Do You Hear What I Hear

Show open and docket: 'Do You Hear What I Hear'

• Is Jesus speaking something specific to you today, or should the scriptures guide you?

Mike opens from the Pathway Studios in Johnston proper with a self-deprecating bit about the pre-show: Ben and Dan fall into deep theological debates while he armpit-farts, texts his wife for coaching ("be the hype man"), and tries random hype moves ("skirt skirt") — even considering "Pentecostal moves" next time. Ben sets the docket around the episode's driving question, 'Do You Hear What I Hear': is Jesus speaking something specific to you today, or should the scriptures simply guide you? Also on the docket: Ben's Rise Fest report and advice letters.

Rise Fest report and the 'making Jesus famous' shirt

Ben reports on Rise Fest, a two-day Christian music festival: the prayer tent, a giant box turtle scooting around the band, Josiah Queen putting on "one whiz bang of a show" while handling influence well at a young age, Phil Wickham headlining Saturday night, and Ben Fuller (of whom Ben has heard one song). The segment's flashpoint is a vendor shirt reading "making Jesus famous" on the back — Ben hates it: "Don't because Jesus is already famous... Everybody knows his name." Mike pushes back gently on the pointedness toward the people wearing them, noting Ben is "being rooked" by his dislike of being marketed to.

Holy Spirit experience: healing, cessationism, and testing the spirits

• Is there a normative experience of the Holy Spirit in the world today?

The central hard question: is there a normative experience of the Holy Spirit in the world today, and what does it mean for a follower of Jesus? The hosts discuss healing claims at Rise Fest, people making promises on the Holy Spirit's behalf, the uneasy statement that "God is not healing it" and then leaving town, and the flip side — "garlic eaters" whose cessationism is really fear of misuse. Warnings against the prosperity-gospel slide and for "testing the spirits." Dan contributes a short, somber interjection about a couple who lost two babies and "the world has fallen."

Discerning impressions: the exact phrase, obedience, and daily decisions

• Did God give you the exact phrase?

Mike shares a fifteen-year-old unresolved memory of someone saying "God told me," then frames the practical question: "did God give you the exact phrase?" The hosts work through obedience to impressions — including a deliberately absurd hypothetical ("your body is the temple, and the holy spirit told me that you're too obese") — and argue the rake shouldn't be banned because it can be misused. Dan offers the childlike-innocence view of praying for someone. Ben describes a persistent soups-and-smoothies thought he and his wife couldn't shake, and Mike presses on the difference between impressions and "human relationships," noting prayer actually does something.

Peter's broad invitation, Elijah, and New Testament precedent

Mike argues that if God told you exactly what he was doing, "you'd race him to get there" — withholding information is part of the design — and calls the Holy Spirit conversation "the most abusable part of scripture," with weariness toward broad promises made in God's name. Peter at Pentecost spoke to everybody ("It wasn't to Steve"); individual direction in the New Testament is scarce — Elijah was a lone wolf, healings happened individually, and Jesus was careful about who he said things to in crowds. Ben cautions that individual words claimed as God's can leave people misrepresenting Jesus.

Treasured thoughts, knowing His voice, and the wind metaphor

Mike brings up Mary, who "treasured this stuff up in her heart" — a model of holding impressions without mistaking her own voice for God's. The hosts reject the demand that every action be provably Spirit-led (some people claim "everything I do, it's all about Jesus"), while still affirming you'll know His voice when it comes: stay in Scripture, pray, keep humble, and "open up a box of yeses." Ben closes the discussion with a wind/steam-and-steel metaphor — the Spirit goes where it will and you follow, without demanding God speak in the way you expect. Ben plugs the complaint line, (515) 517-0085.

Secular vs Solomon: the laughter Bible quiz

Ben runs a ten-question online Bible quiz on laughter in the Bible, reading the questions and multiple-choice options while the other two play along. Rounds cover Abraham and Sarah's laughter, Psalm 2, the sword-drawn wicked (Psalm 37), Proverbs 29 ("there is no rest"), Ecclesiastes 3 ("to everything there is a season"), Ecclesiastes 7 (sorrow better than laughter; the crackling of thorns), Psalm 30 ("girded me with gladness"), Psalm 126, and Ecclesiastes 10:19 ("a feast is made for laughter... money answereth all things"). Final score: 7 of 10 — which Ben notes is rough, since the quiz has been taken 10,000 times since March 2007 with an average score of 99. Mike takes the fall ("I'm not a proverbs, psalms, Ecclesiastes man... I'm a 75-pound teenager" on the bobsled team) and dubs Ben "Thighbreaker" after a miss.

Dear LFTP 1: loud coworkers, the joining-in manager, and the Psalm 126 follow-up

• How should employees handle loud, disruptive coworkers whose manager joins in?

Mike reads the first Dear LFTP letter: a shared workspace where one department talks nonstop about non-work topics, and their manager joins in rather than correcting them — the writers are desperate for a reasonable work setting. Advice: you're not a combat medic digging fiber holes; take it as a group to the supervisor above the managers; noise-canceling headphones; or look for another job. The Secular answer: discuss accommodations with whoever supervises the managers, get headphones, or change companies. A quiz callback follows: the hosts revisit Psalm 126 — could David have written an exile psalm? One of the songs of ascent, with genuine authorship contention; "Selah."

Dear LFTP 2: unequal in-law cash gifts

• Am I petty for feeling less valued over unequal in-law cash gifts?

Mike reads the second letter: every year the writer's in-laws give cash to all children and spouses equally — except her, who gets half — while she hosts every celebration, visits weekly, and helps with repairs. Is she petty for feeling less valued? Dan shares his family's approach (doubling for Shanna; $50 to every son-in-law to spend on something they wouldn't buy themselves). The hosts advise letting it go — unearned money can't be owed — while the Secular answer is read: you're not petty for noticing, gift-giving is supposed to be equal, and it should have been raised with the husband early. Ben theorizes the discrepancy may be an extrapolated one-time "$100 at the beef restaurant" misunderstanding rather than a deliberate slight.

Sign-off

Ben closes the show with the standard outro: call or text the complaint line, expect the show back next week, and the sign-off line — "be faithful in the means. God will handle the ends."