Matt Slick Live

It's Matt Slick Live! Matt is the founder and president of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry, found online at karm.org. When you have questions about Bible doctrines, turn to Matt Slick Live!

For answers, taking your calls and responding to your questions at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. Live for the newbies, if you're tuning in new. That's my real name, Matt Slick. How about that? Reverend Slick. If you want to give me a call, we have five open lines. Love to hear from you.

877-207-2276. And we're sitting right here. It's a nice Friday. Of course, the election results are not in yet, and that is a little bit disconcerting sometimes, but that's just how it is in this crazy world of ours right now. And we just got to remember that God's in control. He allows certain things to happen for certain reasons, and as Christians, we need to trust Him.

And as I have a saying, trust Him beyond our ability to understand. And you know, that reminds me, there's a scripture that is probably worth focusing on right now a little bit, considering everything that's going on. It says this in Philippians 4, 6, 7, and 8. These are great verses.

Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all comprehension, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Finally, brethren, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there's any excellence, and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things. So those are good words. That's Philippians 4, verses 6, 7, and 8.

So it's like 4, 6, you know, 4, 6, 8, but 4, 6 is right there, and you can read. Be anxious for nothing. Now, for someone like myself, who's a Type A personality, the doer, it's a little bit difficult for me to submit to that scripture because I get anxious because I have so many things to do. The challenge is to learn how to trust God through everything. I'll tell you, it's not easy. It's just not easy because we have life issues, all of us do.

We have rent and family problems and automobile problems and health issues and work stuff. I mean, there's always something, and it's very, very rarely that we have these moments where we have no pressure on us and everything's fine. But we are called to be trusting in Christ, and I'll tell you, it's tough.

I admit it's tough. We don't always do it, and that's okay. But you know what does say, be anxious for nothing, and everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. So if we're trusting God in prayer and everything, I think that we won't be as anxious as we need to be. It is a difficult time, and it's a difficult thing sometimes to trust Him.

But as you're praying, the peace of God will guard us. So it's just a good word. It's just a good word. I need to hear that. I know that you do too.

A lot of people do. All right. Hey, folks, look, if you want to give me a call and you want to talk, all you have to do is dial 877-207-2276. We have five open lines. And for those of you who are in the chat area, if you want to type a question out, I can address it that way as well.

Just read it and address it. So fighting a bit of a head cold here. This COVID is going around.

My wife has it. And so I've been exposed to it for days and days. And just moving slowly, but getting things done, getting things done. So there you go.

That's right. People are asking how my wife's doing. The fever is going down.

She's starting to get better after the eighth day of fever. So praise God. You know, she doesn't like me saying too much over the radio about her, except that she's a good woman. Nice looking, bad taste in men. And she loves the Lord. You know, that's my wife described very quickly there. So she's a good woman, except for taste in men.

That's what I like to say. She looks like it. You know, the women look women look good. You know, women just look good. Men, you know, we look like a bag of logs and women.

They just look good. And she looks good. She could have gotten anybody.

And she lowered her standards substantially. And here we are married later on. All right.

Like I said, five open lines. I want you to give me a call. 877-207-2276. And if you are interested in checking out some theology, you want to learn some theology, we have three online schools. I do recommend them. Yes, I did write them.

And yes, I'm a little bit prejudiced about them. But I can tell you this. I've spent many, many decades learning theology on the streets and in seminary and in college. And I know what is needed and what is necessary in order for people to understand the basics and a little bit more of the basics of the Christian faith. So I've included a lot of this material in the School of Theology, Apologetics and Critical Thinking. So this is not something you just get out of a book, copy, sentence, put it down there.

No, no, no, no. This is stuff that I know actually works, actually is relevant and actually is important. So if you're interested in checking some things out, you want to learn your theology. And it's not that hard. There's 90 lessons, but they're short lessons. And you can just go through them at your own pace and they are just sequential. And one thing leads to another. And you have a little area where you can ask questions or answer questions. And it's just self-guided and self-this, self-that.

It's not a big deal. You can do that and check things out. It's really easy to do. And people have, you know, thousands and thousands of people have signed up for them. They've got lots of praise reports from them. People have really appreciated them so you can check them out.

And as I always say, we keep the lights on with those schools. We charge for them. But as I've always said, I tell you, if you want those schools and you can't afford them, just email us and say, I just need the schools. I can't afford them.

Can you give them to me? Matt said so on the radio. That's it. That's all you've got to do. And we'll just be able to ask any questions. We don't worry about it. We just go, there you go. Access is granted.

And you can get in. Because our goal is to equip the body of Christ, not to make cash. That's not our goal.

But we do have to keep the lights on and pay the missionaries and things like that. So, you know, there you go. All right. Let's get on the phones here. We have three open lines. Let's get to, let's see, the number is, excuse me, just got a little distracted here. 877.

Wow. 877-207-2276. Give me a call.

Three open lines. Steve from Utah. You're on the air. Hello. Hi, Matt. How are you? I'm doing all right. Hanging in there.

What do you got, buddy? Hey, I just, I was wondering what your take on near-death experiences are. Is that something that's occulted or anything that we should even consider what's going on?

I mean, I don't really know. Well, let me do this. I'm going to go to, excuse me, I'm finding a cough because of COVID stuff in the house. I don't know if I have it or not, but probably not.

So that's why I'm coughing periodically, turning the mic down. Let me go to 2 Corinthians 12, and then I'm going to talk about some stuff here. This is what it says in 2 Corinthians 12-2. I know a man in Christ who, 14 years ago, whether in the body I do not know or out of the body I do not know, God knows, such a man was caught up into the third heaven. And I know how such a man, whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, God knows, was caught up into paradise and heard inexpressible words which a man is not permitted to speak. So most people think, most scholars think, there's probably Paul talking about himself when he was left outside the city stoned and he had an NDE, that's what they call it, near-death experience. And in the body or out of the body right there is the clue, and he saw things.

So is it possible? It certainly seems to be the case right there. Now I've actually studied NDEs, near-death experiences, and read more than one book, gone through more than one book on them.

What convinces me that there's some legitimacy to them. I've got noise in the background there, man, I don't know what you're doing. But maybe if you could, yeah, if you could, okay, there you go. Is that better?

That's much better, yeah, like you're tumbling down a hillside. So I've read NDEs accounts where people who are born blind have never seen, they have family members in a hospital, either emergency surgery or whatever surgery, and they have died, so to speak, on the table. And they have, when they wake up, they've recovered, they've actually described different people. And they were able to recognize people, not by sight, but by voice. And they would point out, you were here, you were over there, you were over there.

And there's no way to explain that, other than the NDE was legit. And the Bible does say that the soul continues on after the body. Unlike the, you're dragging bodies around there, man, what do you got going on, man?

We're going down a hill there. Oh, is that better? Try that again. Yeah, it's best if, because you see, you don't understand, people are doing things when they're on the phone. A lot of people are on the radio, listening in the cars on the freeways, and they hear sounds. I turn the radio down. Okay.

They hear sounds that can imitate the sounds of a car, it can distract them. And so we want to make sure that, you know, we're kind of clear there. So, anyway, that's my view. I think there's a legitimacy to them. We can't just throw them all out all at once, particularly since 2 Corinthians 12, 2 through 4, seems to support that idea. Okay?

Okay. Well, yeah, I just read some stuff about a doctor, I can't remember his name, he was a brain surgeon. And it actually said that he'd seen a sister that he never even knew. She had died before he was even born. So I don't know.

I mean, I don't know if this is the dying brain or what's going on. I mean, I fully believe in heaven and Christ. And I've been a born-again Christian for the last three or four years. Well, in 2 Samuel 28, there's the account of the witch of Endor. And Saul, they have, let's just say it this way, he comes back and is actually summoned. So this happens, all right?

So, 1 Samuel 28, actually. All right? So, you know, something seems to be going on. We can't look into them too much.

Yeah, that's kind of what I thought. Okay, well, I appreciate it. All right. Okay, man.

Sounds good, buddy. All right. God bless.

God bless you. All right, that was Steve from Utah. Folks, we have four wide open lines. Why don't you give me a call? 877-207-2276. Solomon from Florida, welcome. You are on the air. Hey, how you doing? Doing all right. Hanging in there.

What do you got, buddy? So I was wondering about, what's your interpretation of Matthew 24 verses 36 to 51? And is it a command?

Go ahead. I was wondering if it's a command from Jesus, whether or not we should actually be interpreting end times prophecy, because it seems to me that Jesus is kind of saying, like, if you're interpreting these things, you're actually looking at it the wrong way. So I was just wondering what your interpretation is. Well, it's quite a pericope to read.

Let me go through it. And the first section, 36 to 41, is really important. But on the day or the hour, no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son of Man, nor the Son, but the Father alone. Incidentally, what that means is that it deals with the wedding feast of the time when a bride and a groom were betrothed. They had to know the day of the wedding so that relatives, food, wine could be produced and delivered.

And so they had to know. And it wasn't just a shotgun wedding on the back of somebody's yard. No, it was a big celebration. And the Son's job was to build onto the house an extra room so that when the Father would say, now you go get your bride, which is always on that day, it was an idiomatic phrase, you know, now you go get your bride. And he would go with the trumpeters who had to be on hold, not waiting, and then go get the bride and come back to that place. And so you'll know that Jesus says, I go to prepare a place for you, and I will come and receive you back to my own. He's talking about the wedding feast. And one of the idiomatic phrases that the friends of the Son would say is, when is your dad going to let you in? Go get him. He would say, no one knows the day nor the hour because the Father alone.

It was a phrase, an idiomatic expression. We've got more to talk about after the break, so hold on. Okay, folks, we'll be right back after these messages. Please stay tuned. It's Matt Slick live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, everybody, welcome back to the show. Let's see, three open lines if you want to give me a call, 877-207-2276.

Solomon from Florida, welcome back. Are you there? How's it going? All right, man. So you want me to continue with this stuff? Yeah, absolutely. That was a, I love that interpretation. I've actually never heard that before, so I'd like for you to expand on that a little bit.

Yeah, do some research on it. It just has to do with the wedding feast, and not many people know about it, and I forgot where I learned it, but I've studied so much over the years. So I remember I was at a conference, and we were out eating afterwards, and this Jewish guy who was a Christian, very Jewish, very Christian, loved the Lord. He heard me talk about this, and he said he was amazed. He says he's never heard of a Gentile ever knowing about it. I got a kick out of it. He said, you're right.

I said, no, thanks. But Ford also says there, it says, for the coming of the Son of Man will be just like the days of Noah. Now what I have on my screen, my computer, he's Matthew 24, 37, and Luke 17, 26, which says the same thing, because it says in Luke 17, just as it happened in the days of Noah, so shall it be the days of the coming of the Son of Man. In verse 37 of Matthew 24, the coming of the Son of Man would just like the days of Noah.

So he's saying the same thing, okay? And it says they were eating, they were drinking, they were giving in marriage till the day that Noah entered the ark, and they did not understand till the flood came and took them all away. And then that's Matthew 24, and in Luke 17, it says they were eating, they were drinking, they were giving in marriage till the day that Noah entered the ark, and the flood came and destroyed them all. So the ones who were eating and drinking and marrying are the ones who were destroyed. Right. And so most people think that this is a rapture verse.

It is not. The rapture occurs, but it's elsewhere. And so this is about destruction of the wicked, and it says two men will be in the field, one is taken, one is left. It's the wicked who are taken. And so when you go to Matthew 13, which I do this for people, Matthew 13, 30, where it's the parable of the wheat and the tares, where Jesus says allow both to go together, the wheat and the tares, allow them both to grow, but first gather up the tares and bind them in bundles to burn them, but gather the wheat and the barn. So Jesus says the first ones gathered at the end of the harvest are the wicked.

That's what he says. And in Matthew 24, it's the wicked who are taken. And in Luke 17, they ask Jesus, well, where are they taken?

And he actually answers the question. So the people who are taken, one in the field, one is left, one is taken. They ask him where, and he says in Luke 17, 37, where the body is, there also the vultures will be gathered.

They're taken to a place of death and destruction. All right, so that's what's going on there. And if you go to the second part of the pericope, therefore be on the alert for you do not know which day your Lord is coming, but be sure of this, that if the head of the house had known at what time of the night the thief was coming, he would have been on the alert and would not have allowed his house to be broken into. For this very reason, I say be ready. The Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think he will. And that's interesting, you know, you don't think he will. A lot of people say that he's going to happen on a certain day.

Well, okay, then don't they read Matthew 24, 44? Right. It won't happen when you think so.

Also, think about this. If it's pre-tribulation rapture, according to the theology of pre-tribulation rapture, seven years later, that's when Jesus returns. All you got to do is add seven years to the day of the rapture and you'll know when he returns. So, you know, that to me when Jesus says no man will know, he says the Son of Man is coming at an hour when you do not think he will. Well, I'm sorry, but if it was a seven-year tribulation period, seven years later, he comes back, you'd know. Yeah, it would be sometime within that seven-year, like on that year. Unless you're mid-trib, but there's different views.

But if it's a seven, you know, anyway, there's a problem there. Who then is the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of the household to give him their food at the proper time? Blessed is the slave whom his master finds doing when he comes. This is really important because, now, I don't believe in preacher-brat.

What's that? I said this is what got me to thinking. I hear a lot of, I was actually discussing with another Christian the other day and there's a lot of conspiracy out there and things like that. And I think some Christians get pulled into this mindset where we're always looking for the end of the world.

We're constantly looking for these signs and these things. But I feel that that's kind of a perversion of the whole point of Jesus' return is that we're supposed to be ready now at all times, no matter what. Right, exactly. And what are we supposed to be doing?

That's the key. Who's the faithful and sensible slave whom his master put in charge of his household? We are the ones, Christians, who are, so to speak, put in charge of the kingdom here on earth. I mean, in a loose sense, kings and priests, along with Christ, in that loose sense. And we're to be preaching and teaching the gospel. That's what our job is, not to get bank accounts, not to get a bunch of stuff and healthy and wealthy and all this idiocy that is taught. God may want it for some people, but he may not want it for some people.

So that's the whole point. And so one of the things, and I need to be careful when I say this, I believe in post-tribulation rapture. And if you believe in Pre, that's okay. It's just, whatever, I'm not knocking it.

I'm just not convinced of it. But one of the dangers, and there's dangers for every position, okay, but one of the dangers of the pre-tribulation position is that it can bring people to the place of not occupying. I'm not going to worry about it because we're going to be raptured. Why get an education?

Why do this? And we'll get raptured any day now until we don't do anything. And the Bible says that's the opposite of what you're supposed to be doing.

Keep going. Work. If I knew that the Lord was going to come back exactly seven days from now, I would be out there going door to door. I'm already on the radio and Internet.

Folks, he's coming back. Maybe we don't have to get busy. That's what we have to be doing. I don't know if that helps. That helped me more than you know. Thank you very much, and God bless you. Well, God bless you, man. God bless.

All right. Now, it's all in from Florida. If, let's see, you guys want to give me a call?

Three open lines, two open lines. 877-207-2276. Let's get to Jeff from Iowa. Jeff, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, well, thank you. I listen to you all the time. I am so glad you do.

At least that's one person. Good. Hey, I've been raised to believe in pre-Trib rapture, and also that the church is the bride of Christ. Now, I was doing some studying yesterday, and I came across Revelation 21, and it tells me something totally different, that the bride is actually the city of Jerusalem coming from heaven, and I was just wondering what you got all in. Words mean what they mean in context, all right?

So we always have to look at them. Just because the word bride appears in one place doesn't mean it means the same thing in someplace else. Right. Okay, so we are the bride of Christ. All right, that is true.

Because I see that in the Old Testament it says that the Jews were God's bride. Okay, hold on. We've got to break, okay?

Hold that thought. Okay. We'll be right back after these messages, okay, buddy? Hey, folks, we have one open line, 877-207-2276. We'll be right back.

Stay tuned. All right, buddy, welcome back to the show. Let's get on the line with Jeff from Iowa.

Hey, Jeff. You're welcome. I mean, hey, you're welcome. Oh, man. Welcome.

You're back on the show. Yeah, thank you. Sure.

What do you got? All right, well, as I was saying, now I'm convinced that he's not coming until the end, 7th Trump. All right. But I was still looking at the bride of Christ, and I went back through the New Testament, and I see Paul referencing that he married us through his speaking. He married us to Jesus, and now we're fornicating with other Jesuses. But I figured that was just a metaphor.

I can't really find anywhere. I always want to know the verses for that, because what he's talking about here, the bride, the analogy of the bride with the church is analogous to marriage, and adultery is considered a spiritual fornication, or worshiping and serving other gods. So Jeremiah, I believe, where God issues Israel a writ of divorce for their idolatry, which was a form of spiritual adultery. Right. I came across that, also trying to get the answer for this, but it's just that, yeah, the verses that I'm seeing, you know, John the Baptist says that he's Christ's friend, not his bride. Well, you understand something. Just because he says he's his friend doesn't mean he's not in the bride situation set up, ultimately. Okay. Don't make the mistake of thinking he says I'm a friend. If he says that, it doesn't mean he's something else.

Okay? Right. I was just trying to see that, well, because he's so clear on saying that Jerusalem has come down, that's the bride, let me show you the bride. What is Jerusalem? Then he shows you Jerusalem. What is the Jerusalem?

Right. Well, it also says that it's paved with the saints' cloaks, because they're righteous or pure, but he also gives a physical description of, you know, 1,500 miles square coming down out of heaven, and there it is, water coming out. Notice what it says in Revelation 21, too, when I saw the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven made ready as a bride adorned for Christ. As a bride, right.

Yeah. It just doesn't mean it is the bride, it's just, you know, it's really dressed up, you know. What about just down past that, when, I'll put you on speaker so I can reference, because I do have these written down right here, and the one who conquers will have this urge, I will be his God and he will be my son, can you be the son and the bride? I have to see the verse. I have to look at the exact verse. So that's the Revelation 21, three to seven?

Three to seven. Okay. A loud voice from the throne, saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is among men, and he will dwell among them, and they shall be his people, and God himself will be among them. He will wipe away all the tears, no longer be death, no more crying and pain. He says in the throne, Behold, making all things new, said is done on the Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, I will give to the one who thirsts in the spring of water without cost.

And whoever comes will inherit these things, I will be his God, he will be my son. Right. Okay. So in verse nine, it talks about the bride, Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. That's the church.

Okay. Well, that's what I was thinking here, showing him the city, the wife of the Lamb. That's not quite the case, huh? Well, I'm not sure what the issue is, because in Revelation 21, nine, the brides of the church, the wife of the Lamb, you know, that's what that is. New Jerusalem is adorned as a bride, it is a bride. Right. So it says, I was just reading, he says, I'll show you the bride, and then he takes him to a high mountain, and he showed him the city of Jerusalem coming down.

Yeah. So, I guess there is, and I was just reading that and saying, hey, maybe we're not the bride, we're just the guest, because it fits with some parables where, you know, he goes out and just gets people to come into the wedding feast, because, you know. This is a difficult area of scripture to interpret. A lot of people won't pick up on this, but it says in verse 11, that, you know, it says, I'll do ten, and he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the holy city of Jerusalem coming down out of heaven, having the glory of God. Her brilliance was like a very costly stone, as a stone of crystal-clear jasper. Then Exodus 24, 9-11, they went up, they see the God of Israel, and under his feet was a pyramid of sapphires clear as the sky itself, it says. So there seems to be something about the very nature of heaven and purity there, represented by stones, believe it or not. And then it talks about the 12 gates and the pearls. So it's just tough.

And gold. Yeah. It's tough. It's tough to interpret. I wouldn't interpret it too literally in Revelation, because in order to understand Revelation, you have to go through the Old Testament.

Like I just said, in verse 11, the crystal-clear jasper, well, that's the place where the throne of God is, in Exodus 24, 9-11. So what does that mean? You know, it really becomes involved, and a lot of times what people will do is they'll only read one little thing in Jerusalem in Revelation, and say, that's what it means.

You can't do that. You can't really do your homework. It's considered the book of Revelation like a book of the index to the entire Old Testament, and it wants references. Sure. You've got to reference it. So, yeah. I also think it can stand alone, and then everything else has to kind of match it, doesn't it? Yes, kind of.

Yes. That's the idea. And you have to do research. If I were to study the book of Revelation, I would expect a two-year study. If I were to do a book of study, yeah, a two-year study.

That's just prepping. That's what I would expect. Sure. All right. Well, yeah, I appreciate your time. Sure. And you have a great day. You too, man. God bless.

All right. Let's get over with Dimas from Utah. Dimas, welcome.

Dimas, you're on the air. Are you there? I'm here. Okay, man.

Matt? Okay. Hi, man.

Long-time listener, first-time caller. All right. Long-time Christian, but I have two questions for you if we have the time. Can you hear me okay? Sure.

Yeah, I can hear you fine. Okay, so my first question is, so when I got into the Mormon Church, and I was baptized in the Mormon Church, and then I got out of the Mormon Church, not because of what I know now, it's just because of my weaknesses, but does that baptism, does the baptism that I was baptized with in the Mormon Church, even though I did it truly believing that I did it before God and before Christ, is that acceptable? No. Before the Lord? No.

Okay. It's not a true baptism. It's a false baptism in a non-Christian cult. So your baptism there has no bearing, it has no relevance, it is not true, it has no efficacy.

You need to be baptized in the true Trinitarian sense and get baptized ASAP. Very well. Okay. Sounds good.

Thank you so much. And do you have time for one more question? Real fast. Okay. The dead in Christ. When somebody dies in Christ, and the Bible says that we immediately stand before the Lord and we are judged, and those that have died with Christ pass from death to life. Do those souls, do those spirits, the soul, is it with Christ forever until he comes back with the Church and all those angels, or are they allowed to come back and even show themselves as some people claim? No. No. There's a cast in between there and here, that's Luke 16, 19 through 31, they don't come back.

All right. So those are familiar spirits that imitate lost loved ones, and it's for the purpose of deception. So when Christians die, they go to a place to be with the Lord. When the unbelievers die, they go to a bad place. The judgment later occurs, the Bema Seat, the white throne judgment, things like that. Words are cast into eternal darkness and to eternal rewards.

So that's way future. Okay? Okay.

Magic, thank you so much. I appreciate your time. I appreciate you answering my call. You truly thought you are a blessing to many who hear you and follow your instruction. Praise God.

Thank you so much, and let's talk soon again. Thank you. All right, man. Just go get baptized. Okay?

The Mormon baptism does not count. Yes. Me and my whole family, because we're... Yes.

Me and my whole family, Matt. Now that I know now. Okay.

For sure. Yes. Thank you. Okay. Matt, God bless you. All right, man.

God bless. I mean, talk to you again sometime. Okay. Okay. Bye. All right. Let's get to Craig from Texas. Craig, welcome. You're on the air. What do you got, buddy? Yeah. All right. Hey. It's ironic that the guy before you is talking about Mormonism. That's one of the things I was calling about.

In the past, you know, I've talked with JWs before, and I kind of have a handle on how to interact and dialogue with them, but tomorrow I am going to get to meet up with some Mormon missionaries in their church, and really what I need to know is generally what to expect as far as, you know, am I going into the lion's den? No. No. Yeah.

Being aware of the terminology that they use in attempting to either confuse or what have you. I'll tell you what. If we have a garden variety. We've got a break coming up, so hold on. We'll come back after the break and talk about that. Okay.

What to expect, okay? Okay. All right. Hey, folks.

We have one open line, 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. Okay. All right, everybody, welcome back to the last segment of the show, Craig.

You're back on the air. All right. Where I left off is saying that, long story short, is that tomorrow I'm going to go get to meet up with some Mormon missionaries and I guess shop talk and whatnot. And what I just need to know is, you know, I've never interacted with Mormons before, so what to expect? Are you going into their church? Right.

Yeah. They invited me there. So what I would do if I were you is just pray before you go in, you know, the night before, day before, with your wife, whatever. Just pray. Prefer the opportunity to be able to present them the true gospel. You're not going to get celestial cooties, okay? So go to the church.

Right. Go a little bit early and ask to be shown around. Ask to show the building because the building is designed around their family ministry work.

They have a central area and it's worth looking at the building and you'll see pictures of the blond haired black Caucasian surfer Jesus on the walls. And if I were you, I would even ask to go attend on Sunday and go to church, go with them on Sunday. Don't cause any problems.

Don't go to a disrespectful. Just go sit and just watch and observe. And I want to tell you what you might observe or lack thereof, but I want to shade you.

So I would recommend you do that. And then if you do, call back on Monday and tell me what you said, what you thought. Okay.

I'd like to hear your impressions. We can compare notes. Because I've done this before at Mormon churches many times. In fact, I've been asked to leave many times just by showing up. Your match, look. Yes, you have to leave. But I didn't do anything. I'm just going to watch.

No, you got to go, okay. But most of the time, what you're going to find is they're going to be very friendly. They're not there to deceive you. They are deceived, but they're good folks.

If you were to drive your car out there in the parking lot and you got a flat tire, they're going to help you, right? They're decent people. They really are. Mormons are great folks for the most part.

There's jerks there like any place, but at any rate. So just listen to them. Take notes on what they're going to tell you. They're going to tell you about an apostasy. They're going to tell you how Joseph Smith restored the true gospel, et cetera, et cetera.

Just take notes. And if you want to confront them, they have a routine that they go through and the males will talk to you, not the females, unless there's an unusual circumstance. And they're not out there to hurt you. They're not out there to do anything bad to you. They are there to help you. That's what their intention is. Now they're deceived and they have a false God, false Christ, false gospel, but you'll also find out that the average 19-year-old, 20-year-old Mormon missionary is very ill-prepared for any difficult questions.

They don't study very much. They're just told the pitch, so to speak, so then they have a manual that'll go through and they'll show you pictures, sometimes this and that. And I would just take notes.

Even to the point where you don't say anything, just say, well, no, I'm interested, thank you for the information. Can I come to church on Sunday? They would love that and take more notes. Then you'll be ready to be able to witness to them a great deal better because you have to know what you're up against.

Going to a Mormon ward, actually, chapel, is something I recommend people do. You want to see what's there and see what's not there. We'll see if you pick up on that if you go.

Call me up on Monday or Tuesday and let me know. Yeah, definitely. Yeah, because one thing I've been kind of studying, watching or listening to Walter Martin and as cool as he is, it's like, I don't think these 19-year-olds have a foggiest clue of 90% of what he's talking about.

So it'd be kind of fruitless to even go there. Yeah, and I've met Walter Martin several times before he passed away, so I had that privilege of meeting him. But yeah, I agree with you, they don't know much. I've met a few Mormon missionaries over the years who do know some stuff, but for the most part they don't. And I'm not knocking them, come on, I study.

I study this stuff. They don't. And so I don't expect them to know very many things.

But after a couple years of missionary, they've done their homework more and more and they've learned more. So you'll find them to be really nice guys and really helpful. Okay. Okay. I'll just take that into advisement, and that's kind of the path that I was leading down.

I was just trying to get more of a feel for going into this. Okay. All right. Well, let me know what happens, okay? I certainly will. All right. Call me on Monday, let me know. All right.

Either way. All right. Sounds good. All right. Thanks a lot, Matt. Okay, Craig.

All right. Let's get to Frank from Arizona. Hey, Frank.

Welcome. Hello? Hello.

You're on the air with Matt Slick. Yeah. Yes. I called about Ephesians 5-11 pertaining to what's going on in the government today. And if that applies to that, which I assume it does. Yeah, it's a very good verse.

In fact, it was written up on the board before I picked up your call. I looked up the verse. I'm going to memorize that verse, Ephesians 5-11, do not participate in the unfruitful deeds of darkness, but instead even expose them. You know, it's a great verse, and the unfruitful deeds of darkness occur everywhere. In our homes, in our churches, in our jobs, in our government, we need to pick and choose how we do that, but we are called as Christians to expose evil and to deal with it.

It can be very costly. But here, the thing is that as Christians, unfortunately what's happening in Christianity today is, let's see if I can summarize it. We have a fragmented faith where people bicker and throw rocks at each other. The Christian firing squad is a circle.

They often go after their own. Is that because of the denominations that are all over? Well, there's that. And because, you know, I went to a Lutheran college, a Presbyterian seminary, attended Calvary Chapel, I've been to Baptist churches, and there are good Christians everywhere. The secret is to learn what the essentials are and keep our eyes on the cross and the blood that drained down on that wood to the dirt and saves us. That's what we need to focus on, this person and work in the sacrifice of Christ. Not in pre-Trib rapture, post-Trib rapture.

Not in Calvinism, non-Calvinism. We need to focus on those issues that are going to unite us, and then we need to march forward in righteousness together. The enemy of the Gospel wants us divided. The denominations are a sad, sinful embarrassment in the Christian body as a whole, especially among Protestants.

But what we need to do is be united. And not only the denominational problems, but there are heresies being taught inside the Christian church. One of the heresies is... Doesn't limited atonement come into play? I mean, I'm a believer that it's all of Christ, and he's the one that draws us near.

Not my choice, but his choice. Yeah, he draws us to 644, and he grants that we come to Christ, John 665. And he grants that we believe that it's 129, that this is what the Bible says. Our prayers are to ask God to save others, and he uses us.

We don't know how it all works. Our job is to save faith. Oh, I see. And so that's what we do. You know, I witness a lot, I evangelize a lot, I'm always looking for opportunities to share the faith. Always.

Always. Now, in doing the Gospel, should limited atonement be brought up when you preach the Gospel? No, you don't need to bring up limited atonement.

It's an in-house debate on whether or not Jesus blew the sins of only the elect or every individual who ever lived. But just tell people, look, you need Jesus, you know? You need to repent of your sins, you need to come to Christ, you need to trust in what Jesus Christ did. He's God in flesh, he died on the cross, he rose from the dead three days later. That resurrection proves who he is, and proves that what he said is true, you need to trust in Christ. That's what we need to do.

And if you've received Jesus, then your life will get healthy and wealthy and everything will be nice. That's not true. No. No. No. No. No. No. No. So, we need to present that Gospel message.

A lot of Christians don't even know what the Gospel message is. Okay, could I ask you another question? Well, we've got two other callers waiting, they've been waiting a while, so let me get to them, okay?

Call back Monday, alright? Okay, will do. Thanks, man. Alright, man.

God bless. Hey, let's get to Al from Ohio, who we lost, and let's get to Joe from Australia, hey Joe, welcome you're on the air. Hello, Matt, can you hear me? Yes, I can. Yes, I can. What do you got, buddy?

Yeah, hi, how you doing? You know, I just want to know, simply, what does baptism represent? So, I have my brother in France who just got saved recently, and he didn't get baptized in the last minute because he thought that people were just getting baptized for the sake of it. So, I was trying to explain to him, what does baptism represent? Well, I believe it's a sign and a seal of the covenant of faith, covenant of righteousness that we have with God. So, we're baptized as a public declaration, identification with Christ, and in Romans 4-11, it says that Abraham received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of faith. So, circumcision was a sign, but it was also a seal of the righteousness of faith, which he had while uncircumcised. I bring this up because Paul, in Colossians 2, 11, and 12 says, even circumcised with a circumcision made without hands, having been buried with him in baptism. So, Paul relates circumcision and baptism a lot.

He really does, right there in Colossians 2, 11, and 12. So, since he does, and since Romans 4-11 says that circumcision is a sign and also a seal of the righteousness of faith, I affirm my belief is that baptism is a sign and it's a seal of the righteousness of faith, which we have in Christ. It's the New Testament equivalent because circumcision involves the shedding of blood on the male organ, federal headship, male representation, the shedding of blood, which is a typology of the sacrifice of Christ, the male, the man, headship.

I could expand on it, but we don't have much time left. And so, it's also a seal of the righteousness that is there in the covenant. That's an aspect there. And Paul mentions it's a seal of the righteousness of faith. So, he was circumcised, Abraham was, while he believed and he was circumcised there. A seal of the righteousness of faith, which he had while uncircumcised, to what Paul's making a special point there. So I think they're related. I don't know to exactly what extent, but I believe that baptism at the very least is a sign as well as a seal of the righteousness that we have in Christ. Amen.

Thanks for that. I knew you've touched on how it's a seal in the past and I definitely agree. Is it accurate to say that baptism represents you dying to the old man and rising against a new man?

It can. It can represent that out of Ephesians 6, 4, 5, and 6 talks about that. Because it says in Ephesians 6 that we were crucified with Christ and in Ephesians 4 we were buried with him also. Well, if we were buried with him, a lot of people think that just means baptism, but not necessarily so since it says we were crucified with him. And I think that what's interesting is when we go to Romans chapter 6, I'm going to go quickly because we're running out of time, but if you read it, our old self was crucified with him, verse 6, and we've been buried with him through baptism in verse 4.

Is it his baptism or our baptism is just something to think about, but at the very least we're identified with Christ and we're out of time and can't really get into it too much. Call back Monday, okay buddy? All right? No worries. Thank you.

And I'm a donor from Australia. Thanks for the encouragement. All right. Okay then. God bless.

Hey folks, we're out of time. May the Lord bless you. Have a great weekend. And by his grace, we're back on air on Monday. We'll talk to you then. See you. Bye.