The Alex McFarland Show-26-Rejecting the Word of God, is Rejecting the God of the Word.

Over the last several decades, it's been my joy to travel the world talking with children, teens, adults, people of all ages about the questions they have related to God, the Bible, Christianity, and how to know Jesus personally.

Hi, Alex McFarland. I want to make you aware of my book, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask About Christianity. You know, we interviewed hundreds of children and parents and families to find out the questions that children and people of all ages are longing to find answers for. In the book, we've got practical, biblical, real-life answers that they have about how to be a Christian in this modern world.

My book, The 21 Toughest Questions Your Kids Will Ask, you can find it wherever you buy books or at resources.afa.net. The spiritual condition of America, politics, culture, and current events analyzed through the lens of Scripture. Welcome to The Alex McFarland Show. In Psalm 138, verse 2, the Bible says this about God, God's word, and God's name. It says, My word have I exalted above all my name.

Hi, Alex McFarland. On this program, we're going to talk about the authority of Scripture, the Bible, and we're also going to have a little girl named Jetta recite from memory all the books of the Bible. It will inspire your heart.

It's going to be great. But let's talk about the Bible. Think about this. The word of God, the person of God, and the believer, the child of God, Christians everywhere, the church of God. Psalm 138, verse 2, God says about the authority of Scripture, My word have I exalted above my name. Well, as I record this, the United Methodist Church in North America and the world is having a battle within itself about the authority of Scripture as it relates to human sexuality and gender. Now, for those that have followed over the last few decades, the mainline Protestant churches in America have been in a state of decline numerically, but really in a state of apostasy spiritually. I grew up in the Presbyterian Church USA, the PCUSA, which decades ago declared war on the word of God, and they became, regarding salvation, universalist. You don't have to be born again through faith in Jesus.

You can believe just anything. The PCUSA and others, Methodists too, have decided that Islam is the same as Christianity. In fact, about a decade ago, I was on Fox News with a United Methodist pastor from Cordova, DC, and he basically was reprimanding me because I said that Muslims and Christians worship a different god, which, by the way, is true. Muslims and Christians do worship two very different gods.

One is non-existent, Allah, and the other is the man who said, apart from me there is no salvation, the risen Lord Jesus Christ. So you've got to understand that American Protestantism for decades has basically been at a crossroads where they have to decide will they or will they not follow the word of God. And Psalm 138 verse 2, I began with that verse because it's key to understand that if you're going to acknowledge the person of God, the name of God, the true and living God, you must do what he says about his word. There is a connection between the person of God and the word of God. And again, regarding the Bible, we can't just cafeteria-style cherry-pick what we will accept and what we will reject.

If you're going to be a child of God and believe the Son of God, you must accept in its totality the word of God. Now I bring this up because the United Methodist Church in America, some would say proudly and I would say to their disgrace, recently chose as their bishop a lesbian. Well, she this week in the news talked about celebrating the gay transgender people groups and the LGBTQ trans agendas. And when asked about how do you reconcile the fact that the progressive leftist movement to elevate LGBTQ trans, how do you square that with the word of God that says people are made male and female, marriage is between a man and a woman, if you want to go to heaven, you must repent. And in 1 Corinthians chapter 6, one of the people groups that are not inheriting the kingdom of heaven are unrepentant homosexuals. And so this lesbian bishop with the United Methodist Church says, well, the Holy Spirit has run ahead of the culture and maybe we, the culture, and you can tell she was insinuating, including those backward people that still believe the Bible, maybe we will catch up with the Holy Spirit because the Holy Spirit has run ahead of us and the Holy Spirit of God is now affirming that which we thought scripture would condemn. Folks, this is demonic. This is of Satan to so mislead and confuse people and also to steer people away from the word of God.

And let me say this. Look, the Bible is clear that Jesus is the only savior. The Bible is clear that people must repent, turn from sin, put their faith in Christ, obey the Lord, and be saved. And regarding scripture, now, this is one of the areas of biblical apologetics on which we have taught for 30 years. Believe me, whether it's history, archeology, the manuscripts, not only the textual credibility of the Bible, but hermeneutics, how you accurately parse out scripture and understand the Bible. There's the preservation of the content. Then there's the accurate handling of the content.

Believe me, this has been our stock and trade for three decades. And I feel like our ministry and our staff and the 19 books that I've had the privilege of writing and the literally hundreds and hundreds of conferences and panel discussions that I've sat on, the theological review committees for books and universities and the accreditation committees of which I've been a part, we know the Bible and its preservation and its handling. Now, that being said, folks, believe me, when Jesus said in John 10 35, the scripture cannot be broken. When Matthew 24 35 says, heaven and earth will pass away, my words will never pass away, clearly the Bible affirms itself as the word of God. Now, I know that skeptics will say, well, you don't use the Bible to defend the Bible. That's circularity. I understand that. And believe me, there are compelling lines of external evidence, external evidence that points to the trustworthiness of scripture.

And we know all this. I'm simply saying that the Bible, which is a book shown to be inspired by compelling lines of evidence, but yes, within the Bible, we've got the word of God itself, plus the son of God that makes this line in the sand, this clear delineation. Either you accept the Bible or you don't. And if you reject the Bible, you're rejecting the God who gave the Bible. Back to Psalm 138 verse two, God says, my word, have I exalted above my name and to the United Methodist lesbian Bishop, the PCUSA or whomever, if you reject the word of God, you are rejecting the God of the word. So I would say to the world, be very careful.

Think carefully about the choice you're making. And what is so sad is that merely to placate an agenda, a sexual deviancy that the insistence and the demand on the part of people that not only are deviant in their behavior, they're clueless as to their own biology to say, look, we will risk our own soul. We will mislead millions of others jeopardizing their own souls. We insist we demand that our sexual behaviors be endorsed. And when our fetishes conflict with the word of God, the one that must be kicked aside out of the way is scripture itself.

Dangerous, dangerous ground. And I call on churches everywhere, denominations, churches, pastors, leaders and all thinking people and anyone who has within their heart, the fear of God, we must stand for what scripture says, not the spirit and the whim of the times. Now we're going to come back.

We're going to talk a little bit more about scripture and then we're going to hear something that I think is very inspiring, a little girl's devotion to scripture. Stay tuned. The Alex McFarland show with truth for a new generation.

We'll be back right after this. Fox news and CNN call Alex McFarland, a religion and culture expert. Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this.

Do you have a desire to deepen your faith, better understand Christian apologetics or to get a biblical perspective on current events? Well, I've tried to make it simple for you to do just that. On my website, alexmcfarland.com, there's a new section called Ask Alex Online. It's simple, it's clean, and you can read my answers to common questions about God, faith and the Bible. So visit the website alexmcfarland.com and look for the section that says Ask Alex Online. It's been called trusted, truthful and timely. Welcome back to the Alex McFarland show.

Welcome back to the program. Alex McFarland here, and we're talking about the authority of scripture, lamenting the deviation of scripture, the abandonment of scripture. In fact, the rejection of the revealed word of God on the part of so many American denominations and churches. By the way, years ago I was in graduate school at Liberty University, and my wife and I had a Chrysler car, and I would take it down to the Chrysler dealership to be worked on. In downtown Lynchburg, Virginia was a historic old dealership.

It had been there many years. The man that ran it, surely he must be passed away by now, but his name was Mr. Adams. He was telling me, I was sitting in the waiting room a time or two while my car was getting the oil changed, and he was telling me about surviving the depression and selling cars over the decades, the recession of the 70s. And he was telling me about a time when it was so hard, and one of his salesmen was bragging that he'd bought a new car. He said this was a guy that had been a salesman for a long time.

He'd paid him well over the years. And he asked, and he thought, well, I don't recall him buying a new car from us or somebody else. And he said that the guy was parking it around the corner, hiding and then sort of slinking into work every day under the radar. And he saw that at the Dodge Chrysler Plymouth dealership, his high paid salesman had bought a brand new Buick. And I asked Mr. Adams, I said, how did that make you feel? He said, well, as the guy, you know, bending over backwards to keep the dealership open, and it was a time of economic downturn, he said, I was very disappointed that one of my highest paid salesman who I had advocated for and gone to bat for, it's time to buy a new vehicle. And he goes out to buy a Buick. And I said, what'd you do? He said, I fired him.

I told him, you don't, you don't make your living from the Dodge Chrysler Plymouth dealer and go buy a Buick. Well, my point in sharing that is I'm reminded of the quote by C.S. Lewis, who said that he stood against the clergy.

C.S. Lewis said he was against the clergy who quote, undermine and deny the very doctrines they're paid to uphold. So to the liberal pastors and the denominational leaders that you get your paycheck from the Bible, Christianity, the work of the gospel, and then you take a stand politically.

Jesus is not the only savior, you say. The Bible isn't the authoritative binding word of God, you say. Scripture is wrong on gender and sexuality, you say. Well, if you so reject the content of the book, and remember Psalm 138 verse 2 says you're also therein rejecting the author who gave the book, then why would you get your paycheck from this big machine called the church? Here's the thing that is just so pathetically embarrassing is that the very same people that will take their income from Christians and the church, they reject the Bible on which Christianity is based. Hey, how do you look at yourself in the mirror in the morning, liberal lesbian bishop of the Methodist Church?

How could you dare in good conscience cash that paycheck that was provided by parishioners who do believe the Bible? And people often ask me, and I've been interviewed in many places, and they'll say, do you really believe the Bible? Absolutely.

Yes. This is why I'm doing what I do. Jeremiah 20 verse 9, speaking of the Bible and the content of the message, says, his word was in my heart like a burning fire. You can believe. I mean, there are innumerable ways in life to make a living. If I didn't believe that Jesus is the one and only savior, if I didn't believe that the Bible is, in fact, as the great leaders of history, not only them, but Christ himself, said the Bible is the infallible, inerrant, eternal word of God. If I didn't believe that, I wouldn't do this, and I wouldn't ask you to support it, friends. I mean, I preach, I travel 2,200 churches, 200 and some college campuses, 30-some years of doing what we do. It's because we do believe that the Bible is the word of God. Now, do you know what the Bible says in Luke 11, 28? That your relationship with scripture, you read it, you meditate, you ingest God's revealed word, and the word of God leads you closer to the Son of God. Well, it will bless you, says Luke 11, 28. Matthew 7, 24 says the scripture will make you wise.

Isn't that something? Psalm 119, one of my favorite chapters. In fact, I wrote an entire book just on Psalm 119. Psalm 119, by the way, is a tribute to the word of God within the word of God. But Psalm 119, verse 30, says that scripture will give you light and understanding. You know, it's little wonder that so many of these academics and these apostate unbelievers that run the big denominations, they don't even know what a male or a female is. They don't have understanding.

They're unenlightened because they have rejected the source of light and understanding, which is the word of God. 1 Peter 2, 2 says that the word of God will help you grow spiritually. And I think about Psalm 119, verses 9 and 11. Wherewithal shall a young man cleanse his way?

How will a young person keep their way pure? By taking heed there to the word of God. Look, if we want to know the Son of God, we've got to believe the word of God. And by what measurement, how do you consistently say, well, I accept Matthew 5 through 7, the one on the mount, love your neighbor. Blessed are the peacemakers.

Oh, I'll accept that. But then you reject John 8, 24, where Jesus said, if you do not believe that he is God incarnate, you'll die in your sins. Look, folks, we've got to trust that God knows who he is. And God has revealed himself to the human race.

It's why scripture is called revelation, the written revelation of God. Father, Son, Holy Spirit, the eternal triune God, one God, Deuteronomy 6, 1 through 4, hero Israel, the Lord our God is one. There's one nature of God. John 3, 16, where it says in the English translation that God sent his only begotten son. What that means is Jesus, the Son, is of the same essence or nature as the Father.

No genasis. Jesus is the same essence, substance, nature of the Father. So Jesus is God. Look, folks, we must accept that God knows who he is. We must accept of any voice that God knows what it takes to get you to heaven, for you to be saved and go to heaven, not hell. I would assume if anyone can speak authoritatively to that, it's God. And God says you must be born again. Luke 13, 3, God says if you do not repent from sin, you will perish. Billy Graham once said, God has come to save you from sin. The thing with the LGBTQ trans crowd, they want to be saved in sin.

And let me just say this. There's a reason people have sexual desire because God made us as human beings, and there is a context that God has given whereby sexual expression is legitimate. It's called marriage, and marriage by definition is between a man and a woman. We're not free to engage in sexual activity outside marriage.

We're not free to redefine what marriage is. And it's just a tragedy of tragedy. Satan must be in the shadows laughing deliriously that people would be willing to go to hell for eternity merely so they could pursue sexual deviancy in this short life. I mean, really, you're willing to suffer eternally apart from God for temporary pleasure, prurient behavior in this life.

What a sad thing. That's why Jesus would say, why would a man forfeit his soul for this world? What will a man give in exchange for his soul? Well, apparently many will give some pathetic crumbs of this world for the loss of their eternal soul. Now when we come back, we're going to continue talking about the authority of scripture. Remember Psalm 138 verse 2.

God says, my word have I exalted above my name. We're back after this. Fox News and CNN call Alex McFarland a religion and culture expert.

Stay tuned for more of his teaching and commentary after this. In recent years, our nation has suffered greatly, and we seem to be on a rapid moral decline. We've rejected God, morality, and we've almost completely lost our sense of patriotism. It's no wonder that many are asking the question, is this the end of America? Hi, Alex McFarland here, and I want to make you aware of my book, The Assault on America, How to Defend Our Nation Before It's Too Late.

You know, our nation has seen politicians that are corrupted by greed, and they've got a vested interest in power, and many of our elected officials seem to care little about the country that they've been appointed to serve. Read my book, The Assault on America. We can stand up for our great nation and defend America before it's too late.

It's available everywhere. You can learn more on my own website, which is alexmcfarland.com. Read the book, The Assault on America, How to Defend Our Nation Before It's Too Late. He's been called trusted, truthful, and timely. Welcome back to The Alex McFarland Show.

The Bible was written by God through men. Hi, Alex McFarland here. I want to encourage everybody to go to our newly updated website, alexmcfarland.com. My travel schedule is on there.

Then another website that I would direct you to, viraltruth.com. We're helping young people organize clubs where they can reach their friends with the gospel, and not only that, the message of our free nation. And we encourage kids when they organize their clubs to have the Pledge of Allegiance at every meeting.

Look, folks, we're in a battle for the soul of our country and the future of America. So please pray. Please stand strong. Please point others to Christ.

And any way we can help you, please reach out to us. And I also want to remind everybody that I will be at the Cove again next summer, July 7 through 9, the Billy Graham Training Center in Asheville, North Carolina. I'll be finishing up my study of 1 and 2 Peter. And the theme is thriving till he comes.

Thriving in Jesus till we see him face to face. So you can register at thecove.org and I would remind you it would make a great Christmas present to go or to send your pastor or yourselves to be there. But listen, I want to bring up, I'm on the road as we record this, I'm in Arkansas. Met a wonderful family, Jared, Jacqueline, and they've got a wonderful little girl named Jetta and you're going to listen to this conversation. It's amazing how a little child has such loyalty to the Word of God that she memorized all 66 books. You're going to hear the conversation of Jetta reciting the books of the Bible and her mom, Jacqueline, talking about the importance of teaching kids the scripture.

Listen to this and then I'll give a final thought about how we really should care about the Word of God in this age, a time when so many apparently do not. Here we go to Arkansas. Well, welcome back. You know, one of the blessings of being on the road traveling, I meet so many wonderful people and right now as I record this, I'm in Arkansas and I've learned some amazing things about Arkansas. I'm here with Jacqueline and her daughter Jetta and we've just had a good time. We're seeing the Lord at work, aren't we, Jacqueline? We sure are. Now, what do you and your family do here in Stuttgart, Arkansas?

My husband does grain merchandising and I own my own cleaning business in this community. You know, we've been having some services and presenting the Word of God. Honestly, I'm seeing the Holy Spirit move in a very powerful way. I mean, young people, older people, black, white, God is really moving here, isn't he?

He sure is. So let me ask you this because one of the treasures in your life is your daughter and she just is amazing to see God in her life. How important is it across America for parents to raise their kids in the ways of God, Jacqueline? It's the most important thing I believe as a family because this is the next generation. We have to make sure that they are rooted in Christ and they have a firm foundation. And in order for them to have a firm foundation, they have to have it with their family. And that starts with mom and dad. And so if their mom and dad have that love for Jesus, so will they. I believe it. Jacqueline, if you had a word of encouragement for Christian mothers and dads across America, what would your prayer be for the moms and dads of America?

I would say definitely don't give up. And the verse that goes out that he has plans for us declares the Lord, plans to prosper us, not to harm us, plans to give us a hope and a future. And so that is what I have for you.

Do not give up that God has plans for you. Well, Jetta, it's good to meet you, sister. How you doing? Good.

Who you got with you there? You got this raccoon that I met yesterday and... Sloth. Oh, is it a sloth?

Okay, cool. And does the sloth have a name? Mr. Cuddles. Mr. Cuddles.

It's a beautiful stuffed animal. Jetta, I just want to say thank you because last night you blessed my heart. You did something. I'm going to ask you to do it.

I was so excited. I called my wife and Angie, she always says like, how's things going? I said, it's going great. I met a young lady named Jetta and I'm going to ask you to do for us on the radio what you did last night. You've memorized the books of the Bible, haven't you? Was it hard to memorize that great long list? Kind of, kind of. Yeah.

So I was very impressed. Would you do that for us now? Now, as I remember, there's 66 books in the Bible and there's Old Testament, New Testament, and you know all of them. You want to share that list with us? So somebody asked you, Jetta, what books are in the Bible? What would you say?

What are the books in the Bible? Wow, that is awesome. That's awesome. That is perfect. Oh my goodness.

I'm so impressed, Jetta. Thank you for sharing that. You're welcome. Hey, I want to say, mom, good job. Thank you. It's all God.

I'm just going to say it is all Jesus. Jetta, how old are you, sister? Nine years old. Nine years old. If you had a prayer that you would ask God to do in all the nine year olds, because you've got a lot of peers, there's nine years old kids all over America, what would be your prayer for all the children of this country?

For people to learn about God and for them to learn about Jesus and have love in their heart and Holy Spirit. That is wonderful. I'm going to let y'all go, but I just want to say with all my heart, thank you. And I know radio listeners everywhere have been deeply, deeply motivated by you. So with all my heart, may the Lord bless you. And I say, thank you.

Thank you so much. Wow. Well, I find that inspiring that a little child would know all 66 books of the Bible. And so it's great to memorize the books.

But here's the question. Are we reading the books? Are we studying the books? You know, in John 539, Jesus said, search the scriptures for they testify of me. And back to the verse I began with, Psalm 138 verse two, for those that say, well, you know, the Bible is no longer valid or relevant, or the Holy Spirit is leading us in a new way. Listen, folks, God will never direct you to do something contrary to the scripture.

If you think you're being led by God, and that way that you're feeling drawn to is contrary to the scripture, it's not of God. God will never contradict his word. This is what the Lord says, you know, over and over in Jeremiah, for instance, for example, God gave a rather unpleasant task to the prophet Jeremiah.

Jeremiah was to announce to the Israelites that they would be dragged off to Babylon. That's in Jeremiah one, nine through 15. And over and over Jeremiah and Isaiah and the prophets of God and King David and Moses, you read these, these phrases, quote, this is what the Lord says.

Then the word of the Lord came to me. Hear what the Lord says, quote unquote. And the apostle Paul, 1 Corinthians 2, 13, Paul wrote, quote, this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit of God. See, we speak of the inspiration of scripture. We speak of the preservation of scripture. The Bible really is the word of God, folks. The Bible is really true. That's why we do what we do.

That's why we've done what we've done for three decades. And I and Angie, our board, our staff, we will do what we do until we leave this world and see the Lord. What's more, the content and revelation of God is real and relevant for every person's life. Just as you can depend on Jesus Christ, you can depend on his word.

If you reject the word, you're rejecting the God who gave the word. So please, my prayer for you, my prayer for our nation, my prayer for the Methodists, the Presbyterians, the Episcopal, the Catholics, the Baptists, please believe the word of God because in doing so, you're going to be believing the God who gave the human race his word. Alex McFarland Ministries are made possible through the prayers and financial support of partners like you. For over 20 years, this ministry has been bringing individuals into a personal relationship with Christ and has been equipping people to stand strong for truth. Learn more and donate securely online at alexmcfarland.com. You may also reach us at Alex McFarland, P.O. Box 10231, Greensboro, North Carolina 27404, or by calling 1-877-YES-GOD-1.

Thanks for joining us. We'll see you again on the next edition of the Alex McFarland Show. Christian author and speaker Alex McFarland is an advocate for Christian apologetics. Teaching in more than 2,200 churches around the world, schools, and college campuses, Alex is driven by a desire to help people grow in relationship with God. He arms his audiences with the tools they need to defend their faith while also empowering the unchurched to find out the truth for themselves. In the midst of a culture obsessed with relativism, Alex is a sound voice who speaks timeless truths of Christianity in a timely way. With 18 published books to his name, it's no surprise that CNN, Fox, The Wall Street Journal, and other media outlets have described Alex as a religion and culture expert. To learn more about Alex and to book him as a speaker at your next event, visit alexmcfarland.com or you can contact us directly by emailing booking at alexmcfarland.com.