John and the host tackle exposing "Big Eva" hypocrisy, citing scriptures like Proverbs 20 to condemn weaselly tactics such as Tim Keller's ambiguous thread regarding Francis Collins and abortion research funding. They argue that indirectness is a sin requiring repentance, contrasting false teachers' smooth words with God's clarity found in Galatians 2 where Paul rebukes Peter for confusion. Ultimately, the discussion asserts that bearing false witness through non-specific accusations serves to deceive, urging listeners to demand biblical transparency over evasive ambiguity. [Automatically generated summary]
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Tone vs Content Debate00:08:00
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This one's for you, John, for sure.
You too, AD, but what scripture would you give to address the more weaselly, sneaky ways that big Eva types bear false witness, e.g., Relentless ambiguity that allows the wiggle room defense of that's not what I was referring to.
Or non specific accusations without names can't be verified, the overgeneralization accusations against the entire church, trivial, easy to find a singular example.
Basically, it's the modern day.
The modern day is it?
Say it's for me?
Well, I just feel like.
Because the word weasel came up in it, and that's 80's favorite word.
I did.
That's true.
I like how the question isn't.
It's not tainted at all from the beginning.
Weasel-y.
Yeah.
More than one way to skin a weasel.
Yeah.
What scripture comes to mind?
I would say, you know, one like, you know, let your yes be yes, let your no be no, or the proverb about a winking eye or something like that.
The pursed lips of a.
Do you know that one?
You know a lot about the Bible, right?
The proverb about.
Pastor, Pastor.
Pursed lips and squinting eyes.
It's like about someone like going, yeah.
You know, like it's improbable.
I don't have the whole Bible memorized, but this is a learning moment for you.
Yeah.
To feel like you should know the Bible.
Yeah.
I can't help it.
I just read this the other day.
It's just embarrassing.
Anyway, but there are a few proverbs that talk about this about deceitful people, right?
Deceitful people.
And so I think there's more than one way to wink, you know?
And I think a lot of times, you know, evangelical leaders, especially the ones that I criticize, they'll put something out there.
Like Tim Keller did this just the other day.
He put out a whole thread about.
You know, is it okay for a civil servant, a federal agency employee to be a Christian but work for an agency that's doing evil things?
And he never mentioned, you know, Francis Collins, who just the day before an article came out about all the evil things that he's doing and funding.
And, you know, the Trump administration had cut funding for abortion research and he wanted more funding.
He's supposedly a Christian for abortion research.
So this article just came out and then Tim Keller.
Magically comes out with this thread about, is it okay?
Hypothetically, I'm definitely not talking about anyone specific for this.
And so people called him out instantly, like, why don't you just name him?
Like, what are you talking about?
He tried to compare it to Daniel.
You know, Daniel worked for Nebuchadnezzar.
Yeah, right.
And so he tried to compare it to that and Joseph working for the Pharaoh.
And the problem with that, everyone instantly saw this.
I'm not a genius, but, you know, those guys didn't compromise themselves, though, right?
Like, Daniel worked for Nebuchadnezzar, but he didn't obey him when he said, don't pray to anyone but me.
And so it would be Darius.
That's right, right.
So it would be comparable if Daniel, what he had actually done was say, you know, like, maybe we should pray more to Darius.
That would be what Francis Collin did.
But anyway, whatever.
So he didn't name him.
The next day he comes out and says, I wasn't talking about anyone specific.
And it's like, it's just so insulting.
And so I think it's those verses in the Proverbs about winking faces and pursed lips, not letting your yes be yes.
Tell me who you're talking about because we all know who you're talking about, and we're not playing that game anymore.
Nobody's buying Tim Keller's.
I wasn't really talking about that.
He was.
He was.
There's no hypothetical corporate boardroom member that he was talking about.
So that's what I would think.
It's just, you know, honestly, it's just not bearing false witness, you know?
That's great.
John, any thoughts?
Well, you were researching.
I was looking up the proverb.
I found it and I put it back in my pocket.
Is it a real proverb?
Yeah, it is.
You weren't just making it up.
You want me to tell you?
It's like Proverbs 20 something.
I was like, yeah, that was Confucius, dude.
That wasn't the Proverbs, man.
Yeah.
Well, there's a few, actually.
It wasn't just.
One, if I now my phone's about to die, so I don't know.
Oh, Proverbs 10.
There we go.
Proverbs 10 10.
That's one of them.
It talks about winking eyes.
So, yeah, so mine's a little my answer to this is a little bit, I think, like big picture here.
Like, start with God, his character.
That's the basis for morality.
God is clear, right?
He communicates in such a way that we can know.
He's not double tongued.
There's a lot of Proverbs about that, too.
He's not the author of confusion.
Right?
That's who God is.
So if you go to Galatians, this is the specific story I was thinking of when Paul confronts Peter, and literally he accuses Peter and the guys with him in Galatians 2 and 3 of being, he says, and some translations even say it this way they were not clear about the gospel.
They lacked clarity about that specific issue.
And so that was enough for Paul to publicly rebuke Peter.
And so, clarity is.
Is kind of assumed.
Like, in order to know that someone's qualified as a pastor, like, you have to assume, like, they're not lying to you.
They're what they say is what they mean.
They have to be able to refute those who contradict the word.
And so, like, that requires a lot of clarity.
And if you don't have clarity, if you can't communicate, then you're, I mean, that's like half your job as a pastor is to teach.
Like, how do you teach anyone if you don't know how to actually, like, say what you mean and mean what you say?
So, this is just something that.
Deceiving spirits do.
This is something that the devil does to confuse people.
Has God really said?
I mean, he kind of did, but like that's not from the Lord when it's not clear.
The Lord is clear about things.
So you can go and apply that to your life plan and all kinds of other areas too.
Like, you know, there's, you know, whatever is not a faith is sin.
Like, things are pretty clear cut when it comes to those issues.
So, and the winking eye thing.
So let me just say one more thing too.
I've been accused at times of having a, uh, Overly aggressive tone.
I know it's hard to believe.
I've had that too.
That's really weird.
Anyway, um, anyway, so, um, I've never had that.
The Bible warns about false teachers, um, regularly, right?
And if you look, the Bible talks about how their tone really does, but it's always smooth, buttery words that you're not aggressive, they're coming to you smooth talkers.
And I think that when you see some of these guys that put out, and this is not a hard and fast rule, so I'm not saying that.
But they put out these passive aggressive messages that everybody in the world knows exactly who they're talking about, but they don't say it.
They do that so it comes out smooth and buttery.
And then they also do it so that when you call them on it, they're like, Why are you accusing me?
Accuser of the brethren, I never said that.
And it's a tactic of devils, it's a tactic of demons.
And the reality is, next time someone warns you about someone like me's tone, ask them why false teachers are never talked about as the aggressive ones.
It's always Paul that's getting aggressive.
It's Jesus that's getting aggressive with the false teachers.
And so I'm not saying that my tone justifies my content, by the way.
But what I am saying is that the warning you should be looking out for when you're considering people that are teaching falsely is they talk, they're smooth talkers.
Warning Against Smooth Talkers00:00:39
That's right.
It's, like you said, a tactic of demons.
It's also effeminate.
And that said, I think we've all done it.
I'll speak for myself.
There are times where I've been indirect.
Indirect.
For a man to be indirect, I think is effeminate.
And I've been indirect.
And I think that's effeminate.
And that's a sin that I got to repent of and continue to rely on the Lord Jesus to make the righteous as bold as lions.
Lord, make me bold.
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