My Spouse Loves Jesus but Is Also into Conspiracy Theories. What Should I Do?

My spouse loves Jesus but is also into conspiracy theories.

What should I do? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Here's the number to call. It's 833-843-2673.

If you want to spell it out, it's 833-THE-CORE. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites. And of course, you can always email us your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. And first up, Adriel, here's an email we received from one of our listeners. This is from Alyssa. She says, Do our spirits go to heaven when we die, or do they stay with our bodies?

How does this work? It's always confused me. Alyssa, thank you for your question. And this is a question that we've received on the broadcast many times.

And I think it's something that concerns people. What's going to happen to me when I die? I know I believe in Jesus. I've received him for the forgiveness of my sins. But when I die, do I enter into his presence? Do I go into some sort of soul sleep waiting for the final judgment?

There are some people who think that, by the way. But I think the New Testament is absolutely clear here. There's this wonderful passage in the book of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 12, where the author of the Hebrews is talking about approaching God in worship. And he paints this picture of heaven, if you will, of the church gathering together here on earth and joining the people of God, the angels there in heaven around the throne of God. He says in Hebrews chapter 12, verse 22, you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God, the judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect. The spirits of the righteous made perfect. I think that those are our loved ones who have died in Christ, who are waiting for the resurrection, looking for the resurrection of the dead and the life of the world to come. But between now and the final judgment or the final resurrection, the souls of believers are immediately, when they die, immediately made perfect in holiness and enter into the presence of God, as we see there in Hebrews chapter 12.

And there are a number of other passages that make this clear. I think of what the apostle Paul said in 2 Corinthians chapter 5, to be absent from the body is to be present with the Lord. In Philippians chapter 1, when Paul was writing to the Philippians about his ministry and his life and looking forward to going and being with Jesus, he says, that's going to be far better, he said, than anything I've ever experienced. My desire is to depart and be with Christ, he says. In other words, he envisioned that when he died, he would be with his Savior.

He would be with Jesus. And if you've believed in Jesus Christ, you have that hope too. We have the hope that immediately our souls are going to be ushered into the presence of the Lord, perfected in holiness, waiting for the resurrection of the dead. God bless. Some great comforting words.

Thank you for that, Adriel. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. And you know, a lot of people made it a New Year's resolution to start reading the Bible this year. And if you've never done that before, you might find that the Bible can be a little bit intimidating. So we have a wonderful Bible study to help get you started right. I really want to encourage you to get a hold of this resource. If you're someone who studies the Bible and wants to go deeper in your understanding of the scriptures, we have a 10-week Bible study called How to Read the Bible. And it will really encourage you and equip you to read the Bible for all it's worth, as it were, you know, to understand the genres, the context, the relationship between the Old and the New Testament, the centrality of Christ and the Gospel in scripture.

I know that this is something that a lot of people struggle with. And so we've made this resource just for you. And it's yours for a donation of $20 or more. How to Read the Bible, get a hold of it. Go to our website at corechristianity.com forward slash Bible. That's corechristianity.com forward slash Bible and look for the new study, How to Read the Bible. It's great.

And it will really help you dig into God's word on a regular basis and understand it more clearly and then apply it to your life. Once again, corechristianity.com forward slash Bible. Well, let's go to a voicemail we received from one of our listeners earlier this week.

Hi there. I just had a quick question for you. I'm dealing with my wife, who's involved with conspiracy theories. And some of the fantasies that she's coming up with is kind of rocking the boat.

And I'm just curious. Should I really be concerned about this. I'm praying about it.

Absolutely. Every day of my life. I've been going on for about a year now.

That's all she wants to look at is these conspiracy things that are coming across on Facebook. Quite frankly, I don't know if this is harmful or not, but it is disturbing me. And I'm just wondering if there's what I should be doing besides just praying about it. I sure appreciate your help. Thank you now.

Bye. Hey, dear brother, thank you so much for giving us a call. And it sounds like you're in a tough situation. This is something that's affecting your marriage and you want to encourage your wife. And I commend you in that. And certainly prayer is so important. So continuing to pray for her, for the two of you together. But I think that there are passages of scripture that you can go to. And I think it's important that we think about what it is that we devote our time to. This is clear in scripture all over the place. The apostle Paul talks about this in the book of Ephesians, redeeming the time that the Lord has given to us. And I think for many people, social media and some of these theories that are out there that people just dig deeper and deeper into, they get all consumed.

And it can be very unhealthy and unhelpful. Some passages of scripture, there's this text in Isaiah chapter 8 where God was speaking to his people. In verse 11 it says, The Lord spoke thus to me with his strong hand upon me and warned me not to walk in the way of this people, saying, Do not call conspiracy all that this people calls conspiracy, and do not fear what they fear, nor be in dread.

But the Lord of hosts, him you shall honor as holy. Let him be your fear, let him be your dread. I think it's important for each of us as believers in Jesus Christ that we ask ourselves the question, What is my fear?

What is my greatest fear? And for I think a lot of people today, especially with the pandemic and political controversies and all these things, we get wrapped up in these discussions and debates and we begin to fear. And oftentimes that's exactly what conspiracy theories will do.

They'll just lead us down the rabbit hole into more fear and concern about what's going on out there and trying to figure all these things out. And it can really take our eyes off of the Lord, off of the one who we really should fear, that godly fear, that holy fear. And so I think if there's an unhealthy pattern of just being consumed with social media and that's leading to anxiety and fear and concern, but we're not consumed with the word of God, sitting at the feet of Jesus, fearing him, growing and understanding who he is. There is a piece I think that comes from being in the presence of Jesus, sitting at his feet, that helps us to face the fears that are all around us. And if your wife isn't sitting at the feet of Jesus, she isn't focusing on the word of God, drawing near to him, well then these things would be really, really concerning. So maybe one encouragement would just be to sit down, to pray together, and to search the scriptures, to set your eyes on Jesus, on God's word, to do a study, if you will, even on the fear of God, and think through what it is that we as followers of Jesus should be focused on and spending our time thinking about. Another passage of scripture that I think of is what Paul said to Timothy in 2 Timothy 2 verse 14. Remind them of these things and charge them before God, not to quarrel about words which does no good, but only ruins the hearers. Do your best to present yourself to God as one approved, a worker who has no need to be ashamed, rightly handling the word of truth, but avoid irreverent babble, for it will lead people into more and more ungodliness.

And a lot of times what you find on social media is just that irreverent babble that leads people away from the fear of the Lord and trusting in him. And so may God bless you as you continue to pray for your wife and pray for peace in your home, and the two of you together seek to set your eyes on the Lord. Thanks for calling. Some great advice. Thank you for that, Adrian. I want to avoid those foolish controversies at all costs, don't we? Yeah. Man, there's a lot of bad stuff out there, and we can... I like what you said about anxiety, too. The fact that, you know, we really need to turn our anxiety over to God, and if we're focusing on him first, he can help us take care of that.

Mm-hmm. Yeah, absolutely. I also wanted to say there's a book coming out very soon, middle of February. It's called Recovering Our Sanity, written by my friend Dr. Michael Horton, How the Fear of God Conquers the Fears that Divide Us.

I'm pretty sure you could probably pre-order that on Amazon right now. This is just an excellent resource for people who are struggling with fear. And that's so many of us today. And so, again, the book is called Recovering Our Sanity by Michael Horton. I'm going to get that from one of my family members. I won't mention which one. I wasn't going to get it for you, Bill. I was going to send it to you. No, it's somebody in our extended family who is getting into a lot of those controversies. So, yes, definitely.

It's a great book. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone lines are open right now. If you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life doctrine or theology or even what's going on in our culture and how your Christian faith intersects with that, give us a call, 833-THE-CORE. 833-THE-CORE, which is 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Rachelle from Derby, Kansas. Rachelle, what's your question for Adriel?

Hi. I have a question about the Sabbath. All week I've been focusing on how to honor the Sabbath and when to honor the Sabbath, what day it actually is. And then I hear somebody in a sermon say that we don't have to honor the Sabbath because of the new law.

I am thrown for a loop here and I need to know the truth as to if we are to honor it still and what day it actually is. And I also have a prayer request that I have some family that have just found out they have COVID. We will definitely pray for your family. Let me pray first for your family members. Father, we lift up Rachelle's family as some of them have gotten sick with COVID. Would you please raise them up? Would you heal their bodies and be with them in this time?

Pray that the symptoms of this sickness would not be severe, Lord, but that they would be healed by the grace of your Holy Spirit, that you would be with them in Jesus' name. Amen. Rachelle, a very important question. We're talking about the fourth commandment here, the commandment to observe the Sabbath day and to keep it holy.

So there's a couple of things. Under the old covenant, this was something that took place on Saturday, on the last day of the week. From the very beginning of the birth of the church, if you will, under the new covenant, it seems like the disciples were meeting on the first day of the week. That is Sunday. So there was this big shift that you had where the Christian church was gathering together on Sunday.

There are some people that will say, Rachelle, that shift came later, hundreds of years later. But the reality is you see this in places like 1 Corinthians 16 and the book of Acts and Acts chapter 20. A number of places that indicate that the disciples were gathering together on the first day of the week in commemoration of Jesus' resurrection from the dead.

That is on Sunday. And in Christ, we believers enter into that true Sabbath rest. Two passages of scripture make this absolutely clear. Matthew chapter 11, Jesus speaking towards the end of the chapter says, Come to me, all you who labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. That is the Sabbath rest that the people of God always longed for. That was set out really in the beginning of creation, this Sabbath, this endless day, the day on which God rested. It was a picture of heavenly rest, even back there in Genesis.

It's what we're called to enter into, and we enter into it through Jesus Christ, who is the one who said, Come to me, and I will give you rest. You also see this in the book of Hebrews, in Hebrews chapter 4, verse 8. The author of the Hebrews said, If Joshua had given them rest, God would not have spoken of another day later on. So then there remains a Sabbath rest for the people of God, for whoever has entered God's rest has also rested from his works, as God did from his. Let us therefore strive to enter that rest, so that no one may fall after the same sort of disobedience. The way we enter that rest, what he says earlier there, is by faith in Jesus Christ. In terms of worship, I think what this looks like is believers in Jesus worshiping, setting apart the day, the Lord's day, for drawing near to God, especially when it comes to corporate worship. I think, Rachelle, being in a church and gathering together with Christians on Sunday to worship God is central to how we observe, I think, under the new covenant, this idea of Sabbath rest, of gathering with the people of God, of entering into the presence of God by the grace of the Holy Spirit.

We do that on Sunday, and we do that in Christ, and we do that with other believers, and I think that's what it looks like today. God bless, Rachelle, and I pray the Lord is with your family. Rachelle, thanks so much for your call. We will continue to pray for your family members with COVID. Let's go to Mike in Windale, Texas. Mike, what's your question for Pastor Adriel?

Hey, thanks for putting me on. Quick question, Matthew 28, 19, Jesus said, Go therefore baptizing in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. I know Father and Son, those are titles, so if you go later on in the Bible, in Acts 2, 38, where Peter was the awful Holy Spirit, that was the first preaching he did, he said, Repent, every one of you, and be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and then you shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. Were the apostles wrong in baptizing in the name of Jesus? Because even Paul said, Were you baptized in the name of Paul? No, you're baptized in the one crucified for you. So it seems like the apostles interpreted what Jesus said, and is that the right interpretation?

Thank you, Mike, for that question. Yes, when Jesus instituted holy baptism, he said, Go, make disciples, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. That is the triune baptism. It's what the church has done for 2,000 years. It's what we practice at our church. But then the question comes up, Well, what about what we see in the book of Acts, where the disciples of our Lord were baptizing in the name of Jesus?

I don't think it necessarily means, so I think specifically there's a couple ways of looking at this. I don't think that it necessarily means that they weren't baptizing in the triune name. I think what's being emphasized there is the baptism of Jesus in distinction to the baptism of John. And it sounds like you were even alluding to that scene in the book of Acts where the disciples go to a group of people, and they ask them, Have you received the Holy Spirit?

And they say, Well, we didn't even know there was a Holy Spirit. Well, into what name were you baptized? Well, we were baptized in John's baptism.

They had to be baptized for the remission of sins, if you will, according to what Christ instituted. And so you have this distinction that's being made there in the book of Acts, specifically calling people to follow Jesus, to be disciples of Jesus. And I think that's one of the reasons why Luke uses the language that he does throughout the book of Acts.

I don't think that there is a contradiction. I don't think that the disciples misunderstood Jesus or reinterpreted what he said there in Matthew chapter 28. I think Luke is picking up on something, especially that was taking place in the book of Acts, and helping to bring some clarification. This isn't the baptism of John. This is the baptism of Jesus Christ. And the baptism of Jesus, I would say, is done in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. God bless.

Thanks, Mike. Appreciate you listening to Core Christianity and digging into God's Word. By the way, we have that wonderful Bible study available to you. It's called How to Read the Bible. If you've just started reading the Bible for yourself, maybe this year you've made it a New Year's resolution to start tackling God's Word on a regular basis, this will be a big help to you. It's a 10-week Bible study. You can get yours for a donation of $20 or more by going to corechristianity.com forward slash Bible. That's corechristianity.com forward slash Bible to learn more about that. And one other thing we want to mention is we would love to tell you about our great group of folks called The Inner Core. These are folks that support our program on a regular basis. And you can learn more about becoming an Inner Core member and all the benefits that entails by going to corechristianity.com forward slash inner core. Let's go back to the phones and we have Gopin on the line from Davis, California. Gopin, what's your question? Hi, Pastor Adriel and Bill. I really appreciate it.

It's my first time I call, but I listen almost every evening since over a year. But my question today is to do with Matthew 5, 13, where it says, You are the salt of the earth, and if the salt loses its saltiness, how can it be made? If you salt again, it will no longer good, for anything will be thrown out and trampled by man. And we are the believers and we are salt. Yeah, we all on the other places in the Bible said we will never lose our salvation. Does that mean if we don't, you know, something happened to us that we somehow lose the saltiness? I understand we're not being a good witness or things like that. Will we lose our salvation? What does that mean? That's my struggle. How do I reconcile those two statements? Brother, thank you for your encouragement.

I'm glad that you listen every evening. A wonderful passage of scripture for us to look at here, and it sounds to me like you're wondering, Does this indicate that the believer can lose their salvation, that they can be justified? Maybe at one point they were salty, as it were, in the sense of being a good witness for Jesus Christ, and then later on they lose their saltiness. That is, they lose their salvation.

They're just cast out, that kind of a thing. Well, no, I don't think that this calls into question the security of the believer. I think that what Jesus is emphasizing here is his people, in particular his church, as a light to the world. He goes on to say in verse 14, You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden, nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all who are in the house.

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven. So I don't know, I don't believe that this calls into question the security of the believer individually. But I do think, I mean, you look at the book of Revelation, for example, in Revelation chapter 2.

In particular, I think it's the church at Ephesus. One of the problems that they had was they had essentially lost their saltiness as a congregation, and Jesus threatened to remove their lampstand. You think again about this language of being a light on a hill, being the light of the world, if you will. Jesus is calling them to repentance, and he's saying, look, if this church doesn't repent, it's not going to exist anymore.

It's not going to be here in 10 years, 20 years. And so there are a couple of ways of looking at this. The emphasis is on our call to be a light to the world, to be salt in the world, in Christ. But the reality is, even as individual believers, brother, this is not, your saltiness, your light, if you will, is not what saves you. It never could be. We never have enough. We couldn't have enough. And so that's why I don't think that this calls into question our salvation, our justification.

We're justified. You're saved purely by what Jesus Christ did. That's what gives you confidence on the day of judgment, because if it was based on how good of an evangelist I was, on how many good works I had, how bright my light was shining, well, then I would be in trouble, and I think we all would, because we all know that we fall short. And that doesn't contradict Jesus' words here. He's just saying, look, this is what my people are called to be. And if the Church isn't that, then it's not fulfilling its purpose, its function.

What's the worth? It's like salt without any flavor. You're just going to cast it out, that kind of a thing. But it's not Jesus here saying that if you're not salty enough, I'm going to cast you out. No, he's welcomed us by faith, received us, received you, justified us, and he is working in us to help us to be salt and light in the world today. May God fill you with His grace and with His Spirit to that end, brother. Thank you so much for your question, and may God bless you as you continue to study His Word. You know, Adriel, that brings up the question, what about churches in today's culture that have departed from God's Word and they're preaching a different gospel, or not preaching the gospel at all, or they are adding things to the gospel that were never meant.

What should we say about that, and what's our response as believers? Those are churches where the lights are going to go out soon, I think. And I don't mean literally speaking, I mean if the gospel is not being preached, if they're not a light, well, there is no light there. And again, I mentioned to our brother there Jesus' words in Revelation 2 verses 1 through 7, where he talks about removing the lampstand of the church at Ephesus, and a lot of commentators think, well, what it is is they'd lost their zeal for evangelism, the proclamation of the gospel. And so the gospel has to be central. Just because a church calls itself a church doesn't mean it is. A church is where the Word of God is faithfully taught and Christ is proclaimed. As we explore the truth of God's Word together.