Matt Slick Live

The following program is recorded content created by the Truth Network. It's Matt Slick Live. Matt is the founder and president of the Christian Apologetics Research Ministry, found online at Carm.org. When you have questions about Bible doctrines, turn to Matt Slick Live for answers, taking your calls and responding to your questions at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

Hey everybody, welcome to the show. It's me, Matt Slick. You're listening to Matt Slick Live. If you want to give me a call, all you got to do is dial 877-207-2276. And I want to hear from him to give me a call.

And uh There we go.

So if you also if you want to Email me, you can do that as well. All I have to do is send an email to info at carm.org. Info at C-A-R-M dot O-R-G. Info at Carm.org, put the subject line, radio, comment, radio question, and we can get to them sometime. That's what we do.

Let's just jump on and let's just get to Cole from Georgia. Cole, welcome. You are on the air. Yeah. And you know I'm at Yeah.

I'm hanging in there, man. I'm hanging in there. What do you got? Mm-hmm. The 2 Samuel chapter 6.

And uh can you read first uh Yeah, it says but when they came to the threshing floor of uh Nakan Uz Uzzah reached out toward the ark and took it, because the oxen upset it, and the anger of the Lord burned against him, struck him down. Yep. Uh-huh. Yeah. Okay, now this is referred to.

Okay. David became very angry because of the Lord's outburst against Guzza, and that place is called Perez Uzza to this day. Yeah. No, uh couple times we're guarding Mm. struck down these guys for touching that arc.

Yes. Why do you think God got So angry with them. 'Cause they were trying to actually save it, trying to study it. And God killed them. Because only the priest was qualified to do that.

The priest is a forerunner of the type of Christ, the true priest after the order of Melchizedek.

So until the blood of Christ had been offered, we don't have direct access to God. It was only through the sacrificial system of the Old Testament. The Old Testament requirements were that the priests alone were the ones authorized to do that touching, moving, etc.

So he was outside the priesthood and in a sense, typologically, was outside the blood of Christ, covering typologically, and that's why he was killed.

Okay. And uh and why do you think David got got burned in anger? Because he's a sinner. He blew it. He shouldn't have gotten mad at God.

You don't do that.

So he was upset, and that's it. You know, God didn't say anything about it, though. You notice that? God doesn't owe us any explanations He doesn't answer to us. Yep.

No, but I'm just saying he didn't even respond to David's anger and all that stuff. It's not recorded that he's not. It's not recorded that he did, that's correct. Yeah, and then once David. call itself Fountain and he sent the ark to somebody's house.

somebody else's house and the guys start getting all kinds of blessings And David heard about it and he came and took the art from the guy. And that's when he started dancing and danced out his clothes and The white Got mad at him, jealous of them, dancing in before the girls. And she was cursed and couldn't have. All that went on in that chapter. I just thought it was kind of.

Wow, that's strange. But the chapter before that, they were cutting off hands and feet and and um You know Man, I don't know, those guys were brutal. Yeah, i i it was a brutal time back then. It was a tough environment to live in. And since the sacrifice of Christ had not yet occurred, God was extra strict with a lot of people.

until uh that had been taken care of.

Okay. You think that's going to trickle down to judgment day, huh? He's not going to he's going to be just as strict and even worse. Yes, with those who are not covered in the blood of Christ, what you see in the Old Testament is what they're going to get. Absolutely.

Yeah. That that that's just showing you that hey, it's you know, when you outside of him, you're gonna get you're gonna get in trouble. Yes, right. Exactly right.

Okay. Okay. Okay, Matt. You can stay right on it, man. Be slick in a good way.

Be slick in a good way. All right, I'm trying. I'm trying.

Sounds good. I'll keep listening. Thanks, Merritt. All right, well God bless. All right.

Hey, I just want to let you guys know that I just talked to the guy. I'll be going to a conference. For the weekend of August 15th, 16th, 17th. I'll be speaking at a conference Friday night and Sunday on Islam. I'll be doing a comparison on Friday night on the God of Islam and versus the God of Christianity, Allah versus Yahweh.

And I'm going to do a Semi-sophisticated argument of the nature of the God of Islam and why it's incompatible with logic. And why is it compatible with scripture? I'll be going through that. And the next day, I'm going to be presenting the same argument, except expand it, and where we could do a QA and things like that. I'll probably have handouts.

And.

So Just letting you guys know if you want to go there, it'll be at Kannapolis. And I'll get more information and get a website here pretty soon in the next day or two that I can send you guys to. You can get all the information you want. Um and also I'm going to be driving up to uh Winsom-Salem probably Monday or Sunday night or Saturday night. Uh you know, so I'll be free Sunday uh morning to preach and teach someplace if you want me to.

Um And Sunday, and we're actually just talking to the main guy. And so here's a thought. I'm just throwing this out, just throwing this out.

So I'm going to be out there speaking at the conference. And Anthony Rogers is going to be there. He's a great guy. He and I have spoken together before. He's a good apologist.

And so if you want two of us to come out to your church on a Monday, excuse me, a Sunday or a Monday, maybe even a Tuesday, because I'm going to fly back probably Tuesday or Wednesday, then let us know. Email me at info at carm.org. And maybe I can get Anthony to join me and we can go speak. Or if you just want me to come speak on a variety of topics, I can talk about a whole bunch of stuff. You could do that.

And if not, no big deal. What I would like to do is one thing for sure is one of those evenings is just meet at a restaurant someplace. Maybe a restaurant on Sunday night, you know, or Sunday night. I don't know. I got to figure it out.

And just have people go, hey, show up. You know, it'd be fun.

So if that's Sounds good, email me, contact me at info at carm.org and just put in subject line, you know, like, you know, North Carolina speaking, something like that, and that'll get my attention. I can take a look at it. All right. Let's see, let's get to Justin from California. Justin, welcome.

You're on the air. How are you doing? Oh, doing all right. Hanging in there. What do you got, buddy?

Okay. I had a question about something my pastor said on Sunday. He said that. You should be friends with. Unbelievers.

that kind of marked the idea that people would separate the sales. From what you call it, like the world and but have I been reading the Bible at all? I thought what I was supposed to do. You're a little muffled. I'm having trouble following you because it's kind of fading and going in and out, a little muffled.

Can you try that again, the last part? Oh, I was just asking if that's if that's Biblical? 'Cause I I'm reading our We're not supposed to s you know What does a believer have to do with an unbeliever in solution? Yeah, that is the issue there of like marriage and or real tight relationships where you're depending on each other. You've got to be very careful about that kind of a thing.

And that's what he's talking about. And could you have a friend who's an atheist next door?

Well, of course you can. You can go fishing together? Of course you can. Because the thing is, you want to be able to witness to them. And so, would you go into business with an atheist?

Now, that's a different story. Would a Christian marry an atheist? No, they should not. Should a Christian marry a Catholic? No.

They should not. We don't want to have. Uh the joining of of the true and the false.

Okay. Sure. There's like many warnings and like proverbs about like associating with wicked people. Yeah. You don't want to hang out with wicked people.

You don't want to, you know, if say a neighbor has a party and it's just a bunch of pagans who are going in there and it's really ungodly and there's drugs and drinking, you don't go. But what if you want to go in there? Because this is where it gets a little subjective. If a neighbor is having a party and they invite you and you want to go, they're unbelievers, and you want to go for the purpose of being a good neighbor to keep fellowship doors open for the furthering of the gospel later on, then I think that's okay. I just think the these kinds of things need to be examined with wisdom.

And uh Being careful.

Now, Jesus, he went and ate with the tax gatherers and the drunkards. They called him text gathering. He said, You fellowship with these guys.

So he hung out with them because he went to where the sinners were.

So I believe in doing the same kind of a thing, but when you do it with wisdom, if you're not sure about something, talk to the elders of your church and see.

Okay. Oh, that helps. Thanks, man. All right. Well, God bless.

All right. Okay. All right. Now, let's get. If you want to give me a call, we have several open lines: 877-207-2276.

If you want to give me a call, you can do that. Also, if you want to email me about a question or the trip I'm going to be taking out there in a month to North Carolina and to the Raleigh area, Kannapolis, I'll be speaking there. You know, you can email me there too. I mean, at info at Carm.org. All right, let's get to Mike from Ohio.

Mike, welcome. You are on the air. Well, thank you for taking my call. I have a quick question about Matthew 7. What is that pertaining to?

I don't know if you know it by heart or not. Asking you, ask seek knock, yes. Yeah, oh yeah. And is it is it my my interpretation maybe is it is it saying God's will? Or I don't think it's it's as much as uh um physical things I think is more God's will And what to do with your, you know, where to follow with God.

Is that right? Yeah, you've got to remember that this is the Beatitudes, and Jesus is talking to Covenant Israel. And he's giving a lot of wisdom statements. It's not like every single statement is a hard, fast, exact rule. But he's saying, look, ask seek knock.

You know, ask God. But those who do that.

Now, it means with sincerity according to God's will. It doesn't mean, hey, you know, I want five new cars and eight new women, you know, and then ask seek knock. You know, it's not going to happen.

So it's according to his will and the revelation of his will. But a lot of people forget the Beatitudes are written to specifically the Jews. Jesus was speaking to the people of Israel at that time because he wasn't sent to the Gentiles.

So he's given them wisdom literature, wisdom ideas, and they already did believe in God, and they were already subject to a lot of what the Old Testament was saying in righteousness and things like that.

So, once you understand that, okay, I get what's going on. He's given him wisdom statements, and then we can apply them to ourselves as well. Uh you know, what does it mean to ask, to seek, to knock? And it means to seek God and to trust and believe, but it has to be according to His will. And we ask for His will to be revealed in our lives, et cetera, okay?

Yeah, that was pretty simple and exactly what I was thinking. But I just needed exactly I just needed something to Jump into that. You know what I mean? I've heard that reinterpreted so many times, so wrong, and taken out of context. That's right.

Over my lifetime. Yeah, over my lifetime. Yeah, thank you. Thank you, sir.

Okay, well, God. That's great. Thank you. Yeah, thank you. Tell my wife that.

All right. Real quick, Matt. I told my wife, she says, Man, you didn't take out the trash today. And I say, Oh, I'm sorry. I'm a sinner.

She says, Will you repent, please?

So I thought, you know, I thought I'd share that with you after you did that. I would just say, Yeah, I'll repent later in a couple hours, you know, and be repentant in a couple hours. Yeah. Yeah. As soon as someone makes me a sandwich, you know, just basic stuff.

Basic stuff, yes. I do the cooking, though. Yeah, me too. Me too. Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah.

My wife's health is not as good as it used to be, so I do most of the cooking now. All right. Well, hey, God bless, buddy. All right. God bless.

Okay. Bye-bye. Hey folks, there's the music. We're right back with, let's see, with Jack from North Carolina, then Jermaine from the People's Republic of California. Be right back after these messages.

Please stay tuned. It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. All right, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call...

It's easy. 877-207-2276. Let's get to Jack from North Carolina. Jack, welcome, you're on the air. Hey there.

Thanks so much for taking my call. A little a little background I come from a Catholic background but I have been reading scripture more and actually going through and reading through the full Bible right now and Um I've been listening to a lot more uh Protestant and other Christian, uh just stations and and speakers and stuff like that. Just really feeling more trusting in the Lord, which has been great. But then I have this kind of Question that I haven't been able to figure out yet that from what I've been told that the church was the one that Kind of put the scriptures together and that the Bible comes from the church. And so the bot or the church Supersede, not supersedes, but it's like on par with scripture.

And so, this is like a thing that I've been trying to work out how. Other Christians Okay.

Soloscriptora. I've heard different understandings of like what that even means. Like there can be some church tradition, but it shouldn't supersede. I don't know. So anyway, that's kind of like where I'm at in my journey.

I would love to be able to hear your. Perspective or how to think through that? Sure, it's easy actually. And I deal with this a great deal with Catholics and Eastern Orthodox and what they want to do. is they well let me put it this way, they presuppose that their particular church is the true church, and that true salvation and knowledge is found in association with their true church.

Now Jesus says, I am the way, the truth, and the life. Nobody comes to the Father but by me. The Catholics and Eastern Orthodox each say that it is the way, the truth, and the life, and you can't come to God but through that church.

So what they're functionally doing is replacing Jesus with their own church. Because their church is, as they like to claim, the authority, the final authority. It's the apostolic church. It has succession. It has authority.

And we're the ones who gave you the Bible. Yeah. So, what the adherents of those two religions do is try and elevate the church to such a degree that you must submit to it.

Now the scriptures say Go to Jesus. Jesus says, Come to me, all who are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Matthew 11:28. Jesus says, Ask me anything in my name, and I will do it, John 14:14.

Now When We talk about the issue of the scriptures. Paul says in Romans 3.2, he says, He says the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God.

Now, the Old Testament is roughly 75% of the entire Bible. The Catholics and the EO, the RC and the EO, like to say, we gave you the Bible. And I say, Did your church give us the Old Testament? Oh, we authenticated it. No, you didn't.

Your church did not. Jesus recognized its authority by quoting it when he was there. Your church didn't exist. Because the church proper began with Pentecost in Acts two.

So since God gave the oracles To the Jews, Romans 3:2, and that was 400 years earlier, then it's not the Christian church that gave us the Old Testament. God gave us the Old Testament. We recognize What scripture is. Jesus says in John 10:27, My sheep listen to my voice, and I know them, and they follow me. He says, My sheep hear my voice, they follow after me.

Now we know that the scriptures, 2 Timothy 3, 16 and 17, Are they're inspired by God? They're God-breathed. They up nust us.

Well, his breath His speech. The word It became flesh. The scriptures are called the word of God. God spoke and said, Let the universe come into existence, etc. It's inspired because it comes from Him.

Therefore, the Scriptures are the final authority. The church is not the final authority. It cannot be the final authority. Because if you ask an EO or RC, Where's your church get its authority? They're going to say from Jesus.

Where do you find that? In the Bible.

So, what they're doing is they're submitting the church to the authority of the scriptures. Then they use the scriptures to say that their church is the true church, which gave you the scriptures.

So it's circularity, and it's a logical fallacy. particularly since the Old Testament was given to us by God through the Jews before the church ever existed.

So since God gave us the Old Testament scriptures without the church, he doesn't need the church to give us the New Testament scriptures. Because all he has to do is inspire the apostles. Just like he inspired the prophets in the Old Testament, he inspires them, and they write what is God's word. And it's inspired by the nature of the inspiration work of God. It's automatically canon or scripture by the very act of God working through them.

It doesn't become scripture when the church says, oh, that's scripture. The church doesn't authenticate it. The church recognizes what is already inspired, just like it recognizes the Old Testament, just as Jesus just recognized it.

So when they come across and they say things like that.

Well, our church gave you the authority. Our church this, our church that. It's wrong. Then what they'll do is they'll say, Well, our tradition Our tradition is true because the Bible says, listen to traditions. You know, 2 Thessalonians 2:15.

I'll use this as an example. 2 Thessalonians 2:15. It says, So then, brethren, stand firm and hold to the traditions which you were taught, whether by word or mouth or letter by us.

Now, I can get into this, but I won't get into it too deeply. The traditions being spoken of are on the return of Christ. Keep talking. I just have to hang up your phone, but I'm going to keep listening on the radio. I have to hang up.

No problem. I appreciate all your responses here.

So thank you very much. No problem at all.

So the tradition that Paul is talking about is in relationship to the return of Christ. It's not a generic all traditions that come from their sacred church and their sacred history and their sacred tradition. It's not a carte blanche for that. What it is is the traditions which we were taught, what they were taught in the context about the return of Christ. And you can go to 2 Thessalonians 2 for that.

Furthermore, in that tradition, the oral tradition that the Thessalonians received directly from Paul's mouth, he had to write a letter of correction because even though they heard it straight from him, they were getting things wrong. The tradition, the oral tradition that they were given was messed up. And so Paul had to write a letter to correct their tradition. If the Catholic and the East Orthodox Church want to say their tradition is true, then I ask them a question. Why is it that Paul the Apostle had to write a letter of correction from the oral traditions that he gave to them directly?

They were getting it wrong, the Thessalonians, right when he was still alive. What makes you think that your church is going to get traditions through hundreds and hundreds of years? Get them all right.

So the EO, Eastern Orthodox, and the RC Roman Catholic Churches. are both False churches, they preach a false gospel, have a false priesthood, and a false sense of who Mary is and its idolatry associated with it. And what they do is they claim final authority where the church is above everything else. And if you want salvation, you've got to go to the way, the truth, and the life, their particular church. And it is what we call ecclesiology.

Idolatry is the worship and pagan worship of idols. Ecclesia is the Greek word for church. Ecclesiolatry is church worship.

Now, they're not worshiping the church, but what they're doing is bowing down to its supremacy above the supremacy of God Himself revealed in the Word. And so, therefore, they are in that sense also idolaters, not true Christians. Roman Catholic, East Orthodox churches are not true. Don't listen to them. Be right back after these messages.

Please stay tuned. It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick. All right, everybody, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, the number is easy: 877-207-2276.

Let's get to. Jermaine from California. Welcome, brother. You're on the air. They matter um Just wanted to want to hear your thoughts on the Lisa.

I don't know if you've heard about the red heifer sacrificed again. the ceremony they keep trying to pull off over in Israel.

So I see a lot of Christians kind of joining in and enthusiastic. But I think we may have talked about this before, but They just recently, I guess, had another But they found two errors on what was supposed to be a blemish list. that heifer so you know, gets canceled again. I see the same theme over and over. The Christians who support this, aren't they in effect like nullifying the sacrifice of Christ?

Well, what are they supporting it for? And that's the issue. Are they supporting it as in its prophetic Because it looks like the ashers of the red heifer, which are necessary for the temple ritual and sacrifice, are going to be reinstituted before the time of Christ. Not that it's valid, but that the Jewish community. is going to redo this, and that's one of the prophetic fulfillments necessary.

Before he returns.

So, if Christians were to support that because they want to support the return of Christ, okay. I would support Israel's right to do it, but not their theological necessity to do it. They don't need to because they have Christ. But. If Christians are saying it's okay and that the red heifer sacrifice, the sacrificial system will get them forgiveness of sins, then those Christians need to study Hebrews, Hebrews 7, Hebrews 7, 27, Hebrews 4 and 7 actually.

And so they would need to study those things to know what that it wouldn't happen.

So it just depends on the motives and the reasoning on the individuals about that. To the code.

Okay, and and I have seen it it seems to be a spectrum of what people are actually supporting you. I see a very fringe a fringe uh Area of Christianity without they're feeling like they're precipitating the rapture. Yeah, the whole bed. That I'm very uncomfortable with 'cause I I don't I don't find that really cool. Yeah, I'm with you.

Yeah. It makes me nervous. But the pre-trib rapture people, and that's fine, I hope they're right, look for anything and everything all the time before the tribulation comes. Me, because I'm post-tribulation rapture, I'm just aware: okay, if the temple gets rebuilt, then there's going to be some more problems that are going to be coming. The Euphrates River needs to be dried up, etc.

And all these things, then I'll start looking for the return of Christ or the imminent return concomitant with the rapture. Where they're looking for the rapture seven years before, which I don't see as being biblical, but I hope I'm wrong.

So that's why they would be so enthralled with that kind of thing. Yeah. Okay. Okay. Careful.

Alum. keep an eye on it and hopefully have some more It to discuss later.

Sounds good, brother.

Alright man, God bless.

Okay. All right. Oops, sorry about that. Yeah, there's a lot of views here on the issue of. That reminds me on eschatology.

That reminds me because tomorrow night I'm supposed to be on Striving for Eternity discussing my depressed schatology. Others are going to be there giving different views. We're going to have a discussion on eschatological views. I'm an amillennialist. I don't believe in a literal 1,000-year reign.

I believe it's representative of the reign of Christ, and I've got good reasons for that. And I believe that we're going to be going through the tribulation and things are going to get bad. And so I teach a pessimistic view of the millennium. And I'm saying it was well, I'm smiling because Because it is. And I call it depresschatology.

And so people got to kick out of that term. Then there's the post-trib rapture people who say, no, we're going to, I mean, pre-trib rapture, we're going to get taken out of there before all the trouble. We won't have to go through it. I believe we are going to go through it. Then there's a post-millennial camp which says that things are just going to get better and better and better.

And I do not find that in scripture at all.

So, you know, but hey, I hope I'm wrong. And generally, in discussions like this with people who are knowledgeable about their own positions, we're usually pretty respectful to each other. And we kind of chuckle. And each. Each position has its strengths.

and its weaknesses.

So um I have mine, and I think I have a pretty good argument based on the two-age model, which I don't see them using. And so, you see, there you go. I think I'm doing better than them. But they probably have another something that they think they're doing better than me, and that's okay. I don't mind that.

I just want that, I want him to rapture me tonight with my wife and all the Christians, and we're okay. That's what I'd like. I don't like my own view that I liken it to the movie Aliens, the second movie. What anyway? Because the plot of aliens is run, hide, scream, run, run over there, hide.

It's getting bad. And that's what I think is going to happen before the return of Christ. And the reason I say that is because. Among other reasons, here's a synopsis view that I have. The idea here is that when the pre-incarnate Christ was talking to Adam in the garden, Genesis 2:17, the day that you eat of the fruit, you're going to die.

I think what he was talking about was not only Adam, but all of mankind. The wages of sin is death, Romans 6:23. And Jesus says in Matthew 22, Matthew 24:22, excuse me. He says, If those days be not cut short, no flesh should be left. I think it's Matthew 24, 22.

I'll make sure I get that right because I don't want to memorize something incorrectly. Matthew 24, 22. Yes. Unless those days be cut short, no life would be saved. No life.

And so I see that as. How do I put this? I see that as Jesus proclaiming what would happen if he does not step in and intervene, that the wages of his death and mankind will bring itself to self-destruction. And Christ is going to, at the last moment, come back for it, as I like to call it, a gigantic celestial. I told you so.

And then he will, this is my view, this is just my view, in that the first ones taken are the wicked, not the Christians. I believe the rapture is preceded by the movement of the wicked. They're taken and bound and judged. And people say, You're crazy. I say, read Matthew 13, the parable of the wheat and the tares, verse 30.

And he says, at the time of the harvest. You'll study the harvesters first gather the tares. And then 10 verses later, he says it's at the end of the age that this happens.

So that's why I holded that. I hope I'm wrong, but there you go. Let's get to Aaron from Texas. Aaron, welcome. You're on the air.

You there, Aaron? Hello, Aaron. Are you there?

Sor sorry, I was on mute. Yes, okay. Can you hear me? I hear you now, buddy.

Okay. Don't hang up on me. My kids are mortified that I would even ask such a question, but we're talking about it one day. I want to know. did Adam and Eve prefall To put it delicately, did they have to poop?

Okay, so my my Well, I know that they have the body bodily systems to handle waste. But the fruit The plants, the vegetables, everything was in a pristine, perfect condition.

So, where would the waste? come from. Their digestive track. Perfect. No, don't say the things the Bible doesn't say, it doesn't say perfect.

People will often do that. They'll say, oh, he is perfect, and therefore perfect means. But it never says that. It just says they were created good. In what sense were they created good?

In the image of God. That's the image, which is the communicable attributes. He thinks, we think. He loves, we love. And stuff like that.

And so they had normal biological functions. And so they would have needed to excrete those things.

Okay. Hmm. All right. What it was after crime? Sure.

Yeah. So the Okay, go ahead, I'm sorry. If you eat a fruit, it has cellular life, and that life will be destroyed in the meta in the metabolism as it converts energy into your bodily need.

Now, when the Bible talks about death, it's talking about death of the soul and death of the higher order animals. And that didn't exist in that sense, okay?

Okay. So the longevity that Adam and all of his kin had, you know, of course, decre decreasing after the flood. That didn't apply to plants and animals that they had naturally long. Lives, you know, I mean, we our our fruit lasts very, very short periods of time. Yes, but there are theories.

One of them is called the canopy theory. And we could talk about it after the break coming up here. But that. I believe in that. Oh, okay.

Well, then that would mean that the fruit could grow large and probably were sustained longer periods of time. And, you know, the fruit should be cyclic in different fruits. I don't have any problem with that. And so, not a big deal.

Okay. So it is a break. I guess that blows my theory. I'm holding my money. Hold on.

Okay. Hey, folks, we'll be right back after these messages with Aaron from Texas. Please stay tuned, and it's a good conversation. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick Live, taking your calls at 877-207-2276.

Here's Matt Slick. All right, everyone, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, it is easy. Just dial 877-20722 on your phone. Dial.

That shows you how old I am. We said dial the phone with the rotary thing. We still use the phrase. Or just punch in the numbers and you can get to me. Let's get back on with Aaron from Texas.

Aaron, welcome. You're back on. Babe. Yeah, so okay. I guess that there are obviously parallels between the pre-fall garden and New Jerusalem heaven.

So can you extrapolate uh having bodily functions in heaven.

Now, that's different because that's not, Adam and Eve did not have a resurrected body, glorified body.

So it does not say anything about any bodily functions in the resurrected body. And so my assumption, and this is just the word assumption, is that we could eat but don't need to. And if we do, we won't have to go anywhere. That's what I'm just thinking. I can't prove it.

And we'll find out when we get to heaven, you know. And.

And besides, I'm, you know, but you know what? I'm going to tell you something.

Okay, I'm going to tell you something. I was just talking to somebody last night about this, and I talked to a nurse about this, too.

Now, this is going to sound a little bit odd. But I was in Israel a few years ago and We went to the northern part of Israel where you could see, I think it was Syria and Jordan. And the We ended up getting some fruit from a local grower. And we got some oranges. And So I don't know how to describe it.

But of all the oranges I've ever had in my entire life, All of them are in one category, and in these were completely different. They were so much better. They were so perfect. That I I I it's hard to describe how Incredibly good they were.

Well, we had dinner with a guy last night who has been over in those areas, and he says the same thing: their fruit's incredible. And I talked to a nurse at a hospital. a month or so ago, who lived over there and said, Oh yeah. Yeah, it's just incomprehensibly good. You can't describe it.

And she says she'll tell her friends, and they just they go, whatever. And I say the same thing.

So, anyway, I think about that because the fruit in the Garden of Eden must have been so incredible. And it's going to be incredible again, yeah. Because what we have now tastes like. Flavored cardboard, you know. Yeah.

Yeah. It sure does.

Well, I appreciate it. Hey, no problem, ma'am, no problem, God bless. All right. You too. Take care.

Okay. All right, so um We have nobody waiting right now. I'm going to talk about something here, just on my mind. And I'm still formulating ideas.

So, as you know, I work against false religions. And how do you judge what a false religion is? By studying the Bible. How do you know what a counterfeit bill is? By studying what the true bill is, you know, money.

And uh I didn't realize how Powerful the issue of priesthood is discussing. The false religious systems and their priesthoods.

Now, there's different priesthoods and different cults and false religions. In Roman Catholicism and Eastern Orthodoxy, I'll focus on them. Their priesthood They're Priests with garments. They're priests with authority. They're priests that offer Sacrifices.

They represent the sacrifice of the Eucharist over and over and over again. Yeah. And the recommissioning the representation. Of the sacrifice over and over continually cleanses you of your sin. This is not found in the New Testament.

And I've been asking EO and RC. People, this question. Show me your priesthood in the New Testament. But first when I would ask the question, You know, I thought it'd be just a good challenge to them. But as I'm doing more and more homework on it, I'm realizing That the priesthood That the East Orthodox Church and the Roman Catholic Church has.

are False priesthoods. absolutely false because they're modeled after the Old Testament style. They are not modeled after the New Testament. The New Testament priesthood consists of two categories. The priesthood of new belie of the believers.

That's 1 Peter 2:5 and 1 Peter 2:9. and in the priesthood of Christ. And it's Hebrews 4 through 7. You can go through and read those chapters. And he's a high priest after the order of Melchaledic, Hebrews six twenty seven twenty five.

Okay, now So, the true priesthood that's in the new covenant. which the New Testament Church is under. does not have a representation of a sacrificial system. does not have a priesthood class it is not there. except to say we, the church.

All believers are a royal priesthood. It doesn't have an ecclesiastical priesthood class with robes and where they officiate because they have authority others don't have. It simply is not found in Scripture. It is not there. Why is it so critical?

Because they're Churches' authority rests in their priesthood. Their church's authority. Is there priesthood? What it means is That the reason they have a priesthood is so that you can go get your sins forgiven.

So that you can then participate in the Eucharist, because you need the grace of God continually moved into you. It is a corrupted Old Testament priesthood blended with a few New Testament concepts.

Now, if their churches are true, why is it that their priesthood practices are not found in the New Testament?

Now they might say, well, the laying on of hands is found there, but that's for elders, not for priests. They might say, well, Jesus says, do this as often as you come together in remembrance of me. But that's not his sacrifice that continues to be offered. Because Jesus in Matthew 7, 27 and Hebrews 10, 7, excuse me, Hebrews 7, 27 and Hebrews 10, 10. He offered is the offering once for all, not a repeated offering.

Now they'll say, oh, it's a representation. It's a re-offering. It's a representation because they say it cleanses of sin. It's a sacrifice of Christ that cleanses of sin.

So they're saying it's propitiatory.

So they have an Old Testament-style priesthood sacrificial system. That they put people under, which means they're still under the law. Why is that important? Because in the New Testament economy, If you have died with Christ, Romans 6:8, if you're crucified with Christ, Romans 6:6, then you're no longer under the law, Romans 7:4. If you're no longer under the law, then you're not obligated to follow the Old Testament patterns, but they do.

which means technically they've not practiced or understand or relate properly to the idea of dying with Christ and His identification with us so that we don't need the Old Testament priesthood style. We all we need is Jesus. Why then do those churches have those priesthoods? Here's my Belief my opinion. because the devil is working through them.

And the devil wants to put people under bondage.

So the devil himself is speaking through those false churches to get people to think they're saved. To think they're doing what's right, to put their faith and their hope in rituals under an Old Testament-style system of blood atonement. With an officiate of a clergy class of priests that then make it possible for these adherents to participate in the forgiveness of God through these sacramental systems. And it's not biblical, it's not New Testament, it's not of the New Testament church. Therefore, since they do this and they have a false priesthood, their churches are false by default.

That's what I believe. You can comment if you want, but that's what I believe. Let's get to Jim from. I guess Connecticut? Jim, welcome, you're on the air.

All right. Matt, I've got a question about Uh John 1 1. Sure. Uh-huh. Um Yes.

Are you there?

Yeah, can you hear me? Yes, okay. So John on one, go ahead. All right. So um In terms of the persons of the Trinity, The word obviously refers to the sun.

Okay. So My question is What persons of the Trinity does God referred to. Just God, period. Because the wording is used there differently. And So, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.

The purpose of this is to demonstrate that Jesus is God in flesh.

Now, in the beginning was the Word. This should cause a Jew or somebody who's knowledgeable of Scripture to reflect back to Genesis 1. In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth. John 1:1, in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God. When you go back to Genesis 1, it says, then in verse 3, let there be light.

God said, let there be light. That's his word, that's speaking. And in John 1, John 1:1, when you go through, it says all things came into being through him. Because remember, God said, Let there be light, and he created. And in him was life, and life was the light of men.

So, what John is doing is paralleling the issue of the first few verses of the book of Genesis. God in Genesis is just simply. God. And what he is doing is showing that Jesus has that divine essence and that divine nature because he was God, but was also with God.

So he's showing identity with, but also predication.

So it's called the is of identity, is of predication. Is of identity means, you know, Clark Kent is Superman. One and the same. But predication means Superman is six feet tall. And so it has an attribute to him.

So this idea is here in John 1:1. In the beginning was the Word. Go back to Genesis 1. The Word was God. That's identity.

And yet he was with God, signifying a relationship that it was with God Himself.

So the verse is very interesting. It shows identity and it shows relationship. And it's demonstrating who Christ is. And in verse 14, the Word became flesh and dwelt among us. Does that make sense?

Well, I I guess that's what I'm asking is You you mentioned the relationship Um the sun was with Right. Who? I mean, in terms of the sky, what That's But in terms of the Trinity, the persons of the Trinity. Is it all three persons? By definition, Yahweh is one being who exists as.

a triune being. And so, therefore, his simple nature is triune from the very beginning.

So, it's all three, so it's all three persons. Yes, but what we say so the son is with all three persons of the Trinity. No, that's that's equ equivocation. It's like past, present, and future. Past, present, and future are all time, but they're different aspects of the same thing.

Time is by nature triune, and it has past, present, and future aspects to it. If we were to say the present is time, and therefore time is past, present, and future, therefore the present is past, present, and future, then we've committed a fallacy of equification, where the word changes meaning.

Okay, so who was who so who was the son with?

Well, he was with in the this cap, I'll get a little more specific. What we could say here, I could make the case is that after verse 14, the word became flesh. whenever the term God is used as a reference to the Father. And I did a specific study on this, and I found that to be the case. And I got the study someplace on my website, I forgot where.

But I did the study in light of Jehovah's Witness theology, and it was really an interesting study. And so. The issue here is that at least at verse 14, God is referenced to the Father, but before it is talking about the nature of just the divine essence Himself, the Word is that, but is also with. Showing the distinction within the Trinity, and we're out of time. You have to call back tomorrow.

We've got to work on this tomorrow.

Okay, buddy?

Sorry about that, but we're just out of time. All right? All right. Hey, Jason, call back tomorrow about baptism and salvation. We need to talk about that.

May the Lord bless you. Be back tomorrow. God bless.

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