Andrew Rappaport

A super lively discussion about evangelism and Buddy the Elf.

Andrew Rappaport

Yes, that's coming your way on this episode of the Rapper Port.

Andrew Rappaport

I'm your host, Andrew Rapp Report, the executive director of Striving for Eternity and the Christian podcast community.

Andrew Rappaport

We're here to give you biblical interpretations and applications for the Christian life this episode.

Andrew Rappaport

Well, I was on the Caleb Gordon podcast with a good friend of mine, Chris Hahn holds from Voice of Reason Radio.

Andrew Rappaport

We got into some fun, lively discussion at the beginning, beginning just kind of having a little bit of fun at Chris Hun holds his well at Chris Hunholtz and so but then we, you know, he likes to dress up as Captain America and he loves Buddy the elf or not.

Andrew Rappaport

You can listen, but how did James White create a, a nightmare for Chris?

Andrew Rappaport

Well, we got into that.

Andrew Rappaport

We also got into talking about things like evangelism and more serious things at the end.

Andrew Rappaport

So I hope that you enjoy this episode of the Rap Report.

Speaker B

1, 2, 3.

Andrew Rappaport

Welcome to the Rap Report with your host Andrew Rapoport where we provide biblical interpretation and application.

Chris Honholz

This is a ministry of striving for.

Andrew Rappaport

Eternity and the Christian podcast community.

Andrew Rappaport

For more content or to request a speaker for your church, go to strivingforeeternity.org.

Speaker B

Chris or Chris and Andrew, however you want to, however you want to do this.

Speaker B

Here's what I want to do.

Speaker B

Just quick 30,000foot view who you are and what, what you do.

Speaker B

Chris, I'll start with you.

Chris Honholz

My name is Chris Honholz.

Chris Honholz

I am a retired law enforcement officer now working in private security.

Chris Honholz

I've spent a number of years, eight years, having done a podcast by the name of Voice of Reason Radio is currently in hiatus because my podcast partner Richard Story has had a lot of family issues that have come up.

Chris Honholz

So we've kind of just taken a break from everything while he, his, he and his family take their priority in taking care of those things.

Chris Honholz

I do some blogging on our website slavetotheking.com and that's, that's pretty much me in a nutshell.

Chris Honholz

I'm a father of two now, adult sons, married for 23 years and, and not too exciting after that.

Speaker B

Awesome.

Speaker B

Very cool.

Speaker B

And then Andrew, he is being way.

Andrew Rappaport

Too humble because there are, listen, there are kids across his area in children's hospitals that are thrilled when he comes in the room.

Andrew Rappaport

I'm just saying.

Chris Honholz

And that happened once.

Chris Honholz

Only once.

Andrew Rappaport

Okay, well then you have to explain.

Andrew Rappaport

I leave it to you to explain.

Chris Honholz

Okay.

Chris Honholz

One of the things my family and I have done and Enjoy to do is go to comic book conventions.

Chris Honholz

And we have, you know, we've.

Chris Honholz

We've dressed up and I've done a variety of suits, primarily Captain America.

Chris Honholz

I have been involved with at least one charity group.

Chris Honholz

We did go to one event at a hospital.

Chris Honholz

We have also, you know, appeared when there was a kind of a walk slash run event for raising money for a young boy who sadly died from a disorder.

Chris Honholz

They were raising money to help that.

Chris Honholz

For a foundation to help find cures for that and a couple other events like that.

Chris Honholz

So we have done that occasionally.

Chris Honholz

Not too much these days.

Chris Honholz

Our boys are grown now.

Chris Honholz

One is living out of state and the other one, he enjoys coming with us, but he doesn't dress up so much.

Chris Honholz

We.

Chris Honholz

So we don't do it as much as we used to.

Speaker B

So that's okay.

Speaker B

So that's why your Facebook has a Captain America.

Speaker B

I did not know you dressed up and did comic Con Captain America stuff.

Andrew Rappaport

So that he even did.

Andrew Rappaport

Was it softball that you did dressed as Captain America?

Chris Honholz

No, it was.

Chris Honholz

It was a dodgeball event.

Chris Honholz

My Daredevil.

Chris Honholz

A suit which in the middle of summer in a heavy cloth outfit is a really bad.

Speaker B

Swampy.

Speaker B

It's very swampy.

Chris Honholz

Very swampy.

Chris Honholz

Especially when you're old and out of shape and you look like.

Chris Honholz

Now you look like Santa wearing spandex when you don't realize how bad you look.

Speaker B

Or.

Andrew Rappaport

Or you look like Buddy the Elf.

Chris Honholz

Well, that one you'll never know because I'm not doing that.

Speaker B

You're never going to do Buddy the Elf ever.

Speaker B

You're never going to have anything to do with Buddy the Elf.

Chris Honholz

Nope.

Chris Honholz

That.

Chris Honholz

Hey, you can play.

Chris Honholz

I know you say this is the music.

Chris Honholz

I wouldn't have a clue.

Chris Honholz

I've never watched the movie.

Chris Honholz

Never will.

Speaker B

I just.

Speaker B

I mean, it's sad that you're not going to.

Speaker B

You're not going to do anything here.

Speaker B

I mean.

Chris Honholz

No.

Speaker B

No.

Speaker B

So, okay, so this is how we starting the conversation.

Speaker B

Is it James White's fault that.

Chris Honholz

Well, it's James White's fault.

Chris Honholz

It's James White fault.

Chris Honholz

But Andrew jumped on board and just took it to levels unknown.

Chris Honholz

So this is now.

Chris Honholz

This has got to be about three or four years ago now where I.

Chris Honholz

Somewhere along the line, James White started following me and some other people that I knew just because he wanted to find some more people to interact with, I guess.

Chris Honholz

And he seemed to enjoy.

Chris Honholz

Well, I think he got tired of all the crazy people flooding his account.

Andrew Rappaport

So he followed you.

Chris Honholz

He did.

Chris Honholz

By comparison.

Chris Honholz

Think about it.

Chris Honholz

Think about me versus the people he has to deal with.

Chris Honholz

I mean, so it was around this time a few years ago where a meme was going around and said, hey, out of these nine movies, you have to pick three, and the rest go bye bye.

Chris Honholz

And they were all Christmas movies.

Chris Honholz

And there was a.

Chris Honholz

There was a trend of picking Elf.

Chris Honholz

Well, I don't like Will Ferrell.

Chris Honholz

He only plays one character, Will Ferrell.

Speaker B

And that's what Sandler.

Chris Honholz

Yeah, that's all they do.

Chris Honholz

I mean, well, Adam Sandler can play some movies that are not stupid.

Chris Honholz

He actually has more range.

Chris Honholz

You know, it's not a big range, but it's range.

Speaker B

Shampoo is better.

Chris Honholz

Like I said, not a huge range, but.

Chris Honholz

So I just don't care for him, and I had no interest in watching it.

Chris Honholz

So I jok.

Chris Honholz

Said, here's a.

Chris Honholz

Here's an unpopular take.

Chris Honholz

I've never watched Elf.

Chris Honholz

I don't want to watch Elf, and I probably will never watch Elf.

Chris Honholz

That got James White's attention real fast.

Chris Honholz

And the next thing I knew, he was threatening to expose me on his show as a grinch.

Chris Honholz

How dare you not like this show.

Chris Honholz

Hey, you like Mandalorian?

Chris Honholz

The guy that directs Mandalorian directed this.

Chris Honholz

You need to watch this.

Chris Honholz

I'm like, I don't want to watch it.

Chris Honholz

And for next thing I.

Andrew Rappaport

He did not.

Andrew Rappaport

He didn't just threaten.

Andrew Rappaport

He actually did.

Chris Honholz

Oh, yeah, He.

Chris Honholz

He.

Chris Honholz

He hounded me from his own show so that I.

Chris Honholz

I ended up with followers because of this, which I still did not understand.

Speaker B

Hey, bad news is bad press is better than no press at all.

Chris Honholz

Well, it's.

Chris Honholz

It's really embarrassing when you show up at G3 for your first time, and people walk up to you and go, I know you.

Chris Honholz

Elf, right?

Chris Honholz

Oh, man.

Chris Honholz

So it just a little history.

Speaker B

Do you know who they originally were going to cast in?

Chris Honholz

No, I have no clue.

Speaker B

Why would I know Chris Farley was originally going to be Elf?

Chris Honholz

Well, who's Chris Farley again?

Chris Honholz

I wouldn't know, but so did you.

Speaker B

Wow.

Speaker B

Okay, so.

Speaker B

So Andrew doesn't know who Chris.

Andrew Rappaport

No, I'm pop culture illiterate.

Andrew Rappaport

I watched Elf.

Chris Honholz

Very much so.

Andrew Rappaport

I watched Elf.

Andrew Rappaport

Only because Chris wouldn't.

Chris Honholz

Okay, you need to understand Andrew's involvement in this.

Speaker B

So, yes, I need to know this story.

Chris Honholz

My own podcast partner betrayed me, and he gave James White my address and for my birthday.

Chris Honholz

And it's.

Chris Honholz

You can kind of see it up above me up here.

Chris Honholz

There's a buddy, the Elf Pull string doll right about there.

Speaker B

Yes, yes.

Chris Honholz

It was Sent to me because my podcast partner betrayed me and gave me my address and told him my birthday was coming up, which is in February.

Speaker B

You gave me.

Speaker B

You tried to publish his address on my Facebook account.

Chris Honholz

Yeah, that's why I was like, don't you dare.

Speaker B

Now I know why.

Chris Honholz

Now this is.

Andrew Rappaport

No, you don't.

Andrew Rappaport

Not yet.

Chris Honholz

Realms unknown of weird.

Chris Honholz

To the point that I actually deleted my account for about five days.

Chris Honholz

And this is all Andrew's fault.

Chris Honholz

So I jokingly said.

Chris Honholz

Now Andrew has had a habit of sending me gifts.

Chris Honholz

Very generous.

Chris Honholz

He'll never tell or he won't tell me, or he'll tease that something's coming, but he'll be very quiet and be very sneaky about it.

Chris Honholz

So I jokingly said on the show.

Chris Honholz

And Andrew took the greatest offense.

Chris Honholz

Why?

Chris Honholz

I have no idea that, that James White a little bit outdid him.

Chris Honholz

Only because he made it an Internet thing and went after me and was in hounding me about this.

Chris Honholz

Where Andrew doesn't do that, he tends to be more sneaky.

Chris Honholz

So thank you, Andrew.

Chris Honholz

I now have somewhere in the, in the garage, two six foot standees of Buddy the Elf.

Chris Honholz

I have.

Speaker B

Fantastic.

Chris Honholz

I have a mug, I have a noise maker.

Chris Honholz

I.

Chris Honholz

Somebody.

Chris Honholz

This was during COVID Somebody sent me a face mask.

Chris Honholz

Buddy the Elf on it.

Speaker B

That's fantastic.

Chris Honholz

I ended up with more garbage than I ever wanted to see involving Buddy the Elf.

Chris Honholz

As you can see, Andrew's turning purple over as he's laughing.

Chris Honholz

And this was all Andrew's fault.

Chris Honholz

It actually got so bad that I actually had to beg people to stop because I had.

Chris Honholz

I am, I don't mind a joke, but I tend to be a fairly serious person.

Chris Honholz

Sure.

Chris Honholz

And so.

Speaker B

Well, you've got a criminal justice background, of course.

Chris Honholz

Right.

Chris Honholz

I'm 25 years law enforcement, retired now.

Chris Honholz

And so when I go on the Internet and I'm trying to post stuff and trying to share stuff, I'm getting bombarded.

Chris Honholz

I mean, I could not go online without having, you know, being dogpiled about this.

Chris Honholz

I couldn't go to my mailbox.

Chris Honholz

I was terrified to open my mailbox.

Chris Honholz

I'm not kidding.

Chris Honholz

And at one point, Andrew was hounding me enough and I had gotten so frustrated I said, knock it off or I'm deleting my account.

Chris Honholz

And he dared me and I did.

Chris Honholz

I shut down my account.

Chris Honholz

I was done.

Speaker B

Well, this is, I mean, and now we've.

Speaker B

We've taken up the first 10 minutes of the podcast.

Chris Honholz

Sorry.

Speaker B

Talking about.

Speaker B

About Buddy.

Andrew Rappaport

Well, this was how this podcast started.

Andrew Rappaport

Right.

Andrew Rappaport

So so it is technically how we started.

Andrew Rappaport

It is because you.

Andrew Rappaport

You put record.

Speaker B

And we just started talking about.

Speaker B

Well, no, you about it.

Andrew Rappaport

You posted something about Buddy the Elf, and I tagged Chris and said he would love this.

Andrew Rappaport

And you actually took that serious.

Andrew Rappaport

Because he didn't know Chris, and I.

Speaker B

Thought it was serious.

Andrew Rappaport

And.

Andrew Rappaport

Yeah, yeah.

Andrew Rappaport

No, I.

Andrew Rappaport

So, so, so I am Andrew Rapper.

Andrew Rappaport

So folks realize.

Speaker B

But all this intro.

Speaker B

Andrew, what do you do?

Speaker B

Tell me about your life.

Chris Honholz

Well, harassing Chris at every.

Andrew Rappaport

I like to harass Chris at every opportunity.

Andrew Rappaport

And look, he said that James White outdid me.

Andrew Rappaport

I cannot be outdone by James White.

Andrew Rappaport

It's just.

Andrew Rappaport

So I made sure that.

Andrew Rappaport

And I told Chris I wasn't going to stop till he admitted that I did better than James White.

Chris Honholz

I succeeded better as a relative term.

Chris Honholz

Well, depending on your perspective.

Andrew Rappaport

So, yeah, so I'm with a ministry called Striving for Attorney Ministries.

Andrew Rappaport

For the most part, we're very serious.

Andrew Rappaport

Unless Kristen's involved.

Andrew Rappaport

I'm saying that.

Andrew Rappaport

And Caleb is going, look, I hung out with you at Fight Laugh Feast, and, yeah, I.

Andrew Rappaport

I know you're a jokester.

Speaker B

He's a practical jokester, which that's immediately why I thought we should be friends.

Speaker B

Yes, continue.

Andrew Rappaport

Yeah, so I do.

Andrew Rappaport

I do a couple podcasts.

Andrew Rappaport

My.

Andrew Rappaport

The two that I mostly do is Andrew Rappaport's Rap Report, which is basically Biblical Interpretations, Applications, the Christian Life, and then a live stream on Thursday nights, 8 Eastern time, which is called Apologetics Live.

Andrew Rappaport

And you just go to apologeticslive.com and I can.

Andrew Rappaport

I tell people every week I can answer any question they have about God in the Bible.

Andrew Rappaport

And if they doubt me, come on in the show, ask me their hardest question.

Andrew Rappaport

The thing that most people struggle with is they don't realize that I don't know is actually an answer.

Speaker B

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Andrew Rappaport

Surprise.

Speaker B

I'm not afraid to use that either.

Speaker B

I'm not afraid to say I don't know.

Speaker B

I'm not.

Speaker B

I'm not sure, but I can find out.

Speaker B

I've got friends that are smart enough to figure things out, too.

Speaker B

So I just, you know, I can ping them and say, hey, you know, can you answer this for me?

Speaker B

Can you help with this?

Speaker B

So, yeah.

Andrew Rappaport

Yeah.

Speaker B

Okay.

Speaker B

So, Chris, what.

Speaker B

Tell me how you got started in.

Chris Honholz

Doing the podcast that's so convoluted.

Chris Honholz

It started when you got volunteered for it.

Chris Honholz

I was just gonna say I got voluntold.

Speaker B

Sure.

Speaker B

Kind of like this podcast.

Speaker B

Yes.

Chris Honholz

Yeah, exactly.

Chris Honholz

So what happened was the person I was friends with at the Time was starting his own podcast, and it was hosted on something called blog Talk radio.

Chris Honholz

And it was a live radio type show.

Chris Honholz

And he was looking for somebody to help run the sound, the virtual soundboard.

Chris Honholz

And all I did was hit the like button.

Chris Honholz

And next thing I know, I'm being told, I was hoping you'd volunteer, Chris.

Chris Honholz

The next thing I know, I'm out buying a new laptop because the one I didn't have at time was completely incapable of doing it.

Chris Honholz

And this is well before the variety of equipment that's available today for recording podcasts was available.

Chris Honholz

I mean, we were cobbling things together.

Chris Honholz

You're doing things over cell phones, you.

Chris Honholz

You're, you know, using cheap headsets, trying to make it work.

Chris Honholz

And so I learned on the fly how to get involved in.

Chris Honholz

In podcasting.

Chris Honholz

And eventually myself and Richard Story, who was also recruited at one point, would begin to kind of host alternatively when our friend was.

Chris Honholz

Was not available and, you know, he might be out at a conference or some evangelistic evangelism event.

Chris Honholz

And so we would host in.

Chris Honholz

In the interval.

Chris Honholz

And so over time, we spent a couple of years doing that, and then at one point, I felt compelled to step away.

Chris Honholz

Was being introduced into a whole new world that I'd not really been part of, and that was just how insane Christian social media can be.

Speaker B

So, I mean, they're so kind all the time.

Chris Honholz

Nobody ever takes shots.

Andrew Rappaport

You're obviously not on my feet.

Chris Honholz

So I had stepped away for a time, and unfortunately, me doing that, I think kind of was the tipping point for the show and things kind of wound down.

Andrew Rappaport

Well, Chris, I don't know, you know, Caleb, this might be a bad thing thing, but you know that his very last guest on that show he's referring to was me.

Speaker B

You broke his show.

Andrew Rappaport

I broke.

Andrew Rappaport

So just saying, if this, folks, if this is the last episode you hear of Caleb Gordon, you know why?

Speaker B

Yeah, Caleb Gordon program is completely just shattered because Andrew's now on it.

Speaker B

Well, not.

Speaker B

Wait a second, you've been on once before.

Speaker B

This is your second time, Andrew.

Speaker B

So you didn't bring it last time.

Speaker B

So I'll.

Andrew Rappaport

Give me time.

Chris Honholz

So.

Chris Honholz

But anyways, I had taken a step away trying to discern why I did what I did.

Chris Honholz

And.

Chris Honholz

And over time, Rich and I maintained our friendship, and we began talking about, well, what if we did something, you know, and it was back and forth and back and forth, and it came out that it came to fruition that Voice of Reason Radio was born.

Chris Honholz

And that was a really bad marketing decision because we had no idea how many atheist programs use that name.

Speaker B

Oh, wow.

Speaker B

Okay.

Speaker B

Yeah.

Chris Honholz

So we're like, well, we had to constantly qualify.

Chris Honholz

And for the first couple years that we did it, it was really hit and miss.

Chris Honholz

You know, we would record when we were able.

Chris Honholz

We have very small audience, like double digits, if we were lucky.

Chris Honholz

Small.

Chris Honholz

And 2019, I had the opportunity to go to.

Chris Honholz

And this was something Andrew actually made happen.

Chris Honholz

I had a opportunity to go to Shepherd's Conference.

Chris Honholz

I told you, occasionally he's a nice guy and he's generous.

Chris Honholz

He's occasionally nice and generous.

Chris Honholz

This was one of those things.

Chris Honholz

And it was there that I actually ended up getting to meet some of the people that knew of what we were doing, even if they weren't regular listeners and they appreciated what we were doing.

Chris Honholz

And that prompted me coming back to say, we need to be more respectful of the listeners and try to put out something more consistently.

Speaker B

Sure.

Chris Honholz

And that's where we became a bit more.

Chris Honholz

As best.

Chris Honholz

As much as we could to be more weekly.

Chris Honholz

And we, for a time, had a decent little audience.

Chris Honholz

It was probably in the.

Chris Honholz

You know, we would be thrilled to see, like, three, 400 downloads of an episode on a regular basis.

Chris Honholz

And so there was a period where we kind of spiked really high, and then it kind of tapered off, which is fine.

Chris Honholz

It's not about the numbers.

Chris Honholz

And we were just thrilled that people were listening at all.

Chris Honholz

So that brought us up to this last summer when things for Rich really just had been.

Chris Honholz

He had him.

Chris Honholz

He and his family just had a lot of difficulties, and the show takes a back seat.

Chris Honholz

We always had.

Chris Honholz

We always had two goals.

Chris Honholz

Number one was to honor God in anything we did.

Chris Honholz

And number two was to edify the saints.

Chris Honholz

But we always said that our priority was our own family and our own churches, and if that.

Chris Honholz

If ever the podcast was an obstacle to that, that podcast would be shelved.

Chris Honholz

And so Rich became the priority.

Chris Honholz

He had to take care of his family.

Chris Honholz

I tried to do it for a little while, but I was also newly retired at the time.

Chris Honholz

I was getting into a new job, and I just started attending seminary this last semester virtually.

Speaker B

Oh, very cool.

Chris Honholz

And, yeah, and I'm now part of a Reformed Baptist seminary.

Chris Honholz

Just wrapped up my first semester with the preparatory classes.

Chris Honholz

And next semester.

Chris Honholz

Next semester will be my first real, real course, and it'll be in apologetics.

Chris Honholz

And so it was like, with all that going on, hey, the podcast has got a.

Chris Honholz

Gotta be on pause for a time, but I've continued to keep writing, trying to put out, you know, Some articles on Twitter, slash X, whatever you want to call it, and, but also echoing those over on our website.

Andrew Rappaport

So he was so dedicated to his audience, he actually read the book White Fragility so that he could explain to.

Speaker B

His audience that was painful.

Speaker B

It sounds like, yeah, that would be a painful thing to do.

Chris Honholz

It very much is.

Chris Honholz

I have never written in a book as much as I did.

Chris Honholz

I don't think I've written in my Bible as much as I wrote in that book.

Chris Honholz

And that's not to say I don't do that.

Chris Honholz

But it was painful.

Chris Honholz

It was.

Chris Honholz

Samuel, say, referred to it as he would rather do surgery on himself without anesthesia and never have to read that book again.

Chris Honholz

And I firmly agree with him.

Andrew Rappaport

Chris, did you ever get a chance to watch Am I Racist From Matt Walsh?

Andrew Rappaport

When.

Chris Honholz

No, I never have.

Chris Honholz

I've heard lots about it.

Andrew Rappaport

I want to watch that.

Andrew Rappaport

So the author of that book came on and I would like to love to see the full.

Andrew Rappaport

I think he said it was an hour and a half, two hour interview with her.

Speaker B

Interview.

Andrew Rappaport

But at the end of the interview, for folks who don't know, Robin D'Angelo is like big on reparations.

Andrew Rappaport

And also Matt Walsh actually brings on a black producer that's been working with him and he turns to her and goes, well, shouldn't we do reparations?

Andrew Rappaport

And he takes like 20 out of his wallet and gives it to the, to the guy.

Andrew Rappaport

And she goes, he goes, don't you think you should do the same?

Andrew Rappaport

And she's like, well, I don't want to offend him.

Andrew Rappaport

And he's like, I don't mind money.

Andrew Rappaport

And like he, he's.

Andrew Rappaport

Matt Walsh is going like, don't you think we should set the example?

Andrew Rappaport

I mean, we shouldn't let the, like, she's arguing that the government should do reparations, not her personally.

Speaker B

Yeah, yeah.

Andrew Rappaport

And he's like, well, don't you think, you know, we should set the example?

Andrew Rappaport

So she, she gets guilted into going to her wallet and taking money out.

Andrew Rappaport

Now one of the things is that Matt Walsh, with every single interview, he, he puts the price tag of what they charged for an interview.

Andrew Rappaport

And so he, he did that at the beginning of the interview with her.

Andrew Rappaport

And then she gives like, I think it was $70.

Andrew Rappaport

So he gives the price minus $70.

Speaker B

So, okay, so he had to pay these people.

Andrew Rappaport

Yeah, it was really interesting.

Andrew Rappaport

The person he paid the most at $50,000.

Andrew Rappaport

$50,000 was a, was someone by me here.

Andrew Rappaport

So there was a woman who brought her Child to Sesame street place, which is not far from where I live.

Andrew Rappaport

And she ended up trying to sue them for racism.

Andrew Rappaport

Because one of the characters, and if you watch the video, the character shakes the hands of a child, looks up at an adult and passes right past her children.

Andrew Rappaport

And she says, that's racist.

Andrew Rappaport

And Matt Walsh actually asked her, do you.

Andrew Rappaport

Do you know the race of the person in the costume?

Andrew Rappaport

And she goes, well, no, because they won't tell me.

Andrew Rappaport

You know, it's like really clear.

Andrew Rappaport

Like, how do you know it's racist?

Chris Honholz

Right?

Speaker B

You don't know.

Speaker B

You don't.

Andrew Rappaport

You have no idea.

Andrew Rappaport

She charged 50, $50,000 for an interview.

Chris Honholz

Yeah.

Chris Honholz

Now I can tell you the answers to why they can say that.

Chris Honholz

Because According to Robin D'Angelo, the intent makes no difference.

Chris Honholz

It is how it is received.

Chris Honholz

So as long as it is received as racism, end of story is racism.

Speaker B

That is so wild.

Andrew Rappaport

Even if it's from someone who's black, doesn't matter.

Andrew Rappaport

That's right.

Chris Honholz

As long as it is received as racism.

Chris Honholz

The reception, not the intent, is common.

Speaker B

Sense is out the window, guys.

Chris Honholz

It's just crazy.

Chris Honholz

So.

Chris Honholz

Absolutely.

Speaker B

So I'm going to switch gears.

Speaker B

This is a 40 minute program, so I'm going to switch gears and we're going to jump into evangelism.

Speaker B

I want to talk about.

Speaker B

You have Striving for Eternity Ministries, Andrew, what do you think needs to take place for effective evangelism?

Speaker B

Because I feel like there's.

Speaker B

The evangelism in the church, by and large is very faulty.

Speaker B

I just, I feel it's very shallow and very faulty.

Speaker B

Give us sort of a.

Speaker B

What's the best way to evangelize?

Andrew Rappaport

Well, I don't have the advantage that Chris has of putting someone in the back of my patrol car and having a captive audience.

Andrew Rappaport

Okay.

Andrew Rappaport

So I don't have that advantage.

Andrew Rappaport

He has.

Andrew Rappaport

I, I know other police officers that take the long way back to the station, you know, when someone's in the back of their car.

Andrew Rappaport

But I, I really think that.

Andrew Rappaport

But what is effective?

Andrew Rappaport

What I find effective is really to a couple things.

Andrew Rappaport

So we at striving turn, we refer to ambassador evangelism.

Andrew Rappaport

That's what we train people with because it's not just the message, but how you conduct yourself.

Andrew Rappaport

And so we have three, three points to it.

Andrew Rappaport

One, you want to disarm the person you're speaking to.

Andrew Rappaport

Disarm their defenses by using humor and being polite.

Andrew Rappaport

It doesn't mean you gotta be a jokester, but it means that they anticipate when you talk about things of the spiritual realm.

Andrew Rappaport

Everything in media is telling them that a Christian is a just a bigoted, mean person who's got no fun whatsoever.

Andrew Rappaport

I want to have a good conversation.

Andrew Rappaport

I've learned that using humor and being polite keeps the conversation going.

Andrew Rappaport

It keeps it where they enjoy the conversation.

Andrew Rappaport

And the other thing is what that does is it keeps kind of light hearted on the minor things because the gospel's offensive enough.

Andrew Rappaport

So I want the gospel to be offense and not me.

Speaker B

Come on.

Speaker B

Yes.

Andrew Rappaport

But guess what?

Andrew Rappaport

They're not the only one that could be defensive.

Andrew Rappaport

So our second principle is to disarm my own defenses by learning how to ask good questions.

Andrew Rappaport

So I have learned the hard way that by asking questions I can control the conversation.

Andrew Rappaport

But it keeps me off the defensive.

Andrew Rappaport

It keeps me from getting where I start, like getting as agitated as they are.

Andrew Rappaport

And then we're getting into a debate.

Andrew Rappaport

I don't want that.

Andrew Rappaport

I want them to listen.

Speaker B

Answer correct.

Andrew Rappaport

And so, and the third, and this is, I think really important because the first two are not really about the gospel.

Andrew Rappaport

The third is I have found that, that mo.

Andrew Rappaport

So my background for folks who don't know anything about me, I'm from a Jewish background.

Andrew Rappaport

I knew nothing about Jesus Christ other than he was Hitler's God.

Andrew Rappaport

I'm sorry if that offends you, but that's how we're raised.

Andrew Rappaport

Okay.

Andrew Rappaport

Hitler was funded by the Catholic Church.

Andrew Rappaport

That's Jesus.

Andrew Rappaport

So Jesus was Hitler's God in our mindset.

Andrew Rappaport

And so I was struggling when I was in college with how to share the gospel and explain what a sinner is.

Andrew Rappaport

And because that just sounds offensive, you call someone a sinner.

Andrew Rappaport

It's true.

Andrew Rappaport

Biblically, but.

Speaker B

Right.

Andrew Rappaport

So I started to look for ways to define what sin is.

Andrew Rappaport

And I had some ways that I different.

Andrew Rappaport

I tried.

Andrew Rappaport

And then eventually I discovered this guy, Ray Comfort, and he did it well.

Andrew Rappaport

So our third principle is avoid being called judgmental by using the law.

Andrew Rappaport

So I use the law of God.

Andrew Rappaport

Have you ever told a lie?

Andrew Rappaport

Have you ever coveted.

Andrew Rappaport

Have you ever murdered somebody?

Andrew Rappaport

Have you ever committed adultery?

Andrew Rappaport

I can go through the law, and that is the definition of sin.

Andrew Rappaport

So that no matter who I'm talking to, Jehovah Witness, Roman Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, atheist, it doesn't matter.

Andrew Rappaport

Every single person knows lying is wrong, Stealing is wrong, murder is wrong, adultery is wrong.

Andrew Rappaport

They know that because God has put his law in our hearts.

Andrew Rappaport

We have this universal law.

Speaker B

Yeah.

Speaker B

By default.

Speaker B

Cy, Tim, Brook and Kate.

Chris Honholz

He.

Speaker B

I mean, when he had.

Speaker B

He's on the show last year.

Speaker B

And you know that's.

Speaker B

You know, that's you.

Speaker B

I don't have to explain God to you.

Speaker B

You already know he's there.

Speaker B

So that's by default.

Speaker B

It's.

Andrew Rappaport

Yeah.

Speaker B

And when you start to lay those out.

Speaker B

And I love how Ray does that.

Speaker B

And that's, that's, that's how I stepped into evangelism, was through Way of the Master and did all those fun things.

Speaker B

In fact, that's how I saw you for the first time.

Speaker B

And then you.

Speaker B

You look like your picture in.

Speaker B

In your little.

Speaker B

In your little box there with no beard.

Speaker B

And you show up at 5 lapis with a beard and completely throw me off.

Speaker B

And I talked to you for 20 minutes like a buffoon.

Speaker B

And somebody walks by, he's like, hey, what's up, Robert Port?

Speaker B

And I was like, wait.

Andrew Rappaport

So, yeah, you know.

Andrew Rappaport

So Sai came into my recent.

Andrew Rappaport

Recently I had Leighton Flowers on my apologies get invited to that podcast.

Speaker B

Thanks for no invitation.

Speaker B

Appreciate that.

Andrew Rappaport

No one needs an invitation.

Andrew Rappaport

Apologetics live.com any Thursday night, 8 to 10 Eastern time.

Andrew Rappaport

You can come in side took advantage of that.

Andrew Rappaport

That although he had Internet trouble.

Andrew Rappaport

So he was in and out, in and out.

Andrew Rappaport

But.

Andrew Rappaport

But yeah.

Andrew Rappaport

Sai.

Andrew Rappaport

So let me give some background.

Andrew Rappaport

Some people may not.

Andrew Rappaport

If.

Andrew Rappaport

If you've watched his film that he does, how to Answer a Fool.

Andrew Rappaport

He tells the story of this Buddhist guy that he's talking to in California.

Andrew Rappaport

It's in Santa Monica.

Andrew Rappaport

I don't know if he mentions that in the film, but he mentions a guy that he talks to that he's saying.

Andrew Rappaport

The guy's saying, I don't believe God exists.

Andrew Rappaport

And he says, yes, you do.

Andrew Rappaport

And he's like.

Andrew Rappaport

The guy just shakes his head.

Andrew Rappaport

Yeah, yeah, you're right.

Andrew Rappaport

I was actually there in Santa Monica, Versailles, and I just went for pizza.

Andrew Rappaport

We are coming back and we run into this.

Andrew Rappaport

This guy.

Andrew Rappaport

And it was.

Andrew Rappaport

It was the funny.

Andrew Rappaport

I wish that I had my camera running because this guy was trying to say, well, God.

Andrew Rappaport

God doesn't really exist as he's studying Buddhism.

Andrew Rappaport

And Cy just looks at him and says, you know, God exists.

Andrew Rappaport

And the guy just looks down, shakes his head and goes, yeah, yeah, you're right.

Andrew Rappaport

It's like they suppress that in unrighteousness.

Andrew Rappaport

That's the advantage that we have no matter who we speak to.

Andrew Rappaport

Our starting point is we already know from Romans chapter one, they know God exists.

Andrew Rappaport

They just suppress that in unrighteousness.

Andrew Rappaport

I don't have to argue for God.

Andrew Rappaport

I can start with.

Andrew Rappaport

So I have.

Andrew Rappaport

I have.

Andrew Rappaport

I'm A presuppositionalist.

Andrew Rappaport

I have two presuppositions, two things that I'm going to start with.

Andrew Rappaport

God exists and he has spoken.

Andrew Rappaport

So I start with his existence and his by his word, the Bible.

Andrew Rappaport

I don't give up the Bible to try to prove truth.

Speaker B

Amen.

Andrew Rappaport

You know, and no.

Speaker B

No sense in that.

Andrew Rappaport

Anyone that's listened to Voice of Reason radio, you.

Andrew Rappaport

You hear, you know, in their back episodes now.

Andrew Rappaport

But Chris and Richard deal with that a lot and talk about Evangelum a lot.

Andrew Rappaport

And especially Richard.

Andrew Rappaport

You know, Richard will always end the show telling you to go evangelize someone that week.

Chris Honholz

Absolutely.

Andrew Rappaport

And they will point out that, you know, when you're speaking to someone, that person already knows God exists.

Andrew Rappaport

They're just suppressing that.

Speaker B

Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Speaker B

And anytime I've gone that route, used the law, talked to these things that people start, they come around and they're like, okay, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Speaker B

I mean, I've got an atheist friend.

Speaker B

I know.

Speaker B

It's wild to think that I have a friend that's an atheist.

Chris Honholz

No, no.

Andrew Rappaport

I was just surprised that you have a friend.

Andrew Rappaport

Not that he's an atheist.

Speaker B

Chris, he's so mean.

Speaker B

You tried to warn me.

Speaker B

I know.

Speaker B

So John has been to church with me 17 times.

Speaker B

I pastor in Kansas, and he is down in the farthest, almost into Texas.

Speaker B

And he showed up one day.

Chris Honholz

I was shocked.

Speaker B

It's a small little country church, and he is standing in the back.

Speaker B

I mean, if, you know this guy's got green Mohawk.

Speaker B

And I was like, what is he doing?

Speaker B

He goes, I heard my buddy at a church and I had to come check it out.

Speaker B

And I was like, you know, this is called the Effectual Call of the Holy Spirit.

Speaker B

You didn't drive all the way up.

Speaker B

He's like, whatever.

Speaker B

I just.

Speaker B

I have a friend that's in a crummy band.

Speaker B

And, you know, you're.

Speaker B

You're in the band and I just support you because you're my friend.

Speaker B

I'm like, I don't know.

Speaker B

He's been to church 17 times now, and we debate often.

Speaker B

He calls me on Christmas Eve and we talk for an hour, and he's like, hey, it's your God's birthday today.

Speaker B

And, you know, I'm just like, it's, you know, that.

Speaker B

Doing this stuff.

Speaker B

And I'm like, okay, bring it on, on.

Speaker B

And it's funny because he says this to me.

Speaker B

You're the nicest Christian I've ever met, and you have a good sense of humor.

Speaker B

And I Was like we should all be that way.

Speaker B

I mean we should be the happiest people in the world, right?

Speaker B

Christians should not be that, you know, looking like we've been weaned on a dill pickle.

Speaker B

So I mean just, you know, I love that I credit my dad.

Speaker B

That was my dad's God rest his soul.

Speaker B

That was, that was his quip.

Speaker B

So yeah, I think go evangelize people.

Speaker B

So in the few minutes we've got left here, Chris, what is your plan for 2025 when it comes to your ministry your in seminary?

Speaker B

Do you have a plan to expand what you're doing in your realm of kingdom work?

Chris Honholz

A plan would assume I have any clue I'm doing in all honesty.

Chris Honholz

I mean Rich's scenario is he's.

Chris Honholz

And I've asked people, you know, please keep him in your prayers because they.

Andrew Rappaport

Have had they and for folks, Rich is your co host.

Andrew Rappaport

Just folks who may not know.

Chris Honholz

So after the holidays are done, I'm going to revisit whether or not we can, you know, what, what will Voice Reason Radio look like?

Chris Honholz

We've never plan to, you know, to turn it down and shut it, you know, close up the shop and be done.

Chris Honholz

And so hopefully we will be able to reboot that and kind of it's definitely not going to have the same amount of traffic.

Chris Honholz

I mean with me doing school and working full time and stuff like that, it was a little bit difficult to do as it was but you know, solo has made it more difficult.

Chris Honholz

So my hope is if we can do it, I can get Rich back.

Chris Honholz

And that's my prayer for that and at least hopefully get at least one show out per month, maybe two if we're, if we're blessed.

Chris Honholz

And I've really spent a lot more time starting to write more.

Chris Honholz

The class that the preparatory classes I had to take this semester were.

Chris Honholz

One was just how to use logos in general.

Chris Honholz

And Andrew, I'm sorry it was your material was not on the, on the syllabus.

Andrew Rappaport

So he's saying that, he's saying that for folks that don't get that inside joke is so I am a big Logos Bible software user.

Andrew Rappaport

I have an extensive library and a lot of people would ask me how do you even use this tool?

Andrew Rappaport

I don't know.

Andrew Rappaport

So there's there I've done a couple of training videos to help people, you know, learn how to use it.

Speaker B

Have they sponsored you yet?

Andrew Rappaport

Yeah, they, they do.

Andrew Rappaport

If you go to lagos.comsfa you, you can get discounts there.

Andrew Rappaport

If you get Upgrades.

Chris Honholz

So.

Chris Honholz

But that was one of my classes.

Chris Honholz

And then the other one was research and writing, which gave me heart palpitations because I haven't had a research paper in nearly 30 years.

Chris Honholz

I graduated from University of Nevada Reno with a Bachelor of Arts in criminal justice in 1996.

Chris Honholz

So the idea of going in and having to do research papers again with absolutely no clue was a bit terrifying.

Andrew Rappaport

Wait, Chris, you do realize there's some people in the audience that weren't even born in 1996.

Chris Honholz

Shut up.

Speaker B

You're old man.

Chris Honholz

Anyway, so that was a little terrifying.

Speaker B

I was a sophomore in high school.

Speaker B

Is that okay?

Chris Honholz

Well, you weren't that far behind me, thank the Lord.

Chris Honholz

But anyway, this last semester I spent a lot of time learning how to relearn, how to research and interact with scholarship.

Chris Honholz

And I haven't got my final grade back on my term paper.

Chris Honholz

But my second draft was an A minus.

Chris Honholz

My first draft turned in.

Chris Honholz

They always tell you expect that first draft to be a failing grade.

Chris Honholz

I had a D and then it jumped up to an A minus.

Chris Honholz

So that was encouraging.

Chris Honholz

And know reminding me how to read other stuff, other materials.

Chris Honholz

How to quote it.

Chris Honholz

How to quote it.

Speaker B

Yeah.

Chris Honholz

And interact with it properly.

Chris Honholz

Which shockingly most people on the Internet don't seem to know how to do ever.

Chris Honholz

Even when you just made a post five minutes ago, they have no idea how to argue.

Speaker B

Most people don't read it.

Chris Honholz

No, they just.

Chris Honholz

They jump to whatever.

Chris Honholz

Yeah.

Chris Honholz

So how do people spend more time writing as I do more.

Speaker B

So where do people find your.

Speaker B

And just.

Speaker B

I've got just a couple minutes left here.

Speaker B

So how many or where can you find where you.

Speaker B

What you're writing?

Chris Honholz

The easiest place to go is slavetotheking.com that's our one stop shop website.

Chris Honholz

If you are someone who spends a lot of time on Twitter slash X you can find me on there.

Chris Honholz

And I actually have paid for the Blue Check service where you can have access to write articles.

Speaker B

Blue Check Celebrity.

Chris Honholz

Wow.

Chris Honholz

Yeah, I did it because I wanted the character limit.

Chris Honholz

I don't know how to be pithy.

Chris Honholz

No, I'm terrible at that.

Chris Honholz

Andrew can confirm.

Chris Honholz

I don't know how to talk that short.

Chris Honholz

So.

Chris Honholz

So I also put dark there.

Chris Honholz

So.

Chris Honholz

So slave to the king.com and you can also find me on Twitter as well.

Speaker B

And Andrew, how do people get a hold of you in the.

Speaker B

In the two minutes we got left on here?

Speaker B

How do people find you?

Speaker B

And if.

Speaker B

If they want to have you come speak at your.

Speaker B

I mean do you guys go and Speak at conferences.

Speaker B

If you.

Speaker B

Yeah.

Speaker B

Want to have you come speak.

Chris Honholz

He does.

Chris Honholz

I don't.

Speaker B

Okay.

Andrew Rappaport

Yeah.

Andrew Rappaport

I try to get Chris to speak.

Andrew Rappaport

He hasn't done it yet.

Andrew Rappaport

But the easiest thing is to go to StrivingFraternity.org if that's too long for you, you can do SFE Bible.

Andrew Rappaport

But we do have.

Andrew Rappaport

Not just me, we have three other speakers with the ministry.

Andrew Rappaport

So the difference with us, Caleb and I think you've.

Andrew Rappaport

You and I have talked about this is our ministry is to really help smaller churches.

Andrew Rappaport

So we'll go.

Andrew Rappaport

So if you're saying if there's someone listening and going, well, I got a small church, we'd love to have that conference like experience, but we can't afford it.

Andrew Rappaport

That's where you call us.

Andrew Rappaport

We could bring our speakers out, our monthly donors help us to support us so that we can go to churches that can't afford to pay us, and we fly out and give them a weekend seminar conference like experience so that their church can help to not only be discipled, but start growing.

Andrew Rappaport

And so if you want to check out any one of our speakers, just go to striving4enerity.org you can see all of our speakers that we have there.

Speaker B

Love it.

Speaker B

Well, thanks so much for taking time to talk to us on the show today.

Speaker B

It's been a blessing to meet both of you.

Speaker B

I appreciate you more than you know.

Speaker B

Thank you for being faithful to the king.

Andrew Rappaport

Well, thanks for having us, Caleb.

Andrew Rappaport

Greatly appreciate it.

Chris Honholz

Thank you.

Chris Honholz

Yep, recording stopped.