Individual questions and answers from Ask Pastor Mike Live episodes.
When a professing Christian is openly continuing in conduct Scripture clearly calls sinful, church members should not simply ignore it. The concern should be brought to the church’s pastors or elders so the person can receive biblical counsel and an opportunity to repent. The issue is not an unchangeable event from the past but present, …
Pastor Mike encourages pursuing carefully supervised reconciliation rather than moving directly toward divorce when a separated spouse professes conversion, is baptized, participates faithfully in church, respects boundaries, and appears to be changing. Marriage is a covenant, and genuine repentance can produce real transformation. Begin pastor-led counseling now and involve mature believers who can provide accountability …
Messages received through Ouija boards, divination, spiritism, or similar occult practices should never be trusted. Scripture describes Satan as a liar, so claims that a repentant person is beyond forgiveness or uniquely destined for hell must be rejected rather than treated as spiritual authority. The biblical response is decisive repentance: stop every occult practice, discard …
The phrase “sons of God” can refer to angelic beings in the Old Testament and to God’s redeemed people in the New Testament. Genesis 6 is debated because an ancient interpretation identifies its sons of God as fallen angels who took human form and produced offspring with the daughters of men. Pastor Mike does not …
The Da Vinci Code claims that Jesus was regarded as merely human until Emperor Constantine and the Council of Nicaea made him divine and selected the canonical Gospels for political purposes. Those assertions conflict with the historical record. Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John predate the later Gnostic writings by many decades—and often by more than …
Because the parents own the home, they should clearly establish and enforce the household boundary. They can tell their daughter that drunkenness is sinful, inconsistent with her profession of faith, and not permitted while she is staying with them. The purpose is not to control every choice she makes elsewhere but to refuse to enable …
No. Rahab in Joshua is the personal name of the woman in Jericho who protected Israel’s spies. The similar English spelling in Job, Psalms, and Isaiah can represent different Hebrew terms or poetic uses rather than the same person. In passages such as Job 26 and Psalm 89, Rahab is imagery for chaos and the …
Evangelical historically describes Christians who emphasize the gospel—the good news that sinners must repent, trust Christ, and be born again. Ecumenical describes efforts to bring different churches or religions under a broad shared umbrella; the breadth varies, but Bible-believing Christians object when essential truths about Christ and the gospel are treated as optional. Charismatic commonly …
Grief over past sin is understandable, but guilt has a particular purpose: it should lead a person to confession and repentance. Once someone has turned to Christ, confessed the sin, and received God’s forgiveness, continuing condemnation no longer has a rightful claim. First Corinthians 6 reminds believers that serious sins belonged to what some of …
Romans 11 distinguishes Israel’s present opposition to the gospel from God’s continuing covenant purposes. Jewish people need salvation through faith in Christ like everyone else, yet Paul also calls them beloved for the sake of the patriarchs and anticipates a future turning to the Messiah. Support for Israel does not mean declaring every government policy, …
An apostate is someone who has been substantially informed about biblical Christianity, often through long participation in a church, and then deliberately renounces and deserts the faith he or she once professed. It is more than visiting a church and deciding not to return. Pastor Mike understands apostasy as evidence that the person’s earlier profession …
Pastor Mike recommends F. F. Bruce’s commentary on Hebrews in the New International Commentary series as a classic, substantial resource. He relied heavily on Bruce’s insights while teaching through the book. Other useful works include Peter O’Brien’s contribution to the Pillar series, Simon Kistemaker’s Hebrews volume in the Hendriksen–Kistemaker set, and Leon Morris’s exposition in …
The golden bowls of prayers in Revelation are symbolic imagery showing that God never forgets the petitions of his people. The picture is similar to the psalmist’s statement that God keeps his tears in a bottle. A prayer offered decades ago is not lost, overlooked, or dimmed by time. God is omniscient and does not …
Yes. Romans 10:12 says there is no distinction between Jew and Greek because the same Lord is Lord of all and gives his riches to everyone who calls on him. Revelation 11:15 likewise declares that the kingdom of the world becomes the kingdom of the Lord and of his Christ. Jesus is therefore Lord and …
For temptation, Colossians 3:5 commands believers to put to death sexual immorality, impurity, sinful passion, evil desire, and covetousness. Temptation should be treated as an enemy to mortify, not a harmless impulse to entertain. First Corinthians 10:13 adds hope and strategy: temptation is common to humanity, God is faithful, and he will provide a way …
Human beings are both physical and spiritual, and the two dimensions affect one another. Sleep deprivation, illness, medication, and other bodily conditions can influence thought and emotion; grief, trauma, guilt, and fear can also produce powerful physical effects. Christians should therefore avoid assuming every mental-health problem has only a physical cause or only a spiritual …
Pastor Mike advises combining clear conviction with strategic patience. If a relative uses the child’s given name and biological pronouns in the parent’s presence, confronting what the relative does privately may create a stronger opposing alliance and reduce the parent’s influence. Not every disagreement must be challenged at once. When other family members use a …
There is no biblical problem with seeking medical help to conceive a child. Trusting God’s sovereignty does not require refusing appropriate treatment; Christians routinely use medicine while recognizing that every outcome ultimately remains in God’s hands. The ethical concern begins when a procedure creates embryos that may be frozen indefinitely, discarded, destroyed, or placed at …
Historically, fascism refers to an authoritarian political system in which a ruler or governing party exercises domineering power without meaningful accountability to voters, courts, legislatures, or other institutions. Related terms include dictatorship, totalitarianism, despotism, and autocracy, though each has its own historical nuances. In ordinary political debate, the word is often used much more loosely …
Yes, a genuine Christian can temporarily attend a church that teaches false doctrine. The seriousness of the error matters: a congregation may be sound on the Trinity, Christ, and the gospel while holding mistaken views on secondary issues. No church is perfectly correct in every detail. A new believer might even come to saving faith …
Job responded admirably at first, blessing God after devastating loss. Beginning in chapter 3, however, his suffering led him to curse the day of his birth and increasingly demand an opportunity to put God on trial and establish his own innocence. Job’s friends wrongly assumed that his suffering proved secret wickedness, but Job also went …
Pastor Mike recommends beginning with Francis Schaeffer’s The God Who Is There, followed by He Is There and He Is Not Silent. These works introduce Schaeffer’s defense of Christian truth in conversation with modern philosophy and culture. The Church at the End of the Twentieth Century displays Schaeffer’s pastoral concern for Christian community and the …
Pastor Mike rejects the idea that the church consists of two spiritual classes: fruitless believers who enter heaven without an inheritance and committed disciples who receive an inheritance or uniquely become Christ’s bride. Scripture does not separate being a Christian from being a disciple in that way. The Bible does describe many professing believers who …
Pastor Mike had not read Run Over by the Grace Train and was not sufficiently familiar with its author to endorse or criticize the book. A description or recommendation from another known teacher is not enough to evaluate the book’s complete theology. The book’s stated concern—that grace can be misunderstood, misapplied, and abused—is legitimate. Jude …
In ordinary conversation people may use the word Christian loosely, but biblically a true Christian is someone who has been saved. The New Testament uses the term only a few times; more common descriptions include disciple, believer, and brother or sister. To be saved means being rescued from the just penalty of sin. God is …
Yes, a Roman Catholic can be saved through repentance and faith in Christ. Salvation depends on Christ and the gospel, not on the denominational label a person uses. The serious difficulty arises when someone knowingly relies on the Roman Catholic sacramental system, church tradition, and ecclesiastical authority as the means of salvation. The Reformation centered …
The foundational distinction concerns authority. Roman Catholicism treats Scripture, church tradition, and the teaching authority of the Magisterium as interdependent sources. Bible-believing Protestants insist that Scripture is the church’s final, sufficient authority and evaluate every tradition and doctrine by it. Baptist and non-denominational churches are often much closer to one another in doctrine and practice. …
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints uses Christian language, but its origins and authorities explicitly depart from historic biblical Christianity. Joseph Smith claimed existing Christian churches were wrong and introduced new revelations intended to correct them. Latter-day Saint doctrine depends on the Book of Mormon, Doctrine and Covenants, Pearl of Great Price, and …
Christian men who desire marriage should take thoughtful action rather than assume suitable opportunities will appear within a small congregation. Begin by identifying doctrinally aligned churches within a reasonable distance and asking their leaders to cooperate in creating social settings for Christian singles. These gatherings need not be forced Bible studies or matchmaking programs. They …
Withholding information and lying are not the same thing. People are not morally required to disclose every fact in every situation, and compassionate caregiving often requires limiting information that would cause unnecessary confusion or repeated distress. A caregiver may redirect a conversation, omit details the person cannot process, or offer reassurance without explaining everything that …