The UnSunday Show: Recent Episodes
Mike Adams
The UnSunday Show asks honest questions about the origin and validity of institutional church rules, traditions, and practices. These religious rules and practices lead us away from the simplicity of the gospel and into an exhausting performance-based experience that is designed to perpetuate itself by placing ever increasing demands on its people and are of no value in Christ. If you're exhausted from trying to keep all the religious rules that have been placed on you, listen in to these conversations as we rediscover the freedom we've been given, apart from religion and empty religious obligation.
Thinking our performance adds anything to God’s opinion of us is a lie that leads to despair. That was me!This video is a segment from a livestream I did on 7-12-26.
- Full Livestream: https://youtube.com/live/jRFQ08zE8sM?feature=share
- Video version of this episode: https://youtu.be/9JDR5lXadxI
In most modern institutional churches, there is no opportunity for the body of Christ to function. We’re not allowed to serve one another by using our spiritual gifts. Odds are, most of us don’t even know what our spiritual gifts are because we’ve never been given the chance to discover and use them. Instead, we have to sit passive in the pew or chair while we watch what’s going on up front and listen to one person’s opinions of something in the Bible.
This episode is from a video I did on the UnSunday Show YouTube channel. Here’s a link to the video:
https://youtu.be/U790GV9ZWqA
I’ve been mulling this over in my mind for the last couple of hours so I though I would get my thoughts into a video while they’re still fresh. What are your thoughts on this topic?
Watch the video here: https://youtu.be/Flr3FIcoWg0
Let’s return to some of the foundations of our faith for a few minutes and talk about faith, reconciliation, and the gospel.
For the video version of this episode, go to https://youtu.be/LmqDkkdRT1w
I was asked a good question recently on my video, “What’s My Goal in Reading the Bible?” She said, “Honest question, explain Psalm 199:11 and how this fits into your point.” I replied to that comment but here’s my fuller explanation.
This episode is available as a video on YouTube at:
https://youtu.be/Hl_z2sMjbB0
Enjoy!
I’m once again joined in this video by Amber Stephens, Mike Kapler, and Joel Brueseke for our second Gospel Roundtable. This time we explore the topic of common misconceptions about the Bible and its place in our lives as believers. Get in your favorite chair with your favorite beverage and snack and join us. I hope you’re encouraged by what you hear.
This episode is available in video format at:
https://youtu.be/xZhCfuml0a4Amber is on YouTube at: @mayhemandgrace And Instagram at:https://www.instagram.com/breathin.godsgrace/Mike and Joel co-host the Growing in Grace podcast.On YouTube:https://www.youtube.com/@TheBreezemanOn the web:https://www.growingingrace.orgOr on your favorite podcast app.Enjoy!
This question came up in a recent comment on my YouTube channel two things happened. 1) It took me by surprise because no one has ever asked me that before. And 2) It got me thinking, “What is my goal in reading the Bible? Do I have a goal? Should I have a goal?”
- I recommend watching the video version of this episode to get the full experience. You'll find it here:
https://youtu.be/FROMy1coPQs
- Here's the link I interacted with in this episode:
https://www.desiringgod.org/interviews/ten-reasons-to-read-the-bible-every-day#8-scripture-will-be-resisted-by-some
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When we view the Bible as an academic textbook to be mastered, we end up missing the point entirely. That's what happened to me. I was trained to look at and look for, all the wrong things when reading or studying the Bible. Here's my story. Let me know if you can relate.
This episode of The UnSunday Show is available as video here:
https://youtu.be/I2idazyguYI
Enjoy!
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This is an audio excerpt from a YouTube livestream I did on Sunday, May 3rd, 2026. Here's the link to the full video in case you're interested in watching:
https://www.youtube.com/live/Zdj_LO45vgw?si=SF6XvmGB1UKmouul
Enjoy!
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Jesus himself is the New Covenant. The New Covenant isn't something he brought with him, tucked neatly under his arm. He is the New Covenant. Let's take five and talk about how to have a Jesus-lite theology of the New Covenant where Jesus gets occasional, honorable mention but the real emphasis is on human performance and supposed progress.
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Is signing a formal church membership contract a necessary expression of loyalty? Has the institutional church traded the freedom of life in Christ for institutional control? In this episode I explore how formal membership contracts — often loaded with behavioral clauses, doctrinal checkpoints, and institutional loyalty — distort the gospel of grace and reduce free flowing community to a legal transaction with rewards for compliance and punishments for non-compliance. Jesus brought us into a relationship, not a system. So why have countless churches made belonging conditional on paperwork?
This episode is from a livestream on the UnSunday YouTube page. If you prefer to watch the full video, it's available at https://www.youtube.com/live/l8rXJSo1Cl4?si=VKichdClrUhBPyUp and at https://www.unsunday.com/community-without-roll-call-exchanging-freedom-for-a-contract
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What happens when church becomes a breeding ground for control, fear, and manipulation? This episode of The UnSunday Show exposes the patterns of church bullying, from toxic leadership to spiritual abuse that often occurs when the institutional church abandons the New Covenant gospel of grace in favor of a mixed-covenant version of a gospel of their own making. This mixed covenant gospel is no gospel at all.
I'm excited to have Jeremiah Ryan join me as we explore the topic of church bullying, what it is, how to recognize it, and what to expect when it happens to you. You can find Jeremiah at The Way Ministries using these links:
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCmMf-GnkloFWO1CUqNnFP6w
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100088074741276
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/the_wayministries
This episode is also available as video. You can view it by visiting https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow
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I'm continuing the topic of women in the church and how historically, the church's view of woman has been harmful and abusive. It's not a good track record. This is the fourth of four episodes that I brought over from our Grace Cafe podcast to share with you here. In this episode we talk about headship and submission. We use 1 Corinthians 11 and Ephesians 5 as the backdrop for our conversation and why we believe Paul's use of the word "head" (κεφαλὴ) wouldn't have meant authority or leader to the readers of his day.
Here are a couple of online articles that you might want to take a look at. The second one is more detailed and contains a lot of good references. Inclusion here doesn't imply our agreement with everything in the articles, but they are a good thought-provoking read.
- ‘Head’ Does Not Mean ‘Leader’ in 1 Cor 11.3, by Ian Paul - https://www.psephizo.com/biblical-studies/head-does-not-mean-leader-in-1-cor-11-3/
- What About the Word Kephale ("head") in the New Testament?, by Laurie Fasullo - https://www.searchingtogether.org/kephale.htm
Enjoy!
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This is part 3 of a 4-part series I'm doing on Women in the church that originally aired on the Grace Cafe podcast in 2023. In this episode we're going to take a careful look at 1 Corinthians 14:34-40. It's here that the passage says the law commanded women to be silent, therefore, women should not be allowed to speak when the body of Christ is assembled. The problem is, the law doesn't say that and even if it did, we (and the people Paul was writing to) are not under the law, so why does that matter even if it were true? We think there's something else going on here that needs to be talked about, so let's talk.
I'm continuing with the topic of women in the church that I started back in episode 108. More specifically, how the institutional church has weaponized certain verses in the New Covenant scriptures and used them against women without fully considering the historical and cultural context. This has resulted in needlessly silencing half of the body of Christ and opened the door wide for abuse of every kind.
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In this episode we continue talking about the topic of how the institutional box church misrepresents and misinterprets passages of scripture that mention women in the body of Christ. We take a look at the historical and cultural context of Paul's first letter to Timothy and specifically, 1 Timothy chapter 2. In giving his reasons for writing this letter to Timothy, Paul instructs him to dispel myths that had arisen in the assembly (1 Timothy 1:3-4). In chapter 2 of his letter we see Paul begin to dismantle some of those myths and those myths centered around the worship of the pagan idol, Artemis. The culture in Ephesus was heavily influenced by the worship of Artemis. Artemis was a female goddess of Greek origin and the worship and culture of Artemis was female centric. While males could participate in the worship of Artemis, women were dominate and men had a lesser role (kind of the opposite of what we see today in most churches).
Here are some of the myths Paul addresses:
- In the Ephesian culture, Artemis was looked to as the protector of women in childbirth.
- Women stood a better chance of Artemis hearing and answering their prayers if they wore expensive clothes and jewelry when petitioning Artemis.
- Artemis was born before her twin brother Apollo, meaning woman was created before man.
We also need to keep in mind these important points:
- Timothy was not a pastor. There's no indication of that anywhere in Scripture. That's a church history-driven idea that is incorrect.
- The letters of 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, and Titus are not "pastoral letters" written to pastors. Calling them pastoral letters is another false assumption delivered to us from church history.
- The letters to Timothy and Titus are not across-the-board manuals for doing church. They address specific problems that arose in specific locations involving specific people at a specific time. Failure to recognize this and instead promote the false assumption that everything in them is applicable to every generation without regard to the historical and cultural context they were written in, has led to the muzzling of half of the body of Christ.
Books mentioned in this episode:
- Artemis: Virgin Goddess of the Sun and Moon - https://tinyurl.com/2p9cfykc
- What's With Paul and Women? https://tinyurl.com/yp6n47xn
I brought this episode over from the Grace Cafe podcast. It's part 2 of a 4-part series I'm re-posting here on the UnSunday Show. The link to the Grace Cafe podcast is below if you would like to see other episodes on this topic.
Enjoy!
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This is part one of four episodes I'm bringing over from the Grace Cafe podcast on the topic of women in the church and how institutional Christianity uses scripture out of context to silent women. Here's a breakdown of the episodes I'm bringing over:
- Twisting the Truth: How Church Uses Scripture to Silence Women - Part One (this episode).
- Twisting the Truth: How Church Uses Scripture to Silence Women - Part Two (next week).
- Did The Law of Moses Silence Women? A Second Glance at 1 Corinthians 14:34-40
- Headship and Submission
This week and next, explore the question, did Paul command women to be silent in church? This episode is a much needed overview of what the New Testament says about women in the body of Christ. We look at several of the clear passages of scripture to lay a good foundation for this topic before jumping into the sometimes not-so-clear waters of 1 Timothy chapter 2 and 1 Corinthians 14 next time. Grab your favorite beverage and listen in!
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Let's talk about what happens when we stop going to church. This is from the livestream that I did on May 4th, 2025 on YouTube. Here's the link in case you want to watch the video:
https://www.youtube.com/live/CHWejf9tjwk?si=tQtWdw1Jzf3VubJe
You can follow the UnSunday Show on YouTube at:
https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow
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The video version of this episode is on my YouTube channel at https://youtu.be/H89bdlfkwHg
In this episode I share a quote from Michael C. Kapler's book, Clash of the Covenants: Escaping Religious Bondage Through the Grace Guarantee. This is an excellent book that I recommend without hesitation. You can find it on Amazon at https://bit.ly/3Rump8V
I'm thinking of doing a live video next Sunday on YouTube. Is that something you would like to see? Would you watch it? Let me know here: https://www.unsunday.com/contact/
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The gospel isn’t a group project. If grace is free, why do we try so hard to add to it? In this episode, I talk about how bringing nothing to the table isn’t a burden but is ultimate freedom. Grace apart from works is a death sentence for institutional religion that can't be tolerated there.
Let's talk about grace!
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Holiness Isn’t a Hustle. Many believers feel trapped in a cycle of performance, thinking sanctification is about sweating for Jesus. Too often, we’re taught that sanctification, or holiness, is about working harder, doing more, and proving ourselves to God. But what if it isn’t about striving to do more but about resting in what's already been done?
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"The moment the church of God shall despise the pulpit, God will despise her." -Charles Spurgeon
The pulpit is in the way. Pulpits have a long history of being an obstacle that is in the way of the Body of Christ functioning as God intends for it to function. When the Body of Christ is gathered together are we limited to the voice of one person behind a pulpit telling us their opinion of what to believe, what to do, or scolding us for doing it wrong? Or is every believer qualified to participate and contribute with their spiritual gifts, building up the Body of Christ?
In this episode, I share examples of how the traditional church mindset elevates the pulpit as the focal point of our meeting together and disables the Body of Christ by limiting participation to the elite few; pastors and church leaders.
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"I don't want to read my Bible anymore. Is there something wrong with me? I need to fix this!"
This is a common theme that happens when we leave the institutional box church. Many times, any desire to read the Bible disappears and we start to think there's something wrong with us that needs fixed. We tend to think that losing a desire to have a regular Bible reading schedule makes us disappointing to God and getting back to having a daily Bible reading experience is imperative.
But there's a reason we lose the desire to read the Bible when we leave institutional religion and it usually because the Bible has been weaponized against you in some way in order to prevent you from leaving. This is one form of spiritual abuse, so is it any wonder that you've lost the desire to read it?
Next week: Breaking the Pulpit Barrier: Freeing the Body of Christ
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Let's talk about Jeremiah 17:9 and his statement that the heart is deceitful above all things and desperately wicked. Is it true? Are our hearts deceitful and wicked and not to be trusted or is there more to that description that needs clarification? Let's talk.
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Welcome to episode 100 of The UnSunday Show! I was so focused in this episode on what I wanted to say that I forgot to mention this is episode 100. Triple digits! Yay!!! This is the final episode on the subject of pastors, elders, and shepherds. In this episode I talked about how the word pastors, which only appears in Ephesians 4:11, was a result of church tradition. In every other occurrence of the Greek word translated pastors in Ephesians 4:11, it's translated as shepherds. We saw a few of those last week when we talked about elders in the body of Christ. This week we look at more occurrences of the same word and all are translated shepherds or shepherd.
Why is that? I believe a big part of the reason is because the translators allowed the structure of the institutional church around them to influence and direct their interpretation of ποιμένας (poimenas) to mean pastors instead of shepherds and in so doing, the institutional church system of a top-down authority structure was reinforced.
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This episode is a continuation of last week's as we turn our attention to the topic of elders in the body of Christ. Elders, overseers, shepherds, bishops, and pastors. How are these terms used in the New Covenant scriptures and are they related in some way? Let's sort these out in this episode.
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Do institutional church pastors have a special calling to be pastors? Let's take an honest look at this in light of the New Testament scriptures.
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This episode of the UnSunday Show is a conversation from the 2018 archives of The Grace Cafe podcast that Mike had with Mike Kapler of the Growing in Grace podcast. It centers around the content of Mike Kapler's book, Clash Of The Covenants: Escaping Religious Bondage Through The Grace Guarantee. We talked about many topics that often lead to confusion for believers, including the Sermon on the Mount, the Prodigal Son, the Old Covenant, the New Covenant, and more. I'm posting this on both the Grace Cafe and the UnSunday Show.
Links we talked about in the episode:
- Clash Of The Covenants: Escaping Religious Bondage Through The Grace Guarantee (This is the link to the paperback version. The Kindle version can be found there)
- Growing in Grace Podcast Page - The podcast home of Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke. They've been talking grace on this podcast for almost 20 years and 900+ episodes. All the episodes are there for your enjoyment. You can also listen on your favorite podcast app.
I'm (Mike) bringing some episodes over from the old Grace Cafe podcast while I wait for my voice to heal enough to carry on a conversation.
Enjoy!
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I recorded this conversation with my wife on The Grace Cafe podcast but am posting it here as well. It's a short health update from yours truly. Push play and give it a listen and thank you for following my podcasts!
I was recently invited to speak on the Grace at Last podcast with Corinne Kinstler on the subject of women in the church. I would really appreciate it if you would give it a listen as well. My conversations with Corinne are always well-seasoned with grace and this one is no different. It's one I really enjoyed! Here's the link to that episode:
https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/grace-at-last/id1689072652?i=1000655385359
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I was installing a couple of lights in my garage and when I opened one of the boxes, a paper fell out with the heading at the top that read:
FCC's Supplier's Declaration of Conformity
So naturally, my mind went to formal church membership because at its core, formal church membership is a declaration of conformity. So let's talk.
Links I mention to my previous episodes on church discipline:
- Is Church Discipline a New Covenant Practice?
- Is Church Discipline a New Covenant Practice? (Part 2)
Enjoy!
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I asked Trent Antle to join me on this episode of the UnSunday Show because I wanted to hear more his story and I wanted others to have that same opportunity. After 20 years as a pastor in the institutional church setting, Trent began to see through the facade of propped-up religion as his eyes were being opened more and more to the New Covenant gospel of grace. He eventually walked away, not from Jesus, but from the system of organized church. This is his story and I hope you'll be encouraged by it.
This episode is also available on video at https://youtu.be/jpfAKZ8PwPo
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Why is the modern church so captivated by the 10 Commandments when the New Covenant scriptures tell us plainly that the Law has been fulfilled and abolished? One reason is the theological systems we subscribe to that have the Law and the 10 Commandments as their centerpiece. One such system is Covenant Theology.
I also mentioned in this episode that we've combined the Instagram, Facebook, and Threads accounts for the UnSunday Show and the Grace Cafe podcasts into one account on each platform. You'll find us on these platforms at our new name of grace.podcasts. We hope to see you there!
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This episode is the audio I pulled from a video I just did. I came across a post in one of my social media feeds where a church had posted Joshua 1:8 as a memory verse for its people to memorize this week. The passage reads,
"Do not let this Book of the Law depart from your mouth. Meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do everything written in it. Then you will be prosperous and successful." (Joshua 1:8)
Is it helpful to commit to memory a passage commanding that the Law of Moses be meditated on and that my successful meditation on the Law will ensure my success in life? You'll find links to the video below.
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Welcome to episode 91 of The UnSunday Show. In this episode I take a hard look at top-down authority and the use of honorific titles in the body of Christ. These things are not neutral and in fact, they do harm to the body of Christ by choosing to ignore the clear directives of Jesus concerning these important topics. In short, they prevent the body of Christ from fully expressing Christ to the world.
I also include a short update about my YouTube channel for those of you who follow me there. Be sure to listen to the end to catch that.
Links:
My YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@unsundayshow
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In this episode of the UnSunday Show, I ramble on about some important things that have been on my mind recently concerning institutional church and its inability to reflect the heart of Jesus and his kingdom in the world.
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This is a short announcement to let you know I was interviewed on the Grace at Last podcast and that episode is out! I had a great conversation there with Corinne Kinstler, host of the Grace at Last podcast as we talked about church, the New Covenant, and a host of other topics along the way. Go check it out at: https://www.lastministry.org/grace-at-last-podcast/022-what-i-should-know-about-church-with-mike-adamsnbsp
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Welcome to episode 88 of The UnSunday Show. Today we're going to talk about 2 Timothy 2:15. This is another verse in a long list of verses that has been taken out of context and weaponized by institutional religion to mean something that it was never intended to mean. Here it is in the King James Version:
"Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth." (2 Timothy 2:15, KJV)
As a new believer years ago, I was told that this verse meant God expected me to stay on track with my study of the Bible as a demonstration to others that I was serious about my faith and that God approved of me because I was committed to the book, the Bible.
But this verse has nothing to do with the Bible or the practice of studying the Bible. After all, there weren't any Bibles when Paul penned this. Institutional religion gave us that interpretation and it has nothing to do with the context of the passage. But this passage does raise some questions and these are what I talk about in this episode:
- What does 'study' mean?
- What does 'approved unto God' mean?
- What is the 'word of truth'?
- And how do I know when I'm rightly dividing it?
Don't forget to visit the newly re-launched Grace Cafe Podcast, co-hosted by me and my wife. It's in your podcast app or on the web at https://www.gracecafepodcast.com/
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Welcome to episode 87 of The UnSunday Show! What is sanctification? Is my sanctification progressive and ongoing, or is it already complete? Much of organized religion would have us believe that our sanctification isn't guaranteed and that it's progressive, relies on me, and I'm supposed to be getting better at doing as time marches on. But is that the New Covenant version of sanctification? Let's talk about this important topic on this episode of The UnSunday Show.
Important Announcement!! My wife and I have relaunched The Grace Cafe Podcast! We made the decision to close it down back in 2019 or 2020 but it's back! The web address is https://www.gracecafepodcast.com/. Check it out and give us a follow.
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In this episode of the UnSunday Show, I share with you the recent conversation I had with Corrine Kinstler. Our paths crossed several month ago as Corrine was exploring the possibility of starting a new grace-centered podcast that would reflect her changes in thinking as she had moved out of a legalistic, religious environment into a better understanding of grace and the New Covenant. I think you're going to like this conversation. I sure did! It's full of honest transparency as Corrine shares her story and journey out of legalism and into the security of the New Covenant gospel.
Links we talked about in this episode:
- LAST Ministry - https://www.lastministry.org/
- The Grace at Last Podcast - https://www.lastministry.org/grace-at-last-podcast (or in your favorite podcast app)
Enjoy!
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I'm way overdue for another morning coffee session with you so I thought I would remedy that with this episode. So let's talk about pastors and elders as I give you an update on where my thinking on this topic is going. This episode is also available as a video by visiting https://www.unsunday.com/videos/85-morning-coffee-pastors-and-elders/
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In this episode of the UnSunday Show I want to talk about sermons and sermonizing. If the body of Christ is a kingdom of priests (and it is) where everyone who wants to, can actively participate, sermon centrality is certainly one of the biggest factors in preventing that from happening. Sermons and the art of sermonizing are a product of church history. They're an add-on to the body of Christ that stifle the priesthood of all believers. Let's talk...
Here's the link to my new Facebook page that I mentioned in this episode: https://www.facebook.com/unsundaypodcast
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When we read our Bibles without regard to whether the passage we're reading resides in the Old Covenant or the New Covenant, we're mis-reading it. It's common today to give little or no consideration to a New Covenant/Old Covenant context and by doing so, we end up flattening out all of scripture as though every verse or passage is of equal weight and that all of it applies to us today. This is a big mistake that blurs the lines between law and grace and ends up mixing the two and grace becomes non-grace. Let's talk about it.
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The recently released movie, The Jesus Revolution, brought back many memories for us of the early days of our lives as Jesus People because we were both there to experience some of it. Mike came to Jesus in January of 1973 in the Calvary Chapel tent at a Saturday night concert and Susan met Jesus in the summer of 1973 at an ocean baptism in Pirate's Cove. If you've seen the movie, or if you were there too, you know of these places. We didn't know each other at that time but after we married in 1974, we moved to Costa Mesa where we were part of that first Calvary Chapel.
The episode artwork for this episode is a picture of us taken at Huntington Beach at the time that we lived in Costa Mesa and we were a part of the original Calvary Chapel.
Here's a link to the video Susan mentioned:
https://youtu.be/hw8TbEaAceE
Enjoy!
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What has centuries of pastor-centered practices done to the body of Christ? Why is the institutional church so pastor-centered? How has pastor-centrality contributed to the crippling of the body of Christ? Do pastor-centered practices enhance or hinder the functioning of the body of Christ? Is pastor-centrality what Jesus has in mind for his people? Who put pastors in charge? The answer might shock you: Other pastors.
Here's a link to the episode I mentioned. I hope you'll take the time to listen. https://www.unsunday.com/the-long-and-winding-road-of-institutional-christianity/
Later....
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the Judaizers in Paul's day insisted that the Old Covenant law of Moses had to be obeyed in addition to faith in Jesus. They mixed law with gospel. Unfortunately, there are modern-day Judaizers who do the same thing to varying degrees with the same outcome: by adding law to grace, they have fallen from grace. Let's talk.
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What is spiritual growth? What does that term mean? More often than not, it's a term that gets weaponized to force conformity to a preset standard of rules or activities. But is there such a thing as spiritual growth in the New Covenant scriptures? If so, how is it gauged? What's the standard and how do I know if I'm doing it or doing it right? Let's talk.
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Religion diminishes who we are in Jesus by adding layers of obligations on top of the finished work of Jesus on the cross and in his resurrection. There is no rest in religion but in Jesus, rest is part of our new identity. Much like oil and water, religion and rest don't mix.
I want to give a much overdue shoutout to Joel Brueseke at the Growing in Grace podcast. He was kind enough to have me on his podcast for 2 episodes several months ago. In fact, it was last year! We had a fantastic conversation that went a little long so Joel made it into 2 episodes. Thank you Joel! Here are the links to those 2 episodes:
- The State of the Church, Part 1
- The State of the Church, Part 2
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My wife Susan joins me in this episode to talk about five regrets of a former pastor's wife. These speak to the damage done as a direct result of having spent years in institutional church leadership. Grab your favorite beverage, pull up a chair, and listen in.
Here they are in the order we talked about them:
- Being Silent and Not Speaking Up
- How Much it Cost Me and My Family
- Driven to Being Liked and Accepted
- Compliance to Misogyny and Patriarchy
- Stuffing My Anger
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The UnSunday Show podcast website has received a major makeover and there are new features and tools there now that make it easier for us to communicate. Among the new tools, there's now a voice mail feature that enables you leave me a voice message up to 2 minutes long. You can use this to ask questions, leave comments, suggest new topics, etc. Just be nice.
This episode is also available in video. You can find the video on YouTube at https://youtu.be/jlDUX4SKJLw
This episode sprang from a conversation Susan and I had about the impact Christian nationalism has had on the body of Christ throughout its history. The use of military jargon within institutional religion has given us a military-style pecking order of top-down authority in the body of Christ. A quote I share in this episode is a clear illustration of this where the pastor is said to be the Company Commander who gets his or her orders directly from the Commander-in-Chief (Jesus) and we're obligated to follow them without question. Seriously. Just push Play.
- James: "You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone." (James 2:24)
- Paul: "For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law." (Romans 3:28)
Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke from the Growing in Grace podcast join me in this episode as we examine the topic of justification. Is our justification by faith alone as Paul said or is it a combination of faith and works as James said? Did James and Paul disagree on this important subject of justification? Listen in as we open the scriptures and compare the writings of both James and Paul concerning justification as well as the historical accounts dealing with this topic recorded in Acts 15, Acts 21, and Galatians.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Growing in Grace episodes 778-799 (excluding the Christmas episode 786)
- Clash of the Covenants by Michael C. Kapler
Enjoy!
- James: "You see that a person is justified by works and not by faith alone." (James 2:24)
- Paul: "For we hold that one is justified by faith apart from works of the law." (Romans 3:28)
Mike Kapler and Joel Brueseke from the Growing in Grace podcast join me in this episode as we examine the topic of justification. Is our justification by faith alone as Paul said or is it a combination of faith and works as James said? Did James and Paul disagree on this important subject of justification? Listen in as we open the scriptures and compare the writings of both James and Paul concerning justification as well as the historical accounts dealing with this topic recorded in Acts 15, Acts 21, and Galatians.
Links mentioned in this episode:
- Growing in Grace episodes 778-799 (excluding the Christmas episode 786)
- Clash of the Covenants by Michael C. Kapler
Enjoy!
I lost all my drive and passion to write following my crash and burn in 2009. As a pastor who spent years in performance-based Christianity, I hit a wall of performance in 2009 and I went from full-on to full-stop overnight. Relationships were lost, friendships were lost, and in the process my passion for writing and speaking evaporated. Recently, that passion has returned. There's a lot more to that story but perhaps another time.
Today, I'm announcing the launch of my new blog, the UnSunday Blog. The UnSunday Blog is a companion site to the UnSunday Show and should complement it well. For those of you who prefer reading over listening to a podcast, the UnSunday Blog will give both you and me an opportunity to dive deeper into the topics I share. Here's the link to the UnSunday Blog:
https://www.unsundayblog.com/
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I lost all my drive and passion to write following my crash and burn in 2009. As a pastor who spent years in performance-based Christianity, I hit a wall of performance in 2009 and I went from full-on to full-stop overnight. Relationships were lost, friendships were lost, and in the process my passion for writing and speaking evaporated. Recently, that passion has returned. There's a lot more to that story but perhaps another time.
Today, I'm announcing the launch of my new blog, the UnSunday Blog. The UnSunday Blog is a companion site to the UnSunday Show and should complement it well. For those of you who prefer reading over listening to a podcast, the UnSunday Blog will give both you and me an opportunity to dive deeper into the topics I share. Here's the link to the UnSunday Blog:
https://www.unsundayblog.com/
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The UnSunday Blog - https://www.unsundayblog.com/
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In this episode I talk through some additional thoughts and recap some topics from last week's episode with Joel Brueseke on the law abolished. In addition to what I talk about in this episode, my biggest question concerning this issue of the law is simply "Why?" Why do we tend to think the law, defined in scripture as "weak and useless", and given only to a specific people group in another obsolete covenant, is in some way binding on us today in the New Covenant? Some theological traditions slice the law up into sections in order to get some of it into the New Covenant, calling part of it "moral law" and insist that only this "moral" section applies to us in the New Covenant. But why do we tend to be so preoccupied with bringing Moses into the New Covenant? Where did this come from and why is it there?
I also correct something that I believe I said in error in the last episode during my conversation with Joel. This has to do with being dead to the law.
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Joel Brueseke of the Growing in Crace Podcast joins me in this episode for a conversation about the Law of Moses, as we explore the important question, "Has the Law of Moses been abolished in addition to being fulfilled?". While most within the grace community would agree that it has been fulfilled by Jesus, not all agree that it has been abolished. Grab your favorite beverage and press Play as we explore this important question together. Our conversation led us to passages like Matthew 5:17-18, Colossians 2:13-14, and Galatians chapters 3 and 4.
Joel, along with co-host Mike Kapler on the Growing in Grace podcast recently completed an excellent series on this subject. You'll find it in episodes 857-862 of their podcast at https://www.growingingrace.org/ or in your favorite podcast app. I recommend it to anyone interested in exploring this important topic.
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If there's one thing reading church history has shown me, it's that we're swimming (or drowning) in 2,000+ years of religious traditions that we've been told are a necessary to stay in a good place or in good standing with God. But the problem of religious tradition has been around longer than that. Jesus confronted this issue with religious Pharisees of his day when they question why his followers didn't observe their religious traditions:
"Then Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem and said, 'Why do your disciples break the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat.' He answered them, 'And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition?'" (Matthew 15:1-3)
What are some of the religious traditions we've inherited from church history that organized religion has told us are necessary to keep God happy with us, but are nothing more than empty obligations to a system of conformity? Let's talk...
<__truncato_root__>
Did you know that at least 3 times in the Old Testament book of Joshua, we're told that under Joshua's leadership, the Israelites rested in the Promised Land? But when we come to the New Testament letter to the Hebrews, we're told he didn't give them rest. So what gives? Why does Joshua tell us they experienced rest but Hebrews tells us they didn't, but that the promise of rest is still pending? Let's see if we can't untangle that a little bit in this episode.
Links I mention in this episode:
- A shout out to Tyler, Uriah, and Hector at The Gospel Perspective Podcast. They interviewed me a while back in my excitement to unpack my recording gear a couple of episodes ago, I forgot to mention it. Shame on me! i had a great time with them! Check out the link or subscribe in your favorite podcast app.
- The UnSunday Show website is moving! Yes, before long the current UnSunday Show website is moving to this one: https://unsunday.buzzsprout.com/. You can bookmark it now or wait a week until unsunday.com points to it. It's part of some downsizing I desperately need to do.
Facebook:
Facebook has announced that they will no longer be supporting podcast pages, beginning in June. In light of that, I will be shutting down the UnSunday Show Facebook page in the very near future.
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The New Covenant, the cross, Jesus, church, grace, faith, a believer's identity, false ideas about the Bible and God's view of us, Matt's new podcast and YouTube channel, and Matt's story are some of the topics Matt and I talk about in this episode. This episode is packed with content that I hope encourages you and challenges you as Matt and I explore these topics that are so foundational to knowing who we are in Jesus and what we've been freely given. So grab your favorite beverage, get comfortable, and listen in.
Links Mentioned in This Episode:
- Clash of the Covenants; Escaping Religious Bondage Through the Grace Guarantee, by Michael C. Kapler. https://amzn.to/39mfWdb
- Matt McMillen's Homepage: https://mattmcmillenministries.com/
- Walk Talks With Matt McMillen: Can be found on your favorite podcast app.
- Matt McMillen's YouTube Channel: https://www.youtube.com/c/MattMcMillenMinistries
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A friend reached out to me recently asking about what's commonly called once saved, always saved. The mixed messages we hear in institutional religious settings can cast doubt on the sufficiency of Christ's once-for-all-time sacrifice for sins and the permanence of our salvation. In my experience, religion does this in two primary ways:
- By making performance-based Christianity the litmus test for spirituality.
- By convincing its followers that sin or failure to conform to the institution's rules can actually cause us to fall from grace and lose our salvation.
Both of these are dangerous fallacies designed to keep us dependent upon religion while doubting the sufficiency of Jesus' death on the cross.
Let's talk...
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This episode is the last of five episodes exploring William Tyndale’s use of five words in his translation of the Greek New Testament into English, that resulted in his death at the hands of church leaders. In this series I’ve been concentrating more on the meaning of the words and their intent, than I have been about the religious climate of the day. The five words are:
- Elder instead of Priest
- Congregation instead of Church
- Repent instead of Do Penance
- Acknowledge instead of Confess
- Love instead of Acts of Charity
Tyndale (1494-1536) was killed for refusing to translate these five words the way the church wanted them translated. His refusal to conform to the institutional church’s directives, resulted in his death by strangulation, followed by his body being burned. In this episode, we look at his choice of the word love instead of acts of charity.
The book I recommend in this series – William Tyndale: A Biography, by David Daniell. https://amzn.to/3BhYMr1
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This episode is the fourth of five episodes exploring William Tyndale’s use of five words in his translation of the Greek New Testament into English, that resulted in his death at the hands of church leaders. In this series I’m concentrating more on the meaning of the words and their intent, than I am about the religious climate of the day. The five words are:
- Elder instead of Priest
- Congregation instead of Church
- Repent instead of Do Penance
- Acknowledge instead of Confess
- Love instead of Acts of Charity
Tyndale (1494-1536) was killed for refusing to translate these five words the way the church wanted them translated. His refusal to conform to the institutional church’s directives, resulted in his death by strangulation, followed by his body being burned. In this episode, we look at his choice of the word repent instead of doing penance.
The book I recommend in this series – William Tyndale: A Biography, by David Daniell. https://amzn.to/3BhYMr1
Follow the UnSunday Show
The UnSunday Show is available on any podcast app or on the web at:
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This episode is the third of five episodes exploring William Tyndale’s use of five words in his translation of the Greek New Testament into English, that resulted in his death at the hands of church leaders. In this series I’m concentrating more on the meaning of the words and their intent, than I am about the religious climate of the day. The five words are:
- Elder instead of Priest
- Congregation instead of Church
- Repent instead of Do Penance
- Acknowledge instead of Confess
- Love instead of Acts of Charity
Tyndale (1494-1536) was killed for refusing to translate these five words the way the church wanted them translated. His refusal to conform to the institutional church’s directives, resulted in his death by strangulation, followed by his body being burned. In this episode, we look at his choice of the word repent instead of doing penance.
The book I recommend in this series – William Tyndale: A Biography, by David Daniell. https://amzn.to/3BhYMr1
Follow the UnSunday Show
The UnSunday Show is available on any podcast app or on the web at:
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This episode is the second of five episodes exploring William Tyndale’s use of five words in his translation of the Greek New Testament into English, that resulted in his death at the hands of church leaders. In this series I'm concentrating more on the meaning of the words and their intent, than I am about the religious climate of the day. The five words are:
- Elder instead of Priest
- Congregation instead of Church
- Repent instead of Do Penance
- Acknowledge instead of Confess
- Love instead of Acts of Charity
Tyndale (1494-1536) was killed for refusing to translate these five words the way the church wanted them translated. His refusal to conform to the institutional church’s directives, resulted in his death by strangulation, followed by his body being burned. In this episode, we look at his choice of the word congregation instead of church, to describe the body of Christ.
The book I recommend in this series – William Tyndale: A Biography, by David Daniell. https://amzn.to/3BhYMr1
Follow the UnSunday Show
The UnSunday Show is available on any podcast app or on the web at:
- UnSunday.com
Other Places You’ll Find Me
- TikTok https://www.tiktok.com/@unsunday.mike
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This episode is the first of five episodes exploring William Tyndale's use of five words in his translation of the Greek New Testament into English, that resulted in his death at the hands of church leaders. The five words are:
- Elder instead of Priest
- Congregation instead of Church
- Repent instead of Do Penance
- Acknowledge instead of Confess
- Love instead of Acts of Charity
Tyndale (1494-1536) was murdered by church officials for refusing to translate these five words the way the church wanted them translated. His refusal to conform to the institutional church's directives, resulted in his death by strangulation, followed by his body being burned. In this episode, we look at his choice of the word Elder as opposed to Priest.
The book I recommend in this series - William Tyndale: A Biography, by David Daniell. https://amzn.to/3BhYMr1
Follow the UnSunday Show
The UnSunday Show is available on any podcast app or on the web at:
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How did we get to where we are today in an institutional church culture so firmly planted in the centrality of the pastor? This episode is a look at a few key moments in the history of institutional Christianity that have brought us to where we are today - into a church culture of top-down authority where the pastor has been handed all authority and cannot be questioned.
Links I mention:
- UnSunday Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unsundayshow/
- UnSunday TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@unsunday.mike
- UnSunday Twitter: https://twitter.com/unsundayshow
- UnSunday Home: https://unsunday.com
-Enjoy!
Greetings everyone! This last-day-of-2021 episode is an unscripted rambling by yours truly about the dawn of a new year, what is ours in the New Covenant, the importance of having an Old Covenant/New Covenant distinction when reading Scripture, and how much gospel is actually in the gospels? Push Play to join in!
Links I mention in this episode:
- My Interview on The Resolute Warrior podcast: https://bit.ly/3g7IJ5C
- The UnSunday Show on TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@unsunday.mike?
- The UnSunday Show on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/unsundayshow/
- The UnSunday on Facebook Podcasts (Best Viewed on Mobile Devices): https://www.facebook.com/UnSundayShow/
- The Growing in Grace Podcast: https://www.growingingrace.org/
Book to Recommend: Clash of the Covenants: Escaping Religious Bondage Through The Grace Guarantee by Michael C. Kapler
Happy New Year! I wish you and yours all the best in 2022!
Mike
My wife Susan joined me on this episode as we delved into our thoughts together about institutional Christianity and institutional religion and the effects and impact it leaves on people. Our view of institutional Christianity isn't neutral. Our view of God is directly impacted by our view of institutional Christianity in so many ways. This conversation explores some of the ways this happens, whether overtly, or covertly. -Enjoy!
This is the concluding part of what I introduced last week concerning how modern institutional religion requires pastors to be something we don't see in the New Covenant scriptures. Church tradition tells us that Timothy was a pastor, carrying out the duties we see modern institutional church pastors doing. They insist that Paul's directive to Timothy to "preach the word" is one indication that Timothy was a pastor, meaning that like modern institutional religion, Timothy got behind a pulpit week after week and did expository, verse-by-verse preaching of the Bible.
But is that what Paul meant when he penned those words to Timothy or is this another instance of us imposing our modern church practices back onto what we read in scripture in order to justify what we do? Was Timothy a pastor? Let's talk about it.
I received a note from David, one of the listeners to this podcast, who asked for my take on Timothy as a pastor and how the function of modern church pastors differs from the function of their New Testament counterparts. I flipped the order of this to talk about the differences first and then next week, I'll be taking a look at Timothy while continuing to build on the differences.
Comparing the differences between how modern institutional church pastors function and the function of pastors in the New Testament is like comparing apples to oranges. One of these is not like the other. So let's talk about it.
Let's talk about institutional church and the ekklesia because one of these is not like the other. Did you know Jesus never used the word church? And yet the word church is all over our New Testaments. How did it get there and what does it imply? This episode is a bit of a rant as I talk about a couple of differences between church and the body of Christ, the ekklesia.
-Enjoy!
Let's talk about obedience. Doesn't that sound fun? I've found it to be true that in almost every institutional church setting, the topic of Christian obedience in one form or another, dominates the landscape. It's peppered throughout sermons to varying degrees (most of the time, overtly), it's written into our church membership contracts (yes, those are contracts), it's presented as the final solution in counseling sessions, it's used as an enforcement tactic when church leaders threaten you with excommunication, it's used as a guilt tactic to get you to confirm to church rules and dogma and to submit to church staff, and it's at the center of most, if not all, discipleship groups and discipleship curriculum. Wow! I think that's the longest sentence I've typed so far in 2021.
In short, we've made a mess of "Christian obedience". Definitions of obedience and to what or to whom we should be giving our allegiance will vary from group to group and denomination to denomination. But rest assured that in almost every definition, Bible verses will be taken out of context and used to prove that you don't measure up, diminishing the work of Christ on your behalf, who has already made you obedient from the heart. Let's talk.
Let's continue talking about pulpits and institutional religion's obsession with the pulpit and how it's been elevated to such a place of prominence in institutional Christianity. Charles Spurgeon said this concerning pulpits:
"The moment the church of God shall despise the pulpit, God will despise her."
This quote is one example of several that I share in this episode to show how the system of religion has elevated the pulpit, and the person behind it to a harmful status at the expense of a healthy functioning of spiritual gifts by every member of the body of Christ. In the process we're left with a crippling view of the body of Christ.
Let's talk...
This is part one of two on the subject of pulpits and institutional religion's requirement of keeping the pulpit at the center of its Sunday events. I have a lot to say about this but my laptop battery ran down as I was recording this and I wasn't near my charger, so I stopped where I was, making this part one of two. Part Two will drop next week.
Let's talk about some of the pitfalls of professionalizing Christianity and relegating our time together to the professionals we've hired in our institutions and relying on them to do what all of us should be doing. The body of Christ suffers in this scenario because it's impossible for every member to function and exercise their spiritual gifts. It also assumes one person in the assembly is more qualified to participate than the others and it creates a false level of separation in the body of Christ we call clergy/laity.
Let's talk about how institutional religion often uses the small group setting as another way to promote itself by making the group agenda-driven and insisting that the agenda remains at the heart of the group. Whether it's to review Sunday's sermon, have an institutionally-sanctioned Bible study or book study, or to discuss the institution's doctrinal statement, institutionally-imposed rules governing our time together are at the heart of the group meeting. Getting to that agenda each week is the real reason we're allowed to meet and everything else that happens during our time together is an add-on. The simplicity of just living life together and enjoying it, gets lost in this kind of environment. Let's talk...
Let's talk about spiritual disciplines. Spiritual disciplines are a group of activities that vary from group to group or church to church, that we're told we need to be doing to ensure spiritual maturity. It's an activity list of things like reading your Bible, prayer, giving, sharing your faith, etc. that institutional environments use as a vehicle for tracking accountability and compliance to preset standards of behavior.
In this episode I interact a little with this article:
- 12 Spiritual Disciplines That Will Make Your Faith Strong
Let's talk...
Let's talk about faith. In the letter to the Hebrews we're told that without faith it's impossible to please [God]. That sounds a little daunting. Does that mean I'm responsible to fabricate a certain amount of faith every day to make sure God is happy with me? What if I fail in my attempts at faith? Is God displeased with me? How do I know when I've succeeded? How much faith is enough faith? How do I know when I've done enough? In the letter to the Ephesians we read that faith is a gift. But how can it be both a requirement and a gift? That seems like a contradiction.
This episode centers around Galatians 2:20 where Paul said:
"I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me."
Let's talk...
Let's take a few minutes to talk about institutional religion's shady past. This is in response to a comment someone left back in episode 46 (Who Has Bewitched You?) that deserves some attention. The comment was actually in two parts. The first part was more of an observation when this person said, "Communities used to be built around the church, literally." I agree with that. Entire communities existed around the centrality of the institutional church, but not always by choice.
This individual went to to ask, "Wasn't that a good thing that bonded communities?" I think this is a really good question that can't be answered with a simple yes or no. So let's take a closer look at it in light of a couple of snippets in church history and let's see if the way institutional Christianity bonded communities was a good thing that created genuine community.
Let's talk about Hebrews 10:25. I don't know about you but in my experience, this verse has been used over and over again as a proof text to convince me that leaving institutional religion was more than just a bad idea. Leaving institutional religion, so the argument goes, is forbidden in the Bible and Hebrews 10:25 is proof of that. This verse clearly tells us, so the argument goes, that leaving institutional religion amounts to "forsaking the assembling of ourselves together" and is clearly forbidden and unhealthy.
But is it? Is that what Hebrews 10:25 means? When viewed in context the answer is a resounding "No!" Far from being a warning to not leave institutional religion, Hebrews 10:25 is a warning to not go back into institutional religion. Let's talk about it.
In Galatians 3:1 Paul asked the Galatian believers, "Who has bewitched you?" This bewitching was a result of the Galatian's mixing of New Covenant grace with Old Covenant law. Or as Paul put it, "Having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect by the flesh?" He described this thinking as "foolishness" with the result of having "fallen from grace."
We're no different today because we blur the lines between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant and we think everything in the Bible is meant for us so we mix law and grace together all the time. Look around. It's everywhere. Yes, we began in the Spirit, but it's up to us to finish strong in order to keep God happy with us. In other words, grace alone isn't enough. What's needed is a mixture of grace and rule-keeping. Having begun in the Spirit, we need to be made perfect by our own efforts and determination.
Add to that 2,000+ years of religious tradition that tells us we can never do enough and we have a recipe for disaster. That's the topic in this episode of the UnSunday Show.
This is part one of a two-part relaunch of the show. In this episode I talk about religion's failure to deliver and how our systems of religion diminish who we are in Jesus. Add to that, a misunderstanding of how the Old Covenant and the New Covenant relate to us today and how the Bible fits together. Thinking that Bible passages all apply to me, coupled with religion's message that I'm never doing enough, is a dangerous mix. Let's talk about that and some of the related topics I hope to address in The UnSunday Show.
You can find me online and reach out to me at The UnSunday Show.
-Enjoy!
I'm checking in with you on this episode to let you know I'm still here and that the UnSunday Show is going to get a facelift soon. These last few months have kept me busy with things like launching a new business, developing a new podcast editor's course, and life in general. But all the while, I've had some ideas floating around in my brain for retooling the UnSunday Show ever so slightly. So look for that in a couple of weeks.
I recorded this episode on the front porch of our friend's cabin in the tall pines of Arizona, using the memo app on my phone. I wasn't sure how it would turn out but it's not bad. I was able to edit out most of the wind the annoying raven that wanted in on the action. We'll talk again soon.
In this episode, I explore the question, Is the system of institutional church a help or a hindrance to the body of Christ and the exercising of spiritual gifts? This episode is also available in video format on the UnSunday Show YouTube Channel.
- The UnSunday Show YouTube Channel
- The UnSunday Show Website
-Mike
Welcome to another edition of Morning Coffee on The UnSunday Show. Today, let's talk about some important distinctions between the system we call church and Christ's ekklesia. Jesus never said the system we call church would never be overcome or ultimately defeated. But he did say that about the ekklesia. That difference is monumental. Let's talk about the implications of that difference in this episode.
This episode of The UnSunday Show is also available in video format. The video version is available on my YouTube channel.
-Enjoy!
Welcome to our second Morning Coffee together. Let's start a discussion about pastors and ask the question, what is a pastor? This is going to ultimately open up a plethora of related subjects on the topic which can serve as future editions of Morning Coffee. But this episode will serve to start us down that path as we talk about how we've institutionalized the pastor and made him or her the central figure in most of our institutional settings.
If this episode tweaks you, you might like my article, Rethinking Religion, Part 1: What is a Pastor? on the Grace Cafe Journal.
This episode of Morning Coffee is available in video as well and can be viewed on:
- The UnSunday Show YouTube Channel
- The UnSunday Website
-Enjoy
This episode marks the beginning of what I'm calling Morning Coffee. Morning Coffee is an informal conversation with yours truly over coffee about different subjects pertinent to The UnSunday Show. In addition to the normal audio podcast format, this and future episodes of Morning Coffee are and will be available in video format on YouTube, Facebook, and the UnSunday Show website. The video links to this episode of Morning Coffee are below.
- YouTube Video Version
- Website Video Version
-Enjoy!
This episode is a continuation of the topic of church discipline that I started in the last episode. I continue my look at Matthew 18:15-20, which is used as a proof text by church leaders for the practice of modern church discipline. I wrap up a couple of loose ends in this episode that I think need to be added to this discussion because I believe we've brought an Old Covenant practice into the New Covenant assembly. Here are the links I mentioned:
-
Podcast: Rethinking Formal Church Membership
-
Mike
The topic of what we call church discipline has been on my mind the last couple of years. I've tried writing down my thoughts about it but writing just isn't my thing any more. At least not right now. It's easier to talk about it than to write about it. Here are some of my initial thoughts on church discipline in light of my understanding of the New Covenant.
Matthew 18:15-20 is the go to passage most often used as a proof text for the validity of church discipline. It's the one that I was trained to use and that I used. But what if this passage, like so many others in the first four books of the New Testament, belongs in the Old Covenant, not the New Covenant? What if we've incorrectly inserted ourselves into it?
I cover four main ideas in this episode concerning church discipline that have brought me to the conclusion that Matthew 18:15-20 belongs in the Old Covenant.
- The word 'church' isn't in this passage.
- The passage is laced with Old Covenant language spoken to Old Covenant Jews.
- Israel was under Roman rule and subject to Roman laws and control.
- The process explained in this passage is not repeated in the New Covenant scriptures even though there were times it could have been.
I'm sure I'll be talking more about this in the future as I'm only scraping the surface of where my thoughts have taken me the last couple of years with this topic.
-Mike
"My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" These words of Jesus on the cross have led many to the conclusion that God left Jesus while he was dying on the cross. That because Jesus had become sin for us, the Father turned away from him because he can't look on sin. But is that what was happening? Let's talk about it.
Let's tease out the idea of the tithe in the New Covenant. Does God require a tithe? Am I in disobedience if I'm not tithing? We're quick to take isolated passages out of context to attempt impose a tithe on people but under the Old Covenant there were many tithes and the tithes were never money. Under the New Covenant, the tithe has disappeared. Let's talk...
Let's talk about the Good Samaritan. In response to Jesus' reminder that he was obligated to love God with all his being and to love his neighbor as himself, a lawyer, in an attempt to justify himself, asked Jesus who his neighbor was. This conversation took place in Luke chapter 10. Because the lawyer was living at the time of the Old Covenant, he was under obligation to obey these commands perfectly. But he couldn't.
Jesus' answer revealed the failure of the Law to empower anyone to obey it while at the same time, showing that what the Law couldn't do, God did by sending his Son. Let's talk...
Welcome to episode 34 of The UnSunday Show with Mike & Mac. This episode is a continuation in many ways of last week's episode. We recorded this one immediately after last week's with the intention of making it its own episode, and here it is!
Jesus is better. That's one of the themes of the New Testament letter to the Hebrews. Jesus is better. He's better than the angels, he's better than Moses, he's better than the Levitical priests of the Old Covenant, he's better than the Old Covenant. All of these things in the Old Testament were types and shadows that pictured Jesus, but Jesus is better. He's a better priest with a better sacrifice, a better mediator with a better covenant. Let's talk about it...
Welcome to episode 33 of The UnSunday Show. Why are there so many burdensome rules in organized Christian religion when Jesus promised rest and relief from those same heavy burdens? When we read the Bible as though all of it applies to us, the lines blur between the Old Covenant and the New Covenant, resulting in a fatal mixology of confusion and harm.
This fatal mixology is the springboard of our conversation in this episode. Push Play and join the discussion.
Welcome to episode 32 of The UnSunday Show. Let's talk about the clutter that gets in between us and Jesus that ends up giving us a smaller version of Jesus. Institutional religion works hard at convincing us that Jesus alone really isn't enough. It puts obstacles between us and Jesus that we're told need to be there in order to be complete and remain acceptable to God. Sometimes it's sub-mediators as we're told we need Jesus and the pastor, priest, or leader to guide and direct us. At other times it's things like religious obligation, accountability, service, tithing, works, or religious duty that we're told must be consistent in our lives in order to keep peace with God.
But at the end of the day, these burdens are placed on us to keep the institution strong and when we embrace the thought that we need Jesus plus these other things, we're settling for something smaller than Jesus. When we come alive to the reality of the life of God in us, the freedom from religious bondage that we experience makes us an instant threat to religious institutions because we realize we don't need those institutions and in fact, they're in the way and they're forcing a smaller version of Jesus on us. Let's talk about it....
Welcome to episode 31 of The UnSunday Show. Mike received an invitation in the mail to spend a weekend listening to someone do expository preaching. Needless to say, this set off a few triggers in light of Mike's background. Add to that the fact that the picture on the invitation reminded both Mike & Mac of someone power posturing over others in the church. Mike & Mac talk about it in this episode. of The UnSunday Show. Grab your favorite beverage and listen in.
The wisdom of man and the wisdom of God, putting our confidence in people, organizations, and institutions instead of in God, and remembering what is already ours in Jesus, apart from religion or knowledge are a few of the topics Mike and Mac tackle in this episode. Along the way, you'll gain some valuable insight on coconut cake and Jesus' favorite color. Push Play and listen in.
Be sure to subscribe and share The UnSunday Show with your friends.
Welcome to episode 29 of The UnSunday Show. Today's episode is a relaunch of sorts for The UnSunday Show. It's the debut of my friend Greg McInturff as co-host of the show. Yay! Mac and I will be hosting the show together for as long as we're able. He and I always have energized conversations and we're looking forward to sharing them with you. Greg introduces himself in this episode as we interact with his story.
We've also re-branded the podcast with a new logo and the website with new graphics to reflect this change.
-Enjoy!
Welcome to episode 28 of The UnSunday Show. At its core, The UnSunday Show is a podcast about the system we call church. To a very large extent, this system has come to us via church history, religious tradition, and theological distinction, not from the New Testament. Mike talks about that system we've inherited in this episode. He also makes an exciting announcement about the future of The UnSunday Show. Push Play and join the conversation.
Welcome to episode 27 of The UnSunday Show podcast. Way back in episode 9 we talked about 1 John 1:9 and what John meant when he said if we confess our sins [God] is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. We concluded that John was targeting unbelievers within the group - those who were sin deniers and outside of the family of faith. But what about those of us who believer? What if we sin? Have we lost fellowship with God? John addressed that in chapter 2 of the same letter.
In this episode, I am bringing over a recent episode of my Grace Grace Cafe Podcast where I talked about that topic. It's in chapter 2 of 1 John, not chapter 1 where John addresses the topic of believers when we sin and he doesn't tell us to confess our sins over and over but to remember what is already ours in Jesus, total forgiveness of all of our sins, past, present, and future. Now that's good news!
Grab your favorite beverage and push Play.
Welcome to episode 26 of The UnSunday Show. Today's episode is a look at William Tyndale and his authoring of the New Testament in the English language. He wanted the people of his day to have a New Testament in their own language so they could read and interpret it for themselves instead of having to rely solely on the church hierarchy of the day to tell them what it meant. In his desire to remain true to the Greek text, he translated a handful of words according to their true meaning as opposed to the church's long standing definitions. Particularly, he translated ekklesia as congregation, not church. He translated presbuteros as elder, not priest, agape as love, not acts of charity, and metanao as repent, not penance.
But this didn't go over well with the church of his day because it exposed the true meaning of these words the church had been keeping from the people for hundreds of years. As a result, Tyndale was strangled and then burned at the stake for refusing to compromise with the top-down authority figures in the church and water down his translation of the New Testament.
Let's talk about it...
Welcome to episode 25 of the UnSunday Show. Let's talk about your options when living in a Christian sacral society where conformity to the church's rules is required on the threat of punishment and death for non-compliance. Such was the environment the Anabaptists found themselves in as the Reformation progressed. Like their Roman Catholic counterparts, the church the Reformers created had the power of the State behind it, along with the full weight of the military to enforce the church's top-down rule.
"Jesus was not killed by atheism and anarchy. He was brought down by law and order allied with religion - which is always a deadly mix. Beware those who claim to know the will of God and are prepared to use force, if necessary, to make others conform." - Barbara Brown Taylor
Let's talk about it...
Welcome to episode 24 of The UnSunday Show. Since I've been absent for a while, I thought it would be a good idea to have a short refresher on some of the topics I've talked about in the past before moving on. In this episode I ask the question, "Who put pastors in charge?" How did we get so pastor-centric and pastor-dependent? Let's talk about it...
Welcome to episode 23 of The UnSunday Show. In this episode, I turn our conversation to how church became church by introducing Constantinianism and how through the Roman Emperor Constantine and his impact on Christianity as the official religion of Rome essentially moved the church from being one segment of society, where personal faith determined membership, to being all of society where personal faith fell by the wayside and membership included everyone in a geographical region as evidenced by infant baptism.
Under Constantine, the church became a "Christian Sacralist" State where the church and State were one and the church now wielded the sword of the State to coerce conformity to the new State religion.
Welcome to episode 22 of The UnSunday Show. This episode is a short return to the topic of how we view church informs our view of other things. In this case, the gospel. I wanted to mention a couple of things that I didn't get to in episodes 19 and 20 and present them to you as an addendum of what Greg and I talked about in those episodes.
Thanks to all of you who have reached out to me. It's always good to hear from you.
Welcome to The UnSunday Show. We turn 21 today with this, our 21st episode! That means were legal in all 50 States and around the globe. Partay! As most of you know, I co-host another podcast called The Grace Cafe Podcast with my wife. We recently interviewed J.D. Zomer from The Jesus Unfiltered Podcast and I asked J.D. if I could post that conversation here as well because while there is some overlap, this podcast reaches a slightly different group of people and I want them to hear it as well.
Our conversation covered things like the Holy Spirit and Craig's List, J.D.'s Religion Free Ministry in the Dallas area, the Jesus Unfiltered Podcast, and the soon-to-be-launched Religion Free Movement. Religion Free Movement is something you're going to want to hear about and I'll let J.D. explain it in his own words.
Enjoy!
Welcome to episode 20 of the UnSunday Show. This episode is a continuation of my conversation with Greg McInturff from the previous episode as we continue our dialog regarding ways our view of church informs our view of what God is like, either good or bad. In this second part, we talk specifically about the downsides of formal church membership and Bible verses that get taken out of context and used to guilt us into staying in an institutional environment when the Lord may be leading us out of that setting.
Grab your favorite beverage and listen in!
Welcome to episode 19 of the UnSunday Show. My friend Greg McInturff joins me in these next two episodes as we talk about how our view of church informs and/or mis-informs our view of God. Now that I'm a Christian, is God really satisfied with me? Am I enough? Am I doing enough? Should I be doing more and giving more? Is God watching and waiting for me to mess up?
Often, the moralistic messages we hear from pulpits weigh us down and make us feel condemned or ashamed because they are heavy on performance and light on grace. We hear a lot about our failures but little to nothing about our identity in Jesus. Institutional religion is performance based and employs the tools of guilt, shame, and condemnation to keep us on a performance treadmill in order to ensure the longevity of the institution. Many have had enough of this kind of system and are walking away from the institutional church in search of a more authentic experience and have come to realize that this type of performance based Christianity has given us a wrong view of what God is like.
Join Greg and I in part 1 of this topic as we begin a discussion about how church informs our view of God, either for good, or for bad.
Enjoy!
Welcome to episode 18 of The UnSunday Show. This episode is a conversation I had earlier today with my friend, Bonnie Petroschuk about her recent journey out of the institutional church and into Ekklesia. In her own words, Bonnie was known as "Mrs. Church" and was shocked by her own journey as she began to see and understand the significant differences between the two and realized she could no longer stay in the institutional system. I think you'll be encouraged by Bonnie's story and parts of it will be like your own.
You'll find Bonnie's blog at: http://goodnewsofgodsgrace.blogspot.com/
We also talked about, and I recommend:
- The Growing in Grace Podcast
- Clash of the Covenants: Escaping Religious Bondage Through the Grace Guarantee, by Michael C. Kapler
Enjoy!
Welcome to episode 17 of The UnSunday Show. I've listened to two different podcasts over the last couple of weeks that asked the question, "Can fallen pastors be restored?" One was from a former mega-church pastor who had an emotional affair with someone and in the process of working through that, several people surfaced with other charges of arrogance and pride that led to his being removed from that position.
The second was an interview with a former pastor who admitted to having an affair and both podcasts were asking the same question, can a fallen pastor be restored?
I believe this question is symptomatic of a larger problem that plagues most institutional churches in the west. It assumes there is a valid top-down position of authority in the Ekklesia and in both of these podcasts, restoration meant climbing back into a role of being in charge. It's another indication that Christ's words, "it shall not be so among you" with regards to top-down authority in the church he's building, have become meaningless to us.
I also continue my interaction with Jon Zens' book, A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile: What Makes American Christianity Tick? Here are a couple links to my articles I reference in this episode.
- Why Is There a Pulpit?
- The Pastor-Driven Church
Let's talk about it...
Welcome to episode 16 of The UnSunday Show! I'm taking a short break in this episode from my interaction with Jon Zen's book because I'm recovering from pneumonia and I don't have much of a voice right now. So instead, I'm bringing over one last episode from my old Ekklesia Podcast and I'm calling it Bringing Moses To Church, because I think that's what we do and in so doing, we cause a lot of confusion about how God views us, where we stand with God in any given moment, and how we view God.
In this episode I touch on some foundational topics like:
- Christ's ekklesia (or church) never existed historically until Acts 2.
- Why does God look so different in the Old Testament?
- The Old Covenant pointed to the New Covenant.
- The Old and New Covenants cannot be mixed. They are incompatible with one another. The New Covenant has made the Old Covenant obsolete. Stop bringing Moses to church!
- The Old Covenant was temporary and historically time-bound.
- The Old Covenant produced a physical people where only some within it knew the Lord. The New Covenant produces a spiritual people where everyone in it knows the Lord. To be in Christ is to be in the New Covenant.
-Enjoy!
Welcome to episode 15 of The UnSunday Show. In this episode I continue my interaction with Jon Zens' book, A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile: What Makes American Christianity Tick? as I look closer at the top-down authority structure of the clergy/laity system. In my opinion, this system is not neutral but adds an intentional, built-in layer of division within the body of Christ. The pastor-centric, top-down clergy/laity systems in most institutional churches is a product of church history. There is no New Testament warrant for its existence. In fact, the New Testament clearly mitigates against it.
The result of 2,000+ years of the clergy/laity system is that we can't function apart from the pastor. The pastor is central to the extent that the identity of the entire local church is wrapped up in the person of the pastor in charge and if he or she fails to show up on a Sunday unannounced, we don't know what to do. We even assign ownership of our local churches to the one pastor in charge. This expresses itself in phrases like, "I go to pastor John's church" or "Pastor Jim started a new church." This system of complete dependence on one person was first introduced by Ignatius of Antioch in the early 2nd century when he said,
"Let no one do anything in the church apart from the bishop. Holy communion is valid when celebrated by the bishop or someone the bishop authorizes. Where the bishop is present, there let the congregation gather, just as where Jesus Christ is, there is the church."
Here are some links related to this episode:
- Rethinking Religion, Part 3: The Clergy/Laity Distinction
- A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile: What Makes American Christianity Tick? - by Jon Zens
Enjoy!
Welcome to episode 14 of the UnSunday Show! In this episode, I continue my interaction with Jon Zens' book entitled, A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile: What Makes American Christianity Tick? In Section 5 of the book, which is called Why Has Church Become So One-Part Driven?, Zens shares the following quote from David L. McKenna,
"[The pastor] is like the cerebellum, the center for communicating messages, coordinating functions, and conducting responses between the head and body.... The pastor is not only the authoritative communicator of the truth from the Head to the Body, but he is also the accurate communicator of the needs from the Body to the Head."
Later in the chapter he quotes C. Peter Wagner as saying,
"The army has only one Commander-in-Chief, Jesus Christ. The local church is like a company with one company commander, the pastor, who gets his orders from the Commander-in-Chief. The company commander has lieutenants and sergeants under him for consultation and implementation, but the final responsibility for decisions is that of the company commander, and he must answer to the Commander-in-Chief... The pastor has the power in a growing church... The pastor of a growing church may appear to outsiders as a dictator. But to the people of the church, his decisions are their decisions."
Let's talk about it!
Zen's book and my blogs mentioned in this episode:
- A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile: What Makes American Christianity Tick? (I recommend this book!)
- Why Is There A Pulpit?
- The Pastor-Driven Church
Enjoy!
Welcome to episode 13 of The UnSunday Show. I finally bought a book that I first saw in 2008. It's called A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile by Jon Zens. It's subtitled, What Makes American Christianity Tick? I think the title says it all. It's an excellent book that I really enjoyed reading so I thought I would share it with you by way of interacting with short excerpts from it. This will be the first of several episodes interacting with this book. I'm looking forward to seeing where this takes us.
My first exposure to Jon Zens was in 1995 and I had the opportunity to meet him later that same century (I've been waiting for a chance to use that "century" phrase!). If you're not familiar with his writings, I think you'll find them informative and encouraging. You can find Jon Zens on-line at Searching Together. Here's a link to the book:
- A Church Building Every 1/2 Mile: What Makes American Christianity Tick?
Enjoy!
Welcome to episode 12 of the UnSunday Show! I caught two of my friends at a weak moment and they both agreed to come on the show and talk with me about their individual journeys out of the institutional church. My conversation with Rocky Glenn and Jim Gordon centered around their reasons for leaving that religious environment, their experiences along the way, and what community looks like now, apart from religious influence and obligation.
Jim and Rocky's stories are indicative of millions who've left the institutional church environment in favor of a more authentic experience apart from it, me included. We haven't left the faith or the body of Christ. One cannot leave the body of Christ without walking away from Jesus. The two are mutually inclusive. Like so many others, we've simply discovered a more genuine expression of the body of Christ apart from religious obligation and conformity to institutional rules, expectations, and traditions.
- You can find Jim Gordon at Done With Religion.
- You can find Rocky Glenn at Confessions of a Recovering Church Boy.
Grab your favorite beverage, pull up your favorite chair and join our conversation.
Enjoy!
Welcome to episode 11 of The UnSunday Show. Let's talk about community and accountability. Most of us think community and accountability are two sides of the same coin, or that one (accountability) is necessary for the other (community) to function. Community is the agreed upon goal and we think accountability is the bus that will take us there. But it’s not. That bus is traveling in the opposite direction.
Accountability encourages people to pretend. Community invites us into the Father’s affection where we can feel safe and accepted, fully known and fully loved without any pretense. In an accountability structure, we learn to hide the stuff that’s the real us or that we think will disappoint others and God. We learn how to fake it and which masks to wear to fake people out in every circumstance. In accountability structures, we are focused on getting people to do what they don’t really want to do by way of manipulation and behavior management with corresponding rewards and punishments.
Enjoy!
Welcome to episode 10 of The UnSunday Show. We've reached double-digits! In this episode I talk about two phrases in scripture that religion has successfully convinced us are spiritual disciplines: dying daily and bearing our cross. Religion has turned these into closely related spiritual disciplines where I need to be killing myself off every day and learning to hold up under the weight of life's circumstances, or bearing my cross.
But is that what these phrases mean? Are bearing my cross and dying daily spiritual disciplines indicative of spiritual maturity? Let's talk about it.
Welcome to episode 9 of The UnSunday Show. Let's talk about 1 John 1:9 and the confession of sins. This passage says, "If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." The question I address in this episode is does John mean believers need to repeatedly confess sins in order to experience forgiveness up to that point in time? If so, how do we reconcile 1 John 1:9 with other New Testament passages that teach the once-for-all forgiveness of sins secured on the cross? Let's talk about it.
My paper referenced in this episode:
- Rethinking Religion, Part 6: Confessing Our Sins
Enjoy!
Welcome to episode 8 of The UnSunday Show. My wife joins me in this episode from our old Ekklesia Podcast as we talk about our journey out of the institutional church and the events and circumstances surrounding it. We both hit a wall of performance about 10 years ago within the institutional church environment that resulted in a crash and burn for each of us from performance-based Christianity. We tried to stay within other modern church settings for a few years but became increasingly uncomfortable in that setting as time went on and our eyes were opened wider to a different reality, increasing our inability to stay there. We finally left that environment about 4 years ago and have discovered a more genuine and authentic experience of ekklesia outside those walls.
If you find yourself on a similar journey of leaving the modern church setting, we hope you find encouragement in this episode.
-Mike
Welcome to episode 7 of the UnSunday Show. "Preach the word" were Paul's words to Timothy in 2 Timothy 4:2. This short phrase presents two concepts that I talk about in this episode by asking the questions, what is preaching and what are preachers, and what did he mean by "the word"?
We take what we know in our modern-day pastor-driven model, and superimpose it back into scripture on passages like this. We assume that preaching and preachers are a reference to pastors and what they do because that's what we see all around us. We've been told the pastor is the preacher and preaching is what's done from behind the pulpit every Sunday as we're instructed and challenged to live better lives and get better at this whole Christian thing.
But is that how the New Testament presents preaching, preachers, and the phrase "the word of God" to us? Is the pastor the preacher, making preaching on Sundays a biblical requirement or imperative? Is that what Paul meant when he encouraged Timothy to "Preach the word" or has that interpretation come to us via church history and tradition?
Let's talk about it.
Welcome to episode 6 of the UnSunday Show! This is a bonus episode, published outside of my normal Thursday posts. If you like what's going on here, please share it with a friend. In this episode, I talk about formal church membership. Formal church membership is an accountability contract the institution will require you to sign in order to have leverage over you as motivation to keep supporting the institution. That's not a description you'll see on any church website, but it cuts to the chase and it's true. Make no mistake, what you're signing is an accountability contract designed to keep you in conformity with the institution's established requirements using rewards for compliance and punishments for failure to comply.
There are usually 3 areas covered in most formal church membership contracts that are there in order to secure conformity to the established rules of the group. They are:
- Money and Personal Resources
- Power, Authority, and Accountability
- The Threat of Excommunication For Failure to Comply
This episode is a re-post of one of my Ekklesia podcasts from about a year and a half ago. I'm reposting it here because it says everything I wanted to say in this episode, so why re-invent the wheel? There are a couple of small things in it that I would reword today, but those aren't show-stoppers. I also present some foundational thoughts on how we've brought Old Covenant imagery into the New Covenant ekklesia (church) and how detrimental that is to both our view of God and the church.
Enjoy!
Welcome to episode 5 of the UnSunday Show.
"Wherever the pulpit is going, that's where the church is going."
That statement appeared in my Twitter feed not long ago. Unfortunately, it's true. In our modern-day top-down hierarchal church structures, one man or one woman is at the helm, driving the entire institution. Far from being an accomplishment to be celebrated, this structure is a symptom of something gone terribly wrong in the history of the church. The centrality of the pulpit and the person behind it has crippled and rendered lame, the functioning of the one anothers within the body of Christ. The priesthood of every believer has been reduced to a priesthood of a select few. Let's talk about it.
The two blog posts I reference in this episode that this episode is based on:
- Why Is There A Pulpit?
- The Pastor-Driven Church
Enjoy!
Welcome to episode 4 of The UnSunday Show. Let's talk about leaders and leadership. I believe we read our 21st century model of institutional Christianity back into Scripture when we talk about leaders and leadership. I believe our present-day top-down authority systems are in conflict with the model we've been given in the New Testament. Our top-down hierarchy model in modern-day institutional church settings is in opposition to Jesus' instruction that within his assembly, "it shall not be so among you." Let's talk about it.
In this episode I reference my paper,
Who Are The Leaders and What is Leadership?
Enjoy!
Welcome to episode 3 of the new UnSunday Show! This episode is an episode from my old Ekklesia Podcast that I brought over to share with you.
We hear it all the time and it's used in so many ways that we don't think to question it. We assume it's true because we've been told it is for so long. I'm talking about the clergy/laity distinction. Far from being a help, the clergy/laity caste system stands in the way of a church where every believer is a priest. It reduces the priesthood of all believers to a priesthood of a select few "professional" Christians. It creates an "us and them" mentality that adds a new layer of separation within the the assembly and renders most of the church passive while the professional segment of the church assumes more and more power.
I am more convinced than ever that the clergy/laity distinction and its resulting top-down authority structure is a key enabler of abuse in the church.
Let's talk about it.
Welcome to episode 2 of this newly launched UnSunday Show! In this episode, I begin taking a look at pastors. What does the New Testament say about pastors? What is an elder? What is a bishop? What is an overseer? The New Testament letters use these terms to describe certain individuals within the assembly, but how do we know who's who and how do we sort it out? Does the New Testament employ these terms as honorific titles and/or career paths to be pursued?
These are subjects we will return to often as we continue to peel back layers of church tradition and ask honest questions about some of our practices and assumptions within 21st century institutional Christianity. Here's a paper I wrote containing some of the issues I talk about in this episode:
Rethinking Religion, Part 1: What Is A Pastor
Thanks for joining me!
Welcome to episode 1 of The UnSunday Show with Mike Adams. This episode is an introduction to The UnSunday Show and an introduction of yours truly. I present some topics to you in this first episode that we will return to over and over again as we peel back more layers. In fact, every episode will include new topics as well as previously discussed topics re-visited. Let's get this show started!
Enjoy!