Okay, okay, yeah, yeah, I'm a little late on this mic Todd situation, but we need to talk about it He had a Easter service recently that was basically Oscars-like in terms of the performances It was very hyped people have been picking out clips and showing things online and getting very angry and frustrated about it And some people are defending and saying it was a wonderful masterpiece of artistic creativity And it brought so many people to understand the Easter story So where do I line up on this and where does the Bible line up on this? You know, I think recently there has been and I just want to rant to you guys for a bit because to be honest with you I usually kind of write out a little bit of what I'm gonna say and have a little bit more curated But right now I just I have a lot on my heart that I need to share with you And I think in a lot of ways the church has been taken over and just infiltrated by these very charismatic leaders Right these very charismatic pastors. There's nothing wrong with being charismatic But when that is your primary appeal when it is all about kind of the way you speak and the way you conduct yourself Or the clothes that you wear are the analogies that you have as opposed to the substance of where your foundation actually lies That becomes a problem and I think with Mike Todd We're beginning to see at least it's being becoming apparent to most people I know some people were on this train from the beginning understanding okay What is Mike Todd's goal here in his church his massive growing church and becoming such a popular pastor? Where's his foundation at where are his standards where are his boundaries? We were beginning to see and we also saw too like in terms of I covered a little while back him Spitting on that guy's face and and then that t-shirt that he had with his wife on it in a bikini was he as he was preaching We're like okay, this guy's boundaries They're not really existed. He's just kind of doing what he what he wants to do and there's no real Accountability there or if there is accountability It's basically accountability that says well as long as it kind of works as long as it gets the views right where or is there primary Standard or objective is it about getting the pragmatic results in terms of people in the doors in terms of people saying Yeah, I was really impacted by this or you know, it made me feel closer to Jesus or is it actually what does the word of God say? And I'm gonna stick to it So that's a little bit of a precursor But let's talk about the performance in general a lot of people are picking out clips that were very Like a demon oriented and because it was play right and some people are taking these out of context I can understand why there's a little bit of frustration for people that go to that church or want to defend that church because they're like Hey, you're you're taking this out of context This was the part where all the demons were talking and I can't really show a lot of it because it's got some copyright and music and stuff like that so I can understand why there's frustration there and we need to be careful that we're not engaging in merely outrage culture Right, that's not what I want to be a part of just Man, Mike Todd is the worst and we got to stop him and stuff like that and can you believe what Mike Todd Mike Todd did this week and on all that kind of thing because I just think it's not helpful I do think though for me and knowing my audience Mike Todd is built a big platform a big platform and I've seen him Say some good stuff. I really have and it's actually been really encouraging to see some of the stuff He's been saying online I at least in terms of some of the the short clips that I've seen and he's really a powerful speaker and he's got some really Interesting analogies, but then every once in a while you begin to look a little bit deeper and maybe you watch some of your sermons And you're like, whoa, whoa, wait a minute buddy Wait a minute buddy like you're just kind of pulling stuff out here and there's maybe some verses here and there But he's making a lot of the stuff out. It's like a kind of a trendy TED Talk to make you feel better about your life Or maybe to get you to be a better person or it's not really gospel oriented You don't hear him talk about the gospel very often and that's a concerning thing for me But ultimately going to the performance. I don't think there's anything wrong with having a little bit of a play or something like that But when it's done in this context like at the church, what is the church for? Right? Is it primary to just have this big kind of entertaining Musical where everyone's singing and dancing and and we're gonna do that instead of actually What the church is for so what is it for I think of Colossians here Colossians 316 It says let the word of Christ dwell and you richly teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom singing Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs with thankfulness in our hearts to God We think about that and I think it comes down to what our primary goal is like I was saying earlier Is it to encourage believers is it to spur them on in the face to faith to get them out of their comfort zone to go into the world and Be equipped and be ready to to share the gospel to be encouraged and to be fed or are we appealing merely to the culture to get clicks to get likes To maybe even focus on only non-believers and say oh well, this is a vangelistic effort We need to talk about too the evangelistic nature of this was this truly Vangelistic at heart really like I haven't watched the whole thing so I'm I I can't speak to you know Whether they were clear in their gospel presentation, but I don't know guys like you're watching this and you're like Where is the attention is it on God? Is it on what he has done? Especially in the church context or is it in how cool my dance moves or look at the trendy songs that we can incorporate into This musical thing and it's like okay, that might be cool for Broadway But in the church context is that what churches for and I think we have a diametrically opposed opinion of of what it's of what it's about and And and you know so ultimately look I'm not a part of Mike Todd's church I think he said some questionable stuff and I at this point Would not recommend anybody listen to what he has to say I just don't think there's that wisdom or that maturity there and I say that with Attempting to say that with all humility recognizing that I have my own deep flaws, right? And I need Scriptural help constantly and God's guidance constantly in order to make sure that I'm utilizing and Stewarding my platform effectively and responsibly and biblically All that is apparent in my heart and my mind But at the same time we need to be careful to not be taken captive with whatever is just kind of cool or wow Look at this innovative thing. They're doing it. They're taking Christian liberty You know and that's often what it's portrayed as they oh all the religious people are getting nervous in here because we're trying some stuff out That's what it's often like portrayed as like kind of gaslighting the audience to be like Why do you guys have a problem with that? Oh, you must be one of those religious people if you're upset with this kind of thing And it's like well, no, no man. It's just because I don't think this is glorifying the God I don't think this is putting the attention on him. We talk about glory I've heard glory being described as a spotlight Where is a spotlight being put and I think in this kind of context? You're you're seeing the good the glory the spotlight being put on Transformation church or Mike Todd being the visionary to orchestrate something like that is it is a glory really being put on God and The sad truth is this isn't the first time that I've seen an Easter service Gone out a hand or our church try to do some big production in order to draw people in and get the focus on them I've seen it in in my city as well and I think a lot of churches unfortunately would be engaging in similar things if they had the money and And it's just sad because ultimately I think we need to be focused on the simplicity of the gospel Yes utilizing artistic Artistic abilities and creative abilities in it, but those should all be in service to focusing and worshiping God as opposed to Distracting from them primarily in the church context, right? Like I have no problem with having to play outside of the church and you know people attended and like that's nice And then you can talk about the the morality of that particular player aspects of that play But then you look at the church context and you bring something like that in there And it's the big shabang with fire and lights and you're like What do we miss like what are we doing here? That's honestly how I feel I know people feel differently. I know there's nuance to this But I just it doesn't sit well in my heart to be You know support something that that is just so Worldly it really is it really is and you see they even the music selection and You know just even how they glorified the demonic aspects of that play. It's just really Strange to me how they could kind of go about doing that and I know they're trying to be innovative They're trying to be you know breaking rules and doing stuff I just I'm not with it. I'm really not so those are my thoughts I'm sorry that this video was kind of rambly, but I just had to get on here and kind of post this video pretty quickly because I Wanted to say something about I think it's important But I'd love to hear you what you guys think about in the comments down below maybe you followed Michael Todd in the past and you're starting to question things or you're trying to discern Or is this something that I really want to continue to allow to consume in my life and and provide input into it And I think we should be searching the scriptures to say okay This is our foundation here. Let's weigh everything against what God says about his church Not what we think is kind of a cool and creative and innovative idea But focus on the simplicity and the design that God has offered up to us And that's where our foundation should be so I'd love to hear you guys thoughts in the comments down below Thanks again for watching as always. I love you guys It means so much to me that you support me on patreon as well. That is a huge blessing to me and I will see you guys next time God bless