Melanie Mansfield

Raising Theologians, Artists, and Socratics

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

@Methodist_Prime Anything from the 1517 podcast network. GodPod out of GB. What in the Word from Logos.

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

@drewdyck My 16 year old has a flip phone. It’s perfect.

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

@MaceWilder @DrGladd It’s more that we should have translated them the same way across the board. Otherwise we miss important connections.

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

@MikeCosper Or wives at their spouses funeral.

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

@GraySutanto @RevJaredJones @rtsorlando Well, first let’s make sure we don’t make someone feel stupid for not knowing that how they were raised wasn’t in alignment with how we were raised. Then let’s kindly dialogue and give them to tools to understand.

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

@christopheryuan THANK YOU, LORD!!!

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

@simoncholland The 6th Sense

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

As the mom to a new Presbyterian pastor, this would be amazing to win!

DPS Books and Merch Giveaway: @gptseminary and @prpbooks are giving away books and limited edition Dead Presbyterian Society podcast merchandise - 10 winners! #deadpresbyteriansociety https://t.co/oVSqv7ns1K

[Joel Rainey. ن @joelrainey]

If you're a Christian who watched Sunday's memorial service and wonder why you felt such an internal contradiction, its because you were watching two opposing messages on the same stage.

Your feelings weren't lying to you about either. Some thoughts:
https://t.co/0Eeiq1RV6G

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

@WendyAlsup It sounds like Connections Class would be a good fit!

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

@WendyAlsup If you’re teaching them HOW to study, maybe something like “Connections”. If you’re teaching the passage and showing them how it all works together, maybe something like “Threads.” I like single word names because it’s easier to say and type. :)

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

@WendyAlsup Would you be focusing on something like an inductive method of study? Or will you be teaching a lesson on a passage rather than teaching them how to parse a passage? I think that matters in what you choose as the name.

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

This.

[Donnie Discerned @DonnieDarkened]

I’ve had time to really reflect on all of this. I’ve prayed about it, thought carefully, and these are the thoughts I’ve come to.

I do believe Charlie showed a lot of fruit, and that his heart was genuinely aligned with Christ.
He cared about truth, and I don’t doubt his sincerity. At the same time, he fell into the error of Dominionism.
He openly supported the seven mountain mandate, which is all about fusing Christianity with political power.

That’s why the memorial struck me the way it did. It blurred the lines between church and state in a way that was impossible to ignore. It didn’t feel like a memorial service. It felt like a mega-church political event, almost a rally. The focus wasn’t just honoring Charlie’s life in Christ, it was about building momentum for a movement.

And that’s where my concern is. I think this moment is going to be used to give Christian nationalism a major boost. The blending of faith and politics, especially in an emotionally charged moment like this, is powerful. It draws people in.

On one hand, I’m glad people are being exposed to the name of Jesus. But I fear that what many are meeting is not the gospel of salvation, but a cultural version of Jesus being used as a political icon. That’s not the same thing as knowing Him.

That’s the danger here. When faith merges with political power, the cross gets overshadowed by a crown that isn’t meant to be worn yet. Christ Himself will bring the Kingdom at His return. Until then, our call is not to build an earthly theocracy but to faithfully follow Him, even when it looks weak in the world’s eyes.

So my reflection is this; I’m thankful for Charlie’s heart, but I’m also deeply cautious about the movement his memorial seems to be fueling. It’s something we need real discernment about in the days ahead.

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

@WesleyLHuff @FlyAirNZ @BrisbaneAirport

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

@AJWTheology It’s not all Americans who feel this way. Just the ones who live in or have visited G and recognize that it’s way too amazing to go without for a prolonged period of time. We have all the cuisine of D in Southern form. The Mississippi Delta Chinese alone bring great Asian tastes!

[Berith Press @BerithPress]

If you are considering Christianity in the light of Charlie Kirk’s death, you must understand that Jesus Christ truly rose again from the grave.

Jesus was crucified, dead & buried.

He was placed in a tomb guarded by soldiers.

On the 3rd day, he rose again.

The apostles, who adored Jesus and saw him crucified, all saw him again after his death, in his resurrected body.

They all (except John) died for this truth.

But they wouldn’t die for a lie.

They touched the holes in hands.

They broke bread with him.

They are the fish he cooked for them for breakfast.

These were men of virtue, who each condemned lying. They themselves weren’t liars.

They did not disarm the Roman soldiers who guarded the tomb, in order to take Jesus’ body.

They were neither deluded by witchcraft nor the devil, because their faith was holy.

They performed miracles to testify to the truth they preached.

They had no motive to lie; they lived in poverty, giving up all they had.

They didn’t seek power; they were hated by Jewish and Gentile authorities alike.

They didn’t seek popularity; many despised their message of repentance.

To save themselves from being killed, they could have confessed they had invented tall tales about Christ.

But they did no such thing, because they knew the gospel was true.

Would you die for a lie that you knew to be a lie? Of course not. Neither would they. Neither did they.

They knew the truth. They were martyrs for Christ.

The blood of such martyrs is the seed of the church.

At the time they wrote, men could have sought to disprove them, but they didn’t.

The Jewish and Roman authorities could have produced the body of Jesus, but no-one ever could.

Josephus the Jewish historian wrote respectfully of Jesus.

Tacitus the Roman historian wrote about Jesus’ life and death, of the hatred of the people against the first Christians, and the Christians’ courage.

Suetonius wrote of Christ also.

Pliny the Younger affirmed to emperor Trajan the existence of many who considered Jesus Christ as God.

According to Tertullian, the emperor Tiberias even sought to add Jesus to the pantheon of Roman gods.

Noble men in every century wrote warmly of Christ.

100 years after Jesus, Justin Martyr affirmed that even many savages and nomads believed in Christ, as well as the civilized.

Tertullian explained that Christians filled the Roman empire:

“We are but lately sprung up, and we already fill whatever acknowledges your power, the cities, the isles, the fortresses, the towns, and the assemblies of the people.”

Not one year of history can be found in which the world has lacked a believer in Jesus.

The blood of the martyrs was poured out for 300 years after Christ’s death, under 10 Roman persecutions.

The gospel was no sudden invention of man either.

Christ’s death had been promised for centuries.

God comforted Adam & Eve with the promise that Eve's seed Christ would crush Satan (Genesis 3.15).

God spoke through Daniel that Christ would die around the year we now know as 33 A.D. (Daniel 9.24-27)

God spoke through Isaiah that Christ would die to atone for the sins of his people, and yet live (Isaiah 53); and be born of a virgin (Isaiah 7.14).

God spoke through his prophets, that Christ would be pierced (Zechariah 12.10) in his hands and feet (Psalm 22.16).

God spoke through Hosea that Christ would rise again on the third day (Hosea 6.2)

God spoke through David, that Christ was God himself (Psalm 45.6-7, 110.1).

God spoke through David of the body prepared for Christ in his incarnation (Ps. 40).

Ancient men believed the promise of Christ’s coming, and when he came, he did all that God said he would do.

This is all in the Bible.

Read it.

Jesus died in the place of sinners.

All who repent of their sins and believe in him will not perish in hell, but have everlasting life in heaven with God forever.

Today is the day to read the gospels.

Today is the day to know the truth, & the truth shall set you free.

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

@TheCinesthetic The Two Cathedrals: West Wing

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

@j_bambrick @LeeStrobel They also watched it conflated with the likes of Miller, the Trumps, and several other imago dei violators who put political rhetoric above their care of people. I will always love hearing Christ crucified, regardless, but I hate to see it alongside extremists who cause harm.

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

@DannySlavich I rejoiced in the proclamation of the Gospel today. But I think it’s possible to be disappointed to see it highlighted beside extremists who the unbelieving world despise for their rhetoric, not their faith. I can’t imagine ever wanting an unbeliever to speak at my funeral.

[Melanie Mansfield @melmansfield]

@PeshatDuel @WesleyLHuff Falsely, or based on the human author’s knowledge?