Peanut the Squirrel: A Weird Story with Surprising Lessons (Ep. 192 Audio)

One of the stranger stories to come out of the 2024 presidential elections is the story of Peanut the squirrel and Dave the raccoon. In case you haven’t heard here’s the short version: in upstate New York, early one morning, the government sent agents to the house of Mark Longo, a man who ran a non-profit animal shelter. Mark also had a popular Instagram account featuring a squirrel named Peanut that he had rescued seven years before and kept at his home. According to the man, the Department of Environmental Conservation raided his home with ten to twelve agents. They searched the home for five hours while they detained him. Finally, they took Peanut and a raccoon. They said that Peanut bit an officer, so they killed them both.

While this story is very strange, it apparently struck a nerve with many people with support for either Mark and Peanut or the government fracturing along partisan lines. In this episode we want to look at the ways these issues reveal different details about American culture, politics, and the influence of the church.

Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Permanent Hosts – Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director – Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music – Gabriel Hudelson

Is It Wrong to Spank Your Kids in Public? (Ep. 192 Audio)

So here’s the question: Assuming that you are in favor of corporal punishment and believe that God describes spanking as an appropriate form of punishment for certain types of foolish/rebellious behavior, do you think whether or not you spank your children in public says anything about your faith, your obedience to God, your trust in Him, or is part of your Christian testimony?

That’s what we want to talk about in this episode. And while we have specific opinions on the matter, we think it’s worth people’s time to think through the issue and to consider how their actions are shaped by their beliefs. We should also say upfront that while there are places in the world where it is illegal for a parent to spank their child, in America, as of the time this video was recorded, it is legal in all 50 states.

One of the things that God says of Christians is that they are the salt and light of the world, and it is not just the result of their actions that are salt and light but their actions themselves. One of the tactics of the world is to try to make righteousness shameful and in the case of spanking, they have been able to do that very successfully. Many Christians who spank their children and believe that God’s Word teaches that it should be done are also ashamed to let others know that they do so. It is also a matter of fear. Because many have heard accounts of people having their children taken away from them by CPS, they fear that the same will happen to them if they openly obey God. And while God calls us to be prudent, he does not call us to fear. In fact, Revelation 21:8 says, “But the cowardly, unbelieving, abominable, murderers, sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars shall have their part in the lake which burns with fire and brimstone, which is the second death.” And as it says in Proverbs 28:1 “The wicked flee when no one pursues, But the righteous are bold as a lion.” So we should not think that scripture does not tie together our faith and our fear. This does not mean that we believe you should go out of your way to spank your children in public or that you should disobey your husband if he tells you that you should not do so. God has appointed authority and direction for our lives. But we should also understand that who and what we fear matters a great deal and we should labor so that we fear God and God alone. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.

Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Permanent Hosts – Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director – Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music – Gabriel Hudelson

How Does Doctrine Drive Revival and Reformation? (Ep. 191 Audio)

When people think of revival, they often think of meetings with a preacher like Billy Graham standing on a stage with his Bible held high as he holds an altar call and where people stream toward the stage as the crowd sings “Just As I Am”. But that’s not what Biblical revivals look like. Biblical revivals starts with doctrine – a greater knowledge of God and His holiness and righteousness. When you look at revivals in the Old Testament, they start when the lost book of the law is found and as it is read by the king and read to the people, hearts are changed by hearing the Word of God. This is what happened at the time of Hezekiah, Josiah and Ezra. True revival is very associated with growing in knowledge and understanding, and that is also true of the greatest revival in history after the time of the apostles, the Protestant Reformation. It was because the bible started to be read and the people began to understand the doctrine of election and of salvation by grace through faith alone that there was a major revival. So why is doctrine necessary for revival?

Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Permanent Hosts – Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director – Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music – Gabriel Hudelson

Steve Lawson, False Teachers, and Works Based Righteousness (Ep. 190 Audio)

Most people who hold to a Calvinistic view of salvation probably think they have rejected works-based righteousness. But when sin is revealed in a leader, why do so many turn to that man’s works to assure themselves that he is truly saved? This was the response of many when Steve Lawson was removed from office. And in the last sermon he preached before his removal, this was Steve Lawson’s defense of himself as well.

Scripture teaches us that we can have assurance of salvation. But it warns us that even though we can examine our inward motivations, we are susceptible to deceiving ourselves (Philippians 2:12-13, I Corinthians 11:28-32). When it comes to other people, scripture is very clear, we can NEVER be assured of someone else’s salvation in the same way. But more importantly, scripture teaches that while those who have been saved still sin, those who walk in sin or practice sin, ARE NOT saved. (Galatians 5:16-24, I John 1:16). To say it a different way, we can be more assured that someone else is NOT saved than that they are. And this bothers many people.

In his last sermon, which was on John the Baptist, Steve Lawson suddenly says the following: “And you should not judge a man by his one weak moment you need to look at the whole body of his work you need to look at his whole message. You need to look at his whole ministry and don’t judge him on one hiccup that happens.” And while you may disagree that this statement was connected to what was about to happen to Steve Lawson and his ministry, it is a perfect example of how he was defended by many.

So here’s the question: how susceptible are you to a work-based righteousness defense of salvation? Not where you say, “good works are the necessary fruit of salvation”, but where you are tempted to weigh the good works vs the bad? Because that’s not found in scripture. Nowhere does God say that we should reassure ourselves of someone’s salvation because they have done many good works. That is the proclamation of the lawless who stand before God in the day of judgment: “Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ravenous wolves. You will know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes from thornbushes or figs from thistles? Even so, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit. A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a bad tree bear good fruit. Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. Therefore by their fruits you will know them. “Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ shall enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father in heaven. Many will say to Me in that day, ‘Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Your name, cast out demons in Your name, and done many wonders in Your name?’ And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from Me, you who practice lawlessness!’ Matthew 7:15-23

Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Permanent Hosts – Dan Horn, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director – Timothy Kaiser
Theme Music – Gabriel Hudelson

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