Are Your Church's Teachings Distracting You From Jesus?  🔗 **Source:** [Are Your Church's Teachings Distracting You From Jesus?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIrYDDVxAEI) > [!note]+ Document Notes > tags: [new-apostolic-reformation, biblical-counseling, mental-health, spiritual-warfare, discernment, false-gospel] > author: Holly Pivec > source: Holly Pivec > reference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIrYDDVxAEI > date created: {{date:YYYY-MM-DD}} {{time:HH:mm}} > > # 🏷️ Title: Are Your Church's Teachings Distracting You From Jesus? > <!-- deep-read:sections start --> ## 🧭 Table of Contents - [📝 Summary](#-summary) - [📖 Main Content](#-main-content) - [🗒️ Notes](#️-notes) - [📚 References](#-references) - [🗣️ Paraphrase](#️-paraphrase) - [📰 Newsletter](#-newsletter) - [✅ Action Items](#-action-items) - [🧪 Hypotheses](#-hypotheses) - [📊 Methodology](#-methodology) - [❓ Questions](#-questions) - [🔮 Future Research](#-future-research) - [💡 Implications](#-implications) - [🧠 Learning Styles Assessment](#-learning-styles-assessment) - [📊 Accessibility Assessment](#-accessibility-assessment) - [🌍 DEIB Assessment](#-deib-assessment) - [✅ Logical Validity](#-logical-validity) - [🛡️ DARVO Analysis](#-darvo-analysis) - [🎯 Conclusion](#-conclusion) ## 📝 Summary - Holly Pivec interviews Mark Baker, a biblical counselor and author of *Re-minded*, about how New Apostolic Reformation (NAR) teachings — spiritual warfare declarations, territorial rebukes, "taking dominion" — distract believers from the actual gospel and from what Baker calls the biblical discipline of distinguishing what we control from what we don't. - Baker argues NAR practice keeps adherents chronically busy with ritualized spiritual-warfare activity (rebuking demons over cities, pouring anointing oil, burying communion elements, wording prayer declarations precisely) while failing, in his account, to teach or center the gospel of Christ's atoning work. - He frames this as a mental-health issue: trying to control what isn't yours to control (the weather, other people, outcomes) produces anxiety and depression, illustrated through the story of Martha in Luke 10 (Luke 10:38-42, "cumbered about with much serving" / "distracted"). - Key stakeholders: NAR-adjacent churchgoers and leaders, biblical counselors, mental-health-aware pastors, and viewers of Pivec's channel (who tracks NAR/dominionist movements). - Risks and tradeoffs: the segment relies on Baker's characterization of NAR theology (via a secondhand anecdote about a deliverance-ministry volunteer) rather than citing NAR's own primary texts on-camera; the claims about an "incomplete gospel" and dominionism are asserted rather than sourced to a specific NAR author in this clip. - Bottom line: Baker's thesis is that confusing "what I control" with "what belongs to God" is the theological root of both false, manipulative religious practice and the anxiety/depression it produces in participants. ## 📖 Main Content The clip opens mid-conversation with a direct question about "trusting God with what we can't control." Baker's core framework is a control/no-control distinction he says should structure "every part of our day": we can love, speak truth, pray for, and forgive other people, but we cannot change them, make money appear, or alter the weather or geopolitics. He contrasts this with NAR practice, where practitioners claim to "rebuke" hurricanes or geopolitical events with no accountability when nothing changes. Baker names two failure extremes: (1) quietism — sitting back and expecting God to supply everything without personal faithfulness, and (2) control-seeking — trying to personally determine outcomes that belong to God. He locates NAR in the second extreme, and says anxiety and depression are the physiological/emotional "warning signal" (his fire analogy: getting too close produces pain) that a person has crossed from faithful action into illegitimate control-seeking. He turns to Luke 10 and the story of Martha, reading it as a mental-health text: Martha was "driven about mentally" (his gloss on the Greek), overburdened by self-imposed tasks and, crucially, distracted from the person in front of her (Jesus and, in his phrasing, "the apostles" in her home). Baker draws a parallel: NAR similarly distracts adherents from what they actually control and from Christ, substituting a performance of spiritual authority ("you can be like God," an allusion to Genesis 3) for ordinary faithfulness. Baker states he has "yet to see anyone" in NAR objectively perform the miracles claimed (healing, weather control) but says the movement "keeps doubling down" with vague reports of activity elsewhere ("in that city, they're doing all these things"). Pivec connects this to Baker's book *Re-minded*, quoting/paraphrasing it: "a great deal of damage is often caused, including mentally, when we are distracted, overburdened, and drawn away from what is right, true, best, and what is of utmost importance." She lists specific NAR practices she says produce this busyness/distraction: rebuking specific demons, wording prayer declarations "just right," pouring anointing oil into the ground, burying communion elements, and waging spiritual warfare against "high-ranking demons" controlling cities. The conversation's most pointed claim is theological: Pivec says NAR "will acknowledge the gospel" (forgiveness and reconciliation through the cross) but treats it as "incomplete," adding that the "complete gospel" in NAR teaching is that Christ's work also authorizes believers to "take dominion" — socio-political control of the earth. She calls this "another gospel... a false gospel," aligning with Galatians 1:6-9 language ("a different gospel") without citing the verse directly on-camera. Baker adds a secondhand story of a young woman in a Southern California deliverance ministry who discovered, after months of "casting out demons," that she had never actually heard the gospel or been saved — used as evidence that NAR ministry structures can onboard people into practice without doctrine. Baker closes by contrasting extremism with "a sound mind" (an allusion to 2 Timothy 1:7), arguing NAR's constant intensity is literally unsustainable ("you just can't keep it up, let alone its fault"). ### Uncertainties and contested claims - The clip does not name specific NAR leaders, churches, or texts, making Baker and Pivec's characterization of NAR's gospel teaching (as "incomplete" or "dominionist") an assertion within this segment rather than a documented citation; readers should consult *Re-minded* or Pivec's other work (she co-authored *A Church Called Tov* critiques and NAR-focused books) for primary sourcing. - "NAR" is not a single denomination with a formal statement of faith — it is an academic/critical label (associated with C. Peter Wagner) applied to a loose network of independent charismatic ministries, so claims about "NAR's gospel" necessarily generalize across a heterogeneous movement. - The deliverance-ministry anecdote is secondhand and anonymized; it functions as illustrative rather than as documented evidence. ## 🗒️ Notes #### ⏱️ [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIrYDDVxAEI&t=0) Trusting God when we are not in control: discernment - Baker's opening framework: daily life is discerning "what we do control and what we don't control." - You can't change another person — you can love, speak truth in love, pray for, and forgive them. - NAR test case: claiming to "rebuke a hurricane" with no real-world consequence when tracked against outcomes. #### ⏱️ [01:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIrYDDVxAEI&t=82) The other extreme of trusting God - Passive extreme: "I just trust God" while doing nothing (expecting money or food to appear unprompted). - Baker rejects both that extreme and the opposite (trying to personally control everything). #### ⏱️ [01:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIrYDDVxAEI&t=104) Why do we feel anxious and depressed? - Fire analogy: pain from getting too close to fire signals "you don't control this." - Anxiety/depression framed as the felt signal of trying to control the uncontrollable. #### ⏱️ [02:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIrYDDVxAEI&t=125) The case of Martha: doing too much and losing focus on Jesus - Luke 10 read as addressing mental health: Martha "driven about mentally," overburdened, distracted from Jesus in her own home. - Baker connects Martha's misplaced focus to NAR's misplaced focus — busy with the wrong things. #### ⏱️ [02:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIrYDDVxAEI&t=165) The NAR's new Garden of Eden - Allusion to Genesis 3 ("you can be like God"): NAR framed as offering "secret extra special knowledge" and the promise of god-like power (healing, bringing heaven to earth). - Baker: he has "yet to see anyone" objectively perform these claimed acts, yet the movement "keeps doubling down." #### ⏱️ [03:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIrYDDVxAEI&t=220) Why being distracted means being in danger - Pivec quotes/paraphrases *Re-minded*: damage (including mental) is caused "when we are distracted, overburdened, and drawn away from what is right, true, best, and of utmost importance." - List of NAR practices cited as distraction/busywork: rebuking specific demons, exact-wording prayer declarations, pouring anointing oil into the ground, burying communion elements, warring against "high-ranking demons" over cities. - Martha parallel restated: "cumbered about with much serving" — distracted from Jesus and the apostles physically present in her home. #### ⏱️ [05:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIrYDDVxAEI&t=328) Salvation in NAR churches: sidelining the true gospel - Baker's secondhand anecdote: a young woman in a Southern California deliverance ministry discovered she had never heard the gospel or been saved, despite actively "casting out demons." - Her reaction: fear she could have died unsaved, and horror at how many people she may have misled while personally untrained/unqualified. - Baker's read: NAR emphasizes "signs and wonders" over "mak[ing] disciples," the actual Great Commission. #### ⏱️ [07:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WIrYDDVxAEI&t=432) The incomplete gospel of NAR - Pivec: NAR nominally acknowledges the gospel (forgiveness/reconciliation through the cross) but treats it as incomplete without "taking dominion" — socio-political control of the earth. - Labeled "another gospel... a false gospel," with some word-of-faith-adjacent churches "checking the box" on articulating the gospel while still carrying other doctrinal issues. - Closing point: extremism is unsustainable and works against "a sound mind." ## 📚 References - [Re-minded by Mark Baker](https://www.amazon.com/dp/) — book discussed throughout; exact title/publisher not stated on-camera, so link is a placeholder pending verification. - [Holly Pivec — YouTube channel](https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC1s_YSA5qb16Dixdh9EZ7-Q) - Luke 10:38-42 (the Martha and Mary account referenced repeatedly) - Genesis 3 (alluded to via "you can be like God") - 2 Timothy 1:7 (alluded to via "a sound mind") - Galatians 1:6-9 (alluded to via "another gospel... a false gospel") ## 🗣️ Paraphrase - Paragraph A: Baker says a healthy spiritual life depends on correctly sorting what's within your control (your own love, honesty, prayer, forgiveness, and daily faithfulness) from what isn't (other people's choices, the weather, national politics, ultimate outcomes). NAR, in his view, blurs this line by having people "rebuke" things they have no actual power over, and the anxiety and depression that follow are the natural result of straining against that boundary — much like Martha in Luke 10, who overloaded herself with self-assigned tasks and, in doing so, missed the point of having Jesus in her own house. - Paragraph B: Pivec extends the argument into gospel content itself, arguing that NAR doesn't just distract people from healthy daily practice — it can distract them from ever hearing the actual gospel, replacing "Christ died for your sins" with "Christ died so you can take dominion over the earth." She backs this with a story about a woman who spent time in a deliverance ministry before realizing she had never been evangelized to at all, framing this as the sharper, more urgent danger: not just stress and burnout, but people practicing a religion without having encountered its central claim. ## 📰 Newsletter This one's for anyone who has watched a friend get swept into a "spiritual warfare" routine and wondered whether it was helping or hurting. Biblical counselor Mark Baker sits down with researcher Holly Pivec to make a mental-health case against New Apostolic Reformation practices: constant demon-rebuking, precise prayer wording, anointing-oil rituals — Baker argues all of it works by blurring the line between what you actually control and what belongs to God, and that blur is where anxiety and depression move in. The Martha-and-Mary story gets a fresh read as a first-century case study in overcommitment and misplaced focus. The sharpest moment: a story about a woman who served for a stretch in a deliverance ministry before discovering she'd never actually heard the gospel. Worth 9 minutes if you're building out discernment or biblical-counseling resources for a congregation navigating charismatic or dominionist teaching. ## ✅ Action Items #### DevRel - Not applicable to this source — video is a theological/pastoral discussion, not developer relations content. #### OSPO - Not applicable to this source — no open-source, licensing, or governance content present. #### Community - Not applicable to this source — the "maintainers/contributors/sponsors" frame doesn't map onto a church-discernment topic. #### WordPress - Not applicable to this source — no WordPress, CMS, or software content present. #### The WPCC - Not applicable to this source — no relevant program/funding structure discussed. #### FAIR - Not applicable to this source — no technical governance or provenance content present. #### For viewers / congregants - Cross-reference any "spiritual warfare" practice taught at your church against a specific biblical text before adopting it. - If a ministry emphasizes activity (declarations, rebukes, rituals) more than the content of the gospel, ask directly whether the gospel has been explicitly taught. - Read *Re-minded* (Mark Baker) for the fuller biblical-counseling argument behind this clip. #### For church leaders / biblical counselors - Audit discipleship pipelines (e.g., ministry teams, deliverance teams) to confirm new volunteers have received basic gospel instruction before being placed in "ministry" roles. - Build in explicit teaching on the control/no-control distinction as a preventive mental-health practice, not just a crisis-response one. ## 🧪 Hypotheses - H1: Congregants in high-intensity "spiritual warfare" practice (frequent rebukes, rituals, declarations) report higher self-rated anxiety/burnout than congregants in liturgically low-intensity traditions, controlling for other stressors. - H2: Participation length in NAR-style deliverance or warfare ministries correlates with delayed or absent basic gospel catechesis relative to participation length in mainline discipleship programs. - H3: Framing personal responsibility via an explicit "control vs. no-control" teaching reduces self-reported anxiety in religious populations more than general reassurance-based pastoral care. - H4: Ministries that emphasize visible signs (healing claims, declared victories) show a measurable gap between claimed outcomes and independently verifiable outcomes. ### 📊 Methodology - H1/H2: Survey (validated anxiety/burnout scales, e.g., GAD-7, Maslach Burnout Inventory) cross-referenced with self-reported church practice intensity and tenure; recruit across NAR-affiliated and non-NAR congregations for comparison. - H3: Randomized pastoral-care intervention study — one arm receives control/no-control framing teaching, control arm receives standard pastoral encouragement; pre/post anxiety scale comparison. - H4: Track a sample of publicly declared NAR "victories" (healing claims, city transformation claims) over a fixed window against independently verifiable outcome data (public health records, news reporting, etc.). ### ❓ Questions - Does Baker's control/no-control framework map onto existing clinical frameworks (e.g., Stoic dichotomy of control, CBT's locus-of-control work), and if so, does biblical framing add measurable benefit over secular equivalents? - What proportion of self-identified NAR-adjacent believers can articulate the gospel of Christ's atoning death and resurrection unprompted? - How does the "incomplete gospel" claim hold up against primary NAR texts (e.g., work associated with the New Apostolic Reformation's dominionist theologians) rather than secondhand characterization? - Is the deliverance-ministry anecdote representative, or an outlier used illustratively? ### 🔮 Future Research - Comparative content analysis of NAR sermons/declarations vs. mainline evangelical sermons for gospel-content density. - Longitudinal mental-health outcomes for people who leave high-control charismatic/NAR ministries ("religious trauma" literature intersection). - A taxonomy of NAR ritual practices (anointing oil, communion burial, territorial rebukes) cross-referenced against their claimed biblical basis. ### 💡 Implications - Practice: biblical counselors and pastors may find the control/no-control frame a low-cost, teachable heuristic for anxiety-prone congregants regardless of their view on NAR specifically. - Policy: churches vetting ministry placements (deliverance teams, prayer teams) may want a minimum gospel-literacy gate before assigning "spiritual authority" roles to volunteers. - Security/safety: the deliverance-ministry anecdote is a soft case study in how unqualified volunteers can be given authority-presenting roles (casting out demons) without vetting — a governance gap more than a doctrinal one. - Funding models: independent, non-denominational charismatic ministries (the NAR's typical organizational form) often lack outside doctrinal accountability structures that denominational bodies provide — relevant to donors and platform hosts (YouTube, podcast networks) evaluating this content space. ### 🧠 Learning Styles Assessment - Reading level estimate: transcript register is conversational/spoken, roughly Flesch-Kincaid grade 8-9 (long run-on spoken sentences, some repetition and false starts typical of unscripted dialogue, but everyday vocabulary with occasional theological terms like "dominionism" and "deliverance ministry"). #### 👀 Visual learners - Present: none — this is a talking-head conversation with no on-screen diagrams, text callouts, or B-roll evident from the transcript/description. - Improve: add on-screen scripture references (Luke 10:38-42, Galatians 1:6-9) as text overlays when quoted; a simple control/no-control two-column graphic would reinforce the episode's central framework. #### 🔊 Aural learners - Present: the entire piece is audio-first dialogue, well suited to this style already. - Improve: a standalone audio-only cut or podcast feed would serve aural learners who don't need the video component. #### 🗣️ Verbal learners - Present: strong use of analogy (fire/pain, Martha/distraction, Garden of Eden/"be like God") and definitions delivered conversationally. - Improve: a glossary moment defining "NAR," "dominionism," and "deliverance ministry" on first use would help viewers unfamiliar with the terms. #### 🧩 Kinesthetic learners - Present: minimal — no exercises or step-by-step practices are demonstrated. - Improve: a companion worksheet listing "what I control today / what I don't" would translate the core teaching into a hands-on exercise. #### 🧠 Logical learners - Present: the control/no-control dichotomy is a clear binary framework applied consistently across examples. - Improve: a simple decision-tree ("is this within my control? → action vs. surrender to God") would make the logic explicit and reusable. #### 🧑‍🤝‍🧑 Social learners - Present: the piece is itself a dialogue/interview format, modeling discussion. - Improve: discussion questions in the video description or a companion post would extend this into small-group or Discord/forum settings. #### 🧘‍♀️ Solitary learners - Present: the reflective, self-examination framing ("Have you been distracted by NAR doctrines...") invites private reflection. - Improve: a journaling prompt tied to the Martha story ("What am I 'cumbered about' with that distracts me from what matters?") would deepen solitary engagement. #### 🌿 Naturalistic learners - Present: the fire analogy draws on a natural/physical process to explain an emotional signal. - Improve: none needed — this is a minor, secondary learning style for this content type. ### 📊 Accessibility Assessment #### Screen reader semantics - Present: YouTube provides auto-generated/creator captions and a structured description with timestamp markers, which double as chapter landmarks. - Improve: the transcript available via the platform is not manually cleaned (visible filler words, "uh," false starts) — a cleaned, punctuated transcript posted alongside the video would improve screen-reader and search usability. #### Keyboard navigation - Present: standard YouTube player keyboard controls apply (not creator-specific). - Improve: not applicable to assess from transcript/description alone — would require testing the actual video page. #### Contrast and readability - Present: cannot be assessed from transcript/description; no on-screen text elements are described. - Improve: if lower-thirds or captions are burned in, verify 4.5:1 contrast against varying background footage. #### Text resizing and reflow - Present: not applicable — standard YouTube page/player, not custom-built. - Improve: n/a. #### Media and captions - Present: captions/transcript exist (used to produce this analysis) and timestamps are provided in the description, functioning as informal chapters. - Improve: add a downloadable, cleaned transcript and a scripture-citation list (Luke 10, Genesis 3, 2 Timothy 1:7, Galatians 1) for readers who want primary-source verification without rewatching. #### Forms and interactions - Not applicable to this source — no forms or interactive elements in a YouTube video. #### Standards reference - Gaps map primarily to WCAG 2.2 AA 1.2.2 (Captions, prerecorded — met) and 1.2.9/3.1.2 (readable, unambiguous language — partially met given theological jargon used without on-screen definition). ### 🌍 DEIB Assessment #### Cultural breadth - Present: the discussion is US-evangelical-context specific (references to Southern California, Washington DC). - Improve: NAR and dominionist movements exist internationally (notably in parts of Africa and Latin America); acknowledging that scope would broaden applicability beyond a US audience. #### Inclusive language - Present: gender-neutral framing in most of the general teaching ("a person," "believers"). - Improve: the deliverance-ministry anecdote specifically centers a "young lady" — worth noting whether this is representative or an isolated example to avoid implying the vulnerability described is gendered. #### Neurodiversity support - Present: chunked topics reflected in the description's timestamp list function as informal chapter breaks. - Improve: the spoken delivery includes run-on sentences and self-interruption typical of unscripted dialogue, which may be harder to follow for some neurodivergent viewers; a cleaned transcript (see Accessibility) would help. #### Representation - Present: two participants (host and guest), both credentialed in biblical counseling/NAR research; no other voices represented in this segment. - Improve: including a direct quote or clip from an NAR proponent (rather than only secondhand characterization) would strengthen fairness of representation for viewers evaluating both sides. #### Psychological safety - Present: the video explicitly addresses spiritual-abuse-adjacent topics (manipulation, distraction, unqualified ministry placement) with a caring, pastoral tone rather than mockery. - Improve: a content note acknowledging that some viewers may have direct experience with the harms described (and providing a counseling resource link) would support viewers processing personal history while watching. ### ✅ Logical Validity #### Strong reasoning - Analogical reasoning: the fire-and-pain analogy (04:00-ish region, per transcript) clearly maps physical pain-as-signal onto emotional anxiety-as-signal for illegitimate control-seeking — an effective, easily-grasped analogy. - Causal/textual reasoning: the Martha argument ties textual detail (Greek word choice reported as "driven about mentally," multiple translation options for "cumbered"/"distracted") to the mental-health thesis, showing sourced engagement with the text rather than a bare assertion. #### Fallacies - Hasty generalization: "I don't know how much they actually present the gospel" and the broader claim that NAR teaches an "incomplete gospel" is generalized from one secondhand anecdote (the deliverance-ministry volunteer) rather than a representative sample of NAR teaching; a stronger version would cite specific NAR-affiliated sermons or writings. - Appeal to lack of evidence framed as proof: "I have yet to see anyone... do any of those things objectively speaking" uses personal non-observation as evidence against the broader movement's claims — reasonable as a rhetorical challenge, but not conclusive proof absent a systematic review of claimed healings/miracles. - Undefined term used as a load-bearing premise: "dominionism" and "taking dominion" are used as settled, agreed-upon descriptors of NAR's actual teaching without an on-camera definition or citation, which risks begging the question for viewers unfamiliar with the term. #### Tone of voice - Pastoral and concerned rather than mocking — Baker's tone toward the misled deliverance-ministry volunteer is explicitly sympathetic ("horrified, and rightfully so"), and Pivec's framing throughout is investigative/critical of the movement's leadership and teaching rather than of individual adherents. ### 🛡️ DARVO Analysis - Deny: not present as a pattern in this content — the speakers are not the accused party; they are describing (without direct rebuttal from NAR representatives in this clip) practices they attribute to NAR, so there's no denial to analyze from the source itself. Worth noting for a fuller picture: the video does not include an NAR proponent's response, so any denial NAR representatives might offer isn't represented here. - Attack: not directed at individuals by name; the critique targets a movement and its teaching, not specific persons, and the tone stays measured rather than attacking character. - Reverse victim/offender: not exhibited by the speakers. If anything, the segment reverses a possible framing NAR proponents might use (that critics are "attacking God's move") by recentering the actual, harmed party — congregants like the anonymized deliverance-ministry volunteer. - Overall: DARVO as a manipulation pattern is discussed thematically (NAR distracting people, in the speakers' account, from harm) but is not exhibited by this video's own rhetoric toward its subjects. ## 🎯 Conclusion Baker and Pivec's core claim is that NAR-style spiritual-warfare practice — declarations, rebukes, territorial rituals — creates chronic busyness that both obscures the actual gospel and produces anxiety/depression by pushing people to "control" what scripture assigns to God alone. The Martha narrative supplies their biblical case study; the anonymized deliverance-ministry volunteer supplies their real-world stakes. The segment's weakest point is evidentiary: its characterization of "NAR's gospel" rests on generalization and one secondhand story rather than cited primary NAR sources. Practical next step for a viewer: read *Re-minded* for the full argument, and independently verify the "incomplete gospel"/dominionism claim against actual NAR-affiliated teaching before repeating it as a settled description of the movement. ## 🔄 Refactor Appendix — Are Your Church's Teachings Distracting You From Jesus? > Density: 2–5 Literature atoms (H3), 0–3 Permanent candidates (H4). > Defaults: 3 Literature, 1 Permanent. Resonance filter: if you can't > articulate in one line why a claim matters, drop it. > > Konik claim-header rules: present tense, declarative, ≤10 words when > possible, searchable, unique, mirrors annotation focus if present. > > Atomicity: one declarative sentence per atom. "and"/"also" → split. > > Tag pool: #bmf · #addendum · #xref · #articleseed · #storystem · #share · #aphorisms ### 📚 Literature Atoms (H3) #### [H1] Control/no-control dichotomy governs faithful daily practice > [!quote] ID:rw_WIrYDDVxAEI_1 > "You can't change another person... you can pray for them. you can forgive them or whatever, but you can't change another person." **Context & use**: - Around 00:00-01:20 of the video. - Central teaching heuristic of the whole segment; mirrors Baker's framing that daily faithfulness means sorting controllable actions (love, prayer, forgiveness) from uncontrollable outcomes. **Tags**: #xref #aphorisms **Highlight**: [view highlight](readwise://WIrYDDVxAEI_1) <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> #### [H2] Anxiety signals illegitimate control-seeking, like touching fire > [!quote] ID:rw_WIrYDDVxAEI_2 > "That's kind of like where you get too close to a fire and you get close like ow. That's what it's telling you that you don't control this." **Context & use**: - Roughly 01:44-02:00 of the video. - Reframes anxiety/depression as a diagnostic signal rather than only a pathology — relevant to biblical counseling practice. **Tags**: #xref **Highlight**: [view highlight](readwise://WIrYDDVxAEI_2) <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> #### [H3] Martha's overburdened service distracted her from Jesus > [!quote] ID:rw_WIrYDDVxAEI_3 > "It's kind of like with Martha, she was serving, it says she was cumbered about with much serving, one translation says, or she was distracted, another translation from what? Jesus." **Context & use**: - Roughly 02:05-03:40 of the video (the Martha section). - Anchors the mental-health argument in Luke 10:38-42; used as the direct biblical parallel to NAR's busyness. **Tags**: #xref **Highlight**: [view highlight](readwise://WIrYDDVxAEI_3) <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> #### [H4] NAR reframes the gospel as license for earthly dominion > [!quote] ID:rw_WIrYDDVxAEI_4 > "The complete gospel would be that Christ's work on the cross made it possible for believers to take dominion to take socio political control of the earth." **Context & use**: - Roughly 07:12-08:00 of the video. - The segment's sharpest theological claim — labeled "another gospel... a false gospel"; worth cross-referencing against primary NAR sources before treating as settled. **Tags**: #xref #articleseed **Highlight**: [view highlight](readwise://WIrYDDVxAEI_4) <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> ### 🧠 Permanent Candidates (H4) #### [P1] Sort daily action into controllable and uncontrollable before reacting **Claim** (one sentence, Courtney's voice): When I feel anxious about something, the first useful move is asking whether the thing itself is within my control or only my response to it is. **Evidence pointer**: [[#H1]] [[#H2]] **Scope & conditions**: Holds for interpersonal stress, outcome-anxiety, and situations where I'm tempted to over-function; breaks down as a heuristic if used to justify passivity toward things that genuinely are my responsibility (Baker's "other extreme"). **Links** (≥1 with annotation): - [[Stoic dichotomy of control]] — because extends (secular parallel worth comparing directly) - [[Martha and Mary — Luke 10]] — because evidence-for <!-- atomicity: 1 idea ✓ --> ### ✏️ Fleeting Queue - [F1] Verify the "incomplete gospel"/dominionism characterization of NAR against a primary NAR-affiliated source (not just this secondhand summary) before citing it as settled. #xref - [F2] Look up *Re-minded* by Mark Baker for full publisher/ISBN details — not stated on-camera. #xref ### → Things 3 (max 2 actions) - [ ] Look up publisher/ISBN for *Re-minded* by Mark Baker to complete the References section — verify at bookstore or Baker's ministry site #things <!-- deep-read:sections end --> 📄 **Full text:** [[Full Document Contents/Articles/Are Your Church's Teachings Distracting You From Jesus.md|Are Your Church's Teachings Distracting You From Jesus? by YouTube]] ## Highlights - Could you speak to that point about trusting God with those things that we can't control? >> Yeah, that's a key part of every part of our days discerning between what we do control and what we don't control. And >> [clears throat] >> I don't even know if NAR would admit to this that yeah, you can't change another person. You try to go change that person, but you can't. You can love a person. You can speak the truth in love. You can pray for them. You can forgive them or whatever, but you can't change another person. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kxh9ntmxwjya0b0ab44gpw5n)) - Tags: atom/literature/h1 - and I say, "Oh, I trust God that money's going to show up in my bank account." Or food's going to show up. I I just trust God. And it's not the other extreme where I have to do everything. It's there's a side of things where I do control that. And that's Once we start going over here on this side, that's where again indicators and motivators, that's where anxiety and depression start showing up when I start to try to control what I can't control. It's kind of like where you get too close to a fire and you get close and like ow, that's what it's telling you ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kxh9p06b0h33n15evfnrm7cg)) - Tags: atom/literature/h2 - these things. Um it just it it keeps people so busy and so distracted. So, I think that was a really important point you raised there. >> Yeah, absolutely. They're distracted by all these things and they're doing all this warfare ostensibly, but they're missing the main point. It's kind of like with Martha, she was serving, it says, she was cumbered about with much serving, one translation says, or she was distracted, another translation. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kxh9p59v927nyhzcr5ng05tr)) - Tags: atom/literature/h3 - complete gospel would be that Christ's work on the cross made it possible for believers to take dominion, to take social political control of the earth. and so really that becomes the emphasis and the focus and our the signs and the wonders and bringing God's kingdom to to kingdom to earth the dominionism all of that that that really is is where the gospel goes uh in this movement. ([View Highlight](https://read.readwise.io/read/01kxh9p8mqeew9zn2f8ap2aapb)) - Tags: atom/literature/h4 ## Links - [[3. Resources/Permanent Notes/Formation Requires Distinguishing Faithful Action From Outcome Control]] — promotes the source's control boundary while separating it from the interview's broader NAR claims.