Ask Pastor Mike Live

Laura: Yes, I hope so. Um, my son-in-law has a YouTube platform and he twists the Bible and he twists it to my grandson. And on those occasions when I've been able to hear it directly, I have spoken out in the kindest possible way. I don't know what my responsibility is to try and make sure my grandson does not believe the lies his father tells.

Mike Fabarez: Well, the great thing about the Bible Oh, go ahead. No, go ahead.

Laura: For example For example that uh Jonah resurrected.

Mike Fabarez: That who did?

Laura: Jonah and the whale.

Mike Fabarez: Okay. Right.

Laura: That's crazy stuff like that.

Mike Fabarez: Mhm. Well, I understand why he came to that conclusion and I know some people do say that uh but I do think I agree with you. He did not This is not a resurrection that takes place for Jonah. Uh and I'm I'm fully in in line with that. But the kinds of conclusions that some people come to with statements like that and they do because Jesus talked about uh the sign of Jonah, which is that he was in this whale for 3 days and some people say, well, how can it be a sign of Jonah if he's not in fact dead?

Because Jesus is clearly in fact dead. So that's why they make those conclusions. But I would say I mean that to me is a third level, third tier, what I call tertiary. It's It's not at the at the core of gospel truths. Uh I wouldn't have a problem with someone saying that if long as it's with a caveat. Uh you know, this is just an interesting thought that may be the case and this is what I'm convinced of great. But the good thing that you have going for you with your kids or your grandkids is that you can say, let's look at the Bible together and see if the book of Jonah says this.

And you can read in chapter two of Jonah where he calls out from inside of that the belly of that fish and he's clearly alive. So you can go to scripture and you should go always with an open Bible to the people hearing the false teaching that you love and care about and say, let's correct that. And I have to do that all the time from the pulpit cuz people are hearing all kinds of things from very popular teachers and many of them impinge on the truth of Christ and who he is and how he saves and what the expectation is in the Christian life and I have to get up and say, hey, don't believe that and let me show you why.

So show them why you are forced to as all Christians are to be a good Berean as we get out of the book of Acts that we go home and we we test what teachers say by looking carefully at the scriptures ourselves. And when people we love and care about are hearing bad teaching, well, then you can open the Bible for them and say, hey, we're you're not going to believe that because here's what the Bible says. Now, when you have someone close to you like your own child that's teaching false teaching as I said to Nicole who asked the question just a minute ago, I want to make sure that you tell them, hey, we James chapter three verse one.

Not many people should be teaching the Bible because you're going to incur a stricter judgment. And if you're out there on YouTube telling people something about what the Bible says and it's not it's not true and it's clearly that the Bereans can go out there open their Bible say, this is not what the Bible teaches, then just know God is not going to be happy with your service. You think you're serving the Lord and storing up treasure in heaven, but you're not. I mean you're you're going to be disciplined for this. And that's what the scripture promises in James chapter three or even 2 Timothy chapter two verse 15, which tells us we have a an obligation to rightly handle the word.

And we have to do that. If not, we will not be approved of God. And that's what the point of of 2 Timothy 2:15 is. We we need to be approved by it. We want to be approved by God. We want God to give a thumbs up to our ministry and bless it. He's not going to bless a ministry of a teacher who continually twists the scripture. So yes, a a kind but straightforward word and I say kind, it's never going to feel kind. A a a gentle but firm word that you shouldn't be teaching things that are not true to the one teaching it and then to the one hearing it, you want to say, hey, here's why we don't believe that because the Bible doesn't say it.

And that's where we have to always go around and kind of mop up after other people saying the wrong things. Does that make sense, Laura?

Laura: Yes, it does. Thank you so much for your encouragement. I don't want to come across as cruel or angry. It's just God's word is God's word and you read it and it it is the way it is. You don't twist it.

Mike Fabarez: Can remember this, Laura. Even though they say you're being cruel or nasty or whatever, you know you 're not, right? And you care about the truth and you're just stating the facts. You're not upset, you're not angry. You 're just saying, hey, I'm not being cruel, I'm not being angry. I'm just telling you stop saying things that the Bible does not teach. And and oh, you're being mean. Well, I'm not being mean. I 'm doing I 'm doing what we should do. I'm being a good Berean Berean to see whether or not the things you're teaching are true.

So yeah, don't let them shut you up simply because you are saying something kindly and directly and they're going to charge you with being mean. Oh well, you can you can think it's mean, right? That's the problem in the book of Proverbs. If you try to correct a scoffer, all you're going to do is have him scoff at you. And that's the problem with some people. They can't take correction. Go with an open Bible and once you'll figure out at some point maybe the guy is not even open to any input or correction, then all you're going to do is have to go around mopping up with the people that are hearing.

And if your grandkids or any other people you love are hearing this, you need to step in and say, hey, this isn't right. Laura, hang in there. Okay. Yeah, hang in there. We all deal with that at some level, but when it's your own child uh and it's close to home, that is really really hard. And I think about the book of Proverbs that says when you have a wise son, right? The mother is rejoicing, the father is made glad. And it's really sad when we do things like we're we're not a good teacher of the word.

We not only are disappointing God, we disappoint people that care about us like our parents. So Laura, we feel bad for that phone call, but maybe uh the encouragement will help you to stand strong and be a good teacher to those that are hearing some false teaching out there.