-hour prayer room

• Have you ever felt fake in your faith, and what do you do about it?

Boova (the co-host addressed in the audio as 'Buba') confesses his fake-faith moment from the church's 24-hour prayer room: he caught himself singing for the music rather than for God - even doing the finger-on-the-ear 'more me in the monitor' move and mentally telling Chris Tomlin and Kari Jobe to step back - then praying empty, self-focused prayers. He asks the panel: has this happened to you, and what do you do about it?

The panel's counsel on fake faith and spiritual dryness

The panel counsels Boova. Eric: 'Stop it' - the struggle for authority over your life is honest, and a child outgrows baby food; God may be ready to feed you more. Ben: it's happened to him recently - a three-to-four-week funk with no joy until God's absence became 'palpable' (after Mike corrects his 'palatable'); embrace it honestly - 'I want to want to read this Bible... help me with my unbelief' - God never asked for a show. Dan: Richard Foster calls it 'the dark night of the soul' - prayers bouncing off the ceiling; you muddle through, there's no easy button.

Boova's resolution: forty minutes of silence and conviction fest

Boova tells what he actually did: after the fake worship he stopped, laid face-down on the carpet in silence for forty minutes - 'shut up, Buva' - and just listened; buried convictions surfaced ('stop putting on a show'), and within 24 hours he was back in the prayer room jumping, dancing, and singing 'in tears because it was so incredibly real.' His moral: 'conviction fest comes before celebration fest' - and he'd wear the t-shirt.

Dear LFTP: the complimented child and offended pride

• Am I wrong to be offended that a stranger complimented the next table's child and ignored my equally well-behaved son?

Dear LFTP: a listener is hurt that a stranger gushed over the next table's daughter but ignored her equally well-behaved toddler son; her husband disagrees - is she wrong to be offended? Dale relates it to band life: it's like getting mad when passersby buy merch from the next table over. The panel calls it pride - 'a magnetism of pride' - and sides with the husband. The 'Secular' answer agrees: the woman's attention was simply on the little girl.

Dear LFTP: night shower vs. morning shower

• Which is correct: showering before bed or in the morning?

Dear LFTP: night shower or morning shower - which is correct? The panel debates cowlicks, hygiene slip-ups, and waking the house; Boova reveals he showers twice a day ('I'm a big guy... I sweat when I accidentally scratch my leg too hard'). The 'Secular' answer: it's personal preference and lifestyle - physical labor favors nights, public-facing work favors mornings.

Sign-off and thanks to As We Are

Thanks to As We Are for sitting in; plug for tomorrow's show and the band's Facebook page (facebook.com/aswearocks); reminder to sign up for the audio podcast at livefromthepath.org.