Maybe A Word From God

Show open, lost episode names, and the New World Sun licensing story

Ben opens the show with a trivia bit: the first two years of episodes were hosted on now-dead platforms like Blip.tv, so he has the audio but not the titles; he asked an AI to find them and it recovered about 30 of the 2,010. Mike notes the opening song 'The Working Man' is by New World Sun, a Canadian Christian band that is reuniting after a hiatus, and urges listeners to follow them. Ben recounts settling with the band years ago, paying the drummer $300 to license the theme song, and jokes the reunion might mean they now want $1,500.

Mike frames the question: are more people hearing from God?

• Does it seem like more and more people are hearing from God — and is that real or a lie and a huge distraction?

Ben asks Mike for a two-sentence framing; Mike says listening to the book of Job while mowing made him furious when Bildad 'received a word from the Lord,' turning a bad human argument into an unarguable divine claim. The hosts note all three friends speak in flowery 'within my spirit' language, and it sounds like today. Ella adds the Instagram/Facebook 'stop right now, God put this on your For You page' videos, questioning how the poster could possibly know that.

Docket teasers and the crucifixion-framing precision

Ben previews two postponed topics: Christians talking as if they don't belong on earth (exiles, 'not home yet') and treating cultural clash as persecution instead of opportunity ('that's Daniel in the lion's den'). He then sharpens a point from weeks ago: focus less on what Rome did and more on what God did — a blood-and-gore crucifixion emphasis misplaces the story's weight. A stabbing-and-forgiveness illustration escalates into comedy ('no one has ever apologized for stabbing me').

Mike recaps Job: bad advice dressed as a divine word

Mike walks through Job: Satan's wager, Job's losses, the three friends sitting silent for a week (nailing it), then 35 chapters of 'fess up, Job' retribution theology. The turn that angers him: when earthly arguments fail, the friends claim visions, fog, and mist — 'I heard from the Lord you're a liar.' Ben notes the pattern is the episode's central problem: an unarguable claim.

Ben's case: humility, the study Bible, and not baptizing a preference

Ben argues 'God has spoken' — his worn study Bible — and says direct personal words from God have come maybe twice, plus about five times through others, in his 45 years; he is a pastor, and it is not daily. He warns against baptizing a preference ('I took a dump and thought of something — ain't the same'), urges testing claims against scripture and God's character, and says to run any 'God told me' through ten filters and pray with someone else.

Skepticism and the body: elbows, ears, trees, and Antioch

Dan's first reaction is always skepticism — 'am I convincing myself?' — doubled for social-media prophets. Mike counters with the body metaphor: if God made him an elbow, he doesn't need to be in every conversation the ear has; he doesn't want to be a Pharisee missing the Lord over preference. Examples: someone learning God through trees, and Antioch's 'set apart Paul and Barnabas' — specific, communal, testable.

Does God speak more now? Indwelling Spirit versus prophets

• Does God talk to people as much now as he did in the Old Testament or New Testament?

A host asks whether God talks to people as much now as in the Old and New Testaments. Ben's key distinction: the indwelling Holy Spirit means more people can have the experience the prophets had — more by volume — but he warns against 'spirit micromanagement' that turns people into chess pieces with no agency. Mike reframes: invitations, not chess moves; you choose to go. Ben adds God went 400 years silent even in the prophet era — daily experiences were never the norm.

Flippant God-talk: VBS videos, Jeremiah 29:11, and the 'exile' misquote

Ben tells of baptisms Sunday: an emcee's 'look at all the cool things God is doing' over a VBS video struck him as flippant — 'we're not wandering in and out of the tent of meeting; we're coming in in a bathrobe and shaving our armpits.' He then corrects a preacher's 'we are exiles' claim built on a truncated 1 Peter 1:1 ('the elect, the exiles...' — actually the Jewish diaspora in Turkey) and notes 'shalom,' not 'prosper,' in Jeremiah 29:11. His rule: don't tell me God told you a thing if he didn't.

How to tell your voice from God's: the Bible test and leniency

• How can you tell the difference between you speaking and God speaking?

Ella distills the question: how do you tell the difference between you speaking and God speaking? Her first answer: we have a Bible — what God is telling you is probably already in it ('Ben's gonna have a proud papa moment'). Her second: leniency — we go easy on what we want to be okay, which reshapes God's character into our image (the broccoli vs. candy corn analogy). Ben adds: never invite someone to serve a God made in your image or mine; Dan notes churches wanting to be the hero of the story.

Proclamations as prophecy: the neon-sign dream and the glory test

Ben proposes treating every 'the Spirit told me' claim as prophecy: true or false, and untestable claims ('the Spirit told me mauve') shouldn't be made. He tells his own story: praying over starting the house church, a hyper-realistic dream of a flashing neon sign reading 'Jesus is Lord' in a hotel room — personal, never proclaimed to others. Dan's test: am I bringing glory to God, or using God for glory? Mike's: do you want to be known as an awesome prophet? Plus the angelic-armies story (Mike says Elijah; it is Elisha's in 2 Kings 6) and the pattern of hesitant prophets.

Mike's Ethiopia adoption story and the fear of being a false prophet

Mike tells the story that scared him: feeling led to adopt internationally, praying for the country, then looking down at work to see a National Geographic reading 'adopting from Ethiopia' — 'that's it, done.' Five years of waiting ended when Ethiopia closed; his first thought was 'I'm a false prophet,' and he stayed confused for years over proclaiming something in God's name that failed. Dan shares a parallel: a mid-80s-to-90s China adoption process that quietly died, which he is now grateful for. Ben's counsel: be faithful in the means — ordering the hamburger faithfully doesn't guarantee what shows up at the window; Abraham wasn't upset he didn't have to kill Isaac.

Ella's two questions: the shut door and the king's throne room

Ella, newer to Christianity, asks Mike two written-down questions: if he heard correctly and the door still shut, did it shape his testimony and actions now? And was the faithful walk to the door the important part, not the door? Mike admits he is more publicly worried about seeming a false prophet than about mishearing. The room lands on reverence: God is King and Father — 'you're on a need-to-know basis, buddy' — with the crucifixion week's silence toward the disciples as the example, plus an honor-culture contrast with the West.

The right-song question, the complaint line, and Ben's New Orleans heaviness

• When the right song comes on at the right moment, is that the Holy Spirit or just a feeling?

A host asks: when the right song hits at the right moment, is that the Holy Spirit or just a feeling? Ben: if it points you to Jesus, it doesn't matter which — but beware implying others lack the Spirit if they don't feel it. After the mid-show complaint-line read ((515) 517-0085, the Bob Eisenhower line), Ben shares a 'spiritual frailty' moment: a family vacation in Pensacola, then New Orleans' French Quarter feeling spiritually heavy and dark for 15-20 minutes, leaving him feeling ill-equipped and praying. Dan recalls a 1994 Taiwan-or-China funeral with a similar demonic-presence sense.

Dear LFTP: the basement musician whose wife never asks him to play

• Am I asking too much to expect my wife to ask me to play, or should I just let it go and stop writing songs?

Mike reads a letter from a married-31-years basement musician and songwriter whose non-musical wife has never once asked him to play — he wonders if he's asking too much or should stop writing. The hosts sympathize (Dan's wife Cheryl never asked him to play an episode; Ben's wife doesn't listen either) but call the quit-writing ultimatum heavy-handed: it isn't the bellwether of the marriage, though being asked would mean something. Secular's answer: she was never a music lover; keep writing if it satisfies you.

Dear LFTP: the retired people-pleaser and her boundary-blurring friends

• How should a people-pleasing retired woman handle friends who ignore her 'I need advance notice' boundary?

Mike reads a letter from a single retired woman with a side business, frustrated by friends who invite her last-minute, get annoyed when she declines, and tie her up with 'utter nonsense' calls and texts despite her 'I need advance notice' replies. The hosts' counsel: be clearer than you think you've been, then just don't answer — 'ignore the ding'; draw the line in Sharpie if they keep crossing the pencil line, but check the line was holy, not ungracious. Ella predicts Secular will say cut them out; the actual Secular answer is milder: keep responding as you do, screen oppressive calls.

Close: LFTP TV lineup, Android app testers, benediction

Ben closes with the complaint line ((515) 517-0085), plugs tv.lifefromthepath.org's news channel — Digital Dan anchors till midnight, Secular tells jokes 12 to 6, Solomon runs 6 to 9, thrift store priest 9 to noon — and asks Android users to text the line to beta-test the unfinished LFTP app. Benediction: 'be faithful in the means, God will handle the ends.'