Why Not The Second Heaven

Show open and the rapscallion bit

Ben opens from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper. Mike recounts his youngest daughter's pre-show ritual: she tells him to call Boova 'a real rapscallion' in a British accent, which he then performs as a Gru impression while Boova reacts. The room riffs on the mispronunciation 'rat scallion' before the show moves on.

Tonight's docket: two hard questions

• Can you read too much of the Bible, or overdo supplemental study resources like commentaries, podcasts, and videos?

Ben previews the evening's questions: whether you can read too much of the Bible or overdo the supplemental material around it (histories, commentaries, podcasts, videos), and how to set boundaries since 'somebody's gotta be wrong.' Boova adds that he is wrestling with this himself as he teaches people who are susceptible to what he says and lack filters of their own.

Boova's question: Paul's third heaven

• What is the 'third heaven' Paul mentions in 2 Corinthians 12?

Boova poses his ask-the-pastor question from 2 Corinthians 12: Paul's 'I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven.' He walks through the passage, wonders what the third heaven even is ('what kind of guy skips the second one?'), and notes Paul was answering the 'super apostles' in Corinth. Ben promises they will take it up later in the show.

News: Dave Grohl's infidelity and 'Jesus is it'

Mike shares the news that Dave Grohl fathered a love child, and the room admits disappointment in a rock star they admired for his generosity and everyman decency. Mike argues it is a stark reminder that 'Jesus is it': following God's design is the point, and rebelling against it ends in devastation. The others joke about megachurch pastors and note that pagans act like pagans.

Mental pornography and the wandering mind

Ben cites a Christian Post article on 'mental pornography' and argues mental lust was the universal form of the sin before actual pornography became ubiquitous. Dan recounts catching himself noticing the attractiveness of a wife on a sports podcast he watches on YouTube and wondering whether to switch to audio-only. The hosts agree you do not need pornography in front of you for the mind to wander, and rib Dan over his phrasing.

Hair, aging, and marriage comedy

A long comedy run on aging: Dave Grohl's and Ricky Skaggs' full heads of hair, bald jokes, and a bit inviting listeners with silver locks to text the complaint line at (515) 517-0085. Boova says his wife married him at his worst and he has only gotten healthier and better-looking since, prompting jokes about wives who expect to 'fix' their husbands and one host's wife insisting she genuinely finds him attractive.

Can you read too much Bible? The flat-reading case

Ben kicks off the first hard question and Mike makes the opening case: you cannot take in too much of God's inspired word, but the teaching layer (books, podcasts, YouTube videos) is different. A brand-new Christian doing a flat reading of Scripture cannot tell a good Bible teacher from a bad one, and hyper-focusing on side issues like the Nephilim or communion theology burns the time God gave for spreading the good news. He argues he could preach from the book of Ruth alone and never run out of material.

The risks of supplemental theology: fads and rabbit holes

The hosts work through the dangers of chasing extra-biblical material: studying to find deeper information outside the Scriptures instead of illuminating what is there, performative 'gotcha' knowledge, and fads that pull focus off Christ — the Left Behind rapture craze, the Prayer of Jabez as a formula to bend God's will, and the prosperity gospel's self-centered reframing. Dan grounds the purpose in Romans 12: study should transform you, not just fascinate you. Ben warns that if everything you read is blowing your mind and you never disagree with any teacher, you are reading dangerously.

The Scofield Reference Bible and the rapture's paper trail

Ben traces how rapture theology permeated the culture through the 1908 Scofield Reference Bible, Moody Bible College, and Billy Graham: readers new to study Bibles did not distinguish the commentary in small print from Scripture itself, and Scofield's note on the wheat and weeds in Matthew 13 reverses the parable's order to support a pre-tribulation harvest. He warns against bringing a personal fascination back to other believers as though it were what Yahweh cares about.

How do you know what's trustworthy? Dan, Mike, and Boova answer

• How do you know which supplemental Bible resources are trustworthy?

Ben asks each host in turn — 'Dan, Mike, Boova in that order' — how they vet supplemental material. Dan describes a 'sniff test' built on forty years of reading: checking a teacher's kingdom view, past errors like his early enthusiasm for Rob Bell, and the publisher. Mike says he asks trusted people who pray before reading and will not tell him what he wants to hear, since he cannot referee commentaries himself. Boova piggybacks on trusted people and describes praying for the Holy Spirit to teach him, illustrated by a fresh insight from 1 Samuel about David being a man after God's own heart. Dan closes with a Uganda Bible translator's note that sheep and goats look alike there, which reframes the sheep-and-goats parable.

Ben's method: double-check everything, hold your tongue

Ben gives his own vetting rules: he largely distrusts sermons for exegesis ('right point, wrong scripture'), double- and triple-checks extra-biblical claims, and leans on his ESV Study Bible while knowing its Reformed slant. He debunks the 'eye of the needle gate' — there was no such gate, and the myth softens Jesus' hyperbole about wealth — and the guys untangle a Horatio Alger versus Horatio Spafford mixup over who wrote 'It Is Well.' He closes by warning teachers not to perpetuate unvalidated anecdotes: say the warts out loud.

Ask the Pastor answered: the third heaven

After deciding the Dear LFTP letters are too heavy for tonight and swapping in a quiz instead, Ben takes up Boova's third-heaven question. Boova reads 2 Corinthians 12:1-6 and floats that Paul is obliquely boasting about himself against the 'super apostles.' Dan notes apostleship required being handpicked by Jesus. Ben likens the passage to John's Revelation vision — a real-but-not-earthly seeing — and shares his own one-time experience of God speaking in a Florida hotel room: a 'whoosh' upward and a cheesy 'Jesus is Lord' sign confirming his call to start a house church. The segment closes with Boova's aside on the 'gods' of the Old Testament and the Elohim.

Pop quiz: Who did it?

Ben runs a ten-question 'who did it?' Bible quiz from thequiz.com — Abraham's half-sister, Joseph's dream, the covenant of circumcision, Joshua leading into Canaan, Abimelech, Esau's birthright, Laban, Rachel's household gods, Shechem and Dinah, Amnon and Tamar. The room scores 10 out of 10 against a 123,000-taker average of 81%, with running jokes about Boova waffling and the half tribe of Manasseh.

Pop quiz: Who said it?, Mount Hor, and Dan Bucks

A second ten-question quiz, 'who said it?': Judas and the ointment, Samson's 'let me die with the Philistines,' Pilate's 'what is truth,' Peter to Ananias, Paul's 'pure from the blood of all men' (which the room wrongly assigns to Pilate), Stephen, Cain, Samuel, Job's 'I know that my redeemer liveth,' and Pilate washing his hands. They finish 8 of 10 against a 79,582-taker average of 80%. Detours include a Mount Hor versus Horeb geography check, Mike doing a Boova impression, Boova's Lodge Cast Iron Museum hat, and the launch of the joke cryptocurrency Dan Bucks.

Sign-off: complaint line and merch

Ben closes with the Dan Bucks pitch — text hashtag Dan Bucks to the complaint line at (515) 517-0085 for 'prayer support because you make bad decisions in life' — plus a plug for the Live From The Path merchandise at livefromthepath.org. His sign-off charge: 'be faithful in the means, God will handle the ends.'