TODD FRIEL SPEAKING AT THE "DEEPER" CONFERENCE, OCTOBER 2011, WESTLAKE VILLAGE, CA [This is partial audio, partial video, & partial notes, not complete...it's the first time I heard Todd speak, & I am not familiar with his Christian radio show "Wretched Radio" (see www.wretchedradio.com). He has some interesting things to say, although he can come off a little bit cocky at times.. As for criticising other preachers & the cliche criticism of "tv preachers" that gets a little annoying. We can all criticize other preachers, and they can do the same to us. ]:"... sufficiency of god's word..[he's criticizing preachers who do a lot of theatrics to get peoples attention, which would presumably include Schuller's Glory of Christmas..b/c Friel spoke about a preacher coming down on a wire from the ceiling like superman...and I'm thinking of Crystal Cathedral's flying angels at Glory of Christmas, which has its place for certain audiences, especially the public school kids who get bussed in for a free show...that can be a powerful image in their mind, so there's an appropriate time & place for theatrics]...[young man w. Pink shirt sits down in front of me with several bags of fritos..jumps up goes gets a soda cracks it open ..guzzling, later, the MC says "If you're coming in with snacks, do me a favor, DON'T" ha ha... the guy in front of me left shortly later] ..back to friel..he's mocking preachers who use theatrics..calls them "2nd rate hollywood wannabes" [ unnecessary, and who is he? an A-list hollywood star?, and then what about the abortion film that Ray Comfort produced and the material he does with Kirk Cameron? there's a cockiness here that I find a little bit of a turn off] ..(I hate it when preachers ridicule other preachers, altho occassionally criticism has its place, but it just opens up "pandoras box" because then the next preacher is doing it too, and so... ) example of abusing word lady says "I'm leaving my husband" why? Bible says "put on a new man" ..we need right tools ..hermeneutics..remain christological .."big hair tv preachers" [I also don't like hearing the cliched criticism of "tv evangelists"]..art arzare ? CALVIN & luther said to rcc you're out of control w/ allegorical ..we still see it today.....he's trying to explain allegorical errors interp..says calvin luther tried to put an end to that..but we still see allegorical today..other herms: existential (it doesn't matter), trajectory (bible starts dumb, gets smarter,...) william webb (trajectory..woman, slaves, homo) ..tom holland. Prob govt & man wants to be in control ...he recommends grammatical-historical..overhead "principalizing bridge, culture language situation covenant " "don't worry presbyterianss, u won't get your toes stepped on" .[, he sees himself on the monitor overhead and says "u ever have braces..my teeth were so bucked..could eat apple thru a picket fence".] ..god wrote a book first for those people..if we interpret in a way that the orig audience wouldn't understand, we r interpreting it wrong..if they came to earth today & they wouldn't understand .."let's go get some sliders" ..
Laodicea "I know ur not hot or cold"..he wasn't talking about water..will spit u out...not b/c of their spiritual fire..(their industry was banking) ..blind (eyesight people) naked (wool industry). ..they got it, we don't,..understand stuff swirling around text ..careful ..don't radically misinterpret ..the people trying to argue that homosexuality was ok back then ..were still in step one..don't j...he places a bottle of germ ex on the podium, asks people to describe it ...[people yell out its on a chair, green label], , professor says observe it for 20 minutes ..he describes it .every little detail .. More u study a verse..greg pocol(?) ..[guy in pink returns..pulls out laptop] ..context is explanation..Jesus tells him he is blind, disciples were not seeing clearly..it was a parable for the disciples..lessons for incompl. Healing.gotta know context.. step 2; what means? Step 3, what principle , ..? Example "greet w/ holy kiss"..u see that in italy ..we don't live in that culture..in our society we may say "greet eachother warmly".[albeit in an orthodox church they will kiss their hands and then touch eachothers hands, right here in southern Cal] ....look at OT ..GOD requires blood sacrifice for forgiveness of sins....NT Changes it..Jesus ..Phil 4.13 "I can do all thru Christ who gives me strength" Paul writing to Phil ..partners in gospel..he's writing from prison....theme to encourage..stand firm under trials..hes facing death..he's saying hang in there..was he saying "U can start a business & be successful" ? Can put verse on boxing shorts & become a great boxer ? [He's getting sarcastic again]. ....so u put this in the "situation context" ..if I'm not in this specific situation the verse doesn't apply to me ..[some verses were specifically just for disciples..ie signs & wonders] ..Jesus will give people strength to endure who r living like Christians ..[guy in pink keeps bumping my foot] ..if u got fired for being incompetent this verse doesn't apply..but if u got fired for being christian this applies to u .. let's do jon 3.16. "God loves the world so much...he sent his only son jc.."..principle,,how apply..its info that gets a person saved....when we remember jn 3.16 ..preciousness of gospel ..here , go teach, make disciples of all nations...so that souls can be saved...& god is glorified fore his goodness kindness..righteous..& all creation will praise..when we don't rightly cut it..the ..god will get glory for sending sinners to hell but not as much glory as he gets for saving us..like me stepping on a bug..is that incredible for me to do? No, but imagine me saving the bug..? God ..who....bugs reconciled to him ..I love my son JC..see ..why we must rightly divine word of truth.. [ the medium is the message]. Prayer: Lord [end comment: the whole thing about certain signs & wonders & certain types of miracles being for the apostles only to perform..I've heard it before..Cal Van Reken at Calvin Seminary used to say that as well. And that's fine if you've done an exegetical study of the Bible & came to that conclusion...but there's a lot of people who get sustained by hope in the miraculous realm and who's to limit God ? Sure, let's not fall for charlatans, but let's not limit God either. Friel makes the Bible sound a bit too much like a scientific manual that he has figured out perfectly. That makes me a bit uncomfortable. ] [Also, by the way, when a lady asked Ray Comfort at the end of his presentation whether they do "follow up" he said no, and he mentioned a passage, but I did not catch which one..but he also added "There are too many bad churches out there..." which I didn't understand how that tied in with whether they do follow up. Was he saying since they are not a church, but a ministry, they can't compete with trying to teach those who are being misled by the churches? It sounded a little weak, almost a cop-out, as if to say they are the sole ministry who rightly knows the word. ] Also a bit annoying was their style of speaking "down" to us as the audience to a certain extent ( that was mostly the MC named Tony Miano, who mentioned more than once his previous involvement in law enforcement, which also seemed heavy-handed, albeit I appreciated his telling the young man in front of me to leave his bags of fritoes outside the auditorium..which is their church sanctuary, ..by the way, you ever notice these people who bring all their food with them into the library or an event that you expect to be quiet...they make things worse by slowly crinkling their candy wrapper as they eat...but it lasts forever as they take one slow bite after another, making a 'SHOW" of trying to be quiet..when the way they are doing it actually becomes more annoying than if they would just tear the wrapper off and gobble the thing down; albeit the guy in front of me with the fritos didn't seem to care either way) , even getting a little heavy-handed about the schedule, as if we were kids who would play "hooky" if we could get away with it (this is a $79 dollar conference...why would we be paying to go to something we don't want to go to ?) Even Frank Pastore was a little condescending when he said he doesn't accept personal checks for his book (because if the check bounces, it costs him), and then he added if you really don't have any money at the moment to buy the book, I will give you one , but you have to "promise, you will pay me later..."--
Vander
