Chad Hess

The Devil’s substitute for the joy of the Lord is entertainment.

@philwaldrep Praying for his family and his church family. What a difficult year for that body of believers!

Grieving tonight over the passing of Mark Blair, the minister of music at Bellevue Baptist in Memphis. Mark led worship at many of our early youth camps at Shocco Springs and remained a dear friend. Praying for his wife, family and the Bellevue family.

Every. Single. Time. 😭

A Michigan sheriff says he witnessed something he had never seen before on Christmas Eve — inmates inside one of the jail’s largest pods voluntarily joining hands to recite the Lord’s Prayer, with no prompting or direction from staff.

Three years ago, I was the smartest Christian in the room. Or so I thought. I'd discovered this teacher, won't name him, but if you're in the "hidden Bible knowledge" corners of X, you know the type. He had charts. Timelines. Greek word studies that made seminary professors look like Sunday school dropouts. And he had a hook: "What the modern church won't tell you about [insert doctrine]." I was hooked. It started innocently. A YouTube video. Then a book. Then a private Discord where the "serious students" gathered. Within six months, I couldn't listen to my own pastor anymore. His sermons felt... basic. Shallow. Like he was feeding us milk while I was feasting on meat. I'd sit in the pew mentally correcting him. "If he only understood the original Greek here..." I wasn't being sanctified. I was being isolated. And I didn't see it because I felt smarter than I'd ever felt in my Christian life. My wife asked me a simple question: "Has all this studying made you love Jesus more, or just made you love being right?" I got defensive. Angry, even. Because deep down, I knew the answer. I could chart the seventy weeks of Daniel. I could debate the Nephilim. But I hadn't prayed—really prayed—in months. I'd become a theological collector instead of a disciple. THE FIVE SYMPTOMS I MISSED (That You're Missing Too) Looking back, the red flags were neon. If you're in the early stages of what I went through, here's what you're experiencing right now: 1. You're Chasing the "Secret" The content you consume always promises "What they won't tell you." Hidden knowledge. Lost books. The trap: God doesn't hide truth from the humble. He hides it from the proud. (Matthew 11:25) 2. You Need Extra Books to Prop It Up My teacher loved the Book of Enoch. Not as historical context—as required reading. The trap: "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them." (Isaiah 8:20, KJV) 3. You Feel Superior to "Average Christians" This was the most intoxicating part. I'd scroll through Christian X and think, "These people have no idea." The trap: "Knowledge puffeth up, but charity edifieth." (1 Corinthians 8:1, KJV) 4. You're Poisoned Against Plain Preaching I couldn't sit under normal teaching anymore. Expository sermons felt boring. The trap: The gospel that saves is simple enough for a child. If you need a PhD to understand your teacher's "real" message, you're learning gnosticism. 5. It Produces Charts, Not Holiness Here's the test I failed: I could draw you a timeline of the end times. But I couldn't tell you the last time I'd wept over my sin. The trap: "By their fruits ye shall know them." (Matthew 7:20, KJV) THE WAY OUT I didn't leave because I got smarter. I left because I got desperate. One night, after another argument with my wife about my "studies," I broke. I prayed the most honest prayer of my life: "God, if I'm wrong, show me. Even if it humiliates me. I don't want to be right. I want to be Yours." Within a week, the scales fell. I deleted the Discord. Unsubscribed from the channels. Threw out the books. And I went back to my church and wept through an entire sermon on the prodigal son. If you're reading this and feeling defensive, you're where I was. Run this test: Fail two of the symptoms above, and walk away before you lose three years like I did. I'm not writing this from a high horse. I'm writing this from the ditch. Here's what I came back to: Jesus. Crucified. Risen. Coming again. Repent. Believe. Be baptized. Make disciples. Love God. Love neighbor. Die to self. That's it. No secret knowledge required. No hidden books. No elite club. Just a bloody cross and an empty tomb. And if that feels too simple, you're already in the trap

B.H. Carroll wrote of Spurgeon’s death- “If every crowned head in Europe had died that night, the event would not be so momentous as the death of this one man."

🎉 GIVEAWAY! To celebrate the addition of @drmedders to Midwestern Seminary Faculty, we're giving away a book bundle and a Spurgeon bobblehead! FOLLOW US, LIKE this post, and RT to be entered to win!

What Christmas is all about. Sinclair Ferguson on the staggering wonder of the incarnation.

@the_charlie_5 Praying

I love my church Please pray for FBCO

#OTD November 26, 1789: President George Washington proclaims this day as the first national Thanksgiving, setting it aside for public thanksgiving and prayer. The tradition later became annual when President Abraham Lincoln, in 1863, designated the last Thursday of November as a national day of thanks. In 1941, Congress fixed the date as the fourth Thursday in November, creating the federal holiday observed today.

#OTD November 25, 1742: David Brainerd, age 24, was approved as a missionary to the Native peoples of New England by the Scottish Society for the Propagating of Christian Knowledge (SPCK). From 1743 to 1746, despite fragile health, he ministered among the Delaware (Lenape), with the most notable revival occurring at Crossweeksung, New Jersey. Brainerd died of tuberculosis in 1747 at age 29 while staying in the home of Jonathan Edwards. His journals, published by Jonathan Edwards, inspired generations of missionaries.

#OTD November 25, 1748: Isaac Watts dies at Stoke Newington, England. Often called the father of English hymnody, he wrote nearly 600 hymns. Many became enduring classics, including “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross,” “Joy to the World,” “Jesus Shall Reign Where’er the Sun,” “At the Cross,” and “Come, We That Love the Lord.”

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#OTD November 23, 1654: French mathematician, physicist, and philosopher Blaise Pascal underwent a sudden and profound religious conversion late at night. He recorded the experience on a piece of parchment now called the Memorial, noting the exact date and time, followed by these words: “Fire. The God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, the God of Jacob, not the God of the philosophers and the learned. Certitude. Certitude. Feeling. Joy. Peace. The God of Jesus Christ…” Pascal treasured this record so deeply that he sewed it into the lining of his coat, where it was discovered after his death. The encounter marked a turning point that led him from scientific innovation toward theology and Christian apologetics.

#OTD November 22, 1873: Horatio Spafford’s four daughters drowned when the French steamer Ville du Havre sank in the Atlantic after colliding with another vessel. His wife, Anna, survived and sent a brief telegram from Wales that read, “Saved alone.” In the deep sorrow that followed, Spafford later wrote the hymn “It Is Well with My Soul,” a testimony to unwavering trust in God in the midst of profound loss.

OTD in 1854 Sam Houston, and his wallet as a sign of total surrender, was baptized at Independence BC, the oldest continuously active Baptist church in TX, by RC Burleson in Rocky Creek. When told his sins were washed away Houston replied, “I pity the fish downstream."

#OTD November 19, 1672: 17th-century Puritan-era minister and writer Richard Baxter defies English law by preaching without a license under the Act of Uniformity. Refusing to abandon his calling, he continued ministering despite repeated fines and threats. Baxter was known for his deep pastoral seriousness, declaring that he preached “as never sure to preach again, and as a dying man to dying men.” His courage and writings, especially The Reformed Pastor, left a lasting mark on English Protestant devotion.

#OTD November 15, 1917: Oswald Chambers, serving as a chaplain to British troops in Egypt during World War I, dies after complications from surgery. After his death, his wife Gertrude (Biddy) carefully transcribed his talks and notes, eventually compiling “My Utmost for His Highest,” the devotional that would become his most influential and widely read work.

#OTD November 12, 1660: John Bunyan is arrested for preaching without a license and sentenced to prison. During his twelve years of confinement, he wrote Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners and began The Pilgrim’s Progress, later regarded as one of the greatest works of Christian literature.