How Do I Share Christ with My Non-believing Spouse?

How do I share Christ with my non-believing spouse? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of Core Christianity. Well, hi, this is Bill Meyer, along with Pastor Adriel Sanchez, and this is the radio program where we answer your questions about the Bible and the Christian life every day. You can call us right now with your question. Our phone lines are open and we are waiting to hear from you. It's 833-843-2673.

If you want to spell it out, it's really easy. It's 833-THE-CORE, 833-THE-CORE. You can also post your question on one of our social media sites, and you can email us anytime at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, let's go to Edwin calling in from Boise, Idaho. Edwin, what's your question for Adriel? Yeah, thank you for taking my call.

The question I submitted, I wanted to ask. So I have been a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints for about, I joined back in 2007, thinking it was a restored church, and they're called Restorationists. But the question I had was, is there a need for apostles and a prophet in this day and time, or in this dispensation?

I would probably say it that way. So is there a need for apostles and prophets in this day? Thank you, Edwin. Hey, can I just ask you a quick follow-up, Edwin? Did you say you were in the LDS, or are you still a member of the LDS church? I am not a member. My membership is still on the church, but I am very inactive. Like, I don't even go back to church anymore. I haven't been in a long time.

Okay. Well, Edwin, I'd love to see you get plugged into a solid Bible teaching church, and I really appreciate the fact that you're calling in with this question. And of course, this is something that the LDS church believes, that we do need these apostolic figures around today. My view is that those offices, in particular the Office of Apostle and Prophet, were extraordinary in nature, and that they weren't meant to stick around for the church throughout the history of her existence, if you will. Now, in the Old Testament, the prophets in particular were a part of the theocracy. God raised up these prophets to come alongside of the kings of Israel and to enforce, if you will, the terms of his covenant. They would oftentimes bring God's judgment to bear on the sinful kings of Israel and also on the wicked nations enforcing the terms of God's covenant. They were, you know, what some people have referred to them as these sort of covenant prosecutors, and so they were really closely connected with the theocracy in Israel under the old covenant, the office of the prophet there.

Well, that's not a thing anymore. You know, we're under the new covenant now today, and the author of the Hebrews makes it very clear in Hebrews chapter 1. He says, God, you know, spoke to our fathers in various ways, and one of the things he highlights there in Hebrews 1 is God speaking through the prophets under the old covenant.

But now he has spoken definitively in his son. So when Jesus came, the advent of the new covenant, you do have something unique, something distinct, the ultimate prophet, priest, and king revealed in Jesus Christ. Now, that's not to say that there weren't in the New Testament, you know, individuals who had prophetic giftings described in places like the Book of Acts in 1 Corinthians chapter 14 and so on and so forth.

But this was distinct, different from even the office of the prophet. These weren't guys like Ezekiel and Jeremiah working together with the theocracy in Israel, and so we have to recognize there's some uniqueness there. And then even with regard to the apostles, you know, you have the 12, and that's a really important number because you have with the 12 apostles a sort of restoration of Israel.

You think of the 12 tribes of Israel, for example, but those people were men who had seen the risen Lord, witnessed him, and were testifying to that resurrection. And those apostles, what they did is they went out and planted churches, and they established not new apostles in those churches, but elders and deacons in 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. I think in the ordinary life of the church, the perpetual offices, if you will, are those offices, the office of elder, the office of deacon. You don't have, you know, Paul going to Timothy and saying, here are the qualifications for the apostles in the future, that kind of a thing. And I think this is clear in places like Ephesians chapter 2 in verse 20, the apostles were built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Christ Jesus himself being the cornerstone in whom the whole structure being joined together grows into a holy temple in the Lord. In him, you also are being built together into a dwelling place for God by the Spirit. And so those apostles and prophets, they're foundational in nature, the sort of building the foundation of the church. And the foundation is the preaching of the apostles and prophets. That is the proclamation of the gospel.

The apostle Paul says to the Galatians, if anybody comes after me, whether they claim to be an apostle or even an angel, if they're bringing a different message than the gospel that you received, let them be accursed. You know, a person can take that title to themselves. You know, you can call yourself an apostle and certainly in the LDS church, there are a number of individuals who have risen up and taken that title for themselves.

But the question is not, you know, can I take that title to myself? The question is, do I have the theology, the doctrine of the apostles? Do I preach that? And my firm conviction, Edwin, is that the LDS church does not, that it's contrary to the true teaching that we find in scripture. And you're right, they did teach, they do teach that they restored the gospel of Jesus Christ, that the gospel of Jesus had been completely lost beginning in the early church. I remember a Mormon friend that I had, Edwin, for many years prior to his death, you know, we're going back and forth and he was giving me Mormon apologetic books related to this idea of restoration.

One Mormon apologist who he had me reading was a guy named Hugh Nibley. And so we're going back and forth and essentially the Mormon church teaches that the gospel was lost and it needed to be restored. But in my mind that's completely contrary to what Jesus himself said. He said, I'm going to build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against her. I think, according to Mormon doctrine, the gates of hell prevailed against the church for a long period of time. A dark season, you know, the lights went out according to LDS doctrine for a period of time and it had to be restored.

Well, that's not what really happened. That's not what we see in scripture and it's certainly not what we see in the history of the church and that's my firm conviction. And so, no, I would say that those offices, the office of prophet, the office of apostle, that those were not meant to be perpetual offices in the life of the everyday church.

Those men, those apostles in the New Testament established churches and they put elders and deacons in those churches and that's what we should expect today. And Edwin, because I'm just so grateful that you called, I want to give you an opportunity to follow up if you want some more clarification there. Okay, yeah, that'd be fine.

I would enjoy that actually. Okay, well, do you want to follow up now? Did you have another question related to that? Well, yeah, everything that you said is what I have been reading in the Bible.

Right. And I feel like that, you know, that I feel like that there was something when I started reading the Bible, started reading the Old Testament and the New Testament, I started realizing some things that the Jesus of the Mormon church is not the Jesus of the Bible. And it kind of, I'm kind of like, this is the, you know, they say that the Book of Mormon is another testament of Jesus Christ, which I disagree with, that I believe that the Bible is the infallible word of God and it is the word of God.

So that's when I decided to step away. Now, my dear wife, she's her family. They're all LDS. They grew up LDS.

Unfortunately, I, you know, she's still my wife. I have to, you know, have to just, you know, kind of get along with her and not fight about religion. But, you know, it's just kind of the point of, you know, that I believe that Christ and God, my eternal Father, has been speaking to me and through the gospel of the New Testament and has been showing me the ways, because the Mormon church, they believe that they believe the Bible as far as it is translated correctly. But the question is that they will pick, they will cherry pick verses and say, you know, baptism for the dead or the three degrees of glory. They will take those and literally believe those 100 percent, which I found that kind of odd.

I'm like, wait a minute. You guys are telling me that you believe the Bible as far as it is translated correctly. But then you cherry pick and you take only the verses that you want and you say, well, these are true verses.

It was kind of confusing. Now, Edwin, I'm 100 percent with you and I've spent time talking with Mormons. And that's typically what happens is you're opening up the scriptures and you're showing them where what they teach contradicts what the Bible says. And the response will be, well, we only believe the Bible as it was interpreted or translated correctly. So that's sort of like, you know, the escape route for them. And so ultimately, I mean, if that's your strategy, you really do not believe in the authority of scripture, because any time the scriptures challenge you, if you say, well, I just don't know about that verse. I don't know if it was translated faithfully. Well, then essentially you give yourself an escape to disobey God's word, not to submit to it.

You're right. We have to embrace the truth of scripture, the infallibility of scripture. And I pray, Edwin, for you that you will continue to do that and that you'll dig into the word of God and let God speak to you through his word by the grace of the Holy Spirit. And another thing, I know that this has got to be hard, but I would encourage you to get plugged into a solid Bible believing church. And if you want to stay on the line, want to send you some resources to encourage you in your walk with the Lord.

Let me just pray for you right now, because it sounds to me like, you know, you said your wife and family have a lot of people still in the LDS church. And so let me pray for you, brother. God, I want to lift Edwin up to you right now. I thank you, Lord, that he is learning from your word, that he's reading it, that he's studying it, that he's asking questions, good questions, Lord. And I pray that you would guide him, lead him into the truth more and more of who you are, of what you've done to redeem mankind. Thank you, God, for him. I pray, Lord God, that you would help him to get plugged into a good church, a solid church there where he lives.

And for peace in his family, Lord, that you would begin to draw all of them into the truth of your word through your son, Jesus. I pray. Amen. Thank you, Edwin. God bless. Amen. Bless you, Edwin.

And hang on the line for a second. We would love to send you a copy of our book, Core Christianity, by our founder, Dr. Michael Horton, which will really help you dig in even deeper to God's word and maybe have some great discussions with your wife on this topic. So, man, great call. And, Adriel, thanks so much for laying that out. I think it's important for all of our listeners to know the differences between Mormon theology and, you know, accurate doctrine, accurate Christian doctrine and theology.

Yeah, yeah. I mean, the scriptures say that even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light. You know, it doesn't always come, you know, with a, you know, red devil and horns looking like that.

No, it often is a subtle deception. And I think that's one of the things that Mormonism, you know, it parades itself around as a kind of Christianity, but it really is not. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. And if you have kids or grandkids, we have a wonderful book available that will help them understand the richness of God's creation and how he made each of us unique and special.

Yeah, that's right. This book is for grade schoolers. It's called Creative God Colorful Us. And there's a lot of unhelpful discussion about culture, the gospel race that's sort of floating around out there. But these are really important subjects. I think important for us, important for us to have conversations with our children about these things. And this book explores questions related to the image of God, the fall, the gospel, and a lot more. It gets into how God has created us uniquely across ethnic lines, how we sinned, how God rescued us, and how if we understand God's diverse creation and what that's going to look like in heaven, in the new creation, that should motivate us to love each other here on earth.

And so this is a great way to have conversations with your children about some of these things. It's a beautiful book. And so get ahold of this resource. It's yours for a donation of any amount over at corechristianity.com. And you can find the book by going to our website and looking for offers. In other words, corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Look for the book, Creative God Colorful Us by Trilla Newbell. Just a wonderful book to read with your kids or your grandkids. Well, we do receive voicemails here at Core Christianity. And here's one that came in from Laura in St. Louis. My question for you first I want to thank you so much for your show.

I listen to it every day and I'm so blessed by it. My question for you is this. I have very strong faith I'm in the Bible every day my husband does not object to that doesn't go to church with me, but won't engage in any sort of spiritual conversations. And I'm really struggling with how to even start those conversations there are little, little windows of hope. But then he will walk off or change the subject or something and I don't want to push. We've been together for over 40 years I don't want to push. But I really feel this need to witness to my husband. So I wonder if you could just give me some tips and things to say to him. So thank you very much.

Bye. Laura, God bless you. And I love that you want to share the gospel with your husband that you want to have these conversations.

You're not alone in this situation. The Apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians chapter 7 he talks about these marriages where a believing spouse is married to an unbelieving spouse. And the unbelieving spouse agrees to live together with you. You guys are married you maybe have a healthy marriage all around but your husband is not a believer. And when you try to have conversations about the Lord he just doesn't seem interested. And Paul would say you know you continue to be together. You don't know what kind of impact your faith, your walk with Jesus is going to have on him and how God might use your witness even just by the life that you live. And this is something also that the Apostle Peter brings up in 1 Peter chapter 3.

Listen to his words there Laura. He says, likewise wives, be subject to your own husbands so that even if some do not obey the word they may be won without a word by the conduct of their wives. When they see your respectful and pure conduct do not let your adorning be external, the braiding of hair and the putting on of gold jewelry or the clothing that you wear. But let your adorning be the hidden person of the heart with the imperishable beauty of a gentle and quiet spirit which in God's sight is very precious.

For this is how the holy women who hoped in God used to adorn themselves by submitting to their own husbands. See part of what Peter is saying here is look you're married to someone who doesn't embrace the gospel and there's a tension there obviously saying look first things first let your conduct speak even louder than words in one sense. Let your conduct speak so that they might be, this is the words of Peter, so that they might be won without a word even.

So that's the first encouragement that I have for you. It could be that this is something that you're already doing in terms of your relationship with him and even though you may not see the impact that it's having I believe that as you continue to follow Jesus, to love Jesus well and through that to love your husband well, to be gentle, caring, kind, all of those things that your husband sees that and that God can work in and through that. Now we know that the gospel is not something that we do or even that we can show by our good works although our good works I think are an implication, an outflow of the gospel. It is a message and so there is the communication of truth but it sounds to me like right now your husband doesn't want to hear it at all. If I were you I would say pray, pray that the Lord gives you opportunities, pray that the Lord softens his heart, pray that through conversation naturally that the door might be open to talk about Christ, what he's done. And I think in some circumstances, in some instances it is appropriate to say look I just need to tell you this because this is weighing on my heart, I need you to know about the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, how he's been to me, why I am the way that I am. Which you see, the way that I live my life it's because my sins are forgiven, it's because I have a relationship with the true and the living God, I have the hope of heaven and because I love you, I want you to have that as well. And so I'd say pray that the Lord gives you those opportunities but if you are sensing that this is just something that you have, now is the time, I would say do that and speak the truth in love even as you are living a life of love as an outflow of your faith in Jesus Christ, Lord. And so may God bless you and be with you and thank you for your question. You're listening to CORE Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. Our phone number if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life is 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. You can also leave us a voicemail 24 hours a day. We try to check our voicemails daily and try to get back to you and use your question on the air. Let's go to Jerry in Branson, Missouri. Jerry, what's your question for Adriel? Hey Jerry, you there? How you doing?

Yeah, I really enjoy your show. My question is when I'm reading about the creation from God and he created male and female and then he rested and then he formed Adam and informed Eve from Adam. And then later on when he was, when Cain had killed Abel and stuff, he was going to throw him out of the garden and Cain said, don't put me out there with them.

Basically, they'd kill him or something. I'm really confused at what's going on there. Is there, did God create male and female and then came back later and formed Adam and Eve? Yeah, now the order is, so God created Adam and then from Adam, God took Eve, if you will. You read about this in Genesis chapter 2. And both male and female, man and woman, were made in God's image.

Genesis chapter 1 verse 27, God created man in his own image and the image of God he created him, male and female he created them. Seems like maybe some of the confusion is coming from the chronology and just the sort of order of the events as they took place. And there can be a little bit of, I mean, it can be a little bit confusing when you're reading the first few chapters of Genesis, but you have God making Adam, taking Eve from Adam and then they have children, Cain and Abel and probably others as well. He's concerned after being basically excommunicated, you know, cast out as a wonder that other people are going to kill him. He's probably his own relatives.

Adam and Eve probably had more children than are just described here. And so that's the way we can unpack that dilemma, if you will. But that's the proper order and sounds like you're digging into the word. God bless you as you do that, brother. Thank you for giving us a call. Thanks, Jerry. Appreciate you being a regular listener to CORE Christianity.

Let's go to Mike calling in from Florida. Mike, what's your question for Adriel? Yeah, hey, I just heard you talking about the fivefold ministry where God, Jesus put the fivefold ministry in there. I did find it in Acts 2, Acts 2 17, it says in the last days, which we know that wasn't then, it's now, God says, I'll pour out my Spirit on all people, your sons and daughters will prophesy, your young men will see visions, your old men will dream dreams. So that's showing there is still prophets coming, or there still is. And then also in the book of Revelation, it says of the two prophets that call down, you know, stop the weather and all these kinds of things. So I don't see where the fivefold ministry has ceased, because there's still teachers and preachers and disciples, they're supposed to make disciples of all men. So removing the prophets from that, I just don't see that in the word. Hey, Mike, thank you for, I love, you know, I appreciate, brother, when people call, and even when there are disagreements, the goal is to search the scriptures and ultimately to have a biblical understanding of these things. And so you mentioned in Acts chapter 2 the fulfillment of Joel's prophecy on the day of Pentecost, you know, where Peter says this is that which was spoken or uttered through the prophet Joel.

And one of the things you said was we know that that was not then, it's now. And what I would just say is no, actually, Peter is saying there in Acts 2, this is happening right now. What you're seeing here on the day of Pentecost is exactly what Joel prophesied in Joel chapter 2, relating to this latter rain outpouring, if you will, of God's Spirit. And what's emphasized there in Joel chapter 2 is the fact that the Spirit of God under the new covenant is going to be democratized. What I mean by that is it's not just going to be the prophets and the kings and the priests in Israel who are going to experience the presence of the Holy Spirit in their lives. Now, under the new covenant, all of us, by faith in Jesus Christ, united to him, have the Spirit of God living in us.

Paul says to the Ephesians, we've been sealed by the Holy Spirit. But the office of prophet, which I mentioned earlier on the broadcast today, you know, was a part of the theocracy in the Old Testament. And was really, I mean, when we look at the prophets in the New Testament, what they're doing essentially is helping to fortify, to buttress the proclamation of the gospel early on there. I don't think that that office was meant to be a perpetual office in the life of the church today for the reasons I already mentioned.

The perpetual offices that we see in the New Testament are the office of teacher, of elder, of deacon. I think we need to get back to the doctrine of the apostles. Everybody wants to talk about, you know, we need new prophets today. We need new apostles today. No, the problem is we've drifted from the doctrine, the teaching, the theology of the apostles and prophets that we see outlined in the New Testament. But what we need to do, we don't need new prophets. We don't need new apostles to bring us a new message. We need to go back to the ancient apostolic message. We need to heed the words of the original prophets that testified to us of the coming of the Messiah, Jesus Christ.

And ultimately, that's what they were meant to do. These prophets, these apostles, they were pointing to the gospel. It's what the author of the Hebrew says, God bore witness by signs and wonders, various miracles, gifts of the Holy Spirit distributed according to his will. Bore witness to what? Bore witness to the gospel.

That's where we need to set our focus, our eyes, our attention. We need to get back to that message, the message of the apostles and prophets preached in the New Testament that we cling to by faith and receive with joy. Thanks for listening to CORE Christianity. To request your copy of today's special offer, visit us at corechristianity.com and click on offers in the menu bar. Or call us at 1-833-843-2673. That's 833, the CORE. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this program. And be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.