Video – Echo Zoe Ministries: Recent Episodes
Andy Olson
Andrew Rappaport and Fred Butler return for the sixth annual Roundtable. The three of us each brought a topic to discuss for roughly 20 minutes. We start with Andrew, who wanted to talk a little about “Christian Nationalism,” primarily that he doesn't like the use of the term. Fred followed with a discussion of “Worldviews,” which came out of his book on Apologetics. To finish, we talk about Christians participating in politics, primarily through voting, but also about other forms of participation.
Will Dobbie is pastor of Emmanuel Church of Knoxville, Tennessee, and author of “From Everlasting to Everlasting: Every Believer's Biography,” and “A Time to Mourn: Grieving the Loss of Those Whose Eternities Were Uncertain.” He returns to talk about mourning the deaths of loved ones who are either unsaved, or whose salvation is unclear.
Scriptures Referenced
- Leviticus
- Mark 7
- 1 Corinthians 10
- Colossians 3
- Romans 14
- Isaiah 64
- Acts 17
- Joshua 5
- Romans 9
- Exodus 33
Additional Resources
- A Time to Mourn: Grieving the Loss of Those Whose Eternities Were Uncertain — Amazon
Kofi Adu-Boahen is pastor of Redeemer Bible Fellowship in Medford, Oregon. Kofi has been with us several times, and returns once again, this time to talk about Law and Gospel.
Outline of the Discussion
- The Gospel is at the center of our Christian lives. Without understanding the relationship between the Gospel and the Law of God, we lose the sweetness of the Gospel.
- This discussion is based on the book A Treatise on the Law and the Gospel, by John Colquhoun (pronounced Ko-hoon.) Colquhoon was a 19th century Scottish pastor influenced by a group that was concerned about legalism in the church.
- We look at three aspects of law. First is the moral Law, or Natural Law. Next is the Law as given to Adam. Third is the Law as is in the hand of Christ.
- We don't do what the Law requires to merit eternal life, but rather in gratitude for His Grace.
- The Law of Moses is handled separately from the previously mentioned aspects of Law. It had elements of both the Law given to Adam and Grace.
- Chapter 5 of Colquhoon's book gets into what the Gospel really is.
- The Gospel is presented in both a broad sense, and a narrow sense. In the broader sense, everything that Christ and the Apostles taught was “the Gospel.” It's really a mix of the Law and the Gospel. In the narrower sense, the Gospel is the explanation of the good news.
- In the strictest sense, every command of God is a Law.
- The Law is subservient to the Gospel.
- The Law is not the Gospel, and the Gospel is not the Law. Ignorance of the difference promotes a self-righteous character.
- An understanding of the Gospel is not, by nature, antinomian
- “We weren't saved by Christ, to be sanctified by Moses.” “The way in is the way along.”
- Motivation is the master of Reason.
Scriptures Referenced
- James 2:10
- Romans 2
- Exodus 19-20; 24:8
- Deuteronomy 16
- 2 Corinthians 3
- John 1:17
- Luke 2:10-11
- Titus 2
- Colossians 2:6
- Romans 6
Additional Resources
- A Treatise on the Law and the Gospel – Free Book
Gabe Hughes is pastor of Providence Reformed Baptist Church in Casa Grande, Arizona. He’s also an author, and creator of WWUTT, or When We Understand the Text, a ministry in which he creates Youtube videos, writes books, and has a daily podcast. For this episode, Gabe and I talk about Christians and Entertainment. We touch on various aspects, from Christian Entertainment production, to the kind of entertainment that we, as Christians, are comfortable consuming, and what entertainment do we allow our kids to consume.
Scriptures Referenced
- Philippians 4:8
- Ephesians 5
- Colossians 3
- Ephesians 2
- Matthew 12:34
- 1 Corinthians 10:31
- Titus 1:12
- Acts 17:28
- 1 Corinthians 8-10
Andrew Rappaport and Fred Butler return for the sixth annual Roundtable. The format is more free-form this time around. It’s a fun discussion that begins with Fred talking about Bigfoot, and ends with Andrew discussing “No Quarter November.”
Andrew Rappaport is the founder of Striving for Eternity Ministries, and co-creater of the Christian Podcast Community. He’s also a frequent guest, and is back for his ninth episode of Echo Zoe Radio. Andrew returns to talk about the history and politics of modern Israel. Andrew lays out the governments of the land from the Ottoman empire to the current day, and the nature of the conflict over the land that persists, and which has boiled over in recent weeks.
Gene Clyatt returns for a fourth installment of English Reformation history {at least in regard to the time-period.) Gene was first on with me in August of 2021, where he talked about the early days of the English Reformation under Henry the 8th and Bishop Thomas Cranmer. In the May, 2022 episode, Gene returned to talk about England under Queen Elizabeth I. Last November, he talked about England under King James I.
For this episode, we get into the Witch Trials. Gene gives some history on how they began, talks about how King James brought them to Scotland and England, and how they ended up in the American Colonies, with Salem being the best-known.
Outline of the Discussion
- King James I was the single most responsible person for bringing Witch Hunts into Scotland and England. They had been going on in Europe for around a century, having begun just prior to the Reformation.
- Witch trials began with Heinrich Kramer, a German Dominican monk and inquisitor in the late 15th century.
- Kramer wrote “Malleus Maleficarum” (The Hammer of Witches) in 1486.
- Kramer was a lot like Alfred Kinsey; a sexual deviant and pervert.
- In August of 1589, at the age of 23, King James of Scotland married Princess Anne of Denmark, who was 14. The wedding was held by proxy.
- In September of 1589, Anne set sail for Scotland from Denmark. They had to turn back because of storms. She blamed witches, whom she accused of wanting to prevent the powerful union that would benefit Protestantism.
- At the time, witch trials had been common in Northern Germany and Denmark.
- In October of 1589, James set sail for Denmark. They were hit by storms too, but he made it.
- While in Denmark, James becomes fascinated with witches and witch trials.
- Upon his return to Scotland, he strengthened the Scottish Witchcraft Act of 1563; imposing the death penalty upon convicted witches. He would later do the same in England after becoming King of England.
- A series of witch trials resulted from the storms inhibiting James and Anne from uniting. In Denmark, the Kronborg witch trials resulted in six women being accused and convicted, and two being executed. In Scotland, the North Burwick witch trials ran for over two years, and implicated over 300 people; both noble and commoner alike.
- Agnes Sampson was accused of being the ringleader of the witches in Scotland. John Fian, a schoolmaster, was implicated as well. Both were executed by burning.
- In 1597, James publishes a book “Daemonologie.”
- Witch hunting was mostly carried over by the Reformers from Medieval Catholicism, and not addressed in a meaningful way.
- Witch hunting in England reached its peak during the English Civil War. Each side accused supporters of the other side of witchcraft. It was much more political than religious, pitting Parliament against the Crown rather than Puritan against Anglican.
- Matthew Hopkins was the most famous person regarding witch trials to come out of the English Civil War. He gave himself the title “Witch-finder General,” and claimed to have Parliamentary authority (he did not.) He would get a town's approval for a witch hunt, then get people to accuse each other.
- Hopkins wrote a book called “The Discovery of Witches.”
- In the Colonies, Salem was among the last of places to undergo witch trials.
- By the late 17th Century, the excesses of witch trials became apparent. Much of it due to the smaller populations in New England.
Scriptures Referenced
- Exodus 22:18
Additional Resources
- Malleus Maleficarum – Heinrich Kramer
- Dæmonologie – King James (VI of Scotland, I of England) (1597)
- The Discovery of Witches – Matthew Hopkins (1647)
- Witchcraft at Salem – Chadwick Hansen
Related Episodes
- Gene Clyatt: The Early English Reformation
- Gene Clyatt: The English Reformation under Elizabeth I
- Gene Clyatt: The English Reformation under James I
Allen Nelson is pastor of Providence Baptist Church in Perryville, Arkansas. He’s also the author of “Before the Throne: Reflections on God's Holiness,” “From Death to Life: How Salvation Works,” and “A Change of Heart: Understanding Regeneration and Why it Matters.” He also writes for Things Above, a Christian group blog dedicated to Missions, Evangelism, […]
Michael Coughlin is an evangelist from Ohio, and an abortion abolitionist. He was first on Echo Zoe Radio nearly seven years ago, for the July 2016 episode, in which we talked about Proper Comparisons. He returns this month to talk about Faithfulness through Trials.
Outline of the Discussion
- Michael visited in 2018 while in town for evangelism during the Super Bowl.
- Michael explains the background of his trial, which began the morning of April 9th (Easter). His mother-in-law called to say that his daughter Bailey was found unconscious and was in the hospital. She ended up in a coma, she was hooked up to an EEG, and her brain was showing no activity in her cortex.
- After twelve days, it was apparent that she was not going to recover. Michael's family, after much prayer, opted to remove the ventilator.
- They were comforted during the worst of the experience with hymns (see Additional Resources below.)
- She died on April 21st. They held a memorial for her on April 28th.
- Prayer and support was so helpful while she was in the hospital, but after the memorial service, it dropped off, which was difficult for the Coughlins.
- The amount of prayer during a difficult trial can be astonishing. Michael guesses that over 10,000 people prayed for his daughter and their family. Having been through a child with brain cancer, Andy had a similar experience in regard to prayer.
- They had a nurse that had been at a prayer meeting the night before at his church and had prayed for Bailey. Providentially, he was assigned to the floor that Bailey was staying on and found Michael's family to pray with them more and encourage them.
- Michael pointed out that sometimes when people are going through terrible trials, people excuse egregiously unbiblical behavior because of the trial they are going through. He never wants to allow bad circumstances to cause him to blaspheme, or to doubt God's goodness. It's important to have good theology before the trials begin.
- Michael wrote blog posts about what his family was going through after reaching out to Justin Peters to ask for prayer, and Justin tweeting about it. He needed to point people to something rather than answer the same questions over and over again.
- Michael has had a couple people he knows go through similar experiences just in the last few weeks. He's already able to help others through their trials.
- People who already had something against Michael (such as preaching the Gospel) came out to add to his pain. He took it as persecution (albeit mild) and rejoiced.
- A lot of people offer help. Some are helpful. Some are trying, but unhelpful. Some are downright malicious.
- If we don't live our faith during good times, we're not going to suddenly start when things get bad.
- There's still time to repent!
Scriptures Referenced
- Romans 8:17
- 1 Peter 5:9
- Matthew 5:10-11
Additional Resources
- Michael blogged about what happened.
- It is Well – Chris Rice
- Wonderful Merciful Savior – Selah
- I can Only Imagine – Mercy Me
- Praise You in This Storm – Casting Crowns
Related Episodes
- Bob DeWaay: The Problem of Evil
- Dan Phillips: The World-Tilting Gospel
- Allen Nelson: God’s Holiness
Gabe Hughes is Associate Pastor of First Baptist Church in Lindale, Texas. He’s also an author, and creator of WWUTT, or When We Understand the Text, a ministry in which he creates Youtube videos, writes books, and has a daily podcast. For this episode, Gabe joins us to discuss a major controversy within the Southern Baptist Convention over the ordination of women as pastors, and how it threatens to divide the SBC. We also talk about why this issue is important, and why those of us who are not Southern Baptists should be paying attention and praying for our Southern Baptist brethren.
Additional Resources
- Women pastors are a Fundamental Problem for Southern Baptists – Gabe Hughes
- Mr. Smith Goes to the Convention – Magan Basham
Chris Hohnholz is the host of Voice of Reason Radio, a fellow show on the Christian Podcast Community. I was set to do a show with his co-host Richard Story, who had to not only postpone doing a show with me, but also postpone doing a regular show with Chris, so Chris and I teamed up for a crossover episode. For this episode, we want to talk to your unbelieving friends and family, so give us a listen, but then please share the link with that loved-one whom you’ve been praying for and that you’d like to hear the Gospel.
Will Dobbie is pastor of Emmanuel Church of Knoxville, Tennessee, and author of From Everlasting to Everlasting: Every Believer's Biography. The book is a 30-Day devotional, broken into five Acts, walking the reader through the theological aspects of salvation from eternity past to eternity future, with practical application in between.
Outline of the Discussion
- Will used the pandemic lockdowns as an opportunity to put the rich doctrinal truths of the Bible that he had been teaching as a pastor in London into book form. The book is a 30-day devotional, which explores the central truths of Biblical salvation and Christian life.
- The book is broken down into five Acts.
- The book is built upon the spine of the ordo solutus (logical order of salvation.) Classically, the ordo solutus is defined as: election, calling, regeneration, conversion, justification, reconciliation, sanctification, perseverance, and glorification.
- As we bounce around a little within the book, we talk about Will's favorite part: the New Creation. He came up with the “Seven P's.” which begin with the supreme characteristic: the Presence of God. From that will bring (2) Perfect joy and beauty, (3) Physical bodies, (4) Personal relationships, (5) Privileged responsibilities, (6) Practical service, and (7) Perpetual time.
- Day 26 is about death. Death is unnatural. Death is inevitable. Death is painful. Death is impotent to the believer.
- On the atonement. Although the new creation will be perfect, Jesus will retain the scars from the cross on his hands. The atonement was penal (a penalty) and substitutionary (Jesus took the penalty in our place.) Atonement is sometimes described as at-one-ment, that it brings us to be at one with God.
- The atonement has four core truths within it: propitiation, justification, redemption, and adoption.
- Propitiation is God satisfying His wrath against us. An analogy is a lightning rod. Once God's wrath is released, it needs a place to go, and for us the Cross is that place.
- Justification is God's declaring us righteous through Christ. It is a legal distinction.
Scriptures Referenced
- Acts 17:25
- Luke 19:11-27
- Matthew 25:14-30
- Isaiah 65:21-23
- Romans 5:12
- Psalm 90
- 1 Corinthians 15:55-57
- Psalm 23:4
- Philippians 4:4
- Ephesians 4:24
- Romans 5:1
- 1 Corinthians 1:30-31
- 2 Peter 1:1
- Colossians 2:13-15
- Romans 4:16-17
Additional Resources
- From Everlasting to Everlasting: Every Believer's Biography – Will Dobbie
Related Episodes
- Ryan Habbena: The Means of Grace
- Patrick Szalapski: The Atonement
- Phil Johnson: The Doctrines of Grace
- Dr. James White: Sola Gratia & Sovereign Grace
- Ryan Habbena: Sanctification
- Phil Johnson: Sola Fide
- Allen Nelson: Effectual Calling
- Allen Nelson: How Salvation Works
- Dan Phillips: What Faith Is and Does
- Dan Phillips: The World-Tilting Gospel
- Kofi Adu-Boahen: Union with Christ
Kofi Adu-Boahen returns for his sixth episode to talk about Genesis 1-11. Kofi is pastor of Redeemer Bible Fellowship in Medford, Oregon. He’s been preaching through Genesis, and is here to talk about the Creation, the Fall, The Flood, and a little about Babel.
Outline of the Discussion
- Genesis 1-11 are foundational to the understanding of the rest of the Bible.
- Genesis 1-11 breaks down to four key events:
- The Creation (ch. 1-2)
- The Fall and it's effects (ch. 3-5)
- The Flood and it's effects (ch. 6-10)
- The Tower of Babel (ch. 11:1-9)
- During the six days of Creation, we see that God spends the first three days creating the form and space of the universe, and the last three days filling it.
- The seven day creation week is a pattern that later comes up in the Ten Commandments. God worked six days and rested on the seventh, so Man is to work six days and rest on the seventh .
- Genesis 2 sets the standard for marriage.
- Two areas where the Bible is quiet, but we speculate: When were the angels created? And how much time elapsed between the Creation and the Fall?
- The Fall: “The Fall” is an unfortunate term because it wasn't a fall, it was a big heaping crash!
- There were three aspects to temptation in Genesis 3: an appeal to the flesh (it's good to eat,) appeal to the eyes (it looks good,) and appeal to pride (obtaining wisdom.)
- These three aspects of temptation come up again with the Temptations of Christ. First, an appeal to the flesh (turn stones into bread to eat.) Second, an appeal to the eyes (throw yourself off the Temple, the angels will save you, and everyone will see it.) Third, an appeal to pride (He can have all of the kingdoms of the world if he will worship Satan.)
- The temptations we face all fall into these three categories. What changes is the mode of operation of the temptations.
- Immediately upon eating the forbidden fruit, the consequences of their sin set in. They knew they were naked.
- God comes back to the garden and asks “where are you?” This is not a geographical question, but rather a spiritual question. ‘How did this happen?'
- In the curse of the serpent, we see the proto-euangelion; the first glimpse of the Gospel.
- Beginning with Genesis 4, we see the aftermath of the Fall.
- God accepts Abel's sacrifice, and rejects Cain's. Cain responds by killing Abel.
- Genealogies, including the one in Genesis 5, are in the Bible for a reason. There is much to learn from them.
- Getting into Genesis 6, we encounter the Nephilim. There are many views as to what's going on in Genesis 6, which says:
“The Nephilim were on the earth in those days, and also afterward, when the sons of God came in to the daughters of man and they bore children to them. These were the mighty men who were of old, the men of renown.” – Genesis 6:4
Kofi takes the view that the Nephilim were the offspring of human beings possessed by demons (“sons of God” is a term referring to angelic beings.) Another view is that somehow the demons themselves were capable of procreating with women and bearing offspring. - We believe the Flood was Global. The promise symbolized in the rainbow precludes it being a local flood.
- The sin of Ham (Genesis 9:20-23) led to the cursing of his son Canaan, which set the stage for what we see later, as the nation of Israel comes into the land of Canaan and is commanded to wipe out the Canaanites.
- In Genesis 11, we have the dispersal after Babel, which sets the stage for the reversal at Pentecost.
Scriptures Referenced
- Genesis 1-11
- Ephesians 5:22-33
- 1 John 2:15-16
Additional Resources
- Foundations – Youtube playlist of Kofi's sermons.
Related Episodes
- Kofi Adu-Boahen: Haggai
- Eric Douma: Made in the Image of God
- Bob DeWaay: Ephesians
- Kofi Adu-Boahen: Colossians
- Ryan Habbena: Christ in the Old Testament
Andrew Rappaport and Fred Butler return for the fifth annual Roundtable. Andrew and Fred were asked to each bring a mini topic to discuss. We start with Fred's topic: Christian Nationalism. For the second half of the show, Andrew led a discussion on miracles and cessationism.
Given the less formal nature of the show this month, the show notes are minimal.
Andrew recently spoke at a conference in Sandpoint, Idaho on Cessationism. That conference is available on the Kootenai Church Youtube channel.
During the discussion on cessationism, Fred mentioned a series of articles he wrote a few years ago called “Continuationism is not a non-essential doctrinal issue.” Here are those articles: Part 1 | Part 2 | Part 3
Gene Clyatt returns for a third installment of English Reformation history. Gene was first on with me in August of last year, where he talked about the early days of the English Reformation under Henry the 8th and Bishop Thomas Cranmer. In the May episode this year, Gene returned to talk about England under Queen […]
Dr. Nathaniel Jeanson holds a PhD in cell and developmental biology from Harvard University. He has been studying the information available about the human genome, and his book Traced gets into some of the fascinating information he has found, which challenges the Evolutionary worldview, and reflects the history of humanity as described in the book […]
Roger Patterson is a science instructor at Answers in Genesis with a Biology degree from Montana State University. He teaches Biology and Chemistry at the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter, as well is various online offerings. He has been on the show twice before to discuss the three-volume “World Religions and Cults” set that he […]
Ryan Habbena is pastor of Conquering King Fellowship church in Eagan, Minnesota, Instructor at Village Schools of the Bible, President of the Mount Moriah Foundation and Zera Biblical Films, and board member of Echo Zoe Ministries. He joins us this month to talk about the history of the Temple, as well as some thoughts about […]
Chris Hohnholz is a law enforcement officer near Reno, Nevada and fellow Christian Podcast Community podcaster. He and Richard Story have a show called Voice of Reason Radio. He returns for another discussion cornucopia episode, where we talk about three different, but related topics from the Christian response to tragedy, being Salt and Light in […]
Gene Clyatt returns for a second installment of English Reformation history. Gene was first on with me in August of last year, where he talked about the early days of the English Reformation under Henry VIII and Bishop Thomas Cranmer. In this episode, Gene reviews a little of that at the beginning, and then talks […]
Jim Tingler is the Director for Administration of a missions support organization called ITEC, or Indigenous Peoples Technology and Education Center, based in Dunnellon, Florida. ITEC has a fascinating origin story and a very cool mission. Outline of the Discussion ITEC's focus is: Developing, Equipping, and Training. They develop equipment that can be used by […]
Returning for another end-of-year Roundtable discussion is Andrew Rappaport & Fred Butler. We discuss a few varying topics, inspired by previous episodes of Echo Zoe Radio from 2019 and other topics from current events. Outline of the Discussion We see popular “evangelicals” restricting the portions of the Bible that they consider authoritative because the other […]
Allen Nelson is the author of “Before the Throne: Reflections on God's Holiness,” and joins me this month to discuss God's Holiness, with discussion based on his book. Allen is pastor Perryville Second Baptist Church in Perryville, Arkansas. He also wrote “From Death to Life: How Salvation Works,” the subject of our discussion the first […]
Jim Osman is pastor of Kootenai Community Church, in Kootenai, Idaho, and author of several books, including “Truth or Territory,” which is the basis for our discussion today. “Truth or Territory” walks the reader through the unbiblical teachings so prevalent today regarding Spiritual Warfare, and points us back to a Biblical understanding of our battle […]
Roger Patterson is a former High School Chemistry and Biology teacher from Wyoming, and now a curriculum writer, editor, and member of the editorial review board for Answers in Genesis. He and Bodie Hodge put together a three-volume resource entitled “World Religions and Cults.” He first joined Echo Zoe Radio in February, 2017 to discuss […]
Chris Hohnholz is a fellow podcaster who hosts “Voice of Reason Radio,” along with his cohost Richard Story. Chris has been on with me before, and returns to discuss the dichotomy between seeking to be obedient to God and the contemporary Evangelical proclivity to find fulfillment.