The Hope Hotline - The Hope Hotline | S02-E22 | 04-17-24

Episode Date: April 29, 2024

The Hope Hotline | S02-E22 | 04-17-24

Real talk. Real talk. Real talk. Hello and welcome to the Hope Hotline. It is Wednesday and it is the, well, it's two days after tax day. So I think all of us can be completely happy. Well, some people said, I'm not, I didn't pay mine yet. I didn't do mine yet. And everybody else on the squad didn't either. I mean, I got my kids done, so I'm happy about that. Taxes, yours is done. You didn't do yours.

Your dad did yours. Yeah, but I still did mine. Now. Mine are still done. Yours are done. You didn't do yours. Your dad did yours. Yeah, but I still did mine. No. Mine are still done. Yours are done by your dad. Mine are done, or my kids are done by me. Heather, yours done? No, I'm waiting on hurricane money still.

How is it that I had to file mine, and I didn't get all my money, and you didn't have to file yours, and we had the same tax guy? I don't know. I just do what he tells me you could ask him that's a lot i don't like that i love him though but that makes no sense to me but you listen you're gonna end up paying penalty money just so you know do you know that anybody that you've not been able to pay your taxes because of the hurricane? Ian? And then every one of them after that?

The more you don't pay your taxes, the longer you wait? I think he said I'm getting money back, so it doesn't matter. Well, it'll be less money because they take interest and penalties. Not if they owe me money. They don't, he said. They're going they owe me money they don't he said they're gonna owe me i don't owe them i think that's why well that must be nice it's not much i have no idea i could be completely wrong i actually don't know but that's ringing a bell well if you're getting money back why would you have to pay that let's go to dinner i'll take you to dinner i'm still waiting to take you to lunch

for your birthday it's heather's birthday last week she on saturday and she wouldn't let me take her to lunch she wanted to do nothing for the day absolutely how dare you man she's my child that's for sure that's how i said i would have done the same thing all right ladies talia paid her taxes vanessa doesn't probably know because she does nothing business in her whoa you don't do anything business do you do anything business-wise in your household i i'm in charge of like the day-to-day make sure that the mortgage the mortgage is all all of that is taken care of. I think honestly we have extended.

You pay your tithes. I mean, you're in job is to pay all that. Yes, I know. But I think as of yesterday, I think the plan was to, to do an extension, but I'm not quite sure. I talked to your husband a long time ago. He goes, I don't give him money until I have to. Yeah. He's of the same mindset as me. Yeah. I talked to your husband a long time ago. He goes, I don't give him money until I have to. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

He's of the same mindset as me. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I ain't giving him squat if I don't have to. So I think, I don't know, for sure. Sarah. I like to believe that I know. It sounds good. You know what?

You sound confident in that, Vanessa. Sometimes that's half of it. That's just half of it. Keep telling yourself that. If you sound confident, most of the time anybody will believe what you got to say. That's it. That's half the battle, especially in sales. That's how scoundrels will beat out honest people all day long.

Trust me, I know. I wasn't the scoundrel. I was honest. That's one of the pillars of my life. Is just be confident and people will believe you. But you haven't filed your taxes. So I think I may have been fired by my accountant. Because he won't return my emails or calls. We got a good one.

Unless it's the same guy. You got fired? Email him. It's the same guy. You got fired. Email him. It's way better. I emailed him and have not received anything. Listen, he's, he's not returned my calls for a really long time too before. I would email him again. Yes.

That's I've, I've had to email him more than once. I'm also in the market for a bookkeeper for my business. So if anybody out there wants to make a little extra money, I don't want to do it anymore. That's a dangerous thing to put on the hope hotline. But go for it, sister. I see you found the thrives. There's like three of these left in there. And I found one. Oh, no, there's more. Oh. I got them, sister. I got your back. Okay, well, that's interesting. Hopefully you guys filed your taxes.

The miserable existence that that is. Our money goes to absolutely, positively nothing good. It's pathetic. No taxation without representation. Mm-hmm. And that's it right there. Preach. I want a bill. I'm only a boo. That reminds me of,

you guys won't know this, but back in the day we had bedrock. What was that called? On Saturday mornings, it taught you about history. It was like something bedrock. I can't remember what it is, but it was like so good. All I can think of is the Flintstones when you say bedrock. It wasn't. Oh, my hands. All I can think of is the Flintstones when you say bedrock. It wasn't. Oh, my house. That was Saturday mornings, too. Hold on one second. Bedrock.

History. Sean probably knows it. History. Sunday mornings. School house rock. School house rock. School house rock. Thank you very much. That's what Aaron said.

God bless you, Aaron. I did watch that. Conjunction, junction. What's your function? Yeah, good stuff. Taught you how to do pronouns. I still don't know how to do them. He taught you all the pronouns.

You would sing them. It's kind of like classic. Classical conversation. It's very much like that. It's like taught you like, I'm only a bill. I made it to the Capitol Hill. Kind of thing. Taught you that stuff.

But it was good. We don't get nothing like that anymore. How many of you guys remember like like, after-school specials? Remember those after-school specials? Brad Pitt was in one of them when he was, like, 15. Wow. Yeah, that's the first time I saw Brad Pitt. And I was like, who the heck are you, boy?

Yeah. Of course, I was much older. He's like, I think he's like six years older than me. All right. Heather, do your thing. All right. So we are going to start with Facebook. If you are watching on Facebook, we want you to like, share and comment. If you're not watching on Facebook and you're on YouTube, you can subscribe, like, share, comment or ring the bell.

Rumble is what we prefer, correct? That's what you want people watching on? Rumble, rumble, rumble. Rumble, rumble, rumble. So if you're on rumble, if you're watching live, we'd love for you to be in the chat with us. If not, do hashtag replay so we can know that you watched. Also option is black rope. If you are driving in the car we don't want you watching so you can do audio podcasts you can listen live or you can download it for later um let's see what's next i think i covered all that ladies i'm not a social media girl so is that it okay great job next we want questions if you haven't sent a question in send a question in this week. I dare you. Do it.

I double dog dare you. Double dog dare you. We're going to go straight for the double dog. We want questions. Even if you think it's a silly question, send it anyway. We like silly questions. All right. This is Instagram. This is what I was talking about earlier.

Another option. You can follow. Do that. Next, we have a big thing coming. Oh, wait. Go back to questions. Did I say that? Yes.

So askhope at hopeplotline.com. Can't they also do it in a messenger? Don't you guys accept them that way through comments? We prefer not to do it because they get lost. Don't do that. Especially Rumble because they get totally deleted afterwards, and then we never even know. Yeah.

And then I think or I know when you send it to Hope Hotline, askhopehotline.com, that you will get a response. So if you don't get a response, please send it again until you get the response just so we don't miss you. Correct. Next, we have Dare to Be coming up which is not this Friday but next Friday April 26th. It's going to be here. We're going to have some snacks. Not a full meal just sneaky snacks. 6 30 to 7 we will have that and then we will have hope in the sanctuary doing her fun night also coming up

we have save the date which is the beloved conference this year it is victorious so if you haven't already made plans we ask you to please make plans tell your husband you're going stock your pantry get here and then do you want to talk about our guest on Friday yes our dear dear friend miss Natalie will be joining us on Friday she is for some actual professional advice not peanut gallery advice are we doing just ask writing questions or no I already got him oh she's got him yeah I'm already done all right so they're already they're already finished and we're ready just ask writing questions? No, I already got them. Oh, she's got them. Yeah, I'm already done. All right. They're already finished and we're ready to roll.

That's such a good picture of her. She's just the sweetest. I know. I love her. I love her. If people got to know her, if they've met her and just talked to her for a brief period of time, their confidence level would go up on her. I mean, she's just a wealth of knowledge,

but she's just such an incredible person. There's something to be said about good bedside manner. There ain't a lot of people with good bedside manner, let alone that has some skill set besides, you know, when practicing medicine. Practicing medicine is a whole bunch of protocols now it's not actually right medicine yeah which is not what she does nor what the place that she works for so it's going to be very enlightening for people to meet her and to listen to her she was on here she was on the hope hotline last year did a great job

super knowledgeable and i mean if people are watching and they have questions for her we'll opt we'll absolutely take those questions that's not a problem at all so i think that's it on my end i think sounds good yeah i think we're gonna get rolling into the questions. I've been like, it's been crazy. Like today's been not a crazy day, but today's like before I got here was crazy because I had to go get Tom his lunch and it makes me like feel like panicked because I literally got here 20 minutes before the podcast. And I like to just go over everything for the podcast. And so before it, I was kind of like a little.

So we're just going to roll because I'm not flowing like I normally do. I'm not chill, so I'm a little amped up. So girls, give me your two cents if you want. These are very different questions today. And let's just go. Several times in the Old Testament, the phrase birds of heaven is used what do you interpret the phrase to mean or refer to reference verses are psalm 104 12 job 35 11 and ezekiel 31 13 we're going to go straight to them psalms 104 12 says by them the

birds of the heavens have their home they sing among the branches job 3511 says who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of heaven and ezekiel 31 13 says and on its ruin will remain all the birds of the heavens and all the beasts of the field will come to its branches okay so i did i had to dig deep on this one. Like I had to do like commentaries and things like that because you go to those scriptures and there's nothing like they talk about that specific, they'll talk about that verse, but it doesn't say anything about a bird. And it doesn't even say anything about heaven. So it's like, all those verses that you mentioned, they all have a deeper meaning,

but none of it is in regards to birds of heaven. So like Ezekiel 31, 13, it's prophetic. It's about Assyria, which has nothing to do with birds of heaven. I don't know why they put that in there. It must have been like a term, like a thorn in the flesh. A thorn in the flesh is used throughout scripture. And everybody thinks the thorn in the flesh was Paul being sick,

like he had some illness. But if you look at where it's used in scripture and other places, and as we use it today, we'll say that person's a thorn in my flesh, correct? Yeah. But everybody will say that Paul was referring to his thorn in the flesh as part of a sickness. When in all actuality, it was he had people problems, just like we use it today.

How that is totally missed, I just don't know because there's like, we all have little phrases that we use, like, especially down here in the South, we have a lot of common, like, like, I lost his last year's aid Easter egg kind of things like we use little terminologies that mean something to us. But they don't mean what sometimes I mean, like, if you say I'm, I'm as lost as last year's Easter egg, you're meaning like, you don't know what you're doing, right? Well, a lot of us have other terms that we use like that on a regular basis.

But for some reason, it's thorn in the flesh. People use it to be that Paul was sick with an illness or disease because it excuses away and it allows them to believe that they can walk around with sickness, illness, and disease. But it is not even that. People don't study themselves out. So Ezekiel 31, 13 is about Assyria and has nothing to do with birds of heaven. So for me, I will tell you, I mean, I dug deep.

And nothing about birds of heaven relates to any of those things that they correlate in any way. They mean nothing. I wish they did because that might answer your question a little better but no i don't now before i answer this question i'm going to ask the p i'm going to ask this question i'm going to ask the peanut galler what they think so if someone is living in sin and not ready to repent, can they still take communion? What do you guys think? No. I say no. No.

Sarah? Well, they can, but I wouldn't recommend it. They physically can, but they shouldn't. Yeah. I said the same thing. Yeah, I would not strongly recommend it. Let's look at Scripture. 1 Corinthians.

But here's the thing. Like, most people don't even know not to take it. Right, yeah. Because it's not taught. It's not taught. And, like, they take it. And churches, also, shame on churches, like that. I'm sorry, guys.

Like, you can see this. I have a really bad bruise on my forehead. Wasn't that noticeable until you just did it? No, I can clearly see it. No, I didn't even notice. I literally can. I ran into something. Oh, my gosh.

Do we have it on video? Blame twice if you're okay. Oh, I'm totally okay. I saw stars. Oh, my gosh we have it on video twice if you're okay oh i'm totally okay i saw stars oh my gosh i can i can literally see it right here not everybody's gonna be able to see it but i'm like looking at them like people are going what's that cyclops but i knew it was there but it wasn't that noticeable so that's why i'm wearing a hat today ladies she got i have a huge knot on my head i was on the phone with aaron and i oh my gosh i banged my head he saw it last night he's like is that when you banged your head when you're talking i'm like yeah i i've run into things a lot i fall a lot i never hurt myself

like even this i mean it looks way worse than what it really is but on Sunday hopefully is completely gone and that's with makeup oh yeah so um and what what I was going to say is before I totally distracted myself with my forehead um yeah um is I also think it's it's not wise of churches to be having communion without teaching it. And that ones that I know churches that do it once a month, right? They, I mean, they do it on the regular, especially on holidays. They do it Christmas and Easter. That's scary. When everyone's there that has no idea why they're doing it.

They just do it. The church that we attended or visited right before uh making foundation our home like you walked in and you grabbed a communion cup and then you were free to take it freely throughout worship so it wasn't even like every week every single week really yes i thought that was wild because i grew up very pentecostal where if you took it and you didn't make like you you can't even be in unforgiveness with your brother okay right like yeah like it is a big deal and so i was like this is at that very moment i was like this is not it this is not it and then we found Foundation Church and we've made our home here. But yeah, it's it's which is Tom is super.

Yeah. Tom is which Jeff does are, which is Vanessa's husband. Jeff does our communion and he makes it very clear every single time you take communion. You better be right. You don't want to be you want to be don't want to be haphazardly taking communion. Not good. A lot of people don't realize that healing comes through communion because you're taking the blood and body of Jesus.

But you can also cause a lot of judgment against yourself as well. So you want to be very careful about that. Let's look at 1 Corinthians 11, 23 through 32. It says, For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus on the same night in which he was betrayed took bread. And when he had given thanks, he broke it and said, Take, eat, this is my body, which is broken for you.

Do this in remembrance of me. In the same manner, he also took the cup after supper saying this cup is the new covenant in my blood this do as often as you drink it and in remembrance of me let's remember he didn't say do it every single week he didn't say do it once a month he said as oft as you do this and the passover was act the passover meal was actually only once a year. It doesn't mean, but listen, the church, the first church, they didn't do it once a year. They did it on a regular, just so you know. So, like, it's not wrong.

I don't subscribe that it be once a year, or I believe that it should be based on the leadership of the church and what they believe and how often you should do it. But I also think that if they're going to do it frequently and on holidays, they need to make it abundantly clear what you must look like in order to take and observe this. Okay. It says, for often as you eat this bread and drink this cup,

you proclaim the Lord's death till he comes. Now, this is the verses that talk about examining yourself because we're to examine ourselves. And a lot of this is what's never that is what is what I just read is normally what people read. And then it stops. But this is the remaining scriptures. It says, therefore, whoever eats this bread or drinks this cup of the Lord in an unworthy manner will be guilty of the body and blood of the Lord. Just remember, when you're eating and drinking, that's Jesus himself. As far as just like being baptized is a symbolic act, the old man going down, the new man coming up. the old man going down, the new man coming up, when you're taking communion, it is a symbolic act of,

that's why a lot of Jesus' disciples said, you got to eat my flesh and drink my blood. And they's like, this is a hard teaching is exactly what I said. This is a hard teaching. And they said, we can't do it. And they left him. And then he looked at his 12 disciples and said, are you going to leave too? Not like, I'm worried.

Are you going to leave? Meaning, are you out of here? Because it's like, you can't worry about those things. You still got to preach and teach what the word says. And he had a message. And that teaching was, you have to be willing to do the exact same things that he was going to experience. And so that's this. teaching was you have to be willing to do the exact same things that he was going to experience.

And so that's this, you know, if you are taking communion in an unworthy manner, you're putting the blood of the lamb in you. It's symbolically, how dare you? Like you have that's unrighteousness mixing with righteousness. That's not good. It says, but let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of the bread and drink of the cup. For he who eats and drinks in an unworthy manner eats and drinks judgment to himself. Why aren't we taught this? Why are we not taught this? This is extremely significant.

Not discerning the Lord's body. For this reason, many are weak and sick among you. What happens when you take it? It's saying there's judgment. And the reason what happens is you become sick. You become weak when you take something that you have no business taking. At the same time, taking it righteously can heal your body. So it goes both ways. For this reason, many are weak and sick among you, and many sleep. Sleep meaning dead. For if we judge ourselves, we would not be judged.

But when we are judged, we are chastened by the Lord that we may not be condemned with the world. So it is significant, significant that if you're going to take communion, that you be in right standing with the Lord. If there's any unforgiveness, like Vanessa was saying, you can't walk in unforgiveness. You can't walk in unrepentant sin and take communion. I wouldn't. I wouldn't. I mean, that judgment is just something that I don't want to. I go as far as this, or I should say, I went as far as this back in the day. Like I told you, I was a horrible gossip.

I battled and struggled being a gossip. I wouldn't even take communion, not because it was an unrepentant sin in my life. I wouldn't take communion because I knew that it was still such a struggle for me that potentially I might fall prey to it, you know, 30 minutes after the service was over. So I was like, no, I'm not taking communion. I am not putting that judgment upon myself because I'm unworthy.

I'm unworthy to take this. I am, is that, could I have taken it? Yeah, I could have taken it. And God would have not judged me because I wasn't living in unrepentant sin. I was struggling deeply with it. But I take it that seriously that I go to the extreme not to take it so that the Lord knows how serious I take that sin. You know, and I needed to eradicate it out of my life. So I, for me, again, when we bring people in the church and we take communion and they're not saved,

or if we are a lukewarm believer, which is you have one foot in the world, one foot in your walk with Christ, you're lukewarm. Okay, the lukewarm will be spewed out of his mouth. Okay? If you are, you know, pretending, saying you're a Christian, but you know you're not going to heaven, and you're just taking that communion so that everybody believes that you're a certain way. Everybody is casting judgment upon themselves that take in an unworthy manner. And it's become a religious ritual versus the sacred, I want to say event,

but I feel like if I say event, I am lessening it. I don't know, the sacred moment. Yeah, I guess that's a really good word for it. But it's, I mean, you think about that. You can put you guys on for me, Heather. If you think about that, like that is like what you're actually partaking in is super powerful. It's like, it's precious. And a lot of people don't look at it in that light. They just, it's like, oh, this is something we do.

This is just part of being a Christian. Like it's not just being a, every time I take the communion and I usually am always trying to make sure that there's nothing in me that I need to like get right with God. Not because I'm afraid of going to hell. It's just, I always want to, I'm striving for holiness. I'm always striving for what the word of God says, which is be perfect as I am perfect and things like that. I'm not perfect. That's by no means, but I am striving for that. So I'm always examining myself. And even before I take communion, I'm like, okay, if there be anything that is not right in my spirit, if there's somebody that I need to get something right with that I harbor some, like any unforgiveness or whatever, I am always like, I will not take it without doing that first.

What's you guys' opinion on it? I agree with you completely. I think that it's super important. And we even tell our kids that. And that's how I grew up. We try to have our kids come and be with us if they're in the area with us. So we we can in agreement as a family, take communion and know that we're starting, you know, with a clean slate right there in that moment. Anybody else? So for me, like I didn't,

I grew up in just a couple churches where it was taught that you need to examine yourself. Like my, I'm like Heather. My dad wouldn't let us take communion until we were pretty much older. And we have parents at the church now. They won't let their children take communion because of the seriousness behind it. And they want to make sure, like, is my child really saved? And if they're

if they're not saved they shouldn't be taking communion they haven't gotten they don't understand salvation so i wasn't allowed to take it until i was baptized now why why do you think that was because it's you're not catholic and people will think that's part of catechism but that's nothing to do with it for you i guess that's how it was taught growing up, the leadership of our church. But I guess at that point you have made a decision. The old man's gone, the new man. Yeah, you have made a public decision that you are going to walk in the ways of the Lord. And so that's when you are kind of like, okay, now this is the next step.

That makes sense, though. Oh, yeah. Totally makes sense, though. Oh, yeah. Totally makes sense. I can totally respect that. That makes, like, that's actually a good standard to go by, truthfully. But, like, for me, I only went to a couple churches that preached that. It was in my household that it was taught. Have you guys ever gone to a church where it was preached?

Besides this one. I mean, have you ever gone to one? Besides, okay, so Sarah, you have? Was it like totally, like every single communion, was it brought to mind? It was. That's phenomenal. It was.

Now, being in the Catholic church when I was younger, they've got it pretty twisted because you make your first communion around seven or eight years old, like first grade. Oh, really? So you're baptized as a baby, you know, sprinkled as a baby, and then you make your first communion first grade. So you're like seven years old. And then confirmation, when you're supposed to be like confirming that you want to follow Jesus, doesn't happen until you're like 12. So they've got kids from like seven to 12. Taking communion. Taking communion without really like knowing anything about it.

And you were trying to come up with a word before, but sacrament is what they call it. Yeah, in Catholic faith? Mm-hmm. Sacrament, that's actually really good too. Yeah. Because, I mean, it sounds religious, but it's actually, it's perfect. Mm-hmm.

But they don't do what, but that's not, they do it opposite though, right? Isn't that what you just said? Yeah, but the name for it is. Right. But she was saying opposite, though. Right? Isn't that what you just said? Yeah, but the name for it is... But she was saying... But they're doing it in the wrong order. Yeah, but she wasn't saying they're the ones that taught you to be holy. No, it was a different church.

It was a different church that... Was it a big church? Was it a small church? It was a small church. That's good. Yeah, I don't see a lot of big churches doing it. No. They don't.

Not because I think, well, I was about to say, not because I think that they're afraid to share that message, but maybe they are afraid to share that message. Who knows? I don't know, but a lot of people just don't really realize. They go to the scriptures about taking uh communion and they're like oh i've read i've read this or i've heard this so many times so they haven't they just skip right on over that and they don't pay attention to the rest of it about being judged

i it's just amazing to me how many people just really, because we have a lot of people who want us to do a heck of a lot more than what we do. And I often, I mean, a lot of times they're very religious people to begin with, but I often think to myself, yeah, because you're not the one. Like I'm, Tom, I'm like, leadership is responsible for those people. I mean, as long as we do what we're supposed to do,

which Jeff takes care of it. But I mean, I don't want to really want to participate in having somebody be judged. So for me doing it less, I'm okay with. And not announcing when it's happening. That way you don't invite all your friends that don't understand it. Yeah. I mean, because Easter and in Christmas, famous, famous for doing communion. All I can think of is, was it, I don't, I think it was you, Vanessa, when people, you can tell they've come from a Catholic church. Cause they, when we did the juice, you'd have to like fight them for it. They'd like try to drink out of it and you're supposed to dip it. It might've been Melissa

Wolfgang that she's like, no, no, no, you can't have it. And they're like, no, no, no. She's like, no, really. It's disgusting. You can't have it. Was that you? My first communion with Foundation Church. And you guys did that. And I didn't know what was happening.

I was like, there's no way. There's no way we're all going to drink out of that cup. Okay. So just for the people, before we did these little ones, because we used to, we would do bread, and you dip it into the grape juice, only because Tom's not big on the wafer and the juice. But now we have to do it, because it's just. It's too much. I think Heather would. The bread floats.

Well, the bread floats. And the juice. And nobody gets it. And Heather, I think, was going to commit Harry Carey the last time we did it where it was the cup and the bread. Because the ushers don't do it right. The people don't do it right. And Tom's like, what's going on? Why is the back and the front? We practiced this five times.

What part did you forget? You go in a circle. That's all you got to do is go in a circle. It's okay. This way is much better. Yeah, way is much better. It's yeah. A way cleaner. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. Thankfully, people in front of me were displaying what to do. And I was like, oh, thank goodness. I wouldn't drink out of that. Were you the one trying to drink out of the cup? That's so gross. Everybody drinking out of the same cup.

It's like a forceful, a forceful fight, though, to keep the juice. I mean, a little spillage. Yeah. Can you imagine the spit that's in that by one of the last few people drinking that cup? That is so freaking nasty. And you know, listen, I wipe down everything when I go into a hotel. So can you imagine my thoughts?

You would just be first in line. I'd be gagging. It's like being the last one to get baptized. You know what I mean? Yeah. I'd be gagging. It's like being the last one to get baptized. You know what I mean? Yeah. I never thought about that. I was the last one in my group to get baptized. So I always think of that.

Everyone else's old self all over you. Skin cells all over you. I just am like, oh my gosh. I would not be able to swallow it. I would gag. I would gag. I would gag. I'd like to bring it back just to watch you do that. There'd be juice everywhere.

It's not happening. That it would not go down. I wouldn't be able to do it. I almost want to gag thinking about it. So gross. But yeah, I do. The Catholic people don't do that anymore.

Right. I think COVID should have taken care of that. They wipe it every time and just rotate. But the spit is still going in the thing. Oh, I know. You're still backwashed. Yeah. I think COVID squashed it.

That shouldn't mix that. If there's one good thing that came out of COVID, that would be it. Just simply for the backwash. The spittle. For the Catholic faith. In the Catholic church, too, you could open your mouth and they would put the wafer on your tongue.

You could decide if you wanted them to put it in your hands or a lot of the older people would just go ah. And then they wouldn't put it in your hands or a lot of the older people would just go, ah, and then they wouldn't put it on their tongue. But the problem is, if he touches your tongue with his fingernail, not to mention what's under his fingernail. Exactly.

I know that nothing deadly will harm me. I get that. I'm not worried about being sick, catching a disease. I don't worry about that. It's nasty. It's so gross to me. I know I'm not going to get sick, but I don't want somebody's nasty old tongue germs now being on the tip of the priest's finger and then putting it on my tongue.

Come on. No. No, thank you. No. It's just like the remote at the hotel room. Wash that thing down. It's the most heavily used piece. You really don't want to think about it, though.

No. Yeah, I do think about it, and I clean it. I could give you some examples right now that I guarantee you do. I won't, because you'll gag. No, please don't. Don't do it to me. But I'm just telling you. I'll tell you please don't. Don't do it to me. But I'm just telling you. I'll tell you later.

No. Don't even tell me later. That's right. I don't want to know. I mean, I wipe down every, even the toilet seat, the handles, the light switches. I wipe down every flipping thing in that hotel room. Even the bed sheets. I'm like, I'm worried about them. I are I'm worried about them. I've watched you.

You've taken the remote out of my hand to wipe it. I love you. That's why. Do you travel with wipes? Absolutely. I do. Absolutely I do. I need a take notes. You can buy them.

No you don't. Listen. I'm free. I'm germ free. I'm germ free. I'm germ free. No, you're not. Well, okay.

In my own mind, to the degree, like I'm germ free when I, for the most part, when I go into that hotel room. After I'm done with it, not 100%. But I'm dang closer than I was when I walked in. No. My kids, I'm like, hey, can I come? Because we don't share a room with them. So I'm always like, hey, can I come to your room? Can I clean it?

They're like, no, get out of here. No. We don't mind. Tommy's like, to the TV remote. I'm like, don't even do that to me. He's joking. But he's pretending like he'll lick it. I'm like, dude. That's that to me. He's joking, but he's pretending like he'll lick it. I'm like, dude.

That's how you get mono. Well, he won't get anything. He's not going to get any sickness, illness, and disease. He's just going to get somebody's nasty old you-know-what, potentially. What's your next question? Really? Let's move on. Oh, you don't like this?

Hey, Heather. What? You haven't been in the podcast for don't like this? Hey, Heather. What? You haven't been in the podcast for a while. This is how we roll. I am aware. Let me pour some water. Let's get this party started. I'm keeping you on track.

20 minutes left. Tracy doesn't keep me on track, so you don't. I'm aware. You're not, that's not your job. It is for the next two weeks. Uh-uh. Not gonna happen sister they'll learn to just roll with the punches okay next question

listen she's gonna force my hand to rebel the sin of witchcraft i'm in charge i'm the host oh gosh heather watch it i'll referee i'm to go to the next question, but not because she said to, but because she ruined my groove. That's the only reason why. Okay. I recently went to Books A Million to choose a Bible to send to my grown son. My personal preference is New Living Translation or the New King James Version, which is mine.

I love the amplified. What are you laughing at, Sarah? I'm a big fan of the message for translation. Are you really? Okay. Cause I'm going to blow that. I'm going to like. You do reference it kind of often.

I don't actually. Okay. It's a long story. Maybe some other time we'll talk about that. I'm sticking a grenade in the message and I'm blowing it up. It's a long story. Maybe some other time we'll talk about that. I'm sticking a grenade in the message and I'm blowing it up. It's a rendering. It's not a translation. There you go.

New Living Translation, I think, is phenomenal. That's what I read. I really do. And she says, goes on to say, and I found a perfect New Living living translation men's bible for him however i was overwhelmed at the number of different versions such as esv asv csb the message etc can you explain the different versions for us and why you would or would not select one i appreciate your candid honest explanations yours is an awesome podcast see then you know

why it's an awesome podcast? Because I give you instruction on how to go into a hotel room and clean it, and I don't take direction from Heather. It's my podcast. So with that being said, we're going to answer this question. That's right. That was Heather. If I could run over and kiss you i would but i can't such a brat oh my gosh i get i i get that said a lot that i'm very candid or or forthright with my answers

i try to be nice always thank you vanessa always thank you vanessa but you live with chef so i don't know if that's really helping me. I'm married to a version of you, so. I don't know if that's really like backing up what I'm thinking. That might actually be going in the opposite direction of what I'm thinking. I'm saying thank you and I went, wait a minute, that ain't good. Oh, man. Okay. I'm thinking. I'm saying thank you and I went, wait a minute. That ain't good. Oh, man.

Okay. So I'm only going to hit the Bibles that you mentioned. There's so many out there. Oh, my goodness. And a lot of them ain't good. They're not. So what I did is I looked up. I mean, we're just going to talk about it. And when we talk about ones, ladies,

you can tell me if you read them, what your thoughts are, whatever. Okay? So I'm a New King James person. I love that. I actually love the NIV. I do love the NIV. But I know what, listen,

I know what I'm getting into when I get into it. And I have the old version. I don't have the woke version. But my favorites, New King James, New Living Translation, but before the New Living Translation, it's probably amplified. Like you cannot go wrong with an amplified all day long. You might go, well, it's going to take me forever to read it because it's so much longer. It's worth the read. And if you want to actually understand what that scripture means,

like what that word, a specific word means and the definition behind it, or, you know, because like Greek and Hebrew, you can have one word and it's like ours, lead, L-E-A-D, which also can be led, L-E-A-D, right? So both of them spell the same. Both of them have different meanings. That's how the Greek and Hebrew are.

When you read the Amplified, you're actually getting what that word means. Valuable, valuable information. And that's how one of the ways that you actually study the word out. My favorite Amplified, it's gonna cost you some money, but it's Pastor Rodney some money but is pastor rodney's stewardship bible

that's a really great quality uh bible heather you have one right i do i have one i love it i've given away several i just got one back and i am praying to the Lord above that I actually get to keep this one because I love this Bible. Like I use it. So for it to be gone, like when I have to give it away, I give it away freely because I hang on to nothing. But when I have to give it away, I'm like, dang, now I got to look up everything. And I like the Amplified Classic even more than just the Amplified. Yeah. They are slightly different. I agree with you. I like the Amplified Classic. I really do.

So, so good. Do you guys have an Amplified that you use? I use the Bible app whenever to go in between versions. But I do prefer The New Living. If I'm reading, it's so good. And I'm able to understand it. But if I need to really dig deep, it's The Amplified plus The Amplified Classic.

What about you? I usually start with King James. And then I have King James New King James, NIV, NLT all in print. But then I have the Bible app and we'll go to the Amplified.

I'm actually doing an audio version right now of the Amplified Classic. I'm recording it. Because I couldn't find it anywhere. I mean, you're recording it? I am my voice with Rachel doing a background music for it.

And it's been pretty cool. So I've shared a little bit of it with people. That's awesome. I wasn't able to find anything because NIV, New King James, they all have on the Bible app you can click on the audio and it'll read it to you. But they're like, meh, the voices aren't that great.

And so there wasn't one for Amplified Classic. So yeah, I've been doing that. Great. That is phenomenal, Sarah. Dag, that's a great idea. People will actually, that'll be used probably beyond your even wildest imagination when it gets done. It's real cool.

That's a beautiful thing. I didn't know you were doing that. That's really good. Tal, let's not leave you out because I know you read the Bible. I use the Bible app for the Amplified Classic and then the New Living Translation. And then I have a New King James Version in print. So good. So good.

All right. I'm going to tell you what I researched about the different versions. Sorry. So the ESV is called the English Standard Version. And it is very similar to the King James. Now, this is what a lot of people don't know. With different Bible translations come different denominational backgrounds.

People don't know that when you're reading a specific, that's why I'm very careful about what I pass out. Because I know that unless it gives, I'm even okay with like Zondervan. I use him a lot to pass out Bibles because he gives both sides. He gives it, if you're a Calvinist, this is, if you're a Calvinist,

and he basically says, if you're someone who believes in eternal security, this is where the scripture will probably make you question eternal security. And then he'll do the same thing. Like if you're a mid-trib or a post-trib or whatever, he'll say, if you believe in mid-trib, this is where post or pre-trib do not agree with you kind of things.

Like he does that. I love that. That's a rarity though. So that's why you have to know, like this question is very good because a lot of people don't know. You got to be really careful about not only the translation you get,

but who you get it from. So the ESV is from the Reformed denomination, which is the Protestants and the Calvinist doctrine. So Calvinists believe in eternal security. So they're going to preach that in that Bible. If you're not a Calvinist, if you're Armenian and you don't believe in eternal security, that Bible is probably going to tick you off and you're going to feel like you wasted a lot of money. So it's Calvinist, Presbyterian, and Evangelical.

Well, what is Evangelical? Evangelicals are Baptist, Methodist, Wesleyan, which is me. I'm a Wesleyan because I'm Armenian. Lutheran, Free Church, and Mennonite, and people like that. That's super interesting. Yeah, and listen, the Methodist faith, which is... John Wesley, right? Yes. The Methodists, they were Pentecostal when they first stepped out.

And a lot of people don't know that. They spoke in tongues. They were extremely conservative, and now they've gone completely liberal. What were you going to say, Sarah? The flame behind the cross for the Methodist logo is, yeah, it's for the Holy Spirit. Like they were Pentecostal. Pentecostal.

What is it? The night of Pentecost. Yes. Yeah. When I first got my prayer language, I was part of a Wesleyan, like a Methodist student union at Florida State University. Yeah, because the Methodists believe you can lose your salvation. I didn't know that. Yeah, they do. It's pretty interesting.

So, like I said, if you ain't one of those religions, which is very broad, but they do preach, they're like Zondervan, right? It's both. You can lose your salvation, but they do preach. They're like Zondervan, right? It's both. You can lose your salvation, but you can't. But who's to say how it's, when you're studying it out, how it's addressed? You know what I'm saying? Because sometimes it can be very, very vague. Zondervan's not vague. Now, I will say, that's 1984 version.

I don't know how woke he went, because it might be totally different. So ASV is the American Standard Version. And American Standard Version is actually very good because they say this is actually the most literal word for word translation available in the English language. Yeah? Yeah. That's interesting. Mm-hmm. I like the sounds of that. Yeah. Closest to the King James.

Huh. Huh. Yeah. That's what I've learned through my studies. Everything, everywhere I went confirmed. Like, I looked up different people different uh people are different websites and they all agree on the very pretty much the same thing it's crazy they all because they i don't know csb is the christian standard bible and this translation is um in contemporary english it says the text is highly accurate and is considered more accurate than the NIV.

Well, that ain't hard. That ain't hard. Not saying much. Because the NIV is missing. I mean, you got to know this going into it. But the NIV is actually missing verses that are in the King James. They took them out. Shame on them.

They changed words and terminology and specific sentences to make them lesser. Like when it refers to faith, it says in the King James, it'll say no faith. And in the NIV, it'll say little faith. No, no, no. King James said no faith. You can't change it to little faith. But that's what they did. You can't change. See, for me, I'm okay reading the NIV because a lot of times when I'm reading the NIV, guess what I'm doing? I'm like Sarah and probably the other girls. Well,

actually, the other girls have said it. I'm not just looking at one Bible. I have many out. Or like I'm looking up on online or whatever. You know what I'm saying? I just downloaded the ASB. Me too. I did too. I already had it downloaded. The new Bible app. I had no idea. That's why I said this is a really good question. Holy cow, yes. That's why all questions are like, we want them because they don't have to be all sounding the same i love it when they're so off the wall and so out there because you take us in a direction that you know most of us would never think right which is very good

which is very healthy now for this is for Sarah, who loves the message. I'm just kidding. Listen, if I know... Hey, to your credit, when you bring it up, it's typically not a horrible translation. When she does use the message, it's pretty close to the other versions.

So, I don't know how it started, but at one point we were at Vanessa's on a Tuesday and Logan said something about how I hated the message. And I was like, that I hate the message. And I was like, wait, I do? So I don't recall where she got that from, like what made her think that, but it's definitely not a translation it's a paraphrase

it's a rendering of and it's supposed to sound more like modern language but there is a lot of it it's a lot of libraries right there's and when i tell you how it came about you're gonna be like isn't it written in story form yes okay. Okay. And clumped together. Yeah. Like lots of information. It's not good. Yeah. It's not good, people.

The heart behind it might have been, but El Stinkola. Oh, my gosh. El Stinkola? Yeah. El Stinkola. That's my Spanish. Can you say that and make it sound a lot better, Vanessa? Oh, no. What the roll of the tongue.

Yeah, roll that tongue. El Stinkola. I don't think Stinkola is a word. It doesn't have to be. It is now. El Stinkola. Oh, see, isn't that like. Sounds good.

Dang, damn it. I need see, isn't that like. Sounds good. Dang damn it. I need to be able to do Spanish. Like, listen, I'm just telling you, if I could speak Spanish and say something like that, Tom would never leave me alone. I mean, it's not really a problem, but I'm just saying. I might not need the help, but I'm just saying. Oh, man. I'm never going to be able to do El Stinkola in my head. That's really good, girl.

Let's move on. So the religious affiliation to the message is Presbyterian, based on who wrote it. So Sarah loves a Presbyterian. And here's somebody that I actually go to this website to get this particular group's opinion on things sometimes because I find their thought processes on stuff very unique and very unusual. I don't always agree, but I'm always like, huh, that's an unusual take on something or how you came about believing that that scripture revealed that or whatever. But sometimes it's not even like things like that. They'll take like, I actually went and I was like, I wonder what they think about the message.

I didn't think that they would have anything on it, but they did. And it was good. I actually respect the opinions, even when I don't necessarily agree with them because it's very well thought out um when what their conclusions are so they this is what they say they had a big list of things but i just took a little segment called the pros and cons okay says the original version of the message was printed without the traditional numbered verses making it read more like a novel like you you said, a story. Many people found this refreshing at first,

but also found it inconvenient for cross-referencing, comparison with other versions, and group Bible studies. Sarah doesn't care about that in her group Bible study, just for the record. As far as the negatives are concerned, there are numerous websites and articles devoted to the translation errors in the message. Too numerous to reiterate here. Isn't that interesting? That is super interesting. And if you heard that noise, that was the TNT that just went off in the back room, and I just blew up the message big time. Oh, my gosh.

We were all like, what? I didn't hear anything. I know. Gosh. I had you going. One common complaint from many who read the message or hear it read aloud is, I didn't recognize it as the Bible. Other critics declare the message is to be not a paraphrase of what the Bible says,

but more of a rendering of what Eugene Peterson, who wrote it, would like it to say. In an interview with Christianity Today, this is what Peterson said. Oh. Yeah. From the horse's mouth. It gets better. It ain't good. Peterson described the beginning of the creative process that produced the message. She's never going to look at the message ever again in the same way. I'm ruining it for you right now. She'll use it. We'll just switch to the passion translation. Which is so much better.

I say nothing. That's what Tracy said, by the way. Tracy said. She said, rude. I guess I'll switch to the passion version. Tracy, I'm going to get you saved when you get back. She's in Vegas right now. So she's going to need it anyway. Big time. But we're not going to get you saved when you get back. She's in Vegas right now, so she's going to need it anyway.

She's going to need a cup of Jesus. Yeah. Big time. But you're not going to read Peterson to get it done. Nothing from Peterson ever again. It says, this is what he says. I just kind of let go and became playful when he was writing it. Yikes.

And that is when the Sermon on the Mount started. I remember I was down in my basement study and I did the Beatitudes in about 10 minutes. And all of a sudden I realized this could work. Sounds like an arch church. And how they do their messages, their sermon series. I literally was like, this sounds like an arch church. And all of a sudden, I realized this could work. Aside from the impossibility of doing justice to the Sermon on the Mount in 10 minutes, one wonders whether playfulness is the appropriate demeanor for those who attempt to rightly divide the word of truth. And that's exactly right.

Now, that's not what he said. This is what this group said after he said, and all of a sudden, I realized this could work. So, I mean, if you're rightly dividing the word of truth, do you think you should be doing it playfully? I mean, like, that's serious business. Serious business. And you should take it as such.

But I will say this. I found this to be super interesting. You know how people always say, I can't read the Bible. I just can't understand it. It's too complicated for me. It makes no sense. Well, again, I'm going to take some TNT. I'm going to blow that out of the water because I found some interesting information about the reading levels of different Bibles. Yeah, nobody can say they can't read or understand anything because the New King James Version is at a seventh grade reading level. Yeah, the New Living Translation is at a sixth grade reading level. The Christian Standard Bible, seventh grade reading level.

And the Message, sorry Sarah, fifth grade reading level. The Christian Standard Bible, seventh grade reading level. And the message, sorry Sarah, fifth grade reading level. You would be astounded though at how many people don't actually read at a fifth, sixth, or seventh grade level. So they might be, they might actually be telling the truth when they say they can't understand it. And that's pathetic because they graduated high school, they all have jobs, and they actually can look at instructions a lot of times and figure them out. I mean, there's a lot of people who will tell you they can't figure out, they just can't read it, it makes no sense to them. But they actually go to a job every single day, and they have to figure things out.

And a lot of that stuff is probably not at a 5th, 6th, or 7th grade reading level. Would you agree? I would agree. And I think what the key is, is they just read it and read the sentence. That's why they don't understand it because they don't actually study what it means. Well, they're not applying themselves at all. If you don't apply yourself, you're not going to know. And it's not even like studying, which I absolutely agree with you 100%, Heather. Like, you should study because that's what 2 Timothy tells us to do.

Okay. But even if you just applied yourself, like when you started learning to read, like see Jane run run you know like the back in the day you had the three sentences that you had to use the three words that you had to read that equal to sentence like go down the hill like you don't know how to read that you have to like a lot of people would just read it and they wouldn't like understand what they were saying because they were just trying to get done reading. Like, but if you apply yourself, it's not complicated.

You just, it's like we look at it like we do education. I just want to get done with it. How quickly can I read through this, get done with it and not really learn what I'm, what I'm trying to do. Does that make sense to you? It does. It does. But for myself, I put yourself on. Yep. Go in there. If I just read through it, I can even if I'm reading slowly, I need to like break it down. And then if I hear it, it's even better. That's because of how you learn. But there's a lot of people, Heather, that are not like that at all. They don't need to do that.

I think you would know best on that, Sarah, just based on your background teaching. Yeah. So first of all, people have a lack of interest and that's why they're saying that they don't understand it because they're like,

well, what is this? Again, apply yourself. They don't really care. You have to... Yeah, I've always found that like when you're teaching kids how to read too if you find something that's interesting to them and fun that they're going to apply themselves more like the five ways that people learn you try and hit all different five like senses right correct and if you learn best by, there's all kinds of audio versions of the Bible. 100% agree.

Then there's also the biggest part for me is that I never sit down to study without praying for the Holy Spirit to show me what he wants to show me. So it's got to be you plus that. It can't just be you trying to be a scholar and like reading because you're not going to get the same understanding, I don't think. Well, that is 100% accurate. I mean, and some people don't know that they should, like today, when I was in my prayer time, before I even hit the Bible, I said the same thing, because it talks about it in Ephesians, how he will reveal things to you through his word. Okay. Well, that should be our prayer. Revelation knowledge, Father. Like when I opened this book, bring revelation knowledge. Kenneth Hagin says how he took, he put his Bible out on the altar one time, and the parsonage, he would run back in, he would put, you know, bow, pray, read the word, get up,

you know, several times throughout the day, going back and forth to the parsonage. And he would read those specific scriptures about being, the Lord revealing things to him through the word or what have you. And he said, after doing that for two weeks, and then I think he furthered it past a month, he realized that his teaching totally changed. He said to his wife, he's like, I've been doing this all wrong. Like the stuff that I know now, simply by praying that specific prayer, one to two times a day is all he did. He used that scripture and he said, Lord, this is

for me. I speak these scriptures over myself. His revelation of the word and his whole preaching totally changed in a month. Yeah. He's like, I've been doing this all wrong to his wife. I've been doing this all wrong. Like I was dumb as a box of rocks. And so for me, I've been doing this all wrong. To his wife, I've been doing this all wrong. Like, I was dumb as a box of rocks. And so for me, I do agree with you about that. But there are even people that even if they didn't sit there and pray, Lord, reveal to me your word, they could literally sit down, read a chapter a day and get something that they can understand. It's just like they just want to get it done. Check it off the list which it goes to my next question uh for um Wednesday which is a very very good one but it

it specifically talks about I'm going to specifically talk about how we just rush through our Christian walk and and in ways that we don't even realize it, which is heaven and hell. And people don't realize it. People are literally walking the broad road thinking they're going to enter through the narrow gate on a daily basis and are going to be stunned either at the day of their passing or when Christ returns.

It is going to be a shock. And the word is very, very clear. And if you're not doing the things that I'm going to talk about on Wednesday, you're walking the broad road. Don't expect to go through the narrow gate. That's all I'm going to say about that. So if you don't know Jesus today, let's say this prayer because it's been all last week. I didn't even do it and we might not get to it on Friday.

But let's say this prayer together. If you don't know Jesus as your Lord and Savior, let's get you right with him right now so that from this day forward, your life changes. But remember, when you say this prayer, it's not a prayer of, OK, one and done. No, you you have to actually make a lifestyle change. It's not, I've said the prayer, so now I'm going to heaven. No, you have to make a decision. Repentance, which is about what you're about to do, is when you repent and you ask Lord Jesus to forgive you of your sins, you're saying, whatever I was doing before, the direction I was heading in, I'm going in the opposite direction.

So hell's the direction you were going before and your lifestyle reflected that. Now you're gonna be going towards heaven, gotta be walking towards God, and it has to be holy. You have to start eradicating and getting rid of everything that does not look or is him. Does that make sense, ladies? It does.

All right, let's say this prayer. Heavenly Father, I just come to you right now. Lord, I thank you for what you did on the cross. I thank you for being bruised for my sins, the stripes that you bore on your back for my healing. Father God, I thank you that every sin that I've committed was purchased on the cross. And because of that, I can come to you now and ask you to forgive me of my sins, ask you to be the Lord of my life. And wherever you tell me to go, I will go. Whatever you say to do, I will do. You are in charge from this moment forward.

I will live for you. And when I die, I will go to heaven. In Jesus' mighty name we pray. Amen. If you said that prayer, let us know. And I plan to see you on Friday. You will not want to miss it. Natalie does not disappoint. You will be happy to miss it. Natalie does not disappoint.

You'll be happy that you came. You listen to what she has to say. It'll be fun. It'll be light, but it'll be extremely educational. So I'll see you on Friday. Bye. Real talk. Real talk.

Real talk Real talk you