How Should Christians Respond to Celebrity Conversions like Shia LaBeouf, Kanye West, and Eminem?

How should Christians respond to celebrity conversions like Shia LaBeouf, Kanye West and Eminem? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. Well, hi, I'm 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. We'd love to hear from you and our phone lines are open right now. Here's the number. It's 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Now, you can always post your question on one of our social media sites. And of course, you can email us anytime with your question. Here's the email address. It's questionsatcorechristianity.com.

First up today, here's a voicemail that came in from one of our listeners yesterday. In this letter to Timothy, in 1 Timothy chapter 2, specifically I believe in verse 12, Paul mentions the woman putting on modest apparel and not wearing braids, gold and basically jewelry. Is Paul trying to say that women are not supposed to wear these apparels as he describes? The second part is regarding women in ministry. In Joel chapter 2, God talks about pouring out His Spirit upon all flesh. If Paul is saying women are not supposed to be doing anything directly but to be learning in silence, what does he exactly mean?

Thank you. No jewelry if you're a woman. There might be some husbands out there that wish that was the case, but I don't believe that that's what Paul is getting at. Specifically, I think he's talking about not drawing attention to ourselves in the context of worship specifically.

Also, I think there's a more general sort of broad principle here just in terms of modest apparel and not focusing on ourselves so much and that being the center of everything. He does say, 1 Timothy chapter 2 verse 9, women should adorn themselves in respectable apparel with modesty and self-control, not with braided hair and gold or pearls or costly attire, but with what is proper for women who profess godliness with good works. Then, to the second part of your question, women in ministry, he goes on to say in verse 11, let a woman learn quietly with all submissiveness.

I do not permit a woman to teach or to exercise authority over a man. Specifically, this text, what you find later just in chapter 3 with regard to the qualifications for elders, also in Titus chapter 1, it seems to me like at least in terms of the office of minister, the elders of the church, that's an office reserved specifically for men who are called and qualified. That doesn't mean that women can't teach in other contexts, but when we're talking about the worship service and the ministry of the word, I think that there's a real clear prescription given to us in scripture. Now, with regard to the passage you bring up in Joel 2 where God promises to pour out his spirit on all flesh, this promise of the new covenant, men and women, that's true. Each of us are filled as believers in Jesus Christ with the Holy Spirit. We've been sealed by the Holy Spirit, and we have gifts for the building up of the body of Christ, whether you're a man or a woman. That's something that we celebrate, that we rejoice in. That highlights the fact that each of us play an integral part within the body of Christ, men and women gifted by the Lord, called as prophets, priests, and kings through our union with Jesus Christ.

We don't minimize that at all, but when we're talking about the specific offices in the church, like the office of elder, I think that there's something more specific that's being spoken of there, and it seems to be reserved for called and qualified men in the church. I appreciate your question, sister, and may the Lord bless you. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. We'd love to hear from you if you've got a question about doctrine or theology, maybe a Bible passage that's confusing to you, or maybe how your Christian walk intersects with what's going on in today's culture.

We'd love to hear from you. Here's the number, 833-THE-CORE. We'll be taking calls for the next 20 minutes or so. 833-843-2673. Let's go to Kathy in St. Louis, Missouri. Kathy, what's your question for Adriel?

Hi, thanks for taking my call. My question is this. My husband and I, before we got married, we were both married to other people, and so we had an adulterous relationship, and now we're married, and we're going to church, and we've asked for forgiveness, but I don't know in the eyes of God if we're considered committing adultery every day in our marriage. I'm just not sure about that.

Hey, Kathy, thank you for that question. Well, you're married now, and because you're married now, I think that you're called to be with your husband that you're with now. I mean, it sounds to me like the circumstances of your coming together were not right, and you recognize that, and that's part of the reason why this weighs heavily upon you, but does that mean that you're forever cursed that you can't actually repent?

No, it doesn't. I think that you can and must repent. I think part of that looks like living faithfully to now with your husband. I think it's good that you're going to church. Maybe this is something that you bring up there with the leadership of the church so they can help you guys as well through this and working through it and encouraging you now in your walk with the Lord and in your relationship with each other. But the question, again, would be like do you recognize that what happened prior to was sin? Have you confessed that to the Lord and repented of it?

And if you have, I believe that there is indeed forgiveness for you and that now you're called to press forward and to walk in a manner that is pleasing to the Lord, faithful to your husband in the light of the body of Christ in the context of Christian community, and being open and transparent about those things as well. And so, Kathy, does that answer your question? I appreciate that very much because this has been weighing pretty heavily on my mind, so thank you so much for taking my call. Let me pray for you right now, Kathy, and I'm grateful to hear that you're in church. Let's pray for Kathy.

Father, each of us, when we think back to decisions that we've made and things that we've done, we can see sin, times where we've rebelled against you, and oftentimes, Lord, those sinful decisions, we still feel a great sense of shame and pain because of it, and we see how what we've done has led to pain and hurt in the lives of others as well. And so as my sister Kathy comes to you, as we all come to you, Lord, saying, Jesus Christ, Son of God, have mercy upon me, a sinner, and we confess our sins to you and we ask for your help, I pray that you would give us, I pray that you would give her a sense of your forgiveness, a sense of your love. I pray that you would give her the filling of your spirit so that she would now walk in a manner every day that is pleasing to you, honoring to you, faithful to her husband, that they would be faithful to each other, and that where they can ask for forgiveness for things that they've done in the past and seek to pursue healing, that they would do that, Lord, and that you would give them wisdom in that. Bless them now, I pray, and bless them, Lord, in the church that they're at as well, that they would grow together and that they would grow in their relationship with you. In Jesus' name, amen. Amen.

Kathy, thanks so much for your call. We appreciate you, and thanks for being a regular listener to Core Christianity. Tough situation, huh, Adriel? Yeah, I mean, life is messy, sin is messy.

There aren't easy answers, clear-cut answers a lot of times. We know that the Bible does speak about an unpardonable sin, but I don't think that that's what we're talking about here. Even when there are adulterous affairs, you name it, things like that, we can still experience the forgiveness and grace of Jesus Christ when we come to him in repentance asking for his mercy.

That doesn't mean that there aren't consequences to our sins, but we won't be condemned by our sins because of the forgiveness of Christ. Amen. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. By the way, one of the calls, one of the questions we often get on this program is, how can I be sure I'm a Christian? It's the whole issue of assurance of salvation.

We actually have a free resource on that topic we'd like to make available to you today. Yeah, this is something that I know many believers struggle with, and so we want to offer this free resource for you. It's called Nine Ways to Know You Are Really a Christian. It's hard to walk with the Lord, to pursue him, to pursue good works in the Christian life when we're always questioning whether or not we're saved. You know, thinking, does God really love me?

Has he really embraced me as a part of his family? Again, I know many Christians struggle with this, and so that's why we've created this resource. You can access it over at corechristianity.com forward slash offers to download Nine Ways to Know You Are Really a Christian and trust that it'll be helpful to you.

And remember, it's absolutely free. We'd love to get that in your hands, so check it out, corechristianity.com forward slash offers. Well, we do receive voicemails here at Core Christianity.

You can leave us your voicemail question 24 hours a day, and here's one that came in. Actually, this is an email question that came in from one of our listeners, and our email address, by the way, is questions at corechristianity.com. This email is from one of our listeners named Aaron.

He says, Hey, Pastor Adriel, I'm not sure if you've seen recent news stories about how celebrities like Shia LaBeouf, Kanye West, and Eminem have become Christians, some of them Catholics. I'm just wondering how we should respond when we hear news like this. Some folks are skeptical, as if it's all marketing and PR. Some are really excited about it. What are your thoughts?

Yeah, I have heard and seen actually some videos online, an interview with Shia LaBeouf, and I know that this is something that people get really excited about. Of course, I mean, scripture says when one sinner repents, heaven rejoices. There's a party in heaven.

The angels are rejoicing. And so anytime someone comes to faith in Jesus Christ, I think it is a cause for celebration. But here's where we want to be careful, I think, as believers, you know, seeing these things in the media, on the news, on YouTube, whatever. Too often, I think that we can be a respecters of persons, and God isn't. Think about what James said in James chapter two, beginning in verse one, My brothers, show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory. For if a man wearing a gold ring in fine clothing comes into your assembly, and a poor man in shabby clothing also comes in, and if you pay attention to the one who wears the fine clothing, and you say, sit here in a good place. While you say to the poor man, you stand over there, or sit down at my feet, have you not then made distinctions among yourselves and become judges with evil thoughts? Listen, my beloved brothers, has not God chosen those who are poor in the world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom which he has promised to those who love him? But you dishonored the poor man. Are not the rich the ones who oppress you, the ones who drag you into court? Are they not the ones who blaspheme the honorable name by which you were called?

See, James is very clear. He says, look, if a celebrity, if you will, walks into the church and you give this celebrity all of the attention, you say, oh man, you get to sit in the front pew, you're just the guest of honor, that kind of a thing. And then a poor person walks in and you say, you sit here at my feet or there outside and you pay them no attention. What we're doing is sinful. And I wonder if sometimes we can see these things and we get really excited. We can demonstrate this sort of partiality that the Bible speaks against. God has chosen, brothers and sisters, the foolish of the world to shame the wise. The other passage that I think is helpful here as we think about this is what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1 verse 26. Consider your calling, brothers. Not many of you were wise according to worldly standards.

It's like, gee, Paul, thanks for that. But not many of you were wise according to worldly standards. Not many were powerful.

Not many were of noble birth. But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise. God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong.

God chose what is low and despised in the world, even the things that are not to bring to nothing things that are so that no human being might boast in the presence of God. And because of him, you are in Christ Jesus who became to us wisdom from God, righteousness and sanctification, redemption, so that as it is written, let the one who boasts, boasts in the Lord. We might be impressed when celebrities walk into the church. We might think, oh, man, you know, so awesome. God is not impressed by any of us. And so we have to be careful that we don't show partiality. Don't look also, this is the other thing, don't look to celebrities who were converted yesterday or last week as spiritual guides.

Right. They don't need to be teaching about God and scripture. We ought to pray for these individuals if indeed they've come to him and pray for them that the Lord would do a work in their lives, that the Lord would continue to sanctify them, that God would get them plugged into solid churches where the gospel is faithfully taught. But brothers and sisters, consider your calling. God has chosen the foolish of the world, the weak to display his glory, to display his goodness.

And so we praise God for anyone who comes into the church, but we ought not to be respecters of persons. Thanks for that email, Aaron. God bless. That's some great counsel. And I love the fact that you encouraged us to pray for those celebrities when they do make a profession of faith and that God would surround them with a strong believer.

So with a good pastor, with somebody who can really speak into their lives and help them to grow in their their new walk with Christ. So thanks for that. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adrian Sanchez. Our phone lines are open and we're going to actually continue taking calls for the next 40 minutes or so. We're going to record a second episode of Core Christianity today. It won't be live on the air after this live program ends.

We'll keep recording. So if you have a question about the Bible or the Christian life, you can feel free to call us. 833-THE-CORE.

That's 1-833-843-2673. Let's go to Mark, who is calling in from Kansas. Mark, what's your question for Adrian? Well, you just said something that kind of jarred me, actually. You said the unforgivable sins. What is an unforgivable sin?

Yeah, Mark. Well, thank you for following up on that. So I'm just in Matthew chapter 12 answering the previous question. Right here is where we see this language of an unforgivable sin, and it's what Jesus called the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit. Let me read this text, because a lot of times people hear that and they think, oh boy, have I committed that sin.

There's something very specific here that's going on. We read in verse 22, a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute was brought to Jesus and he healed him. So the man spoke in Saul, and the people were amazed and said, Can this be the son of David?

In other words, is this the Messiah? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, It is only by Beelzebul, the prince of demons, that this man casts out demons. Now knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, Every kingdom divided against itself is laid waste, and no city or house divided against itself will stand. And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand? And if I cast out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they will be your judges. But if it is by the Spirit of God that I cast out demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. Or how can someone enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds a strong man?

Then indeed he may plunder his house. Whoever is not with me is against me, and whoever does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you.

And Mark, here's the answer to your question. Jesus says, Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven people, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven, but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come. And the reason is because they were saying Jesus has an unclean spirit. So what is the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit?

What is this unforgivable sin? Well, here it's committed, or on the verge of being committed, by these religious leaders, the priests of the day, people who should know better, and as they're seeing Jesus' mighty miracles, and hearing the Gospel, what are they doing? They're hardening their heart in unbelief.

Over and over again. In fact, they're so stubborn and unbelieving that they're even attributing the miracles of Jesus to Satan. And so there is this blindness, this rejection of the Gospel, not just ignorance, but a full-on Jesus-you're-demon-possessed kind of a thing.

And Jesus is warning them here. He says, Look, if you continue in this, you're going to die in your sin, because you're not believing in me. And so the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit is the rejection of the Gospel, the attributing of the works of Christ to Satan. It's not something that believers do, Mark.

It's not something that you send as a Christian, you think, Oh man, I've messed up again. I struggle with this sin every single day. Maybe I've sinned away the grace of God. Maybe I've committed the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit.

No. People who commit this don't care that they commit it. And that's what these religious leaders were doing. They were rejecting Jesus and his Gospel. Look, if we come to Christ, believing in him, asking for his mercy, there's mercy, there's hope for those who call on the name of the Lord. But if we reject him, we've heard the Gospel. We've even seen evidence of changed lives, the people around us who have been changed by the Lord. And yet we say, Oh, that's just silly.

That's dumb. We reject all of it. Jesus, I don't believe in him. He was just some sort of ancient wizard, whatever.

Look, if you live believing that and continuing to reject the conviction of the Holy Spirit, you're in a dangerous place, spiritually speaking, and there's no hope for forgiveness if you die in that state. And that's part of the warning that Jesus was giving to the Pharisees there, Mark. Thank you for your question. Great explanation. And Mark, thanks so much for calling in. We appreciate that. You know, that really ties in with the resource we're offering today. We have a lot of people calling in saying, have I committed the unpardonable sin?

I think Adriel really clarified that. But we'd love to encourage you to get this great resource about assurance of salvation. You can go to our Web site, coreChristianity.com forward slash offers and look for nine ways to know you are really a Christian. Again, nine ways to know you're really a Christian by going to coreChristianity.com forward slash offers. Let's go to Robert calling in from Iowa. Robert, what's your question for Adriel?

Hi, thank you for taking my call. My question is in Matthew twelve thirty six. It says that for every idle word men speak, they will give an account of it on the day of judgment. Does that pertain only to unbelievers or does that include believers as well?

That also includes believers, Robert. So all of us are going to stand before the Lord on the day of judgment and there is going to be a detailed accounting. It's something that's that's pictured actually at the end of the book of Revelation in Revelation chapter 20 beginning in verse 11. Then I saw a great white throne and him who was seated on it from his presence.

Earth and sky fled away and no place was found for them. And I saw the dead great and small standing before the throne and the books were opened and another book was opened, which is the Book of Life and the dead were judged by what was written in it by written in the books, according to what they had done and the sea gave up the dead who were in it. Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them and they were judged each one of them according to what they had done. The final judgment does include everybody. You see this clearly in places like Acts chapter 17 verse 31, 2 Corinthians chapter 5 verse 10, Romans chapter 14 verses 10 through 12.

I'll just go to that text really quick to highlight this. Romans chapter 14 beginning in verse 10. Why do you pass judgment on your brother or you?

Why do you despise your brother? For we will all stand before the judgment seat of God, for it is written, as I live, says the Lord, every knee shall bow to me and every tongue shall confess to God. So then each of us will give an account of himself to God. And there, Robert, I mean this is Paul writing to the Romans. These are believers.

He's including himself in this. And so the big question that many times people have is, boy, if I'm going to stand before God and have to give an account for everything that I've done, how can I have any confidence on the day of judgment? Well, the answer, brothers and sisters, is that because we've been justified through Jesus Christ, we are accounted as righteous by faith in Jesus Christ, the work that he's done for us. And this is why in John 5 we've already passed from death to life. We will not enter into the judgment.

We will not be condemned. 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.