Search — Theology Explorer

Recommendation: use Elder and Deacon as church titles, or Pastor synonymous with Elder

Mike gives practical church governance recommendations.

elder deaconess deacon

Easy cases: women as ushers — clearly permissible

Mike begins answering specific role questions, starting with easy ones.

ushers easy cases

1 Timothy 2:11 1 Timothy 2:11 women theologians theological education

Women theologians: not only permissible but a good thing — 1 Timothy 2:11 commands women to learn

Mike strongly affirms women as theologians and theological learners.

1 Corinthians 11 John MacArthur 1 Corinthians 14:29-35 1 Corinthians 11 John MacArthur judgment of prophecy

1 Corinthians 14:29-35 — women silent in judging prophecy, not silent in general

Mike interprets the controversial silence passage.

John Piper John Piper Deborah submission to all men

Women do NOT need to submit to all men — only their husbands

Mike rejects the idea of general female submission to all males.

capacity vs role creational distinctions maleness and femaleness

Role restrictions are NOT based on women's capacity, intelligence, or gifting

Mike rebuts the idea that women are restricted because they're less capable.

hermeneutics Deborah David and showbread

How to justify being strict in marriage/ministry but less strict elsewhere: examples and clear teachings

Mike recaps the hermeneutical justification for his approach.

methodology application intuition vs scripture

Conclusion methodology: use specific teachings AND examples, not intuitions

Mike urges careful methodology in application.

cultural engagement biblical complementarianism church boldness

Christians must get back to the Bible — this is something the world needs

Mike frames complementarianism as a gift to the world, not an embarrassment.

1 Timothy 2:11 1 Timothy 2:11 women's education ancient Judaism

Let a woman learn: the revolutionary positive command

Mike emphasizes that 1 Tim 2:11 ('let a woman learn') is a radical affirmation of women's right to theological education.

Ephesus universal application Andrew Bartlett

Bartlett's jurisdiction argument: Paul's authority was limited and temporal

Mike addresses the claim that Paul's restriction was limited to his own jurisdiction and does not apply universally today.

1 Timothy 2:15 hermeneutical principle 1 Timothy 2:15 uncertain vs certain

Mike's assessment of View 4: his second choice, held if View 5 fails

Mike states his personal ranking of the views before presenting his preferred interpretation.

1 Timothy 2:11 1 Timothy 2:11 women's education let a woman learn

Conclusion 2: Women should fully participate in Christian education

Mike highlights the positive command in the passage.

1 Timothy 2:13-14 Genesis 2-3 1 Timothy 2:13-14 Genesis 2-3 universal application

Conclusion 13: Based on creation and fall, applies to all churches today

Mike reaffirms the trans-cultural, trans-temporal basis of the restriction.

1 Timothy 2:14 complementarian correction 1 Timothy 2:14 women and deception

Conclusion 14: Eve's deception does NOT mean women are more easily deceived

Mike forcefully rejects the misogynistic reading of v.14.

confidence in Scripture fence-sitting God's design

Call to not sit on the fence unnecessarily

Mike urges viewers not to remain undecided simply because debate exists.

Mike Winger idea 2018-01-10

1 Timothy 6:16 misquoted: JW use of ellipsis to hide context

JW misuse of Scripture to support spirit-only existence

1 Timothy 6:16 1 Timothy 6:16 Immortality Deity of Christ

Mike Winger idea 2018-01-10

Closing: Content plans, Romans series, and contextual reading appeal

Wrapping up the livestream and future direction

Romans series Romans series Contextual reading Proof-texting refutation

Acts 2:42 Bill Johnson hermeneutics Acts 2:42

Bill Johnson misinterprets Acts 2:42 — 'the Apostles' teaching' — to mean fresh contemporary apostolic revelation, not the New Testament

Mike analyzes a specific Bill Johnson teaching on Acts 2:42 and its theological implications

Bill Johnson hermeneutics christocentrism

The central theological pillar of Bethel: 'Jesus is perfect theology' — everything in Scripture must be filtered through Jesus and inferior revelations discarded

Mike identifies the one foundational doctrinal distinctive driving all of Bethel's theology

hermeneutics whole counsel of God Scripture interprets Scripture

Critique of the 'Jesus only' hermeneutic: ignores the whole counsel of God; Scripture must interpret Scripture

Mike articulates his counter-hermeneutic to Bethel's christological filter

Bill Johnson hermeneutics healing theology

Book of Job handled dismissively by the Bethel movement: Johnson's position is 'Job is the question, Jesus is the answer'

Mike discusses how the movement deals with the theological challenge posed by the book of Job

false teaching hermeneutics proof-texting

Warning against cherry-picking hermeneutics: all false movements take one true thing and exaggerate it to discount other scriptural truths

Mike articulates a general hermeneutical warning

1 Samuel 5:6 Bill Johnson thorn in the flesh healing theology

Bill Johnson Q&A answer on whether God causes sickness: 'You can't give what you don't have — God doesn't have cancer, so He can't give it'

Mike plays and critiques a specific Q&A response from Bill Johnson

hermeneutics whole counsel of God imitatio Christi

Reductio ad absurdum of 'just copy Jesus': should we have 12 disciples, be itinerant, stay single, eat kosher, visit Jerusalem at Passover?

Mike extends the logical implications of the Jesus-only hermeneutic to show its practical absurdity

Matthew 6:10 Bill Johnson Matthew 6:10 kingdom of God

Matthew 6:10 ('on earth as it is in heaven') is the central practical scripture of Bethel's theology — they interpret it as God manifesting heaven's conditions on earth right now

Mike identifies and challenges Bethel's key proof text for their present-kingdom expectations

Revelation 6:16-17 Revelation 11:15-18 kingdom of God eschatology Revelation 6:16-17

Revelation 6:16-17 and Revelation 11:15-18 show that the coming of God's kingdom involves wrath and judgment, not just signs and wonders

Mike cites specific Revelation texts to establish what Scripture means by 'the kingdom coming'

Jeremiah 23:16 Ezekiel 13:2 prophecy false prophecy Jeremiah 23:16

Three sources of prophecy in Scripture: from God, from Satan (false prophets), and from the prophet's own heart — the third type is what characterizes most Bethel prophecy

Mike introduces a biblical taxonomy of prophetic sources from Jeremiah and Ezekiel

Bill Johnson hermeneutics healing theology

Summary of Bethel's theological problems: filtered theology, emphasis on experience, superior/inferior truths used to dismiss inconvenient Scripture

Mike's transition into final remarks and Q&A

Matthew 21:21 James 4 1 John 5:14 prayer faith Matthew 21:21

Q&A — Matthew 21:21 ('if you have faith you can move mountains'): must be interpreted alongside other prayer scriptures — faith, right motives (James 4), and God's will (1 John 5:14)

Q&A question from Judah Matthews

Joseph Smith Book of Abraham Pearl of Great Price

Introduction to the Book of Abraham as the key test case for Mormonism

Setting up the argument

Abraham Joseph Smith Book of Abraham

LDS Church president's diary corroborates that Smith translated Abraham's own handwriting using the Urim and Thummim

Secondary LDS historical witness to Smith's translation claims

Abraham Joseph Smith Book of Abraham

The LDS Church officially canonized the Book of Abraham as translated from the papyrus by Joseph Smith

The canonical status of the Book of Abraham in LDS theology

Abraham Joseph Smith Book of Abraham facsimiles

Smith's interpretation of the facsimile images: he identifies figures as the angel of the Lord, Abraham, and names Egyptian gods

Smith's specific claims about the facsimile imagery

Joseph Smith Book of Abraham Brigham Young University

LDS professor at BYU commented that the rediscovery of the papyri was 'a far more' significant test of LDS claims

Internal LDS academic recognition of the significance of the papyri rediscovery

Deuteronomy 18:20 Deuteronomy false prophet Joseph Smith Deuteronomy 18:20

Deuteronomy 18: the test for a false prophet — a prophet who speaks in God's name what God has not commanded shall die

Scriptural framework for evaluating false prophecy

Jeremiah 31 Mormonism Islam Book of Abraham

Canonical closure argument: the New Testament closes the canon — there is no room for a new book of scripture

Theological argument against the LDS claim to new scripture

Holy Spirit LDS Church standard works

Argument from the Mormon authority hierarchy: when the Bible, LDS standard works, and the Holy Spirit contradict each other, which do Mormons follow?

Epistemological challenge to Mormon missionaries

Mike Winger idea 2018-02-21

Logical inconsistency: Watchtower permits organ transplants but forbids blood transfusions, despite using the same 'eating equals IV injection' logic to condemn both.

Mike exposes the self-refuting nature of the Watchtower's 'IV equals eating' argument.

Watchtower doctrinal hypocrisy organ transplant doctrine

Mike Winger idea 2018-02-07

Preview of next week's topic: the tactics and distorted scriptures used by extreme healing movements to create unrealistic healing environments in churches — with quotes from movement leaders.

Closing preview of the follow-up livestream.

cessationism discernment Word of Faith

hermeneutics false prophecy David Mead

Three-step outline for the video: (1) examine specific predictors, (2) analyze their Bible use, (3) identify seven red flags

Mike previews his structure: first examining David Mead and Harold Camping, then exposing their hermeneutical abuses, then arming viewers with seven protective principles.

false prophecy David Mead Planet X: The 2017 Arrival

David Mead profile: author of 'Planet X: The 2017 Arrival,' predicted the end in 2017 and again for April 23, 2018

Mike has read Mead's Kindle book and identifies him as a conspiracy theorist who anchors predictions in the authority of Scripture.

Isaiah 24:1 David Mead Isaiah 24:1 Will Planet X Signal the Rapture

David Mead's first Scripture abuse: Isaiah 24:1 and the 'polar shift' interpretation

Mike walks through Mead's Kindle book 'Will Planet X Signal the Rapture?' verse by verse. Isaiah 24:1 is the opening Scripture Mead uses.

hermeneutics eschatology prophecy interpretation

Principle: fulfilled prophecy is easier to interpret than unfulfilled prophecy; future prophecy is inherently difficult

After critiquing Mead's Isaiah 24 use, Mike pauses to make a broader hermeneutical observation about prophecy study.

Revelation 6:12-17 hermeneutics false prophecy David Mead

David Mead's second Scripture abuse: Revelation 6:12-17 (Sixth Seal) as 'absolute proof' of Planet X/Nibiru

Mead explicitly claims that Revelation 6 is 'absolute proof of the existence of Planet X.' Mike reads Mead's direct quote and then the passage itself.

eschatology David Mead numerology

David Mead's use of 'generation' and the founding of Israel (1948) as a prophetic countdown trigger

Mike briefly addresses Mead's broader eschatological system, which ties generation-counting to 1948.

Genesis 7:4 false prophecy David Mead numerology

David Mead's third Scripture abuse: Genesis 7:4 'seventeenth day of the second month' read as the year 2017

Mead takes Noah's ark entry date from Genesis 7 and treats it as a numerological code predicting the year 2017.

eisegesis hermeneutics David Mead

The Bible is not a mystical puzzle; unauthorized numerological exegesis is a form of public sin requiring repentance

Mike issues a strong pastoral rebuke of Mead's method and calls it a public, accountable error.

Genesis 7:4 2 Peter 3:8 Psalm 90:4 hermeneutics Harold Camping numerology

Harold Camping's numerology: 7,000 years of creation history derived from combining Genesis 7:4 and 2 Peter 3:8

Mike now explains the mathematical system Camping used to arrive at his dates.