A man in Shreveport murders eight children, seven of them his own. Underneath the grief is the instinct that someone has to answer for this. That instinct has a name — God's wrath. Justice.

Jeff and Stephen sit with the doctrine honestly. Biblical writers were more often crying "how long, Lord?" than asking God to ease up. They also touch Kirk Cameron's recent comments on annihilationism, the Cappadocian Fathers, and the actual range of views on hell in the early church.

📖 People of the Lie by M. Scott Peck
📖 The Fire That Consumes by Edward Fudge
⛪ GraceLife Beachside Church

Pentagon veterans testified before Congress about non-human biologics. A Navy pilot described a tic-tac-shaped object at Mach 5 with no wings, no exhaust, no explanation.

Jeff and Stephen take the alien question seriously because they think the church hasn't. They work through what extraterrestrial life would actually mean for the image of God, the atonement, and the sufficiency of scripture.

📖 Out of the Silent Planet – C.S. Lewis

🔗 2023 UAP Congressional Hearing — Full Testimony – C-SPAN

A high-profile sheriff is in the news, the word narcissist is getting thrown around, and Jeff brought a printed copy of the DSM-5 to settle it. Five out of nine traits gets you the diagnosis. The conversation goes about where you'd expect it to from there — and then somewhere you wouldn't.

Jeff and Stephen get into why narcissistic leaders don't just appear in churches but get actively recruited there, what makes someone a "flying monkey" defending a leader they should probably leave, and the wound underneath the whole thing. Stephen tells the story of asking a pastor a real question at 21 and being told it was a stupid one. Jeff confesses to doing the Donald Trump table-clearing thing at his own family dinners.

The hardest part of the episode is the diagnosis they land on: the church doesn't just tolerate this stuff. It selects for it. And the people most hurt by it tend to leave one narcissistic system and walk straight into another.

If any of this sounds familiar, you're not crazy. And you're not the only one.

Resources & Links

📖 When Narcissism Comes to Church – Chuck DeGroat

📖 The Subtle Power of Spiritual Abuse – David Johnson & Jeff VanVonderen

⛪ GraceLife Beachside Church