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 this show. It's me, Matt Slick. And your list of matches look live if If you want, you can give me a call. It's easy. The number is 8772-072276.

And you can email me at info at carm.org tonight. I plan to buy my plane tickets to go out to North Carolina for the weekend of the 15th, 16th, 17th. I'll be out there. I plan to stay Monday and or Tuesday, just depending. Fly back Tuesday night or Wednesday or something like that.

Just depends on if people want me to come by, maybe meet at a restaurant just for fun. I don't mind doing that because I'll be out there. I don't get out there very often. I want to go to Winston-Salem and see the guys at the station. During the day, and sit there and stare at them and mess them up, go out to lunch or whatever it is.

And so I just, it's all up in the air. I'm going to buy open-ended tickets so I can change things if I need to at the last minute. And that's that. My wife will be going. That's why I'm able to go.

And she'll be staying with a friend while I'm out there and stuff like that.

So. There you go. You see, we're working it, and that sounds mooey-goodo. Then all you gotta do is uh Okay. Is pay attention to that, I guess, or go out there.

I don't know, whatever. All right, let's get to Jermaine from California. Jermaine, welcome, buddy. You're on the air. Hey, man, that feels like we just talked.

That's right. We did, man. What's up, buddy? You're calling up for something, right? Yeah, I was uh want to share that testimony that I was uh I was speaking about at the end of the show.

Sure. About one one day our our test organized the uh fishing trip. You know, it was more of a local thing. You go to a local lake and just kind of fellowship and hang out and. I went out there and I went to Park.

I dropped my son off, and when I came back, I noticed that there was some older gentlemen kind of looked like a skinny version of Popeye was just violent, angry. And who just Yeah, just venomous and the words coming out of his mouth were, Why are you in my blanking fishing hole. This is my spot in when we took notice of it was most of the people there were You know, they're very godly people, but I noticed no one said anything. And we all kind of looked at each other. And he went on and on and just trying to be as vile as possible.

No, we just kind of pray for them. But no one overreacted or just stopped him because it is a free country.

So I just had to go to the store. I went to the store And I came back and about an hour later and I watched a change happen with this gentleman that was just something out of a movie where he was, uh very apologetic about how you're speaking. He said he wasn't quite sure where he was in faith, but He agreed with a lot of positions that the Christian Church has in He he just I I watch God's grace. and by, you know, church people being graceful to them. I watched it kind of change an attitude and change its whole perspective to the point where.

We actually talked for a good hour after everyone left. Just he and I and and one other person. And if you you saw this guy, you would think He wouldn't speak to anybody. You know, he was just. Looked like a craggly old man who just wanted to be alone, but Yeah, and we we just tried to invite him.

I believe he spent it for years in just showing grace to somebody and and I guess, uh you know, kind of Preaching without preaching, so to speak, really had a radical effect to where he actually wanted to exchange numbers and.

next time myself or somebody else came. He, uh, he wanted to meet us down there and just hang out. It's all right. You know, I got an example of what it looks like to not respond in the flush because immediately the first thing we wanted to say was. Hey, you know, uh, watch a language and And uh You know what I'm saying?

Smart and flippant, but you know, this man had bad experiences before, and he had a life that we hadn't lived.

Sometimes it's like it's like getting to the nut in a hard shell, you know, you cracking with different things and I in my opinion, I just watched God's grace. just melts a body. That really is Yeah. It was just a beautiful thing to see. That was the testimony of.

And I just went with this reminder and you mentioned appreciation exercise. Yeah. It's kind of funny.

Well, it's a good example, you know, of meeting someone with grace and kindness. And uh I remember now this is fictional, you know, it's a novel, but um Le Miserables, and I read it. It was humongously long, and I thought it was too short. It was so good. And they had a scene.

Where Valjean, he previously they explained why he was so hard-hearted, uh injustices to him, and he had become a uh uh a very difficult person. because of all kinds of life. patterns, uh mistakes, but things upon him. And long story short, he stole some candles, silver candlesticks, from a priest of the Catholic Church. This isn't to promote Catholicism, but this is how the story goes.

And he got caught, and when he got. brought back to the To the church, of the priest, you know, are these yours? And the gendarme said to the priest, Are these candlesticks yours? Obviously, they belong to the church. And the priest.

He said, No, they're his. Because they do belong to him now. And He Virgin was so stunned In the novel, so stunned by the grace that this man had shown him, he couldn't comprehend it, and it broke him. in a good way. Anyway, it just shows you, it's a good illustration of what true grace really is and how it can change you.

So that's good stuff. Yeah, yeah, and I you know, I understand everyone has something different and unique as far as what will reach them and Just been my experience, you just kind of pray in that moment and God You know, if there's time to roll it, he'll give you what you need for that particular person and You just kind of Plant seeds and get out the way and see what happens. That's all you can do. But we need to be gracious and not legalistic.

Sometimes we want justice when grace is what is needed. We want justice for others, but grace for ourselves. And our hypocrisy doesn't Bode well with the Lord.

So, if we want grace given to us, it's fair to say that we ought to give that grace to Him as well. I mean to others, but yeah, that's right. Good stuff, Bunner. All right. Mm-hmm.

Well, I'll uh call in with an actual question tomorrow. Oh, that was good, though. That was good. Good testimony. Praise God.

Alright. Mm-hmm.

Yeah, that's right. Urin Where are you in California? Oh, I remember now. I got to call somebody. Where are you in California?

I'm in Northern California around San Francisco.

Okay.

Okay, just checking right here. I'm looking into the heart. Be a heart of the beast.

Okay.

All right. Well, I was just thinking out loud on something else.

Okay, buddy. God bless, man. Thanks a lot. All right. Okay.

All right, now. Let's get to Jim from Iowa. Jim, welcome. You're on the air. Yeah, this is sort of an opinion question.

A paying on when did the different races start? or begin. There aren't any different races. I don't understand. No, I mean I mean I mean the blacks, Chinese, whites, that that type of thing.

Uh yeah, there's only one race, the human race. And um well there's a there's a black race, a white race, a Chinese race. No, I don't you know what I mean. Yeah, I know what you mean. They have to begin somewhere.

Yes, I'm understanding, but uh there's yeah there's only one race, the human race. The different skin colors started uh what we'd have to say after Noah's Ark. because mankind was wiped out.

So however long that was. What we find genetically is that the children of Noah had sufficient genetic information for all different heights, colors, body sizes, etc., in their gene pool. And as they dispersed across the land, then the results of environmental pressures would result in different skin colors and heights.

So it turns out that the dark-skinned people are better in equatorial regions. Light-skinned people are better in higher latitude regions. And it turns out that the Asian, the eyelid fold, has something to do with desert sand. I read an article on it once, and it helps with that. And so, anyway, so if you're in an equatorial area and a white guy, so to speak, is born, he gets sunburned very easily.

Melanoma, he might not live long enough to pass his genes on. But if you're dark-skinned, you will tend to live longer, pass your genes on.

So the lighter-skinned people would just get wiped out. The same in the upper areas, the latitudes, because you need whiter skin does better with getting sunlight in low-angled sun because there's less sunlight up there for vitamin D, and you need vitamin D. Otherwise, you get rickets.

So, just stuff like that. And it happened after Noah's Ark.

So are you saying it's just a gradual thing? Yeah. Yeah, and actually, actually, you reminded me back in college, I had a friend, and I thought he might have been half Mexican and half what we call white, you know. And we were friends and hung out for months. And then one day I went over to his dorm, and here's this picture of him with a bunch of black people.

And I said Who's this? And he goes, My family. And I go, What, are you adopted? And he goes, No, he's a black guy. I said, No, you're not You know, I'm telling him, you know, and he said, Yeah, I am.

But he says, He just has light skin. And then I joked, I said, Well, we can't be friends now that I know this. And he called me a jerk, and then that was it. We laughed about it. But the thing was, it was really interesting.

That he was born that way, which showed a different skin color because the genetics was in his family line. It was no big deal. And uh So so uh I just I figured maybe it could have been at the Tower of Babel when God scattered everybody.

Well, it could be there as well, because the scattering Scattering geographically makes a big difference. It really does. I read an article years and years ago where. I'm trying to remember the number, how many generations it would take before you get the black, brown, light, et cetera, skin colors pretty much dominant. And I think it's within five generations.

depending on your environment, theoretically. It wouldn't take very long, that's the point.

So within a couple hundred years, you know. Yeah, two and three hundred years. And then, you know, and it's no big deal because, you know, the black-skinned people are just better being out in the sun. Than white-skinned people. But it's reversed, like I said, in higher areas like Norway and England, where you need more sunlight.

For them. For vitamin D, but now we get it in vitamins and other things like that, and foods that are all over.

So, anyway.

So what you're saying is if you took a white guy and put him in Africa few generations he'd turn into a black guy. A white guy would say a white guy, but his children. If let's just say he has let's say just for math, ten children, ten children, then the the children are going to be born with different uh uh skin tones. Generally speaking, the the skin tones will the darker ones will do better in that environment. That's all.

Oh, okay. That's it.

Now, because we've had so much, let's just say, oh, I'm going to use the term here in tongue-in-cheek inbreeding with the whites and the blacks and the browns and stuff. That in a large gene pool, they stay in that area. Then what happens is, generally speaking, the gene pool gets reduced such that in the equatorial regions, you won't find very many white-skinned people, just as you won't find any darkskin, very many dark-skinned in northern or way northern, way southern regions. And uh because of the I guess it really doesn't matter, but it's just sort of interesting, you know? Yeah, oh, yeah, yeah.

How about this all? Didn't the Bible say that Cain had.

Some of them had the mark of Cain, and that was a black skin. No, that's stupidity. No, it's a mark to not kill him, it has nothing to do with skin color. All right, okay, okay, buddy.

Alright man, God bless.

Okay, we'll talk to you later. Hey folks, if you'll be right back after these messages, please. Stay tuned. It's Matt Slick Live, taking a call at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

Hey everybody, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, it is easy. Just at 8772-072276. And you can email me at info at carmcarm.org and put the subject line radio comment or radio question. Let's get to Bill from Idaho.

Bill, welcome. You're on the air. Hi Matt, can you hear me okay? Unfortunately, yes I can. What do you want?

Yeah. So I was on a telehealth meeting with my doctor, and right at the same time, he got a knock on the door. Three mornings are coming over tomorrow. And so I didn't want to miss that opportunity to exchange information real quick. And I don't have a scheduled time yet, but Can you give me a crafts course on what to say and how to witness to them?

Well, if you want me to come over, you know, I can, but uh, you're perfectly awesome if you If you could, that would be awesome. Yeah, just set up a timer when I can come over. But. Here here's uh there's see, it just depends on how it goes. There's lots of different ways to witness to Mormons.

Uh one of the things I might I I you know, I I have done with Mormons is to destroy their testimony in the Book of Mormon. And it's easy to do because I have the 3,913 changes in the Book of Mormon, and I have my Greek New Testament. And I can lay them both out before them and show them how the Book of Mormon has been altered all over the place. And yet, they have a testimony of how true it is. When I say, why is it so changed?

Why has it been changed in 200 years? It's just horribly. That's one thing. They don't know how to do it that day. They don't have any idea.

But here's a generic way to witness to him. You hear a lot of noise coming back there, but I know you're typing this out, but it's pretty loud.

So another thing is, and I mean, you can call on the phone later and give you some of the other stuff. But another thing to do is on Carm, there's an approach I use called the True Jesus approach. The true Jesus approach. Because the Jesus of the Bible, this is what I do with Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses and others. I'll say, I'll say, well, uh, you agree you agree with me that you know you want to get to To God, right?

And they'll say yes. And we have to go through Jesus, right? Yes. And the Bible talks about false Christs and false Jesuses.

So, you know, we got to make sure we get the right one. And they go, yeah.

Okay.

Do you agree that a true Jesus is described in the Bible? Maybe yes.

Okay, good.

So I'll say, well, uh the true Jesus is prayed to in the Bible. And that's John 14, 14, Acts 7, 55 through 60. And I'll say also the Book of Mormon. 3D Phi 19:18, they did pray to Jesus, calling him their Lord and our God. And I'll say Do you pray to Jesus?

The Jesus of the Bible is prayed to. Even the Book of Mormon, 3rd Nephi 19, 18. And uh so I'll say, Do you pray to Jesus? And they're going to be stuck.

Now, some Mormons have said yes. And I'll I'll move forward with them if that's the case. But they're not supposed to biblically. Their doctrine doesn't say that they're supposed to do that, unless there's been a change in it, okay, lately, because there's a change of doctrine from time to time.

So that's one thing. I'll say, okay, so he's also called God. And I go to John to John 20, 28, where Thomas said, My Lord and my God, where in Hebrews 1.8, where the Father says, Your throne, O God, is forever and ever.

Now they can say he's God because they say he's a God. You're just a god. one of several gods and things like that. And I don't want to get too sidetracked into their v it's their view is called henotheism. Or monolatry.

But henotheism is that there's many gods, they just serve and worship one of many.

So that's their view. I don't want to get into all that and sidetrack them. I say, okay. Who has the authority to forgive sins? What Jesus does.

Because And I said, good, good. And he has all authority in heaven and earth, Matthew 28:18, right? Yes, that's true. He says, Come to me. And that's Matthew 11, 28, and people pray to him.

In John 14, 14, Acts 7, 55 through 60. I'll say, okay, can you pray to Jesus and ask Jesus to forgive you of all of your sins? It won't. Because that's what you want them to do ultimately. Right.

Okay.

And it's one of the it's just a it's a simple approach and it's not designed to be offensive. I don't you're not there to offend them. We're there to work with them.

Okay, and that's what we're trying to do.

So, uh, You know, and for the night, for the most part, these are nice guys. And sometimes I'll tease them. You know, look, they'd come in my house when I was in San Diego: hey, want a cup of coffee or a Coke? And I'd smile, and they would smile because they knew, you know, I was just joking around, you know, and. And so they know they're not not to get 'em, but I'd ask these questions.

And then when I'd bring out my New Testament and show textual variants and show the Book of Mormon, how it's exceedingly altered. They're visibly shaken, usually, visibly shaken. And I'll I'll ask them, I'll say, You have a testimony the Book of Mormon is true, right? Uh-huh.

Well which book of Mormon? The one you read in wh which version, the modern one or the one that's the original? Because The original has been changed a great deal.

So what are you believing in? And also, this is what I'll do sometimes with them. Because I think it's where is it? Moroni 1.5. Where is it?

Oh man, I'll find it. If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God. That's James 1:5. They misapply that. And uh Uh So you pray about the Book of Mormon, right?

To find the verse, to see if these things are not true, okay? And uh Let's see. Hold on a second. Find the reference because it's been a while and I like to have them. I've got to refresh.

You know, I've got so many things in my head. We're on a 10-4. That's right. We're on a 10-4. There we go.

So pray about these things to see if these things are not true. And I said, Did you do that? And they said, Yeah. I said, What was the answer? that it was true.

Well, wait a minute, read what it says. Pray to see these things are not true. Did you pray to see if they're not true? Oh, that's good stuff. They go, what?

And they go, well, it says to see if it's not true.

So you had a positive. Response to the prayer that it's not true. And then they go, What? No, to see if it's not true, and they find out that it is true. But that's not what it says, it says to see if it's not true.

They go, well, no, it's you can pray for it, it is true. And then, you know, it just depends. It's a little, it's a word game to have sometimes. And I'll tell them, you know, I can see why you're saying that. Why would you pray about a book?

Did you pray with the Bible to see if it was true? No, it's just true because it comes from God.

So, why is it now you pray about? A different book from a guy named Joseph Smith. 1800 years later. Why would you? Pray about that.

When the Bible, it never says pray about the Bible to see if it's true. It's just true. Are you verifying that God's word is true? Because the Bible doesn't verify its own. validity.

is true because it comes from God. It just is. He doesn't defend himself. God never defends himself. Look at me, how great I am.

And this is why you've got to believe in me, blah, blah, blah. No, it's just. Hey, this is who I am, and you ought to believe. And he says to Job, Where were you when I was creating? Where were you?

He doesn't answer to people. But what's the Mormons do is they want to subject God. to their feelings because they believe and are taught that the Book of Mormon comes from God. Then they subject to the truth of it to themselves. That automatically Will get you deception because you're not believing what God's Word says automatically.

You're saying, I don't know if it's true or not. I got to test it and see what you say is true, God. The Bible doesn't say that. James 1:5, if you lack wisdom, that says if you're lacking wisdom, it's already talking to believers. Not unbelievers, about a book, about the knowledge and the truth that comes from God, about wisdom.

Hold on, we'll 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. Hey everybody, welcome back to the show.

If you want to give me a call. 877-207-2276.

Okay, Bill, you're back on, buddy. No, I'm still here. I got uh The links to the articles that Laura put in the chat, so I have those bookmarked for later. But yeah, I definitely want to connect with you. like later on this evening.

Um, yeah, I didn't want to miss an opportunity. My doctor's like, uh, because I told my doctor, I said, Hold, please. And went to the door and they came back and I told him what happened and Um yeah, good stuff. Yeah, let me know. We'll see if it works in the schedule.

But I've given you what you need, and generally, when I go over to a place, I end up doing all the talking. And. Uh it's you know, I would like when people They stretch and they challenge and they do it. Like the last time I came over at your place with that one guy, he didn't know what he was doing, you know, and he left. But uh remember that was about a year ago.

Oh yeah, yeah, that was uh uh Korean uh Sure. Call it um Yeah, it's uh uh Oh, what was the name of it? God was uh was a female. They feel like mother god and I Yeah, uh, that's right. I forget the name of it.

Church God was a Female. That's right. What is that? It'll come. Yeah, I'm looking on the web here, searching.

And it's called. Yeah, that's right. World Mission Society Church of God. I remember that. And I wrote we have an article on it on karma.

That's right. Yeah, because what my goal is is to try it myself, and then if I screw up. Not if, not if, no, no, I say that, not if we all do always, so don't worry about that, okay? When you mess up, it's just how it is, you know, me too. Uh, you just pray, you ask God to be there, uh, you do your best.

That's all that's how you learn.

Okay.

Yeah, and so I'm a little nervous, but I'm excited because I know Cox can. Could use it. Normally, I've Um I don't think I would have had the courage to uh To do that, this time it's like he's been using me. Like, no, I'm not missing an opportunity. Because all they're going to do is just go down to the next neighbor.

With that and so I want to I want to prevent that. Good. Awesome. Good cut, man. I appreciate you.

All right, buddy. God bless, man. Alright. Yeah, it's Bill. I've known Bill, what, I don't know, three, four, five years now, I guess.

All right, now let's see.

Next longest waiting person is Mark from Connecticut. Mark, welcome. You're on the air. Okay.

Hey, man. Hey, man, how's it going? Oh, it's going. I'm hanging in there, man. Doing radio.

Love it. Good to do it. By God's grace, what's up? Listen, I want to. The question is: Pelagianism and how it relates to like.

Losing your salvation or semi-pallation, Lord Salvation, that That stuff. Mm. Pelagianism is a teaching that we that babies are born without original sin and that through their own free will efforts they can attain salvation. And this is a heresy. All the church councils, even through history, have condemned it, that addressed it.

So we are born by nature, we are by nature children of wrath, excuse me. That's Ephesians 2.3. And in Romans 5, 19, it says, through the transgression of the one, the many were made sinners.

So that is talking about us. And in 1 Corinthians 15, 22, it says, in Adam all die.

So that's what's going on in that we do have original sin. The original sin is Adam's sin. That's the original sin. Is reckoned to us in that we become born. We were made sinners by his sin.

That's Romans 5.19, is what it says. And that we died with him.

So the idea of Pelagianism is just simply false. Semi-Pelagianism is the idea that you're just mostly dead, you know, out of Princess Bride. You know, Miracle Max is sitting there and the guy's on the table. He goes, he's mostly dead. And so that's what semi-Pelagianism teaches.

That you've been affected by sin, but you're not as bad as you can be. And you still have the free will ability to choose God. You become a sinner kind of later. It's really bad. It's really kind of milquetoast theology.

All right? And uh and losing salvation uh So what what else what would be other questions?

Well, how it relates, like, because if you listen to some Pentecostals, they'll say that. you can you will stop believing or if you you know you're sinning then pretty soon If you don't have any more faith, you'll end up losing yourself. You've probably heard it before. Yeah, it's all man-centered philosophy is what it is. If you stop believing, because you are the one who's the final arbiter of your salvation, because you, in your wisdom, are the one who decided to believe in God, so you in your wisdom or lack of can decide to unbelieve and make yourself unborn again.

It's just humanist philosophy. The Bible says that God grants that we have eternal life, excuse me, grants that we have faith, excuse me, Philippians 1:29, and that from the foundation of the world, he chose us for salvation. That's 2 Thessalonians 2:13 combined with Ephesians 1:4.

Well, if he chose us for salvation from the beginning, we're not going to lose it because he's the one who redeemed us, he's the one who planned us from eternity past. But what these semi-Pelagians and full Pelagians like to do, generally speaking, they teach losers of salvation, is that to say, Well, you keep it by your goodness, your ability to remain faithful, etc., etc. It's just a. It's milquetoast theology. It's Mamby-Pamby theology of people who don't know biblical theology, what it actually teaches.

And I argue with them. They surface every now and then, and I argue with them biblically. No, that's what it says right here. You've got to understand this, you know, things like that.

Okay.

All right, great answer. Thanks, Matt. You guys have a great night. I'll be listening still.

Sounds good, buddy. God bless. All right. Charlie and Mora. Have a bit.

Okay.

All right, now let's get to Nelson from California. Nelson, welcome. You're on the air. Hey Mac, can you hear me? Yes, I can.

Okay, perfect.

So I have a question. I was actually studying uh some scripts through a couple days ago And um I wanted to see if the same Greek word is the same in Uh Mark eight. Verse, I believe, thirty. Eight.

Okay.

Okay.

We'll compare it.

So if you find that one, read that one, please. Yeah, it says, Whoever is ashamed of me, my words in this adult, sinful generation, the son of man, will be ashamed of him. Yeah. So that would not go in context with um With 1 John chapter 2, verse 28 and 29. But I wanted to see what is what's the Greek meaning if it's a different word.

Yeah, in uh And they're different words because the word shame doesn't occur occur in the Greek in 1 John 2.

So it's what's called an implied, it's borrowed from the previous verb, not shrink away. Yeah. From him. And that's really what it's saying in the Greek there: not shrink away from him. And so the word shame, like I said, is just simply not there in 1 John 2:28, but it is there in Mark 3:38, and it occurs 11 times.

The word shame, which is Uh Episcun, oh boy, episcunamai, episcunamai in Greek.

So, and every I'm looking at the References of every instant that occurs in the New Testament. In the NESB, every one of them is translated into the English ashamed.

So, yeah. But it doesn't agree in 1 John 2:8. It's an implied word borrowed from the verb from before. Shrink away.

Okay.

Oh okay, so the one in in Mark That's the one that's basically people slat out just rebellion against God, correct? Who's ever ashamed of him? Whoever does not affirm him. Shrinks away from him, says, I'm not going to believe in him anymore, or now it's too difficult, I leave him. That's generally what it means.

Yeah, sure. Yeah, that's what I kind of figured. And the one in 1 John chapter 2, 28 and 29, in context, That's referring to believers, correct? Yeah. Yeah, but just so you know, the word shame there is not there.

Yeah, it's in the Greek word. I sp Aiskun semen, boo or from the Greek, uh aiskuno. It means to put to shame, to be put to shame, to be ashamed.

So it's a different word. One is they have different words in Greek, like verbal and noun form. Like to act is a verb. Actor is a noun, but they're of the similar kind of formation. And so that seems to be what's going on.

I guess I haven't really done a really in-depth study, so I can't tell you. But it does have that meaning in it, in there.

So it's not the same Greek word as in Mark 8:38.

Okay?

Okay.

And one last question about that. Um big dreams. Not trying to read in too much into the text, but um What is so what is it saying that Actually, believers will be saved and will be ashamed because of what how they're living. You mean in Mark or 1 John? We gotta break it.

No, in 1 John. Let me take a look at it during the break and we'll get back.

Okay, buddy? Hey folks, if you'd ride back gaff for these messages, you can give me a call, 877-207-2276. We'll be right back. It's Matt Slick Live, taking a call at 877-207-2276. Here's Matt Slick.

Hey everybody, welcome back to the show. If you want to give me a call, 877-207-227-7777-777777 Six, let's get on the air back here with Nelson.

Okay, Nelson, you there? Yeah. Alright, so you wanted to know about that verse, 1 John 2:28, in respect to. Losing salvation, was that it? Yeah.

I I guess, yeah, we could see that. I could see that. Uh what is it what is it trying to say there? Uh without I guess for me reading too much into it.

Well, it's talking about the eschaton, the return of Christ.

Okay, and so nothing in there says that they lose salvation. And what happens a lot with people, they'll find a verse like this: shrink away. See, it means you lose your salvation.

Okay.

Does it? If it means they're saved and they shrink away, is it because they haven't lived their lives in a fully sanctified way before their Lord and now they're embarrassed?

Okay, so it's a possibility. See, when I argue about things like this, I say logical possibility. I don't say, oh, this is what it means. There are different options that are logically consistent with the context. That's one of them.

Because we cannot lose our salvation because Jesus says he'll lose none. And that's what he says in John 6:37 through 40.

So. It could be that John here is another possibility that John is just talking to the group of people as a whole, that you need to walk with Christ and not be ashamed. And that, you know, as I would say to others, check yourself to make sure you're in the faith so that when he comes back, it doesn't bother you.

So it's this kind of of thing and possibility that is there. All right. Mm-hmm.

Okay.

Okay.

Yeah, I just wanted to just get that uh uh perspective from what's, you know. But all right. Thank you very much, Matt. You're welcome very much, buddy. God bless.

All right. Alright now Now, let's get to Chuck from Ohio. Hey, Chuck, welcome. You're on the air. I got a question for you.

Okay.

We used to um go camping up near uh Saint Mary's, Ohio. And uh It's the biggest man man-made lake in Ohio, I think. But any anyway, a lot of people probably don't know that across the country, but We used to go taking the kids up there and On the way up there, close to it, I can't remember the name of the little town, but it was, I believe, the headquarters of uh a cult called the Way International. And I was just wondering, are they still operative today? And I can't remember the distinctives of uh what they teach.

Yeah, they're still around, but not very much. And they started by Victor Paul Weirwell. And it denies the Trinity, denies the deity of Christ. They actually have a book, Jesus is Not God. And uh they add works of salvation.

It's a non-Christian cult. Yeah. They're headed in Knoxville, Ohio. Knoxville. I think it is.

Yeah, that's it. New Knoxville. Yeah. Yeah. I couldn't remember too much about it other than we would We there was a couple of times we went camping up at the state campgrounds and they would have their uh their big get together and we'd go right by there.

And I couldn't remember what. I knew they were a cult, and I knew they had a lot of really. you know, um, bad false teaching and doctrine, but I I didn't really remember. Yeah, I've had encounters with them. I've had encounters with them.

But their numbers, from what I understand, have diminished. My research here shows there are about 20,000 of them worldwide. They were as high as 100,000.

So, you know, when he died, they didn't have their guru to kind of answer questions. And so. And plus, with the internet, the internet's really done a lot of damage to a lot of the cults, like Mormons, Jehovah's Witnesses, Wade International, Christian Science. People can go online and look up: well, what does this church teach? And they find stuff.

And they're like, what? And so there are groups that, like my own group, and other apologetics ministries that'll write about, and I have written, on Wayne International, and exposes false doctrines. And people can read them. They go, oh, okay. Yeah, it does happen.

Yeah, somebody just sent me a link. With a photo. I guess this is fairly new, because I'd never seen it before, but it was. Um Walter Martin's Kingdom of the Cults and audiobooks. I didn't know that had come out.

Yeah, I didn't know either. Yeah, I had the privilege of studying under him directly for two or three years. Yeah, back in sittering California. He was good. Oh, he was.

Bet that was really good. It was. Yeah. Yep. Um Okay.

One other question. I've got a really good friend. that I've known for a long, long time. And he really seems to love the Lord. And we we don't get into too many disagreements hardly at all.

He was a neighbor.

Okay.

For many years, and when our kids were growing up.

So, this was like back in the back in the eighties and right He goes to one of the churches that I know the doctrine is not correct. But it's a, they call it Jesus only. It's a cult. Jesus only is a cult. It's a non-Christian cult.

Jesus only yeah they use they use Acts 238 as the gospel yeah and they they mistake the idea Jesus only cult is uh uh Some call it modalist, but it's oneness. And what it means is that the name of God is Jesus, that there's no Trinity. You must be baptized in water in the name of Jesus in order to be saved.

So they add works of salvation in the ceremony. They deny the true God. They deny really the true Christ because though I might say some of them might have a proper understanding of a hypostatic union, they tend towards what's called Nestorianism. And I can get into all those details.

So it's a non-Christian cult, the Jesus-only movement. Yeah. Okay.

I do want to talk to the guy.

So basically, you would consider most most of them would be lost. Absolutely. Yeah. Now, here's the thing: it's like saying if you believe official Roman Catholic theology, you can't be a true Christian. That's not to say that there aren't some actual Christians in the Roman Catholic Church.

Likewise, if you believe official oneness theology, You can't be a Christian. You're denying the true God, and you're denying the true gospel.

Now, that doesn't mean that there aren't some people in there who might not really be saved. They just don't understand the truth. I believe God can save people in different levels of ignorance, and it might take them a while before they leave and become. Let's just say more educated believers.

Okay.

Yeah. I'd be willing, however. Yeah, I'd be willing if you want, you know, you could arrange a conversation with him on the phone, and we three can get on the phone, and I'll talk to him, and I'll go to Acts 2:38. I'll show him what it is. You want to go to Acts 22:16.

They want to go to Romans 6:2 through 4. They want to go to 1 Peter. 321. These are varying verses. John 5, excuse me, John 3, 3 through 8.

They'll go through there about being born again, water, you've got to be baptized. And what I show people in the issue of baptism really upsets them. Because they've been so entrenched and so brainwashed into a certain view that when I start showing them things, they get very agitated. And so Acts 2:38 in the oneness groups. is a pivotal verse that they misapply, misunderstand.

and turn it into false doctrine. It's very common.

Okay.

Yeah. Yeah, I I I understand that that's not that's not a definition of the gospel or what. You know, the great commission and all that that Jesus told us, and now we're born again and everything, but. It's just yeah, we have We have talked about it before. Uh, his dad Yeah.

A uh I'm I I don't know if he's still alive or not, but he was a a Baptist minister. And I think there there was some friction between them. I think, you know, his he I I guess he was raised different, you know, and he was raised right. I don't know all the details, but that's, you know. Yeah.

Okay, well how would I do that? How would I You know, if he would be willing to do that, how would how would I Just say, you know, very low level: would you be willing to have a discussion on this oneness stuff, Jesus-only stuff? If he says yes, well, you know, we could talk about it, or there's a guy that you know of who has offered to have a conversation. He knows the doctrines really well and knows how to answer them, can talk about Acts 2:38 and stuff like that. And if you're willing to have that conversation, if he says no, okay.

then it's up to you, and it'll be up to you anyway, to start studying. And you can go to my website and you can start learning on this, learning on. I'm going to have to refresh on it because.com 76, and I'll be honest with you. I can't remember all my uh references and cross references and everything that I studied over the years. You know, you don't need to do that type of thing.

You don't need to. You can print up the articles. And just uh underline certain areas, just underline them, that's all. Not a big deal. I've written them there so people can use them, print them up, put them in your Bibles, put them on your phones.

That's what it's for. And you can just do that. And I'm also available too to have those discussions.

Okay.

All right. Well, thanks a lot. I appreciate that. You're welcome a lot.

Okay.

All right, well, God bless. Yeah. Okay.

God bless you. Thank you.

Okay.

All right. Hey, folks, if you want to give me a call, it's easy. 877-207 2276, but we don't have any time. We only have two minutes left in the show. Let's get to Chris from California.

Chris, welcome. You're on the air. Hey, good afternoon. Thanks for taking the call. I'll try and make the question.

Quick, I don't know if there's a real black and white answer on this, but Before I truly followed Before I truly started following Jesus back in my late teens, early twenties, I prayed to God. I was raised in a Christian church, but was unregenerate at that time. I did not know what I believed or if it was true or anything like that. It wasn't until my mid-twenties to where that actually happened. But I received so many blessings from God that I had prayed for There was no repentance in my life.

I was a very, very worldly person. But as part of my testimony, So grateful for all of the blessings in my life that I had asked for, and I give him. all the credit for that. Does he hear or grant those Um, just gonna say wishes, wrong word. Um, those prayers for those things, you know, for for you know, for the wife that I have, and those things.

God is gracious to people. In Matthew 5:43 through 48, lets the sun shine the good and the bad, and the rain on the good and the bad. He blesses all kinds of people.

So there's without excuse that God's grace isn't upon them. Of course it is.

Now, Of course he hears Every prayer. Does he answer every prayer?

Well, no. He doesn't answer everyone the way we want.

Now, some people say, Yeah, he does answer every prayer. Yes, no, or wait. Every prayer has an answer in those three categories.

So, but the unbeliever, does he really listen to them?

Well, he knows what they're praying. And yet, in his sovereignty of grace and love, he sometimes. blesses them In the work of his calling of them into the faith. And sometimes it's a blessing upon them. And as they reject him, even in the blessing, they'll be judged for that.

So there's a lot of possibilities with that.

Now, we're out of time, because there's a music, so you have to talk about that tomorrow.

Alright buddy? Thank you.

All right, man. God bless. God bless. Hey, folks, we're out of time. May the Lord bless you by His grace.

We'll be back on there tomorrow. We can talk to you then.

So have a good one, everyone. God bless. Bye. Another program powered by the Truth Network.