Letters to Date

You’re not the first to put forward the idea that women generally are more easily deceived, but it’s never been clear to me how 1 Tim. 2:14, which I accept as a truthful account of one time the first woman was deceived, can be extrapolated into a claim about women in general being uniquely susceptible to deception. Can you unpack that a bit?

Rob

What’s the name of submarine you served aboard?
V/R,

edb

You’ve probably addressed this somewhere, but I remember back when Trump ran the first time you said he shouldn’t prosecute Hilary Clinton because it is bad precedent to prosecute your political opponent. Do you still think that or has the shift over the last several years changed the situation enough that it would be appropriate prosecute folks like Biden, Obama, the Clintons, etc?

Steven

I am a Scottish Presbyterian and have recently discovered your writings.
On telling my friend for whom I have a tonne of respect that I had found gold he said yes but is he not the guy who believes in baptismal regeneration and is a Roman Catholic sympathiser?
I understand you admire the Westiminster Confession of Faith and the writings of the Reformers and Puritans.
Can I ask do you believe that the Roman Catholic system and the Pope of Rome is the Antichrist as described in the aforementioned Confession.
With Kind Regards

Ian

I was wondering if you have a position of the fulfillment of the Jewish Fall Feasts.
I was really influenced as a young person when listening to a messianic Jew explain the fulfillment of the Spring feasts by Christ. He went through the Gospels from a “messianic Jewish” perspective and I was amazed at the precision of God in fulfilling these “dress rehearsals.”
Christ is our Passover Lamb and then PENTECOST fulfilled the feast of first fruits.
But then with the Fall feasts many people say they haven’t been fulfilled yet and that will occur at the second coming.
But recently I had the thought that maybe Christ fulfilled those too by his incarnation. What if Christ’s birth was during the fall feasts?The Day of Atonement, feast of trumpets, feast of tabernacles. It seems to fit since Christ tabernacled among us and He came in order to make atonement for His people.
I was just curious what you thought.

Joshua

I’m married to someone who believes every word a gent named John wrote to you between September/October last year. He’s an ardent follower of Joel Webbon and his group, and that has only worsened the situation.
Let me give you a small example : when we got married many years ago, we decided to adopt a dog. There were no issues at the time, but for the past year, the dog seems to annoy him. Now, he’s made it clear that since I live in his house, the dog has to go, no matter what. I’ve tried to explain how I’ve grown attached to him, having raised him from a pup to his current age of five, but he remains unmoved. Since he has insisted that I must obey him in everything, as the Bible commands me to do, I have found someone to adopt him.
Would you consider this a “dominarchy” (I borrowed this term from Jeff Durbin’s sermon)? This kind of control extends to nearly every area of our lives. I often find myself doing things, not out of submission, but out of fear. How do I change this?
I can’t leave this marriage, and there has been no recent infidelity that I know of. However, I have no access to his phone, he doesn’t share anything with me, yet he feels free to read my messages whenever he wants stating, “It doesn’t work both ways and he wont let me in till I have the exact same worldview.” Am I seeing this all wrong? Do I need to change and not expect any true companionship?
Like it was mentioned in the comments, I do feel like a dog. I struggle with so much bitterness, and find myself repenting of it far too often, trying not to bring it up to myself either. I was saved after leading an extremely sinful life and often realise that crazy attracts crazy and I’m facing my consequences. I feel very lost, and I pray that God changes either me or him. But what should a woman in my position do, especially when there are no good churches nearby to offer support?
Every-time I see how the families in your church flourish, all I pray for is that I find such community. God bless your family and ministry, Pastor Doug.

Sarah

RE: Cretans: glad you brought Titus 1:13 up. I think this is another ”forgotten” verse that soft Eva ignores.
Do you see the ”rebuke method” of discipleship as a general tool in our box, or is it only for lying cultures?

Craig

So, what does the IQ test even measure, when we consider that people 100 years ago were scoring much lower on it, and by most normal measures, they were clearly a lot smarter?

Jennifer

Russia has many natural resources. Would it be a good idea for the USA to do trade with Russia?

Josh

On the Greyfriars website, there use to be a reading list available, is there any way to get that?

Ben

I aspire to be an elder one day at my church and have 3 children 5 and under with hopes that God will provide more. One thing that I have been considering is the qualification that an elder’s children are faithful. I can see how a paedobaptist could believe that they are qualified at these young ages. However, you have not yet fully convinced me from my credobaptist convictions. Do you believe that consistent credobaptistic parishioners ought to wait for their children to have made proclamations of faith before being considered for eldership?
Thanks!

Stephen

Regarding the letter from “Anonymous” who feels compelled to give to panhandlers. While I rarely give someone money or buy them food I simply say, “Oh you poor darling, hop in my car and I will drive you to the local Rescue Mission where you will find food and housing”. I haven’t had a taker yet.

Melody

Thank you for your ministry. Here’s a sticky pastoral situation I’m faced with looking for advice…
“Mary” is a member of the church I pastor who had gone off the deep in several years ago with drugs and reckless living. The Lord got her back on the straight and narrow and she is doing well in her walk with him. However, while she was off the wagon, she had a baby out of wedlock with “Jose.” Jose is an illegal Mexican immigrant.
Fast forward a few years. Mary is doing well and thriving. Jose has actually become a Christian and is set to be baptized soon. Mary and Jose have gotten married. (After Jose became a Christian, I told them that I would not baptize him until after they were married. So, to their credit, they sought to get married ASAP and actually went through with it. Praise the Lord.). Their son is two-years-old.
Here is my problem: Jose wants to live here in America permanently, and he wants to do it the right way now. However, the immigration lawyers are telling them that he has to establish residency in Mexico for ten years prior to him being able to come here legally (this might be because several years ago he came illegally and was deported, before coming back again this most recent time). Mary and Jose say they are thinking that he could just go living in Mexico, save up some money while working the old farm down there, and then come back in ten years. They think they will go visit him intermittently during the meantime.
Pastorally, I think this is a very bad idea. Jose used to be a drunk, but the Lord has been sobering him up the past few months. He was previously married in Mexico and even has an older son down there (although he has no contact with the woman or his son because she was cheating on him and won’t let him contact his boy). If Jose moves back to Mexico, I’m highly concerned that he will fall back into drunkenness and lapse in his walk with Christ. Mary will become heartbroken, and their son will grow up without a daddy until he’s 12-years-old.
So, I never want to encourage someone to do something illegal, but in this situation, it seems wiser for him to stay here with his family and raise his child. What say you? If he’s already here illegally, should I just encourage them to “remain as they are” and not do anything else illegal? I’m thinking of his, hers, and the child’s well-being.

Caleb

Where would I find a good source of the Christian ethic of conquering? We conquered the Indians and took over America. When I grew up hearing the story of America I never questioned whether this was okay or not, it’s what we did and we were the good guys of history so obviously it was good. Now that isn’t a very deep ethical understanding, but it also isn’t as simple as the woke left make it out to be either “we stole the land so obviously that’s bad.” But with the Ukraine war, Trump talking about taking Greenland, Canada and the Canal I’m starting to wonder how I sort through thinking about these things. Are they all bad? All good? Why? How is Russia different than the colonists with the Native Americans?
Thanks again.

Shea

Wouldn’t a person who thinks conservatism (or libertarianism) is the way to go, yet who depends on some kind of welfare benefit, be in the same situation as the libertarian federal employee in the old mine shaft in Pennsylvania?

Kristina

You are right about the media doing the sob stories about the fired folks. Trump fired a thousand National Parks Service folks. That is about 5 percent of the NPS. The media is acting like the NPS will close tomorrow.

Zeph

You have been a great encouragement to me and my family, and an example from afar, of one who prioritizes family worship in Christian households. This isn’t something that my wife or I had growing up, but by God’s grace we are learning how to do this together, and with our 1-year-old son! When your children were still in the house, how did you balance regular family worship and evening fellowship at the dinner table with opening your home to church members and non-Christians, and with perhaps even going to a church member’s house some evenings for pastoral reasons?
What Scriptures informed the way you thought about this? What principled advice would you give a younger you on this topic?
I ask mainly because my wife and I are in a small congregation where, if people have time to visit, it is almost always in the evenings on weeknights. (Many of them work weekends.)
Thank you for any thoughts you may have, and may God continue to bless the work you’re doing.

Will

Might I assume you are familiar with charity navigator? DOGE needs to create something similar for the NGOs How much is overhead? How much goes to projects? Who are the leaders? It might be helpful to see how the money is being laundered.

Jeff

I have watched your videos and listened to your podcast and blogs for the better part of five years. I thoroughly enjoy your shrewd commentary on the chaos in the world, and I have found a rather refreshing outlook on political and world events after discovering your content.
My reason for writing today is in part due to a recent church I left. I had been the sound engineer for nearly ten years, and was involved in Vacation Bible School as the activities director, I had been asked to deliver a few presentations at various times, and my family and I were heavily involved in the sort of day-to-day operations one would expect. It is a small, independent Baptist (with heavy influences of Southern Baptist) church, in which there is no elder-run church governance, and the pastor has sole ownership of the property and church. It is directly adjacent to an elementary and middle school, and the pastor was over all of the church finances and tithes.
I wanted to lay out this groundwork as it had come to our attention over the years that the head pastor was heavily involved in local blue lodge freemasonry. This involvement included him being involved in the shriners, both Scottish and York Rite freemasonry, and he had served various chairs throughout the state as an officer of these organizations. Over the years, this involvement became more apparent in the church as several members also began to tout their involvement as well. In December last year in 2024, the pastor and I had a confrontation about the methods and overtness of the masonic lodge as it pertained to the church. And one particular statement he made, “My goal is to bring the lodge into this church,” struck a particular chord with me, and I made the decision to find another church. Some of my family who had the same disdain for the lodge being openly promoted within the church also left.
I have read 33 Degrees of Deception by Tom C. McKenney and various other articles online and books I have ordered on the subject matter to better approach the subject. There had been various times where Knights Templars, Shriners, and associated bodies within freemasonry had been invited into the church in full costume.
My question I guess I have Pastor is, how can one approach this in a place, Louisiana in this case, where freemasonry is thought of as a benevolent good for society, and warn many Christians that are being swayed by these tactics within the churches by senior church leaders? Any help you can provide would be greatly appreciated, and thank you for the great work that you do.

Zach