Search — Theology Explorer

Bill Johnson Kris Vallotton apostle

Bill Johnson considers himself an apostle, though he never explicitly claims the title — the structure and vibe of Bethel communicates it implicitly

Mike examines the apostolic self-understanding of Bill Johnson

Ezekiel 13:2 prophecy false prophecy Ezekiel 13:2

Ezekiel 13:2 — 'prophesy against the prophets who prophesy out of their own heart'

Mike cites a second OT prophet condemning heart-sourced prophecy

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

Bethel Church spiritual gifts revival

Closing exhortation: don't pull back from healing, prophecy, or the Spirit because of Bethel's errors — the hunger of their movement reveals a real need the church should meet genuinely

Mike's closing remarks

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 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 facsimiles funerary texts

Smith misidentified Egyptian deities; the figures at the bottom are canopic jars, not gods with the names Smith assigned

Specific errors in Smith's interpretation of the facsimile

Mike Winger Mormonism personal testimony

Personal testimony: Mike was raised as a Mormon; this evidence would have been world-shattering to him

Mike's personal background and emotional investment in the argument

Mike Winger apologetics atheism

Upcoming video topic: responding to common atheist arguments against God

Preview of future content

Mike Winger spiritual gifts apologetics

Upcoming video topic: exposing false teaching within charismatic Christianity — abuse of the spiritual gifts framework

Preview of future content on charismatic abuse

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 2018-02-21

Leviticus 17:13-14 is specifically Levitical (Mosaic) law given to Israel, and even within that law the Watchtower selectively ignores the parallel ban on eating fat (Leviticus 3:17).

Mike applies the same hermeneutical critique to the second Watchtower proof text.

Leviticus 17:13-14 Leviticus 3:17 Leviticus 17:13-14 Leviticus 3:17 Mosaic law applicability

Mike Winger idea 2018-02-21

Even granting the strongest interpretation of the blood passages (including Acts 15:29), the texts concern eating blood — not intravenous medicine — so neither position on eating blood requires opposing transfusions.

Mike presents a framework argument that transcends the eating-blood debate: even if you believe eating blood is wrong, that does not require opposing transfusions.

Genesis 9:4 Acts 15:29 Genesis 9:4 Acts 15:29 eating blood prohibition

Todd White healing fraud physical manipulation

Todd White's leg-lengthening video analyzed: hand pivoting, body swinging, and foot angle changes account for the apparent growth — at a rental car location in Israel.

Third example video: Todd White performing a leg-lengthening healing.

Todd White healing fraud physical manipulation

Frame-by-frame of the scoliosis girl's leg-lengthening shows Todd's entire body swinging both her legs toward the shorter one — not the shorter leg growing out.

Visual analysis of the leg portion of Todd White's scoliosis healing video.

Todd White healing fraud leg lengthening

Fifth video: Todd White heals a boy's leg outdoors on a gridded sidewalk. Mike notes the advantage of using the sidewalk grid lines as fixed reference points to track actual foot movement.

Analysis of another Todd White leg-lengthening video with unusually good reference points.

Todd White healing fraud physical manipulation

Detailed sidewalk-line analysis of the fifth video: the legs appear uneven partly because the subject is sitting at an angle, not because one leg is shorter; multiple reference points show the 'short' leg is angled while the 'long' leg is relatively straight.

Technical visual analysis of the fifth healing video using sidewalk grid lines as reference.

Todd White healing fraud leg lengthening

Across 9-11 examples of Todd White's leg-lengthening healings, the 'too-long' leg is almost always on Todd's left — suggesting habitual muscle memory technique rather than random presentation of patients with left-leg discrepancy.

Statistical/pattern observation about Todd White's leg-lengthening practice.

Matthew 18:15 discernment ministry ethics Matthew 18:15

Public teaching warrants public accountability — Matthew 18's private confrontation model applies to private sins, not to public doctrinal errors published on the internet.

Justifying the public critique of Todd White.

Matthew 7:21-23 discernment healing Matthew 7:21-23

Q&A: The Bible supports both sides — go out and pray for healing confidently, AND Jesus warned that false healers will claim to have cast out demons and healed in his name while he never knew them.

Viewer question about whether fake healing is condemned in the Bible.

Romans 14 Revelation 3 lukewarm Romans 14 Revelation 3 weak brother

Q&A: Distinction between a 'weak brother' (Romans 14) and a 'lukewarm brother' — the weak brother thinks something sinful that isn't; the lukewarm brother's love for God is waning.

Viewer question from TruthWatch about terminology from a previous video on being on fire for the Lord.

prayer healing personal testimony

Q&A: Mike shares his own experience witnessing apparent miracles, including a cancer that disappeared after prayer — while acknowledging the difficulty of definitive verification.

Viewer question from Cas asking if Mike has personally witnessed miracles.

discernment Todd White speaking in tongues

Q&A: Could demons be behind Todd White's healings? Mike thinks the visible examples are explainable by natural means; for unexplained cases the options are God acting despite doctrinal error, or demonic — but Christians should not default to 'demonic' for things that are merely unusual.

Viewer question from Jas Stewart about demonic involvement in Todd White's ministry.

comparative religion Scientology cults

Q&A: Multiple viewer requests for a teaching on Scientology — Mike has already researched and taught on it for his youth ministry and may do a livestream on it.

Viewer request from Kathy for Scientology teaching.

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.

Isaiah 24:1 NIV hermeneutics David Mead

Translation comparison of Isaiah 24:1: KJV 'upside down' vs. NKJV/ESV/NASB/NIV renderings expose Mead's selective use of an English idiom

Mike uses Logos Bible Software to compare translations live, demonstrating that the KJV's 'turn it upside down' is an English idiom not supported by a literal Hebrew rendering.

sola scriptura apologetics authority fallacy

Reason 5: Predictors earn our trust by sounding knowledgeable — authority transferred from person to prediction without scriptural verification

Fifth reason people fall for false predictions.

Genesis Genesis young earth creationism age of the earth

Q&A: Age of the earth — Mike's honest agnosticism between young-earth and old-earth positions

Question from 'GotaMeetsix' about young-earth vs. old-earth creationism.

Mike Winger idea 2017-12-27

God repeatedly commands self-examination in Scripture; Isaiah as an example of God calling people to see themselves clearly

Biblical grounding for Tip 3's call to honest self-assessment.

Isaiah 1 Haggai 1:7 self-examination Isaiah 1 consider your ways

Mike Winger idea 2017-12-27

Relationships area: evaluate whether you are fulfilling your calling — not whether others are fulfilling theirs

Elaboration on the 'relationships' area within Tip 4.

calling personal responsibility accountability

Mormonism esoteric doctrine milk vs. meat teachings

The 'secret language' of Mormonism is partially hidden even from newer Mormons, who only learn the deeper doctrines as they advance in the faith.

Mike explains that this doctrinal vocabulary gap is not merely an outsider misunderstanding — it is also a mystery to many Mormons themselves until they progress further in the faith.

Mormonism prophetic authority Joseph Smith

Joseph Smith is the founder and first prophet of Mormonism, and his revelations form the doctrinal basis of the faith.

Background on Joseph Smith before quoting him directly from the King Follett sermon.

infinite regression of gods If You Could Hie to Kolob Kolob

Mormon hymn 'If You Could Hie to Kolob' (hymn #284) teaches the doctrine of infinite regression of gods.

Mike cites an official Mormon hymn as further evidence for the polytheistic infinite regression doctrine, making it liturgically embedded in the faith.

Mormon afterlife terrestrial kingdom LDS soteriology

Mormon terrestrial kingdom: middle level for 'lukewarm Mormons'; Jesus and Holy Spirit present, but no access to God the Father.

Details of the middle tier of the Mormon afterlife.

apologetics Christian-Mormon dialogue Mormon missions

Q&A: Many Mormons don't know their own doctrine until their mission trip, where they encounter informed Christians and discover the differences for the first time.

Viewer question: 'Why do so many Mormons consider themselves Christians even though their doctrine seems completely different? Are they not aware of the obvious differences?'

LDS doctrinal evolution LDS polygamy LDS and race

Q&A: The LDS church is already beginning to change its doctrine — prioritizing organizational health over theological integrity, which started with polygamy and race issues.

Viewer question from 'Rob Donahue': Will the Utah LDS church change its doctrine due to the information age?

Pearl of Great Price Book of Mormon Doctrine and Covenants

The LDS church is quietly distancing itself from past presidential statements and Journal of Discourses rather than formally changing doctrine — 'plausible deniability.'

Mike explains the mechanism by which Mormonism is changing: not reforming doctrine but retreating from its sources.

eternal progression LDS doctrinal evolution as man is God once was

Classic Mormon saying: 'As man is, God once was; as God is, man may become' — recently soft-pedaled by LDS leadership claiming not to understand it.

Mike cites the traditional Mormon aphorism summarizing eternal progression and notes that recent LDS leadership has tried to distance itself from it.

liberal theology LDS membership decline Mormon splinter groups

Liberal theology movements die — Mormonism's doctrinal retreat is likely to cause continued fragmentation, declining membership, and organizational decline.

Mike predicts the long-term consequences of Mormonism's theological liberalization.

Mormonism Jehovah's Witnesses sola fide

Catholicism, Mormonism, Jehovah's Witnesses all oppose sola fide — Mike sees their agreement as confirming the unique gospel

Positioning the debate lines

Ephesians 2:8-9 Ephesians 2:8-9 sola fide grace

Protestant position: salvation by grace through faith apart from works — Ephesians 2:8-9

Setting up the Protestant side of the debate

James 2:21 Abraham Isaac faith vs. works

Catholic counter using James 2:21 — Abraham justified by works when he offered Isaac

Continuing the back-and-forth debate structure

hermeneutics proof-texting apologetics

Using scripture against scripture is bad methodology — it appears to create contradictions and 'the atheist wins'

Mike's methodological critique of how both sides typically argue

1 Corinthians 3:8 1 Corinthians 3:14 exegesis purification rewards

The key word in 1 Corinthians 3 is 'reward' (vv. 8 and 14), not purification — establishing the passage's actual theme

Verse-by-verse exegesis identifying the controlling theme of the passage

First problem with 2 Maccabees: the book is not accepted by the Jews, not part of Jesus's or Paul's Bible

Canon-based objection to using 2 Maccabees as proof of purgatory

Paul Jesus Apocrypha

ESV Bible translation King James Version

Q&A — King James Version: not the best available today due to language change and manuscript discoveries

Question on Bible translation quality