Friends in Muslim Places

Show open and theme-song banter

After the produced intro voiceover ('Live from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper'), the hosts open the show live and riff on the theme song: one host admits that after twenty years he still doesn't know the lyrics, and they discuss the band behind it, New World Son, and its self-titled album. They joke about how to get a smart speaker to play it ('you have to say New World Son').

Mike's Chingy story and the Alexa clean-version joke

A host recounts that Mike (named in the transcript) broke into singing Chingy's 'Holiday Inn' after dinner, to everyone's surprise. When he asked Alexa for a clean version, she replied she couldn't find any clean songs by Chingy - which the hosts agree is 'absolutely true.'

Jesus appears nightly to a Muslim man, reciting the Gospel of John

• Which English translation did Jesus dictate the Gospel of John in?

A host reads a Christian Post article: a church planter in the Middle East tells of a Muslim man visited every night by a shining man in white who dictated the entire Gospel of John, which the man wrote down in a notebook while falling asleep. The missionary (identified only as Yazim) notes the man then asked, 'who was this man that visited me?' The hosts discuss the Gospel Coalition's role, David Platt's interview with the missionary, and reports that a large share of Muslim converts cite dreams (25% of 600 converts, per Mission Frontiers Magazine).

Which translation did Jesus dictate? ESV, CSB, and learning Greek

• Is it worth learning the original biblical languages (Greek/Hebrew) to read Scripture?

The story sparks a riff: if the man wrote John verbatim, which English translation matches - 'does the Lord love the ESV?' A host notes the Gospel Coalition cycles translations every few years (ESV, then CSB). They debate readability versus faithfulness in translation, and whether it's worth learning Greek and Hebrew to read the originals. One host notes Dan (named in the transcript) already knows Greek; the consensus lands on mastering obedience to the English text you can already read first.

Study: digital Bibles help men read more but retain less

• Do digital Bibles help or hurt retention compared to print?

A host reads a Christianity Today piece on John Dyer's PhD research: men finish more daily Bible readings on apps but retain less than with a print Bible; women retain equally on either medium. The hosts probe the study design (Dallas-area churches, reading Jude in print vs. digital, a ten-day John reading plan) and land on the distraction problem: phones train you to expect interruption, and a Bible app competes with every notification on the device.

Notifications, social media in real life, and the 'graves' joke

The distraction thread becomes a long riff: notifications give everyone you've ever met permission to interrupt anything you're doing. A host pitches a sitcom of social-media behavior acted out in real life - running up to show neighbors cat photos, delivering passive-aggressive vague posts at the front door. Tangents include fear of missing a midnight emergency, sleeping with the phone in another room, and a running joke pronouncing the French wine region Graves as 'graves' ('that's graves').

The NAB: Nearest Available Bible

Reading John Dyer's observation that Bible reading is now a 'multimedia experience' (print, screen, audio), the hosts coin the NAB - the capitalized Nearest Available Bible, 'henceforth referred to as NAB' - and riff on grabbing whatever copy is closest. They joke that in the second century you'd have to borrow the synagogue's single copy, then callback to the earlier story: 'Ask Yazim. He's memorized it... What are chapters? We call them bathroom breaks.'

Iran's underground church: fastest-growing, no buildings, women-led

A host reads about the Iranian underground church via the 'Sheep Among Wolves' documentary (Frontier Alliance International): a rapidly reproducing discipleship movement with no property, no central leadership, and about 55% women disciple-makers. Standout quotes: 'What if I told you Islam is dead? ... the mosques are empty inside Iran,' 'the best evangelist for Jesus was the Ayatollah Khomeini,' and the model - 'if you make disciples, you will plant churches.'

Obedience-based discipleship vs. knowledge-seeking

The hosts sit with the phrase 'obedience-based discipleship': reading Scripture with a 'yes, sir' mentality - to be transformed and obey, not to collect information or win arguments. They contrast this with reading to justify yourself (twisting 'I can do all things through Christ' into blanket permission), cite Psalm 119 as delight in instruction from a known King, and admit the American church often reads for knowledge while assuming the moral high ground. One host warns against bucketing Muslims as a group: God finds people who are genuinely seeking him wherever they are.

Boston trip and the Pope limo sign

A host recounts a work trip to Boston: he set out to visit Edgar Allan Poe's grave before realizing that's Baltimore, toured Boston Common and the Old North Church ('one if by land, two if by sea' - entry was $8, so he admired the steeple from outside), and got stranded overnight by flight delays. Back at the Des Moines airport, a limo driver held a sign reading 'POPE.' He followed the limo - to Mike's house in Pleasantville, Iowa, where a crowd had gathered expecting the Pope and, with no one emerging, decided Mike (named in the transcript) must be the Pope and demanded pope-style advice.

Pope-style advice: humble listening

Mike (named in the transcript) delivers the advice: 'you don't listen right.' Real listening takes humility - moving your own agenda completely aside and making the other person's agenda yours. The hosts apply it to phones (a phone in hand gives everyone you've ever met the right to interrupt your wife, your kids, a grieving widow), scam calls answered mid-conversation, and half-hearted attention: one host confesses scrolling Facebook during five-hour phone calls with his girlfriend in Africa; another admits missing thirty seconds of a co-host's story while googling a poster on the wall. They close on older relatives who truly listen - eye contact, remembered details - as the model.

Luddites, the 'chocolate' cue, and notification discipline

Wrapping the attention thread: not a call to Luddism ('this isn't an advocation for being a Luddite'), but to define what's important yourself - 'the only way my phone bosses me around is if I let it.' Practical steps offered: delete the Facebook app, kill notifications ('Facebook doesn't boss me around'). Running gags: the 'chocolate' social cue for cutting off a co-host's rambling story, a 45-second history of the actual Luddites, and muting a host's mic for nose-breathing.

Dear LFTP: the lunch-bill friend

• Should I keep having lunch with a friend who brings his wife (doubling the tab) only on my turn to pay?

A listener writes: his friend in Pennsylvania comes to lunch alone on his turn to pay (a $25 tab) but brings his wife on the listener's turn (a $40-50 tab). The hosts' advice: don't quit lunch - have the human conversation, go Dutch, or simply accept the offered difference next time ('order two entrees' on his turn). The Secular answer, read on-air: tell him you'd be more comfortable with 'just us guys' lunches, or suggest separate checks from now on.

Dear LFTP: 51, newly divorced, falling for the hookup

• How do I end a hookup relationship I'm falling in love with after my divorce?

A 51-year-old listener, divorced four months and living in a new state, joined a hookup site and is having 'mind-blowing' sex with a 33-year-old who claimed to live 30 minutes away but arrived in ten ('visiting a friend in the neighborhood'). She's falling in love and doesn't know how to end it. The hosts' unanimous advice: end it now - 'you have the right to just go, nope' - get off the site, and don't mistake the post-divorce high for a foundation. The Secular answer: she'll regain equilibrium eventually and then know how to end it; the hosts mock the implied 'in the meantime, keep having sex.'

Dear LFTP: the narcissistic bully sister-in-law

• Why do bullied people refuse to see their abusers for what they are?

A listener married 45 years: his wife's older sister is a 'nasty narcissistic bully,' his wife tolerates it and won't hear criticism of her. Advice: put up fences - protect your marriage without requiring your wife to agree; boundaries go up day by day ('today is boundary day'); and don't try to be her savior ('these are gods to handle' - it's pride to think you're the only one who can reach them). The Secular answer: bullied people think they deserve it (lack of self-esteem); avoiding the sister-in-law is his privilege, but nothing changes while his wife accepts the status quo.

Sign-off and complaint line

Close: the complaint line number (515) 517-0085, which takes calls and texts via Google Voice, and the sign-off line - 'be faithful in the means, God will handle the ends.'