{"id":8919,"date":"2026-10-13T00:04:06","date_gmt":"2026-10-13T07:04:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/?p=8919"},"modified":"2026-10-20T00:44:13","modified_gmt":"2026-10-20T07:44:13","slug":"popular-content-creator-brands-paul-a-false-apostle-discernment-or-heresy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/2026\/10\/13\/popular-content-creator-brands-paul-a-false-apostle-discernment-or-heresy\/","title":{"rendered":"Popular Content Creator Brands Paul a False Apostle: Discernment or Heresy?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-8921\" src=\"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/James-3-1.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"1024\" height=\"1024\" srcset=\"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/James-3-1.png 1024w, https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/James-3-1-300x300.png 300w, https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/James-3-1-150x150.png 150w, https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/James-3-1-768x768.png 768w, https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/James-3-1-144x144.png 144w, https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/James-3-1-850x850.png 850w, https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/James-3-1-500x500.png 500w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/p>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><em>\u201cAs It Is Written\u201d: Who Is Really Twisting the Scriptures?<\/em><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Introduction: An Apostle in the Dock<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Every generation produces someone who discovers, apparently for the first time, that the Apostle Paul was a fraud. The charge is never new, but it always arrives sounding new, because it is usually made by someone who is sincere, energetic, and convinced that the church has been asleep for two thousand years. The latest version comes from Kay Podgee, an atheist-turned-Christian content creator whose recent video makes a sweeping accusation in plain language:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>Paul is the false apostle that Jesus mentions in the book of Revelation\u2026 He disagrees with Jesus\u2019 words, with the apostles\u2019 words, the law, the prophets. By his own admission, he says that the 12 actual apostles rejected him.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>Kay Podgee, video transcript is below)<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<div style=\"width: 640px;\" class=\"wp-video\"><video class=\"wp-video-shortcode\" id=\"video-8919-1\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" preload=\"metadata\" controls=\"controls\"><source type=\"video\/mp4\" src=\"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Heretic-lady.mp4?_=1\" \/><a href=\"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Heretic-lady.mp4\">https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/Heretic-lady.mp4<\/a><\/video><\/div>\n<details class=\"collapsible-quote\" open=\"open\">\n<summary><strong><span style=\"color: #003366;\">Here is<\/span>\u00a0<span style=\"color: #003366;\">the full transcript<\/span><\/strong><span style=\"color: #003366;\"><strong>\u00a0[<span style=\"color: #993300;\">Click HERE to close<\/span>]<\/strong><\/span><\/summary>\n<p><span style=\"color: #ffffff;\">&#8211;<\/span><\/p>\n<blockquote><p><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">&#8220;Paul is the false apostle that Jesus mentions in the book of Revelation. I&#8217;ve been pretty quiet about my beliefs on this because there are some things in his writings that are true, but there&#8217;s equally as much that&#8217;s completely not true. Twisted, he misquotes Old Testament scriptures left and right.<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">He disagrees with Jesus&#8217; words, with the apostles&#8217; words, the law, the prophets. By his own admission, he says that the 12 actual apostles rejected him. He couldn&#8217;t get a letter from the church in Jerusalem, which was ran by James, Jesus&#8217; brother, and Jesus&#8217; family.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Paul himself says that certain men came from James to correct him. James is Jesus&#8217; brother. He also complains about so-called pillars.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">He&#8217;s talking about James, John, and Peter. So I&#8217;m going to show you a ton of scripture that supports what I&#8217;m saying, and I know the knee-jerk reaction for a lot of Christians is to say, oh, you really think that God would allow somebody like that in the writings of the Bible? Yeah, because he said that he would. He said that the deception would be so strong that even the elect could be deceived by it if possible.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">He also repeatedly says that he would send false prophets to test us, and God repeatedly shows that when people refuse the truth of the commandments, the law, the truth of Christ, the light of God, and they choose delusion, God will also choose their delusions. I&#8217;ve been working on printing and pasting the references that Paul is referencing or things that directly refute what he&#8217;s trying to say because I want to show people that he creates the most complex web of subtle lies ever. He mangles the scriptures and creates things out of thin air or things that just don&#8217;t exist in scripture, but 99.99% of Pauline Christians have never even read anything outside of Paul&#8217;s letters, so they have no clue.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">I&#8217;m going to show you just a few parts out of Romans that I already worked on. So this is a really popular passage for lawless people. He says, as it is written, just like how Satan does.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Every time he says this, it should set off alarm bells that you have to go and find what he&#8217;s talking about because Satan twists the scriptures and before he does it, he says, it is written. None is righteous. No, not one.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">No one understands. No one seeks for God. All have turned aside.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Together they have become worthless. No one does good. Not even one.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Their throat is an open grave. They use their tongues to deceive. The venom of asps is under their lips.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Their mouth is full of curses and bitterness. So first of all, he only quotes out of the Greek Septuagint, which is probably an issue in and of itself. This is a direct quote of Psalm 14, but look at where he stops the quote.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Do not all the workers of iniquity know? So this is about the workers of iniquity. These people that use this as like their justification, they are set up to hear, depart from me. I never knew you, you workers of iniquity.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">Do not all the workers of iniquity know? So this passage is about the evildoers that are going to be condemned, but people don&#8217;t know because they don&#8217;t research. They don&#8217;t ask God. They don&#8217;t read the Old Testament.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><em><span style=\"color: #000000;\"><span style=\"font-family: Liberation Serif, serif;\"><span style=\"font-size: large;\">People can be mad at me all they want, but the truth of the matter is, if I&#8217;m wrong, then that means that I was just overly zealous for Jesus and the Father. If Pauline Christians are wrong, they don&#8217;t have a saving doctrine.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/details>\n<p>That is a serious indictment. If it were true, nearly half of the New Testament would have to be torn out, the book of Acts would become a work of propaganda, the Second Epistle of Peter would be exposed as either a forgery or a blunder, and the entire historic church \u2014 including the very men who sat at the feet of the apostle John \u2014 would stand convicted of having embraced a deceiver. Claims of that size deserve to be tested, not dismissed with a shrug. Ms. Podgee invites exactly that: she promises to show<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong> \u201ca ton of scripture\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span> supporting her view and challenges Christians to go back and check Paul\u2019s sources for themselves.<\/p>\n<p>This essay accepts that challenge. We will go where she asks us to go \u2014 to Revelation, to Galatians, to Acts, to the Psalms, and to the Greek text behind them \u2014 and we will let the witnesses she names speak for themselves: Jesus, the Twelve, James the Lord\u2019s brother, Peter, and John. The conclusion will not be a surprise to anyone who has read the New Testament carefully, but the route to it may be. On every point where Ms. Podgee claims Paul twisted Scripture, the evidence shows that the twisting has run in the other direction.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>The Witness of Revelation Itself<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Ephesus: The Church Paul Planted<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The foundation of Ms. Podgee\u2019s case is a single verse in the letter of the risen Christ to the church at Ephesus:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>I know thy works, and thy labour, and thy patience, and how thou canst not bear them which are evil: and thou hast tried them which say they are apostles, and are not, and hast found them liars.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>Revelation 2:2 (KJV) \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Revelation%202%3A1-7&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Revelation%202%3A1-7&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Notice first what the verse does not say. It names no one. It does not say <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong>\u201cPaul,\u201d<\/strong> <\/em><\/span>it does not describe a man from Tarsus, and it does not mention letters, Gentiles, circumcision, or any doctrine associated with Paul. The Greek simply speaks of <i>tous legontas heautous apostolous kai ouk eisin<\/i> \u2014 <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong>\u201cthose who call themselves apostles and are not.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span> To read Paul into that phrase, one must first decide that Paul is a false apostle and then import that conclusion into a text that never raises his name. That is not <a href=\"https:\/\/www.logos.com\/grow\/what-is-exegesis-and-why-is-it-important\/#h-what-is-exegesis\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>exegesis<\/strong><\/a>; it is <a href=\"http:\/\/www.churchleadership.org\/apps\/articles\/default.asp?articleid=67933\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>eisegesis<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>Notice second, the city. Of all the churches in the ancient world, Ephesus is the one most thoroughly bound up with Paul. He spent the better part of three years there (Acts 19:8\u201310; 20:31). His preaching was so effective that the silversmiths who made shrines for Artemis rioted against him (Acts 19:23\u201341). And when he said goodbye to the Ephesian elders on the beach at Miletus, he gave them a warning that reads like a preface to Revelation 2:2:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>For I know this, that after my departing shall grievous wolves enter in among you, not sparing the flock. Also of your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away disciples after them.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>Paul to the Ephesian elders, Acts 20:29\u201330 (KJV) \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Acts%2020%3A28-31&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Acts%2020%3A28-31&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Paul told the Ephesians to expect impostors. Decades later, the risen Christ commends the Ephesians for doing precisely what Paul told them to do: testing the self-proclaimed apostles and exposing them. The church that Christ praises for its discernment was the church Paul founded and trained. If Paul himself were the liar in view, we would have to believe that the Ephesian believers spent forty years cherishing the letters of the very man Christ was rebuking them for tolerating \u2014 while Christ commended them for <i>not<\/i> tolerating him. The scenario collapses under its own weight.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>The Only \u201cFalse Apostles\u201d in the New Testament<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>There is a further irony. The word <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong>\u201cfalse apostles\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span> \u2014 <i>pseudapostoloi<\/i> \u2014 occurs exactly once in the entire Greek New Testament, and it was written by Paul:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>For such are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming themselves into the apostles of Christ.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>2 Corinthians 11:13 (KJV) \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=2%20Corinthians%2011%3A12-15&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=2%20Corinthians%2011%3A12-15&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Paul spent much of 2 Corinthians 10\u201313 doing exactly what Revelation 2:2 commends: exposing men who claimed apostolic authority, carried letters of recommendation, preached <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong>\u201canother Jesus,\u201d<\/strong> <\/em><\/span>and preyed on the flock. The Ephesian church\u2019s practice of testing apostles was not a reaction <i>against<\/i> Paul. It was a habit Paul taught them.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Paul and the Twelve Foundation Stones<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Some who share Ms. Podgee\u2019s view also point to Revelation 21:14, where the wall of the New Jerusalem rests on twelve foundations bearing <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cthe names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb,\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> and conclude that there is no room for a thirteenth. But Paul never claimed to be one of the Twelve. He carefully distinguished himself from them. In 1 Corinthians 15:5\u20138, he lists the resurrection appearances to <em>\u201cthe twelve,\u201d<\/em> then to<em> \u201call the apostles,\u201d<\/em> and then, <em>\u201clast of all,\u201d<\/em> to himself, <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong>\u201cas of one born out of due time.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span> The New Testament uses <em>\u201capostle\u201d<\/em> for a wider circle than the Twelve \u2014 Barnabas is called an apostle alongside Paul in Acts 14:14 \u2014 and Paul\u2019s commission came not from a vote of the Eleven but from the risen Christ, who said of him,<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong> \u201cHe is a chosen vessel unto me, to bear my name before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span> (Acts 9:15). Paul did not need a foundation stone in the wall of the New Jerusalem; he was content to be a master builder laying the one foundation, <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em>\u201cwhich is Jesus Christ\u201d<\/em><\/span> (1 Corinthians 3:10\u201311).<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>What John\u2019s Own Disciples Believed<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>If anyone in the second century would have known whom the risen Christ meant in Revelation 2:2, it would have been the disciples of John himself and the bishops of the very churches addressed in Revelation 2\u20133. Polycarp of Smyrna \u2014 a disciple of John and the bishop of one of the seven churches \u2014 wrote to the Philippians early in the second century:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>For neither I, nor any other such one, can come up to the wisdom of the blessed and glorified Paul. He, when among you, accurately and steadfastly taught the word of truth in the presence of those who were then alive.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>Polycarp, Epistle to the Philippians 3, ANF vol. 1 \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/fathers\/0136.htm\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/fathers\/0136.htm<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Ignatius of Antioch, writing to the Ephesians themselves on his way to martyrdom, reminded them that they were <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong>\u201cinitiated into the mysteries of the Gospel with Paul, the holy, the martyred, the deservedly most happy\u201d<\/strong> <\/em><\/span>(Ignatius, <i>To the Ephesians<\/i> 12). These are not later Western theologians inventing a <em>\u201cPauline Christianity.\u201d<\/em> They are the second generation of the very communities Revelation addresses, and they read Revelation 2:2 as praise for Ephesus\u2019s faithfulness \u2014 a faithfulness that included honoring Paul.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Rejected by the Twelve? What Galatians Actually Says<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Ms. Podgee claims that <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong>\u201cby his own admission\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span> Paul says the Twelve rejected him. This is the most checkable claim in her transcript, and it is simply false. Paul\u2019s own account in Galatians 1\u20132 says the opposite.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Fifteen Days with Peter<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<blockquote><p><i>Then after three years I went up to Jerusalem to see Peter, and abode with him fifteen days. But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord\u2019s brother.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>Galatians 1:18\u201319 (KJV) \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Galatians%201%3A18-24&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Galatians%201%3A18-24&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The verb Paul uses for <em>\u201csee\u201d<\/em> is <i>histor\u0113sai<\/i> \u2014 the root of our word <em>\u201chistory\u201d<\/em> \u2014 and it carries the sense of visiting in order to inquire and become acquainted. Paul spent two weeks as Peter\u2019s guest and met James. Nothing in the text suggests rejection. Paul adds that the churches of Judea<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong> \u201cglorified God in me\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span> when they heard that their former persecutor was now preaching the faith (Galatians 1:24).<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>The Right Hand of Fellowship<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Fourteen years later Paul returned to Jerusalem and laid his gospel before the leaders of the church privately (Galatians 2:2). Here is the result, in his own words:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>And when James, Cephas, and John, who seemed to be pillars, perceived the grace that was given unto me, they gave to me and Barnabas the right hands of fellowship; that we should go unto the heathen, and they unto the circumcision.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>Galatians 2:9 (KJV) \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Galatians%202%3A1-10&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Galatians%202%3A1-10&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>James, Peter, and John \u2014 the three names Ms. Podgee invokes against Paul \u2014 extended to him the right hand of fellowship, a formal gesture of partnership and mutual recognition. They <em>\u201cadded nothing\u201d<\/em> to his gospel (2:6). They recognized that the same God who <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong>\u201cwrought effectually in Peter to the apostleship of the circumcision\u201d<\/strong> <\/em><\/span>had worked <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong>\u201cmighty in me toward the Gentiles\u201d<\/strong> <\/em><\/span>(2:8). They asked only that Paul remember the poor, <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong>\u201cthe same which I also was forward to do\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span> (2:10). This is the passage Ms. Podgee cites as evidence of rejection. It is, in fact, the clearest statement of acceptance in the New Testament.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>\u201cSo-Called Pillars\u201d?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Ms. Podgee hears contempt in Paul\u2019s phrase <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong>\u201cwho seemed to be pillars.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span> The Greek is <i>hoi dokountes styloi einai<\/i> \u2014 <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong>\u201cthose reputed to be pillars\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span> or <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong>\u201cthose recognized as pillars.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span> Commentators have long debated the tone, but even the most skeptical reading does not get us to rejection. Paul\u2019s point in Galatians 1\u20132 is that his gospel did not originate with human authorities, however eminent, but by revelation from Christ (1:11\u201312). He is defending his independence, not attacking the apostles\u2019 integrity. That is why, in the same breath, he says<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cwhatsoever they were, it maketh no matter to me: God accepteth no man\u2019s person\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (2:6) \u2014 and then reports that these same pillars endorsed him. A man complaining about colleagues does not usually announce that they shook his hand and approved his work.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>\u201cCertain Men Came from James\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The episode at Antioch is the strongest card in Ms. Podgee\u2019s hand, so it deserves careful attention:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>For before that certain came from James, he did eat with the Gentiles: but when they were come, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing them which were of the circumcision. And the other Jews dissembled likewise with him; insomuch that Barnabas also was carried away with their dissimulation.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>Galatians 2:12\u201313 (KJV) \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Galatians%202%3A11-16&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Galatians%202%3A11-16&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Read it slowly. The men who came <em>\u201cfrom James\u201d<\/em> did not come to correct Paul; the text never says they addressed Paul at all. The person who changed his behavior was Peter, who had been eating with Gentile believers and then withdrew out of fear. Paul did not rebuke James. He rebuked Peter \u2014 and the charge was not false doctrine but <i>hypocrisy<\/i> (Greek <i>hypokrisis<\/i>, <em>\u201cdissimulation\u201d<\/em>), acting against what Peter himself already believed. Peter had been shown on a Joppa rooftop that he must not call any man common or unclean (Acts 10:28), and he would later stand before the Jerusalem council and declare that God<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cput no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (Acts 15:9). Paul was holding Peter to Peter\u2019s own convictions.<\/p>\n<p>And what did the Jerusalem church say about men who went out from James\u2019s circle and unsettled Gentile believers? We have their official answer:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law: to whom we gave no such commandment: It seemed good unto us, being assembled with one accord, to send chosen men unto you with our beloved Barnabas and Paul, men that have hazarded their lives for the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>The Jerusalem Council\u2019s letter, Acts 15:24\u201326 (KJV) \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Acts%2015%3A22-29&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Acts%2015%3A22-29&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The apostles and elders in Jerusalem disowned the troublemakers \u2014<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong> \u201cto whom we gave no such commandment\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span> \u2014 and called Paul <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong>\u201cour beloved.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>The Letter He Supposedly Couldn\u2019t Get<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Ms. Podgee asserts that Paul<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201ccouldn\u2019t get a letter from the church in Jerusalem, which was ran by James.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> The quotation just cited refutes this directly. Acts 15:22\u201329 records that the apostles and elders, with the whole church, wrote a letter and sent it to Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia <i>by the hand of Paul and Barnabas<\/i>, accompanied by Judas and Silas. James is the one who proposed its contents (Acts 15:13\u201321). Paul and Silas then carried<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong> \u201cthe decrees \u2026 that were ordained of the apostles and elders which were at Jerusalem\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span> from city to city (Acts 16:4).<\/p>\n<p>The claim probably grows out of a misreading of 2 Corinthians 3:1, where Paul asks whether he needs <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cepistles of commendation\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> to the Corinthians <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cas some others.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> But Paul\u2019s point there is that the Corinthian church itself is his letter of recommendation, <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cwritten not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (3:2\u20133). The ones flourishing letters of commendation were the very false apostles he goes on to expose in chapter 11. When Paul later arrived in Jerusalem for the last time, Luke records that <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cthe brethren received us gladly,\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> that Paul went in to James with all the elders present, and that when they heard what God had done among the Gentiles,<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cthey glorified the Lord\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (Acts 21:17\u201320). That is not the reception of a man the Jerusalem church refused to recognize.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Peter\u2019s Final Verdict on Paul<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>If Ms. Podgee wishes to call the Twelve as witnesses, she must let Peter finish his testimony. In what is presented as his final letter, Peter writes:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>Even as our beloved brother Paul also according to the wisdom given unto him hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking in them of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>2 Peter 3:15\u201316 (KJV) \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=2%20Peter%203%3A14-18&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=2%20Peter%203%3A14-18&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Three things stand out. First, Peter calls Paul <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cour beloved brother\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>\u2014 the man supposedly rejected by the Twelve is embraced by name by the chief of the Twelve. Second, Peter places <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201call his epistles\u201d alongside \u201cthe other scriptures,\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>an extraordinary statement of their standing. Third, Peter warns that Paul\u2019s letters contain some things hard to understand, which the unlearned and unstable <i>wrest<\/i> \u2014 Greek <i>strebl\u014dsin<\/i>,<em> \u201ctwist\u201d or \u201cdistort\u201d<\/em> \u2014 to their own destruction.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Podgee says Paul is the one who twists the Scriptures. Peter says the danger lies with those who twist <i>Paul<\/i>. The apostle she claims as an ally has already ruled on the question.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Does Paul Contradict Jesus, the Law, and the Prophets?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><strong><span style=\"color: #800000;\">Paul on the Law<\/span><\/strong><\/h3>\n<p>Ms. Podgee describes Romans 3 as <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201ca really popular passage for lawless people,\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>implying that Paul\u2019s gospel licenses disregard for God\u2019s commandments. Paul anticipated the misunderstanding and shut the door on it in the same chapter:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>Romans 3:31 (KJV) \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Romans%203%3A27-31&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Romans%203%3A27-31&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Paul\u2019s doctrine is not that the law is bad, but that it cannot justify a sinner. <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cWherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>(Romans 7:12). What Paul denies is that anyone can earn a righteous standing before God by keeping it, because no one keeps it perfectly. That is not a contradiction of Jesus; it is the logic of Jesus\u2019 own Sermon on the Mount, which raised the standard from outward murder to inward anger and from adultery to lust (Matthew 5:21\u201328), and of His parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector, in which it was the man who pleaded for mercy, not the man who listed his obedience, who<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cwent down to his house justified\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (Luke 18:14).<\/p>\n<p>Paul\u2019s summary of the moral law is, word for word, the summary Jesus gave:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>Thou shalt not commit adultery, Thou shalt not kill, Thou shalt not steal, Thou shalt not bear false witness, Thou shalt not covet; and if there be any other commandment, it is briefly comprehended in this saying, namely, Thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>Romans 13:9\u201310 (KJV); compare Matthew 22:37\u201340 \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Romans%2013%3A8-10&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Romans%2013%3A8-10&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Paul Against Lawlessness<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Far from championing lawlessness, Paul is the New Testament writer who most forcefully condemns it. He gave us the title <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cthe man of lawlessness\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>(<i>ho anthr\u014dpos t\u0113s anomias<\/i>, 2 Thessalonians 2:3) for the coming deceiver. He asked, <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cShall we continue in sin, that grace may abound? God forbid\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (Romans 6:1\u20132). He warned that those who practice the works of the flesh<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong> \u201cshall not inherit the kingdom of God\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span> (Galatians 5:21). And he taught that grace itself is a teacher of holiness:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>For the grace of God that bringeth salvation hath appeared to all men, teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world \u2026 who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>Titus 2:11\u201312, 14 (KJV) \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Titus%202%3A11-14&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Titus%202%3A11-14&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The word translated <em>\u201ciniquity\u201d<\/em> in Titus 2:14 is <i>anomia<\/i> \u2014 <em>\u201clawlessness.\u201d<\/em> Christ died, Paul says, to redeem us from lawlessness. If some readers abuse Paul to excuse sin, the fault lies with them, exactly as Peter warned.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Paul and the Words of Jesus<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Paul also passed on Jesus\u2019 teaching deliberately and with care. On divorce he writes,<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cunto the married I command, yet not I, but the Lord\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (1 Corinthians 7:10), then distinguishes his own counsel where Jesus had not spoken (7:12). His account of the Lord\u2019s Supper (1 Corinthians 11:23\u201325) is the earliest written record of Jesus\u2019 words at the table, and it closely matches Luke 22:19\u201320. A man determined to replace Jesus with his own religion does not take such pains to separate the Lord\u2019s commands from his own.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>\u201cAs It Is Written\u201d: Is Paul Speaking Satan\u2019s Language?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Ms. Podgee says that whenever Paul writes <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cas it is written,\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> alarm bells should ring, because Satan said<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong> \u201cit is written\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/span> when he tempted Jesus. The devil indeed used the formula once, in Matthew 4:6 (and its parallel in Luke 4:10). But in the same scene, Jesus used it first \u2014 and three times in all, to the devil\u2019s once:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>But he answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>Matthew 4:4 (KJV) \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew%204%3A1-11&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Matthew%204%3A1-11&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Jesus continued to use the phrase throughout His ministry (Matthew 11:10; 21:13; 26:24, 31; Mark 7:6; 14:27; Luke 24:46; John 6:45). Peter used it (Acts 1:20; 1 Peter 1:16). And James \u2014 the very James Ms. Podgee sets against Paul \u2014 introduced his decisive Scripture citation at the Jerusalem council with these words: <em>\u201cTo this agree the words of the prophets;<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong> as it is written\u201d<\/strong><\/span><\/em> (Acts 15:15). If the formula is a satanic tell, then Jesus, Peter, and James are all implicated. The test proves too much and therefore proves nothing. The issue is never whether someone cites Scripture, but whether he cites it faithfully. So let us test Paul exactly where Ms. Podgee chose to test him.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Romans 3 and Psalm 14: Who Is Really Cutting the Quote?<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>What Psalm 14 Actually Says<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Ms. Podgee argues that Paul quoted Psalm 14 but stopped just before verse 4,<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cHave all the workers of iniquity no knowledge?\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>\u2014 thereby hiding the fact that the psalm describes only the wicked, not everyone. Here are the verses Paul quoted, in context:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>The LORD looked down from heaven upon the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand, and seek God. They are all gone aside, they are all together become filthy: there is none that doeth good, no, not one.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>Psalm 14:2\u20133 (KJV) \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Psalm%2014&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Psalm%2014&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Who is the Lord surveying? Not a subset of evildoers, but <em>\u201cthe children of men\u201d<\/em> \u2014 <i>b\u0115n\u00ea \u02be\u0101d\u0101m<\/i>, the sons of Adam, humanity as such. And what is His verdict? <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><em><strong>\u201cThey are all gone aside \u2026 there is none that doeth good, no, not one.\u201d<\/strong> <\/em><\/span>The universal language is David\u2019s, not Paul\u2019s. Paul did not stretch the psalm; he quoted the part of it that is already universal. The psalm then turns, in verse 4, to a particular class of oppressors who<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201ceat up my people as they eat bread,\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> and in verse 5 to <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cthe generation of the righteous,\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> in whose midst God dwells. But the righteous of Psalm 14 are not people who escaped the verdict of verse 3. They are those who <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cmake the LORD their refuge\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (14:6), whose standing is God\u2019s gift. That is precisely Paul\u2019s point.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>What Paul Was Arguing<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Ms. Podgee also stops the quotation too early \u2014 on Paul\u2019s side. Romans 3:10 does not begin a new thought; it completes a sentence that starts in verse 9 and is explained in verses 19\u201320:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>What then? are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin; as it is written, There is none righteous, no, not one \u2026 Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>Romans 3:9\u201310, 19 (KJV) \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Romans%203%3A9-20&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Romans%203%3A9-20&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Paul\u2019s argument is aimed at a reader who assumed that the Psalms\u2019 condemnations described <i>other<\/i> people \u2014 pagans, oppressors, <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cthe workers of iniquity\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>\u2014 while covenant Israel stood safely among the righteous. Paul answers: the law speaks to those under the law. These indictments come from Israel\u2019s own Scriptures, and they include Israel. That is why his chain of quotations (Psalms 14:1\u20133; 5:9; 140:3; 10:7; Isaiah 59:7\u20138; Psalm 36:1) draws one of its links from Isaiah 59, a chapter addressed not to the nations but to Israel<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>: \u201cYour iniquities have separated between you and your God\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (Isaiah 59:2). Paul did not miss the context. He understood it better than his critic.<\/p>\n<p>Nor is Paul\u2019s conclusion foreign to the Old Testament. David prayed,<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cEnter not into judgment with thy servant: for in thy sight shall no man living be justified\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>(Psalm 143:2) \u2014 the very verse Paul echoes in Romans 3:20 and Galatians 2:16. Solomon confessed, <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cThere is not a just man upon earth, that doeth good, and sinneth not\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>(Ecclesiastes 7:20; compare 1 Kings 8:46). And Jesus said,<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cThere is none good but one, that is, God\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (Mark 10:18), and addressed even His disciples as those who, <em>\u201cbeing evil,\u201d<\/em> still know how to give good gifts (Matthew 7:11). Paul\u2019s reading of Psalm 14 sits in the mainstream of the Law, the Prophets, the Writings, and the words of Christ.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">Finally, Paul does not leave his readers under condemnation. The very next verses announce<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cthe righteousness of God without the law \u2026 being witnessed by the law and the prophets\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (Romans 3:21) \u2014 a righteousness given through faith in Christ. Paul insists that this gift is <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cwitnessed by the law and the prophets,\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> which is the opposite of disagreeing with them.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>The Septuagint Charge<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Ms. Podgee adds that Paul <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201conly quotes out of the Greek Septuagint, which is probably an issue in and of itself.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> It is neither accurate nor an issue. Paul sometimes follows the Septuagint, sometimes the Hebrew, and sometimes offers his own rendering. More importantly, the same pattern appears throughout the New Testament \u2014 including on the lips of Jesus and James.<\/p>\n<p>When Jesus rebuked the Pharisees, He quoted Isaiah 29:13 as<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cin vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>(Matthew 15:9). That wording follows the Greek Septuagint; the Hebrew reads, <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201ctheir fear toward me is taught by the precept of men.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> When the children cried <em>\u201cHosanna\u201d<\/em> in the temple, Jesus answered with Psalm 8:2 in a form that reads<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cthou hast perfected praise\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (Matthew 21:16) \u2014 again the Septuagint; the Hebrew reads <em>\u201cordained strength.\u201d<\/em> Even the verse Ms. Podgee herself invokes \u2014 <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cdepart from me, ye that work iniquity\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (Matthew 7:23) \u2014 is Jesus\u2019 use of Psalm 6:8, and Matthew\u2019s Greek phrase <i>hoi ergazomenoi t\u0113n anomian<\/i> matches the Septuagint wording of that psalm.<\/p>\n<p>Most striking of all is James. At the Jerusalem council, the Lord\u2019s brother settled the question of Gentile inclusion by citing Amos 9:11\u201312:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>After this I will return, and will build again the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down \u2026 that the residue of men might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who doeth all these things.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>James at the Jerusalem Council, Acts 15:16\u201317 (KJV) \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Acts%2015%3A13-21&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Acts%2015%3A13-21&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The Hebrew text of Amos 9:12 reads, <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cThat they may possess the remnant of Edom.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> James\u2019s wording \u2014 <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cthat the residue of men might seek after the Lord\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> \u2014 is the Septuagint\u2019s. If quoting the Septuagint discredits Paul, it discredits James, the leader Ms. Podgee holds up as the standard of authentic apostolic Christianity.<\/p>\n<p>One technical note is worth adding for careful readers. Some Septuagint manuscripts of Psalm 14 (Psalm 13 in the Greek numbering) contain extra lines that match the rest of Paul\u2019s chain in Romans 3:13\u201318, and those lines also found their way into some later psalters. Most textual scholars regard them as a later scribal harmonization <i>to<\/i> Romans, not as Paul\u2019s source. Anyone comparing Romans 3 with a Greek or older English psalter should be aware of this, lest the borrowing be read in the wrong direction. In Romans itself, Paul plainly signals a chain of several texts, not a single <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cdirect quote of Psalm 14.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Deception, Delusion, and the Test of a True Apostle<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Using Paul to Refute Paul<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Ms. Podgee rightly reminds us that Jesus warned of deceivers so persuasive that they would mislead, <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cif it were possible \u2026 the very elect\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>(Matthew 24:24), and that God may give those who refuse the truth over to their chosen delusions (Isaiah 66:4). But the clearest New Testament statement of that principle is Paul\u2019s: because some <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201creceived not the love of the truth, that they might be saved \u2026 God shall send them strong delusion, that they should believe a lie\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (2 Thessalonians 2:10\u201311). The warning against deception that Ms. Podgee deploys against Paul is, in its sharpest New Testament form, a warning <i>from<\/i> Paul.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>The Biblical Tests<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Scripture does give us tests for false prophets and apostles. Deuteronomy 13:1\u20133 asks whether the prophet leads the people<em> \u201cafter other gods.\u201d<\/em> Jesus said, <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cBy their fruits ye shall know them\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>(Matthew 7:16). John taught that <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cevery spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh is of God\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (1 John 4:2). Apply these tests to Paul. He preached one God, the God of Israel (1 Corinthians 8:6). He confessed Jesus Christ crucified, buried, and risen. And he insisted that this message was not his private invention but the shared gospel of the apostles:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures; and that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures \u2026 Therefore whether it were I or they, so we preach, and so ye believed.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>1 Corinthians 15:3\u20134, 11 (KJV) \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015%3A1-11&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015%3A1-11&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cWhether it were they or I\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> \u2014 Paul claims one gospel with the Twelve, and none of them ever contradicted him on it. As for fruits, Paul\u2019s list of sufferings \u2014 beatings, stonings, shipwrecks, hunger, sleeplessness,<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cthe care of all the churches\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (2 Corinthians 11:23\u201328) \u2014 is hardly the profile of a man in ministry for profit or applause. Clement of Rome, writing to Corinth around AD 96, the period in which Revelation is commonly dated, held Paul up beside Peter as a model of faithful endurance:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>Owing to envy, Paul also obtained the reward of patient endurance, after being seven times thrown into captivity, compelled to flee, and stoned. After preaching both in the east and west, he gained the illustrious reputation due to his faith, having taught righteousness to the whole world.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>Clement of Rome, 1 Clement 5, ANF vol. 1 \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/fathers\/1010.htm\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/fathers\/1010.htm<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>False apostles in the New Testament are marked by self-promotion and appetite (2 Corinthians 11:20; Romans 16:18). Paul worked with his hands so as not to burden the churches (Acts 20:34; 1 Thessalonians 2:9) and went to his death for the name of Jesus.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>What About Balaam and the Nicolaitans?<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>Some who share Ms. Podgee\u2019s view try to link Paul to the Nicolaitans or to the teaching of Balaam in Revelation 2:6 and 2:14, because Paul permitted eating meat that had been offered to idols. But Paul did no such thing in the sense Revelation condemns. He allowed believers to buy meat in the market without interrogating its history (1 Corinthians 10:25), yet he flatly forbade participation in idol feasts:<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cYe cannot drink the cup of the Lord, and the cup of devils: ye cannot be partakers of the Lord\u2019s table, and of the table of devils\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>(1 Corinthians 10:21). And he commanded,<em> \u201cFlee fornication\u201d<\/em> (1 Corinthians 6:18). The two sins Revelation ties to Balaam \u2014 idolatrous feasting and sexual immorality \u2014 are the two sins Paul most forcefully forbids.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>The Ebionite Echo: An Old Heresy in New Clothes<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>The claim that Paul betrayed Jesus, the law, and the Jerusalem church is not a new discovery. It is one of the oldest positions in church history. Irenaeus of Lyons, writing around AD 180, described a sect that had already adopted it:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>They use the Gospel according to Matthew only, and repudiate the Apostle Paul, maintaining that he was an apostate from the law.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>Irenaeus, Against Heresies 1.26.2, on the Ebionites, ANF vol. 1 \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/fathers\/0103126.htm\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/fathers\/0103126.htm<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>At the opposite extreme stood Marcion, who rejected the Old Testament and kept only an edited Luke and ten of Paul\u2019s letters. The early church rejected <i>both<\/i> errors. Against Marcion, it held that the God of Israel and the Father of Jesus Christ are one; against the Ebionites, it held that Paul and the Twelve preached one gospel. The New Testament the church received holds together Matthew and Romans, James and Galatians, Peter\u2019s letters and Paul\u2019s \u2014 not because the church was naive about the tensions, but because it recognized, as Peter did, a single apostolic witness. To reject Paul today is not to recover the faith of Jesus\u2019 family; it is to rejoin a sect the apostolic churches had already weighed and found wanting.<\/p>\n<p>Ms. Podgee suggests that<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201c99.99% of Pauline Christians have never even read anything outside of Paul\u2019s letters.\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>Whatever the reading habits of modern believers, the claim cannot be laid at Paul\u2019s door. His letters are saturated with the Old Testament \u2014 they contain close to a hundred explicit quotations from the Law, the Prophets, and the Writings, and countless allusions. Paul did not draw his readers away from the Hebrew Scriptures. He drove them back into them.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>The Wager of Zeal<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>Ms. Podgee closes with a wager:<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cIf I\u2019m wrong, then that means that I was just overly zealous for Jesus and the Father. If Pauline Christians are wrong, they don\u2019t have a saving doctrine.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> It is an understandable sentiment, but it is not a safe one, and the Bible itself explains why.<\/p>\n<p>Zeal is not self-validating. Paul himself is the cautionary example. Before Damascus, he was the most zealous man in Judaism:<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cconcerning zeal, persecuting the church; touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (Philippians 3:6). His zeal for God led him to fight against God. That is why he later wrote of his own people, with tears, <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cThey have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (Romans 10:2). Zeal that sets itself against God\u2019s chosen messengers does not become harmless because it is sincere.<\/p>\n<p>Nor is the cost of being wrong limited to the teacher. James \u2014 whom Ms. Podgee honors \u2014 warned,<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cMy brethren, be not many masters, knowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>(James 3:1). A teacher who persuades thousands of viewers to cut thirteen books out of their New Testament, to distrust Acts and 2 Peter, and to regard the gospel that the Twelve endorsed as satanic is not merely risking excessive zeal. She is asking others to stake their souls on her reading. The wager is not between <em>\u201coverly zealous\u201d<\/em> and <em>\u201cno saving doctrine.\u201d<\/em> It is between the testimony of Peter, James, John, Luke, and the churches they founded on one side, and a single modern reading of a single unnamed phrase in Revelation 2:2 on the other.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Conclusion: The Apostle Who Was Last of All<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p>When the claims in Ms. Podgee\u2019s transcript are tested against the texts she cites, each one fails. Revelation 2:2 never mentions Paul and praises the church Paul founded for following Paul\u2019s own counsel. Galatians records not Paul\u2019s rejection by the pillars but their right hand of fellowship. The Jerusalem church did write a letter, sent it by Paul\u2019s hand, and called him <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cbeloved.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> The men <em>\u201cfrom James\u201d<\/em> were disowned by James\u2019s own council. Peter called Paul <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cour beloved brother\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> and ranked his letters with Scripture. Paul upheld the law as holy, condemned lawlessness by name, and passed on the words of Jesus with care. His use of Psalm 14 is faithful to its universal verdict and to the argument of Romans 3, and his use of the Septuagint is shared by Jesus and by James.<\/p>\n<p>Paul would not have been offended by the charge that he was unworthy to be an apostle. He made that charge against himself:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time. For I am the least of the apostles, that am not meet to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am: and his grace which was bestowed upon me was not in vain; but I laboured more abundantly than they all: yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>1 Corinthians 15:8\u201310 (KJV) \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015%3A8-10&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=1%20Corinthians%2015%3A8-10&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>That is not the voice of a deceiver building a rival religion. It is the voice of a forgiven persecutor who never got over the grace that found him on the Damascus road. Ms. Podgee\u2019s journey from atheism to faith in Christ is itself a testimony to that same grace.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>Heresy Born of Half-Knowledge<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>But grace also warns. Most of the great errors in church history did not begin in malice. They began with partial knowledge held with total confidence: a verse lifted from its setting, a phrase read without the sentence that follows it, a conviction formed before the evidence was weighed. When the Sadducees tried to trap Jesus with a clever reading of the law, He did not praise their zeal. He diagnosed their problem:<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cYe do err, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (Matthew 22:29). The prophet Hosea saw the same danger in Israel:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p><i>My people are destroyed for lack of knowledge: because thou hast rejected knowledge, I will also reject thee, that thou shalt be no priest to me.<\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\">\u2014 <span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>Hosea 4:6 (KJV) \u2014 <\/b><\/span><\/span><span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Hosea%204%3A6&amp;version=KJV\"><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><span style=\"font-size: small;\"><b>https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/passage\/?search=Hosea%204%3A6&amp;version=KJV<\/b><\/span><\/span><\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Notice that Hosea\u2019s sharpest warning falls on the <i>priests<\/i>, the people responsible for teaching others. Peter applies the same principle to Paul\u2019s letters. Those who twist them, he says, are <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cunlearned and unstable\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (2 Peter 3:16). The Greek <i>amatheis<\/i> means <em>\u201cuntaught\u201d<\/em>: not unintelligent, but uninstructed. <i>Ast\u0113riktoi<\/i> means <em>\u201cunanchored,\u201d<\/em> lacking a settled footing. Put the two together and you have a fair description of how heresy spreads in the age of the short video. Confidence moves faster than study. An unnamed phrase in Revelation becomes an indictment. A Psalm is checked against the wrong edition. A sentence from Galatians is read without the verse that answers it. The trouble is rarely that such teachers read too little Scripture. It is that they read it in fragments, and fragments can be arranged to say almost anything.<\/p>\n<p>That is why the stakes are high for anyone who teaches, whether from a pulpit or a phone.<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201cBe not many masters,\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>James warned, <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201cknowing that we shall receive the greater condemnation\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (James 3:1). Sincerity does not make a teaching true, and a large following does not make it safe. The New Testament asks every believer to<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201ctry the spirits whether they are of God\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (1 John 4:1), and that includes the voices we enjoy hearing. The Bereans are the model. They<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201creceived the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> (Acts 17:11). Notice what they searched: the whole Scriptures, daily, with open minds. They did not hunt for a few verses to confirm a conclusion already reached.<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><strong>The Way of Apollos<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>The New Testament also shows how a gifted teacher with incomplete knowledge can be set right. Apollos was <span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em>\u201can eloquent man, and mighty in the scriptures,\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/span> fervent in spirit and bold in the synagogue. Yet he knew<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong> <em>\u201conly the baptism of John.\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>Priscilla and Aquila did not shame him publicly. They<span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong><em> \u201ctook him unto them, and expounded unto him the way of God more perfectly\u201d<\/em> <\/strong><\/span>(Acts 18:24\u201326). What makes Apollos admirable is not that he was never wrong. It is that he was teachable. He received the correction and went on to become a powerful help to the church.<\/p>\n<p>That is the spirit in which this essay is offered. Its hope is not to win an argument against Ms. Podgee but to invite her, and those who follow her, to take the way of Apollos rather than the way of the Ebionites: to read the whole counsel of God before passing judgment on any part of it, and to read Paul as Peter, James, and John did, as a beloved brother, a fellow servant of the same Lord, and a faithful witness to the gospel by which sinners, Jew and Gentile alike, are made righteous before God.<\/p>\n<p align=\"center\"><span style=\"color: #7a1f2b;\">\u2767 \u2726 \u2767<\/span><\/p>\n<h2 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Works Cited<\/strong><\/span><\/h2>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><strong><i>The Holy Bible<\/i>,<\/strong><\/span> King James Version. All Scripture quotations from BibleGateway. <span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/\">https:\/\/www.biblegateway.com\/<\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><strong>Clement of Rome.<\/strong><\/span> <i>The First Epistle of Clement to the Corinthians<\/i>, chs. 5 and 47. Trans. John Keith. <i>Ante-Nicene Fathers<\/i>, vol. 1. New Advent. <span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/fathers\/1010.htm\">https:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/fathers\/1010.htm<\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><strong>Ignatius of Antioch.<\/strong><\/span> <i>Epistle to the Ephesians<\/i>, ch. 12. Trans. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. <i>Ante-Nicene Fathers<\/i>, vol. 1. New Advent. <span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/fathers\/0104.htm\">https:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/fathers\/0104.htm<\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><strong>Irenaeus of Lyons.<\/strong> <\/span><i>Against Heresies<\/i>, 1.26.2. Trans. Alexander Roberts and William Rambaut. <i>Ante-Nicene Fathers<\/i>, vol. 1. New Advent. <span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/fathers\/0103126.htm\">https:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/fathers\/0103126.htm<\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><strong>Podgee, Kay.<\/strong> <\/span>Video transcript on Paul as the<em> \u201cfalse apostle\u201d<\/em> of Revelation. Transcript supplied by the author.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><strong>Polycarp of Smyrna.<\/strong><\/span> <i>Epistle to the Philippians<\/i>, chs. 3, 9, 11. Trans. Alexander Roberts and James Donaldson. <i>Ante-Nicene Fathers<\/i>, vol. 1. New Advent. <span style=\"color: #0563c1;\"><u><a href=\"https:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/fathers\/0136.htm\">https:\/\/www.newadvent.org\/fathers\/0136.htm<\/a><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n<h3 class=\"western\"><span style=\"color: #800000;\">For Further Reading<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><strong>Bruce, F. F.<\/strong><\/span> <i>Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free<\/i>. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><strong>Jobes, Karen H., and Mois\u00e9s Silva.<\/strong><\/span> <i>Invitation to the Septuagint<\/i>. 2nd ed. Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2015.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><strong>Longenecker, Richard N.<\/strong><\/span> <i>Galatians<\/i>. Word Biblical Commentary 41. Dallas: Word, 1990.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #6f7073;\"><strong>Moo, Douglas J.<\/strong><\/span> <i>The Epistle to the Romans<\/i>. New International Commentary on the New Testament. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1996.<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p><i>Colophon: <\/i><i>Research and drafting assistance provided by Claude (Anthropic) as a scholarly research collaborator; all editorial decisions and final authority rest with the author. Scripture quotations are from the King James Version.<\/i><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<p>Kay Podgee (often referred to as Kayla or similar variants in interviews) is a popular independent Christian content creator and self-described former atheist who focuses on biblical cosmology, scripture study, prophecy, symbolism, and alternative\/historical interpretations.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Background<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>She presents herself as transitioning from atheism to being a \u201cforever student of the Most High.\u201d She has described growing up Catholic, which she says contributed to her later atheism (she has called aspects of Catholicism dark or designed to pull people from God). Her shift involved personal experiences (including dreams involving the rapture\/Jesus), questioning mainstream science and history, exploring alternative cosmology (firmament\/flat-earth ideas), viewing phenomena like UFOs through a spiritual\/demonic lens, and independent study of the Bible, antique Bibles, apocrypha (such as Enoch), Hebrew\/Greek meanings, and related topics. She positions herself as a researcher rather than a pastor, theologian, or institutional authority, and encourages viewers to test everything against Scripture themselves. She keeps most personal\/family details private.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Education<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>No public formal education, degrees, or academic credentials in theology, biblical studies, or related fields have been documented. She is consistently described and presents herself as self-taught through personal study, antique texts, and online research.<\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Popularity<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span style=\"color: #000000;\">She has a significant following across platforms (as of recent data around October 2026): roughly 142,000 YouTube subscribers, hundreds of thousands on Facebook (reports of ~730k), and a substantial Instagram presence (reports of ~340k), plus strong TikTok engagement with individual videos reaching hundreds of thousands to nearly 2 million views. Content includes long-form YouTube deep dives and shorter viral clips. She has appeared in interviews on shows like Skiba News Nation (covering topics such as Nephilim\/giants, biblical cosmology, historical mysteries, and confirming she is not AI after rumors about her rapid rise). Her style mixes pattern-seeking in Scripture, antique book discussions, and challenges to mainstream narratives, attracting both engaged fans and critics.<\/span><\/p>\n<h3><span style=\"color: #000080;\"><strong>Controversies<\/strong><\/span><\/h3>\n<p>She is polarizing within Christian circles, with significant pushback from more traditional or Protestant voices:<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><em><strong>Theological positions:<\/strong><\/em><\/span> This recent video argues that the Apostle Paul is a \u201cfalse apostle\u201d (citing alleged contradictions with Jesus, the Law, the other apostles, and self-descriptions). This has drawn strong criticism, labeling it heresy. She also teaches that true believers can lose their salvation (rejecting \u201conce saved always saved\u201d), emphasizes ongoing obedience to the Law\/Torah and sanctification, and critiques \u201chyper-grace,\u201d institutional Christianity, and modern church practices. Critics have called her a Judaizer, false teacher, or influenced by Gnosticism\/Hebrew Roots-style thinking. Response videos and discussions (e.g., from channels and figures like Protestia or individual debaters) have addressed these claims.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><em><strong>Biblical cosmology and related topics:<\/strong><\/em><\/span> She promotes a firmament\/flat-earth or non-globe model based on biblical descriptions, has discussed Nephilim\/giants, Smithsonian cover-ups, antique Bibles revealing doctrinal changes, and other alternative history claims. These draw both support in truther\/alternative Christian spaces and accusations of promoting pseudoscience or misinformation.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"color: #800000;\"><em><strong>Other:<\/strong><\/em><\/span> Early rumors that she was AI (due to rapid growth) were addressed in interviews. She has faced platform issues (e.g., TikTok suspension) and online debates over her views on the Law, repentance, and church culture. She generally frames criticism as resistance to biblical instruction or the \u201cspirit of antichrist,\u201d while maintaining that her goal is investigation rather than dictating beliefs.<\/p>\n<p>Her content is widely available on YouTube (@kaypodgee), with support options like Ko-fi. Views on her accuracy and orthodoxy vary sharply depending on the theological or scientific starting point; primary sources are her own videos and the critiques that have responded to them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cAs It Is Written\u201d: Who Is Really Twisting the Scriptures? \u2767 \u2726 \u2767 Introduction: An Apostle in the Dock Every generation produces someone who discovers, apparently for the first time, that the Apostle Paul was a fraud. The charge is never new, but it always arrives sounding new, because it is usually made by someone&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[46,248,57],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8919","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity","category-false-teachers","category-religion"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8919","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8919"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8919\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9008,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8919\/revisions\/9008"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8919"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8919"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/novus2.com\/righteouscause\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8919"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}