The Christian Optimist

This podcast does an amazing job of encouraging me to think critically of today’s messaging and compare it to God’s Word!

Be careful of the ramblings of a man who often speaks like someone that doesn’t have Jesus in his heart. Maybe if his heart wasn’t so full of hatred and sad but unresolved father issues, there’d be more room for Jesus. The Bible clearly calls for teachers to live and preach to a higher standard, something this podcast misses

I used to listen to this podcast when I attended South Loop. It kept getting more unhinged over time and I stopped listening to this and left Raef’s church. This is an abomination to God. This is not spiritual food.

As another review mentioned, Raef is a Christian Nationalist with extremely bigoted, covertly racist, and frankly weird viewpoints. I used to attend South Loop but left out of concerns over his growing tendency towards extremism. Many folks have left South Loop church because of him, even though he shrugs it off as the neighborhood being a transitory neighborhood or the move to a new facility from the old Daystar building. His blog outlines the fallacy and dangers of his viewpoints and personality. Christian Nationalism doesn’t make the country more Christian, it perverts and dilutes Christianity, infusing non-Christian worldviews into Christian theology. Even outside of his Christian Nationalist views, many in his congregation viewed him as a bully and have left. I pray that he seek counseling and develops an ear for listening to his peers and develop a true Christ centered mindset. To do otherwise would be to practice the “comfy” or “Kumbaya” Christianity he so often speaks out against. It is not too late to seek God