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The Proclaim & Defend podcast is the podcast of the Foundations Baptist Fellowship International. We established this podcast to give a voice to our publication, FrontLine Magazine. We hope you enjoy the additional content we provide here. You can subscribe to our magazine via Substack or go to http://fbfi.org/subscribe/ to subscribe to the magazine. proclaimdefend.substack.com
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- 3 days ago7 min
Covetousness: The Different Commandment
In an article published this week in Torah.com, Jack Sasson asked an interesting question.“Why is ‘Do not covet’ in the decalogue?’”The Decalogue forbids patently reprehensible acts, but the prohibition against coveting is a potentially victimless offense and is the only one that exclusively addresses men. Moreover, this tenth commandment has no clear parallels in ancient Near Eastern law.As we trace through the Commandments in Exodus 20, all are public, outwardly discernible sins with offended parties—divine, human, or both.The first four commandments (Exodus 20:3-11) demand fealty to Jehovah. It must be exclusive—no polytheism. It must not be expressed in idol worship. He must be honored in all speech. He must be honored specifically on the Sabbath.The next five commandments in verses 12-16 are one-another commands that protect people from people. Honor your parents. Do not murder. Honor marriage and remain faithful to your spouse. Do not take what is not yours. Do not commit perjury, damaging your neighbor.But then comes that last commandment (Exodus 20:17), which is about a heart attitude—about desire. After noting that this commandment is exclusively addressed to men (It doesn’t mention coveting your neighbor’s husband, and women could not own property in the ancient Near Eastern world), Sasson says this about this commandment.Another oddity makes the Tenth Commandment stand out from the others: The previous commandments forbid patently reprehensible acts such as stealing, murdering, kidnapping, or committing perjury. By contrast, coveting in the Tenth Commandment is an emotional capitulation to intense envy, remediable only through introspection and self-examination.It is truly a commandment about jealousy and envy and is at the heart of all biblical sin. This might be one of the most important commandments of all. …For the rest of this post click here: Covetousness: The Different Commandment - Proclaim & Defend… or just listen to the podcast. Get full access to the Proclaim & Defend Podcast at proclaimdefend.substack.com/subscribe
- 1 weeks ago7 min
End of Life Decisions and the Christian Family
My father entered heaven in January of 2021. For our family, it was a traumatic experience.The Covid-19 virus spread through our church rapidly in December of 2020. We had to cancel services because there were no pastoral staff members healthy enough to lead. My father contracted the disease in that wave. He fought it off for several weeks at home before his low blood oxygen level demanded he go to the hospital. But even in the hospital, he did not improve.No one in our family was allowed to visit him there. Once he was moved to ICU, even my daughter, a nurse in that same hospital, was refused access to him. We communicated regularly with doctors and nurses and with him. He was intubated for several weeks, and then eventually weaned off the machine. Even off the ventilator, he still needed a pressurized mask to breathe.Dad had a hard time in the hospital separated from family. He was struggling for every breath and he was alone. On the day he died, we were Facetiming him and we listed to a doctor and nurse pressure him to remove his mask and die. I confronted them both by video and demanded that they stop trying to convince him to give up and die. They kept saying things like, “you might get better, but your health will never be the same.” They said they were just trying to be honest with him, but in the desperation of that moment, that was not honesty, it was pressure to give up. Eventually he asked for the mask to be removed, and with his hand he signed “I love you” to our family, before he breathed his last. …Read the rest of this post here: End of Life Decisions and the Christian Family - Proclaim & Defend… or just listen to the podcast! Get full access to the Proclaim & Defend Podcast at proclaimdefend.substack.com/subscribe
- 1 weeks ago48 min
Interview 116: Built to Grow: Understanding and Advancing the Mission of the Church
With this podcast we introduce the July/August edition of FrontLine magazine. The associate editor for this edition was Mark Herbster.The theme was Built to Grow: Understanding and Advancing the Mission of the Church — the point of this podcast is to explain what Mark and the authors were after in fleshing out the theme.To summarize though, there are two extremes in looking at church growth. There is the extreme of going after numerical growth almost at any cost. In reaction to that is the extreme of disdaining growth and becoming too inward focused. Our writers are focusing on a balance between the extremes.Normally, we publish an article in connection with the podcast. However, this time we have already published the introduction to this edition of FrontLine on Proclaim & Defend. You will find the link here in our show notes.Before we turn to this interview, let me encourage you to subscribe to our Substack or to FrontLine magazine itself. I hope you will join with us and support the ministry of the FBFI by becoming a paying subscriber.The Contents & Editorial for the July/August FrontLine:FrontLine: Built to Grow: Understanding and Advancing the Mission of the Church Get full access to the Proclaim & Defend Podcast at proclaimdefend.substack.com/subscribe
- 2 weeks ago8 min
Thank God for Liberty
Romans 13:7The powers that be are ordained of God.Every person in this room who names Christ experientially is part of two Kingdoms. We are all part of the Kingdom of God and we will enjoy together the blessings of that future Kingdom when Jesus Christ reigns. But we also have been placed by God in this country and at this time by His wisdom and Providential choice. He has done so for His glory, for His purpose, and for our good. And today, in spite of the political climate, social woes, and sinfulness that surrounds us, we should take the time to be thankful.Last weekend, we celebrated the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. As far as nations go in the history of the world, we are still an infant nation. And yet, so much has transpired in such a short time.We have survived and thrived.Our nation has seen the advancement and experimentation of governmental practices in a way not seen since dawn of the history of mankind. We endured numerous wars, and a Civil War with more American casualties than all other American wars combined. We endured the 20th Century, its World Wars, genocides, and communist upheaval. With 231 million people dying in war in that century, it was, by far, the bloodiest in recorded history, and yet we, as a nation not only remain, but remain strong.We have seen technological advances like no other. My grandfather courted my grandmother in a horse drawn cart, today couples fly in just a few hours to distant places of the world for their weddings. They travel to and from airports in self-driving vehicles with computerized brains that were impossible to imagine even just a few years ago. Rockets fly into space nearly every day, tens of thousands of satellites circle our planet. Our healthcare system is the best in human history, and the best in world today in spite of whatever flaws it might have.Our nation, these United States of America, is far from perfect—even from the beginning. We were founded on the principles of liberty and justice, but we have had to struggle continuously to secure those ideals with conflict, blood and tears. Those battles continue to this day. Every generation must fight its own battles to preserve freedom.We enjoy God’s abundance.This is not a perfect nation because we are far from a perfect people, but it is a blessed nation. We are blessed with some of the most beautiful and plentiful natural resources of any nation on earth. Our farms are rich and vibrant, orchards are heavy with fruit, fields nourish millions of domesticated animals necessary for our survival. We are a nation rich in mineral resources and could live independently from the rest of the world should we so choose. Our 68 national parks and 138 national monuments preserve the beauty of our Creator’s handiwork for everyone to enjoy, even those who do not acknowledge Him. Our borders are free from the threat of invading militaries because of our unique geography. These are the undeserved gifts of God. …Read the rest of this post here: Thank God for Liberty - Proclaim & Defend… or just listen to the podcast. Get full access to the Proclaim & Defend Podcast at proclaimdefend.substack.com/subscribe
- Jun 28, 20269 min
The Jewish Curse
The Jewish Curse“His blood be upon us and upon our children.”In the past week, the ousted President of Colombia, Gustavo Petro, blamed his election loss on cheating and interference by Israel. At the same time, he had repeatedly called his opponents fascists. And no, it doesn’t make sense.It seems popular today to blame nearly everything bad in the world on Israel, and sometimes the Jews broadly. Antisemitism is alive and well, and it is rooted in church history.When Constantine made Christianity the official religion of the Roman Empire, he set the stage for modern antisemitism. It existed before that time—the Book of Esther is an example. While the 1st Century New Testament Church was made up of converted Jews and gentiles, the 1st Century Jewish persecution of the Church did not produce fraternal feelings between the two religions (Romans 12:28). Early church history records the struggles.Once the Church became entwined with the state, Christian baptism became a qualification for citizenship (in the late 4th century) and the Jewish communities within the Roman Catholic sphere became outsiders.While modern Catholics argue that antisemitism is not part of historic Church dogma, that idea is incongruent with the fact that the victims of the Spanish Inquisition were “unorthodox” Christians and Jews.…Read the rest of this post here: The Jewish Curse - Proclaim & Defendor just listen to the podcast. Get full access to the Proclaim & Defend Podcast at proclaimdefend.substack.com/subscribe
- Jun 27, 202646 min
Interview 115: Multiplication Through Division
Today we are going to begin discussing the July/August edition of FrontLine, it is coming out in a few days, but I feel the need to keep the podcast going so we will get started a little ahead of publication.The early summer is challenging for the podcast as summer travel schedules get in the way of conducting interviews with our authors. I still have a couple of conversations to record from the May/June edition, but we will just fill them in as they come.Today’s conversation is with Matt Walker. He is the pastor of College Park Baptist Church in Cary, North Carolina. I would say he is an innovative thinker which you will pick up on as you listen to the conversation. The subject of this issue of FrontLine is about growing the church, “Built to Grow” is the title.Matt’s burden is for church planting. He suggests that our goal in building churches should be building more churches. It’s hard to argue with that when you consider the patterns the apostles set for us in the New Testament.I hope our conversation gives you some ideas about the growth of your own church and ways in which you can reach your community and beyond.Before we get into that, let me remind you that Matt’s article is available on our Substack right away for paying subscribers. We have previews for everyone else. I hope you will join with us and support the ministry of the FBFI by becoming a paying subscriber.The Contents & Editorial for the May/June FrontLine:FrontLine: Built to Grow: Understanding and Advancing the Mission of the Church [coming soon]The Article:Multiplication Through Division: Rediscovering Reproduction Through Church Planting Get full access to the Proclaim & Defend Podcast at proclaimdefend.substack.com/subscribe
- Jun 22, 202612 min
The Lies of Theological Liberalism in American Politics
Beware the lies of theological liberalism — or, as they like to call themselves today, progressive Christianity.While most theologically conservative pastors would prefer to focus on teaching the Word faithfully and avoid directly addressing political controversies from the pulpit, there are times when the discussion is unavoidable. This is one of those times.Andrew Daugherty, a pastor writing for Salon, took on the Christian right in a defense of Texas Senate candidate James Talarico. Talarico is the openly gay Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate in Texas who claims to be a Christian and often quotes Scripture as part of his defense of progressive political views. What we have here is a case of theological liberalism defending political progressivism and condemning conservative Christians to do so. …Read the whole article here:The Lies of Theological Liberalism in American Politics - Proclaim & Defend… or just listen to the podcast. Get full access to the Proclaim & Defend Podcast at proclaimdefend.substack.com/subscribe
- Jun 13, 202643 min
Interview 114: “No Kings”? A Christian Perspective on Government “Rulers”
Today I’m joined by my friend, pastor Mike Ascher, who serves as pastor of Good News Baptist Church in Chesapeake, Virginia. Mike is also an FBFI-endorsed police chaplain.His article appeared in the May/June edition of FrontLine and was called: “No Kings”? A Christian Perspective on Government “Rulers”This article appeared in the middle section of the magazine, the part we call the “Pastor’s Insert.” The articles in this section usually don’t touch on the main theme of the FrontLine edition that they appear in.Mike’s article is drawn from current events. He is addressing an issue that we see roiling the public these days as protesters are worked up about the government they have and seem to think protest is the right way to go about changing it. Some of these protests can turn violent, which concerns everyone.Mike’s burden is that Christians adopt a biblical view of our relation to authority and properly reflect God’s viewpoint rather than the “mob-induced” mentality we see in our streets and seemingly all over the internet these days.I hope you find our discussion helpful.Let me remind you that Mike’s article is available on our Substack right away for paying subscribers. We have previews for everyone else. I hope you will join with us and support the ministry of the FBFI by becoming a paying subscriber.The Contents & Editorial for the May/June FrontLine:FrontLine: The Future of Missions – Proclaim & DefendThe Article:“No Kings”? A Christian Perspective on Government “Rulers” Get full access to the Proclaim & Defend Podcast at proclaimdefend.substack.com/subscribe
About the Proclaim & Defend Podcast
The Proclaim & Defend podcast is the podcast of the Foundations Baptist Fellowship International. We established this podcast to give a voice to our publication, FrontLine Magazine. We hope you enjoy the additional content we provide here. You can subscribe to our magazine via Substack or go to http://fbfi.org/subscribe/ to subscribe to the magazine. proclaimdefend.substack.com
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