Matt Slick Live

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The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. Hey, good, Phil. How are you doing, man? How are you? I haven't talked to you in a while. I know.

I apologize. I've been traveling like crazy, but I'm stuck in traffic in Bohonix, Arizona. And it just occurred to me that it's the perfect opportunity to redeem my drive home from the other side of town. And I've got a notes section in my phone entitled Flick Questions. Alright, good. And I just kind of, I list the questions so that when I get the opportunity, because I've kind of got them loaded. And you happen to know my son, my oldest one in particular, he's got a lot of questions and because of my Flickification over the years, I feel pretty confident in theirs. Ask me a question the other day that I wasn't 100% sure about and I always defer to you on this one. A couple years ago, you did a really awesome I don't know, commentary over the radio about the book of Genesis. Maybe sometime you could do that again. That was so good.

I was trying to find it in the archives. But the question is about Genesis 11 and the Tower of Babel, I think starting around verse 4 we know that we can't work our way to God. We're the only religion on the planet, if you want to call us a religion that believes this is true, that there's nothing we can do to work our way in favor of God. But because I'm driving and I can't look at it, in Genesis 11, it's just interesting to me how it's portrayed and I would just like your analysis of what God the Father, Jesus, Spirit are discussing together, looking down on the Tower of Babel and kind of making the perception that we better go down and do something because if we leave them to their selves what they can accomplish is pretty much anything. You're breaking up a little bit, but I can do that. Sure. So it's simple but also not, but it is. Notice what they say. They say in verse 3 of Genesis 11, come let us make bricks. And then in verse 4 come let us build for our city and make a name for ourselves. So the issue here is pride and they want to be unified in their capability and their pride of what they want to do to reach up to heaven. They are exalting themselves trying to reach something up to heaven. The Lord came down to see what's going on and the Lord said they are all one people the same language and this is what they've come to do so nothing will be impossible for them. Now that's an interesting discussion. We can get into what that means.

I have a theory about it. But then God says let us, come let us. So when they said come let us, they said it twice, and God says come let us go down and confuse their language.

And so they would not understand. The Lord scattered them abroad, etc. I think it's interesting that the term come let us is twice by the prideful people and then God uses the same terminology and says we'll fix that. They want to be unified to reach up to God. God in his unified personhood, three persons and one God, undid their plans. They are seeking to be like God in their abilities and their work and their unity. Which I think is interesting that God says nothing which they purpose to do will be impossible for them. Now this is a bit of a tangent on my part but I can't help but wonder if what's going on there isn't something that we're seeing today in the formation of artificial life, A.I. As God created life, it's like mankind wants to do the same thing. God can make anything and everything.

We're touching the stars. We could do all kinds of stuff with our knowledge. Now we have technology serving us.

Like God has angels serving. So I think what's going on here is the potential of the self-deification of mankind generally without God to do the things of God to ultimately replace God. Now they don't have the, we don't have the wisdom that God has and so I believe this increase of knowledge and ability in tech will lead to death.

What I mean by that is my opinion, I know I'm going a little bit far here. When God said to Adam in Genesis 2.17, the day that you eat of the fruit you will die, he was speaking in my opinion not only to Adam but to all mankind and then when you go to Matthew 22, no Matthew 24 let me verify this verse. Matthew 24, 22 says unless those days had been cut short, no life would be saved. Now this is talking about the return of Christ. So what I see is my opinion that sin is going to work itself through mankind to the point of death of self-destructions. God is going to come back at the last so to speak minute for a gigantic celestial I told you so. And Genesis 11 is a kind of precursor to this kind of self-exaltation power and ability that will ultimately lead to death because people don't have the wisdom that God has. And so God gets in there, stops that, but he's going to allow it later on and stuff like that. Anyway, that's quite a bit there.

I hope that helps. Very interesting, it's interesting you bring up AI and how that connects. I don't know, what is our technology bubbling every, what is it, six months? It's incredible. We've got a break. Hold on, we've got a break.

So let's hold on. We'll get back to you after the break. Hey folks, we'll be right back with Phil from Arizona.

I used to have gotten him, he's a great guy. And we'll be right back after these messages if you want to give me a call. The number is 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick live. Taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. Alright, so every now and then I tell you that some stupidity goes, some real stupidity goes on in the chat room and that's what's happening on this break. And someone brought up something about sandwiches, women making sandwiches. So a whole stupid dialogue about sandwich Olympics and men could lounge around while the ladies make sandwiches and bring them to them. And then we could hold up signs one through ten, you know, judging them and stuff like that. I think it's a good idea. So we're having fun and one guy goes, well of course. Makes sense. So anyway, if you want to participate in the stupidity, maybe it should be stupidity.

The stupidity that are trying to impress the femmes. Man, this is stupid. Alright, we're having a good time. Okay, let's get back on with Phil from Arizona. Are you there, buddy?

Hey, so I appreciate that, Matt. The follow-up question is, and someone asked me this, is prior to Tower of Babel and it got coming down, was the human race pretty much Arab descent? Well, you're breaking up. Was the what raised? Oh, no. The human race, was it just one race at that time? Well, there has always only been one race. There's always only one race, the human race. We just have different colors and sizes and shapes.

That's all. That's the biblical position. It's just one race, the human race. Skin color and language. It wasn't until that point that there is Japanese people and Australians. Is that the point where we started to differ in our appearance, I guess? There's been genetics studies about that. You can get the so-called three races, Caucasian, Negroid, and Mongoloid, I think are the major categories.

You can get those within, I think, four to five or four to six generations, depending on certain environmental pressures and things like that. It reminds me, I had a friend in college and I thought he might have been half Hispanic and half white. We hung around and were friends for months. Then I went over to his dorm and he's got a picture of him in the middle of a bunch of black people.

I don't know, what's up with this? He says, it's just my family. I said, were you adopted? He said, no, it's his family. I go, wait, what?

He goes, yeah, he's a black guy. I said, no, you're not. He goes, yes, I am. I said, but you can't be.

Look at you. I could tease him. He smiled. He goes, no, the way it was. I said, you should have told me you're black. I can't be your friend.

He called me jerk, stuff like that. I never forgot that. There he was. The genetics are there. It could just show up. It does. One of the things I'd heard is that in equatorial areas where the sun is just that much stronger, white skinned people, light skinned I should say, don't do as well because they get burned and cancers can form and problems can form with the skin. Darker skinned people just do better. It's just how it is. There's a natural selection there.

In the higher latitudes, the whiter skin does better because it's better at absorbing vitamin D from the sun or producing it in the sun reaction in the skin. That's better. Without D, I think you get rickets and something like that. They just naturally would just develop that way. Then the eyelid thing has to do with the desert.

I remember reading this article that those with that kind of lack of fold or something can see better in certain conditions and survive better, etc. Anyway, it was years ago I read this article. It was interesting. But that's it.

No problem. Is it your opinion that prior to the Tower of Battle there was one common language? It appears to be the case. Whether or not there were skin tones that were already developing, it's certainly possible. We do know this, that once Noah occurred, then everybody was of one basic, let's just say, skin tone-ish. Then within a few generations, you could have a derivation or a concentration of different skin tones and heights and things like that in different areas. Some people are just taller because it's better and some are shorter.

It's better for the environment. It's not a big deal. I appreciate it. Thank you so much. I miss you. I'll call more regularly because I've got like seven more questions on there. We'll definitely get to them.

That was a big one. I appreciate it. Thank you. All right. That was good, buddy. God bless. Thanks. God bless.

Bye-bye. We kind of became friends. He helped out our daughter who was down there once.

We went down there thinking about moving down there. We stayed with him and stuff like that. Great guy. All right.

Let's see. Next longest waiting. I'm going to get to Alberto from Georgia. Alberto, welcome. You are on the air.

Good evening, Max. I've got a question, several questions if it's okay with you. My first one is, the Bible says that if your brothers offend you 70 times 70, now is that referred to if a person offends you accidentally or intentionally or will for the first time?

Doesn't matter. The issue of forgiveness is necessary on the part of the Christian. If the person who's offended you did it accidentally or on purpose does not excuse you from forgiveness, that's the issue.

Now there's a reason for this. If you go to Ephesians chapter 4 starting verse 31, let all bitterness and wrath and anger and clamor and slander be put away from you along with all malice. When you're wronged, whether you think you're wronged on purpose or accidentally, people hold bitterness or usually it starts with resentment which leads to bitterness. Bitterness leads to anger, anger leads to murder. So these are things that occur in the heart and this is why you are, we as Christians particularly are obligated to forgive. The best we can, we don't do it perfectly but the best we can as much as we can because we don't want bitterness to take hold in our hearts where we then feed it with our own sin while we're saying that we want Jesus to forgive us.

The hypocrisy is there. So this is what we are called to do. Is it difficult? It certainly can be. It can be very, very difficult but what I say to people who have a great deal of difficulty forgiving people is that you need to focus on who Christ is. Now I was recently talking to a guy who had some severe things happen to him by others as a child and I won't get into specifics because we've got kids listening and he will not forgive the let's just say individual responsible. And we talked about it and I said well I understand. I understand.

He said well that guy, I don't want him to go to heaven. I understand. But it's an issue of sanctification and the need of forgiveness in one's own heart. And this can best be achieved by understanding the forgiveness that Christ has given to us. And then we extend that same love and forgiveness to others and we ask God to help us do that. Because a lot of times we're so wounded we just don't have that ability.

We need to change. Anyway, I could lecture on it quite a bit. But anyway, okay. Okay, another question. I was talking to this pastor. He said when it comes to like example, if you have a wife, right, and she becomes faithful to me, he said that I cannot get remarried again because I have to put it away but I cannot divorce her. Even though she broke the vow, he said that I cannot get remarried again.

That's not true. If the spouse commits adultery, the unoffending party, the one who is offended, he didn't do it. He or she did not do it. He is or she is free to divorce but not obligated to divorce. They're free to do it but not obligated. Because Jesus says to send someone away for divorce except for immorality. The Greek word is porneia. Sexual impurity immorality.

Except for that. So I think it's Jeremiah 3.8 God gives Israel a certificate of divorce because of Israel's spiritual adultery which was idolatry. And in 1 Corinthians 7.10 Paul says that if an unbelieving spouse leaves, let him go.

You are no longer under obligation at that point. So these appear to be the two grounds that justify divorce. And so if a man is married and she commits adultery and she leaves him, he's free to remarry.

What about abandonment also? Yes, if she leaves him she's unrepentant and she leaves him, he's not obligated. He's free because she broke the covenant.

He did not. And since God allows that divorce then he is free to remarry later on. Personally, I would perform a wedding. I would perform many weddings, ceremonies.

I would perform a wedding with a divorced person under the right circumstances if those were the criteria. I would say, okay. I'd go interview them and make sure everything was okay.

And then I would do it. Okay? There's a break buddy. Call back tomorrow. We've got a full plate.

Okay, thank you. Hey folks, we write back after these messages. Please stay tuned. It's Matt Slick Live! Taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. Alright, welcome back to the show. Let's get on. Let's see, Jermaine is next longest waiting. Jermaine, welcome.

You're on the air buddy. Well hey Matt, just wanted to discuss Luke chapter 23 verse 43 where Jesus tells, I think there's a thief on the cross, today you will be with me in paradise. Right. I know a lot of Jehovah's Witnesses actually attack that verse and try to differentiate between heaven and paradise and it becomes a little debate because when he says today, I think they take that to mean like today meaning a literal 24 hours but it doesn't say Jesus went to paradise right away and we know he roamed the earth for a while. Can you elaborate on what he was?

Whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa. Wait a minute, he roamed the earth a little while? I see, when I say roamed the earth no I mean when he was resurrected he was visible they're taking that to mean that either paradise means earth itself or paradise doesn't, it does not mean heaven. We can talk about the Jehovah's Witness position. Yeah, the Jehovah's Witness position is that he did not go to paradise that day. Right.

When he says today you'll be with me in paradise. You want to know how to address this from here? Yeah, I'd just love to hear you elaborate on it because they really seem to attack that. Yes, well first of all of course the Jehovah's Witness organization is a non-Christian cult and they deny the Trinity, they deny the deity of Christ, they deny the atoning sacrifice of being sufficient in and of itself to be justified by faith.

It is a brainwashing cult. So for him to say, truly I say to you today it doesn't make any sense, truly I say to you, today this is what you'll be. And of course they're going to not buy into that, they're not going to accept that the comma goes after the word you, not today. Because they want him to say, truly I say to you today. It's like saying, truly I'm saying to you right now. That's how they're going to interpret it.

It's difficult to get them out of that because they're just inculcated with false doctrine from their cult. And I really recommend that people go to the Kingdom Hall to let your pastor know first because you want to know what you're up against if you want to witness to them because it's bad news. But anyway, so what I'll do with this is I'll say, and so you think he was saying today, I'm talking to you today, and I just ask questions. Because if I say, no you're wrong, they're going to put their guard up. So I'll say I'll ask questions, I'll say, so do you think they knew he was already speaking right then, that day?

Or do you think it was necessary to say that I'm speaking to you today because I don't know any other place in scripture where that is said, where he says I'm speaking to you today, speaking to you right now. And I just ask him. I try not to get the guard up, I just ask him, have you seen any other place like that?

No? Okay, but then what I'll do is I start saying, so the watchtower says this is what it means though, right? Because they believe the watchtower is true. And so it's God's organization on earth, so what I'll do is I'll start focusing on the watchtower. I'll mention the words several times, the watchtower, Bible and Tract Society, the watchtower organization, and they'll just say the watchtower. The watchtower is telling you this, right? Because there's several strategies I have at the back of my mind I might want to go to later because of this.

I'm trying to get them ready. But nevertheless, so let's say, okay, so when Jesus died, and I'll ask him, because it couldn't be that he went to paradise, okay, couldn't it be that? They say.

And I'll say, okay, so did he stop existing? Now they'll say soul sleep. Okay, so with soul sleep, and I'll ask them, what does that mean? And this is where you're going to have a serious conversation. What does that mean to have soul sleep?

What is that? I ask them questions. You've got to be careful because they're trained pretty quickly to not think and to react by leaving. So it's hard to get very far with Jehovah's Witnesses.

I've had many encounters with them. They stop thinking very quickly. And so, I'll say, so in soul sleep, what happens? Is there any thinking? Or is there awareness? Or no awareness? Or anything? Or nothing? What happens?

Because I just want to know. And it doesn't really necessarily mean you're going to get anywhere with them, but you've got to start them thinking away from the Watchtower Bible. The Tract Society is brainwashing. You just have to. So I ask these questions and I want to see where they're going to go.

It's a J-Dub. You've got to have a lot more art with it. You've got to feel through it. And they'll say, okay, okay. So let me ask you then, in Luke 16 19-32, when Jesus talked about Lazarus and the rich man, they'll say, that's a parable. That's what they're going to say immediately. And I'm not going to say it's not a parable, but I might say, well, it's interesting that parable has a proper name in it.

But anyway, and I'll just put that little seed in there and I keep going. And I say, so what was Jesus illustrating if soul sleep is true? Why is he then saying and teaching what apparently is contradictory to that? Maybe you could help me understand that. Why is Jesus using this illustration of people being conscious after death when Watchtower says they're not conscious after death?

I'm curious. Maybe you could help me understand that. And that's how I'll approach them. Because if you go to Luke 23 43 and you start saying, no, what it means is this, they're going to put the guard up.

So what I'll do is I'll use it as a springboard to get to another area of scripture where I can get to Luke 16 and ask that particular question. You see what I'm doing? Mm-hmm.

Yes, I do. I know they're not really trained to think outside of the Watchtower box and they do get defensive. But yes, that's an excellent technique to deal with cults, have them ask questions. Yeah.

It reminds me just three days ago, I was walking around the block and it's a one mile circuit and I'll do three, four, five miles and I was walking and I always listen online, you know, my headset I'll have a portable thing on the phone and I'm in the chat rooms talking, doing theology while I'm walking. Two Mormon missionary girls are getting into a car and I go, hey, hey, Mormons? Yeah, we get talking. And I tried to witness a them and I gave them the quote from Joseph Smith where he boasted he did more than Jesus to keep a church together. And they didn't want to talk after that. And now here's a situation they're getting in the car, the door's closed, but you've really showed them something, okay? You've really showed them something. I quoted it hundreds of times to Mormons where Joseph Smith boasted he did more than even Jesus. You know, I boast no man's ever done such work as I. either John Paul Peter nor Jesus ever did it. And I said, what do you think of that? Well, we've got to go, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. And so at that point is when I will then say, sorry, but you have to understand you're in a non-Christian cult. Joseph Smith did not see God the Father.

And they go, thank you, and they dismiss it. But the strategy is to associate their teachings with being called a cult and with the idea of Joseph Smith boasting he did more than even Jesus. This is the kind of stuff that is the foundation of cult thought. So is that a right approach? I don't know. Is it a wrong approach? I don't know. We can never really know if we have an exactly right or wrong approach that we have with people.

What we can do is our best, what we think is right, and then ask God to open their hearts and to correct you if you did something wrong that he thinks you did. And this is how we progress further. So like the thing I gave with the J-dubs, it's a little bit more systematic, a little bit more involved. Is it the right one? Maybe.

Maybe not. But you see? I don't know if that helps. All right. Well, thanks, man. I appreciate it.

I'll definitely try to pick this up tomorrow more really. Yeah, okay. I appreciate it.

Good. All right, buddy. God bless. Thanks a lot, Jermaine. All right, God bless.

All right, now the next longest waiting. Oh my goodness, Chris from South Carolina. Chris, welcome. You're on the air.

Thank you for taking my call, Matt. Sure. The question that I have is how do you get a non-believer persuaded to become a Christian?

Like what does the Bible say and what does your opinion, like resources, to guide someone to the Lord? Wow. Okay. The best way to do this is by prayer.

So here's the thing. No one can come to Christ unless he's granted by the Father. John 6.65, that's what Jesus says.

You cannot come to me unless it's been granted to you from the Father. God grants repentance, 2 Timothy 2.25. And it's the work of God that people believe. That's John 6.29. Jesus says this is the work of God that you believe on him whom he has sent. Now I'm going to go to another place, John 1.

12 and 13. But as many as received him, to them he gave the right to become the children of God, even to those who believe in his name, who were born not of the blood, nor the will of the flesh, nor the will of man, but of God. This suggests that all of this is the work of God.

So what do we do? What we do, our job, is to present the truth of the Gospel. Now the Gospel is a death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of our sins.

This is out of 1 Corinthians 15, 1-5. And Jesus says in John 12.32, if I be lifted up from the earth I will draw all men to myself. So he's talking about the cross and I will stretch it a little bit and say we lift him up by speaking about him and presenting the Gospel. The Gospel according to Romans 1.16 is the power of God to salvation. Now with all that being said, what do we do? What we do is we simply present the Gospel.

We don't convince people. God opens the heart and the mind. And that's Luke 16.14 Luke 24.45. God grants faith.

Philippians 1.29. So what we do is this. We submit our hearts to God and we say, Lord please use me to speak that Gospel and give me wisdom beyond my understanding that they would want to hear and that they would receive, because they do receive, by the power the Gospel preached that you would anoint the words that you would speak and that God would descend to use, as I like to say, a fool like me to present his wondrous Gospel. And so what we do is we're in sales, not production.

My friend Bill McKeever says I love that. So what's the best way? Present the Gospel and have them come to Christ by them receiving and trusting in him. But you've got to understand it's God's work. Our hearts should be focused on God opening, God's empowering, and for their hearts to be opened by the merciful Lord. Because he directs the heart of the king where he wishes to go, Proverbs 21.1. And one more thing that I tell people, which no one else I've heard says, is you need to tell them to count the cost.

And Jesus says no one will build a building without first counting the cost, Luke 9 I think he says, I forget where it was. And so you need to tell them that becoming a Christian is a serious thing. It's like marriage. It's a serious commitment. And it's going to have an effect on you. He's going to love you. He's going to enter and live into your heart. And he's not going to leave you the same.

He's going to change you. Sometimes it's easy and sometimes it's not. But this is the cost of the discipleship of following the Lord the Savior Jesus Christ. It's always good. It's always worth it. Just like marriage is. It's worth it.

It's good. Sometimes it's not so easy. But that's what a commitment is. You understand that. That's a lot more information than they need to know. I'm just giving you the basis so you'll know that prayer direction needs to be aimed at God. To open their hearts and minds while you present the gospel.

And then tell them what the truth is. Okay buddy? That help? Alright, thank you. And I have one more thing if you don't mind. We're out of time. Can you call back tomorrow? Because this show is over for today.

It's heartbreak. Absolutely. Thank you very much. Alright buddy. Call back tomorrow. God bless. Alright. And I want to talk to Charlie in New York about John 3.16 tomorrow. Great verse. Hey God bless everybody. Talk to you tomorrow.