It Can Be Done From Jail

Produced opening voiceover

The produced show intro plays: 'Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. You are live from the path.'

Tonight's rundown

• How should Christians respond to the Pennsylvania Catholic Church abuse scandal and similar church leadership failures?
• Have we lost our frankness as Christians?

A host previews the episode's four parts: an open-forum reaction to the Catholic Church abuse scandal in Pennsylvania and Willow Creek (what, if anything, outsiders to those churches should do); Mike's one-phrase 'Pope style' advice, previewed on-air; a round of Secular vs. Solomon; a question from Acts 26 about whether Christians have lost their frankness; and Dear LFTP advice for a woman dating a man she is considering moving in with while keeping breast implants secret.

Reacting to the church abuse scandals

The hosts react to the Pennsylvania Catholic Church report of thousands of abused children and multi-layer cover-ups reaching toward the Vatican, alongside the Bill Hybels/Willow Creek situation. They argue the church must call sin what it is rather than cover it up ('start arresting people... they can repent in jail'), trace the pattern to leaders and institutions building their own kingdoms instead of God's, and recount the history from early-church patriarchs through the papacy and the schism. The discussion cites Matthew 5 on settling with your brother before bringing your offering, and David and Nathan, to argue that repentance and reconciliation are a bright, shiny witness the cover-up destroys.

Personality-based ministry and the Mega Moses riff

The conversation turns to how congregations build ministry around a dynamic personality instead of around Jesus — citing Saddleback and Rick Warren as the 'come hear this guy' pattern — and how the weight given to leaders by others can crush even faithful pastors. A host recalls a young pastor who took over his father's church and recently took his own life. Moses and Jethro (Exodus 18) and Moses' shining face (Exodus 34) become the 'Mega Moses' comedy riff, with Zipporah told to put the knife away. The chapter closes on the rule: start at ground level, call things what they are, and stop telling lies.

Acts 26: have we lost our frankness?

A host walks through Acts 26 — Paul held two years by Felix hoping for a bribe, passed to Festus, appealing to Caesar, then defending himself before King Agrippa. Festus calls Paul crazy; Paul answers he speaks reasonably, and when Agrippa asks 'are you trying to make me a Christian?' Paul answers yes, for Agrippa and everyone present, minus the chains. The hosts ask whether modern Christians have lost that frankness, settling for comfort, church-as-bar, and 700 coffees before ever stating their intent. Evidence for directness: a blog post by atheist Penn Jillette respecting a Christian who bluntly told him 'you need Jesus' after a show, and a monastery hospitality worker whose rule is 'Jesus is coming here today, so I want it fit for Jesus.'

Widgets first or Jesus first

The hosts reframe the frankness problem as an orientation problem: most Christians show up to 'build the widgets' and talk about Jesus only if the opportunity arises, while Paul's intention was to tell people about Jesus with everything else as byproduct — 'dressing for the job you want.' They joke about praying for widget byproducts ('Lord, if Tim wants to talk about Jesus today, let his left pocket be hanging out'). The chapter ends with a twenty-second potty break.

Back from break: game show intro

The hosts return from the break with queso and widget banter, then the produced stinger announces 'America's fastest growing game show: Secular or Solomon.'

Secular vs. Solomon: nine rounds

The quizmaster — addressed on-air as Ben when a player demands his seat — quizzes the other hosts, addressing them as Mike and Dan (Dan Hudson), on whether each proverb is Biblical wisdom (Solomon) or worldly wisdom (Secular), with a country of origin required for secular answers. Rounds: 'He who goes to bed hungry dreams of pancakes' (secular, Malta); 'Leave your simple ways and live and walk in the way of insight' (Solomon, Proverbs 9:6); 'Whoever belittles his neighbor lacks sense, but a man of understanding remains silent' (Solomon, Proverbs 11); 'A man is commended according to his good sense, but one of twisted mind is despised' (Solomon, Proverbs 12); 'Whoever is slothful will not roast his game, but the diligent man will get precious wealth' (Solomon, Proverbs 12:27); 'Bargain like a gypsy but pay like a gentleman' (secular, Hungary); 'A scoffer does not like to be reproved; he will not go to the wise' (Solomon, Proverbs 15); 'When you go to a donkey's house, don't talk about ears' (secular, Jamaica); 'Seize opportunity by the beard, for it is bald behind' (secular, Bulgaria); and the final round, 'Under capitalism, man exploits man. Under socialism, the reverse is true' (secular, Poland). Banter includes Dan's 'very specific' chapter guesses, Mike Myers/Shrek confusion, the Book of Mormon in Greenland joke, and a Malta snake-hand tangent to Paul's shipwreck (Acts 28). Final tally: Mike 110, Dan Hudson about 75, Dan at 4. The game is promoted at livefromthepath.org with a card game coming in fall 2021.

Pope style advice: me and sin had a falling out

Mike — previewed on-air as the source of the 'Pope style' advice — delivers the bit: mistaken for the Pope at a bar and on his own lawn, he was pressed for papal advice and offers one phrase: 'me and sin had a falling out.' He expands it: stop visiting old sins like an ex-friend, part company the way people who grow apart stay apart, and don't keep sin's number. The other hosts riff on the image ('not even Facebook friends') and tie it back to the cover-up discussion — you can't fall out with sin while asking it to cover up last Friday.

Dear LFTP: the breast-implant letter

• Should she tell the man she is moving in with about her twenty-year-old breast implants?

A host reads a Dear LFTP letter signed 'Old but not dead': a woman in a years-long relationship with a man five years younger, now considering moving in together (possibly marrying if it won't jeopardize retirement income), who had breast implants twenty years ago, never told any man she dated, and wonders whether she must tell him. The hosts advise: don't move in until you're married; marriage must be based on honesty, so tell him; a knee-replacement/toupée analogy debates where the disclosure line sits; one host notes the deeper issue is that after several years she still doesn't know how he'd react. They close with the 'secular answer': level with him — if he'd leave over it he isn't the man for you, and an implant adjustment would reveal it anyway.

Dear LFTP: the LED light-up shoes letter

• Was he wrong to ask a four-year-old to stop stomping her light-up shoes at a late-night performance?

A host reads a second Dear LFTP letter: at a sold-out 9:15 PM performance, a four-year-old's LED shoes flashed every time she stomped, distracting the writer in the dark venue; he asked her gently to stop, she obliged, then the family left and the father snapped 'she's [bleeping] four.' The hosts debate whether it was a movie, a Jay Z concert, or a boring late orchestra show; conclude the dad was out of line but the writer should have addressed the parent, not the child — 'an adult problem' — or simply let it go; and joke about Taylor Swift concerts, the fourth oboe, and passing notes at the 'passive aggressive store.' The 'secular answer': he did nothing wrong and couldn't have handled it better; the father's vulgarity was uncalled for.

Sign-off

A host closes the show: email info@livefromthepath.org if you love the show; if you hated it, email Chris Roloff at croloff@wtru.com (noting the show is no longer on his network but he still likes the emails). The sign-off line: 'be faithful in the means, God will handle the ends.'