# 2026-06-23 How the Passion Translation Has Changed Preaching A focused critic video (YouTube, two hosts — the same continuationist critics behind the [[Minor Prophets Podcast]] TPT work) that shifts the [[The Passion Translation]] case from "is the text honest" to "what has it done to preaching." Where [[2026-06-20-minor-prophets-is-the-passion-translation-finished|Minor Prophets — Is the Passion Translation Finished?]] documents the plagiarism trail, this clip is the verbatim montage of named charismatic preachers building whole sermons on one fabricated TPT footnote. (Source: `Readwise/Full Document Contents/Articles/How the Passion Translation Has Changed Preaching.md`) > [!note] Source caution > One-sided by design — no Simmons rebuttal in the clip. The strongest claims (the "three sources," the Mark Strauss admission, Simmons "scrubbing" the Aramaic) are asserted from the hosts' private conversation, not shown. The hosts concede the Paul Younan "walk-back" is "reading a little bit into what he says." The Book-of-Mormon equation is rhetorically loaded. The documentable core — the loan-word point and the copied citations — stands on its own. --- ## What this source adds beyond the existing TPT pages The plagiarism chain (Younan → Roth p.306 → TPT, *paraklete* as a Greek loan word, the 2011 walk-back) is already on [[The Passion Translation]] and the Minor Prophets page. The distinctive contribution here is the **propagation mechanism** — how a single invented footnote becomes preached doctrine across a network. 1. **The fabricated footnote is now a sermon engine.** TPT footnotes John 14:16-17 to call the Holy Spirit "another savior" and claims the Aramaic *parakleta* (from "proc" = end/finish/save + "lita" = the curse) means "a redeemer who ends the curse." At least four named ministries preach it as fact. (Source: this video) 2. **The named-preacher montage (primary evidence).** Dutch Sheets preaches the Spirit "ends the curse" and applies it to the Supreme Court and "child sacrifice." Damon Thompson opens with "Let's go to Dr. Simmons' footnotes" and builds a full teaching. Jesse Duplantis calls the footnote "even better" than the Bible text he just read. Kevin Zadai tells audiences that quoting against TPT makes you "an enemy of God." (Source: this video) 3. **The believer-deification extension.** Damon Thompson takes Sheets further: the Spirit finishes a separate "cosmic curse" that "Jesus didn't quite take care of," and believers must "partner" to finish it — so, in the hosts' summary, "the other savior is actually you." A footnote becomes a doctrine of human co-redemption. (Source: this video) 4. **The Trinitarian-roles rebuttal.** The hosts answer from Galatians 3: Christ alone is named as ending the curse, and the persons' saving actions "cannot be mixed" — the Father and Spirit do not die on the cross; the Son does not pour out the Father at Pentecost. The "second savior" reading collapses the distinct work of the persons. (Source: this video) 5. **Credential laundering in real time.** Thompson sincerely calls Simmons "Dr. Simmons," lending the footnote a scholar's authority — a doctorate "in prayer from an unaccredited institution built by the guy who founded the [[New Apostolic Reformation]]" (C. Peter Wagner's Wagner Leadership Institute). The audience hears a credentialed expert; the hosts hear title inflation. Adds Victor Alexander as a further named source Simmons allegedly copied. (Source: this video) --- ## Notable quotes > "Paraclete means a redeemer WHO ENDS THE CURSE. I say to you, he is coming now." — Dutch Sheets, preaching the TPT margin note (this video) > "Let's look at Dr. Simmons' footnotes. … The word *parakleta* out of the Aramaic is taken from two words, *proc* … and *lita* … What a beautiful word picture." — Damon Thompson, quoting TPT as scholarship (this video) > "It's not in the Bible. So this is a doctrine. This might as well be from the Book of Mormon. … the guy who made it up said effectively that he knows it's not true." (host, this video) > "Brian will draw a contrast, he'll say, 'The Greek word is blank, but the Aramaic word is blank.' And when you actually read it, it's the same word." (host, on the recurring sleight-of-hand, this video) --- ## Connections > [!contradiction] **Self-authenticating authority, propagated downward.** The footnote works because each link in the chain authenticates the next: Simmons' private-revelation claim authenticates the footnote, his inflated "Dr." authenticates Simmons, and the preachers' platforms authenticate the doctrine for lay audiences. No step is accountable to outside scholarship — the same closed loop named in [[Apostolic Authority]] and the [[The Passion Translation#Why the divine-revelation claim matters|TPT unfalsifiability problem]]. This source shows that loop running at the congregation level, not just in the text. This is the preaching-side companion to [[2026-06-20-minor-prophets-is-the-passion-translation-finished|Minor Prophets — Is the Passion Translation Finished?]] (the text-side plagiarism audit) and extends [[readwise-passion-translation-critique-cluster|Readwise — Passion Translation Critique Cluster]] with verbatim downstream-preaching evidence. Cross-references the [[NAR Fallacy Taxonomy]] (designed unfalsifiability, title/credential inflation, endorsement laundering, linguistic sleight-of-hand) already mapped on the TPT concept page. > [!question] **Worship-team relevance.** The same flag applies one level out: a worship song or sermon illustration that cites "the Aramaic meaning" of *paraclete* is almost certainly drawing on this fabricated footnote. Worth naming in the [[worship-song-vetting-rubric-st-johns-ucc|St. John's UCC vetting]] context as a TPT-sourcing tell, alongside Bethel/Hillsong lyric sourcing.