Filter results by source database — Scripture Commentary, Theology, Mike Winger, or Pulpit. Click a tab to narrow to one database.

...more
All (546) Mike Winger (546)
Mike Winger idea 2018-02-14

Bill Johnson video quote: Bethel wants to export a duplicable 'revival culture' model, not American culture

Mike plays a direct video quote from Bill Johnson explaining his vision

Bill Johnson revival Jesus Culture
Mike Winger idea 2018-02-14

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

Bill Johnson Kris Vallotton apostle
Mike Winger idea 2018-02-14

How Bill Johnson started the prophetic in Weaverville: asking people around a table 'what do you think Jesus would say?' then declaring they had just prophesied

Mike plays a direct video clip of Johnson explaining his methodology for launching the prophetic ministry

Bill Johnson spiritual gifts prophecy
Mike Winger idea 2018-02-14

Bethel's prophetic training exercise: pair off, give a 'word of knowledge' about your partner, then celebrate whether right or wrong — the goal is creating a risk-taking culture, not accurate prophecy

Mike plays a video of a Bethel training session to show how prophetic culture is manufactured

spiritual gifts Bethel School of Supernatural Ministry social engineering
Mike Winger idea 2018-02-14

Bethel's prophetic culture is social engineering — a formula developed through experimentation and exported to other churches worldwide

Mike's meta-level analysis of what Bethel is doing with prophecy

Bethel Church spiritual gifts social engineering
Mike Winger idea 2018-02-14

Q&A — Bethel's eschatology: they hold a dominion theology, believing the church should 'disciple the nations' — meaning transform entire nations, not just individuals

Q&A question from Don Schneider about end-times views

Matthew 28:19 Bill Johnson eschatology dominion theology
Mike Winger idea 2018-02-14

Q&A — Does Johnson teach 'little gods' theology? No — he teaches something more subtle: 'the Word becoming flesh again' in believers as they speak prophetically and heal

Q&A question from Rona, comparing Johnson to Kenneth Copeland

John 1:14 Bill Johnson Kenneth Copeland Word of Faith
Mike Winger idea 2018-01-31

The Book of Abraham has no connection to Abraham in time, geography, subject matter, or religion

Summary of what the papyri actually represent

Abraham Joseph Smith Book of Abraham
Mike Winger idea 2018-01-31

The Joseph Smith Papers project published the Egyptian Grammar and Alphabet documents, exposing them to scholarly scrutiny

Recent LDS document releases and their apologetic implications

Joseph Smith LDS Church Book of Abraham
Mike Winger idea 2018-02-07

Scoliosis diagnosis via back-twisting is medically invalid — a 'pop' is not confirmation of healing, and Todd White has cultivated a deliberately low threshold for confirming healings.

Medical and methodological critique of the scoliosis healing video.

Todd White healing fraud confirmation bias
Mike Winger idea 2018-02-07

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.

prayer healing personal testimony
Mike Winger idea 2018-02-07

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.

comparative religion Scientology cults
Mike Winger idea 2018-04-18

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.

hermeneutics eschatology prophecy interpretation
Mike Winger idea 2018-04-18

Q&A: How should Christians feel about the end times — fear, joy, concern?

Question from Joshua Rivera.

eschatology tribulation pre-trib / mid-trib / post-trib
Mike Winger idea 2017-12-27

Q&A: Scientology is not Christian — it is a dangerous, money-driven cult involving alien mythology

Live chat question from 'Pac-Man' about Scientology.

comparative religion Scientology cult
Mike Winger idea 2017-12-27

Teaser: upcoming livestream critiquing the 'Mother God' cult active in Southern California and worldwide

Closing segment. Mike previews future content.

apologetics cult Mother God
Mike Winger idea 2017-12-27

Church selection advice: evaluate a church by both its statement of faith and whether it actually lives out those beliefs

Q&A response to a viewer in the Bay Area asking how to find a good church.

Calvary Chapel church selection statement of faith
Mike Winger idea 2018-01-24

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 esoteric doctrine milk vs. meat teachings
Mike Winger idea 2018-01-24

Mormon view of 'saved by grace': Jesus earns your resurrection (basic bodily resurrection), but full salvation requires burning off sin and earning one's way upward.

The Mormon concept of grace is limited to resurrection — much less than what Christians mean by grace.

Mormon soteriology LDS grace universal resurrection (LDS)
Mike Winger idea 2018-01-24

Mormon definition of the gospel: a complex set of new teachings restored by Joseph Smith that must be learned and performed — not 'good news' but a difficult path.

The Mormon gospel adds a body of doctrine and performance requirements that make it not 'good news' in any conventional sense.

Pharisaism Joseph Smith works-based salvation
Mike Winger idea 2018-01-24

After encountering doctrinal challenges, Mormon missionaries are isolated with older Mormons who reinforce their beliefs — a process Mike calls 'brainwashing.'

Mike describes the social reinforcement mechanism that keeps Mormon missionaries from processing the doctrinal challenges they encounter.

Mormon missions Mormon doctrinal awareness social reinforcement
Mike Winger idea 2018-01-24

Q&A: Most Mormons are not convinced by intellectual arguments — they are committed emotionally through 'testimony,' an emotionally validated belief experience.

Viewer question: 'What would Mike suggest to say to a Mormon to convince them that Christianity is truth?'

epistemology Mormon testimony burning in the bosom
Mike Winger idea 2018-01-24

Christian cults always remove salvation by grace — Mike attributes this pattern to demonic influence, citing the book of Galatians.

Viewer question from 'Douglas Dobbins': 'Have you ever noticed that Christian cults always throw out salvation by grace?'

sola gratia works-based salvation cults and false gospels
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-14

James 2:18 — misunderstood verse: James is voicing an objector's position and then rejecting it, not affirming works over faith

Interpreting the difficult verse 18 of James 2

James 2:18 dead faith demonstration of faith James 2:18
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-14

Self-deception of the person with dead faith — James 1:22 'deceiving yourselves'

Pastoral application of James 2:19 and connection to James 1

James 2:19 James 1:22 self-deception dead faith James 2:19
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-28

Annual wave of low-scholarship anti-resurrection media (e.g., 'Lost Tomb of Jesus', Joaquin Phoenix Mary Magdalene film, Da Vinci Code)

Mike critiques popular culture's repeated attacks on the resurrection using sensationalism rather than solid scholarship

resurrection Lost Tomb of Jesus Da Vinci Code
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-28

Second fact (L): Women/ladies found the tomb empty — criterion of embarrassment supports authenticity

Second point of the ALIVE acronym

resurrection empty tomb criterion of embarrassment
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-28

Fifth fact (E): Enemies of Christ converted — specifically James the brother of Jesus and Paul the Apostle

Fifth point of the ALIVE acronym

James brother of Jesus resurrection Paul the Apostle James brother of Jesus
Mike Winger idea 2018-03-28

Five years is not enough time for legendary development — the 500-witness claim makes legendary embellishment implausible

Mike's argument against legendary development theory using the early dating of 1 Corinthians 15

1 Corinthians 15 1 Corinthians 15 resurrection legendary growth
Mike Winger idea 2018-04-11

Reason 3 refuted: The '41,000 interpretations' claim is a sourcing error; difficulty of some passages ≠ general cryptic nature

The skeptic claims the Bible is cryptic and subject to 41,000 different interpretations, citing a Wikipedia article.

inspiration tests 41000 denominations Christian denominations
Mike Winger idea 2018-04-11

Reason 6 addressed: Scientific foreknowledge in the Bible — prophecy is superior to scientific insight as apologetic evidence

The skeptic argues an inspired Bible would contain scientific knowledge humans couldn't have had (e.g., quantum mechanics, germ theory). Mike largely treats this as a restatement of Reason 5.

Genesis 1 Hebrews 11:3 Genesis 1 inspiration tests scientific foreknowledge
Mike Winger idea 2018-04-11

The 'God only acts in the Middle East' meme refuted as incoherent special pleading

Between numbered reasons, the article inserts a meme claiming all of God's actions in the Bible occur in a tiny geographic circle around the Middle East, ignoring Europe, the Americas, and Asia.

geographic objection special pleading meme apologetics
Mike Winger idea 2018-04-11

Q&A: 1 Corinthians 7:12 — is Paul's 'I, not the Lord' statement inspired Scripture?

Viewer question: Should we consider 1 Corinthians 7:12 inspired since Paul explicitly says it is his opinion, not the Lord's?

1 Corinthians 7 1 Corinthians 7 marriage apostolic authority
Mike Winger idea 2018-04-25

Upcoming event: speaking at 'Witnesses Now for Jesus' West Coast Conference about witnessing to Jehovah's Witnesses

Mike shares an upcoming ministry engagement.

Jehovah's Witnesses Witnesses Now for Jesus evangelism to cults
Mike Winger idea 2018-08-22

Kim builds straw men to argue against — e.g., fabricating the objection that Saturday worship is cultish, then refuting it, to avoid real criticism of his actual false teachings

Kim's apologetics section in the Sabbath chapter, around page 47.

Joo-Cheol Kim Sabbath straw man argument
Mike Winger idea 2018-08-22

CoG is a doomsday cult — they predicted the end of the world in 2012, scrubbed those predictions from the internet, and are reportedly making new end-times predictions

Additional facts about CoG beyond Kim's book. Based on testimony from a recent former member.

eschatology World Mission Society Church of God information control
Mike Winger idea 2018-08-22

Practical advice for former CoG members: discard everything Kim taught, start fresh, go deeper in theology and critical thinking, and be suspicious of any teacher who talks to you like a child

The 'hope' section Mike promised at the opening. Directed at former and questioning CoG members.

spiritual recovery discernment cult exit
Mike Winger idea 2018-08-16

In a culture of moral relativism, presuppositionalism doesn't prove the Word is true — it shows that you can't make sense of truth without the Word

Audience question about moral relativism; Sye's key presup move

presuppositional apologetics moral relativism truth as borrowed concept
Mike Winger idea 2018-08-16

Islam is internally self-contradictory: it claims to derive from the Bible but must assert the Bible was corrupted whenever it disagrees with Islamic teaching

Audience question about Islam; Sye's presuppositional critique of Islam

Genesis 22 Islam Genesis 22 typology
Mike Winger idea 2018-10-17

Sin is always sinful — it is not divinely placed to guide humans; God works good through evil but that does not transform evil into good.

Q&A section: a viewer asks whether sin was placed to guide humans and poses the Adam and Eve hypothetical.

Adam and Eve sin Q&A
Mike Winger idea 2018-10-24

Side 3b: Modern Halloween also includes genuine occult and pagan rituals — Wiccan, Satanist, and Day of the Dead practices

Continuation of Side 3 — the darker end of the Halloween spectrum

Halloween Wicca Satanism
Mike Winger idea 2018-10-24

Side 3c: Former occult practitioners may be genuinely stumbled by innocent Halloween participation

A pastoral dimension — sensitivity to those with occult backgrounds

Halloween Stumbling block Former occult practitioners
Mike Winger idea 2018-10-24

Side 4 & 5: Gore culture and violent/horror costumes are morally problematic regardless of satanic connection

Mike's fourth and fifth points address costumes and gore

Halloween costumes Gore culture Conscience
Mike Winger idea 2018-10-24

Q&A: What makes a practice 'pagan' — the distinction between historical connection and current practice

Viewer question: is it wrong for Christians to practice pagan holidays?

Christmas Origins argument Paganism
Mike Winger idea 2018-10-24

Q&A: Playing magical characters in video games is a separate question from Halloween and depends on conscience

Viewer asks whether abstaining from Halloween would be inconsistent with playing a mage or shaman in a video game

Conscience Video games Magic
Mike Winger idea 2018-10-24

Q&A: Black Hebrew Israelites are a cult that exploits black history with slavery

Viewer asks if Mike will debunk the Black Hebrew Israelites

Israel Black Hebrew Israelites Cults
Mike Winger idea 2018-10-24

Q&A: Ephesians 5:11 ('unfruitful works of darkness') refers to common sins, not specifically to Halloween or occult rituals

Viewer asks whether Ephesians 5:11 condemns Halloween participation

Ephesians 5:11 Ephesians 5:3-6 Halloween Ephesians 5:11 Ephesians 5:3-6
Mike Winger idea 2018-11-07

The Bible is not merely informational — it calls people to live a certain way, and doing so demonstrates its truth experientially. Winger cites his marriage as an example: following biblical principles in a family culture with ~95% divorce rates resulted in a thriving ten-year marriage. The Bible's insights into human nature, psychology, and practical wisdom prove accurate when lived out.

Proverbs marriage apologetics experiential apologetics
Mike Winger idea 2018-11-07

Winger declines to condemn parents who choose public school but insists they must actively address secular content at home — particularly in California. Opting for public school without engaging the ideas children are taught is 'dropping the ball' as a Christian parent.

discipleship education homeschooling
Mike Winger idea 2018-11-14

Anger is defined as an internal 'girling' feeling — a changed inner state that drives thoughts and actions.

Mike attempts a working definition of anger as the emotional/internal experience.

anger definition emotion