Voxology

The Bible can open the kingdom—or slam the door shut. In this episode, Mike, Tim, and Suzie explore Jesus’ warning to religious leaders who use Scripture to exclude, shame, and control, and ask why that warning still feels so relevant today.
Looking at Matthew 23 and Luke 11, they unpack how the Pharisees are accused of rejecting Jesus, twisting Torah, and using religious authority to reinforce their own righteousness. The conversation connects those ancient warnings to spiritual abuse, political anger, online outrage, and the ways faith can be used either to bring people closer to God or push them away.
Together, they consider what it means to “nullify” Scripture, how to recognize when a teacher is clarifying its message or obscuring it, and why lament, community, and peacemaking matter in a culture overwhelmed by grief and conflict. At the heart of the discussion is one searching question: Is our use of the Bible shaped by Jesus’ way of mercy—or by coercion and shame?
Timestamps
00:00 - Fall break check-in and podcast banter
00:54 - Family trip to Columbus and Dave & Buster’s
02:19 - 30A, post-hurricane tourism, and fall break
03:53 - Hannah calls in after an eight-mile run
05:31 - Tim’s fall break, the Dodgers, and the Guardians
06:51 - The kindness mob story
09:34 - How positive and negative social media cascades spread
10:27 - Listener feedback about current events and Scripture
13:28 - A school shooting and the need to lament
15:23 - Making space for communal grief and prayer
19:35 - The search for peace
21:33 - Matthew 23 and shutting the kingdom door
23:59 - The “key to knowledge” in Luke
25:26 - Three ways the Pharisees closed the door
27:22 - The healing of the blind and mute man
28:44 - Jesus’ power, the Pharisees’ accusation, and blasphemy against the Spirit
31:59 - Ceremonial washing and the tradition of the elders
34:21 - Corban and honoring parents
36:36 - The sinful woman in Luke 7: judgment and mercy
38:29 - The woman caught in adultery
40:45 - Spiritual abuse and distorted readings of Scripture
44:30 - Susie on blocking others from a kingdom one has not entered
45:57 - Leaders preaching against what they have not faced in themselves
48:15 - Peacemaking, shalom, and responding to chaos
50:06 - Jesus, shame, and writing in the dust
51:35 - Mercy, wrath, and the death penalty debate
53:16 - The wounds teachers bring to their interpretation of Scripture
54:34 - Filters, theological posture, and interpretation
57:48 - Jesus clarifies Torah rather than obscuring it
58:18 - The “key to knowledge” and a cruciform way of reading the Bible
60:01 - Closing thanks and the Shema
As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to hello@voxpodcast.com, and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.
We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.
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Learn more about the Voxology Podcast
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Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon
The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio
Follow us on Instagram: @voxologypodcast and "like" us on Facebook
Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre
Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford
Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

Today, Mike, Tim and Suzie wrestle with two difficult questions: How should Christians respond to public cruelty and political turmoil? And how can church leaders avoid using power to heal their own wounds? The conversation moves from the death penalty and immigration enforcement to Jesus’ teaching on peace, then turns to humility, vulnerability, and spiritual abuse.
They consider why “turn the other cheek” is not a call to passivity, how anger might become fuel for healing rather than outrage, and why local community matters for discernment and action. The conversation also examines the temptations of spiritual leadership: status, performance, and the difference between transparency and real vulnerability.
Chapters
00:00 Fall break banter and hurricane jokes
04:18 The death penalty and public execution
06:22 A son’s reaction to televised violence
08:04 Burnout and the strain of constant political vigilance
09:51 Jesus, peace, and the tension between nonviolence and resistance
13:17 Turning the other cheek as creative goodness, not passivity
15:15 Local community and faithful action
17:07 Why political solutions aren’t the whole answer
19:40 The limits of election-cycle thinking
21:25 Staying local amid overwhelming news
22:26 Anger, the internet, and protecting your attention
32:34 Setting boundaries around news and social media
36:04 The conversation turns to spiritually abusive leadership
36:59 Siblingship instead of status and privilege
38:27 Refusing social prestige and choosing low honor
39:25 Hiddenness and performative piety
40:22 Paul as a model of taking the lowest place
43:45 The practice of showing genuine need
44:44 Three steps toward becoming like the Pharisees
47:05 Judgment, discernment, and empathy
48:37 When humility becomes a performance
51:07 Transparency versus real vulnerability
55:45 Wounds, motives, and church leadership
59:52 Preparing to teach without making the platform the center
64:17 Suzie on pressure, trust, and teaching
70:48 How to discern whose wounds a leader is trying to heal
As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to hello@voxpodcast.com, and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.
We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.
Our Merch Store! Etsy
Learn more about the Voxology Podcast
Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify
Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon
The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio
Follow us on Instagram: @voxologypodcast and "like" us on Facebook
Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre
Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford
Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

Warning: Strong Language.
This episode opens with a critique of political religious rhetoric, then turns to sexual abuse, church complicity, and why image-bearing, body theology, and accountability matter. The conversation also explores Matthew 23 and Jesus’ warnings about religious performance, status-seeking, and spiritual abuse in leadership.
Mike, Tim, and Suzie react to Pete Hegseth’s religious language and discuss how quoting Psalm 33 and Isaiah 6 out of context can be used to baptize militarism, and then connect the Cornell University sexual assault story to broader questions of human dignity, trauma, and the failure of men and institutions to intervene.
CHAPTERS:
00:00 — Opening banter and setting up the episode
02:20 — Political religion, military rhetoric, and the Bible
04:11 — Psalm 33 in context: the verses left out
06:15 — “The real battle is spiritual” and the danger of baptizing war language
08:14 — The Psalm’s corrective: war horses do not save
10:25 — Isaiah 6 misused as a war cry
11:12 — The “Office of Religious Affairs” and state religion
13:20 — Why they keep speaking up: record-keeping, mockery, and moral witness
15:19 — The Cornell assault story and why it matters to churches
16:05 — Image-bearing, trauma response, and taking assault seriously
17:36 — Women defending themselves in every space
19:00 — Why men’s silence is part of the problem
20:59 — Purity culture, gendered blame, and church complicity
24:29 — Sexual ethics and a theology of the body
26:28 — Matthew 23 and Jesus’ warnings about spiritually abusive leaders
28:20 — Religious performance, rank, and status
31:14 — Phylacteries and tassels: symbols turned into self-display
35:05 — Banquets, synagogue seats, and public honor
37:19 — A modern reading of Jesus’ critique of abusive leadership
39:54 — Titles, respect, and the difference between function and self-importance
42:28 — Authority culture and the weight given to pastoral input
45:20 — Form, function, and missing Jesus’ point
47:00 — Jesus’ correction: one teacher, one father, one Messiah
50:55 — Luke 14: take the lowest seat, not the place of honor
52:51 — Vocational ministry and the pull of visibility
55:44 — Matthew 6: giving, praying, and fasting without being seen
57:36 — Church structures, hierarchy, and hard questions
60:20 — Momentum, affirmation, and why leaders need mental health care
61:48 — Staying close to the poor as a guardrail against status addiction
64:33 — Mike’s personal practices for humility and hiddenness
67:27 — Trusting communities and cultures over charismatic individuals
69:53 — Closing thanks and sign-off
As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to hello@voxpodcast.com, and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.
We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.
Our Merch Store! Etsy
Learn more about the Voxology Podcast
Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify
Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon
The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio
Follow us on Instagram: @voxologypodcast and "like" us on Facebook
Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre
Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford
Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

The best way to expose spiritual abuse is not by making Christianity smaller, but by making it more like Jesus.
This episode follows a lively three-way conversation with Mike, Tim Stafford, and Suzie P. Lind about complementarianism, spiritual abuse, and what Jesus means by mercy over sacrifice. The discussion also widens into how churches create heavy loads through subculture, calling, gender roles, and expectations around community.They move from a listener email about complementarianism into a broader argument about how Jesus frees people instead of exhausting them with rule systems. Along the way, they connect Sabbath controversies, neighbor-love, and the body metaphor in First Corinthians to the everyday ways Christians can either burden or bless one another.
Timestamps
00:00 - Opening banter and political outrage over absurd public symbolism
03:31 - Listener email on complementarianism as a whole worldview
06:10 - Suzie on how deconstruction is often the real “choice”
10:46 - Tim questions racial and global inconsistencies in complementarian teaching
15:36 - Heavy loads, Pharisaical teaching, and Jesus’ mercy framework
18:31 - What mercy over sacrifice could look like for neighbors with different identities
22:20 - Healing on the Sabbath and the shriveled hand story
24:52 - “It is lawful to do good on the Sabbath” as Jesus’ core principle
25:51 - How spiritually abusive systems add rules, shame, and fear
30:57 - Opposite of loads: blessing and empowering people
32:30 - Ways churches imply you must swallow everything or not belong
35:26 - “Gift projection” and forcing your calling onto everyone else
36:59 - The myth of “full-time ministry” versus ordinary Christian vocation
40:47 - Unity as family, not uniformity
42:17 - Turning implications into commands, like “your body is a temple”
43:17 - Examining our own hearts before calling out the load we place on others
46:27 - Redefining gospel, salvation, and what “first importance” really means
48:34 - When theological nuance leaves people unable to read Scripture with confidence
50:13 - Confession and accountability as communal, not individual, work
51:30 - First Corinthians and the body metaphor as a better model for discipleship
53:21 - Justice, guilt, and how load-bearing can happen even in good intentions
54:43 - How “we’re not program-driven” can still burden people differently
56:19 - Enneagram, temperament, and center-set community across differences
58:14 - Introverts, presence, and why every body part matters
60:09 - Closing reflections on the brutal beauty of community in First Corinthians
As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to hello@voxpodcast.com, and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.
We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.
Our Merch Store! Etsy
Learn more about the Voxology Podcast
Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify
Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon
The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio
Follow us on Instagram: @voxologypodcast and "like" us on Facebook
Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre
Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford
Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy

This episode opens with a lively point counterpoint about whether Christianity has failed, then moves into a thoughtful listener question about complementarianism, egalitarianism, and why some disagreements feel anything but friendly. From there, the conversation shifts into a teaching-heavy look at Matthew 11 and 12, where Jesus’ “easy yoke” is unpacked as mercy over burden, not zero-effort religion.
Mike, Tim Stafford, and Suzie each bring a distinct voice: Mike steers the theology and text, Tim presses the conversation from a justice and power angle, and Suzie names the lived experience of women navigating church systems.
Timestamps
00:00 - Cold open: “Christianity has failed”
03:45 - A listener question on complementarianism and why the disagreement feels fake to some women
09:21 - Susie’s response: friendship, trust, and why fellowship has levels
12:20 - The danger of treating everything as first importance or nothing as important
14:42 - Why the biblical case for women in leadership still matters missionally
16:09 - Women in leadership, abuse culture, and why hierarchy can create bad fruit
17:45 - Tim’s alt festival update and the conversation shifts into what kinds of churches he will not attend
18:43 - Why churches that marginalize people are non starters
22:23 - The “slippery slope” argument cuts both ways
23:30 - Matthew 23: heavy loads, hypocrisy, and spiritual abuse
24:57 - Torah was a gift, not the burden Jesus condemned
26:23 - Sabbath, Jubilee, and the radical generosity of Torah
28:51 - Matthew 11: the context for Jesus’ invitation to rest
34:42 - “Come to me” and the burden of the Pharisees
37:06 - Susie on legalism, hustle culture, and the simplicity we complicate
39:40 - “Come to me”: a rabbinic invitation to become Jesus’ student
41:11 - What a yoke meant in rabbinic teaching
44:22 - Why the crowds did not fully understand Jesus at first
46:24 - Status, knowledge, and why learnedness can become a burden
47:22 - Jesus as gentle and humble in heart
49:46 - “Easy” does not mean effortless
52:39 - Matthew 12 begins: Sabbath, hunger, and grain fields
55:22 - Why Sabbath became a major identity marker after exile
57:19 - The written Torah versus the oral tradition
58:45 - David and the consecrated bread
59:43 - Priests working on the Sabbath and Jesus’ greater-than-the-temple claim
61:13 - “I desire mercy, not sacrifice”
62:10 - How Jesus reveals the true nature of Torah
66:41 - Sabbath was made for humans, not humans for Sabbath
68:24 - Torah as a shape for mercy, not a cage against mercy
69:47 - Teaser for next week: mercy, sacrifice, and modern spiritual abuse
71:43 - Annie Dillard’s warning about the power invoked in church
As always, we encourage and would love discussion as we pursue. Feel free to email in questions to hello@voxpodcast.com, and to engage the conversation on Facebook and Instagram.
We're on YouTube (if you're into that kinda thing): VOXOLOGY TV.
Our Merch Store! https://www.etsy.com/shop/VOXOLOGY?ref=shop_sugg_market
Learn more about the Voxology Podcast
Subscribe on iTunes or Spotify
Support the Voxology Podcast on Patreon
The Voxology Spotify channel can be found here: Voxology Radio
Follow us on Instagram: @voxologypodcast and "like" us on Facebook
Follow Mike on Twitter: www.twitter.com/mikeerre
Music in this episode by Timothy John Stafford
Instagram & Twitter: @GoneTimothy