Stuff Your Pastor Won't Say

009: True Myth & Story

Something every good story seems to echo: death and resurrection, good and evil, sacrifice and redemption, truth and deception. In this episode, we talk about the idea of “true myth,” a phrase tied to C.S. Lewis and J.R.R. Tolkien, and how the gospel is not just another myth, but the true story that all the best stories seem to point back to. We get into why stories like Lord of the Rings, Narnia, The Matrix, and even modern storytelling hit us so deeply, and why some stories feel wrong when they twist good and evil into something muddy. We also talk about how story can be used for truth or deception. If the gospel is the true story, then false stories can train us to believe lies about God, ourselves, and the world. That leads into a deeper conversation about “main character energy,” self-deception, false gods, spiritual discernment, and why Christians need a stronger filter or more discernment for the stories they consume and the stories they believe about their own lives. The commission for this episode: Ask yourself: What do I know in my head is true, but live as if it is fake? And what lie have I started living as if it is true? Story is powerful. It can reveal truth, or it can slowly bend us away from it. So guard your heart, guard your mind, seek discernment, and talk through these things with wise people who will help you stay anchored in what is good, right, and true. 00:00 What True Myth Means05:21 Lewis Tolkien and Gospel Echoes17:23 When Stories Go Off Rails23:12 Main Character Energy and False Gods42:44 Self Help as False Gospel45:32 Princes of Persia and Modern Idols58:58 Story as Weapon and Filter01:09:36 Discernment Without AI

008: The Unseen Realm & LOTR

What if The Lord of the Rings could help us contextualize the unseen realm more clearly? We talk about: Tolkien, Michael Heiser’s The Unseen Realm, the divine council, spiritual hierarchy, evil, corruption and stewardship. This episode is basically Zach taking five business days to make one point because he is thinking out loud and trying to organize a Tolkien thought, a theology thought, and a fatherhood thought in real time. But the point is worth getting to: Evil cannot create. It can only corrupt what God has already made. Tolkien was not writing a theology textbook, but his world gives us a picture of something Scripture says over and over again. God creates order, beauty, and life. Evil introduces dissonance, deception, despair, and corruption. And when people fail to guard what they have been given, evil takes ground. We also talk about how easy it is to live with a flannelgraph version of reality. Clean. Flat. Safe. Simple. But Scripture gives us a bigger and stranger picture than that. There is a real spiritual realm. There are powers and principalities. There is order and hierarchy. There is rebellion and corruption. And above all of it, there is the Most High God who is sovereign over every creature, every kingdom, and every unseen power. Commission: Pick one area of your life where you have been called to be a faithful steward. Then ask a simple question: am I guarding what God has given me? Chapters: 00:00 Nerdy Setup and Sauron’s Deception 02:09 Sauna and Tolkien’s Creation Story 07:12 Divine Council, Elohim, and The Unseen Realm 17:19 Modern Church Blind Spots and Angel Hierarchy 30:21 Dwarves and Divine Mercy 33:28 Genesis 6 and Orc Origins 39:19 Stewardship, Borders, and Despair 52:46 True Myth and the Next Episode

007: The Watchers

Something that doesn’t get talked about much in normal church circles: the Sons of God, the Watchers, and the Nephilim. In this episode, we explore what the text actually says and why it has captured so much imagination over the centuries. We look at the different interpretations people hold and why this conversation matters more than we might think. In this conversation, we discuss: * Why the “sons of God” language is significant * How ancient Jewish readers understood the text * How the New Testament references this moment * Why spiritual rebellion runs from Genesis to Revelation * What this means for how we understand evil and corruption We also talk about how easy it is to either over-spiritualize everything or dismiss the supernatural entirely. Neither approach is healthy. Scripture presents a worldview that includes a real spiritual realm, real rebellion, and a real God who is sovereign over all of it. Key Scripture: Genesis 6:1–4 2 Peter 2:4 Jude 6 Chapters: 00:00 Watchers 101 Setup 02:05 Enoch and the 200 Watchers 06:24 Watchers in Deuteronomy and Daniel 32:29 Seed War and Ancient Tech 47:48 Ancient Tech and Artifacts 50:21 Watchers as Earthly Kings 57:22 Babel, Gates, and DMT 01:10:40 Judgment and Modern Echoes

What is next?

As we close out Season 1, this episode zooms out and sets the stage for where the conversation is headed next. We wrestle with identity, the fall, and the consequences that still shape our theology, churches, families, and culture today. From shallow faith and church hurt to the supernatural, mystery, and the limits of what humans can truly know about God, this episode isn’t about neat answers. It’s about asking better questions and refusing a small, manageable version of belief. This conversation opens up threads we plan to explore in future episodes, and we need your help deciding where to go next. Send us a message on Instagram with the topic you want discussed: @stuffyourpastorwontsay @zacheway @djessemase Topics we cover in this episode include: • Deep church vs wide church and why depth often gets sacrificed • The identity of men and women before the fall • The fall and how it distorted work, marriage, authority, and desire • Why shallow faith collapses and leads to deconstruction • Church hurt and whether better discipleship could prevent it • Can God be fully known, or is mystery essential to faith • The danger of shrinking God to be manageable and safe • Orthodoxy vs lived faith, belief vs practice • God as infinite and humans as finite • Why American Christianity avoids power and the supernatural • Signs, wonders, and modern disbelief • Parenting and forming deep belief instead of inherited religion • Genesis as foundation, not metaphor • Male and female design, curse, and redemption • How comfort dulls spiritual awareness • Why “I don’t know” can be a faithful answer

005: The Fall

The fall didn’t just introduce sin. It fractured work, marriage, desire, and identity. In this episode we finish the Genesis 3 narrative by looking at what God says after Adam and Eve eat the fruit. Is this a set of punishments, or an explanation of how life now works outside of God’s original design? We walk through the curse on the serpent, the multiplied pain of childbearing, the breakdown of harmony between men and women, and the transformation of work from worship into toil. The focus is on the tension introduced between desire, authority, and leadership, and how that continues to shape marriage, gender conflict, and culture today. We debate natural consequence versus punitive judgment, explore how the fall attacks core aspects of male and female identity, and encourage to not to live as victims of the curse. We end with a call to remember who you were designed to be and to resist letting brokenness define your work, relationships, or sense of purpose. This episode closes Season One and sets the foundation for the deeper, stranger, and more controversial conversations coming in Season Two.  00:00 Introduction and Recap 01:12 The Curse of the Serpent 03:00 The Curse of Eve 04:04 The Curse of Adam 06:51 Theological Implications and Debates 10:26 Natural Consequences vs. Punitive Judgments 20:27 Desire and Rule: Gender Dynamics 29:11 Modern Reflections and Cultural Shifts 29:58 Third Wave Feminism and Regret 30:33 Cultural Responses and Time Telling the Truth 32:11 Biblical Curses and Their Implications 33:18 The Identity of Adam and Eve 40:41 The Nature of Eden 47:08 Animals and Spiritual Sensitivity 54:59 Call to Action: Embracing Identity Despite the Curse