Suffering: The Test of Your Theology (Dr. Rick Holland) Video Review

September 16, 2026

Dr. Rick Holland addresses the intersection of suffering and theology, particularly emphasizing that success is a test of belief just as much as hardship. In his teachings, he argues that while suffering reveals the depth of one’s faith, prosperity can be equally deceptive, potentially leading to pride or a false sense of self-sufficiency.

Holland’s theological framework, often delivered in contexts like the Shepherds’ Conference or at Mission Road Bible Church, highlights several key perspectives:

Sovereignty and Suffering: He teaches that a mature Christian response involves recognizing suffering as coming from the loving hand of God, who uses it to refine character and deepen reliance on Him rather than self.
The “Jar of Clay”: Drawing from 2 Corinthians 12, Holland emphasizes that human weakness and suffering serve to demonstrate that surpassing power belongs to God, not to us, preventing spiritual arrogance.
Fearless Ministry: In his reflections on 2 Corinthians 11, Holland connects suffering with the call to fearless ministry, noting that leaders like the Apostle Paul endured hardship as an integral part of their calling and witness.
Pastoral Care: He warns against using simplistic theological clichés (like Romans 8:28) to comfort those in pain, advocating instead for a nuanced understanding that acknowledges the reality of pain while trusting in God’s ultimate sovereignty and good purposes.

Holland’s message consistently points to Christ-centered endurance, where suffering is not meaningless but is used by God to conform believers to the image of Jesus Christ, who Himself endured the cross for the joy set before Him.

What Does The KJV Bible Say?

Suffering is the ultimate diagnostic tool for a Christian’s true beliefs, revealing whether their theology is a deeply rooted reality or merely theoretical. In his teaching, Dr. Rick Holland outlines that while anyone can proclaim God’s goodness and sovereignty during times of comfort, it is the pressure of trials that tests the genuineness of that faith. True Christian theology does not shield a believer from pain; rather, it provides a stable framework to look past the circumstances and find an enduring, settled joy in Christ.

10 KJV Scriptural Foundations for a Theology of Suffering

The following table matches 10 core principles of Dr. Rick Holland’s theology of suffering with foundational King James Version (KJV) text:

#	Theological Principle	KJV Scripture Reference	Core Biblical Truth
1	Inevitability of Trials	James 1:2-3	“My brethren, count it all joy when ye fall into divers temptations; Knowing this, that the trying of your faith worketh patience.”
2	Refining Purpose of Pain	1 Peter 1:6-7	“That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise…”
3	Sovereignty in Adversity	Romans 8:28	“And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”
4	Identification with Christ	Philippians 3:10	“That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death.”
5	Temporal vs. Eternal Vision	2 Corinthians 4:17	“For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.”
6	Sufficiency of Divine Grace	2 Corinthians 12:9	“And he said unto me, My grace is sufficient for thee: for my strength is made perfect in weakness.”
7	Comfort Meant to Be Shared	2 Corinthians 1:3-4	“…the God of all comfort; Who comforteth us in all our tribulation, that we may be able to comfort them which are in any trouble…”
8	The Testing of Patience	Romans 5:3-4	“…but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience; And patience, experience; and experience, hope.”
9	The Boundary of Suffering	1 Peter 5:10	“But the God of all grace… after that ye have suffered a while, make you perfect, stablish, strengthen, settle you.”
10	Trusting the Faithful Creator	1 Peter 4:19	“Wherefore let them that suffer according to the will of God commit the keeping of their souls to him in well doing, as unto a faithful Creator.”

10 Practical Examples: How Suffering Tests Your Theology

The Blueprint of Sovereignty: A believer faces a sudden, devastating financial collapse. If their functional theology dictates that God exists primarily to grant material prosperity, their faith breaks. If their theology centers on a truly sovereign God, they echo Job: “The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.”
The Mirage of Autonomy: Severe chronic illness leaves an individual entirely dependent on others. This tests whether they view their body as their own property or as a vessel belonging entirely to the Lord for His unique purposes.
The Test of Goodness: The tragic loss of a child forces a parent to reconcile their grief with God’s character. True theology allows them to weep deeply without charging God with foolishness or cruelty.
The Pruning of Self-Reliance: A sudden career termination shatters an individual’s identity. This trial exposes whether their security was resting on their own competence or on the unshakeable cornerstone of Christ.
The Evaluation of Prayer: Unanswered prayers for physical healing reveal the heart’s true posture. It tests whether prayer is treated as a celestial vending machine or as a means of aligning one’s will to the Father’s.
The Exposure of Bitterness: Betrayal by a close ministry partner or friend tests a Christian’s theology of total depravity and forgiveness. It forces them to choose between harbor-bound bitterness or extending Christlike grace.
The Anchor of Hope: A terminal medical diagnosis reveals whether a believer’s hope is bound to this present world or anchored securely within the veil of eternity.
The Reality of Community: Going through a trial alone tests whether a Christian values the local church as an essential, organic body of Christ or views it merely as a casual social club.
The Furnace of Sanctification: Small, everyday irritations—like relational friction—act as minor pressures. Like a leaky tire under stress, these micro-trials reveal the hidden pockets of impatience, pride, and sin remaining in the heart.
The Shield Against Despair: When a catastrophic global crisis occurs, a believer’s peace tests their understanding of eschatology and divine control. It proves if they genuinely believe Christ has already overcome the world.

Myers-Briggs (INTJ/INFJ Perspective) Analyst Report

Systemic Classification: INTJ (Architect) / INFJ (Advocate) Analytical Lens.
Core Assessment: From a structural personality perspective, Holland’s framework treats human emotion and experience as secondary outputs of an underlying cognitive architecture (theology). The INTJ/INFJ mind highly appreciates this approach because it demands intellectual integrity and internal consistency. Suffering acts as the friction that tests the structural validity of a person’s worldview.
Strategic Outlook: The report indicates that a failure to withstand suffering points to a flawed internal map. For an INTJ, suffering is an optimization process—it ruthlessly strips away illogical, sentimental, and prosperity-driven theological assumptions. For an INFJ, it reframes pain away from random cruelty and elevates it into a purposeful, deeply meaningful tool for soul development and ultimate sanctification.

Dr. John MacArthur Analyst Report

Systemic Classification: Expository, Cessationist, Reformed, Lordship Salvation Framework.
Core Assessment: Dr. Rick Holland’s foundational years as Executive Pastor under John MacArthur heavily inform this perspective. MacArthur’s theological report on suffering affirms that God’s primary goal for the believer is not their immediate happiness, but His own glory and their holiness. Suffering is expected; it is the natural byproduct of living in a fallen world as a citizen of a heavenly kingdom.
Strategic Outlook: The verdict is uncompromising. If your theology fails during a trial, you did not possess a biblical theology to begin with; you possessed a self-styled idol. MacArthur’s theology demands that true believers submit entirely to divine sovereignty, trusting that the same God who decrees salvation also decrees the trials meant to validate it.

Dr. Jordan Peterson Analyst Report

Systemic Classification: Pragmatic, Archetypal, Psychological-Existential Framework.
Core Assessment: Peterson examines this concept through the inevitability of tragedy and the necessity of voluntary sacrifice. From this perspective, Holland’s assertion that “suffering tests theology” translates to the psychological truth that your foundational values are only visible when life becomes chaotic. If your value structure cannot withstand the weight of existence, you will collapse into nihilism or resentment.
Strategic Outlook: Peterson’s analysis aligns with the idea of taking up your cross. He argues that trying to avoid suffering through “cheap grace” or shallow ideologies leaves a person fragile. True theology, in a psychological sense, is a structure of meaning robust enough to allow an individual to look straight into the abyss of suffering, accept responsibility, and continue to walk uprightly without becoming corrupt.

Paul Washer Analyst Report

Systemic Classification: Heart-Searching, Puritan-Evangelical, Radical Sanctification Framework.
Core Assessment: Washer’s assessment hits with direct, sobering force. He views suffering not as an abstract theological exam, but as a severe mercy from God designed to smash worldliness out of the heart. To Washer, a theology that only works when things are comfortable is a damnable delusion.
Strategic Outlook: The report focuses heavily on self-examination. When suffering strikes and a person complains, rebels, or deserts the faith, it exposes a lack of true regeneration. Washer would argue that the furnace of affliction does not create the impurities in a believer’s heart; it merely brings the dross to the surface so it can be skimmed away by the Holy Spirit, leaving a broken, humble, and fiercely Christ-centered soul.

As You seek understanding and clarity in your life you should always turn to your Heavenly Father for Guidance

Table of Contents

Youtube Video (Todays Message)
Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?
Women are looking for a fathers love
Spiritual Order – In The Family and Church
How God Commands Us To Forgive Those Who We Have Resentment Toward
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Here is a YouTube video to help theses who need to understand someone explaining the important message, the YouTube video is called, “Suffering: The Test of Your Theology (Dr. Rick Holland)”, This video is with Dr. Rick Holland YouTube Channel:

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This is a major important point about forgiveness

Leave there thy gift before the altar, and go thy way; first be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy gift. -MATTHEW 5:24 KJV

Are You Your Own Worst Enemy?

I would start out by saying what Jesus Christ would want us to do? Pray and how should we pray? The Lord’s Prayer, and how often should we pray? Continually. Why do we use the Lord’s Prayer and not some other? The Lord’s Prayer covers all the areas that is important for our spiritual being.

When we pray the Lords prayer we ask to forgive our enemies, let God’s will be done, the kingdom to come. By praying the Lord’s prayer we let go of many thoughts we have in our head and give them back to God so we can have things revealed to us.

We must overcome resentment in our heart, and in a past video I shared about Dr. Jordan Peterson talks about how resentment can destroy us and we become our own very worst enemy and Jordan goes on to say that we must talk to people what we have resentment toward to overcome that resentment. Other people who lived in the past who talked about this is Jesus Christ and someone who is living now who talks about this daily is Brother Augustine, Dr. John MacArthur, Dr. Charles Stanley, Rev. John Piper and Pastor Paul Washer.

Women are looking for a fathers love

Women are looking for a fathers love. Its important that men understand women are looking for a fathers love and not get screwed. Woman more than anything are looking for a strong spiritual man to lead the future (the family). I think in many YouTube videos on biblical teachings, how young women are being hurt by men that are just looking to get laid instead of doing right and being in Christ and setting a good example of a strong man. We must be in Christ, hate no one, love all, forgave theses we resent, love what is right and support people who are walking with God.

Women need their fathers in their lives to be strong man to be good examples and not BETA men or weak examples of what a man should be. Its important that a man leads the way as Christ leads men, we as man need to fellow Jesus Christ to keep society from going to HELL.

Every day you can see or people watch how some men and women our living in hell without the right spiritual order then you will continue your hellish way according to 2 Peter. You can also find it in Romans. God will give you over to a reprobate mind.

And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient. – Romans 1:28 (KJV)

In Romans 1, Paul refers to something known as a reprobate mind. If you’re not familiar with the term reprobate, the literal definition in the Greek is failing to pass the test, unapproved, counterfeit.

Spiritual Order – In The Family and Church

God the father

Jesus Christ

Father (Men over women)

Mother (Women over children)

Here is Book, Chapter and Verse from the Kings James Version 1 Corinthian 11:2-16, But the main message is in 1 Corinthian 11:3: “³But I would have you know, that the head of every man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is God.”

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How God Commands Us To Forgive Those Who We Have Resentment Toward.

All of us are tested everyday by our personal internal struggle coming from resentment of what happened earlier in our lives as children typically what our mother did to us, telling how our fathers were not good enough or driving us away from our fathers when we were children. We most go to the people that we have resentment against and forgive them. By forgiving our mothers or whoever we have resentment against, God will forgive us and we can return to the heavenly Father through our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.

It was said if you don’t love everyone then you love no one. People today live like the Old Testament people did. We must forgive and love everyone as God Commanded us to do according to Matthew 22:34-40.

After Reading The Passage I would Recommend Doing A Silent Prayer

Its is said: Be still, and know that I am God: I will be exalted among the heathen, I will be exalted in the earth. Psalm 46:10 King James Version (KJV)

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In a world where it is so easy to forget the importance of God, we must remember that He is holy and will not share His glory. America has forgotten this truth and it is time for us to re-examine our relationship with God and recognize that He is the one true God who deserves our full devotion and reverence. We must remember that He will not be taken lightly or ignored, but rather should be honored as the Creator of all things. Only then can we truly experience His love and grace in our lives.

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