John earned a Masters in the Arts of Philosophy from Southern Evangelical Seminary in 2007. He is currently an instructor at a local community college, where he teaches math and philosophy. He is also the newly appointed worship director of a church in Weddington, NC, and a volleyball coach in Charlotte, NC. He and his wife, Shelby, were married in 2007 and currently reside in Charlotte.

Some of the topics John Brannon speaks on:

1. REACHING JEHOVAH'S WITNESSES WITH A TROJAN HORSE

As any Christian apologist is well aware, the charge of Biblical contradiction, if left unanswered, can damage the faith of just about anyone. If the Book that we call the inspired Word of God turns out to say one thing then another, we've got a legitimate problem on our hands. The same can be said for an organization that bases its entire theology upon a particular translation of the Bible. Enter: Jehovah's Witnesses. Jehovah's Witnesses use the New World Translation of the Bible, and claim that it is the only proper translation of the original Greek, Aramaic, and Hebrew. Unfortunately, Christians far too far too often get caught up in debating the issue of the NWT, but as apologists, we should not make such a mistake. Rather, we need to train ourselves to reach Jehovah's Witnesses by beginning where they are. Call it the Trojan horse phenomenon; constantly attacking from the outside only makes people strengthen their defenses, but if you begin your attack on the inside your chances of success exponentially increase. So, for example, you take the NWT brought to your house by the Jehovah's Witness and show him that in Revelation, both Jesus and Jehovah refers to himself as the Alpha and Omega. As another example, instead of debating whether or not Jesus really claimed to be God, you first demonstrate that Jesus is not Michael the archangel by taking your guest to the passages dealing with the temptation of Christ and then to the book of Jude and Michael's refusal to rebuke Satan. These are a sampling of what will be covered in our talk. Also to be discussed will be basic doctrine, a brief history of Jehovah's Witnesses, an evaluation of the NWT, and how to win the debate without losing the war; all of these things with the ultimate goal of reaching Jehovah's Witnesses for Christ.

2. CHRIST AND THE MEDIA

One of the modern criticisms that have been brought against the people of God is that non-believers like Jesus Christ, but they do not like most Christians. Why? Are Christians so terrible a reflection of Christ as to illicit disdain from the populace? That's probably true to an extent. But let's not forget that Paul says the Gospel of Christ is a stumbling block and offensive to those who do not believe. So, when non-believers are asked about Christians and Christ, they are really contrasting the Christ of the media with the Christ of the Bible. The Christ of the media is a loving and tolerant Christ who would never tell someone what he should or should not believe, let alone send people to hell for not following him. The Christ of the Bible, which Christians portray, is also loving and tolerant, but He demands that people turn to Him for salvation, because He alone provides the antidote for sin. "Wide is the path that leads to destruction, and narrow is the path that leads to eternal life." This is not intolerance, hatred, or some sort of elitism, it is a humble acceptance of what the Lord of glory has proclaimed necessary for salvation, that "there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." How, then, are we to navigate our way in a culture that loves a Christ of fantasy but hates the Jesus of the Bible? How do we present the Gospel in a way that is both savory and true to the Scriptures? How do we identify the many false faces of Christ that are presented on television, in universities, and even in our churches? How do we combat such powerful influences such as Oprah, who recently said that since she didn't like the idea of a "jealous God," the Old Testament must be wrong? These questions will be among the many points of discussion during our time together.