In the song “With God on Our Side,” Bob Dylan famously criticized the American predilection to confidently claim that our personal and political endeavors are touched by God, “Oh, my name, it ain't nothin', my age, it means less. The country I come from is called the Midwest. I's taught and brought up there, the laws to abide. And that the land that I live in has God on its side.”

Now Dylan is no theologian, but he does highlight an interesting dilemma, and he causes us to ask some serious questions. What do we make of claims in politics and culture, that God favors a particular side or position? What makes these claims credible and what makes them dangerous? How does a Christian truly discern if God has providentially aligned himself with a man, a movement, and institution or a cause?

Today on the Postscript we will be discussing this subject from the perspective of history. What can be learned from observing historic instances in which people, Christians in particular, have made the claim that God was on their side?

To have this discussion, we have invited Dr. Thomas Kidd, Research Professor of Church History at Midwestern and the John and Sharon Yeats Endowed Chair of Baptist Studies. He has written numerous books on church history and Baptist history. 

Read Dr. Kidd’s book God of Liberty: A Religious History of the American Revolution

Student Affairs & Bridge Program Director at Living Faith Bible Institute, Jeff Grasher, interviews LFBI student Luis Zalava from Tampa Florida. Luis witnessed the civil war of El Salvador as a young boy which was accompanied by difficulty. Luis had many spiritual questions left unanswered by false religion though, and he drifted further from an interest in church after visiting a wild Pentecostal service. Luis however, did not lose interest in Jesus and the Bible. He eventually placed his faith in Christ sometime later after learning the gospel in the Bible on his own. Luis moved the U.S. and lived with his brother who introduced him to Living Faith Tampa where he is currently engaged in ministry and discipleship.

Lastly, Luis gives a charge why every believer needs a Bible education, to grow spiritual, and to grow in courage to take the gospel of Jesus Christ to the lost world.

Visit https://lfbi.org/learnmore

To be “filled with the Spirit” is a biblical phrase, often used but rarely understood. Some would use the phrase to describe either another Christian's character or a moment when someone seems to have divine inspiration. Most commonly, the term “filled with the Spirit” is used to describe sudden ecstatic behavior. What is clear is that the church struggles to understand what the Bible means when it says:

Eph 5:17 Wherefore be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord [is]. 18 And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but be filled with the Spirit; 19 Speaking to yourselves in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord;
Today on the Postscript, we have Pastor Brian Clark, church planter, author, and Biblical studies instructor at LFBI, to discuss this topic with Brandon Briscoe, provost of LFBI. Brian will help us gain a biblical answer for what it means to be filled with the Spirit and how it affects our life and ministry.

Visit https://lfbi.org/learnmore

The trumpet is one of the most often used symbols in all of scripture. We see, particularly in the Old Testament, that the sound of a trump was used to gather an assembly, to call soldiers to war, and to draw people into worship. The Bible presents us with trumpets that call us into Christ’s arms, and trumpets that mark destruction during the tribulation.

How do the trumpets differ, and how do they help us better understand God’s grand design? Today, provost of Living Faith Bible Institute Brandon Briscoe has invited James Fyffe, faculty professor of Missiology at the Living Faith Bible Institute to do a BIble study on the topic of the "trumpets" of Scripture.

Visit https://lfbi.org/learnmore

In this super-sized episode of the Ps+ we join Myles Cheadle as he walks through different facets of the person of Jesus Christ. 

Today, as a continuation of the Unknown Missionary series on The Postscript, we discuss the intriguing testimony and life (1887-1913) of missionary William Whiting Borden. Borden was a rich young man with incredible intellect and aptitude who gave everything he had for the cause of Christ. Provost of Living Faith Bible Institute Brandon Briscoe has invited James Fyffe, former missionary and faculty professor of Missiology at the Living Faith Bible Institute to have this conversation. Visit https://www.lfbi.org/learnmore

In American revivalism, there is a long history of charismatic experientialism being justified under the subheading of spiritual gifts. Speaking in tongues, healing and prophesying are often pulled from their scriptural context, redefined and then reapplied to substantiate euphoric behavior in the church.

Have the spiritual gifts been co-opted? Do certain spiritual gifts cease? If so, which ones and why?

Today on the Postscript, Provost of Living Faith Bible Institute invites Dr. Chris Best, missiology instructor at LFBI, to discuss spiritual gifts, the cessation of gifts and the purpose of spiritual gifts in the New Testament church. We conclude with how believers can find their fit in their own local church ministry in a way that honors God's Word, so that they may become more fruitful in a walk with Jesus Christ.

Visit https://www.lfbi.org/learnmore

We all have that family member who is obsessed with the family tree, perhaps that uncle or that aunt that knows the exact year that your family immigrated to the United States. Family members like this help us to understand our history and heritage and have a stronger personal identity.

What about our faith lineage? What about our spiritual history, the legacy of those that helped establish the worldview that we often take for granted? Knowing our heritage as Baptists is an important and worthwhile endeavor.

On today's show, Provost of Living Faith Bible Institute Brandon Briscoe sits down with Jim Alter, pastor of Grace Baptist Church of Sidney, Ohio. Jim is the co-founder and editor of the Ancient Baptist Press. Jim is also the coauthor of a book called Why Baptist? The Significance of Baptist Principles in an Ecumenical Age.

Visit https://www.lfbi.org/learnmore 

Visit http://www.ancientbaptist.com/

Your local church youth ministry gets just a few hours each week to make an investment in the lives of the young people who attend your church. In that time they are relationship building, teaching and holding our youth accountable to God's word. There is a lot of pressure for them to get it right, but is all of that pressure reasonable? Could our expectations for the breadth and scope of their impact be miscalculated?

In this episode, we explore what the role of the youth minister really is. What does it mean for them to meet the needs of the family's in our churches? How do parents and ministers optimize their partnership? What does it look like to make a meaningful investment in the lives of teens?

Today on the Postscript, Brandon Briscoe, Provost of Living Faith Bible Institute has invited Jeff Grasher, youth pastor and youth ministry instructor at LFBI to discuss what a healthy partnership between parents and a church's youth ministry could look like in light of Scripture.

Visit https://www.lfbi.org/learnmore

The church has been fitly joined to accomplish God’s will in this world. This is confirmed in Scripture. Ephesians 4:16 says, "From whom the whole body fitly joined together and compacted by that which every joint supplieth, according to the effectual working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the body unto the edifying of itself in love."

God has provided each individual with unique gifts that they might contribute to the work of their local church to meet the needs of the brethren, and achieve the objectives of the Great Commission.

Like many biblical teachings, there have been confusing and false teachings surrounding the subject of spiritual gifts. The Christian predilection for spiritual experience has given way to justifying much of these false teachings.

Today on the Postscript, Provost of Living Faith Bible Institute, Brandon Briscoe, will be discussing spiritual gifts with Dr. Chris Best, Missiology instructor at LFBI – asking what the Bible has to say about the gifts and how they function to further our faith and God’s will. 

Visit https://www.lfbi.org/learnmore

Many Bible students believe that Timothy was only 16 years old when he left home to follow the Apostle Paul in the work of church planting. It's hard to believe that someone so young would commit to something so big. What kind of mindset would be required for such a young man to make such an important decision? Can you imagine the fears that he and his parents had to overcome to get to that place? What did Timothy have to risk in order to see God use him in such a mighty way? We have become risk averse in the evangelical church today.

We fear what we can't see, and we are prone to dreaming small. We prefer comfort to victory. Many of us are stagnant in our ministry because we fear saying yes to the call of God on our lives. But what makes us risk averse? How is it that we've gotten to this place? How do we as individuals, and churches, overcome tiny thinking and instead come to a place of true sacrifice and service? On today's show, Provost of The Living Faith Bible Institute Brandon Briscoe has invited Jonathan Kindler, faculty professor of Biblical Counseling & Spiritual Formation at LFBI, to discuss what it means to overcome fear in our ministry.

Visit https://www.lfbi.org/learnmore

Today Pastor Brandon Briscoe, Provost of Living Faith Bible Institute interviews Pastor Brian Hedges, Director of Word First Bible Publishers, on themes regarding the upcoming (October 6-9, 2024) Living Faith Fellowship's annual Certainty Conference. Brian will be teaching the morning session on the subject of Revelation 2 and 3, its prophetic depiction of the “church ages” and its inspirational application to our lives. During the course of this podcast Brian walks through those church ages and gives a little insight into what you should expect to hear in more depth as you attend or livestream at https://www.lffellowship.com

At Certainty 2024, we will delve into biblical church history and our Baptist heritage, exploring what it means to follow in the faith and traditions of a “Philadelphian” Baptist church. The Certainty Conference is not only a profitable time of Bible study but also a great opportunity to connect with other members of the Living Faith Fellowship of churches. 

Pastor Brandon will be preaching on how the church can build on the legacy and traditions of faith that have come before us; what are the strengths we can learn from and what are the weaknesses we should avoid.

Pastor Alan Shelby of Harvest Baptist Church and Dean of Living Faith Bible Institute will be teaching in the morning session on the subject of our recent Baptist history.

Visit https://www.lffellowship.com/certainty for more information.

There are what can feel like an overwhelming amount of skeptics today concerning New Testament scholarship, even within evangelical and Baptist circles. Today on The Postscript we demonstrate a few apparent contradictions in Jesus’s miracles across gospel writers Matthew, Mark, Luke and John, showing how many so-called contradictions in the Bible are dismantled with simple Bible study principles such as context and key words, which illuminate a more holistic picture of the scene than one account could alone. There is purpose behind every apparent contradiction in the Bible that only the earnest and honest student of God’s Word will go the length to understand. Instructor of Biblical Studies at the Living Faith Bible Institute Mitch Dobson and Provost of LFBI Brandon Briscoe walks us through some of those doctrinal insights which are useful for Christian life and ministry as they examine a few apparent contradictions in an exegetical fashion.

Visit: https://www.lfbi.org/learnmore