What to Say When Friends Follow Charlatans

Does the Bible support the subjugation of women? That's just one of the questions we'll be answering on today's edition of CORE Christianity. 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.

And you can email us with your question at questionsatcorechristianity.com. First up today, we have a good news story to share with you. For nearly 25 years, Thomas Faleski served in the United States Marine Corps before retiring with the rank of Lieutenant Colonel. But a burglary at his home last year resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of dollars worth of items, including all of his military medals, ribbons, and pilot's wings. The loss hit home with Detective Frank Corona, the police officer who worked on the case, because he also served in the Marines. While he wasn't able to recover the original military keepsakes, Frank and his supervisor, also a Marine, were able to get them replaced by a company in South Carolina. So last Friday, just days before Mr. Faleski's 84th birthday, the detectives arrived at his home and gave him a special surprise. They presented him with the box displaying replacements for all the military service medals, ribbons, and pilot's wings that were taken from him. Ah, that's wonderful. Isn't that so cool? You know, I just I love these stories about people who go above and beyond. I mean, he didn't have to do that. You know, his job is to investigate the crime and hopefully solve it.

But what does he do? He, they spend their own money to make a difference in this 84 year old man's life. That's just really sweet. And we need more of that today. I mean, it's just story after story. It seems like when you turn on the news of people doing things that hurt other people. And so, gosh, we just have to be reminded of the fact that, look, it's not all bad out there. I mean, there's there are good things that are happening.

And here's the best thing. Christ's kingdom is still advancing through the preaching of the gospel. And so, yeah, we have to keep our minds fixed on that, especially with everything that's happening right now.

Well, let's get to our first question. This is an email we received from one of our listeners. They say, How do I deal with a Christian friend who has fallen for a lot of false teaching and is absolutely not teachable and gets offended if I don't agree with them?

I mean, this can be really, really frustrating and ultimately really, really heartbreaking because you have a friend and you're concerned for their soul. The passage that comes to mind is James 5 verses 19 and 20. His brothers, if anyone among you wanders from the truth and someone brings him back, let him know that whoever brings back a sinner from his wandering will save his soul from death and will cover a multitude of sins. James recognized that there are going to be people in the church who, because they buy into false teaching, because they embrace a pattern, perhaps of sin that they don't want to let go of, they're going to wander away from the life of the church. And I think we, as the followers of Christ, as the children of God, ought to pursue them. You think about Jesus.

He's the Good Shepherd. I love in Luke 15, you know, you have all those parables, the parable of the lost coin, the parable of the prodigal son of the lost sheep, you know, the Good Shepherd who pursues his wandering children. Well, when people in the body of Christ wander away, we should pursue them with the heart of Jesus Christ. And so I want to commend you first for doing that, for thinking about this question with your friend. And as I said, I know it can be frustrating, especially when people don't want to hear it or when they want to argue with you and they're unwilling to listen to ultimately what God's word has to say.

But I'm going to say just keep at it and make sure that you're praying and that your desire ultimately is like James was saying there, you know, you care for this person's soul. It's not about winning an argument. It's not about proving them wrong. It's you know that if they continue down this path, if they embrace this false doctrine, whatever it is, I don't know what what you're referring to, particularly that it's going to cause serious problems for them. And I also think of that warning that you have in First Corinthians, chapter five, verses 19 and following in the context there, Paul was addressing an issue at the church in Corinth where you where you had someone engaged in sexual immorality. And the church there didn't deal with it. They didn't address the issue.

They sort of let things continue to go on as if everything was fine. And Paul says to them, listen to what he said, I wrote to you in my letter not to associate with sexually immoral people, not at all meaning the sexually immoral of this world or the greedy and swindlers or idolaters since then you would need to go out of the world. But now I am writing to you not to associate with anyone who bears the name of brother if he is guilty of sexual immorality or greed or is an idolater, reviler, drunkard or swindler, not even to eat with such a one. For what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the church whom you are to judge? God judges those outside purge the evil person from among you. Here Paul is talking about essentially church discipline.

He's saying, look, if there's someone in the church who's living in sin, they're a drunkard, an idolater engaging in sexual immorality and the situation in Corinth was pretty cut and dry. If that's happening and they're unrepentant, they just don't want anything to do with the truth and they're saying, you know, I'm just going to live in this way. Paul says we have to take that seriously. We have to take that seriously. We have to warn this brother or this sister, whoever they are, that again, their actions are putting their soul at jeopardy.

And so you want to be serious about this. You want to warn, but you also want to make sure that you're doing it with humility and that the driving force behind it is love, love for this brother or sister. And so my prayer for you is that your heart would be full of love for this person and that with that love, in that love, you would pursue them with the truth of God's word in the same way that Jesus pursued us when we wandered from him. You said, you know, the person right now is absolutely not teachable. They get offended and that's where you have to just be so careful. You don't engage in an argument.

It's just sort of one-upping and going back and forth and it's not helpful. You want to plead with this person and you want to point them to Christ, to the gospel. I'm not sure what false teaching they're engaging in. I mean, obviously there's some false teaching that's worse than other false teachings.

If this is a heresy, if it strikes at the jugular, if you will, of core Christian doctrines, maybe they're rejecting the resurrection or the fact that Jesus is God or one of these other cardinal truths that are of the essence of what it means to be a Christian, doctrines that we have to embrace. Well, then, yeah, there needs to be a really stern warning. But if it's just a difference of opinion on maybe a secondary issue, well, then you approach it a little bit differently. But no matter how you approach it, you want to be humble, you want to be prayerful and you want to be full of love. And so may God give you wisdom as you pursue this friend. Adriel, let me ask you, in a situation like this, if let's say this individual goes to church with this person, does this rise to the level of church discipline rules that we read in Matthew chapter 18?

Well, yeah, it can. And of course, that's a really good text to go to as well. I mean, usually, you know, somebody sins against you, you go to that person, you and them, and you try to address the issue. And if that doesn't work, you go with others from the church, witnesses, and you bring it up again.

If that doesn't work, you know, take it to the church. And I think Jesus is referring to the leadership, the elders of the church. And if still an individual is unwilling to repent, well, then you treat them like a non-Christian. And that's exactly what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 5. This person who's unwilling to repent, they're engaging in the sexual immorality.

Well, you treat them, you know, it's a so-called brother, but at some point, you just have to cut it off. And that's not something we individually, this is a really important point, but we individually, I don't exercise church discipline, even as a pastor, you individually, we don't exercise church discipline. It's the job of the church, and in particular, the elders of the church.

And so there's a process here. The sad thing is, a lot of people today aren't even in churches or a part of churches where the process of church discipline can actually happen. And it sounds kind of heavy, but the goal, even the goal in 1 Corinthians 5 with this person who Paul says, you know, deliver them over to Satan ultimately, for the destruction of the flesh, and then he says this, so that their soul may be saved, their spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus, the goal of warning is not to condemn someone. And when Paul says don't even eat with such a person, it's not because he's like, you know, we're done with them. No, we're trying to show them, we're trying to highlight for them based on our actions in response to their sin, that this is serious, and that it puts their soul in jeopardy. And we love them. We love their soul, maybe even more than they love their soul in that moment.

We're trying to have a high value of that which is most important. And so false teaching also, it's a work of the flesh. Heresy is a work of the flesh. And so does that need to be, you know, brought under the discipline of the church? Yes, but it's the church together.

It's not me individually. And ultimately, the goal is restoration, restoration to the truth, restoration to Jesus. Great points. This is Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez.

And Adriel, here's a call that came in from Suzanne at 833 The Core. I have a question. If God blots out your sins and remembers them no more, why do we have to give account for our sins and give account for every word spoken?

Thank you. Thank you for that question. It does seem like, you know, maybe on the surface, is there a contradiction here? Isaiah 43 25. I mean, I think that's the verse that you're referring to where God said to his people, I am he who blots out your transgressions for my own sake. And I will not remember your sins. What a wonderful promise there that God gives to his people. I am going to blot out, erase, cover your sins. I'm not even going to remember them. Man, I want that word for myself.

I'm sure you do too. But then you have Jesus's words very clearly where he talks about, you know, giving account for everything that you say. And so is there a contradiction here? Well, let's look at that pathogen in context where Jesus makes that statement. It's Matthew chapter 12. And I'm going to begin reading in verse 31. 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. Either make a tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree bad and its fruit bad, for the tree is known by its fruit. You brood of vipers, how can you speak good when you are evil? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. The good person, out of his good treasure, brings forth good. And the evil person, out of his evil treasure, brings forth evil. I tell you, on the day of judgment people will give account for every careless word they speak.

For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned. Now who, Suzanne, is Jesus speaking to there? He's talking in particular to the religious leaders, the ones who in this context were speaking against him. They were saying earlier in this passage that Jesus was performing miracles by the power of the devil. And Jesus is saying essentially, watch your mouth.

You're walking on really dangerous ground here. You're accusing me of performing miracles by Beelzebub, by the power of Satan. Look, if you speak against me, you can be forgiven. But the one who speaks against the Holy Spirit, and then he talks about the blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, he gives this very severe warning. But we have to understand, Suzanne, that Jesus here is speaking to the religious leaders. And he's highlighting the fact that they're going to be condemned by the words that they speak, that they're going to have to give an account. And one of the things that this shows us is that we cannot be justified by our works or our words. We sin against God in thought, word, and deed every single day. That's why the psalmist says in Psalm 130 verse 3, If you, O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand? So in the context here, Jesus is condemning the religious leaders, highlighting for them that their hearts are corrupt, but he's also revealing to us that we're all condemned by the law. That if I was going to be justified by my words, I would be in big trouble because who of us could say I've been perfect with my lips?

I mean, James picks up on this, right? He talks about the tongue and how it sets things on fire with the fires of hell. It is no one is sinless when it comes to our speech, and so you can't be justified by your words. You'll only be condemned, ultimately. What we need is that forgiveness that comes through Jesus Christ, the justification that comes through his shed blood for our sins.

And so I think the context helps us to understand, right? You know, speaking to the religious leaders, highlighting the fact that they're condemned basically by their actions and that they will be judged by the words that they speak. And the reason he's saying that is because of how careless they're being with their words, and there is a warning for us here as well to be careful how we speak. There are two things that just happened recently that have really made me think about this.

You know, there seems to be so much harsh speech in our society today, doesn't there? There are two things just this last week that are really discouraging. One, there was this model, Chrissy Teigen, who lost her son tragically, died in the hospital, I think, shortly after she gave birth, and a lot of the news outlets were picking this up because she had posted photos. There was a photo of her posted just crying in the hospital.

And the sad thing was, it was really interesting, I mean, she's not, at least as far as I know, she doesn't claim to be a Christian. People were essentially speaking against her because of her position on abortion and some other things, and they were essentially saying on social media, you know, like, you know, well, I guess your baby's not a clump of cells after all or that kind of a thing. But there was just this lack of compassion, lack of compassion from people who are supposed to be pro-life, and I am, I'm very strongly pro-life. But there was a lack of compassion the way people were using their speech, and it just made me think, you know, when bad things happen to people we disagree with, how are we speaking about them?

But then you also had, you know, the president who contracted coronavirus, and how people were responding to that, almost gloating, celebrating. We as Christians have to be so careful how we use our speech. Are we using our speech to harm, to kill, or to build up, to be edifying? You think about Jesus' words here, every careless word that you speak, you have to give an account for, and even when it comes to people we disagree with, how are we using our speech, brothers and sisters? Is it exhibiting the love, the grace, the goodness of Jesus Christ, or are we bringing out evil treasure, if you will, from our hearts in how we talk to and about each other? And the fact of the matter is, we all fail.

We all say things we shouldn't say. We just can't escape it according to the teaching of the Bible, and that's why we need forgiveness. And that's why we can only be justified by the work of Jesus for us, not by my own words and not by my own works, but by the works and words of the Lord Jesus. And so having been justified by Him, boy, let's use our speech in a way that honors Him. You're listening to Core Christianity with Pastor Adriel Sanchez. You know, there is a lot of confusion about Christmas in our culture, and today we're offering a resource that will help you explain the true meaning of Christmas when you're talking to nonbelievers.

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You can also call us at 833-THE-CORE. Let's go to another question. This is from Timothy who posted on our Facebook page. He says, what's the biblical distinction between the spirit and the soul? What role do the heart and mind play in this relationship or distinction? Biblically speaking, my view is that oftentimes the spirit and the soul are used interchangeably. Revelation 6, 9, when he opened the fifth seal, I saw under the altar the souls of those who had been slain for the word of God and for the witness they had borne. There the souls refer to just the person in the presence of the Lord after having died. You see the same thing in Hebrews 12, 23, except those same persons are referred to as spirits.

We come before in worship, the author of the Hebrew said, 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. Now sometimes the heart and the soul are used interchangeably as well, or at least there's a close connection. Deuteronomy 6, 5, you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength. The heart involves the intellect, the emotions, the feelings, the will. I struggle to say it's who we truly are because we are our bodies too, your body is integral to who you are, and that's why there's a resurrection. But sometimes we can hide or attempt to hide what we really think or believe, our hearts, and God sees that.

You've heard the saying, you know, she wears her heart on her sleeve, you know what that person is thinking or feeling, they don't hide their emotions. Well, God sees all of that, and I think one of the big takeaways here, Timothy, is that there's more to us than meets the eye. We aren't just bodies, but souls, and we really ought to take care of both. You know, Jesus came and he assumed humanity, body and soul, he had a human soul, so that he might redeem our whole person. And so I think spirit and soul are often used interchangeably, I think it highlights that there's more to us than just our bodies being made in the image of God.

It's this sort of uniqueness that we have as God's people, God's creatures, body, soul, and ultimately both are redeemed by Jesus Christ in his incarnation, life, death, and resurrection. You know, I'm looking forward to the day when I have a glorified body, because every morning when I wake up my back hurts. Yeah, me too, Bill. Oh man.

I'm looking forward to the day when you have a glorified body as well. Oh, thank you. Let's go to our next question. This one is an email from David. He says, my daughter told me about a lecture she heard in her college class where the professor said that God the Father in Christianity functions as a way to maintain patriarchal structures in society, which causes harm to women. My daughter doesn't seem convinced by her professor's analysis, but I'm wondering, is there a way to encourage her to affirm that God being a good father doesn't have to mean what the professor seems to be saying? Yeah, well I think if you know the context of the ancient Near East, and then you look at the way in which the scripture talks about women, the Old Testament, you know, and also in the New Testament, you come away not with the sense that the biblical religion was invented to support the patriarchy, but to reveal the true God to us. And the true God of scripture defends and honors women.

God made man in his image, male and female, we're told. And throughout the Old Testament, you have the stories of women who God used mightily. I think of Deborah and Ruth and others. The Old Testament scriptures give a voice to women. And there were provisions in Israel for the protection of women in the ancient Near East. You know, one of the shocking things about God, at least in the context of the ancient Near East, the God of the Bible, is that he identified with and cared for groups that in that day were often subject to abuse and mistreatment.

Widows, orphans, strangers. God advocated for them and upheld them in a society, in a world, where oftentimes they were cast aside. In the New Testament, you see Jesus pursuing and defending women who typically would have been mistreated in his day. I think of the woman at the well in John chapter 4. She's a woman who's had all these different partners, she's not Jewish, she's a Samaritan. She's probably viewed with contempt by that society, and yet Jesus pursued her and cared for her, loved her, redeemed her. You also see the band of women who Jesus ministered to being instrumental in his early ministry, supporting and helping to spread the gospel truth. So I don't buy the whole Christianity is just this religion invented by powerful men to subjugate women. I think it's baloney. Men and women are spiritually, and in terms of their being equal to each other, but were also created by God uniquely and differently. And that difference should be celebrated, not dismissed. The Bible's teaching on men and women is probably going to be different than it sounds like what this college professor is giving to your daughter, but that doesn't mean it's bad.

It's good. Actually, it celebrates the uniqueness of creation, how God has made us to serve each other. Reading the scriptures, Old Testament and New Testament, you see God lavish his love on his creation, on his creatures, on men and women, redeeming them and using them for his purpose. When you contact us, please let us know how you've been encouraged by this podcast, and be sure to join us next time as we explore the truth of God's word together.