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In Hebrews 11, the Bible states plainly that faith requires understanding that the visible world is controlled by the invisible:
Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good testimony. By faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that the things which are seen were not made of things which are visible.

With that in mind, what does walking by faith look like?

In this episode we want to talk about what faith in an invisible, sovereign God looks like. How does faith in the invisible God cause our day to be structured? How do we think about things like sickness and trials, current events and global politics, and the role of the church in the world? When Christians do not believe in the invisible, we become like pagans who fear the world instead of fearing God and turn to worshipping the creature rather than the creator. Christians on the other hand, realize that there are unseen forces in the world, but that they are all controlled by the hand of the sovereign God. Because of this, we are able to fear no one but God, and to serve him directly. This is what it means to walk by faith. Please join us as we discuss this very important topic.

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

Suicide has historically been a crime. This is true for many reasons, but one prevalent one is that it is difficult. If not impossible, to argue from the natural world that men own themselves. Everything about the world testifies to man’s dependence, his inability to create himself, provide for himself, or to exist without dependence upon others. We are born from our parents, totally dependent in so many ways and we end our lives in a similar state. From a scriptural perspective this is even more true as God says clearly that the world and all that is in it belongs to him. We are created for his good pleasure and have no claim to life or freedom apart from him.

In this episode, we want to start with the topic of suicide and move from there to discuss the fact that God owns our lives and that all men, whether they acknowledge God or not, know that they do not own themselves. We also discuss the difference between suicide and sacrifice and walk through some of the suicides and deaths in scripture and discuss how and why each of the different men died and whether they murdered themselves (ultimately out of pride) or sacrificed themselves for worthy reasons.

Suicide is serious and God treats it as self-murder. We should also treat it seriously and describe it as God sees it. Please join us as we discuss this important topic.

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

CORRECTION: After publishing this episode it was brought to our attention that we included some incorrect information about the Schofield Bible. We said that the first edition of the Schofield Bible had dates for when prophecies would be fulfilled, that were removed in the second edition because those dates were past. This was mistaken as dates were not included in the Schofield Bible. We apologize for the error, and are removing it from the Youtube version. – Joshua Horn

Most people don’t know the history of dispensationalism. While many are familiar with the name John Nelson Darby and many more are familiar with C. I. Scofield (or at least with the Scofield Bible), very few know much about their lives, their actions,and their involvement with the creation of the doctrine. But it is a story worth knowing. And while a biblical view’s origin isn’t the most important thing to know about it, it should never be dismissed out of hand and should be considered.

Dispensationalism has, in many ways, always been driven by the headlines, as it arose in the wake of the French Revolution, and developed in the emotional and even mystical response to the impact the fall of the French monarchy had upon the world. So, in this episode, we want to look at the origins and history of dispensationalism, how it started, what was going on in the world, and what were the claims made by those who had a hand in founding it. Please join us as we discuss this fascinating historical topic.

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

Most churches in America have at least some form of church membership. But here’s the question we want to ask and it’s a little bit loaded: Do you take church membership as seriously as you should? The obvious, easy answer is, “No”, but it’s worth actually thinking about. How well do you understand why church membership exists? What is its purpose? What does Jesus Christ desire to accomplish by it? And from the answers to those questions: How should we change the way we think about it and practice it so that we please our Lord and Savior?

In this episode we want to deal with the shape and substance of church membership. Why is it biblical when we don’t explicitly see it in the early church? And why do the Reformed generally insist on associating it with a covenant? From there we want to talk about what the church does in the world, how it is the light and salt of the earth as well as Christ’s body and how church membership both allows and accentuates those aspects of the church, but also how without it, it hinders the ministry of the church.

Church membership may seems like a small thing, but in many ways, it is like the skeletal system of the church, with the people being parts of muscles and organs, and the bones, ligaments and tendons joining them together so that real work can be done and so that protection is offered to the many delicate members of the body. Without church membership, the body becomes this shapeless thing, full of the same potential but unable to move or to achieve its purposes. There’s more to of it course, and God uses more than just the analogy of a body. He also compares the church to a building, to a sheep fold, to a legislative body, to a city, and to other things as well. But in each of these examples, membership is a key part of that arrangement, and it is more than just belonging. Membership lets us know our place in God’s world, and that is a very important thing all by itself. It’s a shame to the church that we think so little of it. Please join us as we discuss this very important topic.

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

If you’ve lived in the US for long, you’ve probably had members of the Jehovah’s Witnesses come to your door at some point. How much do you know about them and what they believe? And what does their continued existence tell us about the world and the church today?

Similar to the Mormons in that they are a cult formed in the wake of the Second Great Awakening, the Jehovah’s Witnesses started in 1870. Today, they are mostly known for their door-to-door witnessing and their booklets and other publications distributed by the “Watch Tower Bible and Tract Society of Pennsylvania”, the parent organization of most Jehovah’s Witness denominational ministries.

In this episode, we want to talk about Jehovah’s Witnesses, what they believe, and why they have continued to have some measure of success in the world. Joining us for this episode is Je’quan Underwood, a member of our church who has spent a fair bit of time talking to and witnessing to Jehovah’s Witnesses. Similar to Mormons, it’s easy to dismiss their claims as crazy, but the simple truth is that false religions exist because people are seeking to live in the world and to deal with their own sin and the sin of others without accepting the truth about Jesus Christ, Godhood, and the way of salvation. And while there are specific things that are useful to point out if you talk to a Jehovah’s Witness, there is no magic phrase or piece of information that you can give them to cause them to turn away from their false religion. The issue is spiritual, not intellectual. But at the same time, it’s useful to understand what they say they believe as false religions in each age of the church push against specific doctrines that offend the mind and heart of man. Please join us as we discuss this topic. .

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

In 2021, John MacArthur preached a message to his church addressing how to think about Christianity’s decline in America. It starts out like this: “Hey, we tried. We honestly did. I think you did. I think I did. I mean I took interviews, I responded to questions I think we tried to have an influence on our nation last year.” He goes on to talk about how the world isn’t interested in Christianity and then he says this: “We don’t win down here. We lose. You ready for that? Oh, you thought because you were a postmillennialist, you thought we’re just going to go waltzing into the kingdom because you took over the world. No, we lose here. Get it? They killed Jesus, they killed all the apostles, we’re all going to be persecuted. If any man come after me’, let him what, ‘deny himself’. Garbage of prosperity gospel. No, we don’t win down here. Are you ready for that? Just to clear the air – I love this clarity – we don’t win. We lose on this battlefield, but we win on the big one – the eternal one. “

His response is a good example of why we’ve been doing more episodes about eschatology lately and why we think it matters. Because those verses he quotes and references about persecution and denying ourselves are true, but they make absolutely no sense in the way he is using them. As much as we appreciate John MacArthur’s ministry, his teaching is really wrong on this. Even if you hold to dispensational theology, you shouldn’t think about those verses in that way. Denying yourself is not at odds with succeeding, some of the most successful people by any standard have been faithful Christians. Yes, it means you can’t pursue carnal things, but surely that’s not something a Christian would object to. And this isn’t something that’s only true in the New Covenant. Even in the Old Testament, Daniel was persecuted for his faith, he took up his cross and looked toward Jesus and he had a huge impact on the world around him. So did Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Obadiah, Ezekiel, Isaiah, Jesus all the apostles and countless others throughout history.

So in this episode, we want to really push on this issue. How should we think about the church’s success? How should we think about persecution and denying ourself? Are they at odds with one another? And along the way, should we expect the gospel to have an impact on the world around us? These are important questions. Please join us as we consider them.

Link to John MacArthur clip: https://youtube.com/shorts/5fr6lGeDRsQ?si=AZkuhoq–KLuN2_w
Link to full John MacArthur message:
https://youtu.be/N8revRpzF9Q?si=OwRgq55OMHuczn7S

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

A series of exposé articles have just come out about Voice of the Martyrs. This is a group that we’ve discussed a great deal in the past, we we give our perspective on the recent revelations. We discuss Cole Richards, Jason Peters, ECFA, the dishonor of God, and the right way to clean all this up.

Our previous videos on VOM
https://persecutingthepersecuted.com/

Articles on VOM from the Roys Report
https://julieroys.com/whistleblowers-accuse-vom-president-deception-retaliation/
https://julieroys.com/former-voice-of-the-martyrs-executive-calls-resignations-time-clean-house/
https://julieroys.com/whistleblowers-voice-of-the-martyrs-president-put-optics-needs-persecuted-christians/
https://julieroys.com/whistleblowers-retaliation-sham-investigation/

Jason Peters video – https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tdE1xS8L_wY

Production of Reformation Baptist Church of Youngsville, NC
Hosts – Dan Horn, Connor Swim, Charles Churchill and Joshua Horn
Technical Director – James Winstead
Theme Music – Gabriel Hudelson

Antisemitism has been around for thousands of years. Starting with their conflicts with Rome and the destruction of Jerusalem by Titus, the restrictions against holding public office in the Byzantine empire, the Catholic church’s view for hundreds of years that the Jewish people carried blood guilt and deserved punishment for killing Jesus Christ, the violent pogroms in Russia in the late 19th and 20th century, culminating in a worldwide attitude of Jewish hatred and indifference that led to the Holocaust and the Nazi’s systematic murder of millions of Jews. But even after the 1940’s racism against the Jewish people has been acceptable in America, with Nixon blaming the Jews for his problems (with even Billy Graham saying they had a stranglehold on America that had to be broken). And now, we are seeing a rise in worldwide antisemitism again regarding Israel’s response to the terrorist attacks by Hamas with many Western nations condemning Israel and in America, college students actively protesting against Israel in support of Hamas and Palestine.

With all of this as a backdrop: in this episode, we want to understand both how antisemitism is racism that Christians should not accept or participate in and, at the same time, to understand how God, who works all things according to the counsel of his will has ordained the hatred of the Jews that exists in the world. We walk through the prophecy spoken by Moses in Deuteronomy where he explains that God will judge Israel for their unbelief and pretense of holiness, causing them to become an astonishment, a proverb, and a byword among all the nations of the earth.

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

Many people are only familiar with the idea of betrothal from the Bible (or certain kinds of romance novels). Today, in Western cultures, serious relationships begin with dating, followed by engagement, and then eventually, maybe marriage. But from a Christian perspective, betrothal is an extremely important aspect of marriage, to the point where it is central to the gospel itself.

In this episode, we want to try to explain why betrothal was built into ancient marriage practices, what it accomplished, and how it is demonstrated in Christ’s marriage to his church. We also want to discuss the different parts of betrothal that differentiate it from engagement, such as the covenant, the bride price, the commitment to the upcoming marriage, and the transfer of authority between the time of betrothal and the wedding ceremony itself. When these are misunderstood, we begin to think of the nature and purpose of marriage differently than it truly is.

We should not be deceived: marriage has been under attack for a very long time and the church needs to labor to bring it back in line with the word of God. Please join us as we discuss this very important topic..

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